Chapter 6 The Duty Of Calder

(Mia)

After dinner, I steal a quiet moment outside alone.

This is the time everything heats up with donation talk, investor promises and expendable cash domination.

Calder is three conversations deep about who he is choosing to support the coming year. It’s political, it’s business, it’s even philanthropic.

But it is also that Calder Wynn has the most expendable cash and he knows it.

Calder never gives anything without getting something back.

That thought hits me. What is he getting back from this month he’s agreed to?

I sip my drink and push the thought back. He’s doing what he thinks is right by me. No need to overthink it.

That’s when she appears.

Emma Pearce.

Blue dress again. Very dark blue, but still.

I’m wearing a blue dress too. The one Calder liked best on me. Now it seems obvious. 

He’s dressing me like Yara would’ve dressed.m

I was too caught up in the thrill of him being there to think about it earlier.

Or maybe I ignored it on purpose.

“Emma. We have to stop meeting like this…” I try for a joke.

Emma doesn’t smile.

“So,” she says, eyes sliding over me. “This is what a thirty-day wife upgrade looks like.”

“Why are you here?” 

“Relax,” she continues. “He’s a duty-bound man. He will stick to his word. Just because I’m here doesn’t mean he will give me a second glance.”

Her gaze lingers on my necklace.

“Diamonds now? Wow. He’s really leaning into the guilt.”

Guilt?

“I know you want this month to mean something,” she says. “But he told me exactly what this is.”

I don’t answer. I take another sip of champagne and turn back to the garden.

“He feels bad,” Emma continues. “That’s all. He said you’ve wasted three years of your life waiting for something he can’t give you.”

The music feels louder.

“Something he doesn’t want to give you. For obvious reasons,” she says.

She smiles and sips her champagne. I just glare back at her.

“I mean… you might be playing the swan tonight, but that doesn’t change the ugly duckling you are. You’ll never be in our league, darling.”

I try to think of something to say. But I can’t. I just let her continue.

“He said he should’ve ended it sooner. That you deserve someone who can actually love you like you are. I mean… you are not one of the cool kids, are you?” Emma looks me up and down and gives a small laugh.

I wish I’d used contact lenses. I run my hand down my hip and thigh and hate the curve and flare.

“And let’s be honest,” she says softly, stepping closer. “You know he never chose you. You got in at a weak moment. Clever.”

“This is none of your business.”

“But not clever enough to make him yours in three years. He needs a strong woman, not a baby sister.”

I look down.

The Paver tiles are imported Italian marble. Book-matched. Perfect symmetry. I helped choose them.

I designed this place.

And I’m standing here feeling like a placeholder because I wear glasses.

“He told me he could never love someone like you.” Emma sounds so smug right now.

I look up. “You’re right,” I say.

She pauses.

“He never chose me to marry. And it was an emotional time for him.”

A flicker of triumph crosses her face. But I’m not done yet.

“But he hasn’t chosen you either. He never will. Not really. Not deep in his heart of hearts,” I continue.

The flicker disappears.

“What makes us different is that I accept he’s still in love with Yara.”

She glares at me.

“He always will be. So, who’s the delusional one now?”

“He loves me,”  Emma insists.                                   

“No. He loves what you remind him of. You can copy her perfume. Her favorite colors. Bleach your hair three shades lighter.”

“But you can’t make your eyes a lighter blue…” I reach up and take off my glasses.

I hate the words the second they leave my mouth.

This is exactly what I never wanted. I never wanted to stand here and compare myself to Yara. 

I never want anyone, least of all Calder, looking at me and seeing her. That has always been the whole problem.

But Emma started this with dirty tricks and I’m going to finish it using whatever I have at my disposal.

Her expression goes cold.

“You’ll never actually look like her,” I continue. “But Yara is my sister.”

I straighten.

“And I do look like her.”

“Tell me,” I jab, “who do you think Cal will subconsciously gravitate towards? That’s why he hasn’t ended it in three years.”

Her hand comes out of nowhere.

She grabs my wrist. “You bitch—”

I pull away from her and yank my arm free.

She stumbles forward. Her heel twists in the line of the tiles.

And suddenly she’s on the ground. Her sharp cry cuts through the gap in the music. Her glass shatters into tiny pieces

“Are you insane?!” she shouts. “You pushed me!”

Heads turn. Phones lift. Conversations stop.

I stand there.

Calder appears almost instantly. He doesn’t ask me what happened first.

He steps directly in front of me. Between us.

“What happened?” His voice is level. Controlled.

“She shoved me,” Emma says, holding her ankle dramatically. “Because she can’t handle the truth.”

Calder looks over at his head of security. He steps away and confers with him for a few seconds.

Then he’s back at my side.

“I didn’t push her,” I say.

He turns back to Emma.

“You approached my wife,” he says calmly. “Not the other way around.”

“She attacked me!”

“You grabbed her.”

Emma’s eyes flash. “Cal, surely you can see she is jealous of us?”

“There is nothing to be jealous of,” he replies. “You’ve misread my intentions, Ms. Pearce.”

Event security step in and help Emma up.

“You’re embarrassing yourself with her. The whole world knows she’s a business transaction,” she says to him.

A murmur ripples through the room.

“Please see that Ms. Pearce does not need medical attention and escort her home,” Calder tells event security.

He turns to his head of security. “Make sure all event guest lists are screened to avoid Ms. Pearce being in the same room with my wife or I again.”

Emma’s face drains.

She limps out with security.

“Now let’s not let that stop the evening. The silent auction announcements are coming up. Let’s refresh our glasses!”

The room resumes its hum. But this will not be missed in the media.

Calder turns to me. “Are you alright?”

“Yes. Thank you for backing me.”

He studies my face for a second. “My security are always watching. They told me Emma approached you. I’m sorry she did that. It was never my intention.”

Then he places his hand at the small of my back.

“Not backing my wife in public is not something the board or my family will accept.”

He walks me back toward the tables now set while the fundraising amounts are announced.

People move out of our way.

No one questions his stand for me. Except for me.

He chose me. Publicly.

And somehow it still doesn’t feel like winning.

He literally just told me he did it out of duty. Emma said he is a man of duty.

But then he pulls me into his arms and his lips are on mine in a flash.

He’s letting them all know. He’s changing the media narrative.

He’s making my toes curl.

I bend backwards from the pressure. He holds me steady and strong and his mouth takes over mine in a kiss that reaches to my soul.

I don’t hold back. I let it happen. I savor every sweet long second.

When he releases me, he gazes into my eyes for a few seconds.

Say what you want, and call me crazy, but this look, that kiss…

Is anything but duty.