chapter seven

Amiriam

James and Amiriam were reclining in the family room, playing Go Fish, when the sound of a slamming door jolted them. Amiriam's head snapped toward the foyer, and the following silence was almost palpable.

"What the hell?" Amiriam muttered to herself.

"What was that?" James said in a shaking voice. He was used to screaming and slamming doors when his parents were home, but with them on vacation, it had been fairly quiet. Except when Luke was particularly stupid, of course.

Sliding her arm around James's tiny neck, Amiriam clapped him in a quick hug before pulling out her phone.

"Alright, here. Play fifty-two card picks and see how fast you can get them all. Keep timing yourself until you post your best time. I'll go pick out, okay?"

With the quarterback's arm, James threw all fifty-two cards into the air until they rained down on him. Having made sure that the cards had made a complete mess in the family room, he started the timer and dove over the ottoman, picking up the cards as quickly as he could.

Satisfied that James would be occupied for some minutes to come, Amiriam crept up the stairs.

"Fuck!" a muffled cry. Amiriam winced at the curse before raising her hand and knocking on Luke's door. Seconds later, the door was flung open to a drool-inducing monster with tousled hair and a jawline carved out of granite.

"What?" he growled, his hands closing around the doorjamb as he glared at her.

"Umm…is everything okay?" Amiriam asked hesitantly.

"Not at the moment, Nanny," Luke retorted bluntly.

Amiriam took that as a no.

"What's wrong? "Where's your…fiancée?" Her face scrunches in distaste. She hadn't disliked her, it's just…yeah, she'd disliked her. She'd let her in when she'd arrived thirty minutes prior. She wanted to blindfold James for how little her dress had covered her. She was dressed to work at a high-end brothel and not to meet her fiancé's parents. But what did she know? It wasn't as if she had ever been married before.

"She left," Luke told her.

Yeah, Amiriam had kind of gotten that part right.

"Why?"

"Because she was a greedy little bitch who only cared about money."

Ouch.

Amiriam bit her tongue to keep from saying, "I told you so."

With a narrowed eye, Luke shook his head. "Don't say it."

Flinging up her hands in dismay, Amiriam said, "I wasn't going to say anything."

"Sure, you weren't. I already know the trouble I'm in. I don't need you to make it worse."

In an unwise moment, Amiriam said impulsively, "Umm…can I do anything to help?"

A dry laugh rumbled from him. "Not unless you're willing to marry me."

Amiriam nearly choked on her tongue, and she was sure her face turned tomato red at the mere consideration of something so absurd.

Be his wife? Uh-uh, not going to happen.

Her feet were stuck to the ground as she thought about sneaking off with James for the first explosion between Luke and Jackson. Those two were oil and water. What she had observed was that they had never mixed and were masters at making any situation turn into an awkward-as-hell situation. The terror on Luke's face was more than anything. Maybe they both ought to sneak off together.

Alas, she should likely go meet his parents. They would not expect anything less. And if she were being truthful, her dynamic with the Oden family was not bad. They really did get along quite well. If they were friends at a gala or something, anyway.

Hooking her thumb over her shoulder, Amiriam indicated the staircase.

"I'm uh…just gonna––"

"Daddy!" James yelled from downstairs, cutting her off as his feet pounded the floor in a rush to reach the garage as quickly as possible.

A new set of footsteps echoed through before a loud voice bellowed, "My boy!"

The voices softened as Amiriam continued to glare at Luke in front of her. He didn't shift an inch as he listens to his father welcome his little brother with more affection than she ever heard him show towards him.

Her heart hurt.

With his eyes unfocused and looking off into space, Luke didn't look quite so much like the aggravating bad boy she knew and more like his little brother he didn't want to be identified as.

"Is everything okay?" Amiriam whispered softly.

Her voice had the effect of drawing his attention back to the present.

"Fine." Looking at her frosty feet, he went on, "Now, if you don't mind. I guess I must go meet Daddy Dearest."

As Amiriam stepped aside, Luke shoved through the hole she had created between her chest and the doorjamb. His arm swept along her front, petrifying her. Her heart hammered as she watched him walk down the hallway before disappearing down the stairs. If she didn't know any better, she'd label him the carefree asshole she'd come to expect.

But she was gradually discovering how wrong things could look.

She remained stiff at the head of the stairs for a couple of minutes before calming her breathing and creeping down the stairs.

Upon noticing James playing on her phone, she grimaced.

Good nanny work, Amiriam. She berated herself before freezing when she overhears Luke and Jackson talking.

"So, where is she?" Jackson accused.

"Unfortunately───"

"That's what I thought. You were lying, weren't you? I mean, who in his right mind would actually marry a screw-up like you? Unless you were bribing her, of course. Then it would all make perfect sense."

"Like father, like son," Luke retorted, not blinking an eye. His fists were balled at his sides. The poison in his voice was excruciating.

"Don't you begin with me, boy. I said to grow up. And as soon as the chance comes along, what do you do? You take a simple stipulation and––"

"Don't attempt to play as though you know me," Luke snarled, cutting him off.

Luke was right. His father had no clue who he was. If he did, he'd know that Luke hadn't spent his twenties roaming all over the world. He'd been helping the poor. He'd been changing the world. He'd been quietly fixing all the problems everyone else liked to pretend didn't exist. But here he was, getting a tongue-lashing for it.

Amiriam failed to hear Jackson's counterargument. She couldn't even hear it if she wanted to because she was making the stupidest decision of her life.

Her palms were shaking, and her heart was racing a billion beats per minute as she removed a ring from her right hand. She didn't have any idea what she was doing. In fact, she was quite sure she was having an out-of-body experience as she watched her sweaty palms wrestle with the jewelry before setting it on her left ring finger.

With a buzz in her ears, she advanced and yelled, "Hey, sorry I'm late. I was cleaning up in the restroom. Babe, did you give me the good news?"

Keeping her stride, her bare feet padded on the floor and over to stunned Luke. His eyes were covered by a veil of indifference, and she found herself giving credit to him because he had not the slightest clue what she was up to. If she told the truth, neither did she. Rising on her tiptoes, she kissed the stubble of his cheek and then slid her hand into the bend of his elbow. Her head on his shoulder, she hoped Luke would jump in at any moment and redirect the spotlight from her because she was about two seconds from snapping under the intensity of Jackson's and Mrs. Oden's scrutinizing stares.

"Amiriam?" Jackson said her name as if she were a stranger before he glanced at Luke. "This is your fiancée?"

Staring down at her, Luke's face split open in a giant grin, his damn dimples shining brightly. "Sure is. Surprise."

"But…how?" Jackson demanded, clearly flummoxed.

"Yeah…how?" James repeated, similarly curious.

In a panic, Amiriam looked up at Luke.

Shit. Why hadn't she thought of that?

Grasping her waist in his arms, Luke drew her close before proceeding, "We wanted to be certain it was the real deal before we broke the news to everyone."

Fortunately, the little one was just six and didn't feel obligated to press the issue before heading back to the game apps on Amiriam's phone. She breathed a sigh of relief as tension ebbed from her strained muscles like butter melting on hot toast.

That is, until Jackson had a say, "So where's the ring?"

"Ring?" Luke asked, playing dumb.

"Yeah. The one that sets you back almost thirty thousand dollars that you put on your credit card. I guess if I'm paying for it, I should then be able to gawk at the rock—"

"I wore my grandmother's ring," Amiriam broke in before holding up her left hand for him to examine. Mrs. Oden at last appeared to take some interest in the subject at hand when she g

Advanced and took Amiriam's hand in hers.

Were they not staring so intently, Amiriam would have crossed her fingers and prayed that they would not see that she had bought the stinkin' thing from the mall a week ago. It was a delicate gold ring that seemed to almost look intricately braided, but was still plain old jewelry. There was no fictional diamond to aid in the selling of her tale, so she continued, "My grandpa was very poor when he asked my grandma to marry him so…. " Her words faded into the air as an uncomfortable silence filled the room.

"Well, at least you're not marrying the man for his wealth if you pass him on for this," Mrs. Oden said, dropping Amiriam's hand and inspecting her nails. Clearly, she was no longer paying attention to the conversation.

"Yes, well…some marry for love." Amiriam's teeth sank into her lower lip the moment the barely suppressed sneer was flung, although she failed to detect the sound of Luke's chest vibrating with laughter before he choked it back on a cough.

"Anyway, I'm sure you'll have loads of questions for my bride-to-be, but she has to get James into bed," Luke interposed, steering the topic in a different direction.

Amiriam jumped at the opportunity Luke had presented her and grabbed it with both hands. "Yup. It's been a big day for everyone. James, goodnight to your parents, then we're going to tuck you in, okay?"

His gaze never wavering from hers, his fingers still flying across the screen in front of him. Amiriam wriggled free from Luke's grasp and picked up her phone with care before shoving it into the back pocket of her jean shorts. Not exactly the little black cocktail dress his other fiancée had been wearing when she intended to come in and meet the parents, but…oh well.

"Go on, buddy. Say goodnight to your parents. It's time for bed."

James bid his parents goodnight, and Amiriam did the same, accepting their congratulatory handshakes before taking her favorite six-year-old up to bed with her hand knotted in his. She'd do anything to get out of that chaos.