Dark Redemption - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,44

doesn't your mom like me? Why has she hated me all this time? Why does she always try to make things so hard for me?"

"I have no idea." I shake my head, rubbing her back and bringing her in for a little hug.

"Marguerite, are you okay?" Lincoln yells from across the room, and everyone turns to look.

She cringes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just started to feel a little dizzy," she lies, glares at me, clearly annoyed by her husband's denseness.

I wish there was something I could do.

Not that I want Mom to not get along with Jacqueline. I just wish that she was nicer to her real daughter-in-law, the one that's been there all this time, trying to be her friend.

But that's the thing about Mom. She doesn't like things that are too easy to have. The men that always went after her and showed their interest in her and promised to be good husbands, those weren’t good enough.

The ones that she has always wanted were the ones that would break her heart: the ones that didn’t need her approval, the ones that stood on their own two feet and weren’t impressed by her wealth or her family's history.

Is that what Jacqueline is doing different?

Is that why Mom likes her?

Because she has to work hard to impress her?

Because Jacqueline is so different from Marguerite?

Not only is she her own person, but she tends to live life on her own terms, and I wonder if that's exactly why I'm so attracted to her as well, and that maybe Mom and I aren't that different after all.

26

Jacqueline

Somehow I had managed to make quite an impression on Adele. I feel bad when I see Marguerite sitting in the corner and Adele not engaging with her at all and I try to include her in the conversation.

I ask about her pregnancy and even ask her if she had read any of the books that Adele and I had talked about, but it doesn't seem to work. After a little while, Marguerite just excuses herself and walks away, leaving the two of us alone.

I feel bad for her, but I like the connection that I'm forging with Dante's mother. Despite what anyone says, you always want your potential mother-in-law to like you and not add to the conflict and I'm surprised that it's actually happening.

After breakfast, the four of us head out to the beach and Adele stays behind to catch up on her reading.

I can feel the tension emanating from Marguerite and I apologize before she can say anything.

"I'm really sorry," I say as we walk down the path, carrying our towels, already dressed in bathing suits and cover-ups.

"I just can't believe that she likes you so much," she says.

She's wearing big sunglasses with an elaborate design around the corners but I can tell by the way that her lip trembles that she's about to cry.

"You can't pay attention to what she says," I tell her. "Adele seems to be enticed by people who aren't impressed by her. You have to act more aloof.”

"I can't do that. I just want her to be happy for us, you know? I want her to celebrate this baby, her first grandchild."

"I know, I know you do.” I put my arm around her.

Lincoln and Dante walk ahead of us carrying the majority of the beach supplies, the cooler, the umbrellas, and the chairs.

Dante turns briefly to look back and gives me a little smile when he sees me holding Marguerite.

"I'll put in a good word," I say. "I totally thought that she was going to hate me. But I can't make any promises. She is how she is. But for you, if you want my advice, you have to act like you don't care."

"Why? Why do I have to be like that?"

"I don't know. It's like with guys, if you act too eager, you know, to go on a date and you call him right after and you act like you like him a lot, they get turned off."

"But I did that with Lincoln and we’ve been together ever since."

"Well, you've seen that in movies, at least, right?" I joke. "When you date, you have to give people space. Otherwise, they start questioning your intentions. They think, 'Eh, maybe this person's too eager,' and nobody wants someone who is too eager."

I don't know how else to explain it. That's the best that I can do and by the expression on her face I'm not sure she fully understands.

Everything about Marguerite