Chapter Nine
She was sitting in the back of a black taxi cab, which was driving her somewhere up north. The driver hadn’t said much to her, just a “Hey,” and then “You watching the game tonight?” To which she had responded with a “Hello,” and “What game?” Conversation had ended quickly thereafter. The ring felt heavy on her fingers, and she couldn’t stop flexing her fingers to stare at it under different shades of light. The tiny stone on her ring finger could literally pay for her entire student debt. She had half a mind to tell the driver to change direction and drop her off at Pearson International instead. Disappear from the country with thirty G’s literally in her hand, live a good life in Spain, marry a Mafioso who would shoot anyone who talked down to her.
She sighed as she dropped her hand to her thigh. That was a fantasy she would live out another day. For the foreseeable future, she didn’t see any way to extract herself from the agreement she had found herself in.
Although, she would be lying if she said she wasn’t a tiny bit curious to meet William Harding’s family. Simply put, just what kind of upbringing had he been put through the end up the way he had? The man didn’t know how to have fun. In the ten hours she had spent in his office so far, all he did was work, schmooze others to get better work deals, and then talk about work in his free time. They had to be quite the characters to drive their son to hire a woman to feign being his fiancé.
I need them off my back, he’d explained. It was the only explanation she’d been given.
She didn’t recognize the neighbourhood they pulled into. Irregardless, it was cushy for sure with tall, thick trees and landscaped bushes that lined the sidewalks. The driver stopped in front of a quaint restaurant, which was modestly lit from the outside. “The Whisky Stop,” was all he said, as if it meant something to her.
“Thanks,” Molly muttered as she swung her legs out of the cab. William had given her no instructions other than to meet her at the restaurant his family was dining at, and she had no idea where exactly she was supposed to meet them.
That answer made itself clear soon enough, as a sleek, silver Tesla pulled in behind her. The quiet engine shut itself off, and she spotted William behind the driver’s seat. Wearing the same clothes he had all day, save for the black blazer, he gave her a quick nod of approval as he got out of the car and saw her. The only indicator that he was even a little bit exhausted from his day was the slight disheveling of his hair, which was unconsciously done. “Did you manage to read the information I gave you on my family?”
She quashed the familiar bout of nerves. Oh. Right. The manilla folder he’d given her… “Yup,” she lied. “What’s your mums name again?”
“Charlotte,” he said with his brow narrowed. “Why do I have a feeling you’re lying to me?”
“Come, we don’t want to keep your family waiting,” she was already walking ahead of him. The sooner they got this over with, the better. “And what was your dads name… never mind,” she changed the topic at the look on his face. “Have some faith in me!”
“You haven’t given me much to go on.”
“If you keep looking so sour, they’ll catch on onto you. Just try not to look like you hate me.” She said as they entered the restaurant. The subdued luxury of the establishment was not lost on her. Subtle chandeliers lined the frescoed ceilings, with blue tapestries covering the walls. Quiet chatter filled the room, with groups of people pocketed in shadowed tables. It looked like a scene from a 1960s jazz bar, marble floors and romantic lighting.
“Will honey, over here!”
Molly steadied her nerves. Here went nothing.
Looking to their left, she saw a family of four looking expectantly over at them. A woman, who she resumed was his mother, sat wearing a red, satin dress. Her hair was curly, brown, and tied up in an exaggerated bun. Pendant earrings hung from her lobes, framing a glittering jewel that was nestled in between her breasts. Sat next to him was a man likely in his sixties, looking nothing less than a silver fox in his button up shirt and plaid pants - clearly William’s father - and off to his side were two other men, who looked uncannily like William.
“Brothers?” She hissed under her breath, “you didn’t tell me you had two brothers!”
“If you read the book I gave you, you would.” He hissed back, as he uncomfortably wrapped an arm around her shoulders. His arm felt stiff around her, as did his body. She tried to ease into it, and put on her warmest smile.
“Relax,” she murmured quietly, “You’re acting frigid.”
“My fiancé wouldn’t tell me I’m acting frigid, sweetheart.” He murmured back, as they approached the table.
She tried to distract herself from the lean muscle she felt underneath his shirt, and the faint whiff of cologne she could smell drifting from him. Everything about him was expensive, and methodically put together. This was not a man you caught unawares.
Which is how she felt right at this moment, completely unaware of what was happening around her.
“Whose this lovely lady you’ve brought to dinner?” Charlotte looked enthralled, her enthusiasm radiating from her rosy cheeks. There was a general feeling of surprise around the table, and Molly didn’t know where or who to look at.
“Hey everyone,” Molly she said finally, trying to soften into William’s ribcage. He hadn’t even prepared his family for her arrival?! She wanted to hit him for that. “I’ve heard so much about everyone here.”
“William?” Charlotte turned to her son, “You’ve kept us in the dark! Come, sit first! What are you both standing for? Robert, scoot over and make room for your brother.”
Molly forced a smile as she sat down amongst the group. For a lack of better words, everyone was so shiny. She felt entirely out of place amongst the five of them. She self-consciously pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and tried to relax.
“I wanted to see how things went before… you know,” William gave Molly a smile, the first one she’d seen all day. It made her do a double-take, since the gesture transformed his face entirely; made him look human for once. “Molly and I have been dating for a few months, and it’s happened so quickly. I didn’t think it was serious at first, but I’ve only kept falling deeper and faster for her. It’s been a whirlwind, to be honest. It took us both my surprise. And… well, we have news to announce.”
His words were greeted with silence, and Molly was too afraid to see how they were taking it. Instead, she kept her gaze focused on William, who returned her stare.
“I’ve asked her to marry me,” William said softly, and convincingly so. “And she’s said yes.”
Molly wanted to applaud his performance. If she didn’t know better, she would have pinned him for being a man in love.
The thought that he could do this so effortlessly was chillingly terrifying.
She finally looked away from him and glanced at the folk around the room. They were so stunned that you could literally hear someone pouring water into a glass from a table across from them.
And just like that, the tension dissolved. Smiles graced the faces of everyone sitting around them.
Charlotte’s eyes widened, “Oh my goodness!”
“Congratulations, little brother!”
The brother to her left pulled Molly into a half-sided hug, “Just like Will to tell us none of his plans in advance.”
“You’ve agreed to marry this crazy son of a bitch?” The one named Robert was grinning ear to ear, “man, I’ve always thought it would take one hell of a woman… come here, Molly - give us a hug!”
She didn’t know what she was expecting, but it was not this. She stood up and was immediately pulled into a warm embrace by Robert, and later by James who she learned was his other elder brother. Charlotte, came over next, with tears in her eyes, and joined the hug.
Molly found herself unable to move.
“You’re suffocating her,” William’s embarrassed voice finally broke through the noise, “Let her breathe.”
“Oh, shush!” Charlotte smacked William’s head, “I finally am going to have a daughter! Jeremy, move - I want her to sit next to me.”
Molly looked to see who Jeremy was, and realized she was referring to William’s dad - the only one who hadn’t spoken up or congratulated her. He was sitting calmly in his chair, and gave her a small nod of approval as their eyes made contact. “Of course, dear.”
“Molly can sit right here…” William offered but was cut off from his mother.
“Oh, be quiet! My youngest son is engaged. I need to know everything there is to know about you!”
The father finally asked, breaking his silence. “How did you meet my son?”
There was something uncanny about William’s father, and Molly didn’t miss the way the two avoided each other’s eye.
“We -.” Molly started but the eldest brother, Robert cut her off.
“Let me guess, he bought over your company or something? You met a merger”
James was nodding, “Why did you ever agree to go on a date with this stuffy asshole?”
“Did he ever tell you where he disappears every second weekend? Is he involved with the Chinese mafia?”
“Robert, William is not involved with the Chinese mafia,” his mother sternly said as she ushered Molly into sit beside her. “Now let the couple talk, we haven’t led Molly get a word in edgewise. Molly, dear, do you want something to drink?”
“Um…” she felt completely taken aback. She was expecting his family to be replicas of Will -stuffy, arrogant, rude, aristocrat-folk. But not this. They were nice. They were… normal. She almost felt bad for lying to them. Almost. “Water is fine.”
“Nonsense,” James hushed her with a hand, “let’s order some champagne. Little brother getting married is something to celebrate.”
“Lord knows we’ve been nagging him to have some type of personal life for so long,” Robert added, as he filled the glass in front of Molly with red wine, “he’s obsessed with his work. I haven’t seem him do anything else my entire life. Hustler from the age of five. Thought it would be good for him to take a step back from all the chaos of the business world.”
“We are so happy to meet you, Molly.” Charlotte added, with a hand on her shoulder, “Tell us about yourself. Where were you born?”
“Um…” she started, searching for a lie but then realized she didn’t have to lie about this. “Toronto.”
“How did you meet our Will?”
Our Will? She almost laughed, “We…” she looked at him frantically, realizing then that they hadn’t come up with a story. His green eyes stared back at her, offering her no answers.
“At a bar,” she said just as he said, “At work.”
“At a bar at work,” she completed the sentence, giving William a warm smile. “It was a networking event.”
“Did he have a line?” Robert asked, “how’d he get you to talk to him?”
“He…” she searched for words, aware of the tense gaze William was keeping on her. “Just told me how pretty I was. No lines, or jokes. Just came up to me just like that.”
James laughed, “Amazing! I didn’t think he had it in him.”
“William has always been the romantic type,” Charlotte said effusively, “I mean. I’m sure he’s told you all about…” she trailed off, “we don’t need to get into that. But even despite that, he’s always been such a romantic.”
Molly cocked her head in curiosity, giving William a questioning look. He looked like he wanted to bury himself alive. “Ever since…?”
“Let’s not bring up the past,” William steamrolled on, brushing a hand through his hair. Was he stressed? “Anyway, I’m glad that everyone is happy to have met Molly... we don’t need to interrogate her, give her some time to settle in.”
“How did you propose?” James asked, giving Will a pat on the back. “Wait, let me see the ring, Molly.”
The family, aside from the father who continued to look on pensively from his seat, gushed about the ring. Which was just as well as it gave William more time to brainstorm a proposal story. When they finally drilled him for it again, he simply said he had proposed at her home, while they were eating dinner together.
“I wanted something simple,” Molly explained when they all began to complain at how lacklustre it all sounded. “Neither William and I are much for show.”
“Well, the wedding will be nothing of the sort. We are a family that celebrates.”
Molly nearly choked on the red wine, “Wedding…”
“Have you set a date?”
“Next year,” Will finished for her, which was just as well since her cheeks had gone red. “We just want to enjoy the engagement so far, and have Molly get to know everyone in the family.” His voice was firm and calculated, and Molly took that as a moment to swallow the rest of the red wine in her glass.
“You could have at least told us you were dating someone, I wouldn’t have set you up on all those blind dates,” Robert scolded William, “a text would have been sufficient.”
“Like I said, it happened very quickly” William responded, briefly glancing at Molly, “Right, hon?”
“Right.” She smiled back. God, this was a lot harder than she thought it was going to be. It was a lot easier lying to rich, pretentious folk. Not so much when the people were nice.
The rest of the evening went as bizarrely as it had started. As opposed to the reserved nature of William that she was expecting, his entire family was rambunctious, chatty and loud. She sat by quietly as they talked about their week, James’s upcoming colonoscopy that he wasn’t looking forward to, Robert’s renovations on the farm, and their father’s work on their car. She found that the only one in the family who didn’t have much to say was the father, and aside from the slight nod that he’d given her at the beginning of dinner, he didn’t say much at all.
When pressed about what she does, she explained that she had just graduated from school and was working as a full time consultant (small lie), was working as an independent contractor for various IR firms (bigger lie), and that lived in the west end of Yorkville - an expensive neighbourhood in downtown Toronto (biggest lie). When the champagne arrived, they had Molly give a toast, and she managed to come up with some jargon about how excited she was to join such a warm and welcoming family, and how lucky she was to have such a kind, handsome and loving fiancé such as William. She saw him nearly choke on his water as she said it, which she felt was retribution for all the discomfort he’d caused her today.
It went by quickly. Probably because she was so high on adrenaline, and so tense from the entire situation, she found that she couldn’t relax - not even for a moment. Charlotte was a bit of a drama queen, which she found so bizarre given how down to earth Will was. And seeing as how chatty both Robert and James were, she couldn’t help but keep looking at the three brothers to try and figure out how William had ended up as William.
By the time the group of them were leaving the restaurant, it was nearly eleven o clock, and Molly felt physically and emotionally exhausted.
Charlotte gave her another hug outside of the restaurant, “This was too short. We can’t wait to get to know you better,” she said, holding her at arms length. “Thank you for making my son so happy.”
Molly smiled back, “of course.”
William flagged a cab for her, and she took a sigh of relief. The end was in sight.
“It was nice meeting all of you!” She said as she turned towards the cab. William was holding the door open for her, a look of momentary gratitude on his face. As she came closer, he lowered his head.
“You did well.”
“I told you to trust me,” she whispered back.
It was at that moment the two realized that they had an audience. Looking back, Molly saw William’s entire family peering on, as if expectantly waiting for something.
Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.
She looked back at William, and the look on his face mirrored hers.
She raised an eyebrow, “Are we…?”
He shifted uncomfortably, straightening his back as he moved closer, “Let’s just get it over with.”
“I’m not fetching your coffee tomorrow.”
“We can discuss that tomorrow.”
Conscious of the cab car waiting, Molly closed her eyes and leaned in, not believing she was doing this. Holding her breath, she went on her tippy toes to meet his height and met his lips with hers.
The kiss was longer than the expected peck. Not just a quick second, but more like, four drawn out seconds. Her skin tickled at the feel of his scruff, and her neck tickled as his hand gently drew her close. It was over before she even registered it was happening, and her body flushed as he pulled back. It was as if an electrical pull had snapped into gear, and immediately diffused - all within moments.
With that, she jumped into the cab and William shut the door behind her. She briefly glanced behind to see Charlotte waving at her goodbye, and as the family disappeared into the distance, she slumped back into the seat.
She pulled out her phone and immediately called Liv, who picked up on the first ring.
“Where the hell are you?”
“I’ve just had the longest day of my life.”
“Ok. Details. Now.”
“Fine. But I’ll be home in fifteen. Can you please get some shots of tequila ready for me?”