I Just Keep Hoping That Your Heart Opens (Arranged Marriage) .01.

Chapter 48

“Hello Annie,” Blaire muttered. “Dinner won’t be ready for at least another hour.” She turned back into the kitchen and listened to the woman’s footsteps as she followed her.

“Ms. Sanders, we’re prepared to give you a hefty sum of money if you’re willing to disappear from Blythe’s life.”

Blaire whipped around, her eyes wide. “You can’t be serious?” Annie gave her a look and Blaire found herself laughing. “How much are you willing to part with to keep your precious Blythe?”

“Two million dollars.”

Blaire stopped laughing. “T-two million dollars?” she coughed.

“That’s correct,” Blythe’s aunt said sharply. “That’d be for you to stay away from him for as long as you both live. Never call him, write him, or contact him in any way. Never speak about what happened between you.”

Blaire checked the turkey. “You do realize this is your families fault right?”

“Mr. Stark is aware of the mistake he made. He was so sure you two would hate one another, pushing Blythe towards a more obedient wife. He never expected you two to actually-,” Annie grimaced as though it was impossible to speak the words.

“Fall in love?” Blaire asked.

“It’s not love!” Annie snapped. “You don’t know what love is!”

Blaire shrugged and lifted herself to sit on the counter. “I’m going to tell it to you straight Annie. You might want to sit down for this.”

Annie placed her hands on her hips, “I’ll stand.”

“Suit yourself.” Blaire took a breath. “Now I’m going to say this once and only once. So I hope you understand it the first time. I’m not leaving your nephew. I love him, and yes, I do know what love is. I love Blythe more than anything and I’m greatly looking forward to marrying him.”

“But you,” her fiancé’s aunt seemed to be out of arguments.

“Sh,” Blaire murmured quietly. “I’m sure you’re all a little scared that I’m going to force Blythe away from running the family business. I’m not. I hope you can understand that. Blythe loves working and he loves the company. Not even the worst wife could possibly drag him away from that. We’re going to have children, and those children can, if they so wish, take over the company as well. It’s going to be all about choices in this family.”

“You’re not going to want to sell the company?” His aunt asked suspiciously.

“Okay, what gave you that idea?” Blaire asked exasperatedly. “Nothing I’ve said or done could have possibly given you that.”

Annie frowned. “It wasn’t your idea?”

“What wasn’t my idea?” Blaire hopped down from the counter. “What are you talking about?”

“You don’t even know?”

The conversation was getting more and more confusing by the second. Blaire inched forward until she was mere steps from Annie. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Annie.”

Clearly satisfied that she was one step ahead her future relative Annie smiled. “Honey, Blythe’s quitting the company.”

Blaire was speechless. There was no way her business loving boyfriend would possibly quit the company he’d poured his soul into. “You’ve got to be mistaken. Blythe wouldn’t do that. He just told me he had a lot of work to do.”

“Probably filling out the necessary papers to finalize the deal.”

“Well, Annie, I’m shocked. I swear I had nothing to do with this.” Blaire ran a hand through her hair and took a few calming breaths. “I’m going to find out what’s going on here. Watch the food?”

Annie glanced at the stove. “Fine.”

“Thanks.” With that, Blaire sprinted from the kitchen in search of Blythe. Annie had to wrong, she just had to be. Blythe loved working, there was no way he’d quit the company without a good, logical reason. And she hoped to god that there was one.

She listened for the shouting of the children and finally determined that they were messing around in the back yard. When she finally reached the door she was completely out of breath, ready to buckle over.

“Blythe, I really need to talk to you!” Blaire called out the door. She struggled to keep her voice steady.

“Ten minutes Blaire? We’re creaming them!” Blythe yelled back, referring to the fact that him and Shan were destroying the rest of the family in a game of football.

“You know, I really need to talk to you!” Blaire’s voice squeaked when it came to the word ‘really’ and she almost dissolved right there.

Blythe stopped playing, understanding her desperate need to speak to him at that exact moment, and called a time-out. He jogged up to her and then brushed past her into the house. Blaire shut the door and turned to him.

“What did you need to talk to me about right now?” He asked. It was clear he was trying awful hard to keep his annoyance out of his voice, but he wasn’t doing very well.

Blaire opened her mouth to speak and then found no words. Instead, tears poured down her face. “Tell me it’s not because of me!”

Through her blurry eyes she could see the bewildered expression on his face.

“Whoa, alright, stop crying.” He reached for her, tugging her against his chest. She buried her face against his shoulder for a moment, and only a moment.

Then she wrenched herself away. “Annie, Annie, she told me that you’re, the company Blythe, why are you doing it?”

Thankfully he understood. “What do you want me to say Blaire?”

“That it’s not because of me,” she whimpered. Her initial downpour of tears had stopped and the tears that remained dripped slowly out of the corner of her eyes landing in plops on the ground at her feet.

“I can’t tell you that.”

“So it is because of me?” Blaire wailed. She slumped to the ground. “I don’t want you to give up the things you love for me Blythe. I never wanted that.”

Blythe sat down in front of her and pulled her lightly between his legs until her back rested against him. “Blaire, listen to me for a second. I don’t love work. I tolerate it. I love you and if working at my dad’s company means that I don’t get to spend time with you, then I don’t want it.”

“What are you going to do instead then?” Blaire sniffed, wiping futilely at the wet stains on her cheeks.

“I’ll find another job. With my recommendations who could possibly say no?” He grinned.

Blaire frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”

“So I could see you crying?” Blythe asked touching the side of her face gently. “I was going to, I really was Blaire. I was just waiting until we were alone or something and you just seemed so happy today.”

Blaire, despite wanting to scream at him that she’d been better off knowing, only nodded. “I see your point. You can go back and play now if you want.”

“Who’s watching dinner?” Blythe asked standing up and then offering a hand.

“Annie.”

“Come on out and play with us. It’s three against two anyways.”

Blaire tucked her hair behind her ear and shrugged. “I don’t know. It seems like a guy’s game.”

“It’s only a guy’s game because no girl’s are playing. Please Blaire?”

“Fine,” Blaire muttered, feigning reluctance.

As Blythe led her outside by the hand she grinned like a child. The roles had finally been reversed. Now it was Blythe who bugged her to be like a kid, Blythe who wanted her to play games.

“Boys, Blaire’s going to play with us! She’s on our team though, I call.”

The game continued for at least thirty minutes before Blaire got a chance to actually play. She’d spent so long just trying to understand all the plays her teammates kept shouting.

Towards the end she jumped on Blythe’s back, tackling him to the ground causing him to fumble the ball. After which she grabbed the pig skin and ran around a little bit not exactly sure where to go. Blythe chased her down, and eventually swept her into his arms.

She tossed the football to someone else and kissed Blythe lightly on the mouth. When he set her back down on her feet she saw Annie watching them from the window, an unrecognizable expression on her face.

Blaire lifted her hand in a wave.

Annie waved back.