Chapter Six
Gabe
It had been three days since Lana and I had argued. She had walked out of the farmhouse as abruptly as she had walked in. Despite the fact that she looked magnificent when she was angry, I was more than a little pissed that she expected me to go along with dad’s crazy idea that I find and marry a local woman. It felt as if the entire world had gone mad and I was the only sane one left.
But I hadn’t been able to get what she had said out of my mind. When I found out about dad’s stipulation, I hadn’t thought about the effect it would have on everyone else’s lives. Now I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if I just walked away from it all.
Even though my entire being was screaming that I should just jack it all in and head back to DC with Louie, and never look back, my sense of duty to the farm and my father’s legacy kept poking into my brain and telling me I couldn’t just disappear and leave it all for Matt to destroy.
I had to think smarter. So I did. I managed to get hold of Matt’s plans for the farm and saw exactly what he was planning to do. I visited the lawyer again and she confirmed that there were no loopholes in the will. I had to marry a local girl to keep the farm intact.
Later that evening, I sat on the couch with Louie watching cartoons. I could hardly concentrate as I tried to figure out how to find a woman who would marry me. The thought of dating someone from this town filled me with dread. The thought of letting another woman into my life, from this place, who could potentially do what Rebecca did, filled me with so much anxiety that I became aware that I had been grinding my teeth.
While Louie sat and laughed at the crazy characters on the TV, my mind kept drifting back to when Lana had dismissed the suggestion that she marry me as ridiculous. Boy, she had been scathing in her dismissal, and I could see her point. But I had only asked her out of frustration, in retaliation to her insistence that I should do as my dad asked in his Will.
I couldn’t see any way around it. Unless…
I drummed my fingers on the couch as the thoughts began to form in my mind. What if, instead of finding a woman to marry for real, I managed to convince one to pretend to marry me? Who would I ask? Only one person sprang to mind.
Lana.
Could I somehow persuade her to have a fake relationship and marriage with me? Just for the purpose of sorting out this fiasco with the farm? No. I should just put the idea out of my mind.
But the more I thought about it, the more I thought it might just work. Lana was a beautiful woman, and had a kind heart. She was the kind of woman I would normally be attracted to, I guessed, so nobody would question me being attracted to her. Then there was the added bonus that we had known each other since we were kids, and we had a great friendship throughout the years. In fact, at one point I had kind of seen myself being with Lana, had it not been for Kyle entering the picture. I had always been too shy about asking her because it had seemed inappropriate somehow. Not that I wanted her to know that I had ever been attracted to her.
Could this be the solution? How would we go about it? I figured that we would have to carry on with the pretense for a minimum of six months. I mulled the ideas over in my mind.
I wondered how it would feel living with Lana, how it would be to act like we were a couple. Of course, she was incredibly beautiful, there was no denying that, and we had a natural chemistry. There would be Louie to think of, too. For me, it would be much easier to integrate Lana into his life more than some new woman, since he was already besotted with her.
Could it work? I wasn’t sure. Would she even entertain the idea? I wasn’t so sure, considering the way she had reacted when I asked her out of frustration.
I drummed my fingers on the couch, wondering whether or not to go and ask her. Then with my mind made up, I ruffled Louie’s hair.
“Louie, why don’t we go across to Marta and Julio’s house for a quick visit?”
Louie tore his eyes away from the cartoons and grinned up at me. “Do you think Marta has some special cookies for me?”
“I don’t know kiddo. Let’s go find out.”
We trudged across the dirt track and knocked on the Torres’ door. I almost chickened out and was just about to bolt back to the farmhouse when Lana opened the door and frowned at me in confusion. “What?”
“Has Marta got any cookies?” Louie asked, throwing his arms round Lana’s legs.
Lana didn’t take her eyes off me. “I think so little one. Why don’t you go inside and ask her?”
Louie ran into the house and Lana closed the door behind us. I shuffled from one foot to another, trying to find the courage to say what I had come to say. I really hoped she didn’t hit me.
“I suppose you’ve come to let us know that you’re leaving?” Lana folded her arms across her chest protectively.
“What? No! Actually, I was thinking about what we talked about the other day. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. Because you’re right. I can’t just walk away from the farm and let Matt do what he wants. Dad didn’t want that.”
Lana uncrossed her arms, letting her guard down a little. “No, he didn’t. He wanted the farm to carry on. He wanted you to run it just like he did.”
“Yeah. I see that now. But all I could think of before was how crazy it was that I had to marry a South Dakotan woman just to get my inheritance.”
Lana tipped her head to the side and her lips curved into a wry smile. “It is a little crazy, I know.”
“So, you can see why I initially just wanted to run off back to DC?”
“Yeah. And when you asked me if I would marry you…hell I knew you were really grasping at straws there.”
Her deep brown eyes bored into me fiercely. I wasn’t sure I could carry through with what I needed to say. I took a small step back, just in case she tried to hit me. “Um, you see, I’ve been thinking about it, and I don’t actually think the idea is ridiculous.”
Silence. Her eyebrows raised in disbelief.
I held my hand out to stop whatever onslaught of vitriol she looked like she was about to release on me. “Hang on, Lana. Hear me out.”
Her eyes narrowed, her face a picture of doubt. Finally, she nodded. “Okay. I’m listening.”
I breathed out a shuddering sigh, anxious to get it over with. “I think that asking you to marry me is a great idea. Genius even.” She opened her mouth to speak, but I kept going. “Think about it, Lana. It means I don’t have to go through the rigmarole of finding and dating some strange woman. I don’t want to disrupt Louie’s life just so I can pull this off. We’ve known each other since we were kids, and we get on well with each other, so we shouldn’t have any issues living together. It’s the only logical thing to do!”
“Hang on, wait a minute. Are you seriously asking me to marry you?”
“Yes, you’re perfect! I mean, it won’t be a real marriage. You won’t have to kiss me or sleep with me or anything. You could even have your own bedroom if you like.”
Her jaw dropped open as she backed away from me, incredulously. “You want me to have a fake marriage with you?”
I held my hands out. “It makes the most sense to me, if you think about it from the point of view of saving the farm. It only has to be for about six months to a year. Then once the inheritance has been transferred to me, we can quietly divorce and go back to living our own lives. Is that something you think you would be able to do? To fake it, I mean?”
Lana’s face was unreadable. I put my hand on her shoulder, which made her look up into my eyes. “Do you honestly think this is the only way to save the farm?”
I nodded. “If there was some other way, I wouldn’t be here asking you now.”
Something passed behind her eyes. I felt a thud in my stomach and had to breathe out slowly to steady my nerves.
“I don’t know whether to assume you’ve lost your mind, or whether you’ve actually come up with a viable plan. Gimme a moment while I try and figure this out. Do you think anyone would believe it was real?”
“I think so. I mean, we would have to act all lovey dovey in public and in front of Matt, but I don’t think it’s too hard a leap. I know I would find this a lot easier than actually having to marry someone for real.”
“And I don’t actually have to sleep in the same bed as you, or anything like that?”
“No. The whole thing will be fake.”
She thought for a moment, her brows furrowing deeply. “It all seems a bit duplicitous. I don’t know if I can be involved in something like that… Ah fuck it. Okay. If it will help save my parents’ livelihood and house, I’ll do it.”
“Really?” I wasn’t sure if I had heard right.
“Yes, Gabe Dawson. I will fake marry you. What could possibly go wrong, huh?”
We stood for a moment as we considered what we had just agreed to do. Then awkwardly, as though to seal the deal, we inched closer and wrapped our arms tentatively round each other in a hug. It felt awkward at first, hugging after such a strange conversation. This woman, my childhood friend, had just agreed to become my wife. My fake wife. It was such a surreal experience.
The longer the hug lasted the more Lana seemed to relax into my embrace. I think it was probably the relief at finding a way of stopping Matt from taking the farm and throwing out her parents. As she relaxed, I relaxed a little too. Somehow the tension of the last few weeks began to disappear.
I became aware of how warm her body was as I held her against me. I inhaled her scent and suddenly felt a desire to kiss her neck. It was so close to my lips, so inviting. It took all my strength not to nibble at her ear.
She seemed to sense a change in the mood, because she pulled away and looked up into my eyes, her face deadly serious. “I’m warning you now, Gabe Dawson. No funny business. I’m doing this for my parents and the farm. Don’t be getting any ideas about me, okay?”
Rather than admit to my momentary loss of control, I puffed out my chest and eyed her indignantly. “As if Torres! This is strictly business and nothing else.”
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously for a moment, before shaking her head and flashing her teeth in a dazzling smile. I noted that her cheeks had gone red, and I wondered for a moment if she had sensed something between us. I laughed with her, anxious to prove that I was keeping it real.
Lana cleared her throat and looked towards the living room and back to me. She looked a little dazed.
“I guess we’d better go tell everyone the good news.”