Chapter 12
Hagen’s mother burst into his office. He’d immersed himself in paperwork since he had arrived this morning. Every time he came up for air, he thought about Marigold. Not for a moment did he believe she had moved out because he had considered finding her a more suitable job with the company. If she had honestly wanted one, she could be slotted in, but she had decided to wipe him out of her life for another reason entirely. She wouldn’t risk loving anyone. And, unfortunately, he understood.
Ma planted herself onto his black bench seat and crossed her legs as if she meant to stay for a while. “We need to talk.” Her mouth firmed.
He didn’t want to talk. He wanted to act, but he couldn’t grab Marigold and tell her he loved her and that he had never loved anyone but her. She didn’t trust him now any more than she had the first time she had tossed him aside. Although he hadn’t known about her mother’s deteriorating condition, Marigold had assumed he wouldn’t have supported her during her mother’s long illness. She could have been right, but he wanted to think she was wrong. However, after living in a household where the women outnumbered the men, he knew telling one she was wrong would get him exactly nowhere.
This time he knew she was wrong. And she was lying. She had reverted to Marigold-mode and used words to distance herself from him, assuming that like her father, at the click of another’s woman’s fingers, Hagen would pack up and leave. He loved her, but so far he had done a hopeless job of showing her that. He needed to tell her instead. Right now. With only Marigold on his mind, he rose to his feet to usher his mother out of the room.
Ma held up a stopping palm. “Sit, please. I have something to say, and I’m not leaving until I’ve said it. This morning, I accidentally told Marigold that you used to be besotted with her. She seemed surprised.”
He shrugged. “And?”
“Oh, you’re as bad as she is.” She firmed her lips. “I don’t know why Tiggy bothered giving up her job for Marigold if you didn’t intend to do something about her.”
He frowned. “About Tiggy or Marigold?”
“What could you do about Tiggy? Don’t answer. I mean about Marigold. We thought if we got you two into a situation where you had to speak, you would resolve whatever needed to be resolved. Last night, it looked as though you had.”
“I thought we had.” He sat on his desk chair, rubbing his forehead and staring into his mother’s earnest brown eyes. “But we were a social situation. Marigold is always beautifully behaved in company.” He tried to outstare his mother, also a waste of his time.
Ma offered him a reproving smile. “She is, isn’t she? It’s a shame she doesn’t handle her private life as well.”
“I doubt that you interfering will help.”
She let out a weighted sigh. “We got you two talking again, didn’t we? Therefore, I’ll give you my unsolicited advice. If you want Marigold, now is the time, Hagen. You won’t keep getting opportunities with her. She is a highly intelligent woman. She won’t wait forever for you.”
“Hah.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
“She has already decided I’m not for her.”
“Of course you are.”
He stared at the papers on his desk. “You tell her. She won’t believe me.”
Ma pulled her chin back. “Well, she won’t if you tell her. You have to show her.”
“I did show her. I didn’t tell her, but I’m not giving up this time, or not without a good try.”
“I’m glad to hear that. She is not at all confident. Mercia has given her a lot to compete with.”
“I thought you didn’t like Mercia.”
“She was beautiful, confident, and, well, beautiful.” Ma lifted her shoulders.
“I love seeing you trying to be tactful.” He almost smiled. “Mercia was loud, opinionated, and rude to you. Do you think I didn’t know? I assumed she would be right for me, as my opposite. You always said I was too reserved.”
“And she made you more reserved. She alienated your family, and we thought for a while we would lose you. I know you don’t like hearing this. I know you were always loyal to her and although I wish you hadn’t been, I do admire you for that. But you have a chance to start again, and I don’t want you closing in on yourself and not taking the opportunity we presented to you.”
“We?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Tiggy presented this opportunity by taking an unwanted holiday?”
“If we couldn’t get Marigold out of her house, we could never put you two back together again. Tiggy hoped Marigold wouldn’t be able to refuse her if she asked for a favor.”
“And she didn’t.”
“It was a good idea of Tiggy’s,” Ma said defensively. “We hadn’t been able to get you two together previously. Before you married Mercia, we asked you to dinner and we asked Marigold to dinner but as soon as either of you heard the other had been asked, you backed out for some flaky reason or another. That’s when I started getting suspicious. Something must have happened between you.”
“Nothing much happened between us. We were just beginning when her mother got sick. She couldn’t deal with both of us at the same time.”
Ma inclined her head to the side. “That’s understandable. Taking on a serious relationship would have been difficult at that stage.”
“Especially taking on me and my oversized ego.”
“Now, now. You were no worse than any other rich man’s son.”
With a wry smile, he lifted his shoulders. “We do our best but we weren’t the ones who made the millions. We either have to spend it, lose it, or prove we deserve our privileged positions. We have our families’ reputations to carry and at that stage I wasn’t sure I was good enough.”
“Possibly she picked up on that, but you’re older now and your father and I are very proud of the man you have become. He won’t have any misgivings about leaving the company in your capable hands.”
For a moment he dropped his gaze, stunned by the praise. He knew he worked hard, but taking over the family company had always seemed a distant aim. He had grown emotionally since Mercia had died. Now he was ready to take what he wanted from life. And what he wanted was Marigold by his side, supporting him as she had at his dinner party, and as she had last night. He nodded and stood. “Conversation over. Thanks for your input. You have helped me straighten out my mind.”
“So you will tell Marigold you love her?”
“That’s what I meant to do before you plonked yourself into that chair.”
“Tell her she made last night a delightful social occasion for the lucky investors who sat either side of her. I saw each of them laughing. No one ever laughed when they sat with Mercia,” Ma said, and she left with her head held high.
No one had laughed with Mercia because she’d always found business dinners a chore. Marigold didn’t. She liked people, and she shone during social events, which was why he had insisted on waltzing with her at his last school formal. He shouldn’t have, but just once he had wanted everyone to notice how special she was. Soon enough someone more worthy than he would carry her off. Hagen would be too busy trying to live up to his family’s expectations to find time to woo anyone.
And now he had to work out a way to win her, his golden delight.
He prepared himself with two deep breaths, rose and left the office, meaning to stroll into Marigold’s. Sandra arose from her desk as he shut his door behind him. “I hope she gave you a good talking to.”
“Who? My mother?”
She lowered her head and looked at him over her glasses. “Someone needed to wake you up to yourself.”
“I had every intention of waking myself up,” he said in a mild voice.
“I hope you’re not going to make matters worse.”
He examined the wary expression on her face. “How loud was our conversation?”
“I’ve been sitting outside your door for four years.” Her eyebrows wriggled. “You don’t always close it properly and neither did your wife when she visited, and she had a propensity to be loud. In that time, I’ve heard a lot. I hope you are planning on telling Marigold the truth. You won’t win her with evasions, like you can with your mother.”
“I didn’t evade anything,” he answered defensively.
“Oh, yes you did. You always stick up for Mercia. That’s not a bad thing in itself, but I’ve heard much too much to believe what you want everyone to believe. In a way, I was sorry for her but that doesn’t excuse her behavior.”
He firmed his jaw. “I’m not about to discuss Mercia with Marigold.”
“I think you have to. She has the wrong idea entirely.”
He scratched his eyebrow. “Without any of you knowing my business, you are all determined to tell me how to run it,” he said, exasperated.
“Because you’re doing such a bad job on your own.”
“So, tell Marigold the truth? She has never asked me for the truth.”
“You haven’t let her close enough. She is a woman who needs closeness. Tell her everything, Hagen. You might even discuss your feelings, though that’s a hard ask.”
“Could you do one thing for me?” he asked politely. “Take yourself off for half an hour.”
She turned back to her desk, opened the bottom drawer, removed her handbag, and said, “If you make a mess of this, I’ll resign.”
“You’re fortunate that I want to keep you.” He watched her march off and then he took a breath deep enough to feel in his toes and knocked on Marigold’s door.
“Come in. Oh, Hagen.” Her mouth curled into a wary smile. “This is going to be awkward, I suspect.”
“Not at all.” He drew the visitor’s chair up to her desk and sat. “I’ve been given two sets of unsolicited advice this morning. My mother thinks I should explain my feelings toward you, and Sandra thinks I’m going to stuff this up.”
She drew her eyebrows together. “What have you been saying about us?”
“I was wondering what you’d been telling them.”
“Not a word.”
“Then apparently, our relationship isn’t as secret as we presumed. Sandra insists that I tell you the truth. Which do you want to hear first, truth or feelings?”
“Neither. I’m okay, truly. I can keep running on the spot here trying to do what Tiggy does so easily. Or, if it’s too awkward keeping me here, I can leave. Maybe Tiggy will come back if you ask her?”
He heaved a sigh. “Good change of subject, but I’ll start by telling you about my marriage.” Leaning back, he folded his arms across his chest before he realized that defending himself should be the last thing on his mind. “Sandra thinks you have the wrong idea about Mercia. I have never discussed my late wife with you, therefore I don’t know what idea you have.” He hauled in a breath and made sure he looked Marigold right in the eye, determined to tell the unvarnished truth. “I married her because she was there. No other reason. She wanted me, she was bright, good-looking, and had a wonderful social life. I didn’t. Study and work was about all I did. I had my father’s expectations to reach. Even before the wedding I was having second thoughts.”
“Are you sure you want to tell me this? I don’t think it’s any of my business.”
“I’ll cut to the chase. I was a very bad husband. I ignored my wife most of the time because she and her shallow friends bored me. When I realized I was wasting my life and hers, I asked her for a divorce. She said absolutely not and was so traumatized by the suggestion that she had to get away for the weekend. Next thing, I had a police officer at the front door telling me she’d been killed in a car crash on a country road. The man in the following car stopped to help, the officer was glad to say. That man was Scarlett’s husband.”
Marigold moistened her lips. “You assumed she was about to spend the weekend with him. Him being there might have been pure coincidence.”
He kept his gaze on her.
Marigold breathed out. “And Scarlett knew.”
“Not until he was questioned as a witness. Then he told her the affair had been ongoing for months. So, she asked for a divorce. She and I agreed to keep the matter quiet. I have been a grieving widower for a year, and now I want my life back.”
She sat, her gaze on his, her jaw loose. Then she swallowed. “Oh, dear. You did a very good job of being a grieving widower.”
“I couldn’t be sure initially that she hadn’t driven into the tree on purpose. It didn’t make me feel too noble.”
“Divorce or death? That doesn’t sound like a sensible option. Either way she lost.”
“And I keep thinking that rather than lose, she wanted it all, the rich husband and the lover on the side.” Leaning forward, he rested his forearms on her desk, keeping his gaze on hers. “He, Scarlett’s husband, said a kangaroo hit the car, and Mercia skidded into a tree. Investigations proved that, but it took a while.”
“If anyone other than Scarlett knows Mercia was having an affair with her husband, they certainly haven’t gossiped about it.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she let it slip to a few people, though no one has mentioned it to me. Sandra knows because she occasionally has to read my e-mails, but I trust her.”
“Why did you insist on keeping this quiet?”
“Pride. The whole thing is tawdry.” He reached across the top of the desk and took her hands in his. “I didn’t ever consider showing righteous indignation. If I had been a better husband, she wouldn’t have gone scouting around for other men. And there were others.”
She audibly dragged in a breath. Her eyes widened and then she blinked the gloss away. “Ah. That explains the STD test,” she said, dropping her gaze. “I’m sorry, Hagen. I misjudged you.”
“And you ought to be sorry. If I hadn’t decided not to let you misjudge me again, we might now be going our own merry ways again, too.”
“I thought telling me the truth was Sandra’s idea.”
“Well, if Sandra hadn’t decided to interfere we might not have a chance at a do-over. So, that’s her brief out of the way. Next is my mother’s—how I feel about you. Starting from the bottom, I love your toes and your feet and your legs.”
She blinked. Her mouth relaxed. “I kind of like yours, too,” she said in a soft voice.
He smoothed his thumbs across the back of her hands. “And I love your eyes and your nose and your mouth.”
“Although I hate to admit it, I like your hair quite a lot.”
“What about my legs and feet?”
“I don’t think that’s romantic.” A tiny smile formed on her face, and she gripped his fingers.
“I think it’s more romantic than talking about my masculine attributes.”
“I don’t talk about them.”
He bent and lifted her hands to his mouth. He kissed the back of each. “But most of all, apart from the rest of your body, I love you, good-as-gold Marigold.”
“And that is the reason why we can’t continue having an affair. Because I’m as good as gold.” She sighed. “I thought trying to be the sort of woman a man would have an affair with would be titillating but it’s not.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, that part was good.” Her mouth pursed. “It was the secret aspect that didn’t suit me. I want to be with a man who doesn’t need to hide. I’m not naturally sneaky.”
“You’re right, and I’m glad we ended the affair. We’re not good at it. I thought no one knew but, apparently, everyone does. You’re going to have to make an honest man of me.”
She gave a wry smile. “Make you confess to everyone? I’d much rather you didn’t. We’ll still be meeting from time to time, and I really don’t want people looking at me trying to see my reaction.”
“You’ve forced my hand. You’ll have to marry me.”
She pulled back, her eyes wide and her jaw loose. “I will not.”
“Don’t say that. I love every scrap of you and if you don’t marry me, I’ll spend forever wondering what I should have done or said to convince you otherwise.”
Her shoulders lost rigidity. “You want to marry me?”
“That’s what happens when you fall in love. And I fell in love years ago. Marrying you was my plan from the start, but we had a few hurdles to cross.”
“Jump. Hurdles to jump.”
“Marry me, Marigold. Please. Then you can correct my grammar.” He stood, walked around the edge of the desk, urged her to her feet, and took her into his arms.
She rested her palm flat on his cheek, while she stared directly into his eyes. “Are you sure you’re not just trying to get a better deal on the redecoration of your house?”
“If I hadn’t been trying to get you into my bedroom, I could have had Tiggy do it. I wanted it done your way because I planned to have you living there.”
“You should have said so.” Her mouth softened.
“I didn’t want to frighten you off. I thought when the house was perfect, you would be sure to say yes.”
“You did not.” She looked as if she might finally laugh.
“I was certainly thinking along those lines. Be gentle with me. I’m only a man.”
“Knock, knock, is this door open?”
“No, Ma. Not yet. She still hasn’t said she will marry me.”
“Do you need help in there?”
“I’m not sure you standing outside the door and listening is helping.”
“I’ll go away then.”
“Demi!” Marigold pulled her hands out of his grip. “Don’t leave. I sort of said yes.”
The door opened. Demi walked in, followed by Sandra. Both were beaming.
“Are you going to plan the wedding?” Sandra asked Demi.
“I hope so. Darling Marigold doesn’t have a mother, and I think I should. Don’t you, Hagen?”
He glanced at Marigold. “Okay with you?”
Her expression combining a touch of puzzlement with a wryly pleased smile, she said, “No wonder you guys are so successful in business. Yes. And yes, Hagen.” Her face softened. “I will marry you.”
And then he had to wait for Sandra and his mother to hug each other, hug Marigold, and hug him before they left, before he got to kiss Marigold properly.
* * * *
The day before the wedding, during the final staging of her house for sale, Marigold said to Tiggy, who was helping, “I’m wondering. Would you have come back if I had made a mess of the school duplex?”
“Of course not, because you wouldn’t make a mess. You’re a perfectionist, Marigold. You would make sure you got it right. Aside from that, Kell was watching your back. If you’d started to flounder, Calli would have dropped by to give you a few hints. Of course, we all hoped that Hagen would.”
“He has done staging, too?” Marigold widened her eyes in astonishment.
“No, but he has seen enough of it to know what to do.”
“I’m beginning to think that he didn’t need me to redo his house.” Marigold used an indignant voice.
“He certainly did. I don’t know that he much cares about the place for himself. His house was too cold the way it was. He needed his house to suit you. You’re a warmer person.”
Marigold had already noted that Hagen’s family made sure of never criticizing Mercia. None knew she had been an unfaithful wife and would probably never find out.
Marigold liked that about Hagen. He didn’t need to put others down to bring himself up. He was noble, honest, generous, and the most loving man she had ever met. No one could be less like her father. Coming from a big happy family, Hagen had no objection to expanding it. Her own dysfunctional family had been invited to her wedding. Hagen even tolerated her father and seemed to think she ought to try for a relationship with her brothers. Maybe she would.
At last she had pleased her father. Apparently marrying a handsome and wealthy man hadn’t been expected of her.
“Good thing I gave you that dinner set,” he said to her in all seriousness. She didn’t contradict him. A little less rigidity on her part wouldn’t go astray. Now that she was deliriously happy herself, she was content to let everyone else around her be happy, too.
“I hope I’m in on the plot to get you married off, too.” She grinned at Tiggy. “That should be as much fun for me as your family’s plotting to get Hagen married off to me.”
“There had better not be a plot,” Tiggy said in a dark tone, planting her fists on her hips. “I don’t think I’m cut out for marriage. I’m having too much fun as a single.”
Marigold could never have said that about herself. “I thought being single had been hard work, but at least I ended up with the man I love.”
Tiggy hugged her. “And we get to keep you.”
Marigold still hadn’t found out where Tiggy had been for that six weeks she had disappeared. Tiggy had arrived within a week of Marigold’s wedding announcement, and taken back her job. Now Marigold’s only function was to coordinate events, which she much preferred. With Demi’s help, she was organizing her wedding, which the Allbrook’s insisted would be big and white, paid for by them, and used as a publicity opportunity for Allbrook’s.
“Neither of the twins would consent to this, Marigold, and we’re very grateful you are being so gracious,” Demi had said, blinking with emotion.
Gracious? Marigold was well aware that she was marrying gold. Reminded, she said, “I’ll need to put the Doulton dinner set in my car before I forget.”
“Have you two finished?” Hagen strolled through the open front door.
“Pretty well.” She turned and grinned at him.
“This is my last opportunity to kiss you before tomorrow.” Hagen swooped Marigold into his arms, settled her there, stared into her eyes, sighed, and gave her the sort of kiss that wouldn’t embarrass an onlooker, although it lasted a beat too long.
She leaned back, smiling at the only man she had ever loved. “After that, I’m yours forevermore.”
“You and your dining chairs,” he said, his autocratic eyebrows elevated. Behind him Billy and Joe darkened the doorway. “I couldn’t think how else to get them other than to marry you.”
“Come on, you two, we’ve got work to do.” Billy pushed into the house, Joe following.
Standing in the delightful circle of Hagen’s arms, she watched her chairs leaving for his house—soon hers. Tonight, she would stay with the Allbrooks, and tomorrow she would leave for her honeymoon in Paris. “We’re getting Tiggy married off next,” she said comfortably.
“Welcome to the family.” He laughed and spun her in the direction of the front door. “When will we discuss how many children we are having?”
“Out of the way,” Billy said. “Or we’ll never get this done.”
“I, too, thought we’d never get this done,” Hagen whispered into Marigold’s hair. “But now you’re my very own. Good-as-gold Marigold.”