Her two stepsisters flanked their mother on both sides like they were her sentinels dressed in designer black clothes the store would never carry. Nancy said, “You lied to me.”
Cold sweat formed on her body. Charlotte couldn’t even swallow as Nancy’s intense gaze conveyed that she could destroy everything. Charlotte’s heart raced as she stepped back and said, “I didn’t know Jack’s family was the point of the Morgan party.”
Mickey said, “That is probably true, Mother.”
While they’d never been friends, Mickey hadn’t been awful. Charlotte waited and no one said anything else. She pointed to the basement. “Right, so I just need to get a few of my things.”
Nancy came closer and her stomach was hard as rock. “Your things?”
Why was Nancy so mean? Tears formed in her eyes as she tried not to shake and said, “Yes, I’ll be fast.”
Linda grabbed her wrist, twisted the diamond to be face up, and Charlotte’s skin was hyper-sensitive to her cruel touch. “Will you look at this ring?”
The image of them ripping the ring right off her played in her mind and she closed her fingers fast, tugging her hand free. “I’m marrying Jack.”
Nancy pressed her hand on her daughter’s shoulder to push her back as she asked, “And giving up the store? Well, I suppose it’s a good thing that I sell to the Morgans and move on. You and that store have been nothing but a train wreck destroying my life.”
Sell? Her heart almost fell out of her chest as she stilled and said, “Wait. What?”
Nancy’s fingers tapped against her arm. “You leaving means the store dies. It’s fine. I don’t mind selling the land and closing for the price I was offered.”
In a day? No store sold that fast around here, unless a buyer appeared. Charlotte tilted her head and asked, “Who offered?”
Linda’s laugh only added to the tension as she said to Charlotte, “The bank came in with a nice offer that frees us all. Thanks to Mother selling so cheap to the Morgans.”
Cheap? Nancy pinched her lips and then shrugged. “I wanted more but my girls are pushing us to settle.”
Linda and Mickey had never done a lot of work at the store and didn’t deserve much from the sale but Charlotte crossed her arms and hid her ring as she asked, “You’re closing the store because the Morgans want to buy the land?”
Mickey explained with a smile, “I think they’ll turn it into some department store they already own in other parts of the country.”
And in one swoop, Charlotte had killed her father’s dream that she’d been fighting the tide to keep alive. He’d loved running his store and hoped the profits would keep them all in financial security for the rest of her life.
Now it would all be gone. She met Nancy’s cold stare and asked, “But-”
“You quit on our family, Charlotte.” Nancy loomed closer and instantly silenced her protests. “You can’t expect to profit off the sale too.”
Everything was moving too fast. Linda took out her phone and started texting like she was done with the whole thing. And seriously, Jack must be coming for her any minute now. “How much was the sale?”
Nancy sniffed. “Ten million, though our store should be getting twelve.”
Nancy would blow through that cash just like she’d spent every dime of Charlotte's father’s savings in a year and claim it was all for her children.
Her dad’s legacy would be gone. She fought back tears. “Let me talk to Jack.”
Linda handed her phone to Mickey and asked like she’d just heard a joke, “Talk to Jack?”
His ring was on her finger. Of course she’d talk to Jack. She loved him. He loved her. He’d listen. "Yeah."
Linda almost hiccupped with glee. “He’s at the gas station down the street, right? In a silver Mercedes?”
Those details meant Linda was up to something. Charlotte’s shoulders tensed. “How do you know?”
Mickey shoved the phone back at Linda and folded her hands in front of her. “Well, I don’t think that ring means the same to him as it does to you, Charlotte.”
Marriage. Commitment. Mickey blushed when she asked her, “What are you talking about, Mickey?”
Linda turned her screen around. “This.”
