“Fuck,” I said. Loud enough that a few heads turned, and naturally, as if things hadn’t been bad enough yet, one of those heads just so happened to be hers.
CHAPTER 2
JACQUELINE
The train ride from Scotland to London should’ve been relaxing. That was what my sister had said when she’d booked the tickets, that we’d have countryside views and quiet to reset after the wedding.
Instead, I sat rigid in my seat with my arms crossed tightly, staring out the window at a blur of green and trying very hard not to let my irritation simmer over, but it wasn’t really working.
“Don’t start,” Jessica said from her seat across from mine, not even looking up from her phone.
“I haven’t said anything,” I replied.
Her eyes rolled before she finally lifted them to mine. “Maybe not, but you’re thinking very loudly.”
“Fine,” I said. “I’m starting.”
Jessica laughed, locking her phone and dropping it on the empty seat beside her. “Alright, then. Let’s go. Ready, steady, vent. You have until we reach the city.”
“Well, if you insist,” I joked, but the rant came spilling out of me moments later. “It’s just that I’m quite sure that invitation was nothing more than a formality, extended out of obligation instead of any real desire to see us.”
Jessica sighed. “That’s not entirely fair, Jacque. Sterling and his wife were very kind.”
“What you call kind, I see as condescending. We’re not their blood, so they’ll never really see us as family, no matter how much they pretend. History has made that perfectly clear.” I shifted to look out the window and savored the warmth of the sun on my cheeks. “They always made Mom feel excluded after she was adopted by Gran and Pops. It broke Mom’s heart when she was a kid, even though she says things are better now.”
I felt a rush of protectiveness over our mother. She was way quicker to forgive her adopted siblings than I was. Mom just said it was dumb kid stuff. I wasn’t convinced. The Westwoods always seemed stuck up to me, obsessed with their own lineage. I kept the peace for Mom’s sake, but I had no interest in spending any more time with Westwoods than was absolutely necessary.
“They got us all together, didn’t they?” Jessica countered gently. “The European Westwoods are spread out, Jacque, and I know many of them are lofty and well off, but none are nearly as well off as the American branch of the family. It was lovely of them to host us all for a little reunion.”
“They just like to rub it in our faces that they own things like private jets and castles,” I retorted. “They made it abundantly clear exactly where we fall in their hierarchy.”
Jessica studied me for a moment, then shook her head. “Don’t be dramatic. It’s not like they made us wash the dishes. We weren’t treated like nobodies while we were there.”
I sniffed. “Jessica.”
“We weren’t,” she insisted. “Laney and I had some lovely conversations about the joys of motherhood and the challenges too.”
“Laney isn’t a Westwood, though. She married into the family, remember? Most of the actual Westwoods didn’t even know who we were.”
“That doesn’t make us nobodies,” she said, still maddeningly calm. “It just makes them rude.”
No, it makes them intentional about reminding us that we’re the black sheep.There was a difference and I refused to pretend there wasn’t. I could practically feel it under the weight of their stares during the wedding.
There are those sisters.
Stacy’s daughters.
The Calhouns.
I shifted in my seat, tucking one leg underneath me as I leaned forward, my mind made up. “I will not be attending any more ‘family’ functions.”
Jessica sighed. “You’re overreacting. It wasn’t so bad. I think you’re seeing malice where there isn’t any.”
“Perhaps I am, but you’re being forgiving to a fault, just like Mom. Those people don’t deserve it, Jessica. There’s a reason Mom chose to stay home.”
Her easy dismissal finally gave way to thoughtfulness. “Okay, maybe. They weren’t wonderful to her, but I still think you’re bitter.”
My eyes narrowed. “I amnotbitter.”