Legalities Of A Situation

XIV

We had then gone into the lunch room, with a lovely array of a table of a sufficient size, with a tiered chandelier of etched glass panes, shining a clear yellow in some spots more than others. I had noticed that some tensions were indeed rising because of the recent affairs that had transpired, and perhaps even more so due to the awful way those events were handled. There was a good enough bit of food on the table, a roast chicken, some beef, even some sandwiches. There were also some wines that were on the table, with some other bottles of water and other substances that I could not know. There were obviously more choices, a salad, a loaf of bread, some boiled eggs with their yolks beaten with another thing. There were also some scones on the table, each bakek with a sense of mechanical-ism, yet all too the same. Everything was exchanged on an eye catching platter, and scattered about.

"Dig in everyone," Elizabeth said, with a sense of edge to her voice. They followed suit, taking whatever gave them fancy in that particular moment. I was about to approach the pile when Elizabeth took a bit of food from it, mere crumbs to her, and placed it by me. There was a small table by her and I could not refuse her invitation. I had my own standard cutlery and supplies that are customary for a standard lunch. Elizabeth filled my glass with wine, to the best of her abilities, which as it turns out was the precise amount. She had a strange device that she took and squeezed my glass to a perfect amount.

"I would've insisted that I fend for myself," I said, while still keeping a smile.

"You know that, but I can't trust the others," she quickly responded with such confidence creeping into the voice.

"I cannot argue with that."

"Now, I have plans for the wedding already going," Sybil interrupted us.

I cringed at the thought. To think that the sister of the groom is already planning a wedding to which I should hope would not happen.

"So, we'll have it at the church in Charleston. And we will obviously have to go dress shopping for Carey, we'll find the perfect dress for her. The theme will be purple and gold, so we will find the best bridesmaid dresses for her, and we will have the groomsmen wear a nice suit. Every guest at the wedding will have their dinner be taken from the French restaurant up the road in the banquet hall, and there will be a live quartet. That's what I got so far."

"And how much is this going to cost?" Derrick asked.

"three million."

"You're joking."

"No, I'm not, and you're going to pay for it."

"We're not picking a three million dollar tab alone."

"It appears that you are. Anyway, for their honeymoon they will take a trip around Europe, with the finest hotels and restaurants along the way. They go to London first then move around France for a week. After that they will go to Spain for a half a week, then go up through Belgium and down through German, and finally spend two weeks in Italy. After that, they will come home, but after a cruise. That's gonna be six-hundred grand, all on your expense."

"If that is going to be the case, Elizabeth, Edward, and I will go to Europe as well for that sort of dime. In fact I could give almost every person in my business a ticket around Europe for that price."

"Don't be stupid, you have more employees than six-hundred."

"That is ridiculous."

"It's what I've made arrangements to do. Now, on Friday, Carey and Samuel will have dinner at the Château de garçon, so they can get to love each other."

"You really thought this out, didn't you?" Elizabeth asked with a sense of skepticism in her voice.

"A woman cannot be too careful when planning a wedding," she responded coldly.

"If I may speak out of turn. I believe that Carey should be able to make a decision of the transition into her permanent life. After all, you normally have one wedding, so you would expect that she would have the picture-esque vision of her wedding," I interjected

"I do want something to do with my wedding. Edward has a point," Carey agreed.

"Fine... We'll discuss it when the wedding is closer," Sybil hissed.

"By all means, let's go on now. Since you clearly like to boast your plans, drain my family's assets, and make everything without my knowledge. I won't go through with such an awful wedding, and you know it."

Sybil tensed. "Fine, I'll make arrangements later."

I then noticed Samuel in all of this, he was pounding down glass after glass of what I could only assume was whiskey. He made himself intoxicated rather quickly, with only a few glasses to the point. He started to spout off nonsense, and Carey took a keen interest in it. By that time, Sybil and Tristan had to go and get something from their household, and so Samuel was left all to our devices.

"I think he's drunk," Carey said.

"I am," Samuel replied.

"Are you telling the truth, or are you just faking it?"

"No, it's real... I drunk too much whiskey, honey-bunch," he said, slurring just about every word.

"You know, there may be a chance where a person gets to the point of intoxication where they tend to lean towards the truth no matter what their response sober might be. I've had some encounters with Conroy in that regard," I interjected.

"It's worth something. Alright, Samuel, do you want to marry me?" She asked.

"No, I don't. Sybil wanted me to marry into your family because you were the richest out there. She knew that if she had some sort of leverage, then she could twist your hand. When she found Edward, she made her move. I want the money too, but you're too revolting for marriage."

Carey sat there, with her breathing audible, trying not to explode her speech all over him, for no good can come of that.

"I think that that'll do it, Tristan," Sybil said as she and Tristan came into the room. They sat down, and immediately Carey got up.

"I'm feeling sick. You understand," Carey said meekly, running out the room.

"Carey," Elizabeth said, with a sense of concern. She began to run out of the room, but stopped and turned back to me. She quickly snatched me, with a bit of tight squeeze with her hand.

I heard Carey with a faint sobs up the stairs. Elizabeth took incredible speed in getting to her, with a loud thud every step of the way. She opened the door to her room, It was white walled, and had a bed with lovely white sheets on the end, with a tufted gray headrest. She had a birch dresser, attached with a mirror as well. And to top it off, and extra door and a small desk in the corner. She had two chairs, and a bookcase to go with it. Carey lay sitting on her bed, her face buried into her hands with such a sense of depression, that any man, no matter their past incidents, would take pity on her.

She placed me on the dresser and went over to her bed, sitting on it, and stoking Carey's back. "Shh, shh. It's alright."

"No, it's not. I'm a pawn for them," she sobbed through and through again.

"Look, we'll figure out something."

"It's hopeless."

"If I may. They won't hold the cards forever, sooner or later they will bleed and their deck isn't as powerful as you first thought," I interrupted.

"Still, I can't live with the fact that I'm the one who's going to destroy our business," Carey went on.

"You won't sink the industries. There is something that will make them slip up, and soon we can pressure Samuel into breaking it off between you. Now, I'll leave you be, and let you calm down. Edward, I'd rather not have you down there anymore," Elizabeth said.

"I perfectly understand," I replied, keeping back my smile in respect to the looming feeling in the room. "I can come up with some ideas that may help us, or I can just read a book. I can keep myself entertained for the afternoon."

"Good. Now, hopefully I can get them out sooner or later," Elizabeth sighed as she took me back to her room.