3: 3
I was pregnant?
Since when? How did I not know?
It took me a couple of seconds to catch up.
A few days ago I'd eaten something bad and gagged over the sink a few times.
But we used protection every single time. There was no way I was pregnant.
Bedroom photos?
When had Paddy taken those?
I lifted my eyes to him and caught him turning his face away, guilty, gaze darting everywhere but at me.
And just like that, I understood.
Not long ago, right before things started, Paddy had dragged his feet forever.
So that was it. He'd been tampering with things, so I'd get pregnant before the wedding.
This wasn't some spur-of-the-moment idea. The whole family had schemed together to trap me.
They saw that my family had money, and figured they could use the pregnancy to pin me down and make me the sucker who paid for everything without a word of complaint.
Right then my phone buzzed in my pocket.
I looked down. A message from my mother popped up:
【The hotel has been notified. The bill is being drawn up. Payment recipient changed to the man's family.】、
【Leave it to your mother!】
I killed the screen, said nothing, and just stood there watching them.
Seeing me go quiet, they thought I'd been scared into it.
Paddy's mother was the first to switch to a smile. She came over and patted the back of my hand.
"Sweetheart, now that your body's in this condition, we're all one family. One family doesn't talk like strangers. Those dowry things of yours, sooner or later they're yours to give anyway, aren't they? If you won't think of yourself, at least think of the baby."
The brother's fiancée eased up too, smiling as she came and hooked her arm through mine.
This time I didn't shake her off, so she took it as me resigning myself, and got as chummy as if we were real sisters, tugging me around the venue, her finger jabbing here and there at everything she wanted added.
"See here, sis, let's add a flower arch over here, made with those Ecuadorian roses you ordered."
"Add a tier to the champagne tower. Looks grander."
"Two more spotlight rigs on the lights, aimed at the main stage and the arch. Photographs better."
Every time she named something, she'd turn and tack on a line to the staff standing nearby:
"Put it on my sister-in-law's tab."
Breezy as someone shopping the mall on another person's card. It wasn't her money, after all.
Once she'd finished picking out everything on the floor, she turned back to me, all smiles.
"You know, sis, you've got a Dickerson baby in your belly now, so we're family from here on. That riverview place of yours, high floor, great view, I hear. We've got no wedding home for our own wedding, so how about you let us borrow it for a while? You and Paddy are still young anyway, no rush for you two."
Paddy's mother chimed in from the side, picking up the thread without missing a beat.
"Right, right, and that Porsche too. It isn't safe for a pregnant woman to drive such a nice car. Let his brother use it first. We'll talk again after you've had the baby. Would we old folks ever shortchange you?"
Paddy sidled up too, grinning as he tugged my arm.
"Babe, my mom and dad and my sister-in-law have all asked, so just give a nod. Your family's got money anyway, this is nothing to you. And look, you're expecting now. From here on it's the three of us building a life together, and your parents won't shortchange the two of us either."
Arms folded, I watched them finish their little routine, one line each.
I looked at them.
Every face wore greed and smugness they couldn't hide, all of them sure they'd finally landed me, their "sensible" rich daughter-in-law.
"Fine. Whatever you want to add, go ahead."
"But everything you add has to be written down, line by line. I'd hate for something to get missed at settlement and then no one can sort it out."
The brother's fiancée nodded fast, grinning ear to ear.
"Of course, of course, write it all down, write it all down. We're all family now, you think we'd cheat you out of anything?"
They thought I'd agreed.
Every item was written down, clear as day.
Wait for tomorrow's wedding. Then I'd go through it with them, line by line, and settle every last cent.
