Blackblade Epilogue 3 - If I Must

Shirley walked down the short hallway to where her father’s deathbed had been arranged. The old house smelled of wood and memories; she had always loved this house, and she had the bittersweet suspicion that she would be moving back into it shortly. Though her father’s imminent passing was sad, Charlotte had always been pragmatic; death was inevitable, he had lived a long, happy, successful life, and he would rejoin his beloved wife in the hereafter. With a purposeful stride, she walked into the room.
The elder Grey lie in bed looking frail, his age catching up to him at last. His eyes opened as his daughter entered and he smiled. Charlotte smiled as well, though her gaze lingered on the other person who was in the room. Why Aiden Webber was also present now, sitting in a chair nearby, was a mystery to her. She looked towards her father and put him out of her mind; he was probably here to write the will or something. Undoubtedly he hoped to get something out of this himself, being a money-grubbing, bureaucratic leach like the rest of them. Aiden, for his part, was softly flipping through some papers, and though he often glanced over at Mr. Grey, he ignored Charlotte’s entry most thoroughly.
Mr Grey struggled to sit upright, though Charlotte urged him to lie back down. “Don’t get up on my account,” she smiled, a melancholy tinge at its edges.
He smiled ruefully back, “Aah, don’t ever get old, Shirley.”
“I’ll try my best.”
“Well, the gods know I tried. But I can’t complain, I did pretty well to make it this far.” Shirley just smiled. “But, Vodara calls on everyone eventually, and I can hear my name on the wind.” His face became more serious. “Which means we have some important things to discuss.” Shirley’s face took on the same effect, and she pulled a chair up beside her father’s bed. Aiden was still quiet. “Charlotte, sweetheart, you know I love you. And you know I’ve built up quite a little business over my life. Amazing, what you can build just by wanting to help. Now, when I’m gone, it has to go to someone. Certainly, I could break it up, sell everything, and give you and your sisters all a piece but…”
“No,” Shirley said said firmly.
“But!” he carried on, “I think that people still need help, still need my little inns around. Not fair to them.” He coughed dryly, “And I would sell, if I thought you and your sisters needed it, but you’re all living comfortably. I’m not worried about that.” He paused.
“So, what are you worried about?” she urged him.
“Well…we both know your sisters, bless their hearts, wouldn’t know what to do with a business if they tried. Odette wouldn’t begin to try, and Pauline would put herself in an early grave trying to figure it out. So, I would like to leave it to you, Charlotte.”
She nodded her head slowly. When he didn’t continue immediately, she added, “Except…”
“Except...well, I’ll be frank, sweetpea. I know you could handle it, and you know you can handle it, but...a lot of men think that a woman couldn’t cut it. And the way laws are written now, even with the new constitution and all, it wouldn’t take much for a conniving, no-good weasel to try and steal it from you. You’d be fighting off shysters and scoundrels from all sides, and that’s a burden I wouldn’t ever want to place on you.”
“I can deal with them,” Shirley said firmly, yet quietly. She knew it would be an uphill battle.
“I know you could honey, but I don’t want to make you. Which is why I’d like you to consider something.” He pushed himself up into a more dignified position, then said with the firm authority of fatherhood, “Aiden Webber, I’d like you to marry my daughter.”
The look of shock on Charlotte’s face was second only to that on Aiden’s as he suddenly looked up. He barely managed to keep from dropping the papers he was holding. Both said, “What?” nearly in unison. Charlotte glanced over at this; apparently the news was as new to him as it was to her.
“Now, I know you two aren’t exactly close, but hear me out,” he continued. “Aiden, you’ve worked for me for nearly 15 years now. You care more about this organization than anyone. Maybe more than me,” he chuckled. “And I know that you’re a good man, you put your everything into what you work at, and I know that if I gave you the company, you’d see it go places I’d never even dreamed of. But I’d rather see it go to family. And I know that if you were to marry my daughter, you’d be as good to her as you are to me. Heh, well, better, if you were to give her children.” Both younger parties added a layer of blush to their shocked faces. “Now, Shirley, I know you’ve been looking for a man for years now, one that will sweep you off your feet and keep you grounded at the same time. But, I worry, sweetheart. I worry that you’re just going to keep looking and looking like a dog who’s lost his bone, and never find that someone. And now, with me going to the great beyond, I don’t want to leave you with the pressure of men chasing you and taking what’s yours, and you fretting over things you shouldn’t have to deal with. Aiden is capable of handling everything in this business, whatever you don’t want to do yourself, and then you don’t have to worry, and can live your life fully and in peace.” Both Shirley and Aiden sat in silence. Mr. Grey coughed a few times and settled back down into place. “Consider it, both of you. Far be…*cough* far be it from me to make either of you unhappy, but I think…*cough* that you’re both overlooking the obvious.” He lay back and added quietly, “Think...think I’ll take a short nap…” before nodding off. The two looked at him sleeping, momentarily stunned, before turning their wordless gaze to each other. Aiden flicked his eyes towards the door, and with Shirley’s slight huff of agreance, the pair moved into the hallway. They made their way towards the kitchen, where they would be less likely to accidentally wake Mr. Grey with their voices. Neither sat down, despite the table directly beside them. Instead, they stood wordlessly and looked at each other with what could only be described as disdainful glares.
It was Charlotte who first broke the silence, “So?”
Aiden, maintaining his glare, replied slowly, “...I am desperately and unsuccessfully trying to find a hole in his logic.” Shirley pursed her lips and made a “hrm” noise of begrudging agreance.
“You honestly couldn’t find anybody else?” Aiden jabbed.
“You’re one to talk,” her eyes narrowed.
“I wasn’t looking. I wasn’t going to lose my father’s life-work to a bunch of lawyers if I didn’t get married.”
Shirley made a look of shock, “Tch, at least I’m not going to get fired the moment the company gets transferred.”
“You wouldn’t dare! I’m too valuable and you know it.”
“You think there aren’t a hundred other secretaries that could do your job in a second?”
“Secre…! If you think a secretary could keep this company’s affairs in order for a HALF-second, then I’ll weep for it after the 6 weeks it will take you to run it into the ground!”
“You think I can’t run this company?!”
“I think that between you wanting to do it yourself and your penchant for rolling around in the dirt for weeks at a time, no, no I don’t think you can.”
“You ignorant, you couldn’t last for 10 minutes in the woods!”
“No, because I’m too busy RUNNING A BUSINESS! Do you know about the economy in Verdigris? Because they’re increasing the price of several key food supplies and the cost of shipping food to the Verdigris branch is going to have to be analysed in contrast to the price increase in order to keep it viable. The Purcell branch is understaffed, the Arlington branch is overstaffed, there are three new villages in the plains that all want a new location but it is much too costly and the location will have to be picked between them which has numerous factors to consider, taxation has increased in all of the major cities and we’re losing money on selling goods in them but making enough profit in the smaller towns to possibly justify splitting the service into a subsidiary business, and then there are zoning laws being put in place that require a significant amount of attention to ensure that we won’t get sued and that’s just what I’m dealing with THIS week.” Shirley made a face as Aiden added sarcastically, “So, yes, get a secretary. That will get the work done.”
The two glared at each other again for a few moments. Shirley tried to come up with a better argument, but came up blank. “...I despise you,” she finally settled on.
“Likewise,” he replied calmly.
They glared. “It’s...convenient,” she conceded.
“Probably the most convenient,” he agreed.
She frowned and turned to leave. “I’m only doing this for him and his work!” she said without looking back.
“Seconded,” Aiden mumbled as he went out the backdoor to have a cigarette.
----
The wedding was held in short order, but that didn’t stop Aiden’s mother from making it into a lavish affair. Unfortunately, despite the rush, Mr. Grey did not quite live long enough to make it to the ceremony.
“How do you even know this many people?” Shirley hissed under her breath as she reached the altar.
“I don’t, I thought you knew them,” Aiden replied.
“I don’t know a quarter of the people here.”
“Well, if my mother tells you that I do, I guarantee it’s a lie.” The pair turned humorlessly towards the cleric, who began his speech.
----
“And now the bride and groom will exchange the vows they have prepared,” the cleric said. They both blinked.
“Why didn’t you warn me, I didn’t prepare anything,” Shirley hissed venomously at Aiden, who looked equally stricken.
“I didn’t know either, why would I tell them that we had vows, don’t put this on me!” he retorted.
“I will put this on you when it’s your mother doing it!”
“That doesn’t make any sense, I told you that she was going to be planning it entirely, and you had no problem with it then!”
“Well, I certainly vow to not delegate anything to you without double-checking what you’ve done,” Shirley’s voice started to rise, and the sarcasm was readily apparent.
“Well then, I vow to remind you of this when you inevitably start forgetting everything I get done in a day,” Aiden’s voice matched her own.
“Oh, of course, I vow to not interrupt your 17-hour-long staring sessions with receipts for potato shipments looking for a misplaced decimal!”
“Well, that will go along nicely with my vow to not care when you leave your job for 3 weeks to pick flowers!”
“I don’t leave my job, I…”
“I watch all staffing and payroll, Charlotte, I think I know when someone leaves their job!”
“You anal-retentive, pencil-pushing worm! Just because I have a life, don’t think you can…”
“Oh, I have a life, thank you, a very successful life making sure that a business doesn’t fail, and unfortunately as long as other people with lives keep misplacing decimal places, then I’m left with very little time to…”
“You’ve just been waiting for this! Just like the rest of them, but instead, you decided to go through my father and make it easy!”
“What?!”
“Oh yes, you were just hoping to get everything straight in the will, but when THAT failed you figured you may as well take the next easiest path to his money, so here you are, finally about to get your payday.”
Aiden brought his palm to his forehead, “Honestly? Honestly?! You think this is about money for me?! Do you have ANY idea how many other, better paying careers I could have had for 15 years?! You think that I couldn’t have made a fortune in any number of jobs with half the work? I worked, and I mean WORKED, for that company for years because I wanted it to succeed! And then, then you think I’m standing here because it was the easiest way to make MONEY? Charlotte, do you have any idea how much of the company I could have bought out from under you? How many loopholes and bylaws and fine prints I could have exploited if I really just wanted cash? If I wanted to profit, I would be standing with the others waiting for you to step out a single woman so they can rip off every unprotected piece that they can. They’re there, they’ve spoken to me, I’ve heard from no less than 14 men, I can give you their names! But I’m not, because this isn’t ABOUT profit, it’s about that company, your father’s work, MY work, not getting destroyed, and I’m going to take whatever path I have to to make sure that no one, whether it’s an opportunistic lawyer or a selfish woman, lets it get broken apart!”
“Selfish?! How dare you?! I’ve spent my life working for the good of my family, and I’ve done more than my fair share of work for this company! I founded the Renick branch, and made it very successful; I established proprietary trade with Yeto, and because of my work we have an oversea trade route that didn’t exist 6 years ago! I’m not selfish because I don’t enjoy reading paperwork everyday! I’m not selfish for living my life! And I won’t let you or anyone else control me!”
“Why in the name of the gods would I be trying to control you?! I don’t care what you do! I care what you don’t do! And I don’t care what you don’t do if I’m allowed to do it myself!”
“If you’re going to be doing everything yourself, then why aren’t you?! Because apparently I’m not necessary here, I’m just the woman, getting in the way!”
“Oh please! If that were the case, then it would have been better for the company to take it away from you! If you weren’t going to be a good owner, I wouldn’t be trying to help you run it!”
“How do you call this helping?!”
“How is it NOT helping?!”
“It won’t be helping when you walk out in 5 years taking everything with you!!”
“Arrrg,” Aiden clutched his face again, then stopped suddenly. He walked behind the altar and fished around behind the pulpit. A second later, he pulled out a sheet of paper that had been stored there. Pulling a pen out of his pocket, he began to write furiously.
Shirley rolled her eyes in aggravation, “What are you…”
“Shht!” he cut her off, still focused on what he was doing. A tense few minutes passed as he scribbled. Then, with three sharp punctuated strokes and a signature, he passed the paper to her. With a glare but no words, she took the paper and began to read it over.
There was a still silence as her eyes flicked back and forth. “...How do you just...produce contracts?”
“The same reason you can walk into a forest for a month and not starve,” he replied dryly. Charlotte snorted. He gave her another minute. “Are these acceptable terms?” Charlotte looked it over once more, her face grave, then held out her hand for the pen. With a quick flourish, she signed her name, then passed both items over to the cleric.
“Sign it, you’re the witness,” she said pointedly.
The cleric, quite flustered at this point, took the paper and pen and looked at it in confusion. “What…”
“Just do it!” both Aiden and Charlotte snapped in unison. With a little squeak, the man wrote his name on the third line. Aiden took his pen back, and Shirley took the contract.
“There. My name will be listed as half-owner of the entire AAA organization, but in the event of divorce, I will cede all of my rights and ownership to you, so you can take that as a vow that I won’t walk out and take anything that belongs to you,” Aiden stated, the sarcasm returning to punctuate the seriousness of his manner.
“In that case, I vow that you will have equal say in everything the business does and I won’t question you unless it’s something that needs questioning,” Shirley replied, her manner just as firm.
“Then we agree to work together then, to make your father’s legacy as successful as it can possibly be.” He held out his hand.
Charlotte looked at him, and shook his hand. “Agreed.”
The two turned back towards the baffled cleric. Shirley made a wry face, halfway between grin and sneer. “I also agree that if one or both of us becomes more than reasonably drunk in the next 24 hours, we will never speak of it again.”
Aiden rolled his eyes somewhat, “Fully seconded.”
The cleric blinked a few times, utterly confused. They both looked at him impatiently.
“Well?” Shirley prodded humourlessly.
“Go on,” Aiden followed.
----
In the far back, a young couple sat. No one really knew who they were, but there were so many people, it wasn’t exactly noticeable. The man, a thin, smartly-dressed fellow, was biting his lip and rocking back and forth. He had barely restrained himself from laughing aloud the whole time. His partner was more refined, but her face told a similar tale. “Shht, shut up,” she mumbled, whacking the man’s leg.
“Oh, Mothers, they’re meant for each other,” he whispered back, his mirth leaking out. “This is the most beautiful wedding I will ever go to, ever.”
“Shut up, we’ll get thrown out,” she whispered again. He tried to compose himself again to moderate success. “Why am I the girl again?”
“Because you lost, sweetie. Do you want me to tell you again how pretty you are, Mr. President?”
“Shh!” she smacked him again.
Category:Banishment of the Blackblades