"Why shouldn't she make that kind of demand? What is that supposed to mean?” Octavia rolled her eyes, exasperated.
"How would I know why she wants this? Are you suggesting I was the one stirring things up?"
Latham could hear the edge in Octavia's voice and quickly tried to explain himself. "Octavia, that's not what I meant. It just... it's a strange request, that's all."
"She knows perfectly well that Claire is no longer part of the James family. How are we supposed to make decisions for her?"
Besides, Latham had met Mr. Clark's son before he was thoroughly unimpressive, certainly no match for Claire.
"I already told her as much, but Mrs. Clark wouldn't take no for an answer," Octavia said, frustration creeping into her tone. "She's made her conditions perfectly clear."
And unless they agreed to Mrs. Clark's terms, there'd be no chance of securing that bank loan.
Latham bristled in silence. He knew the James family was in a weak position—right now, they didn't have much room to negotiate.
"I really don't know how we're supposed to ask Claire about this,” he said after a moment.
It might have been a bit easier if Mr. Clark's son had at least been decent-looking, but the truth was he was overweight and bore an uncanny resemblance to Mrs. Clark.
Latham couldn't help but wonder what on earth had possessed Mr. Clark to marry her in the first place.
“I agree—it's an impossible thing to bring up.” Octavia nodded. “Yes, we did raise Claire, but if we try to use that as leverage now, people will talk.”
"Claire's already drawn her distance from us because of everything involving Cindy."
"If we try to push her into an engagement with the Clark boy, she'll only grow even more distant."
"To be honest, I'd much rather see Lance and Mabel get married. At least that way, our families would join forces and we wouldn't have to grovel for a bank loan."
If she had to go beg Claire, Octavia could already imagine the door being slammed
in her face. Claire was never the compliant type.
Of course, if Latham wanted to try persuading Claire-get her engaged to the Clark boy just to get the loan-Octavia would back him up.
She just doubted it would do any good.
"Why don't you try reaching out to Mabel's family again?” Latham said. "Knowing Lance, he'll never be the first to give in."
"And let Lance know what the Clarks are demanding. If he doesn't want Claire getting pushed into this, he'll have to find a way out himself."
Octavia hesitated, but she had to admit, Latham had a point.
Once Lance found out about Mr. Clark's son, he'd fight tooth and nail to prevent Claire from being matched with him. The simplest solution would be for Lance himself to unite the families by marrying Mabel.
Still, it felt a bit much to be manipulating their own son like this.
"I understand."
That evening, when Latham and Lance arrived home for dinner, Octavia brought up
the Clarks' conditions as if in passing.
"To be honest, I can see why Mrs. Clark is interested in Claire. She was the valedictorian in her year-always exceptional."
"And Mr. Clark's son just came back
from studying abroad and already has a position at the bank. Sure, he's е
a few years older, Besides an
stablished man knows exactly how to provide for his woman."
Octavia pretended not to look at Lance, but she was secretly watching him from the corner of her eye.
Cindy was at t
at the
table too, eating in
stunned silence. She hadn't realized things were this bad at
home they gone so far as to pull stringsjust to get a bank loan, a now Mrs. Clark was demanding that Claire get engaged to her son in return.
Some people really were born lucky, Cindy thought bitterly. Claire wasn't even considered part of the James family anymore, but she could still score a good marriage thanks to their connections.
"Mom, have you spoken to Claire about this? Do you really think she'd agree?"