Octavia was utterly speechless. Mrs. Clark had been trying so desperately to find a wife for her son. How could he possibly prefer men?
Wait. Prefer men?
If Mr. Clark's son was truly a prize catch, why would Mrs. Clark ever worry about him finding a bride? Why would it fall to the James family to negotiate terms, specifically demanding a daughter from their house?
Octavia finally snapped back to reality, the pieces clicking into place. Well played, Mrs. Clark! She had deliberately played her for a fool.
But there was absolutely no way she could admit to any of this right now. Having been kept in the dark herself, Octavia felt she was entirely innocent. Under the sharp, scrutinizing gaze of her mother in law, she felt a profound sense of grievance, unable to defend herself.
There were plenty of people with alternative orientations nowadays, but it was incredibly rare to see someone as brazen as Mrs. Clark trying to trick another family into marriage.
"What slander? Claire and I heard it with our own ears." Shirley scoffed.
"We were out eating the other night and happened to run into this heavy guy. Not only does he like men, but he already has someone he's in love with. The photo I took shows him getting incredibly cozy with another guy. It's a good thing I captured the evidence, otherwise Octavia would just think I'm making trouble on purpose."
With that, Shirley swiped to another photo on her phone.
Two men were holding hands, gazing lovingly into each other's eyes. The other man was even feeding Marlin. Their relationship clearly went far beyond a close friendship. The picture was incredibly convincing. It was ironclad proof. The photo was also quite a shock to the eyes.
This time, Patti didn't even need to intervene. Pearce slammed his hand hard against the table.
"Octavia, do you want to ruin Shirley's entire future by marrying her off to a man like this? Never mind my wife and daughter. I am the first to completely forbid it!"
Shirley secretly cheered for herself. Thank goodness she hadn't shown her dad the photo earlier. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had such an explosive, dramatic reaction righ now. Anyone who saw the proture would naturally assume Octavia had been deliberately hiding the truth.
"No, I had no idea about any of this. Could this photo be..." Octavia tried desperately to defend herself.
But this time, even Latham couldn't help her. He didn't have the audacity to try and convince Pearce's family to marry their daughter off to a man with no spine.
Patti sneered again. "If you two think a man like this is such a great catch, why don't you have Cindy marry him?"
Octavia replied defensively, acting on pure reflex. "Cindy is already engaged. We have a partnership with the Byron family. We absolutely cannot break that off."
"Then switch them! I think York is quite handsome. He would be a perfect match for our Shirley."
"As for Cindy, she's a country girl anyway. Since you don't care about a man's looks, I'm sure Cindy takes after her mother and cares even less."Patti had never thought highly of Cindy to begin with. Seeing Octavia protect her own daughter while trying to throw Shirley to the wolves made Patti lose all restraint.
Octavia gritted her teeth. She hadn't expected Patti to go that far.
"Cindy and York are deeply in love. Latham and could never be so cruel as to tear them apart. Furthermore if we suddenly, demanded a bride swap with the Byron family at a critical juncture like this, they would undoubtedly cause a massive scene."
"Patti, you have to believe me. I absolutely did not ask Shirley to meet Mr. Clark's son out of any selfish motives. I truly didn't uncover that Mr. Clark's son had so many flaws during my inquiries."
"Having Shirley get engaged to him would only be a temporary measure. Once our family makes it through this current crisis, we can easily find a way to break the engagement."