A Peculiar Request

Dipping the pen into the ink bottle, Birdie continued writing murmuring along,

“. . . so if you want your inheritance, dear family, this is the only way you’ll get it. Reginald will be keeping a close eye on all of you to make sure you fulfil this last wish of mine.

Love always,

Aunty Birdie.”

She signed her name and put the pen back in the bottle.

“They are not going to like it, especially Emerson,” Reginald commented as he sat on the chair closest to the window in Birdie’s study. Reginald was Birdie’s oldest and closest friend, ever since they were kids living next door to each other.

“It’s for his own good. That boy needs to settle down and stop looking up every skirt that swooshes his way.”

“Have you ever considered that maybe he just doesn’t want to do the whole marriage and family thing?”

“Reggie, he is the only male in this family, and if he doesn’t produce any children the family name will die out.”

“Birdie . . .”

“Emerson is old enough to understand how important this is to the family. He has benefited from this family’s name his whole life, and now he needs to take responsibility for it as well. The part that breaks my heart the most is that I know he’ll do what I’ve asked because he has been so spoiled that he wouldn’t know what to do with himself without his monthly allowance.” Out of all her siblings’ children, Emerson was her favourite, but he was also the most stubborn. Ever since he was a child, if someone said go left, he’d go right. If someone said don’t go swimming after you’ve eaten, he’d ate while he was swimming. But underneath all that stubbornness, Birdie knew there was a generous and loyal man who just needed that one special woman to change his life forever.

“And you’re okay with him ruining an innocent girl’s life?”

“Luella is anything but innocent. She is smart, independent, and compassionate, and no amount of money or charm will seduce her. He will have to be genuine for the first time in his life.”

“Why does it sound like you are setting him up to fail?” he said suspiciously which only got a smirk from her.

“Look, I won’t be here for much longer, and this is the only way that I’ll know he’ll be okay.”

“And the rest of the family,” Reginald added.

“And the rest of the family.” She repeated. “Now, if you won’t mind helping me to my room, I am a bit worn,” she said as she slowly got up from her chair. Cancer has been destroying her body for the past eight months, and it was only a matter of time before she bit the dust, which was why she was so adamant to finish her will. Looping her arm around his, Birdie and Reginald walked out of the study.

* * * * *

“It says what?” were the words that came out of Emerson’s mouth.

The whole family was gathered in Auntie Birdie’s study, as Reginald read the much sought after will.

Reginald looked down at the piece of paper in his hand and read it again, “Emerson dear, you have six months to marry Miss. Luella de Bois and under no circumstances are you allowed to tell her why otherwise, neither you nor anyone in the family will get their inheritance.”

“This is outrageous. Everyone knows that Emerson is the biggest Casanova in the world. He doesn’t care about anyone or anything and now all of us have to be punished because he can’t seem to get his life together!” Emmy, one of his cousins, exclaimed.

“I didn’t ask for this.” He blared out while his mind was running around in circles.

“Who is this de Bois girl anyways?” his other cousin Janette wanted to know.

“She is a librarian downtown. But more recently she was your Aunt’s caretaker.”

“That’s Luella?” Emerson asked shocked. He had only seen her once or twice when he came by to visit his aunt and he was not impressed by her at all. She wore big rimmed glasses, and her brown hair was always up in a hair clip. Nothing about her was attractive or stood out to him, and now he was just supposed to marry this woman. He loved his aunt dearly, but what the hell was going through her mind. “Reginald, she mustn’t have been in her right mind when she wrote this. I’m sure there is a way we can work this out without me having to marry some librarian.” He tried to negotiate.

“I was with your aunt when she wrote this, and there was nothing wrong with her mind. This is what she wanted, and this is what you’ll have to do if you want your money.”

“Why am I the only one who has to do something for everyone to get the inheritance? None of them have to sacrifice their life!”

“It is what it is, Emerson. I will give you to the end of the week to make your decision.” And with that Reginald packed up his briefcase and left the disgruntled young ones to bicker along.

“Emerson, you better go through with this or I swear to God I’ll . . .” Emmy started.

“You’ll what?” Emerson challenged. His whole life, he was seen as the black sheep of the family. Always shaming the family and disappointing them. Auntie Birdie was the only person who never berated him and always believed the best of him, which was why he was so baffled by this will of hers.

“For once in your life, can you just stop thinking about yourself and think of what would happen to us if we don’t get that money. We have children to raise and bills to pay for goodness sake.” Janette emphasized.

When Emerson didn’t respond, the rest of the family left discouraged and unsatisfied, leaving him with his thoughts. They couldn’t imagine how much he needed that money himself, which led him to only one conclusion. He had to marry Luella du Bois.”

* * * * *

Stacking the Romance shelve with new inventory, Luella was ten minutes away from her lunch break. She had been working at the library for the last four years, and it was the best job she could ever imagine. She was a voracious reader, anything from magical realism to memoirs, but her favourite was by far fantasy. She could easily curl up on the couch in front of a fire and lose herself in the world of her imagination. Being a librarian not allowed her to read as many books as she could dream of, but she could help someone else go on a journey of their own.

“Luella?” she heard her name, and when she turned around, she found herself looking at an average height man with brown hair and stubble complementing his facial features. The man that she has been yearning for, for months. When Luella offered to take care of Mrs. Birdie through her last stages of cancer, she never expected to have a liking for her nephew. Even though they’d only met once or twice, she strangely came to know him. Most were stories Mrs. Birdie told her, but there were those rare moments when she overheard him talk to his aunt in her study or the living room, and through those conversations, it felt like she knew his heart.

“Yes?” she replied calmly.

“I’m Emerson. I believe you knew my Aunt Birdie?”

“I did. I am sorry for your loss.”

“Thanks. Look, I’m just going to come right out and say it. Will you marry me?” he said in all seriousness, which confounded her profusely.

“Excuse me?” she asked, thinking it was a cruel joke.

“I need to marry you.” He stated with no emotion to it.

“Right, and I need a thousand unicorns.”

“I’m being serious.” He replied annoyed. “Just see it as a subscription. You will live in a big house, you won’t have to work at this silly place, and you can do basically whatever you want, and the same will go for me. We can get married right now.”

She had no idea what was going on, and the more he spoke, the more confused she got. He has never spoken more than five words to her, and now he was proposing to her. She might have thought it an April fool’s joke if it wasn’t September.

“No thank you to the subscription, I am happy where I live right now, this is not a silly place, and usually people go out on dates before they get married.” She answered thoroughly.

“Look, I don’t have time for this. Can we just go?”

“No, but I have a break in five minutes, and then you can take me out to lunch.” She replied. Who did he think he was, waltzing in here and demanding things? Maybe her initial summary of him was way off. She wasn’t going to be pushed around and told what to do, and while he was being a tool, she might as well get a free lunch out of it and figure out what the hell is going on.

“Lunch?”

“Yes. See it as a first date since you are so keen on marrying me, and I know nothing about you.”

“You don’t need to know anything about me. We only need to be married on paper.”

“Look, you can either take me out to lunch or if you want me to help you find a book I can do that otherwise you can leave.”

“Fine. But you’re . . .”

“Don’t even think about it. You will pay for lunch.” She interrupted him.

“Fine, but no seafood.”

“Deal.” She stacked the last few books on the shelf before they left for their first date.

He was baffled by the woman sitting in front of him. That morning when he decided to marry her, his plan was easy. Ask her to marry him, she says yes, get married and then get the inheritance. Yet here he was, sitting in the restaurant eating burgers of all things, with a woman who wasn’t affected by his charm at all. So now he had to find a different way to approach her.

“So why do you want to marry me? Did someone dare you or something?”

“Or something.” He mumbled to himself before answering, “I have come at a point in my life where I want a wife and children . . .”

“And you thought by walking up to the first woman you recognized that she would sway into your arms and beg you to put your seeds in her?”

Shocked by her bluntness, Emerson nearly choked on his food. Women generally didn’t speak to him that way, and it was quite refreshing to not have someone swoon over him. He started enjoying this rendezvous quite a lot.

“Clearly it didn’t work.” He remarked a bit more relaxed.

“Clearly, but I have gotten a great deal out of it.”

“Free food?”

“Exactly. You know your aunt spoke about you a lot.”

And immediately it felt like a dark cloud was hovering over him. Now he would never get the chance to prove to her that he was not the lazy, troubled Casanova everyone made him out to be.

“She spoke very fondly of you. Told stories of how you used to collect shells on the beach and bring it to her.”

Expecting her to say more, he waited in anticipation, but when she took another bite out of her burger, he asked, “That’s all?”

“I mean, she told all sorts of stories of how kind and considerate you are, but there are only so many stories I can listen to about people’s good deeds before I start condemning myself for having none.”

With a sigh of relief and some confusion, he looked at her in wonder. She said nothing mean about his reputation that he was sure she knew about, and she broadcasted her own insecurities. This was not what he expected from his day at all, and it was definitely not what he expected from her. She was this bright, sincere person, and the more he talked to her, the more he wanted to know about her. Auntie Birdie’s ultimatum may have been outrageous, but he had a feeling she knew something he didn’t yet. But he was keen to find out.