Dangerous Love: You Are My One and Only Bride novel Chapter 517

Aunt Deborah came with the mission of matchmaking Tiffany and her nephew, and she would be damned if she did not sell him hard with a beaming smile. “Aww, don’t misunderstand me, hon. Everyone knows that your family owns this invaluable plot that if sold, could rake so, so much money! From the way I see it, you and my nephew are just the perfect fit for one another, so how about you get to know him first before you judge? Oh, in fact, I’m gonna arrange your date right now!”

Lillian kept quiet. She was admittedly gung ho about marrying her daughter off as soon as possible in the past, but that was only because she was taking her sudden impoverished life very terribly, and she wanted out of it as soon as she could. But now, her outlook had changed. Good things come to those who wait, and since Lillian had a bit more money to support her patience, she was no longer desperate. Still, a casual meeting between her daughter and a suitor was fair, she thought.

Tiffany, on the other hand, loathed having buttinskis like Aunt Deborah dictate her life. “I. Am. Not. Doing that!” she snapped. “I’ll be honest — I have a boyfriend, so please excuse me from all of these matchmakings, okay? Thanks.”

“Wha-what? You — who?” Lillian stammered, startled.

A grimace of contempt dawned on Aunt Deborah’s mien. “Please, darling. I highly doubt that your boyfriend is on par with my nephew,” she countered. “Honestly, you really should stop acting like you’re out of his league or something. I only bothered to introduce him to you out of my familial sentiments from watching you grow up, you know.”

Tiffany was sure that her eyeballs were going to get stuck in her skull from eye-rolling that much. ‘Watching her grow up?’ What, she meant crashing her house every Thanksgiving to lavish Tiffany’s family with flatteries — did an annual event of gratuitous bootlicking count as ‘watching her grow up’ now? Please, auntie-dearest here had avoided her family like the plague since the Lanes lost their wealth, and now suddenly, she was lapping them up again!

Tiffany could never find a sliver of respect for toadies like her. “Gee-whizz, I totally appreciate your effort, Aunt Deborah! Now, if your nephew attracts so much of your fancy, then maybe you should be the one dating him instead,” she quipped.

Aunt Deborah’s expression immediately turned stormy. “What stupid things did you just spout, young lady?”

Tiffany cared so little about her aunt’s opinion that she was already marching back to her room.

Lillian, too, shared her daughter’s distaste for people like Deborah, but she put up with her for the sake of familial courtesies. After sending the woman off, Lillian strode into her daughter’s room and promptly asked, “Did you mention a boyfriend? Now, who could that be? Spill the tea, child!”

“Oh, that? I was kidding,” the girl deflected. Truthfully, Tiffany only said what she said to stymie Aunt Deborah’s attempt to butt into her life; she did not want the truth to come out so soon.

Lillian was skeptical. “What kind of mother would I be if I can’t even tell when my daughter was lying or telling the truth? C’mon, honey, it’s Jackson West, isn’t it? Don’t think I didn’t notice it — you hardly part with your phone, you keep getting texts, and you don’t come home at night. I bet my squishy brain that your mysterious man is none other than Jackson himself!”

Tiffany was stunned, her eyes sizing up her mother carefully. She had believed, for most of her life, that her dearest mother was ditzy and air-headed, but now she realized the woman might be more perceptive than Tiffany had given her credit for.

“Wait, well, um… Urgh, fine, it is him,” Tiffany relented. “But I wanna go slow and steady, Mom, which is why I didn’t want to tell you yet! Please don’t sound the horn over this so soon; you should let us, you know, hang out for a little while longer and see how it goes. The ‘relationship’ we had in the past was basically a monetary partnership, so we were just goofing around. Now, it’s different — this time, it’s serious, though admittedly, I still haven’t completely figured him out yet. Which is why, Mom, can you like, please not meddle into our affairs?”

Contrary to her character, Lillian agreed. “Oh, I won’t meddle in your love life, Tiffie; you have my word. You should progress it however you like — yes, it’s fine even if the two of you don’t wanna tie the knot. Listen, I’m not getting any younger by the years, honey, so I don’t even have any extra energy to worry about how somebody else wants to live her life anymore. Plus, worrying about those things would only dampen my mood. But you know… It would still be lovely if you could marry into a rich family,” Lillian finished. “But ultimately, it’s your happiness that counts.”

That was probably the wisest thing her mother had ever said to Tiffany, and it made her smile.