#liznick

Liz and her family had something of an understanding. Since her parents’ divorce, an unspoken line had sprung up which Liz for the most part had never truly cared enough to cross. They lived their lives and she lived hers. They continued to send her presents and money every so often when they remembered she existed, or, more often—when they needed her to show up and make them look good.

Yes, Liz had finally grown into what they had originally wanted in a child: a beautiful trophy of a socialite who could charm any business partner or donor they required. So they’d send her a new car, or buy her another beach house, or whatever it was they believed a twenty-something page four party girl could want in life. Followed by a summons to whatever event they’d be hosting next.

So, of course, Liz could only expect that she could then, for the first time in her life, ask for them to come for her, couldn’t she? It was so little to ask. Just a dinner party. Just so they could meet Nick and his mother. Just so she could tell them her wonderful, amazing, life-changing news. After all, Nick had made her better. He’d helped put back the pieces of her life, helped her heal. Why wouldn’t they want to meet the man that had given them their daughter back?

If they even wanted you as anything but broken in the first place… A quiet voice whispered in the back of her mind as she waited for her mother’s assistant to pick up. Her father’s assistant had brushed her off at even the mention of leaving New York. He’s a very busy man, your father. She’d said. He simply hasn’t enough hours in the day. But I will let him know of the wonderful news and I’m sure he’ll send along his regards. Liz scoffed to herself and tried to swallow back another fresh bout of tears. Here’s to hoping that perhaps her mother would perhaps be nosey enough to actually come.

“Healthy World Initiative, Nancy Allen’s office, this is Genevive speaking.”

Liz perked up instantly, twirling her ring over and over around her finger in a nervous habit she could already feel beginning. “Hi Gen! It’s Liz. Is my Mom available? I just wanted to see if she was free next week Thursday. I have some important news…”

“Just a moment, Miss Kane.” There was a click and some muffled voices in the background, in which Liz could hear her mother’s voice, raised in annoyance. ‘What, does she think I can just drop everything for her needs? I’m busy.’ Slowly, Liz felt her heart begin to sink deep into the pit of her stomach. Of course. Of course. What a fool she was to think—

“Miss Kane?”

“It’s all right, Gen. I heard her.” Liz replied in a quiet voice. “Just—Just tell her that if she’s free next Thursday, I was going to have her meet my fiancé. Nick McLain. Of McLain enterprises. Dinner’s at eight at his mansion.” And with that she hung up, glazed eyes looking around for the first bottle of wine she’d craved in months.

As Liz had expected, the tantalizing fruit of hearing that her only daughter was to be married to eccentric billionaire Nick McLain had been more than enough to draw her mother out of hiding. It had been a close call, of course. Lots of Liz fidgeting nervously as she looked out Nick’s windows towards the road, hoping for a glimpse of her mother’s white towncar. Nick laughing and pulling her close for a small kiss before murmuring that he was certain she’d show. And if not, at least they’d have a nice quiet dinner with Sally, just the three of them.  They’d both laughed at the thought of that, and for a moment everything had seemed like it would actually work out the way Nick promised. Everything would go smoothly. Nothing could foil their happiness. Not anymore.

“Of course, you do realize you can’t actually marry him.”

Liz wondered now if she’d always been this naïve.

She looked across the table to her mother, eyes wide with shock as her knife screeched across the china plates she and Nick had pulled specifically for this occasion. Nancy continued eating her salad with the calm demeanor of someone who had just commented on the weather instead of shutting a curtain on her daughter’s future.

“Excuse me? What do you mean I can’t marry Nick? It’s… It’s already been decided—It’s not your decision to make!” Liz sputtered, heart already beginning to beat loudly in her ears. No… No no no. She couldn’t do this to her, could she? She couldn’t take away the one good thing she had left in this world. She wouldn’t let anyone do that—not again.

Nancy chuckled a little bit under her breath, raising an eyebrow at her daughter before glancing to Nick and back, waving her knife about to encompass the whole of Nick’s modern mansion. “You can’t be serious, my dear. Did you bring me here to try and impress me with all this gaudy show? A security expert? Sincerely? No. You were meant to marry old money, someone with standing. Someone meant for better things than tinkering around with toys all day.” The woman shook her head and took another bite. “You can’t go through with this. I won’t give my blessing.” Her grey eyes flickered up to look between her daughter and Nick once more. “That is what I’m here for isn’t it?”

“W-Well, yes, but...” Liz continued, voice growing quieter as she was still trying to process what was going on. Her hands were trembling where they lay in her lap and she could feel Nick’s eyes on her, unsure exactly what to do next. But if he said anything to her under his breath, she couldn’t hear for how her heart was pounding like a jackhammer, sending blood rushing through her ears.

“Well, then, the matter is settled. I won’t give my blessing, and by the obvious lack of your father’s presence, I assume he has declined to give his as well. Truly, Elizabeth, I know you’ve had your follies, but this is perhaps the most intricate yet. Marrying this… this nobody when you had a Porter in the palm of your hands.” Her mother continued, disgust and aloof disappointment thick in her voice. “It’s preposterous. You’ll break this engagement at once and go crawling back to Ian Porter and beg for him to take you back. The two of you were such a lovely couple. You were well on your way to becoming First Lady with him. No idea why you’d ever give that all up. Perhaps your father and I made a mistake spending all this money on you. Made you spoiled rotten. A disgrace.”

Tears pricked at the corner of Liz’s eyes. It was taking all the control she had to stay sitting where she was, still as a statue but trembling from head to toe as she tried not to start crying. It was true. All of it was true. She was a disgrace. Nothing that her parents had ever wanted of her. She had strived for so long to be everything they wanted, in order to grasp at any small piece of attention they would deign to give her. And she had held it in her hands once—when she’d been hanging off of Ian Porter’s arms.

They had loved her then.

“Yes, Mother… I know. And I’m sorry.” She said in a very small voice, lowering her head ever so slightly to try and mask the tears that had begun to roll down her cheeks. “But… I’m still marrying Nick.” Liz swallowed the lump that was in her throat and groped under the table for Nick’s hand, squeezing his fingers tight between her own. She needed the anchor. The reminder that there was at least one person in this world who loved her as unconditionally as she loved them.

“I understand if you don’t… If you don’t want to come to the wedding. If you don’t want to speak to me ever again, but I won’t give Nick up. Not for any amount of money, or praise, or whatever else you think you can use to bribe me into being your puppet.” The tears were truly flowing now, rolling down Liz’s cheeks in streams, choking her voice as she tried to move past the lump in her throat. “I love him. More than I’ve ever loved anyone else. He’s my soulmate, my one true love, the stuff that makes up fairy tales. Please… Please don’t tell me you can’t be happy that your daughter has found that in her lifetime.”

Nancy stared back at Liz for a few silent moments, seconds ticking by that felt like hours. Until slowly, her mother stood, setting her napkin down on her plate and looked away from Liz with a cool expression that spoke of ties deliberately being severed.