Jennifer: I don’t understand why you’re telling me this

Katlyn: His father will be wanting Matthias to have a wife, and his own heir. That’s where you come in

Jennifer: *scoffs* You can’t seriously be suggesting...

Katlyn: Why not? He clearly is attracted to you. Use it. Get pregnant. Then he’ll have to marry you

Jennifer: Mother! The North’s are basically kissing cousins with white supremacists

Katlyn: Exactly. I have not been able to make many in roads with them but a baby, a baby could join our families. I know I’ve complained that the egg donor for you and your brother clearly had paler skin than your father and I but now we can use it. You owe me after you killed your father

It wasn’t the first time Katlyn had said it. It wasn’t even the worst phrasing she had used. But every time it was mentioned Jennifer felt like she was being stabbed.

Jennifer: *quietly* I didn’t-

Katlyn: Shut up. It’s your fault, and you know you will owe me for as long as he should have been living

Dancing with her eyes closed, it felt like no time had passed. That wasn’t true of course. Things were much different now than the last time the trio had been drinking together. They had spent the years after high school sleeping away the days and partying away the nights. Despite this moment of joy, Jennifer knew she would never go back to that again. It was time to grow up.

Katlyn: Fine. I suppose we can keep this contained. You’ll go overseas before you start to show

Jennifer: *laughs* What? Why would I do that?

Katlyn: Because I still hold the purse strings around here. We’ll pretend the baby is Brandon’s, everyone will believe it with his reputation. We can tie it to Bridgette, she'll be returning to Sweden soon to stay

Jennifer: Why can’t we just say the baby is mine even if I’m not going to raise them? It’s not the 1500’s

Katlyn: If we can’t do business with the North’s legitimately, maybe they will bow to do business with us if we threaten to expose Matthias’s baby

Jennifer: Use my baby as blackmail?

Katlyn: You said yourself, they don't want connections to us. They might pay us to keep it contained

Katlyn smiled to herself, she could make this work. And if Jennifer started to step out of line she would threaten to deliver the baby to the North family. She wouldn't need to do much to convince Jennifer they would harm the baby for being mixed race. In actuality? Well the family that won the dowry bid weren't known for their fertility, it was possible that in time Jennifer's baby would be the North's only possible heir, and they would pay for access to them. With any luck, Jennifer could be growing a son.

Jennifer sat feeling queasy. She had wanted her baby adopted into a loving home. Pretend her baby was her brother’s? Brandon was too much of a playboy for any actual dad duties. The baby would be better off with- no. There was no point thinking it. Her mother was likely right, what did Jennifer even know about looking after kids? Nothing. Whoever she gave birth to probably wouldn’t want her as a mother anyway. Still, she had decided to go through with this pregnancy, maybe somewhere along the way a maternal instinct might kick in and surprise her? If the baby was already going to be with her family...

Jennifer felt rage boil up inside her. This is not what her father would have wanted. Sure he had died while lecturing her but... that last conversation was about how she should rebel against the evil in the world, not the innocent requests like playing tennis. His last sentence to her had been, be a good rebel and leave this world better than you found it.

Jennifer: You can’t make me get pregnant

Katlyn: Yes I can. It’s in your genes. From your father and your donor, you and your brother are both fertile. A few supplements, a fertility massage, things will fall into place

Jennifer: I mean I won’t get pregnant. I refuse to

Katlyn: *scoffs* You can’t refuse to. Jennifer you have no skills, no income of your own, you are the one who financially supports your two idiot friends. Say no and I will make you leave today. You will be homeless, and they will be homeless, because no one likes a spoiled little rich girl unless they’re getting something out of it. Your one strength is you can beguile so use it to get Matthias into your bed, and into your body

Jennifer hated her mother sometimes. This was one of those times. Still, being a mother and a wife might give her more freedom than being Katlyn’s daughter.

Jennifer: If I do what you want...

Katlyn: When you do what I want you will become tied to that family. They will have no choice but to align with us