Chapter 3
925 Words
The next day, I still took Quinn to the mall and bought two cocktail dresses on the family card.
They weren't expensive, but they looked decent enough.
In the end, I gave her that Chanel haute couture gown as well.
When I handed her the bag, she smiled and thanked Briar, then said it was a shame to waste such nice clothes on her.
I asked, "Then you don't want them?"
She froze. "I just think they're too expensive..."
I said, "Then wear your own."
I didn't try to persuade her further.
A flicker of surprise crossed her eyes, but she quickly lowered her head again.
On the day of the christening dinner, sure enough, she didn't wear any of the dresses I'd bought.
She wore an old, washed-out sweatshirt and had her hair tied back in a casual ponytail. Standing in the middle of a group of relatives who were all dressed to the nines, she stood out like a sore thumb.
And sure enough, before the dinner even began, someone asked, "Which family is this girl from? Why is she dressed so casually?"
Quinn immediately stepped back half a step behind me.
She said, "I didn't want to wear anything too nice myself. It has nothing to do with Briar."
After that, she quietly added, "Just being able to have a place to stay at Reign's home, I'm already very content."
The relatives around me immediately looked at me differently.
Rosalind frowned.
She asked, "Briar, is this how your family treats a lifesaver?"
Before I could even speak, Quinn had already panicked and stood up to bow.
She said, "Rosalind, please don't blame Briar. Briar has been so good to me. I'm the one who feels unworthy and doesn't dare dress as nicely as the family members."
I looked down at her.
Not bad. You're improving fast.
Before, all you could do was cry in front of me. Now you've learned to put on a show in front of everyone.
I said, "Get up."
Quinn looked up at me, her eyes still red.
I added, "Sit down and eat. If you starve yourself sick again, I'll have to buy you medicine when we get back."
Someone next to us couldn't hold back a cough.
Quinn slowly sat back down, the tissue in her hand crumpled into a mess.
Before the dinner even ended, word had already spread that Reign's wife couldn't tolerate others, not even showing any kindness to the family's lifesaver.
In the car on the way back, Emily was so angry her eyes were red.
She said, "Madam, you clearly bought her new clothes. She just didn't wear them. She did it on purpose!"
I replied, "Yeah."
Emily asked, "Then why didn't you clarify things on the spot? The sales associate, the receipt, or the maid; any of them could back you up."
I said, "If I had, she would have said she didn't want to waste anything, and that I'd taken her thriftiness the wrong way."
Emily pressed, "So we're just going to let her keep smearing you like this?"
I leaned back against the seat and glanced at the rearview mirror.
Quinn was sitting in the taxi behind, looking at me through the window.
When our eyes met, she immediately looked away.
I said, "Doesn't she like the persona of someone who doesn't compete or fight for things? Then from now on, whatever she wants, she can ask for it herself and own it herself."
Once we got home, I called the butler over.
I only gave one instruction.
I told him, "From today on, Quinn still gets her usual room and board. If she wants anything extra, she must come to me herself and tell me what she wants and why. No one is allowed to use the excuse that 'Miss Rhodes is too embarrassed to ask' to go over my head."
The butler looked at me in surprise.
He asked, "What if Mr. Voss or Mrs. Voss senior asks?"
I said, "Then they can pay for it themselves."
The butler gave me a meaningful look and nodded silently.
That night, Reign came looking for me.
But not to ask if I was feeling better. He came to pass on the gossip from the christening dinner.
Reign said, "Everyone out there is saying you're mean."
I was looking at the guest list for my mother-in-law's birthday next month. I looked up at him.
I replied, "She has food to eat, clothes to wear, lives in our master bedroom, and has a nanny to care for her. How exactly have I been mean to her?"
Reign said, "She lives in our house with no real standing. It's bound to start people talking. If you really stood up for her, who would dare say anything?"
I said, "So that's the problem, her lack of standing."
I closed the list. "That's simple."
Reign frowned. "What are you up to now?"
I said, "Have Magnolia take her as a goddaughter."
I laid it all out for him clearly.
I continued, "From now on, she'll be the Voss family's second daughter. Everything from food to toilet paper goes on the household tab, and when she goes out, she won't have to say she's a distant relative living here. Once she's recovered, I can even set her up with someone."
No real standing, no protection from gossip, and no one to care for her in the future. Those three problems he had just mentioned were all solved in one go.
But Reign said nothing.
- Writer
