A man who cared about more than money and power and things. A man who considered her a whole person, with a heart and mind of her own, not just his most prized possession who looked good on his arm and had great taste and could work a room with the best of them.
Short answer: she absolutely should have that. And she would have it. With Quinn.
By the time she locked up the showroom and went home, she was all fired up to get it over with. To call her mother and tell her simply and proudly that she and Quinn were together.
But as it turned out, no call was necessary. When she pulled into her driveway, her mother’s Mercedes SUV was parked in the side space next to the garage.
Chloe’s stomach lurched at the sight, which was so pitiful it made her want to throw her head back and scream. But she didn’t scream. She drew in a slow breath and told herself to man up. It was her life and she was going to live it for herself, not her mother. She would tell her mom the simple truth about her and Quinn and that would be that.
But then, as she left the garage by the breezeway door and caught sight of her mother waiting on the front step, it became crystal clear from the tight, furious expression on Linda Winchester’s face that she already knew about Quinn.
Chloe’s steps faltered. Only for a second, though. She quickly caught herself, straightened her shoulders and kept right on walking. “Mom. I don’t remember you mentioning that you would be dropping by.”
“Oh, please.” Her mother gave her a truly withering glance. “Let me in. I have a few things to say to you and I’m not going to say them on your front step.”
Chloe froze with her key raised to unlock the door. “Look, Mother. I don’t want to—”
“Open the door. Now, please.”
The temptation was so powerful to tell her mother right then and there that this was her house and she would decide who did or didn’t enter it.
But then again, well, Linda Winchester wasn’t the only one who had a few things to say. And she wasn’t the only one who preferred to have this out in private.
So she unlocked the door. Her mother brushed past her as she disarmed the alarm.
Carefully, quietly, Chloe shut the door. Her mother stood beside the formal dining table, her blond head high, bright spots of color flaming on her cheeks, her lips bloodless with tension.
Chloe almost felt sorry for her. “Look, Mom. Why don’t you sit down?”
Linda whipped out the chair at the end of the table and sat in it. She put her hand to her mouth and shut her eyes.
Chloe took the nearest chair. She waited until her mother dropped her hand away from her mouth and opened her eyes again before she said gently, “You’re obviously very upset. Please tell me why.”
Her mother sucked in a gasp and snapped, “Don’t you play coy with me, Chloe.”
“I’m not playing coy,” Chloe said with a calm that surprised her. “What I’m doing is trying my best not to jump to conclusions.”
“All right.” With two sharp tugs, Linda straightened the sides of the linen jacket she wore. “Agnes Oldfield dropped by to see me an hour ago. She says it’s all over town that you’ve been seeing Quinn Bravo. She says you went to the Sylvan Inn with him last Friday night, where you told Monique Hightower right to her face that you were...attracted to that man ever since high school. Agnes also says that you’ve been seen having ice cream with him and that child of his. She says that everyone says how...intimate you seem together, that it’s obvious something serious is going on between you.” Linda pressed her hand flat to her chest, and shook her head fiercely. “I do not believe this. Tell me that none of it is true.”
Chloe just stared. God. She’d known this would be bad. But somehow, now that it was actually happening, all she could think was What are we doing here? How could I have let it get his far? Why didn’t I back her down years ago?
The questions were all too familiar to her. They were the same ones she’d asked herself over and over about her ex-husband.
“Well?” her mother demanded. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
“You know, Mom. I don’t think I have to say anything. But I would like to know what happened to you? I just don’t understand how you got so messed up.”
Another indignant gasp. “Excuse me?”
“It’s not going to work on me, Mother. Not anymore. All your trumped-up outrage, your sad, small-minded ideas about who’s okay and who’s not. Your judgments about the right kind of people and the ones who just don’t measure up.”
“Wait just a minute, now—”
“No. No, I’m not going to wait for you to try and fill my head with more of your small-minded garbage and your snobbish, silly lies.”
“Well, I have never—”
“Stop. I mean it. I don’t want to hear it, never again. Quinn Bravo is a fine man and I’m not listening to one more word of this ridiculous crap you’re dishing out against him. Yes, I am seeing him. And I am proud to be seeing him. Also, you should know that I am redoing his house and I’m gratified that he and Manny Aldovino have confidence in my ability to do the job well. In fact, Quinn has asked me to marry him and I am seriously considering saying yes.”
“Dear, sweet Lord. Have you lost your mind?”
“No, I have not. I am perfectly sane, saner than I’ve ever been in my life before. And all that old stuff about Quinn’s mother and his father and his father’s first wife, all those ancient, ridiculous distinctions between the real Bravos and the bastard Bravos... Nobody cares about that anymore. Nobody but you—and maybe Monique Hightower and Agnes Oldfield, who both ought to get a life and stay out of mine.”
“But you surely can’t—”
“Wake up, Mother. Smell the Starbucks. I mean, look at it this way. Haven’t you heard? Quinn Bravo’s rich now. He’s made a big success of his life. You know how much you love a big success.”
Linda Winchester paled. “How dare you imply that I care how much money a man makes?”
Chloe knew she had lost it completely when she shouted, “I’m not implying it, I’m saying it straight out!”
Her mother cringed and jerked back in her chair, as though terrified—which Chloe knew very well she was not. “There’s no need to shout,” Linda said with a wounded sniff. “And I would hardly consider beating other men to a pulp a ‘successful’ way to make a living. And what about that motherless child of his being raised by that strange old man?”
“Manny is a wonderful person and he’s doing a terrific job with Annabelle.”
“Oh, please. It doesn’t matter how much money he has. Quinn Bravo will never measure up and I raised you to know that.”
“Enough.” Chloe stood. “What I know, Mother, is that I’m done. I’m finished. I’ve had enough of your narrow-minded, holier-than-thou, manipulative
