Chapter 257: Attack (3)
"It is Caldwell," Siena said, having nothing to hide. "You should be familiar with my father seeing as you were to marry him."
"Shane Caldwell is your father. My foolish brother wants my son to marry the daughter of the man I was meant to marry. This is ridiculous," Beatrice said, touching her forehead as if it would help calm her thoughts. "Over twenty years later I still hear about a marriage uniting the two families. What made anyone think I would want Rafael to be in an arranged marriage when I hated it?"
"Your brother seems to think that it is what everyone would want. He wants something from my family, but he cannot get it unless he becomes part of the family. Honestly, my father wasn’t too excited about the marriage at first after the shame you put him through. Said he was embarrassed-"
"I spoke to your father about not being able to love him. He said that he understood and did not argue against me wanting to love River. I know that he married soon after I left. What shame did he feel?" Beatrice asked, feeling like Shane had no reason to be embarrassed. "It is only my story of having a lover that is spoken of. Why do you think your father married quickly?"
"Possibly to end what was being said about him," Kayla answered.
Siena turned to Kayla, glaring at her for speaking out of turn.
Annalise wanted nothing more than to sew Kayla’s mouth shut. This was a conversation between Siena and Beatrice. Siena and Kayla appeared to be good friends with the way Kayla was always ready to defend Siena, but she needed to know when to shut up.
Beatrice chuckled, finding the young woman’s words to be funny. "They always speak of me running around with River while I was promised to your father. That was true. I took every opportunity I had to be near River when I knew my family wanted me to marry Shane, but I was not the only one with my eyes on someone else. It was simply more fun to gossip about my lover."
"My father said he loved you," Siena said, feeling like she was missing a lot from the story.