Free Legal Heirs - Box Set Edition: Books 5-8 (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles) by Kimball Lee

anything Gabby wants and bitches about long enough. West, how are you holding up? You shouldn’t have picked us up, we could have taken a cab, you’re getting married tomorrow.”
    “Believe me, anything that gets me away from the house is good thing. Your mother is pretty intense, but that sister of hers takes being a diva to whole new level. She doesn’t have the same ability to insult without injury like Evangeline, so we’ve had a constant influx of new staff to train as the others quit,” West said as they arrived at the house.
    “Gabby and Bennet, geez, what a thrill this weekend is going to be,” Amanda sighed. “Sorry about our crazy relatives, West. Alex, can’t you just give them some money and make them disappear?”
    “I’ve given and given to those two, they’re like the clap, hard to get rid of,” Bly said, and West laughed and seemed relieved to have someone in his corner.
    *
    Walking into a house where Evangeline was preparing to marry a handsome younger man and Gabrielle was mourning the loss of her late husband’s fortune, was like walking into a war zone.
    Gabby shrieked at the maids and Evangeline shrieked at Gabby and all the household staff scurried around with their eyes firmly on the floor.
    “Mother, are you preparing for a wedding or the opening of a Broadway play?” Bly asked, kissing Evangeline on both cheeks in the Parisian fashion.
    “Alexander, you are more handsome as each day passes, and you know everything about making money, but you’d do well to leave the wedding festivities to me,” Evangeline said. “You cannot conceive of the anguish this entire event has caused me. Trimming the guest list alone has turned many of my dearest friends against me, but alas, the caterer says my garden will only accommodate five hundred. Well, c’est la vie, an intimate ceremony it will have to be.”
    “Five hundred of your closest friends, Mother? How quaint,” Amanda said, stretching out on her mother’s big bed and yawning, she was always sleepy as her pregnancy advanced.
    “Dear God, Amanda, when is that child due? I swear, you’re as big as a Clydesdale, it’s frightening,” Evangeline said, as three seamstresses buzzed around her, pinning and tucking her wedding gown.
    “Thank you mommy dearest, I have two months to go,” Amanda said, and even though her mother’s words stung, she was used to them.
    “Your mother has worked me to death since I’ve been here, Alex,” Gabrielle said, sweeping into the room. “I feel certain you’ll want to compensate me in some small way, I’ll give you my account number and you can make a monetary transfer.”
    “Well, I’m sure mother can’t do without you or you wouldn’t be here,” he said.
    “She’s an absolute horror,” Evangeline said, “but she has no other family so I can’t turn her out with a clear conscience. Gabby, run and get me a cocktail and a small wedge of cheese, I feel faint.”
    “What am I, Evangeline, your chambermaid? Have one of the peasants do it,” Gabrielle said and opened Evangeline’s jewelry box and began trying on her best pieces. “Girl,” she yelled at one of the seamstresses, “hurry to the kitchen and fetch some food for us, then get out of this house. Your needlework is as hideous as your face, I won’t have you having you ruining my sister’s dress.”
    “Gabrielle, please. Your rudeness is so low class, try and contain your venomous tongue,” Evangeline said, then apologized to the girl in French.
    “I’m out of here for a while, Mother. I believe your fiancé and I have a two man bachelor party to attend,” Bly said.
    “Oh, Alex! You must wait for Bennet, he’ll be wounded if you don’t include him,” Gabby said, fastening a huge diamond necklace.
    “He’ll get over it,” Bly said, and he went to find West.
    “Mother,” Amanda said, sitting up on the bed and staring at a wall of family portraits, “how old was Alex when that picture was taken?”
    “It was taken