Free Separating Riches by Mairsile Leabhair

have some truffles while she prepared for her fundraiser dinners. Growing up in Collierville, Tennessee, before my father made his millions, we ate what every other hard-working family ate, grocery store food. And after we became rich, Mother still insisted on normal foods on porcelain plates unless it was a holiday, or we had guests. Then the expensive foods that I couldn’t pronounce were served on our expensive dinnerware.
    Melinda’s parents entered the room fashionably late and fashionably dressed. I looked down at my blue jeans and wished that I could sneak out and go shopping. Melinda and I walked over to greet them, and Elizabeth hugged me as Robert shook Melinda’s hand. Every time I saw Melinda with her father, I felt sorry for her. They were so formal, so divided that it was hard for me to see the love between them. I knew Robert loved his daughter, he just didn’t know how to show it, which left him looking cold and aloof.
    “I understand that you married my daughter today,” he said, shaking my hand with a firm grip.
    Always on the defensive with him, I wondered if he was baiting me. I fretted at how easily I allowed him to intimidate me.
    “Yes, isn’t it wonderful?”
    “Indeed. Melinda,” he said, quickly letting my hand go, and looking at his daughter. “Did you have our lawyer look at the prenup before you signed it?”
    “Huh? No, Father. There was no prenup,” Melinda said.
    I took a step back, knowing that the first argument of the evening was about to begin.
    “This is unacceptable,” he scoffed. “I’ll have my attorney draw up an ironclad post-nuptial agreement and have it sent to you first thing in the morning.”
    I watched as Melinda’s face flushed red with anger, and her hands balled up into fists. This is not going to end well.
    “And I’ll have my pen ready to sign it,” I said pompously. “At the same time, however, my father will have his attorney draw up an ironclad postnup, and I’m sure Melinda will be happy to sign it as well.” I’ve never liked confrontations, in fact I loathed them. But Mr. Blackstone was a forceful man and the only way to speak his language was to talk money.
    “Damn straight I’ll sign it,” Melinda said, never taking her eyes off her father’s granite face. “But I won’t sign yours, Father. Chris is my wife now. For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer. Nothing you do will infringe on my love for her.”
    “And you’re prepared to lose everything for her?” he asked.
    “Yes. I’ve done it before, and I can do it again,” Melinda said proudly. “I know now that the most important thing in my life is the love we have for one another. Everything else, including money, will always be secondary to that love.”
    He shook his head. I could tell that he didn’t understand what Melinda had so beautifully said, and that he wasn’t ready to let it go.
    “Robert,” Elizabeth said, touching his arm lightly, “remember when we wanted to get married and my father said no?”
    “Elizabeth, it’s not the same thing,” Robert said.
    “It’s exactly the same thing, dear. He was afraid, just as you are now. But you loved me enough to fight for me. Remember? You were even willing to walk away from it all, just as our daughter is willing to do now.”
    Robert averted his stare, and then looked over at his wife. He shook his head again, searching for a rebuttal. Elizabeth’s eyes were pleading with him, and finally he nodded.
    “She will have to legally take your last name, just as I took your mother’s name.”
    “I don’t understand,” I said, looking at Melinda to explain.
    “Mother was an only child, and like me, the last in line to inherit the empire. Her father would not let her marry him unless he accepted the Blackstone family name. He had it legally changed.”
    “Yes, and I also agreed to sign the prenuptial,” he said, crossing his arms.
    “I’m so sorry, Chris. I probably should have told you about that before