Read Online Condemn Me Not by Dianne Venetta, Jaxadora Design - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Dianne Venetta, Jaxadora Design
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stormed
from one end of the living room to the other. She stopped and pounded a finger
to her chest. “It’s my life. I’m an adult now and you can’t make me do what you want!”
Mariah’s
screaming reverberated in Simone’s skull. It trampled her nerves. “Control? I’m
trying to help you, not control you.” An argument that was wearing
thin. “Only you’re too self-centered and self-focused to see past your own
desire.”
Mariah
ran thumb and forefinger through her hair and yanked the overgrown bangs from
her face. The veins in her neck bulged blue against her fair skin, nearly
matching the steel blue gray of her walls. “You don’t get me at all.” She frowned.
“Dad will understand. He gets it.”
“Oh,
I beg to differ. I think I understand you better than you realize.”
Mariah
dropped her hand and challenged, “No, you don’t. Because if you did, you’d
know that sometimes in life you have to take risks. Dad says you have to take risks if you want to get ahead.”
Simone
ground her jaw. She hated that Mitchell’s decisions undermined her position
with Mariah, especially annoying at the moment, as they were being thrust in
her face. “He never advised you to start a business you know nothing about,
because in taking this risk you can lose it all.”
The
insinuation registered. Mariah’s defiance stalled. She knew the story of how
her father earned and lost a fortune—months before he and Simone were ever
married. Speculating on real estate had made him a millionaire, but it was all
on paper. Bank notes. Nothing solid. It was “assumed” wealth. Assuming all went well, assuming everything went according to plan, assuming nothing untoward happened, Mitchell was a millionaire. Then one of his biggest
tenants reneged on a deal, stopped paying his loan, and the effect was a rapid
cascade of dominoes that crashed quickly, leaving her husband bankrupt. The
part Mariah didn’t know was how Simone had to sign for their first mortgage,
because no bank in town would accept the signature of one Mitchell Sheridan.
“Logan
and I have researched the recycling business. We know there’s a market and we
know we can make money. Dad thought it was a good idea.”
Simone
felt trapped, cornered between her daughter’s obstinacy and her husband’s entrepreneurial
mindset. There had to be some way she could get through to her. She had to
make Mariah understand. The girl was about to make the biggest mistake of her
life, one that could cost her for years to come. But staring into the piercing
green eyes of her only child, Simone felt at a sudden loss. It was like
staring into Mitchell’s eyes, a gaze she had learned long ago would remain
hopeful, determined, resistant, despite all odds to the contrary.
He
would never give up on an idea, flimsy and precarious as it might appear to
those around him. Mitchell believed in himself and, win or lose, that’s what
mattered most to him. But Mariah wasn’t Mitchell. “Starting your own business
is not the fairy-tale you’re painting,” Simone began. “It’s hard. It’s twenty
four-seven. The stress of bills to pay will eat away at your mood, your
willpower, your relationship with Logan… It will affect you in ways you can’t
even fathom right now.”
“I
understand it’s going to be hard,” Mariah returned. “But like you always say,
the best things in life are often the hardest to come by. You’ll never get
anywhere in this life without commitment. Isn’t that why you spent so much
time away from the family? Because you valued what you were doing, believed in
it enough to put in the long, hard hours to make it work?”
Clipped
by the concise comparison, Simone huffed, “I had a husband willing to support
me. Somehow I don’t see Logan in that same role of support.”
“Logan
loves me and is willing to support me in anything I do.” Mariah twisted
from one end of the living room to the other. She stopped and pounded a finger
to her chest. “It’s my life. I’m an adult now and you can’t make me do what you want!”
Mariah’s
screaming reverberated in Simone’s skull. It trampled her nerves. “Control? I’m
trying to help you, not control you.” An argument that was wearing
thin. “Only you’re too self-centered and self-focused to see past your own
desire.”
Mariah
ran thumb and forefinger through her hair and yanked the overgrown bangs from
her face. The veins in her neck bulged blue against her fair skin, nearly
matching the steel blue gray of her walls. “You don’t get me at all.” She frowned.
“Dad will understand. He gets it.”
“Oh,
I beg to differ. I think I understand you better than you realize.”
Mariah
dropped her hand and challenged, “No, you don’t. Because if you did, you’d
know that sometimes in life you have to take risks. Dad says you have to take risks if you want to get ahead.”
Simone
ground her jaw. She hated that Mitchell’s decisions undermined her position
with Mariah, especially annoying at the moment, as they were being thrust in
her face. “He never advised you to start a business you know nothing about,
because in taking this risk you can lose it all.”
The
insinuation registered. Mariah’s defiance stalled. She knew the story of how
her father earned and lost a fortune—months before he and Simone were ever
married. Speculating on real estate had made him a millionaire, but it was all
on paper. Bank notes. Nothing solid. It was “assumed” wealth. Assuming all went well, assuming everything went according to plan, assuming nothing untoward happened, Mitchell was a millionaire. Then one of his biggest
tenants reneged on a deal, stopped paying his loan, and the effect was a rapid
cascade of dominoes that crashed quickly, leaving her husband bankrupt. The
part Mariah didn’t know was how Simone had to sign for their first mortgage,
because no bank in town would accept the signature of one Mitchell Sheridan.
“Logan
and I have researched the recycling business. We know there’s a market and we
know we can make money. Dad thought it was a good idea.”
Simone
felt trapped, cornered between her daughter’s obstinacy and her husband’s entrepreneurial
mindset. There had to be some way she could get through to her. She had to
make Mariah understand. The girl was about to make the biggest mistake of her
life, one that could cost her for years to come. But staring into the piercing
green eyes of her only child, Simone felt at a sudden loss. It was like
staring into Mitchell’s eyes, a gaze she had learned long ago would remain
hopeful, determined, resistant, despite all odds to the contrary.
He
would never give up on an idea, flimsy and precarious as it might appear to
those around him. Mitchell believed in himself and, win or lose, that’s what
mattered most to him. But Mariah wasn’t Mitchell. “Starting your own business
is not the fairy-tale you’re painting,” Simone began. “It’s hard. It’s twenty
four-seven. The stress of bills to pay will eat away at your mood, your
willpower, your relationship with Logan… It will affect you in ways you can’t
even fathom right now.”
“I
understand it’s going to be hard,” Mariah returned. “But like you always say,
the best things in life are often the hardest to come by. You’ll never get
anywhere in this life without commitment. Isn’t that why you spent so much
time away from the family? Because you valued what you were doing, believed in
it enough to put in the long, hard hours to make it work?”
Clipped
by the concise comparison, Simone huffed, “I had a husband willing to support
me. Somehow I don’t see Logan in that same role of support.”
“Logan
loves me and is willing to support me in anything I do.” Mariah twisted