"Sera, I want to be a father to you now, a good father. However, there's a lot of legal language that prevents it still. Basically I'd have to give away most of my fortune and business to Miranda and she'd ruin it so I am not willing to do that. Our agreement is that the person who ends the relationship doesn't get much and neither one of us is willing to be the one who leaves with nothing.
"Any child that was born to someone else could be a foundation for the other to argue that the other person ended the relationship. Since you were conceived before we wed you can't be counted toward ending our relationship. However, if I brought you home or claimed you as my daughter that would cause some legal problems, which is why I've kept my distance. Part of the reason is because I didn't know about you when I married Miranda, if I had I never would have agreed to it."
Okay so not what I expected from this talk but definitely enlightening, although I was still sad that he'd choose a fortune over a daughter, but I wonder if there's more too it than that. My guess is it made the decision to let Mom raise me alone easier for him.
"I know you're wondering why I'm bringing you here now." He paused and I nodded my head. "It's due to the marriage agreement between our family and the Maxwells. The agreement happened because Miranda wanted Charlotte to have a title so badly."
Okay that floored me, that there were still people out there who were title chasers. Of course there were, but a billionaire isn't one I thought would be, I mean isn't being a billionaire enough? It makes me wonder what kind of woman Miranda really was. Doesn't being a billionaire heiress trump having the title of Lady? Maybe it was the fact that she could have both that was the pulling factor. I could speculate all day and still not understand people like this.
"In order to not lose money and avoid a lot of negative publicity, I was able to convince Miranda that if you married Ethan then you could be part of our family. This only worked out because Miranda was the one who pushed for and accepted some unwise legal decisions with the agreement. I was able to use those decisions to make her agree to this arrangement. Miranda thought it would succeed as she assumed Charlotte was as much in love with having a title as she was. But Charlotte decided to marry someone she loves. She never cared for Ethan just as he never cared for her."
She should marry for love in my opinion, why make things harder on a relationship than it already is. And why live someone else's dream? But what about me, I mean I know he doesn't love me as much since he hardly knows me but don't I deserve to marry for love? Which if I marry Ethan I would be but Charles doesn't know that!
"Because of Miranda's rash actions, I had tried to talk her out of it but as she wouldn't hear any of my objections to the agreement, she had to concede on this point. But I also know it's not fair to have you make this choice, to marry someone you don't really know and be part of my family or to be able to marry for love and not be able to be part of my family. But know this, even if I can't invite you to our house if you choose the latter, I will still find time to spend with you. I'm not losing out on any more of your life."
So he did think I deserve to marry for love too, there's just consequences either way. Of course, my life has never been easy, why would it start being easy now?
"Thanks for letting me know the situation. If not I would have thought you just wanted to use me."
"I could see the wheels turning and the pain in your eyes and I just couldn't have that. I want you to know you're my daughter first. I want you to be happy."
"I will get to know Ethan and see if we're compatible, I haven't really ever had a boyfriend so I'm not giving up on anyone to do this." I was grateful he was thinking of me instead of just wanting a pawn, but I still wouldn't tell him this is what I wanted. He needed to wait, just like I'd waited my whole life to know who he was.
"Your Mom never mentioned you had a boyfriend and I feel she would have in her yearly summaries so I had hoped you hadn't developed an attachment to someone in the past six months."
"Nope I'm as single as ever" I laughed. "I honestly don't think I'll mind spending more time with Ethan. Hopefully the cruise will help us know whether we are okay to pursue more." I wanted to give my father some hope that I didn't hate Ethan, but not enough so he didn't have to wait it out.
"Just don't sacrifice your future happiness by doing what you think I want you to. It's not worth it." He had a sad look in his eyes when he said that and I wondered how bad his relationship with Miranda was.
"I won't."