When at last Elijah stepped out of the room after Nova had just fallen into an exhausted sleep he met Julia waiting in front of his study and he sighed, after the kind of day that he had had he did not want to have to talk to Juila, she would give him nothing more than more headache.
"Not now Julia." He said, raising his hand to stall her from speaking but she remained undaunted by his refusal.
"You can't bury your head in the sand like an ostrich and simply hope that things get better because they will only progressively become worse." She said and followed him into the study.
"There is nothing to say, Julia. The wedding has been called off and I have no intention to try to dissuade anyone's mind. Matter of fact I think it is all for the best." He said wearily.
"So what is going to happen to us? What will happen to me?" Julia wailed.
"We sell off the company. That should settle all our debts and we will have a little left over to take care of us. We will have to cut down our expenses considerably, get rid of the maids, the cars, the vacations abroad…"
"… Not the vacations." Julia said in a small voice.
"Yes, we will have to get rid of our luxurious lives but at least we will not have to deal with this looming disgrace." He said simply.
Julia thought about living like the poor people she had always despised and she felt physically ill. She could not bear to be kicked out of the society she loved so much, she was certain that if she had to live a simple life she would go crazy or quickly deteriorate. There had to be something else.
"we could do something, you could sue those magazines and forced them to retract and apologize then we can explain to Callie Knox that it was all a big mistake, I bet they would accept." She said.
"You are being delusional Julia, that family will never accept Nova and even if they would I have no interest in putting my daughter through that sort of trauma again. It is sleazy news, another news cycle is going to break soon, some unfortunate celebrity will do something stupid and they will trend, Soon everyone will forget and Nova will be okay."
"… But Eli…"
"Enough!" he said harshly. "if you are so desperate then go yourself and marry Caden Knox and leave me and my child out of it. Now leave, I have important things that demand my attention." He said and Julia got up and slithered out of the room.
*****
"Your father would be turning in his grave if he could see the Knox name linked with such nasty and disgusting headlines, I cannot handle this disgrace." Callie said close to tears.
Caden continued looking through his screen as he replied. "Dad is probably putrid pieces of flesh now if at all, I highly doubt that he would be able to move even a little talk more of turning in that narrow coffin." He said matter of factly.
"Why do you have to be so literal?" Faye hissed.
"I just fail to understand why you so wail." He said and glanced at them briefly.
"Son, you fail to understand how dire the situation is, all of our friends are whispering about us, we have to salvage our status." Callie explained.
"I see nothing wrong with that, they have always whispered about us, I most especially have been whispered about. It does not harm anyone I can assure you that." He stated.
"Forgive us for not being armadillos with iron plated backs." Faye said, her words heavy with sarcasm.
"What similarity would I have with the bug eater? When you say iron plated backs does that have anything to do with when Jasper says I have balls of steel?" Caden asked seriously while Faye thew her hands in irritation and walked away from the table while their mother rolled her eyes.
"All that does not matter, all that matters is that we have to end the engagement and call off the wedding." Callie said.
"Why would we do that?" he asked.
"Because Nova and her family are a disgrace and we cannot be linked with them anymore." Callie explained patiently while Caden listened to her earnestly and when she was done he nodded his head and she smiled.
"I have no intention of ending the engagement or calling off the wedding." He said decisively then went right back to work on his computer, leaving his mother flustered and his sister reddening in anger.
"You see what I have always told you? You have allowed him get away with too much and now he cannot listen to reason." Faye accused.
"There is no way around this, you must forget that girl, I will find you a suitable girl and we will get you married." Callie said plaintively.
"Mother, I have found a suitable girl and I will get married to her." Caden insisted.
"Caden Knox! I am your mother and I am telling you that I will not be involved in a wedding between you and that tramp." She said firmly.
Caden heard the tone in her voice and looked up at her and spoke gently. "You told me that I had to get married and you made me choose a girl and I chose one and now you come back with this confusing rhetoric.." he said and his mother looked compassionately at him and reached out across the table to hold his hand in hers, hoping that he would listen to her.
"I do not want you to be upset…" he said gently and a wide smile of relief settled on Callie's face.
"… You don't have to be involved in the wedding, Nova and I will find a minister of peace who is going to get us married and you or anyone else will not have to be there." He explained earnestly and Callie's face fell while Faye guffawed loudly in the corner.
Callie harshly released Caden's hand and stood up and stared down at him behind his office desk and said coldly.
"Do not defy me Caden, I assure you that no one in this city would marry you." She said before walking out with Faye on her heels.