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Lawyers
Carrie stepped out of the way so that Charlie and Meg could follow Jonathan down the hallway toward the stairwell, and then the lady-in-waiting trailed until they reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Are you certain you’re ready for this?” Charlie asked, pausing in the foyer to turn and face her.
Meg nodded. “I assume it’s not the most difficult task I’ll be called upon to complete in the near future.” Thoughts of what it would be like if she had to testify against her uncle in court made her stomach lurch again.
“True,” Charlie replied with a shrug. “You are planning on marrying me.”
That was enough to make her giggle, and she playfully nudged him in the arm. “That wasn’t quite what I was referring to.”
“Nevertheless….”
“I’ll just wait for you here, miss,” Carrie said as she stepped out of the way.
“You can hav
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“What sort of trouble?” Mr. Halsey asked Charlie.Rather than answer, he deferred to Meg, glancing in her direction to let her know he assumed she could respond for herself. “The papers are reporting he is being investigated for money laundering amongst other things.”The lawyers looked at one another for a few moments before Mr. Halsey cleared his throat and said, “Generally speaking, under such circumstances, a convicted criminal appoints someone to handle his finances. I would assume your uncle would choose your mother, in which case she would essentially receive all of the contracted amount.”Meg thought that would likely be the case, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. She knew she could simply wait a bit longer before marrying Charlie so that neither of them got any of the money, but that was becoming less and less of an option with every moment she spent with Charlie.“What other questions did
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“We can have that lovely orchestra that Josie and Walter used at their daughter’s coming out party, what are they called? The Moonlight Waltz, or something or other. Oh, and when you officially propose at the engagement party, we can do it outside so we can use firecrackers, just like they did at that wedding we attended in France. It’ll be wonderful.”Meg’s fork was poised over her salmon, but her eyes were glued to Charlie’s across the table from her, neither of them even blinking.“Mother, I really don’t think all of that is necessary. At all,” Charlie began, not losing hold of Meg’s eyes.“Please, Charlie. My only son will only be getting engaged once,” Pamela insisted.Meg cleared her throat but said nothing, and rather than taking a bite she moved some of her carrots around on her plate so that it might appear as if she were eating.“Honestly, Mother, I appreciate t
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Meg raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? See whom?”He pursed his lips together, as if he wasn’t sure whether or not he could tell her. “I mean a specific sort of doctor who specializes in this sort of thing.”Her other eyebrow shot up. “You mean… a psychiatrist?”He nodded. “I know it might sound desperate. It’s only… I don’t know what else to do. I don’t want anyone to think I’m crazy….”“A psychiatrist would be the one to say that, though, wouldn’t he?”“Possibly,” Charlie shrugged. “I think I’m sane enough to stay out of an institution. I hope I am anyway. But I’ve been reading, and some of the techniques these doctors have come up with might help me. Have you read anything by Freud? Or Jung?”She had heard of Freud but not that other person. “I don’t know much about psychia
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