Descent (Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell)

Rose continues, ignoring her husband’s outburst to put a nice face on the truth. “We had a bit of
financial trouble and had to sell our old house. Calvin bought us this one.”
Ah.
That makes more sense.
This is actually Calvin’s house, and he’s making that proud old man live in it.
Yikes. That’s brutal.
That explains a lot, though. No wonder Calvin’s father has the look of a bitter, conquered man—
he was beaten, by his own son.
I remember what Calvin said about how his father was a proud man intent on creating a legacy to
leave behind for his son.
Does Calvin realize the actions he took have stripped every bit of dignity and achievement away
from the old man?
What am I saying? Of course he does.
He has deliberately dismantled his father’s legacy brick by brick and left the man no choice but
to live in his.
He really is a ruthless son of a bitch. I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of his wrath, but
watching from behind the safety of his walls, it’s almost impressive.
Calvin stops fighting with his father for his mother’s sake, but it’s easy to see there is no love
lost between the Cutler men. The salad course is tense, but by the time the meal is brought out, Rose
has steered us all back into much friendlier waters.
Watching the dynamic between Calvin and his father, though, I start to think about his insistence
that we have a daughter. I can understand why he would feel that way if this is his model of a fatherson
relationship. I’ve never seen a healthy one myself, but I know it’s not this.
If we have a son, it won’t be like this.
I’ll have to remember to tell him that later.
When dessert is served, Rose thanks the maid who brought it out, then shifts her pleasant
attention on me. “You never told us how you two met. I was ecstatic to hear about the engagement, of
course, but a bit surprised too since Calvin hadn’t really mentioned you before.”
“Well, I’m not surprised he hadn’t mentioned me,” I say, glancing at Calvin. Of course we
discussed how we would approach the story of how we met in polite company, but now that the
moment is upon us, my palms feel a little sweaty. “We actually haven’t been together for very long.”
I expect his father to jump on the opportunity to criticize his son, but the older man is silent,
using his fork to slice into the cherry cheesecake on his plate.