Exiting the LAX terminal on that bright morning, Megan Griswold entered the waiting limo and headed to her new luxury estate in Bel Air. Yet despite her plush surroundings, she was not fulfilled. She could never be fulfilled without Baron.
Once upon a time Megan knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life. Marry Baron, start a family with Baron, and use her marriage to Baron to climb higher on the social ladder than her first cousin Meadow.
All of Megan’s plans drastically changed when she allowed her competitive spirit and her disdain for her cousin to overshadow good judgment. One bad decision made in anger cost her the man she loved.
If only she hadn’t…hadn’t…slept with Meadow’s husband in vengeance. Unfortunately, that man just so happened to be Baron’s second oldest brother Earl.
Earl had been secretly in love with Megan for years. In fact, he claimed to have fallen in love with her from the moment he laid eyes on her at the age of seventeen. Megan had just lost both of her parents and had come to Bel Air to live with her widowed Uncle Ford and female cousin – Meadow.
At the time, Earl was engaged to Meadow and thus not available to pursue Megan, even if she had been old enough. If that wasn’t frustrating enough for Earl, Megan had fallen madly in love with his brother Baron upon first sight, who was visiting Meadow’s home with him that same day. Combine all those obstacles with the fact that Meadow was just a better fit for Earl socially and it was easy to see why he chose to go through with his intended marriage to the older cousin.
Megan suspected Earl’s feelings all along, even subtly encouraged them whenever Baron wasn’t around. Yet she didn’t take full advantage of his affections until after yet another horrific argument with her cousin. The same cousin whom she had never gotten along with.
From the start, Megan and Meadow developed an almost instant distaste for each other. Megan thought her cousin hated her because she was younger and prettier. She refused to believe that she was hated because she milked her parents’ deaths to get years of sympathetic gifts from Meadow’s father. That she started out their relationship wrong from the jump by boldly asking Meadow’s father for a bigger bedroom, namely the one that belonged to the real daughter of the Griswold house.
Megan added to her cousin’s hatred by trying to best her at being a social darling. Thanks to those expensive etiquette classes Uncle Ford paid for; she transformed herself from a typical middleclass valley girl to a well-bred lady of the elite class. Because Megan conducted herself in a more down-to-earth manner than her snooty older cousin, she was generally liked better in their social circle.
To add insult to injury, Megan was always overly kind to Earl during his courtship of Meadow. Even more so after they finally got married. As a result of that constant provocation, Meadow sought every occasion to make Megan feel bad about any and everything.
That particular day of bad judgment, Meadow chided Megan about her pending nuptials to a teacher of all things. She told her that the real reason Baron ever suggested that they elope wasn’t because he was being romantic, but because he was simply being cheap. That Baron would never be able to ascend to Earl’s social status or net worth. That Baron would never be able to afford to keep Megan in the lifestyle to which she’d grown accustomed to over the last few years. That she would always be dependent upon the truly elite like Meadow and her father.
Then Meadow arrogantly concluded with, “As soon as my father dies, I’m cutting you off in every way, particularly socially and financially.”
Incensed by that bleak assessment of her future, a bitter Megan decided to be spiteful and hit Meadow where it would hurt the most – her marriage. Seducing Earl only required one kiss. The man instantly became an open flower, welcoming her kisses, her everything as he ravished her body over and over again that day in his office. That was also the day he confessed his secret love for her.
Unfortunately for Megan, what she thought was going to be a one-time thing, turned into three long months of secret trysts. Earl simply refused to end the affair once he finally had her. He even threatened to tell his brother about them if Megan tried to end it without his consent.
Telling Meadow was out of the question since they both had much to lose by that disclosure. Earl would lose all the social benefits that had come along with his marriage. Megan would lose all her family’s financial support, which did not include a large trust fund to fall back on because she’d already spent most of that trying to keep up with her cousin.
With the guilt of cheating on Baron piling up on her conscience and with the realization that Earl was never going to let her go, Megan began to seek another way out of her dilemma. Especially since reasoning with Earl had proven futile time and time again.
The only way to freedom Megan could find involved giving Baron up completely...at least for awhile. Although it pained her to do so and she wept bitterly for days before putting her plan into action, she eventually did what needed to be done.
© 2009 by Mi’Chelle Dodson/Suprina Frazier
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Story is scheduled to go to the VOD blog at Chapter 46
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