The Duke's Masked Wife

219 Why not to piss off Edgar Collins (3)

“Tanya, not another word. You’ll find that my grandson has another level to his temper when it comes to his wife if you do not stop now,” Rose warned the woman she was now irritated with. She gave clear instructions not to mention anything negatively to Alessandra. She should have known that a woman who tried to see the good in Priscilla would be trouble.

Tanya huffed, having more to say but she could not go against what Rose wanted. Her husband would scold her and claim she was making a fool out of both of them.

“How about we let the young ladies go off to the side and get acquainted with each other? Maxine and Crystal can help the Duchess know a little bit about everyone and help her relax. I am sure her nerves must be sky high right now,” Janice suggested in an attempt to break the weird tension Tanya created. “I found it to be rude too,” she took Alessandra’s side.

If Janice were Rose, Tanya would be kicked out. No one could attend a party she was holding in honor of her daughter and talk about the bride being pregnant when she clearly was not.

“Oh please”, Tanya rolled her eyes. Of course, it is Janice who goes against her. This was nothing new. “Everyone here is curious about their ast marriage but no one wants to ask the hard questions. We are all family here. There should be no secrets among us.”

“Hard questions?” Janice scoffed, finding Tanya to be insufferable. “Edgar has not been married for that long so to look at her and ask if she is pregnant, you are trying to insinuate she must have been pregnant before she got married. It is classless to make such an assumption. This is a bulge in your stomach but none of us questioned it. Not like we would expect you to be pregnant anyway.”

‘How did this turn left so quickly?’ Alessandra thought.

“Alessandra, Maxine, and Crystal. Please leave us for a moment. I need to have a chat with these women,” Rose forced a smile as she spoke. It had been less than five minutes since she introduced Alessandra and everyone was acting a damn fool. Any more of this and Alessandra might leave.

“Come with us,” Maxine took Alessandra and led her away from the women who would receive a proper scolding from Rose. “That was funny. I cannot remember the last time someone new to the family put aunt Tanya in her place right off the jump. As expected of Edgar’s wife.”

.....

Crystal disagreed with Maxine and said, “I think you should have just said no you are not pregnant, and leave it there. Now it has upset everyone and Rose will be angry. It could have been avoided if you vented about her words later. Everyone is here to have a good time.”

“So am I. I find that if you allow anyone to say as they please the first time but you just smile they are comfortable enough to do it again and again,” Alessandra replied.

“She is an older woman in the family so she needs to be given respect. Now she will not like you which will make the future hard for you. I am only trying to be helpful,” Crystal stated as she saw herself coming from a good place. She was once in Alessandra’s place being introduced into the family and having to act perfectly. “Your husband won’t like it. The last time I spoke back to a relative Daniel did not speak to me for three days.”

“Well, that’s the difference between our husbands. Edgar has been very clear that I do not need to worry about the opinions others have. Edgar liking me is the only thing that matters. Thank you for the advice but I won’t need it. My husband has offered enough advice,” Alessandra happily replied. She was grateful for Edgar being the way he was which allowed her to not have to put on an act.

“If anything, Edgar would have loved it if you threw in some insults at her,” Maxine chuckled.

“It is not funny,” Crystal glared at the young brunette woman.

“Oh, then why am I laughing?” Maxine laughed louder to annoy Crystal. She was hardly a fan of the woman and only tolerated her because they were family. As someone who viewed Edgar like an older brother, she had taken a liking to his wife.

“Laugh now until you hear that Rose intends on giving this house to Edgar after she passes away. I heard your family has also been trying to claim it,” said Crystal.

Maxine shrugged her shoulders, not minding Rose’s decision. “It makes sense considering Edgar is her only grandchild. No one can tell her what to do with her home. It’s obvious she’s going to leave everything to her son, grandson, and any children Edgar will have. It’s what her husband would have wanted. Why are you eyeing her things when you are not a Collins? Focus on the Carson side, dear Crystal.”

“Why is it a conversation about who she will give what to when she passes away? It sounds like many are just waiting on her death,” Alessandra commented, feeling uncomfortable about the topic. She remembered how Daniel and Crystal did not seem pleased when Rose mentioned it at breakfast.

Were they visiting Rose for her to consider her leaving her house to them? If they were nothing but greedy, Alessandra did not want to be anywhere near Crystal or Daniel. She had enough of greedy people. Greed could consume the couple enough for them to try harming her and Edgar to get the house.

“Ah!” A scream soon flooded the room followed by men yelling and a lot of chatter.

“What is going on?” Maxine looked around for the source of the problem. She noticed that people were gathering around in a corner and walked over there, dragging Alessandra with her. There was nothing like chaos at family gatherings.

“Edgar Collins punched someone.”

The words muttered by someone in front of them made Alessandra panic.