Chapter 17
“What?” Edward bellowed. “Oh no, no Quartermaine is going to marry a Cassidine! I won’t allow it!”
“You won’t allow it, Grandfather? Give me a break! I can marry whomever I want to!” Ned shouted, growing angry.
“So is this what I can expect if Nikolas and I get engaged?” Emily asked.
“Emily, it’s a little soon for you to be worrying about that!” Alan replied calmly.
Lucky grinned and turned to her. “Actually, Em, it’ll probably be worse for you. After all, Nikolas is also half-Spencer!”
“I still don’t understand why you two are even allowing her to see that boy!” Edward growled at Alan and Monica.
“Oh, put a sock in it, Edward,” Monica shouted. “I don’t need parenting advice from you! Nikolas is a nice boy.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Lucky mumbled in amusement. Emily kicked him lightly under the table and he laughed.
“Ned, how can you marry her, after everything she’s done to this family?” AJ challenged, trying to change the subject away from his sister. “Do I have to remind you that she let Tony Jones walk with not much more than a slap on the wrists after he kidnapped Michael?”
Lucky chuckled. “Actually, he walked with a bullet in his chest....” Carly glared at him.
“Hey, I thought family was supposed to stick together! What did I ever do to you?” she asked. Lucky just laughed again and shook his head.
Liz turned and looked at him questioningly. “How is she your family?”
He leaned in to whisper, “she’s my cousin, believe it or not. Bobbie’s daughter.”
“Oh... What was that whole bullet thing about?”
“Long story, I’ll tell you later,” he responded, looking up as the conversation continued around them.
“I thought we went over this already. Alexis was forced to do that by Helena. She didn’t want to see Tony go free any more than we did, but her life was threatened,” Ned explained.
Edward threw up his hands. “That’s exactly my point, Ned. Her life gets threatened by that woman on a regular basis. Why would you put this family in that kind of danger?”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!” Ned shouted. “Alexis isn’t in any kind of danger from Helena anymore. She’s practically disowned the entire Cassidine family, so Helena has no use for her anymore. This family is more of a danger to itself than the Cassidines are to us!”
“How can you say such a thing?” Edward asked, shocked.
Ned rolled his eyes. “Let me see, this house is filled with drug users, alcoholics, liars, murderers, kidnappers, and God knows what else!”
Liz looked at Lucky in horror. He smiled and squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry, they’re mostly harmless,” he whispered.
“Why don’t I feel any better about that?” she asked, glancing around the table.
“Look, I’m marrying Alexis no matter what you all say, so you might as well accept it and move on. This isn’t open for discussion. I was hoping you would all be more adult about this and welcome her and Liz into the family, but I guess I was mistaken,” Ned said, putting his arm protectively around Alexis.
“I’m sorry, Ned. You’re right,” Monica said. “At least it’s not Katherine Bell again, right?”
AJ laughed. “Yeah, Alexis, you might want to be careful around here. Our butler doesn’t always take well to Ned’s wives.”
Alexis rolled her eyes. “I’m well aware of what happened to Katherine. Thank you for your concern.”
AJ grinned. “So, Ned, now that you’re getting married for the.. what is this? The fifth time? Sixth? It’s so hard to keep track. Anyway, now that you’ll be married again, are you going to be able to handle running ELQ?”
“Junior, you need a new hobby. You’re never going to be CEO of that company, so why don’t you just go back to the bottle? It’s what you do best, anyway.”
Leticia stuck her head into the room. “Mr. Morgan is leaving.”
Carly jumped out of her seat. “Um, I’ll be right back. I want to ask him about Michael.” She hurried out of the room behind the nanny.
“I think you should be worrying about your own wife, Junior, and not mine,” Ned chuckled.
“Why? You heard her, she just needs to ask him something about Michael,” AJ said defensively.
“It’s so obvious that she’s still hung up on Jason. How can you not see that?”
“She is not hung up on him! She married me, not him. She was on my side during the custody fight, not his.”
Emily rolled her eyes. “AJ, you’re my brother and I love you, but you can be so clueless sometimes! Carly married you for your name and your money, that’s all. We can all see it, why can’t you? Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how she runs to Jason every time she sees him, or how she always finds reasons to go to his penthouse!”
AJ glared at her, but didn’t respond. Liz leaned over to Alexis.
Are they always like this?
Alexis smiled. Sometimes, they’re worse.
Oh, Lord. Liz sat back in her chair and sighed. Alexis must really love Ned to be entering this family willingly!
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