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of Mr. Waters' death, you would receive very
little, I'm afraid. He also appears to have included a clause wherein should
his death be suspect, you will receive nothing." She sniffed. "He is
a very... thorough man."
    "You mean he's totally
bugfuck," I said.
    "I have not met him," she
replied primly. "I'm sure you would know more about that."
    "I only met him
yesterday," I said.
    Her lips thinned and she appeared
to be debating something. She inhaled and leaned forward. "Miss Dare, may
I speak frankly with you?"
    Hooboy. Here it came. The motherly
lecture. "Sure. Why not?"
    She laid her hands on the contract.
"As far as sexual perversions go, the ones in this contract are fairly
light."
    I raised my eyebrows.
"Oh?"
    "Yes. There's nothing in here
about sex with animals or other people or even a sexual schedule, which I have
seen before. Well, not the sex with animals part," she amended. "That
is highly illegal. But the other things, yes. Are you doing this for the
money?"
    I felt like crying. "I don't
know if I'm doing this at all yet."
    "But there is a good
reason?" She glanced down, then back at me and said, almost gently,
"There is a clause in the contract that covers any medical expenses you
might need. I noted that it does not mention you specifically as the recipient
of medical attention. Is that it?"
    I nodded miserably.
    She sat back. "Then you should
do it."
    My mouth dropped open. I closed it,
then opened it again.
    "What, seriously?" I
said.
    She nodded. "I know who Anton
Waters is. Most people do. From what I can tell, this marriage would be a
little bit of putting the cart before the horse, yes? You are not currently
romantically interested in him?"
    Not romantically, no. I
shook my head.
    She patted the papers in front of
her. "The man who drew up this contract wants a woman who cannot betray
him. This indicates he has a lot of problems, but he is also treating you as an
object rather than a person. The former does not excuse the latter. In my
opinion there is nothing in the world that should keep you from taking all you
can from him, while you can. If you play your cards right, you would be able to
launch a career from this marriage, or become a highly lucrative name. The
world would be your oyster should you marry this man. You would not want for
money should you choose to divorce him." She shrugged. "If the sex is
good and you get something out of the marriage, I don't see why you shouldn't
do it." She gave me a kindly old librarian smile.
    I put a hand to my forehead, trying
to assimilate this information. It was terrible because it made sense. I didn't
like the fact that it made sense. I'd wanted her to tell me that this contract
was a complete joke and that there was no way it would be enforceable. That way
I could have just married Waters, then divorced him, taken his money, and saved
my mother. Unfortunately, that didn't seem like it was going to happen.
    On the other hand, even with  her
encouragement, I was still hesitant. Fuck Anton Waters? Sure. Date him? From
what I'd seen, a couple of really expensive dinners would be fun to get, but
not much else. Marry him? God no. I wasn't naive. I didn't think
marriage had to be for your one true love, but marrying for something other
than love left a bad taste in my mouth. I must be a secret romantic. Who
knew?
    But what choice did I have?
    I sighed. "Thanks for your
time," I told her.
    She looked surprised. "You
don't want me to go over the contract with you?"
    "Will that cost more than the
free consultation?" I asked her. "Because I don't do anything but
free so well."
    Her eyes crinkled. "Oh, I'm
sure I could go over it and even make some changes that you'd probably find
useful, pro bono. Of course, I'd expect you to recommend me to your friends.
And if anyone asks, drop my name as your prenup consultant."
    "Wow," I said.
"That's... uh..."
    "No problem," she said
airily. "It'll be great for my business." She fixed me with a sharp
eye. "And if you marry Anton