Chapter 642: The Rebellious Goldie Thorne

"Goldie, what are you trying to say? Are you accusing me of spreading rumors on purpose? I’ve been married into this family for almost twenty years. Don’t you know what kind of person I am by now? If I had the time to make up rumors, I’d rather just beat that little vixen to death! Dad, Mom, did you hear that? Goldie has been completely bewitched by that vixen. He won’t even acknowledge me, his sister-in-law, anymore. I’m telling you, in a few more days, he won’t even recognize you two!"

Phoebe Huxley’s temper flared. ’Just like Felix Thorne,’ she thought, ’they both have the same rotten taste for those bewitching vixens.’ Her sarcastic tirade made the expressions on Byron Thorne and Raina’s faces darken even further.

Raina slapped him across the face and roared, "Why would your sister-in-law spread rumors? Does she even have the brains for that? You ungrateful little beast! You’ve completely lost your mind over a woman who isn’t even your wife yet. I’m warning you, marry anyone you like, but you will *not* marry that little vixen!"

"Exactly! Mom knows me best." Phoebe Huxley’s expression brightened, but then it dawned on her. ’Something about that doesn’t sound right,’ she thought. ’What does she mean, I don’t have the brains for it?’

’That doesn’t sound like a compliment at all!’

Goldie Thorne muttered defiantly, "When I wasn’t getting married, you nagged me to death every single day. Now that I’ve finally found someone I actually like, you won’t let me marry her. Fine, I’ll just be a bachelor forever then!"

"Being a bachelor for life is better than marrying that vixen," Raina declared. "In a few days, you’ll go meet the other two candidates. I think the substitute teacher is a great choice. She’s mature and poised, and she’ll be a teacher—the kind of woman who will settle down for a quiet life." She had already decided to arrange the next matchmaking session immediately.

"I’m not going. The only one I like is Beatrice."

Goldie Thorne’s temper flared, and he stubbornly dug in his heels. He wasn’t some farm animal to be bred, letting his elders decide his mate. He was a modern young man with his own thoughts and ambitions! After seeing a gem like Beatrice, the other two girls seemed utterly plain to him. In his eyes, they couldn’t compare to her in any way.

Raina’s anger surged, and she grabbed the feather duster. She despised Beatrice, purely because her son was so infatuated with that "vixen." Even if Beatrice didn’t have a questionable reputation, Raina still wouldn’t have approved.

Many mothers-in-law share this particular flaw. They get anxious when their son can’t find a wife, desperately asking everyone they know to arrange introductions. They worry the girl won’t think their son is good enough, and they worry their son won’t be interested in the girl. Yet, if the two actually hit it off and grow close, the mother-in-law becomes jealous, feeling her son has forgotten his own mother for his new wife. Consequently, she starts to find fault in everything the daughter-in-law does.

Then again, if her son and daughter-in-law didn’t get along, she would worry about not getting any grandchildren. All in all, mothers-in-law are extraordinarily complicated creatures.

Raina was a prime example. She wanted to find a good wife for Goldie, but she hated the idea of her son’s heart being completely captured by his wife. Having her second son, Felix, be that way was more than enough; her old heart couldn’t handle another.

"You’ll marry Beatrice over my dead body!"

Raina had made her ultimatum clear. As long as she was alive, that vixen could forget about ever marrying into the Thorne family.

"Then I’ll just die a bachelor! Are you happy now?"

Goldie Thorne shot back furiously, then jumped to his feet and stormed out. It looked as if he wouldn’t be coming back for the night.

Raina was so furious she was trembling all over. Phoebe Huxley hurried to pat her on the back to help her catch her breath, consoling her, "Goldie’s just being stubborn right now. Let’s not fight him head-on. Give it some time, and he’ll forget all about that vixen. Then we can have him meet some other nice girls."

"That little beast was born to collect a debt from me! If I’d known he’d grow up to be such a disobedient, unfilial little monster, I would’ve drowned him in the toilet the day he was born!"

Raina wiped away a tear. Of her three sons, she had always doted on her youngest the most. But this "little beast" was also the one who gave her the most heartache. He was a mischievous troublemaker as a child and grew up to be a good-for-nothing slacker. She had worried herself sick over him, and now he was defying her over some little vixen. ’How on earth did I give birth to such a creature?’ she lamented.