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Taming Ava & Outwitting Jax - A Modern Fairytale

Chapter 14 Parental Approval Never Felt So Bad

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Ava hadn't had a chance to talk to her father about his meeting with Jax. Normally they had dinner on Sunday, but as soon as he talked to Jax he flew to Dallas for business.

Her visit with Jax wasn't very helpful either. He told her that he had gotten along well with her father. He didn't know her father. She couldn't believe that a convict would get along with her father. She was his daughter and she had trouble getting along with him.

She still held out hope that her father would decide he couldn't let her marry a convict and stop her. He would then give her a trust fund and she could be off to live a life of fun far away from Uncharming. Parties, shopping and clubs. She felt like she was a zombie in Charming barely living her life because there was little life to be had in this dump of a small town.

Finally, her father returned from his business trip and they sat down for dinner where she could finally find out what happened during his meeting with Jax. Over salad, he brought up the subject of his will.

Ava felt her heartbeat quicken. This was it. He was going to tell her that he wasn't changing his will. She wouldn't have to marry a Toxic Male convict.

"I think that your attorney may not be very good," TB began. "You can keep her or change attorneys or at least get a second opinion. Of course, I'll pay for it. I want to finalize my will before you get married. You need to find an attorney in the next couple of days. I'll text you a list of a couple in San Francisco. I'm working from home this next week. You can take the car into San Francisco."

"Thanks," Ava said curtly.

It was considerate of her father to let her have the car and driver to go into San Francisco. It was a nightmare to drive into the city and then find an office building. Even with GPS, finding a new place was tricky for Ava. She had some issues with left and right and San Francisco had a lot of one way streets. Still, it made her mad as hell that she had to get another attorney to deal with his stupid will changes. He should just leave it the hell alone.

"I'll get another attorney," she said sourly. "Jax didn't think she was very good."

"Did you get all the paperwork filled out for your marriage?" her father asked before spearing a piece of rare roast beef with his fork.

"Finally. I had to do it over three times. The prison marriage coordinator or whatever the bitch is called was so picky. It's going to take a couple of weeks to get all the approvals."

"You sure you want to marry Jax?"

"Yes. I love him," Ava said. She heard her words and they didn't sound even remotely believable.

"Good," her father said. "Glad to hear that. I really like that young man."

Ava almost choked on her asparagus. It was the last thing she expected her father to say.

"I'm glad you approve," she said trying to sound like she meant it.

"He's a very nice young man. A big improvement over your usual bland, boring and useless types. He's got some character and some strength to him."

Her father just wasn't woke. He didn't understand that the qualities he admired in Jax were part of Toxic Masculinity and it wasn't a good thing.

Ava thought about trying to wake up her father to the modern way of thinking, but he was just too old and set in his ways. He would never be able to understand that those bland, boring and useless types of guys that she liked were the epitome of the modern male.

"So glad you like him," Ava said. Her face felt numb with a combination of shock and disappointment. Her father liked him. What the hell was wrong with him? He should have hated Jax and offered her the trust fund.

Oh, son of a bitch, she thought. She might have to actually go through with this joke of a wedding. How could he want her to get married without a proper wedding gown, flowers or a reception? She could only have one guest. Why didn't he stop her from marrying a convict?

"Are you going to be at the wedding?" she asked.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," her father said.

That was just great, Ava thought. He wanted to see her on the worst day of her life marrying a convict. Great parenting, daddy dearest. What a great job as a father forcing his daughter to marry a criminal! How could he not see that this was all messed up? How could he not want more for her? Maybe he hated her and he was going to get some sick twisted joy watching her marry an inmate.

She couldn't do much about her situation because she was going to be living with him during her marriage. He was going to watch her like a hawk to make sure she didn't go out clubbing when she was supposed to be a good little wife to her inmate husband.

For a few minutes as she finished her dinner, she thought about changing her plan. Getting into college would be really tricky even with her father's influence. Once she got in, she would have to study and write papers. She didn't want to do that. She knew everything that she needed to know. Stuffing her brain temporarily with a bunch of knowledge so she could vomit it out on a test really wasn't going to help her or the world. She also didn't have any job skills.

She was back to where she'd started. Marrying a convict was the lesser of all the evils. It was the only way to stay in her father's will.

She considered dragging her feet over finding another attorney, but there wasn't any point. The attorney she saw in San Francisco was much better than Ellie Lowen. He suggested the same suggestion Jax had that her father guarantee her some money in a trust if she fulfilled the terms of his will. Her father readily agreed to that change as well as some minor changes that didn't change his will much.

Her attorney also was going to take over the prenup—that's what he was calling the agreement with Jax to marry her. She'd never thought of it that way, but it was a prenuptial agreement. He left the agreement that Ellie had drawn up almost completely intact. He would need to be added to Jax's list of visitors to get the agreement signed before they got married.

Ava had one last hope that she would be spared having to marry a convict. Her father was meeting with Jax a few days before the wedding. She prayed that her father would finally see the light and realize he couldn't let his little princess marry a criminal.

How could her father not find it humiliating that his daughter was marrying a man in prison? She was plenty embarrassed by it. She hadn't told any of her fake friends that she was getting married. There was no wedding announcement or engagement pictures.

Once she'd served her three years in matrimonial hell, she'd divorce Jax and get her life back. Her father had agreed to set aside in a trust thirty million dollars that would go to her on his death if she fulfilled the terms of his will. She expected to inherit the bulk of his estate, but this trust would protect her in case he got mad at her and tried to cut her out of his will after she fulfilled the terms of his will. She wouldn't get her hands on his money right away, but at least she had a fixed goal to work towards.

Thirty million dollars for three years of her life. It seemed like a fair trade. It wasn't as though Jax was going to get out of prison in the next three years.