Bride of Convenience

Chapter 12

THURSDAY nights had become the girl’s night. Kate, Stacey and Julia would meet up and go to a different venue every week. They would drink and share stories and have a great time.

“Loved the roses, what a great touch,” Kate said as she turned to Stacey and filled her in on the gossip of the past week.

“Pretty clever of Harrison. Getting all those women in the office jealous of you. You will probably end up with a knife in your back.” She laughed.

“How’s the baby making going?” Kate asked Stacey. Stacey turned to Julia.

“Paul and I have been trying to have a baby for a couple of months now.” She turned back to Kate. “The practice is fun, of course, but the results haven’t come in yet, but it’s still early days. And what of you Kate are there any men on the scene? Any news to report?”

“Nothing here. Just the same as always.” Kate found it hard to date men, they just didn’t understand her commitment to work and a lot of them felt threatened by Harrison. They didn’t comprehend how he came first. So it was easier that she didn’t date.

After hours of chatting and drinking champagne, the girls finally left. They each got in a cab and went their separate ways. She loved Thursday nights it was great to have girlfriends again. In Australia, she had some great friends at least she thought she did. Once the problems happened at work, she couldn’t find a job, and they just stopped inviting her out. Then she couldn’t afford to go out towards the end. When they stopped returning her calls, she was hurt and realised that weren’t terrific friends after all.

THEY were sitting in front of a roaring log fire at Harrison’s. It was a cosy and romantic setting, not that it affected them. They were chatting about things in general, and Harrison notice that Julia seemed a little uncomfortable. Actually, he saw when he talked about fortunes and millions or when he referred to some of his wealthy friends she seemed to tense up. Like maybe money was a bad thing in her life.

“Julia, can I ask you something?” She nodded. “Why when I mention money or wealthy friends do you seem to get a little tense?”

“Money isn’t everything. I know it’s important, and it’s needed, but I only need a little more than I use, for emergencies, any more is just trouble.” He was shocked to hear that.

“So do I make you uncomfortable, with all my millions?” He was intrigued by this conversation.

“No, but you would be a different person without it, and I don’t just mean financially truly you are missing out. You think you have everything, but you don’t. Isn’t it true if you didn’t have all these millions you would marry someone you loved because you wouldn’t be afraid of losing it?” She was right he wouldn’t need a contracted wife because there would be nothing to lose, but then they wouldn’t be sitting here together. He was sure of that. He liked Julia, but he would have never picked her from a crowd or made a play for her. Not in a million years she just wasn’t his type.

“Possibly, however, I have built these millions from the ground up. These are my babies I made everything here, and that is quite powerful wouldn’t you agree?” She was a little agitated by his answer she was squirming.

“My father would definitely disagree with you there.”

“And your mother?” Her face went pale and hard.

HER mother, and what of her mother? Well without all that money and power she might have had an actual mother and a healthy lifestyle. Money and power took her mother from her, and she hated it for that reason.

“I didn’t know my mother. What about your family? If you built all this what about your father and mother were they well off?” She was relieved when he answered her, she certainly didn’t want to talk about her mother.

“My parents struggled all their lives to just keep their head above water, that is why money and power are important to me. They only had love, and as much as they loved each other, it wasn’t enough to pay the bills. Two years after they died I made my first million I was twenty at the time. They died suddenly, I was in college, and I couldn’t afford to tuition. I had to quit. That’s when I realised that money was extremely important, so I went to a big company and worked long hours I started in the mail room and quickly progress through the company, I invested money and did it well. I started my own company and the first year made a million dollar profit. And now at thirty-seven, I am who I am and the rest, as they say, is history. Come, I’m hungry, let’s cook together.” He reached for her hand and pulled her to a standing position. She wondered when her body would get used to his touch. How long would it take for her body does not feel like someone had shocked her when he touched her. She followed him through to the kitchen. He opened a bottle of wine and filled two glasses. He grabbed a lot of veggies from the fridge and put them in front of her. He proceeded to collect spices, red wine to make a marinade he took some lamb from the refrigerator and dropped it into the marinade. He turned around and faced her.

“You do know how to peel veggies, don’t you?” He asked her. She switched back to reality.

“You cook?”

“Yes, don’t you?”

“I know how to take a lid of a frozen meal and put it in the microwave.” She said slightly embarrassed. She had never learned how to cook. Eating takeaway, frozen meals or on the run. She never prepared, always worked long hours and didn’t need to learn. Her dad was a great cook she would sit and watch him for hours come up with beautiful treats that made her mouth water.

“Surely you're not serious. You never learnt to cook? What do you eat?” He was dumbfounded how could someone not know how to cook!

“I’m pretty sure you would be horrified if I told you. My dad always cooked for me and I never learnt.” When she mentioned her dad a smile came to her face that made his kitchen light up and feel warm.

“Tell me about your dad?” He wanted that look to stay on her face. It made him feel useful and powerful when she looked that way. As if something he did made her smile.

“Oh he was the best, we use to spend hours in the kitchen he would make dinner, and he would drink wine and pour me a coke, and we would chat about everything. There wasn’t one thing that I couldn’t tell my dad. I don’t know what he did while I was at school but the minute I walked through that door I was the only thing he cared about, nothing could take his attention from me. I loved my dad he was my dad and my best friend.” She literally glowed talking about him.

“He didn’t work?”

“He didn’t need to, he did when I was small, and then things changed.” Something with the wife he imagined she certainly didn’t light up when she spoke of her mother. So if he didn’t need to work there were money and power involved he was sure of it. He didn’t want to stop this conversation, but he felt he was going into the uncharted territory, so he changed direction and spoke of what apparently was the most important thing to her.

“ So tell me what was one of your dad’s favourite meals.”

She was peeling the veggies as she spoke. How could she choose one meal that her dad had made best, everything was great.

“Wow, to choose only one. I think I liked dad's lamb roast best. A Very Aussie meal there, he put slits in the lamb and slipped finely sliced garlic into the holes then he poured over very lightly some olive oil and rubbed rosemary, garlic spices and a special seasoning. He would start it early in the day and simmer it all day. Then when you went to carve it, it just fell off the bone. I used to peel the veggies for him too!”

She looked over to Harrison and was shocked to see he was hanging on her every word. She flushed and looked away.

“Who taught you to cook?”

“Well, my mum used to do most of the cooking and sorry to say it was a little boring. So I taught myself. Whenever I came home from college, I would cook for them both, and they were always astounded at how well I cooked. I took a couple of course after they had died to expand my knowledge and now I love to cook. I will teach you. Yes, I can’t marry someone that can’t cook. Would you like that?”

Would she like him teaching her to cook, of course, she would. It may be a little dangerous because she seemed to love the things that gave them extra time together. She enjoyed his company.

“Certainly.”

“I have a condition. Each meal we cook we share something new with each other. If we are going to be married soon, we should find out a little more about each other. Agreed?” She was not sure she liked his condition. Yes, they were to be married, but only by a contract, it wasn’t real but oh, how she would love to learn more about him.

“O.k.”