NEW SURPRISES

I blinked slowly, shocked. This kept getting worse…

"Let me get this straight… Your son, who doesn't want to get married, not even to be your successor, doesn't know that I'm going to be his pretend wife for the next year… or more!" I ironically said, incapable of understanding how I got into this mess. "How the hell do you plan on making this work?"

"I hoped I could do things a different way… I've waited for so long, I tried talking and explaining endless times. I truly wish I did not have to put him, or you, in this situation. But I see no other way. I'm going to explain the charade, hopefully, he would be clever enough to understand this is a good way to earn the investor's trust and agree to it. If not, I'll force him to do it."

It was incredible to me how Mr Rowley kept his composed semblance while he told me all of this, I guess with so many years of business deals you learn how to conceal what truly is going on, yet, I had a feeling that this was him being almost vulnerable.

This was truly important to him.

"After getting to know you a bit, Abigail, I believe you can understand me. You're a clever girl, incredibly mature for your age, I think you can comprehend the situation."

I did. And for some reason, I felt sorry for him.

I even noticed that I was no longer mad that he lied about who I was going to marry.

"Edward, I understand how much your business means to you, and I understand that you want to keep it in the family. And despite the lies, which I'm not happy about, I'm willing to help… But, from now on, I want full honesty. Is that understood?"

"It's a more than reasonable deal. I promise." He seemed honest about it.

"I really hope I'm not going to regret any of this…"

"I could say that I would compensate you fairly for all the trouble, which I hope I am. But I know that while this was a business proposition, it also has a big personal part, so, I also want to let you know that I will be there, trying to help you navigate this."

"Thank you, Mr Rowley."

Honestly, it was the least he could do, but I know others could have simply said that I already signed a contract and I just had to deal with it. I hoped my views of Mr Rowley now weren't mistaken, cause despite this, I believed him a good man.

"As further clarification, I want to let you know a bit more about the living situation."

"Another surprise?" I ironically said, now a little more able to take this lightly.

"Well, no, and yes. You will be living in my house, but my estate has two houses, sufficiently separated from each other to have a little independence. My son lives in his own house. It was also the one where I built my home office, to have it separate from my life with my wife and kid many years back, and still where I work when I don't come into the office."

I read a long time ago that Mr Rowley was a widower, his wife died many years back and he never remarried.

"So, what you're telling me is that I'm going to live alone with your son?"

"Well, yes, but what I was going to clarify is that, while you'll live in his house, with Mark, of course, I'm going to be close, to help, to talk and to teach you about the business. I've cleared the next couple of weeks so I'm able to work from my home office, which means with you two, so I can keep a close eye on my son and you, getting adapted into all of our crazy world."

I nodded, it made sense. I felt a sense of conformity with it all because I didn't feel cheated into this, I knew what I was getting into, at least now.

Yet, it didn't feel right to do this to his son, not like this.

"Does it have to be this way?" I broke the silence, "I don't know your son, but it mustn't feel good to be forced into this."

"I wish there was... Abigail, I've had many talks with my son over the years, he's incredibly keen on not marrying, he wants to keep being a bachelor and he doesn't want to look for a nice woman to appease the company. He says he will earn their trust on his own, and for a long time, I've been letting him do that. He's doing a great job, yet, I can still see the faces of the partners and their distrust."

And I got the profile of these people, I've researched a few of them over my college years.

"They're old-fashioned. No matter what he does, they're not going to trust him again, because he doesn't have a woman behind the successful man." I said, understanding.

"I'm glad that you get it. As a businessman, I don't agree with them, I know Mark can do a good job, and he's not going to repeat his mistakes. Yet, as a father, perhaps because I knew how good of a friend and partner my wife was for me while she was alive - plus, she always had really good business advice - I think he could benefit from finding a good partner, and love..." He smiled, hopeful. "Don't worry, this last part is not something I expect from you, of course, but if at least we could make good partners out of you two, maybe even friends… I don't have the time to wait for this to happen spontaneously, Abigail, it's why I need you."

And while I saw for the first time in Mr Rowley the hopeful father who wants to actually help his son be happy in life, I also fell into another realisation…

My gut was telling me that there was more.

This desperation to make sure his son inherited, he said he was in a rush, not having the time… This time, I was not going to keep my doubts quiet, I wanted the whole truth.

"Edward. You promised that we were going to be honest." I tried to articulate this in the best, most tactful way I could… "There's something else, isn't it?"