Chapter Six
The first meeting arranged between the two of them by
the agency had been in a private room of a small Korean teahouse. They sat
across from each other in silence as their waitress filled their cups and
placed dishes loaded with an assortment of pastries.
It had taken her days to settle on an outfit. She
kept on second-guessing herself and casting ideas to the side. This was her
potential husband. Should she cover up? Show a little leg? Reveal her cleavage?
Was he a breast man?
Would she like him?
She’d seen his picture and read his file. On paper,
he was perfect. A real life Prince Charming. But in reality he could have been
a boor.
She’d finally settled on her favorite bright reddish
orange wrap dress. It fell right beneath her knees and gave her skin a special
glow. Her hair had been tamed into a milkmaid braid and she kept her makeup low
key.
He asked her pointed and direct questions. Kept his
answers to hers short and clipped. When he was satisfied, Jay handed her a card
and a blue ring box.
“Call me when you are ready for the next steps.”
She’d been stunned into silence. Unable to truly
comprehend what those words meant. She watched as he made his exit and slumped
forward.
This marriage wasn’t a perfect solution. She didn’t know
Jay. He didn’t know her. This wouldn’t be one of those love stories she dreamed
of. It was a business relationship. A contract marriage. Hopefully they would have
a friendship of sorts.
Her mother was getting better, but she needed round
the clock care. Bills were piling up. It didn’t matter how good she was… Bianca
couldn’t work the hours she needed to and be the daughter she wanted to be to
the mother she loved.
Call her naive…
She’d always thought her wedding would be the day she
tied her body and soul to a man who knew everything about her. Instead she’d
married a man who only know whatever her background check reveled.
“You didn’t have to do this.”
“I wanted to. When I went through the process. I was
alone. My closest friend thought I was crazy and I couldn’t tell my mother. She
would have never let me go through with it.”
“Mrs. Bryd said you were her best success story. In
the database a barely week before you made your connection and married your
husband.”
“She must really trust you.”
“She knows I am desperate and her services are my
only lifeline.”
“Still to break confidentiality…”
“I needed to talk to someone about whether this is
truly the right step for me.”
Isabella Elliot took a seat at the island in the
center of Bianca’s kitchen as she fixed the two of them cups of coffee. She was
a pretty woman. Tall with a dark smooth complexion, medium roast brown eyes,
and with dark brown locs dipped on the ends with blond.
“What are your concerns?”
“All of it is a concern. The idea of marrying a stranger.
Sleeping with him. Building a life with him. Divorce is a whole lot more
complicated with it comes to arrangements such as these.”
Bianca turned on her coffee maker and pulled two gray
mugs from her white glass paned cabinet. “True Match Arrangements takes a lot
of care with the people they take on as clients. The background checks and
interviews are invasive and expansive. I get the fear. When I signed up, I was
sure I would never get through it or match up with someone.”
“And now you have all of this.” Isabella breathed in
awe as she looked around the room.
Her home was impressive. Jay had paid for the best of
everything and made sure his most trusted foreman ran point on every
installation. Money made even renovations easy.
“I do and it would mean nothing if I was married to
the wrong person. What Jay and I have isn’t love. Maybe it can become love in
the future, but right now… It just isn’t. We do work well together. I support
him and he supports me. The fact that I came into this marriage with substantially
less means nothing because we are equals.”
“You have only been married for a few weeks.”
Bianca walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out
the creamer. “A few months, yeah.”
“And everything is perfect?”
“No.”
Was there such a thing as perfect?
None of her previous relationships qualified. Love
was a raw emotion. It cast a shadow on every thought and every decision. What
she had with Jay wasn’t like that.
His touch set her on fire and when she had his
attention it was like she’d been given a treat. When he talked about himself,
she felt their connection grow.
She did not focus on the negatives. Instead she
focused on the fact that her mother was getting the care she needed. Bianca was
bringing in the types of clients that could lead to a promotion. Her life
worked better with Jay in it.
“Jay works all the time. Is horrible about
communicating and can be absentminded.” Bianca started to pour their coffee.
“Just because we were matched doesn’t mean we are perfect. It is like any other
marriage. It takes work. Little by little, I am getting to know him and he is
getting to know me.”
“So you have no regrets?”
Handing her a steaming cup, Bianca slipped onto the
bar stool across from her. “I don’t live my life with regrets. That is too
heavy of a burden.”
She lifted her cup and placed her elbows on the
counter. “If you are asking me if I want to exchange the position I am in now…
I don’t.”
Isabella said nothing as Bianca continued. “I don’t
need a husband who comes home at a set hour. I work odd hours as well. I am
pretty good about spelling out what I want, so I do not need a husband who is
great at picking up on cues. Jay does his best to keep me happy and I do my
best to keep him happy.”
“And you don’t feel like something is missing?”
“I am a romantic. I wanted the years of dating,
fairytale wedding, and the two point five children. I want to grow old with the
same man I am spending these years with. I made the decision to bypass one of
those things and hope for the rest. I had the wedding and eventually we will
have the kids. I truly think he and I could have the kind of marriage that lasts
until we are both well into our eighties.”
“That doesn’t really answer my question.”
“No I don’t feel like I am missing anything. And if
you go through with this and you feel like you are? Let it go. Walk away
because you won’t make it anyway.”
Isabella pushed a hand through her hair. “You have
given me a lot to think about.”
“It isn’t an easy decision to make.”
“Can I call you from time to time to talk?”
Bianca nodded, “that would be nice.”
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