“The smell of the ocean…it always brings back so many childhood memories.” Her words were barely audible over the meditative sounds of the ocean. I was surprised at her words, this little snippet she was offering into her life. Into her.
“You grew up by the ocean?” I asked.
“I grew up in the Gulf of Mexico. We used to go every weekend to swim and build sandcastles and stay there until the stars would come out just so we could find star constellations. Orion, Cassiopeia, Perseus.” She paused, seemingly lost in her thoughts or her thoughts lost in the waters she was watching.
After a moment, she turned back to me. “Wow, I haven’t thought about those days in a long while.”
“You used to go with your mom?” I didn’t want her to stop talking about her life. But I also saw a segue to my purpose for tonight.
“Yes. Mom and I. Mom…” And at this, her eyes began to shine with tears. She tried to brush them off but one cascaded down her cheek.
I nodded gently. “What’s going to happen now that…well, now that you haven’t won the prize money?” I asked. I was being sly, I knew that, but I had to get a full picture of the situation before I could present my proposal. It was a business tactic. Nothing personal.
But there was a tinge of guilt. As if I was lying to Elly. And I really didn’t want to be.
She looked back at the ocean. The expression on her face brought an even more intense feeling of guilt pulsating through my body. I was hurting her by saying it out loud.
But, Sebastian, you’re doing it for her good.
Yeah, and your own.
“I don’t know,” she said softly. “I don’t know what to do.”
Now is your chance, Sebastian. Go on, do it.
“Elly. I have a proposal for you that may just solve all your problems. My father has insisted I marry if I want to inherit his company. You don’t need to know the details—they’re quite boring, really. But the main thing is, I need a wife. Now. Before my brother finds one. So, if you were to accept to…”
I faltered. How would I describe this engagement?
“Join forces with me, and I can promise you a very generous remuneration for your services that I can guarantee will see both you and your mother through her recovery. And beyond, of course.”
I kept my eyes locked on hers. Why were they so beautiful? I could just…
“What do you say, Elly? Would you be my wife of convenience?”
CHAPTER14
ELLY
Iwasn’t one to believe in fairy tales, in being swept off my feet, in love at first sight. Not since he left us.
He, as in my dad.
I was only seven the day he came downstairs, suitcase in hand, and announced that he was leaving.
He did a lot of traveling back when I was young, to the point that I hardly saw him beside the holidays. It felt like it was always me and Mom, and then the weekly phone call from Dad from different states. I had a map in my room and every time he’d call, I’d put a pin in the places he mentioned. Athens, Alabama; Claremont, Los Angeles; Caldwell, Idaho; Lexington, Massachusetts; Miles City, Montana; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Amsterdam, New York; Albany, Oregon; Austin, Texas. I was slowly learning all of the cities and states of the United States.
When he came into the kitchen that morning, for all I knew, Dad was off to put another pin on the map. Somewhere in Vermont? Washington? Wyoming?
But when Mom started crying, I understood this was not a normal daddy trip. Was he going to Europe? Could they still call from Europe?
No, he was going to some place called “Andrea’s.” I’d never heard of this city before and however much I studied my map, I could never find it.
Years later, I discovered where—or more like, who—Andrea was, when I saw Dad and a strange woman holding hands in the local shopping center and pushing a stroller. He saw me but didn’t wave. Didn’t smile. He just walked on by. Before he got to Andrea’s he’d thrown the trash out, and that included anything that tied him to his old life. To me…
That day, I came home, ran up the stairs to my room, and pulled the map right off the wall. With both hands, I tore the thing apart, all the pins tumbling onto the carpet. By the time I’d finished with it, you couldn’t recognize Texas from Oklahoma.
So, the lesson I got from growing up was that love wasn’t exactly what they told us in stories.