Contracted To Love

“Go on,” she urged him on and he exhaled loudly before he opened it.

He gasped silently when he saw it, the three stone emerald cut diamond ring set in white gold. He knew that ring, intimately. It had been passed down from generation to generation. It was the ring his grandmother had and her mother before her and her mother before her. It had been passed down all the way to his mother when his father had proposed, and now she was giving it to David. He was excited and confused at the same time. Why now? He kept wondering. This wasn’t the first time he was considering marriage. There had been a time that he’d almost gone all the way before. A time when his family and the world alike knew that he was engaged to be married, but his mother hadn’t offered the family heirloom to him then and he couldn’t help but wonder why.

“What is this?” he asked.

“My ring… well the Favre family ring. To be honest it’s not the original… the Favre ring was stolen in the early forties and your father’s grandfather sat down with a designer and explained the entire ring in great detail. This is the ring that was made from your great grandfather’s memory, which if you ask me is much better than the original,” she said.

David was still confused.

“Why are you giving it to me now?” he asked. “It’s not like I have someone…”

His voice trailed off when he realized something. In his mother’s eyes, there was someone. Michelle Smith. He thought back to the disastrous date. He was used to being with women who were full of life but Michelle was so dull. Boring even. He’d ended up being the only one talking during their date. He’d actually had to suffer through the date rather than enjoy it.

“You’re talking about Michelle, aren’t you?” he asked and his mother nodded.

“Of course I’m talking about Michelle. Who else would I be talking about?”

David exhaled loudly and rubbed his temple.

“The date was bad, mother. Disastrous even.” He shook his head. “I’m not ready to get married.”

Sarah smiled.

“That’s what I thought at first when I was supposed to marry your father.”

“It was different for you. You were in love with father.”

Sarah shrugged.

“Not at first.”

David looked at her, surprised.

“What do you mean ‘not at first’?” he asked.

“My marriage to your father was also arranged,” she said, surprising him.

“What?” He shook his head. “You’re kidding, right?’

“No, actually I’m not. We were set up and got to know each other over time. I was crazy about your father before we got married though,” Sarah said, blushing. It was cute that after all that time, she could still talk about her husband with so much fondness that it brought redness to her cheeks.

“That’s the difference. You had time. I have a few weeks.”

“Michelle is a great girl. She’ll make an even greater wife.”

David sighed, exhausted.

“Do you think if I don’t marry father will actually carry out his threat?” he asked. “That I will be cut out of the business I worked so hard for?”

Sarah reached out and touched her son’s hand.

“Unfortunately, yes, my son. You’re always living like you have nothing to lose. Like your whole life is one big party, and that’s what your father is afraid of.”

David was confused.

“But I’ve always given my best in the office. I’ve grown this company, mother… the profit margins speak for me. Don’t they?”

Sarah nodded.

“They do but, how long before you make a business decision while under the influence? What if you become the public face of this company and then suffer the wrath of tabloids ruining your name again? What happens then?”

 David sighed.

“I know that acting out is something you do as a way to look for something… a feeling maybe, but every heir or heiress eventually has to calm down. If Paris Hilton did it, then everyone can do it. And as far as the family heirloom, I didn’t think Alicia Cruz would last very long as Mrs. Favre but I know in my heart that Michelle will pass it on to the next Favre generation.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“The next Favre generation?” he wondered out loud.

“When you’re good and ready and settled into your new role, then you and Michelle can talk about beginning a family of your own.” His mother gently squeezed his hand. “I’ve known the Smiths for a long time, son, and Michelle has a good head on her shoulders. She’s the best person for you. Trust your mother.”

He shrugged.

“I don’t think she’ll agree to marry me, mother.”

Sarah forced out a laugh.

“And why not?”

“We didn’t really have the best first date, and I highly doubt she has any feelings for me.”

“True, but this is a business arrangement for you. So, why don’t you offer her something as well. An offer she can’t refuse.”

David nodded reluctantly. That was going to be hard. What were you supposed to offer the woman who had everything? This was going to be harder than anything he’d ever had to do before and he was running out of time.

                                                            *****

Michelle didn’t know what to make of the phone call from David. The way he’d spoken to her had been different. He wasn’t as proud he’d at the restaurant. He was actually willing to have a discussion, one that could actually be a two-way street. He’d asked—begged—to see her again and she wanted nothing more than to let him wallow in his regret, if that was the case, but another part of her was anxious to know if he was really serious about giving them another chance. She’d tried avoiding him, but David was unavoidable. Her phone was blowing up with text messages from him. Phone calls at the office. Heck, he even showed up at the office a number of times.

“I’m not giving up until you give me a chance because I want to marry you, Michelle,” he said in one of the phone calls and that… that just confused her.

Was he proposing or simply making his intentions known? Vickie had advised her to hear him out. That she owed herself and David that much.

“I know that marriage isn’t exactly something that’s on you radar but you could at least give yourself a chance at happiness, Michelle. Get out from under Jean’s shadow,” Vickie had said.

Those were the words that made Michelle reluctantly answer one of David’s texts. They were supposed to meet at Creed, a club he owned, one afternoon.

“We’ll have lunch. The chef there does an amazing Brazilian platter,” David had said.