Marrying Her Older Billionaire

“I’m so sorry Dad,” said Angie, tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, we never intended to… I mean… we just wanted you to be happy, we just wanted to soften the blow a bit. I realize that was very wrong of us to do, that we should never have done this to you. Can you forgive me?”

“Of course I can,” said Matthew. “You guys are in love. You’re not prone to the most logical decision making. You’re going to feel a certain way. I know what that’s like. I know what it’s like to feel like everything you have is irrelevant in the face of someone you love. I’m just… so glad that you found someone like that. It reminds me of what I had with your mother. It reminds me of the love I felt, and that was true love. That was love that did not fade at all. I’m so glad that you found him, Angie. I’m so glad that you did it, that you took the plunge, because life is just way too short for you guys to think about stuff like what I would think. Fu*k that. Fu*k my opinion. Seriously, I’m not mad anymore. I want you guys to do it.”

“Oh Dad!” said Angie, throwing her arms around her father and hugging him tight. He hugged her back, holding her as tight as he could. “I love you Dad,” said Angie.

“I love you my baby girl,” said Matthew.

Angie rested her head on her father’s shoulder before saying, “What about Richard? What about his job? What about your retirement?”

“All of that is going to be just the way it has been since the beginning,” said Matthew. “I think that I really overreacted. I really shouldn’t have behaved the way that I did. I’m so sorry my baby, I’m so sorry I behaved that way. You guys can get married and I won’t fire Richard. He can run the firm the way he has been running it for all this time. And I will retire, or rather I will stay retired. I think that everyone will be happy this way. As long as he keeps you happy and treats you right, I am going to have absolutely no problem with the two of you having a relationship.”

“Oh Dad,” said Angie. “And you’ll come to the wedding right?”

Matthew looked at her. His expression was one of utter dismay. “Oh my baby girl!” he said, hugging Angie tight. “Did you really think I would miss your wedding? I would never miss your wedding. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’m so sorry that I made you feel like that. Even when I was angry, I never thought that I would not come to your wedding. Not once. I’m so sorry, Angie, I’m so, so sorry…”

“Dad it’s okay,” said Angie, holding her dad’s hand. “It’s all good now. I just feel like everything that happened made me paranoid, it made me think of the worst scenario possible. It made me feel like with everything that was happening I had to think of the worst scenario, because that was how everything had panned out. It’s okay now, it’s okay. Everything is perfect now.”

Matthew held his daughter for a little while. For a moment, Angie was seven years old again. He was holding her the way he had held her after she had had a bad dream. He was holding her the way he had held her when she had gotten hurt while playing outside. For a moment, he was just her father, and she was just his little girl. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else in the world mattered. All that mattered was them in that moment, enjoying each other’s love, the purest love that belongs to a father and a daughter.

“I have to call Richard,” said Angie, wiping the tears away from her face.

“Oh God did you tell him that the wedding was off?” asked Matthew. He looked distraught. “I am so sorry. Call him right now!”

She called him and asked him to come over. She told him that everything was okay now. She told him that all of their dreams were about to come true. She knew that he would understand that her father had given them his blessing. He sounded like he had been crying, but he started to laugh at her phone call.

She thought about all of the things that she had said to him. She felt so utterly guilty that she could not stand it. She could not stand all of the grief that she had put him through. She could not stand all of the suffering that he must have endured as he went home thinking that he had lost the only woman that he had ever loved, the only woman that he might ever love. His suffering had probably been worse than Angie’s because he didn’t have the prospect of making someone else happy to console him.

When Richard came over she hugged him tight. “Oh baby, I’m so sorry…” she said, bursting into tears. “I’m so sorry that I put you through that. All I wanted was for everything to go smoothly…”

“It’s okay,” said Richard, stroking her back. “It’s all okay now. Don’t worry, my love, it’s all okay.”

Matthew came into the room and Angie pulled away from Richard. Matthew looked at the two of them, his hands in his pockets. “No,” said Matthew, “I should get used to this. Don’t worry about it. It’s what two people that are in a relationship do.”

“Matt,” said Richard. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t know what… I mean… I just didn’t think.”

“Damn right you didn’t think,” said Matthew. “You didn’t think about me at all. You just thought about what you felt. But that’s how love works. That’s how these things make you feel. They make you feel like with everything going on, the good feeling that you are experiencing is all that matters in the whole world. It becomes the center of your universe. I know because I felt it, long ago. I felt it with my wife. And that was all that mattered to me for a very long time. I just really don’t appreciate you not telling me. Come on, Richard. You were the one I trusted with everything. You were the one that I trusted with my law firm. I trust you with my daughter, but I really don’t appreciate you keeping it from me.”

Richard and Angie were silent. Matthew had called Richard by his proper name. He hadn’t said Richie or Rich, or Breech which he sometimes used in a jovial manner. He used Richard. That meant that he was still angry. That meant that he was still upset. That meant that everything that had happened still had an effect on Matthew’s mood.

“I understand,” said Richard. “You don’t have to feel any way you don’t want to feel. I understand completely, man. You can… you can be mad at me all you want. I’ll step down as manager, I’ll even quit. I’m so sorry.”

“Are you kidding?” said Matthew. “You get the girl and I get to do all of the work? No, you are going to run the firm now. You are going to be the one handling everything and you are going to do it well, because you are not doing it just for you now. You are doing it for my daughter.”

Richard looked completely nonplussed. He hadn’t realized that he would be getting everything back after losing it all not that long ago. He had thought that he would have to sacrifice something or the other. He had thought that he would have to face the music for the love that he felt. Angie loved him for being so willing to give up everything for her, and she was utterly glad that he would not have to do this. She didn’t want him to have to give anything up in order to be with her.

Matthew extended his hand and Richard walked forward to shake it. They shook hands firmly, like the gentlemen that they truly were. “You take care of her now,” said Matthew. “You take good care of my little girl. If you don’t, just remember that I know where you live.”

Matthew looked at Richard with a serious expression but there was a twinkle in his eyes. In that moment, both Richard and Angie knew that he was happy about this. Both of them knew that he was happy about the fact that his daughter and best friend were getting married. It would take him some time to be able to be completely okay with it.