Their Double Blessing

Chapter 5

George was on cloud nine. Five dates later and he was pretty sure that Patricia was the one. After decades of losing faith in love it found him in the most unexpected way. Life was supposed to give you just one soulmate. Thankfully that rumor seemed to be untrue. He soon needed to tell his family that the arranged marriage was no longer needed, but didn’t want to do that before Patricia was ready to meet them or go public. He was still getting used to figuring out her needs and not overstepping to the point she got uncomfortable.

Patricia had started opening up more, which was a good thing. He still felt terrible about frightening her with the blindfold. His staff had no idea she would be that upset either. The bodyguards apologized multiple times, they were used to people resisting requests and security measures. But she was genuinely thrown by the demand and he never wanted to make that mistake again. At least they were moving past it and taking things to the next level. With past relationships going from poor to awful, it was lucky they were together.

Now they were getting closer, which was a good thing. But that was also the riskiest time. Anything could come between them. They were from two different worlds. Not just in status but also in race, upbringing and romantic relationships. He’d never been an abuser or victim. The fact that Patricia was the latter broke his heart and made his blood boil all at once. Any man who would mistreat a woman was scum. Using miscarriages to make her feel worse was just monstrous. If he saw any of those bad exes, he might not be able to control himself. They were all cowards and deserved to spend the rest of their lives in hell.

Then there was the issue of children. He had yet to bring it up because of Patricia’s past. The only good thing was that at least she wanted children. It was sad to hear about her failed attempts of trying to adopt as a single woman. Society placed a lot of unfair pressure on females. He did want children, biological ones preferably. But he would never let that personal belief come in the way of their love. Once everything was certain they could talk about various options, including surrogacy. She never said anything bad about that.

He wanted their relationship to work and was willing to do anything to make that happen. His world allowed him many things but he knew losing Patricia would mean never having a soulmate in his life. After his time with her it would be damn near impossible to enter a loveless marriage now. Losing her would be equivalent to a shot through the heart. Life had no guarantees but he truly wanted their relationship to last for the long run. Anything less would be a death song to any chance of him finding the love of a lifetime.

“So, are you done daydreaming?” Cynthia Barnes, his publicist, spoke with an amused look on her face. She stood across his desk, flipping through her phone without looking. As usual she looked immaculate, without a hair out of place. She was sharp and never missed a detail. “I’ve been standing here for almost five minutes and you’ve been holding that folder. Except your eyes are looking at the wall. If you have x-ray vision, that’s something I need to be informed about. Not just for personal reasons but also to see if you want to be a superhero.”

“Funny,” George threw aside the folder. He was fantasizing about his girlfriend at work. Which he found a both a relief for having Patricia and embarrassing because he was forty years old acting like a teenage boy. Telling employees and business partners that you were divided mentally because of a new relationship wasn’t the way to maintain confidence. “My mind was preoccupied. Is there anything you need to tell me about? Besides the fact that you might be leaving me to take a tour on the comedy circuit. I’m sure you’ll knock them dead.”

“They could never pay me like you can. But thanks for dropping more career options. Let’s see how much that helps my wage go up when my contract is up for renewal in two years. Might regret playing smart when I smash another record, Mr. Kent,” Cynthia said. There was no argument, anyone who didn’t pay what she was worth lost her. He’d seen it happen before getting her in his employ. The first three years she wasn’t exclusive but she did such a great job while juggling other clients that he was willing to pay any price to get her on his team.

Cynthia went on to update him on the latest trends and business appointments. Barely having to eye her phone, which was always on her. It was insured for hundreds of thousands of dollars, with serious encryption to keep its secrets from being found if stolen. There were three backups kept in storage. Backed up regularly and replaced every few years to stay up to date with the latest technology. Still, those were replaceable, Cynthia was not. There was even an attempted kidnapping once but she was calm since it was her fourth and the attempt only happened under Kent’s employ once. A second time meant a full overhaul of security and a pay bump. Otherwise their contract would be nullified and she walked.

“So, are you going to explain why you’ve been so dazed recently. I can take a wild guess but it’s better when you confess those inner thoughts.” Cynthia had a way of dragging out secrets without trying. One conversation with her was like talking to a friendly spy. Unless you were better she was going to get everything out of you with ease. Most didn’t even realize she’d gotten to them until long after. She was worth more than enough to keep.

George was in no hurry to reveal his secrets. But he knew she’d already guessed. After all, she was among the few who knew Patricia. That wasn’t something worth keeping secret from someone with such eagle-eyed precision. Besides, she had to keep him on top of everything. Leaving her out of the loop was impossible, and worse problematic. With all that he’d revealed, if he started keeping secrets she might think he was into something illegal. Which was also an act that would nullify their contract. She didn’t work with criminals. “Why don’t you take a guess? I like watching your terminator mind work things out.”

“Say artificial intelligence, that movie came out over twenty years ago making it old as the dinosaurs by today’s standards,” Cynthia sighed. She always worked hard to keep him looking as hip to modern lingo as possible without coming off as the creepy old guy trying to hang out with the youth. “This is about the new lady in your life. The one security said you freaked out by blindfolding her. If you asked me I would have said someone with a dicey love life like hers might not be into blindly walking around for a first date. Really, George?”

George sighed, not wanting to be reminded of that. “It was a mistake, even security feels bad. Can you be right and not give me a lecture at the same time?” He sounded like a child but that incident really bothered him. Patricia had looked pale as a ghost upon her arrival.

“Hey she’s still with you so everything must be forgiven. So, when are we going to be sure she’s in it for the ring?” Cynthia got straight to the point. At his age the publicist felt a relationship that went on for years without marriage might look dubious. He sent her away when it was first said, upset at the insinuation, but upon reflection realized she was right. Over forty most rich guys who weren’t permanent bachelors had either got married or lived the life of jumping from one woman to the other. His brand had him as a faithful traditional business man. A person juggling women, even one in public, was bad for business.