The Cold Wife

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  Justin nodded, feeling better. “Thanks, Uncle Jonathan.”

  The older man smiled. “Anytime.” He sat up straight in the chair, which Justin recognized as an indication that he was about to discuss business. “Tomorrow evening is Mr. Walker’s dinner party. Ever since you told me about his conversation with Harrison Jr., I’ve have time to consider what to do about that. Mr. Walker might be willing to explain his misgivings about the Grants tomorrow evening. We should arrange for a moment of his time.” He paused. “Is Carrie aware that these dinner parties involve you doing a lot of business?”

  “Yes. I explained it to her. I told her she could invite a couple of friends to keep her company, and she agreed to go.”

  “That’s another good sign. For the sake of business, it is important that you two show up to these events together. Some clients are particular about husbands bringing their wives wherever they go. It shows them that the husband values his wife, and if he values his wife, he will most likely value his clients as well. Appearances are very important in the business we’re in.”

  “I think she understands that.”

  “Good. She’s a sensible woman. I do believe she’ll be a big help to you.” He stood up. “I have a meeting with Mr. Maxwell. You have a meeting with Mr. Tanner. We better get prepared.”

  Justin felt much better as his uncle left his office.

  ***

  Wednesday evening arrived and it seemed to Justin that Carrie was being friendlier to him. She seemed happy to see him when he came home from work and disclosed more information about herself while asking questions about him. He noticed that she had already put up paintings of the beach and snowy mountains on the walls of her parlor. She said she had ordered a cabinet to display some crystal figurines she wanted to collect. He hadn’t realized she liked crystal, so he decided he would buy her something that weekend so she could think of him when she looked at it. He wanted her to connect him with things she liked, but he also enjoyed the thought of buying her something she would like.

  On their way to the Walker residence in the stagecoach, he asked, “Will your friends be there as well?”

  “Mary will be attending,” she replied.

  She had chosen a pretty dark purple gown for the occasion and didn’t roll her eyes this time when he told her that she was beautiful. He turned his attention from how much he wanted to kiss her so he could focus on the conversation. “So you’re determined to forget Julie?”

  “It’s not that. The thing is that since she’s engaged to Harrison, she would want to bring him along, and considering what he might have done to my father and Mr. Rivers and might do to Mr. Walker, it doesn’t seem right to have him there.”

  “He most likely would not attend after the way Mr. Walker talked to him on Monday, so it’s just as well you didn’t invite her.”

  She sadly nodded and glanced at the houses they passed.

  “I’m sorry, Carrie. I know a lot of things haven’t turned out the way you hoped.” He wasn’t sure if he should include himself to that list or not. He hoped not.

  To his surprise, she got up from the seat across from him and sat next to him. “It’s really not so bad being with you,” she shyly whispered. “I am enjoying myself. I wish I had known that we do actually share common interests before we got married. Then I wouldn’t have given my poor father so much grief over it.”

  She could have knocked him over with a feather. His heart leapt for joy at her words. He leaned forward to kiss her but the stagecoach stopped. They had arrived at Mr. Walker’s house. He settled for simply smiling at her as Franklin opened the door for them to get out.

  “I hope you can have a good time with Mary,” he said.

  “I always do. She’s a good friend.”

  He followed her out of the stagecoach and into the house where the butler took their hats for them.

  “The women are enjoying the nice warm evening outside,” the butler informed them. “The men are in the parlor.”

  “I’ll see you later tonight,” Justin told Carrie.

  She glanced back and saw that Mary was walking to the door. “I’ll wait here for her before going outside,” she said. “Come and get me when you’re ready to leave.”

  “Of course I will. I wouldn’t leave without you.”

  He was tempted to kiss her on the cheek but wasn’t sure if that would be appropriate in public. He hadn’t paid enough attention to know if other husbands did that or not. He nodded a greeting to Mary before joining the men in the parlor. The room was filled with twenty men. Most of them were sitting and talking while a few stood around the room.

  As soon as his uncle saw him, he said something to Conrad Leroy, stood up and walked over to greet him. “I take it things have improved with Carrie?”

  “Yes. Things look very promising.” He tried not to smile like an idiot, but he was too excited over what she said in the stagecoach to hide his joy.

  Jonathan grinned and patted him on the back. “Keep doing what you’re doing and she’ll admit that she wants to be with you for life.” He pulled Justin to the corner of the room. “I wanted to tell you about my meeting with Mr. Davidson before we eat. He’s extravagantly wealthy but he’s also extravagantly particular about having things done his way. He borders along the narcissistic personality type, except instead of being overly fond of himself, he is obsessed with his hobbies, one of which is hunting deer. He wants you and Carrie to go to his residence next week so you can hunt with him while Carrie entertains his wife. He won’t do business with us until he meets you and Carrie and sees what kind of people you are. His residence is not far from my beach house, so to make it worth both of your troubles, I am offering it to you to stay there for a week to enjoy your honeymoon. Ask Carrie what she thinks and let me know what you two decide. Alright?”

  He nodded. He thought the trade off was worth spending the day hunting, which was something he dreaded doing. But it would be fun to be completely alone with Carrie. The possibilities of what might happen excited him.

  “Dinner is ready,” the butler announced at the doorway.

  “We will be eating in the dining room,” Mr. Walker began. “My wife wants to eat outside with the women because she says being so close to the hot kitchen makes it hard for her to eat this late in her pregnancy. So we’ll be left to ourselves tonight, gentlemen.”

  “Does that mean we can display horrible table manners?” Mr. Wilcox grinned mischievously.

  “Of course. And we can have as much dessert as we want. Feel free to only have dessert if you wish,” he said.

  During the course of the dinner, Brad sat next to Justin and asked him, “Has my sister come around yet?”

  “Why didn’t you tell me that she was opposed to the marriage?” Justin had to ask it. He wanted to know why his best friend failed to mention that important piece of information to him before the wedding.

  “Because I thought you two would be a good match. You were certainly better than Harrison Grant Jr. I figured once she got a chance to know you, she’d realize that too. Besides, I had encouraged you often enough to approach her, but you were too shy to do it. This was the only way I could think of to force you to spend actual time with her. Was I wrong for being somewhat devious in my role as matchmaker?”

  “I’m not a big proponent for forcing women to do things that they don’t want to.”

  “Which is why I didn’t tell you that she was opposed to it. I got a chance to talk to her earlier today, and she didn’t seem all that upset. She didn’t exactly thank me for my part in the scheme, but she blushed an awful lot when I asked her how things were going between the two of you. I know my sister. She’s falling in love with you. Besides, I notice you’re keeping her around for a month. Aren’t you technically going against her wishes for an immediate annulment?”

  “Point taken,” he conceded.

  “Look, she’s not complaining about being with you. She was running out of the church right before the wedding but tod
ay when I talked to her, she was talking about decorating the parlor. Apparently, she got over the wedding jitters pretty quick.”

  Justin closed his eyes. He had no idea she actually tried to run away from marrying him. It was depressing to think she was that eager to get away from him. Opening his eyes, he turned back to Brad and asked, “How many people know that she was so adamantly opposed to the union?”

  “Very few. A lot of them are wondering what all the annulment talk is about. I just tell them that since you two didn’t really know each other to begin with, you agreed to live together, platonically of course, for a month to see how well you suit each other. I overheard that you two were caught kissing in the parlor on Monday and yesterday.”

  Justin hid his annoyance. Why did people delight themselves in gossip? He was amazed that he could even sneeze without the whole town knowing about it. “I suppose if we do actually consummate the marriage, then everyone will be talking about that as well.”

  “Since we’re all waiting to see whether or not it’s going to happen, you can bet on it. Face it. You two are every gossiper’s dream come true.”

  “And you’re on that list?”

  He shrugged. “My interest is in my sister and best friend. I am personally invested in this situation.”

  Justin had a hard time eating his meal. He felt as if everyone in the room and outside were whispering about the fact that he and Carrie showed up at the dinner party together. He could almost hear them talking amongst themselves: Did it mean that they were falling in love or was it merely an appearance?

  He was relieved when dinner ended and his uncle waved him over to Mr. Walker and Mr. Leroy. He joined them in the den where they could have some privacy from the other men who had gone to the parlor to talk. Once he sat in a chair next to his uncle and across from the other two men, he allowed himself to relax. It was nice to be able to forget about the town gossip for awhile.

  His uncle was the first to speak. “It has become apparent to me that the elder Harrison Grant is slowly building a monopoly.” He turned to Chad. “Since you have an accounting firm and you,” he looked at Conrad, “have the bank, I thought I would bring my suspicions to you and see what your thoughts are on this matter.”

  “It’s no doubt he’s trying to eliminate his competitors,” Chad easily replied. “Poor Greg Allen and Hugh Rivers lost everything they had.”

  “Are you telling me that Harrison managed to manipulate their files so that they went bankrupt?” Conrad asked Jonathan. “The paperwork looked legitimate when I verified their financial status at the bank.”

  “I don’t exactly know how he did it,” Jonathan said. “A piece of the puzzle is that young Harrison took a sudden interest in Carrie right before her father went bankrupt. Justin and I suspect he used her to gain access to the files he kept in his home.”

  “He’s not going to be able to use that method again if Junior marries Julie Muse this Saturday.”

  “Which means he most likely has something else in mind.”

  “I interviewed Harrison Jr. today for the contractor position. I wasn’t overly impressed with him. I don’t understand how he can win clients his way.”

  “The father has more charm than the son does,” Chad said. “His son is too desperate to please him, and my wife senses some hesitation on his part. He acts tough on the outside, but she wonders how hard his father is pushing him so he can mold him into his image.”

  “Whatever the father-son relationship is like, we would be wise to keep our eyes and ears open for both of them,” Jonathan replied.

  “I already do.”

  “I suppose setting up a bank is something the father’s itching to do,” Conrad reflected. “Of course, he’ll want to bankrupt me once he establishes it. Could he be seeking to contract his services for investing to gain access to my bank records?”

  “Most likely. On our end, he’s just trying to take as many clients from us as he possibly can. If he were to get enough of them, he could do considerable damage to our investing firm.” Jonathan glanced at Justin. “We do have to be careful.”

  Conrad sat thoughtfully for a moment. “The best way for me to watch what the Grants are doing is to keep them close by. I wasn’t going to take their business, but it would be wise to do so.”

  Chad nodded. “At the very least, it will give him a false sense of security. Just have one of your employees keep an eye on him and his son.”

  “I have the right employee in mind for this.”

  Justin wondered if he would trust George for this task, but Conrad’s next statement distinguished his fears for he knew that George could easily be bought if the price was right.

  “I’ll have Jake Mitchell work with the Grants and tell him our misgivings. Jake is good about keeping things to himself.”

  “Do you think they will suspect Jake is up to something?”

  “No. Jake can hide his emotions with surprising ease.”

  Justin wished he was like that. It would come in handy when people insisted on gossiping about his sex life, or rather a lack thereof.

  “I’m glad we were able to talk,” his uncle said as the men stood up.

  Justin joined his uncle in shaking their hands.

  “I’ll keep you posted on what Jake or I discover,” Conrad promised.

  As Chad and Conrad left the room to join the other men in the parlor, Jonathan turned to him. “That was a fruitful meeting. I’m glad you could make it tonight. Now you can appreciate the threat the Grants really are. We need to be on our toes.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  The next morning when Carrie appeared at the top of the steps, she said, “Let me do it for you. Good morning, Carrie. You look beautiful this morning. Why, thank you, Justin. Good morning to you too.” She walked down the steps. “Then you’ll extend your arm to me and ask to escort me to breakfast.” She reached him and wrapped her arm through his and waited.

  He smiled. “You called me Justin this morning.”

  She blinked. “Haven’t I been doing so?”

  “No. Usually, I have to remind you to call me by my first name or you call me Mr. Monroe.”

  “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

  He studied her for a moment. It suddenly occurred to him that she wasn’t aware of how she was gradually opening up to him. He decided to ask her the same question he had asked her the past two days during breakfast. “Will you have lunch with me today?”

  To his shock, she agreed. When he didn’t comment, she wondered, “What’s wrong? Was I supposed to say no?”

  “You have been saying no every time I asked.”

  “You keep track of what I say with amazing accuracy.”

  He shrugged. “It comes with years of dealing with clients.” He turned to her and pulled her close to him and kissed her. “I don’t think of you as a client, but a good memory sure does come in handy. I’m glad you’ll be having lunch with me today.” He let go of her and held her hand on the way to the dining room.

  Unfortunately, his victory in getting her to agree to lunch was short-lived for a half hour before he was supposed to pick her up, his uncle notified him that Mr. Tyndall, one of the more notable clients at their company, had to meet with them in fifteen minutes.

  “He’s considering going with the Grants,” his uncle concluded.

  “But I promised Carrie I’d take her to lunch in half an hour,” Justin protested.

  He sighed. “Mr. Tyndall is a difficult man but he also has a lot of connections in town, and where he does business sets a trend for others to follow. I’ll give him a call and see if he’ll agree to just meet with me.”

  Justin nodded as his uncle left his office. A couple minutes passed before his uncle returned. By the look on the older man’s face, he already knew what he was going to say.

  “He’s adamant that you must be there,” Jonathan said. “His son is your age and will be joining us. He wants you to talk to his son while I talk to him. I explained the fact that you
are a newlywed, but he refuses to budge. He even threatened to meet with the Grants instead.”

  Justin groaned and threw his pencil on the desk. “And if he goes with the Grants, then he’ll take a third of our clients with him.”

  “If you want, I’ll call Carrie and explain how important this particular client is and that he told us to meet him for lunch at the last minute so you had no idea this was going to happen.”

  “No. I’ll call her.”

  His uncle nodded and left the office.

  He called his house and Constance went to get her for him. He sighed again. He had met Mr. Tyndall’s son, and though the twenty-six year old was a decent enough man, he was nowhere near as exciting as Carrie. When Carrie greeted him, he explained the situation to her.

  “Oh. I understand.” She sounded disappointed but he doubted that she was as disappointed as he was.

  “I’m sorry. I was looking forward to having lunch with you today.”

  “It’s alright. We’ll just do it some other time.”

  “Thanks for understanding. I’ll see you tonight when I get home.”

  Then they said good-bye and he hung up the phone. Mr. Tyndall didn’t care that he wanted to spend lunch with his wife, and Mr. Burgess had to meet with him even though it meant he had to leave his own engagement party. He hadn’t realized how much the clients were demanding of him before he found out he was getting married. In the span of one week, he had already put Carrie on hold twice. He had a sinking sensation that the clients’ demands weren’t going to get any easier to deal with.

  ***

  Since Justin couldn’t meet her for lunch, Carrie decided to visit Helen. As soon as she entered the nursing home, she overheard several whispers about her.

  “Is that The Cold Wife?” one elderly woman asked her friend.