Marriage Of Convenience: A BWWM Billionaire Love Story (15 page)

*****

Jonathon rang the bell
instead of using his key. Leila was still up, curiously unable to
sleep without him next to her. She hurried to the door, wondering why
he didn’t just come in. She opened the door to find him
disheveled and unkempt, shirt untucked and hair mussed. If Leila
didn’t know better, she’d suspect he’d just come
from a strip club or something.

“
Hey,”
he said blearily, leaning against the door.

“
Jonathon.
What’s going on?”

“
I
want a divorce,” Jonathon said.

*****

After Jonathon left his
grandfather, he stopped off at the hotel bar to have a real drink. It
was quiet at that time of night – Four Seasons residents
apparently not being much for hanging in bars when they had perfectly
good mini bars in their rooms. He ordered a double tot of whiskey and
called his mother.

“
Hey
ma,” he whispered into the phone.

“
Jonny
what’s wrong?” she said at once.

Jonathon laughed, “You
know me so well.”

“
Yes
I do, so tell me what’s happening quickly before I have to
swallow my anxiety medication.”

“
I
just had dinner with James,” he said.

“
Oh.”

“
Yeah…and
well, I guess he wasn’t too impressed with Leila.”

“
Why
do you say that? Leila is a lovely girl.”

“
He
didn’t say why. He did tell me that he releases me from the
obligation of being married in order to collect my inheritance.”

“
Oh.
Wow.”

“
Yeah,”
Jonathon said miserably. “Ma what do I do?”

“
Do
you
want
to be released from your marriage?”

Jonathon shook his
head, forgetting for a moment that she couldn’t see him. “Oh
did I mention that he said if I continue to be married, I get
nothing?”

“
Oh,”
his mama said again and then there was silence.

“
Ma?”
Jonathon prompted.

“
Did
I ever tell you about your father and James? They did not get along,”
Jaime said.

“
No
shit. I kind of got that from the years of not seeing him when I was
growing up.”

“
No,
it was worse than that. It wasn’t just him and Tommy being
different…he tried to break us up.”

Jonathon was silent,
listening intently.

It had been just after
Tommy got his fireman’s license that he’d made the trip
to LA to ask Jaime’s father for her hand in marriage. He was an
old fashioned kind of guy who respected tradition; and he wanted to
do this right. He hadn’t told Jaime what he was doing; just
said he was going out of town for training. When he got to LA, he
called James and asked to meet him for lunch. James agreed, though he
was clearly not happy about it and they met at a local restaurant.
Tommy was nervous and James was not making it any better with his
pointed questions and snarky comments. Finally, Tommy asked the
question he’d come to ask, still fairly sure that he would get
a positive response. He was a good man after all.

“
Over
my dead body,” James told him.

Tommy had left LA
devastated, wondering if it was the end of his relationship with the
woman he loved. He told Jaime everything because she was his friend
as well as his lover and she had a right to choose. She chose him;
her father cut her off. She was fine with that – Tommy wanted
to support his family himself anyway. They only reconciled after 9/11
when Jonathon called his grandfather to come help them out.

“
I
didn’t know that Ma,” Jonathon said. “About Dad
going to LA I mean.”

“
There
was no need for you to know,” Jaime replied gently.

“
God,
I miss him,” Jonathon said.

“
Yes.
Me too,” Jaime replied sadly.

*****

“
Excuse
me what?” Leila said freezing at the door.

“
I
want a divorce Leila, as soon as possible,” Jonathon said still
leaning drunkenly against the door jamb.

“
Get
your ass in here. How much have you had to drink?” Leila asked
manhandling him into the apartment and closing the door behind him.
“Now go take a shower and I’ll make some coffee and we’ll
discuss this like rational,
sober
,
human beings,” she continued, pushing him down the hall as she
did so. He was resistant to her urging; trying to find purchase for
his feet so he could stop walking but unable to do it.

“
Don’t
wanna shower. I want a divorce!” he mumbled loudly.

“
Okay
fine, you’ll get one. After you shower,” Leila said
shaking her head as she propped him up in the bath and switched on
the shower. “Remember, no shower, no divorce,” she said
leaving him to it.

She went to the kitchen
to make the coffee, heart pounding painfully. She didn’t know
how serious Jonny was; I mean, obviously his grandfather hadn’t
liked her. That was obvious from the jump despite his fake twinkling
eyes. But could he have persuaded Jonny to divorce her in one night?
Leila shrugged inwardly at the possibility. After all, the entire
reason they’d wed was so that Jonathon could get his grubby
hands all over his grandfather’s billions. She supposed it
didn’t make sense to stay married if there was going to be a
problem with that. Leila tried very hard to ignore the ache in her
breast at the thought of never seeing Jonny again. Somehow, he’d
carved a niche for himself in her heart while she wasn’t
looking and now she was gonna have to carve him out. She took a deep
breath, trying to compose herself and was saved from the utter
humiliation of breaking down by the coffee whistling.

She poured two cups,
really strong black coffee for him, Irish coffee for her and took
them to the bedroom where Jonathon was just wiping himself down.

“
So?”
she said handing him the cup. “You were saying about a
divorce.”

Jonathon sipped his
coffee in silence until he’d emptied the cup, Leila matching
him sip for sip. Once the cups were empty, Leila picked them both up
and returned them to the kitchen where she deposited them in the sink
full of soapy water. She took a deep breath, straightened her
shoulders and returned to the bedroom for the verdict.

“
So.
Talk,” she said, her voice shaking only very slightly.

“
I
know that…this marriage was based on…getting what we
both needed,” Jonathon began slowly.

“
Skip
the snake oil, get to the good part,” Leila said unable to sit
still and wait any longer.

“
Okay,
my grandfather has decided that I no longer need to be married to
fulfill the terms of his will when it comes to my inheritance. In
fact, he insists that I not be married to fulfill the terms. Now I
know you married me to get help for your mother and of course I’ll
do my utmost to keep my end of the bargain and make sure she gets
that. But it’ll be harder with just my income which isn’t
as unlimited as having that safety net he gives me. I promise you
that I will do everything to make sure she keeps getting the best
care available.”

“
That’s
very kind of you to say but believe me I wouldn’t hold you to-“
Leila began, her heart scattering into the cosmos in a million
pieces.

“
I
know you wouldn’t hold me to it. You are the most honorable
person I’ve ever met, besides my dad. I just…I know I’m
not the man of your dreams but I can’t help wishing I was so I
could ask you to come away with me and fuck his money; let's just
live on our own.”

“
Excuse
me, what?” Leila said standing up really fast from the bed.

“
I
know, I know; this isn’t a fairy tale and I’m not Prince
Charming…just...” Jonathon’s mouth twisted and he
laughed. “It happened in real life too. To my parents. And I
guess…I guess I kinda hoped I could have that too.” He
looked so sad that Leila walked up to him and put her hand on his
arm.

“
What’s
stopping you from having it?” she asked gently, looking up into
his face with hope stark in her eyes. He didn’t see it though
because he was looking up at the ceiling, trying to hide the tears in
his own.

He shook his head back
and forth, “Nothing I guess; except maybe I think…I
might...”

“
You
think you might…what?” Leila pressed digging her nails
into his bicep. He didn’t seem to notice.

“
I
want this to last,” he said at last, his voice so low she would
have missed it if she wasn’t so close. She whacked him on the
arm, hard.

“
Well
then why are you asking me for a divorce?” she yelled.

He looked startled at
her words and finally looked down from the ceiling, eyes reddened.
“Because…” he said as if that explained
everything.

“
Because
what?” she cried, ready to begin beating him over the head.

“
Because
I want you to have the choice. To choose me, but only if that’s
what you want. Knowing that if you choose me; you’re choosing
to not have the benefit of the money. To pick me just because it's me
you want.”

“
God,
you are a big, romantic baby,” Leila said.

Jonathon smiled sadly,
“I know.”

“
I
choose you, okay? I choose you and I don’t want a divorce,”
Leila said looking him in the eye.

Jonathon stared at her,
“Are you sure?”

“
Yes,”
she said very clearly.

“
And
you understand that it means no money?” he pressed.

“
I
have a law degree from Penn State. I understand what ‘he said
no more money if I stay married to you’ means. The thing is…are
you
sure?”

Jonathon laughed, “Are
you kidding me? The last time I was this happy, my father was alive.
I’m sure. But I still want a divorce.”

Leila rolled her eyes,
“Okay I’ll bite, why do you want a divorce?”

“
So
that I can do this properly. I can ask your mother for permission, we
can invite all our friends to the ceremony…you can have the
wedding you always wanted.”

Leila
snorted, “You mean the wedding my mother always wanted…I’ve
always been more of the ‘as little fuss as possible’
faction of the family.” She was smiling from ear to ear as she
said it. “But I don’t think we need to go through the
trouble and expense of getting divorced and remarried. We can just do
the church ceremony. We
are
on
a budget now after all.”

Jonathon smiled, “I
knew I liked you for a reason.”

*****

Jonathon went down on
one knee the next Sunday in front of his mother, her mother, her aunt
and cousins. They had all sat down to dinner to christen the new
dining table Jonathon had acquired at an auction. It was a beautiful
table, big enough to seat eight and a perfect centerpiece for family
gatherings. Jaime had come into town for the occasion. Jonathon had
given her a heads up that he was going to re-propose and he wanted
her there. Leila’s family thought they were invited to meet
Jonathon’s mother as did Leila. She offered to cook but
Jonathon proposed they get caterers for the event because the next
day was Monday and there was no reason why she should tire herself
out. He wanted her to enjoy the meal too. Leila had stared at him
suspiciously but it was consistent enough with how he treated her for
her to take it at face value. Jonathon went to the airport to pick
Jaime up and on the way they debated the merits and demerits of new
ring vs. the one already in play. Jonathon liked it and wanted to
keep it, but he didn’t know if he should get another just for
the engagement.

Jaime smiled fondly at
him, “You know you remind me a lot of him. Not just physically,
God knows Leary men tower over everyone in the room,” she said.
“But just how you think…everything.”

Jonathon smiled.
“Thanks mom,” he said, very pleased to hear that. Jaime
took hold of her middle finger and started to pull the ring off of
it.

“
Your
father gave me this when he came back from LA. It was his mother’s
wedding ring; a legacy. You should have it for your wife,” she
said.

Jonathon
almost ran off the road he was so surprised, “You
never
take that thing off.”

She reached over and
deposited it in his shirt pocket, “Yeah, well. I guess it's
time.”

He reached out and
grasped her hand, squeezing tight.

“
We’re
going to be alright mama,” he said.

“
I
know son,” she replied.

*****

Coffee and desert were
cleared when Jonathon stood up, clicking a glass with a fork to get
their attention. It had been a really loud meal, with everybody
seemingly having a lot to say to everybody else. Jaime and Raychelle
had discovered a mutual love of American Horror Story and Jessica
Lange that had them exclaiming all through the appetizers. Sheila was
campaigning with Jonathon on the possibility of hosting her birthday
dinner on his beautiful new dining table while her mother supported
his refusals and Peter and Leila were talking bikes with the
enthusiasm only fitness fanatics could display. Everyone gradually
grew quiet as they realized he has something to say.

“
Ladies
and gentleman,” he said smiling at all of them. “I’m
so happy to welcome you into our home for the first of hopefully many
family dinners.”