Page 10 of Code of Heart
“Yes, I'm fine. These things always seem to happen to you,” Selene said with a half-smile.
Charles loudly cleared his throat. Having completely forgotten why she had been in such a rush out the door, it came flooding back into Aurelia’s mind with a vengeance. Her newly acquired headache wasn’t helping the situation.
“I apologize for the interruption, Mr. Pierce. I didn't realize you were still meeting with each other,” Selene stated, first looking at Aurelia, then Charles. “Staff members are asking if they will be getting paid this payroll cycle as usual or if there will be any delays because of the changeover in the estate. I said I’d ask quickly since we get paid at the end of the week.”
Charles observed her for an extra breath before confirming a normal pay cycle. “Could you have refreshments and whatever is on the menu for lunch today sent over for me and Aurelia? She was about to take a quick break from our meeting to request it when she opened the door.”
Aurelia tried not to look surprised. She was about to do no such thing when she opened that door, and Charles knew it. Instead, she kept her mouth shut and nodded mutely in agreement, wincing as the movement made her head throb even more. “Please include a few tablets of ibuprofen with it, too.”
“Of course! And thank you for the clarification, it will ease the minds of our staff, me included.”
Selene turned to walk away, but stopped dead in her tracks when Charles added, “Please have it left outside of the sitting room entrance on a cart. Have whoever delivers it call the study's extension to let us know it’s there. Our meeting is not yet over, and we have additional privileged items to discuss. Going forward, I’d like to follow the same protocol for all meetings with the staff due to the nature of these conversations. Ensuring that we have a secure place to have confidential discussions is critical.”
Selene dipped her head in acknowledgement before leaving. Charles stood directly outside the study doorway, watching contemplatively as Selene shut the sitting room doors behind her. Aurelia debated whether she should reattempt her escape or get to the bottom of the strange exchange she witnessed.
Being ever curious, she chose the latter and interrupted Charles's thoughts as she made her way back into the study, resigned to continuing their discussion. “I assume your lunch request was your way of telling me that escaping this conversation is impossible.”
Charles snapped to attention and followed her in, a crease in his brow as he sat back down.
Before Aurelia could speak, Charles turned those wise brown eyes on her and asked, “How long have you and Selene known each other? If memory serves me correctly, I recall Eleanor mentioning it was she who had first recommended you for the personal assistant position.”
“Quite a long time, actually,” she scrunched her nose as she sorted through her memories. “I first went into foster care when I was eight years old, but I didn't meet her until I was twelve, after being moved into the same home that she was in. We started as enemies…being the same age and having to fight for the same limited resources kind of enables that sort of competition. Eventually, we became friends and have been ever since.”
She peered at him quizzically. “Why do you ask?”
Charles paused briefly. “My perceptions are immaterial. As your new personal attorney that you inherited with the estate,” he smiled and winked at her when she rolled her eyes, “I would strongly advise that you do not divulge any portion of our conversation today with anyone, including your closest friends.”
That sucks…but makes sense, Aurelia reluctantly thought to herself.
But then he added, “Specifically not with Selene per Eleanor's final request.” Aurelia's eyebrows shot up hearing that.
“Why would she say that?” As eccentric as Eleanor was, she was highly intelligent and an excellent judge of character. Aurelia didn’t know what to make of it.
“She understood how close you both are, yet stressed that no one, not even Selene, knows about the inheritance or its stipulations. Money changes people, for better or for worse, even those closest to us.” Charles patiently waited for Aurelia to internalize the information and acknowledge her understanding before moving on to the next topic.
With a furrowed brow, Aurelia nodded and waved her hand to continue. He pulled out averylarge stack of files and piled them on the desk.
“These documents contain everything you need to know regarding your employment, bonuses, upfront inheritance payment, final will, financial documents, clear deed and title toyour home, and most importantly, your conditions of marriage,” he said matter-of-factly.
The sheer volume of information packed within those pages made her head spin. Yet her mind zeroed in on the most terrifying file of them all.
“Ah, yes,” she squeaked, “the marriage conditions. You know what? I’mabsolutelyfamished. Let me check to see if lunch has been delivered yet. Just a quick, not suspicious, walk through those doors to look.” She began to stand up as the very urgent need to escape the room reared its ugly head again.
“Aurelia,” Charles warned, “take a deep breath.”
She plopped back down in her seat and took five of them...and certainly didn’t feel any better.
“I don’t know much about your past,” he said gently, “but I do know Eleanor loved you as her own daughter. She shared little tidbits about your prior romantic partners with me, as well as her reasoning for marriage.”
That didnothingto make Aurelia feel better.
“The purpose is to open up and rediscover yourself. You will never be in a successful relationship if you don’t understand and take care of yourself first. The matchmaker’s profiling and compatibility process will help you figure it out.”
She couldn’t argue with that logic…and she hated it.
“You always have a choice, Aurelia, remember that. You can choose not to do this right now and put it off until you are ready, or you can choose not to do it at all and forfeit the entire fortune. But the point,” Charles emphasized, “is to step out of your comfort zone, learn who you are and what you want, and hopefully find your other half in the process.”
Aurelia stilled, weighing her options.
