Page 16 of The Marriage Pact
KAITLYN
The sun was streaming through the window when Kaitlyn awoke the next morning. She rolled over sleepily, stretching out her arms and expecting to find Alex next to her. But the bed was empty, and, sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and looked around her.
“Alex?” she called out, for it seemed odd for him to have left.
A sudden fear came over her, a question as to whether he’d really meant what he’d said the night before. Perhaps he’d gotten cold feet. That same sense of disappointment now seized her. It was just like before. The promise, the expectation. His clothes were gone. Was that it? She thought back to all the things he’d said. There’d been such sincerity in his words, and it pained her to think he’d already cast her aside.
I should’ve known. Perhaps it really was all too good to believe.
But as she was about to get out of bed, she heard footsteps on the stairs, and a moment later, the bedroom door opened. Alex was standing there with a tray in hand. On it were croissants and pastries, a carafe of coffee, and a glass of orange juice. There wasbutter and jelly, and a small vase of flowers, some of the blue ones from the garden that her mom had planted last spring.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t have woken up yet,” he said, smiling as he set the tray down on the bed.
Kaitlyn didn’t know what to say, though she felt guilty for having immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion as to his absence.
“You did all this?” she exclaimed.
“Even I can open a few packets of pastries. I went to the bakery. I made the coffee myself, if that counts,” he said, sitting down on the bed next to her.
No one had ever made her breakfast in bed before. It was a sweet thing to have done, and Kaitlyn was touched by his thoughtfulness.
“Are you going to do this every day?” she asked.
Alex laughed. “Let’s just start with today, shall we?” he said, just as Kaitlyn’s phone buzzed.
It was Rachel, chastising her for leaving the wedding reception without saying goodbye.
…And what about you and Alex? What’s going on there?
Kaitlyn didn’t reply. She’d explain later, though it was really no one else’s business but theirs. If she and Alex wanted to get married, they could. There was nothing to stop them, no “just cause or impediment” or whatever the exact words were.
“And you warmed them up, too. How thoughtful,” Kaitlyn said as she pulled one of the croissants apart.
They were from Albie’s Bakery on Market Street. Kaitlyn knew because they’d been her mom’s favorite, the lightest of pastries, like eating a cloud. Kaitlyn would go to fetch them for her mom’s breakfast, along with her other favorite — a cinnamon raisin whirl. The thought brought back happy memories of those last few precious months: breakfasts in the garden, and long conversations over coffee that could last the whole morning. It would never be the same without her, and yet Kaitlyn knew she could learn to live with her loss, now that she had Alex back in her life.
“Is the coffee all right?” he asked, just as his own phone began to ring loudly.
“It’s perfect,” Kaitlyn replied as Alex rose to his feet and crossed over to the window.
“Morning, Hilary. What’s going on? Did they seal the Japanese deal?” There was a pause, and Kaitlyn wondered what “the Japanese deal” entailed. “Tell them they can go up another ten million. But no more. I don’t want to start losing money before we’ve even started making it back. And tell Richard I need those returns. He can email them. I’ll keep checking. Don’t let him forget. And will you send someone over to the apartment for the laundry? It all needs to be done before I get back.” He exchanged a few more words before hanging up and turning to Kaitlyn with a smile on his face, sighing as he came to sit at the end of the bed. “It never stops,” he said.
“You’ve got business in Japan?” she asked.
“It’s a hotel chain. They’re all pretty run-down, but with a little investment, we think we can turn the chain into a luxury brand. Japan’s up-and-coming. The Asian markets are where it’s at. Weneed to get a foot in the door if we’re hoping to compete. This is just the first stage.”
His tone seemed to change as he spoke about business. It became serious, matter-of-fact, as though it was the most important thing in the world. Kaitlyn had never set great store on making money, though she often reminded herself that such a way of thinking was fine for a person who’d always had enough. She’d never known wealth or poverty. She had enough and was content with that. The fact that she was now about to marry a billionaire wouldn’t change her way of thinking, but it would certainly change her way of living.
“And Hilary’s your executive assistant? Do you have lots of people who work for you?” Kaitlyn asked, curious to know more.
“Across the whole company? About a hundred thousand, I suppose. But I only have a dozen personal staff. Hilary keeps track of it all. She runs the company. I just get pushed from here to there and do as I’m told,” he said, laughing and shaking his head.
“What do they all do? The dozen, I mean?” Kaitlyn asked.
“Only” a dozen. Kaitlyn couldn’t imagine anyone needing that many staff. Her mom had always enjoyed reading, and toward the end, Kaitlyn would sit and read to her — rompish Regency romances, with heroines pursued by dashing dukes and earls. Back in those days, there was a servant for everything, but those days had surely passed. What did twelve people do all day? Hilary sounded like a saint, but what did the rest of them do? Alex looked surprised, as though it was obvious.
“Well… there’s my driver, Stephen. He looks after the cars, takes me from place to place. Hilary has an assistant, Deborah.She organizes things like lunch bookings and flights. Erica’s my personal trainer. Brett manages the apartment. I suppose you’d call him a butler, but it’s not like he’s there all the time. I barely see him. He just makes sure the cleaners get let in, and the refrigerator’s stocked. Then there’s?—”
Kaitlyn stopped him. “I get the picture. But do you really need all those people to manage your life?”
