Keenan

Another week went by and I was no closer to bedding my wife then when I first started out. It was nice to think about it and I certainly craved her, but she still wasn’t ready and after learning more about her past, I could see why. I didn’t want to rush her, but at the same time I didn’t want to go on without touching her for another moment. I had fallen for Gemma. I had fallen for my wife.

“Sir?”

I looked up from my desk and I knew by the look on my assistant’s face that I was daydreaming again. It was becoming a problem. One that I had never had before, but now it was hard to stop it. I had so many hopes for me and Gemma. I also knew it was because she refused me, many times now. I wanted her and she wasn’t as apt to want me. It was frustrating to no end.

“Yes Betty, what is going on?”

“Ronald is here to see you.”

I nodded my head and thanked her. “Have him come in. I will be with him in just a minute.”

Ronald had started to pop up a couple of days after me and his daughter got married. He came there to say hi, but I knew that he was really there to see how things were going between me and Gemma. I wished that I had better news for him, but our marriage was yet to be a real marriage. Right now, it is just two people that are becoming less strangers. There was a long way until we would be together in any real kind of way.

“Good morning Keenan.”

I turned towards the approaching man and returned the greeting.

“I have a good lead of a sale. We have to go do it now. It’s a short sell and I couldn’t tell you over the phone. You are going to thank me in about a week Keenan. I think we can double your whole portfolio.”

This was the kind of information that I’d married his daughter for. I squinted my eyes towards him and wanted to know what it was that he wanted. Ronald was a man that would do nothing for no reason. I had to wonder what his plan was, besides helping me to double my profit. He wanted something for it, but I played along. I had already gone to great extremes for this. It didn’t matter that my wife was making me realize that I had done it all for money that I didn’t need. Would it make me any happier? Did I really need to conquer the world to be complete? Or did I just need to conquer her?

“Well come on Keenan. We have to make some moves now before anyone else catches wind of this.”

I didn’t even ask what he was talking about, it didn’t matter. If Ronald Gray told you to make a short sell, you did. I wasn’t going to waste time, but at the same exact time I wasn’t moving as fast as I would a week or two ago. Gemma was making me realize that I had to pick a new dream. I had conquered the money world, now I just wanted to do the same to her.

Grabbing my jacket, I moved out of the office. Ronald was already outside in the hallway. He was talking to one of the interns and she was gushing at the older man. Did everyone know who Ronald Gray was? It was like everywhere we went, he was welcomed. I still wanted that kind of reverence. The money didn’t matter, but I did want the respect that came with it.

I followed Ronald out to his waiting car. The driver already knew where to go and I sat back in the seat across from him feeling awkward. It didn’t matter how many times we had had these impromptu meetings, I was still getting used to his style. It was a hard one to jump on the band wagon for.

“You look nervous Keenan.”

“Not at all Sir.”

“How are things going with Gemma?”

I had to wonder if he was here only for that one question. It had been almost two weeks since we had been married and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that everything was because of this. Gemma was right. He desperately wanted grandchildren and I didn’t yet know the lengths he would go to get what it was that he wanted.

“We are doing well Sir.”

His bright eyes looked into mine, trying to find something that wasn’t there. I had nothing to report, even if he wasn’t my father-in-law and this all wasn’t extremely embarrassing to talk about with him.

“Are you?”

I shook my head, but I could feel his eyes boring into me. Ronald didn’t believe me.

“I am shocked really.  My daughter can be a handful.”

I nodded my head and smiled. “Yeah she took me to a music festival last weekend.”

Ronald laughed and told me that he couldn’t imagine me there with a bunch of stinkin’ hippies. I saw the utter disgust that he had for them and I remembered that Gemma told me that he had called her that all of the time. I hoped then that he hadn’t said it in such a way. Ronald was a good man, but he was also a very conservative man that just wanted normal kids to take over when he was gone. It was rather ironic that he had a gay son and a hippy daughter. Both were loved, but I could imagine that his new hope was on normal grandkids.

I smiled to myself and he thought I was thinking about the festival with Gemma. I wasn’t going to make a comment either way. Let him think what he wants.

“Well I have decided that it is because you didn’t go on a proper honeymoon. Women are particular about that sort of thing. Did you even take a day off to go to a honeymoon?”

“No Sir. I think we ended up meeting that next day.”

Ronald thought for a moment and nodded. “So we did. Well then it is partly my fault. I will fix this.”

“There is nothing to fix Sir.”

“There is. I have already told the pilot to take you wherever you want to go.”

I didn’t mention that I had my own transportation. Ronald was trying to be helpful and like everything else, I was just going to let him have his way. There was no use in pretending like he wasn’t the one in charge. I just couldn’t bring myself to see it any other way. I had gotten into this with open eyes and I still found the old man far easier to deal with than the daughter. Gemma had even higher expectations.

“Thank you Sir. Do you have any suggestions? Places that Gemma would like to go?”

The old man shrugged and wiped his brow with a handkerchief. “She goes everywhere and anywhere there is nature. That’s what makes her happy. Get her some paints and take her somewhere beautiful. That is how you get to an artist’s heart.”

“You sound like you know from experience.”

The smile on his face brightened. “She is just like Evelyn. Where do you think her creative side came from? Her mother was a wild rose and still is in many ways, but she slowed down. I had to slow her down. You just have to show her what is best for her.”

He looked at me meaningfully and I had to wonder what it was I was supposed to do. How could I slow down a woman like Gemma?

***

“Where are we going Keenan?”

“I thought you liked being in the moment?”

“I do, but it is better if you give me a little hint.”

“Like you gave me when you took me out to the middle of nowhere?”

“So this is payback?”

I shook my head and told her that it wasn’t. “It is just a surprise.”

“But what about work?”

I shrugged and told her that it didn’t matter. “Work will be there when I get back.”

She checked my forehead and I laughed at her. We were on my plane and I had taken Ronald’s advice. I was going to take her to the most beautiful place on the planet at the minute and I hoped that it was going to be her first time. Ronald had also mentioned paints, though I didn’t know what kind. So I got a little of everything. I hoped that she liked this as much as I thought she would.

“You are like a different man. Last week you were flying out of the festival every morning because of business.”

“Gemma, you made me think about it. I never thought about work as everything I did, but you were right. I need to put more effort and energy into other facets of my life that are far more important.”

I wanted her to know that she was more important than work. I missed being around her, wanting to go home sooner and see her every night. I never had this before and I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t because I hadn’t been with a woman in almost two weeks.

“I am glad you are seeing things my way. When a person is on their deathbed, they will never wish that they had worked more.”

She may be a free-spirit, but Gemma had a great way of looking at the world that simplified it in a way that made me wonder why I was so quick to change it. Maybe it was me that needed a change.

“I don’t know about that, but I do know that I am looking forward to a weekend without work.”

“So is this our honeymoon?”

The way she said it had me looking her way. “Is that what you want?” Did the same thing come to her mind as it did to me? The only thing I could think of about a honeymoon was the consummation.

Gemma didn’t answer right away. She looked away shyly and now her innocence made more sense to me. After her first love was taken, she shut romance off in her mind. I knew that if I was ever going to be with her in that way, I was going to have to be a man that she loved like Raphael. It was strange to be going up against a ghost of a memory, but that was what it was. Nothing was ever as straight forward as it seemed and my wife was no different.

“I don’t know Keenan. Why don’t you tell me where we are going first?”

I chuckled and asked her if it mattered that much.

“Not really, I guess. I just didn’t bring anything and now we have been flying for several hours. Where are we going?”

I loved how her serenity was shattered because I wouldn’t tell her what was going on. It was hard to say no to her, almost impossible actually. “You will find out soon enough. We will be there about sunrise, so not too much longer.”

Gemma anxiously looked out of the window. She wouldn’t see anything though, nothing but clouds and darkness. We were too high up and the more I watched her build with anticipation, the happier I was that I had taken Ronald’s advice. He was like the puppet master, pulling all of the strings and we were mere puppets. But to be next to her, I was a happy puppet. The old man had known better than both of us.

I sat down next to her and our eyes met for a moment. Her bright gaze was filled with so many emotions it was hard to know where to start. “We will be there soon Gemma and I promise you will love it.”

She set her head on my shoulder and sighed. For a moment, the world stopped, as well as my heart.