Chapter Eighteen
Jordan
If you had asked me only a few months before if I would ever be walking into the Atlanta courthouse to get married, I would have said you were crazy. Yet, there I was walking – with my American man and getting ready to say whatever it was we needed to say in order to get married.
Marriage was a weird thing to me. You basically signed a piece of paper, said some words, and suddenly you were bonded with someone for life. It seemed like a really long contract to have with a person, and the process was surprisingly easy.
Things in my life had changed drastically in the previous few months. There was nothing I could have done to predict where I was at that moment. There was no way I could have even imagined that I would be standing in that spot with Chase and that we were about to get married.
“Are you ready for this?” I asked him as we stood in front of the door.
“I’m ready if you are,” he said.
He wrapped his arm around my waist and held onto me. I wasn’t nervous at all, which was extremely surprising to me. I was actually very excited to be getting to marry Chase. It had only been a few days together, but I knew he needed this. I was comfortable with continuing to date and get to know each other.
The reality of the situation was that we had to convince his father to sign over the company to Chase within only a few days. It was a lot to ask, and I wasn’t sure the two of us were going to be able to pull it off. But what I did know was that we had better luck of getting it done if we worked together than if we didn’t. If I didn’t stay with Chase and help him through this, it was highly likely that he wouldn’t make it.
“Hello. How can I help you today?” the woman behind the counter asked us.
“We would like to get married,” Chase said as he pulled my hand up to his mouth and kissed it.
As he continued to talk to the woman, I couldn’t help but notice she had a black book that looked exactly like the one Chase had handed me to hold for him while I was in his safe room. I didn’t know why, but I really thought I should grab it. Having a duplicate black book could really come in handy if we needed it later on down the road.
I looked at the woman’s desk behind her and tried to figure out how I would be able to get back there without being noticed. Certainly, she wasn’t just going to let me behind the counter for no reason at all. Then, I remembered a scene I had watched in one of my cop television shows.
“Oh my gosh. Did you see that?” I exclaimed, as I took my shoe off and reached over the counter.
“No, what was it?” the woman asked.
“I don’t know what kind, but that was one of the biggest spiders I have ever seen.”
All the women who had been sitting at their desks got up and pulled their chairs out as everyone looked for the spider. Chase was the only man in the room, and he seemed utterly clueless as to what I was doing.
“Where did it go?” the woman asked again.
“I think it went over there. Chase, go kill it.” I said as I pointed toward the desk in the far corner.
He went behind the counter, and I followed him. As everyone followed Chase and looked for the giant spider, I grabbed the black book off of the elderly woman’s desk. It was surprisingly easy to distract everyone. I kind of felt like a character from a crime show.
I smiled as I put the black book into my back pocket and pulled my shirt down over it. No one even suspected a thing. Of course, I had to go along with the rouse for a few more minutes as we all looked for the spider, but it was well worth it.
About ten minutes went by before we gave up looking for it and succumbed to the idea that the spider had gotten away. We continued our process of applying for a marriage license.
In truth, if there had been a giant spider and it had gotten away in my office, there was no way I could have shown up to work for a month. I really hated spiders, and I felt bad for scaring all the women in the office.
“When would you like to get married?” the woman asked us.
“Right now, if that is possible,” Chase replied.
“Are you sure? No parents, no other family members?”
Chase and I looked at each other. I could tell that we were both thinking the same thing – our family wasn’t going to like us getting married so quickly. My mother would freak out if she knew I had flown over to America and gotten married all within the span of a week.
I really hoped our plan worked with Chase’s father. It did show that Chase was willing to commit to something, but I feared his father wasn’t going to like the idea of us getting married without him. Surely, Chase could lie and say we had been dating for a few months. That would hide how long we really had known each other. But there was no way to hide that we didn’t invite his father or the rest of his family to the ceremony.
“What about your mother? What will she think of all this?” I asked.
“She will be happy once she meets you, I just know it.”
“All right, then yes. Let’s get married now.”
“It will take me about fifteen minutes to get things in order. Why don’t you two take a walk and come back in a few minutes?”
“All right, thank you, ma’am.”
Chase grabbed my hand and we walked out to the front steps of the courthouse. It was a beautiful morning, and we sat down in the sunlight. I leaned my head against Chase’s shoulder and then quickly pulled away in fear that I was going to hurt him.
“I’m fine, it’s not nearly as sore as yesterday.”
“Your friend Carlos says he has a friend who works in the Special Crimes division. We could walk across the street and turn in the black book and everything we know. Maybe they could protect us?”
Chase seemed to ponder what I had suggested for a few minutes before he decided what would be best.
“Let’s go talk to my father first. I’d like to see how that goes.”
He dialed his phone and put it on speakerphone so I could hear him.
“Dad? It’s Chase.”
“Hey, son. What’s going on?”
“I’d like to come over to the house and have you meet my girlfriend this afternoon, if that would be all right with you?”
“Girlfriend? You don’t normally want us to meet your lady friends.”
“This one is different, Dad. I think you and Mom will really like her.”
“Sure, let’s have an early lunch, though. I have lots to get done today,” his father said as he hung up the phone.
“Well, that seemed promising,” I said softly.
“I hope he keeps up this positive attitude. I really need him on my side with this whole business thing.”
“What’s going to happen if he decides he’s not ready to hand the company over to you yet?” I asked.
Chase just sat in silence as his brain worked through all the possibilities. None of them ended with a happy ending, I was sure of it.
“I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to it,” he said. “Let’s get married, then over to lunch with my parents and lay this bomb on them. It should be interesting.”
***
Chase decided to drive, and I could tell he was feeling much better. He wasn’t wincing with every breath, so that was really good. I just hoped he would keep getting better, and we could figure out this mess before things went horribly wrong for us.
I closed my eyes as he drove. It was incredibly exhausting to drive in America. I was happy to have a break from that chaos. I really didn’t know how people could drive in all that traffic every day. I assumed they just got used to it, but I wasn’t yet, that was for sure. I drifted off to sleep while Chase drove us over to his family’s home.
You know that feeling when you think you’re in a dream, but not quite sure? That’s exactly how I felt when I opened my eyes as we pulled up to Chase’s family home. His house wasn’t just a regular house – it was an estate. The kind of large complex that required you to drive through some gates and then down a long driveway.
After driving down the quarter of a mile long driveway, we reached the circular drive that could easily hold thirty cars it was so large. I got nervous. Not because his family was obviously rich, but because I didn’t think his father would approve of Chase marrying a woman such as myself. A woman who he had met online. A woman who had traveled from Liechtenstein with the sole purpose of marrying Chase.
The idea of how we met, and that we had just gotten married, seemed preposterous even to me. Not to mention Chase still had some visible bruising and appeared to be in pain. My gut said that this meeting wasn’t going to go as well as we had hoped it would.
“We need a plan, Chase,” I said urgently as we pulled up.
“I have a plan. Don’t worry, just follow my lead.”
The confidence in his voice reassured me instantly. I wasn’t sure what his plan was, but he sure seemed confident. The idea that he had things under control was a welcoming thought, and I was happy to let him take control of the situation. I had enough to worry about with trying to hide my foreign accent as much as possible and understand what they were saying to me.
“I’m nervous,” I whispered, as we stood at the front door and took a breath before going in.
“Don’t be nervous. Just remember, he puts his three thousand dollar pants on one leg at a time, just like everyone else.”
Chase laughed and grabbed my hand as he opened the door and pulled me into the house. The elegant entryway caught my breath as we stood there and took our shoes off before going farther into the house.
I couldn’t help but think back to all the fun American television shows I had seen and what it would be like to meet Chase’s family. I hoped it would be more like a comedy than a drama. I desperately hoped his parents would like me.
Finding a bride on the internet wasn’t something Chase had planned. It certainly wasn’t something I had planned, but I was really excited that we had found each other. I hoped his family would like me just as much as I liked Chase.
“Oh, gosh,” I said quietly as I looked up at the forty-foot ceiling.
Chase just smiled at me and pulled me toward the back sitting room. We walked through a study and down a couple steps where I caught my first glimpse of his mother. She was stunning, the kind of beauty that came from a life of luxury. She looked like she had done some plastic surgery and had enough chemical peels that she looked at least ten years younger than she probably was. But still, she was beautiful.
“Jordan, this is my mother, Susanne.”
“Oh, Chase, she’s beautiful,” his mother exclaimed as she came over to hug me.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Foster,” I said with the last bit of air in my lungs.
“Mom, let her go. She can’t breathe,” Chase joked, although it was entirely true.
“I’m sorry, dear. It’s just that Chase hasn’t brought a girl home to meet us in years. It is great to finally get to meet you.”
“Mom, I’ve told you about her for months,” Chase said.
I looked at him baffled as I tried to figure out how he could have told his mother about me for months, before he had actually even met me. But I figured this was part of his plan, and I needed to just go with it.
Chase was really good at improvising in situations, which probably made him a good businessman. It impressed me a lot how quickly he could think on his feet. I was horrible at spontaneously coming up with ideas.
“Oh, yes, dear. The student friend of yours. She sure is pretty,” Mrs. Foster said.
“Mom, you can talk directly to her you know. She speaks perfect English. And, yes, she is beautiful, but she is also a nurse and extremely smart.”
“Oh, honey, I love how you talk about her. I can tell you two are really in love.”
Chase seemed annoyed that his mother kept talking about me in the third person, but he didn’t fight her anymore. Instead, he started laying the groundwork for telling her we were actually married. I suspected it was going to be a very hard thing to sell to his mother. She struck me as the type of person who would want to plan her son’s giant wedding.
“Mom, Jordan and I have some big news that I want to tell you before Dad gets in here.”
Chase’s mom didn’t seem too worried at first, but then she looked over and saw the serious look on his face. She walked over and sat down next to him. I saw some concern in her eyes, and I wondered if she thought the news was bad news or something.
“What is it, Chase?”
“Well, Jordan and I have been dating for a while now. I really love her, Mom,” he said as he squeezed my hand.
“Chase, you are making me nervous, what is it?”
“We got married.”
“Holy hell! Why the heck would you do that? You eloped? Is she pregnant?”
“No, Mom, she isn’t pregnant. We just wanted to get married, and we didn’t want to financially burden our families.”
“Having a wedding isn’t a financial burden. It’s an opportunity for us to share the joyous day with all of our family and friends. What does Jordan’s family think of all this?”
For the first time since I was introduced to her, Mrs. Foster turned and looked at me. I took it as my cue to talk.
“Mrs. Foster, my father is dead and my mother just got remarried. She is very happy that I found a lifelong partner who I love.”
It was a total lie. I had not even talked to my mother since leaving Liechtenstein, but I knew my mother would be happy for me. My mother wouldn’t like that we had gotten married without her there, but she still would be happy for me.
She would have wanted to be with me on my wedding day. She would have wanted me to have a real ceremony. But then again, my mother wouldn’t have wanted me to travel across the world and meet Chase at all. So, I figured it was a good thing my mother hadn’t been around.
Meeting Chase was an adventure that I couldn’t have dreamed of. Until I met Chase, I never would have known what kind of chemistry and attraction there could have been between me and another person.
“I thought you were supposed to be showing your father you could be responsible,” Mrs. Foster said as she turned back to Chase.
“I am. I love her, and we plan to spend the rest of our lives together. I am also responsible because I didn’t let my father spend half a million dollars on a wedding. Instead, we did it quietly.”
His mother seemed to ponder Chase’s explanation for a moment, and then calmed down.
“Chase, I did really want to plan a wedding. Perhaps, we could at least throw a reception to celebrate?”
“Yes, Mother, of course. Whatever makes you happy.”
Chase and his mother seemed to have a very close relationship. Although, I suspected she was pretty much the fun parent while his father was the disciplinarian. Her brief shock about the marriage quickly died down, to both my relief and Chase’s.
“Now, how can we tell your father so he doesn’t get angry with you? I do like that you two have been getting along lately.”
They talked for a bit and devised a plan that would help Chase in dealing with his father. It was a simple plan that basically focused on how Chase had saved so much money by getting married in private. I thought it was brilliant, but only time would tell what his father actually thought about it.
About twenty minutes later, we heard the front door open as Mr. Foster arrived home. My hands got clammy, and I felt the color rush from my face. He was an intimidating person – just his presence in the room made me nervous. I could sure see how he ran his billion-dollar company. His aura just oozed CEO.
But Mr. Foster was getting older, and it seemed like he was becoming very frail. Even though his presence commanded attention, I could tell that he tired easily and probably really wanted to retire from the day-to-day work of running his company. All we needed to do was provide him with the information he craved to feel like Chase would be a good person to take over the company. He needed to feel comfortable that Chase was able to make good decisions under pressure.
To be honest, I wasn’t really sure that Chase was all that great at making decisions under pressure. But, he did seem to want to really learn and grow. In the short time I had known him, he already had grown so much from the man he was in his past. Deep down, I hoped he would be able to prove to his father that he was ready for the big undertaking of running the company.
“Chase,” Mr. Foster said as he made a straight line for his son.
“Hi, Dad.”
The two seemed pretty distant. I couldn’t help but wonder if they were always that awkward together. Chase gave his dad a bit of a hug and then turned to face me. Quickly, I stood up and put my hand out.
“Dad, this is Jordan. Jordan, this is my father, Reynold Foster.”
“It’s nice to meet you, sir.”
“So, Chase, how did you and this beautiful creature meet?” Mr. Foster said as he held onto my hand for a minute.
Mr. Foster seemed a bit enamored with me. I felt like it was the perfect opportunity to try and get him to think more positively about the decision we had made to get married.
“Mr. Foster, your home is so beautiful. You must work really hard to support your family so nicely.”
“Yes, darling, I do work hard. If I have my way, Chase will be working just as hard, and I’ll be able to retire and enjoy myself a bit more.”
“I know Chase has talked a lot about getting himself back on track with work. I hope you have seen some positive changes in him recently.”
“Dad, there is something I need to tell you,” Chase tried to interrupt, but Mr. Foster was much more interested in talking to me than he was to Chase.
“So, Jordan, tell me – what do you see in this kid?” Mr. Foster grabbed Chase by the shoulder and pulled him up next to him.
Chase seemed incredibly uncomfortable. It was the weirdest thing to watch a father and son be so distant with each other. I could tell that they loved each other, but there were definitely some hard feelings between the two of them.
“Oh, Mr. Foster, where do I start? Chase is incredibly kind. He always puts my needs ahead of his own. He’s also a very hard worker and has a sense of humor that makes me laugh every single day.”
“Wow, Chase, you got a good one here. You should keep her around.”
“Dad, I’m so glad you like Jordan. There is something I need to tell you,” Chase started to talk, but then I saw the nerves as they took over.
“Chase and I wanted to save money, so we got married,” I said as I tried to make eye contact with Mr. Foster. I tried my best to say something that showed we were responsible, but it didn’t come out well.
He didn’t seem amused at all.
“Chase Foster, didn’t we just talk about the importance of being responsible? You went and got this nice girl knocked up. That’s not showing any sort of responsibility. There is no way I can sign over my company to you now!”
Mr. Foster stormed off, and both Chase and I looked right at Mrs. Foster for help. I wasn’t pregnant – if that was why he was going to be mad at Chase, he should at least know the truth.
“Reynold, she’s not pregnant,” I heard Mrs. Foster say as she ran after her husband.
The two of them stopped at the edge of the room, which was just outside of our hearing reach. Chase and I sat on the couch. He held my hand as we waited to see if Mrs. Foster would be able to calm her husband down. At least he wasn’t upset about us getting married. It seemed he was actually upset because he thought I was pregnant. Hopefully, a conversation with Mrs. Foster could fix that.
“He will come around,” I whispered to Chase.
“I don’t know. I just don’t think we are going to have time. He’s not a fast decision maker. Even if he does trust me, I’m not going to have access to the money I need by the time I have to get it to Escabar. I really think I’m screwed.”
I saw the defeat in his eyes, and it was heartbreaking. But we didn’t have to give up. I wasn’t going to give up. Chase still had one option left. I knew it wasn’t one that he wanted to take, but it was an option.
“What about going to the Special Crimes Division?”
“No, we can’t. Escabar will for sure have us killed.”
“I’m sure they have some sort of protocol for things like this. We could at least go to them and talk about the situation.”
“If he has us followed and sees us go into there, we will be killed before there is any kind of discussion.”
“You’re right. But what choice do you have?”
We both sat in silence as we waited for Mr. and Mrs. Foster to finish talking. Our only hope was that Mrs. Foster was going to be able to convince her husband that us getting married wasn’t a bad thing.
Chase held my hand. I took deep breaths as we waited to see what the fate of our relationship would be in his father’s eyes. I hoped that he would accept the situation. I really hoped that he would accept that Chase would be a good leader for his company.
After about ten minutes of talking, Mr. Foster left the room. We both stood up as Mrs. Foster came over to us. It didn’t seem like Chase’s father was very interested in welcoming me into the family. I tried to hide my disappointment, but I just couldn’t.
“He seems to have calmed down a little. Let me continue to work on him.”
“All right, Mother,” Chase said as he hugged his mom. “We are going to head out for now. We will check in later this week, and I’ll see Dad at work.”
Chase and I made our way back out to the car and didn’t say a single word. I could tell that he was heartbroken that his father had not been more welcoming.
“It’s all right. He will come around,” I said quietly and held onto Chase’s hand.
“I hope so.”