An Arranged Marriage

by C. M. Bryden

  Jane continued to ignore him, sitting in silence, her mind spinning and, not for the first time, she asked herself the one question she didn’t really want to answer; should she marry Jake because her father desperately wanted to save his company? Should that be reason enough for her to take a chance on Jake and go through with what she knew to be an arranged marriage, just to help her father?

  She thought back to Jake’s proposal, to when he’d said he wanted a “proper” marriage. Did that mean having children with him as well? Could she go through with an arranged marriage, just to save her father from financial ruin? She also knew she would just be another sexual conquest to Jake, one amongst the many he’d probably had in the past?

  ‘I’ll have to think some more about what I’m going to do,’ was all she could say at the moment. Her head ached, and she needed to go back to her office and think.

  ‘Please don’t say no,’ was her father’s quietly restrained comment. ‘Jake’s a nice young man, I’m sure he’ll make you happy and be a fine husband, if you give him a chance, and as an afterthought, and time!’

  ‘Oh, so you think he’ll make me happy, do you?’ Jane said, angry now and near to tears.

  ‘By demanding I give up my independence and marry him without him being in love with me, or me being in love with him, just so your business can survive? But will I survive?’

  Andrew knew at that moment Jane would agree to marry Jake. He just had to give her time. She was a loving young woman who cared for others and it wasn’t in her nature to see men put out of work, just because she might, or might not, be in love with the man destined to save the company that employed them; a company that would soon to be forced into bankruptcy! It was obvious she understood the consequences if she refused?

  The only thing he could do now was to tell Jake to be patient! To give her the time she needed to give up her independence. But Andrew knew that wouldn’t be the answer Jake wanted to hear.

  Father and daughter walked back to Jane’s office, where Andrew noticed Jessie, in an appreciative way for the first time as a woman in her own right, and not just as Jane’s assistant or friend. He’d always thought Jessie to be an attractive young woman, but today there was something more about her that caught his interest. He remembered Jane telling him of Jessie’s relationship break up a few months ago. He also knew she was older than Jane, probably in her late thirties, just the right age for him. Suddenly, Andrew had the thought that as the two of them were both lonely, perhaps the next time he came into the city they could enjoy each other’s company. He would make a point of asking her to go out with him, perhaps for a meal, or maybe even the theatre?

  As he said goodbye to Jane, he smiled at Jessie, who felt her colour rising. She liked Andrew. He looked like a nice man, perhaps the next time he was in London she might get to meet him again. Maybe she should drop a hint to Jane, but looking across at her friend and seeing the expression on her face, she could see now wasn’t the right time!

  With a kiss for Jane and a last lingering look at Jessie, Andrew made his way home, where he was to wait for either for a call from Jane telling him her answer was yes, or one from Jake, calling off the deal!

  It wasn’t until she went back to her flat after work that Jane phoned her father, with her decision: she would marry Jake and he could phone Jake and tell him.

  To her surprise, there was no phone call from Jake that evening, or even the next day, even though her father had told her he’d passed her answer on to Jake. She began to think maybe Jake had undergone a change of heart and was no longer interested in her, or in saving her father’s business! But of course, no such thought had entered Jake’s head at all.

  It was the next evening, while she was listening to music and relaxing after a tiring day at work, that there came a knock on her door. Wondering just who it could be, she looked through the spy-hole on her door where, to her surprise, she could see it was Jake, looking devilishly handsome and patiently waiting. Jane’s heart gave a quick lurch as she opened the door and in he walked, his amber eyes piercing right into hers.

  ‘I’m so glad you decided to be sensible.’ He said, going straight to the point. ‘Marrying me will solve all your father’s problems and, as soon as we’re married, you can be sure he will be worry free!’

  Without giving her time to make any comment, he continued, ‘I suggest we get married by special licence within a couple of weeks…’

  ‘Hold it. Hold it!’ Jane broke in, her voice tremulous and with an edge to it that stopped Jake immediately midstream, making him take a step backwards to look at her, his eyes flashing their amber lights at her, defying her to fight him. ‘I thought you told your father you would marry me?’ He said, quietly.

  ‘Well, yes, I did. But I didn’t think it would have to be quite so soon!’

  ‘I think the sooner the better! Especially as far as your father’s business is concerned.’

  Jake could see she was fighting her emotions for her eyes had filled with tears that threatened to fall at any moment: for a few seconds, Jake felt ashamed of himself. What he really wanted was to put his arms around her, hold her close and tell her everything was going to be all right and kiss her, but her defiance was off-putting. Suddenly, he realised just how much of a super-human effort it must have taken on her part to agree to marry him, considering she wasn’t in love with him.

  Mark and Liza had told him surprise tokens of love always went down well and, heeding their advice, he’d given much thought over the past couple of days as to what he could give her that would prove his love for her.

  He put his hand in his pocket and took out a small leather covered box and held it out to her. ‘I thought you might like to wear this?’ he said, opening the box with a flamboyant flourish as he showed her its contents.

  Jane looked at the ring nestling on its bed of midnight blue velvet. It was the most beautiful engagement ring she’d ever seen. A square cut solitaire diamond, set in platinum, encircled by a platinum band. She was speechless. She certainly hadn’t expected an engagement ring and especially one she could tell must have cost a small fortune.

  Watching her expression, Jake took the ring out of the box and placed it on her finger, holding her hand out to let them both admire it, for it to catch the light, where it sparkled and flashed. He bent down to kiss her, this time making no mistake and going straight for her mouth, planting a kiss full on her lips. To Jake’s disappointment, Jane made no attempt to kiss him back.

  ‘Well, do you like it?’ he asked her; in a plaintive tone of voice Jane chose to ignore. ‘It’s a token to convince you of my honourable intentions of carrying out my part of the bargain between us.’

  Just that, thought Jane; disappointed the ring was, as he’d said, merely a token of the bargain they’d made and not of his love!

  ‘Tomorrow!’ he exclaimed, ‘I’ll organise the licence and let you know where and when we are to be married.’

  Obviously he was giving her no say at all in the matter, or manner of her wedding, an event she’d mentally had planned since she’d been a teenager, when romantic thoughts of her mythical wedding day had filled her head.

  ‘And what am I to wear?’ she asked, sarcastically, ‘and who will be there?’ The only two questions she could think of at that moment.

  ‘I’m sure you have something suitable in your wardrobe, and we only need two witnesses, one of course should be your father; perhaps you could suggest a second?’

  Jane’s mind was racing. Why was he in such a hurry?

  She took her time to give him her answer. Talk about being railroaded!

  ‘Yes, there’s my best friend Jessie, she’s my assistant at work. She knows me better than I know myself! I’m sure she would like to see me getting married.’ For once, Jake understood, but chose to ignore Jane’s ironic comment.

  Jane though would have liked to know why no one had been asked from his family, but as Jake had never mentioned having a family, she’d assumed he didn’t
have one. Perhaps it was a subject that upset him?

  ‘Right then, I’ll make the arrangements,’ Jake said, rather brusquely ‘and let you know.’

  He sounded so formal, just like a door-to-door salesman who’d signed a client into a business deal and then couldn’t wait to get out of her flat.

  And that was how they became engaged. No words of love from either of them. It was purely a business deal as far as Jane was concerned.

  Jake left without saying anything else, leaving Jane somewhat bemused and stunned by the events of the past few minutes, knowing she’d just become engaged and was planning to marry to a man she barely knew!

  Her dreams that night were as bizarre and fanciful as ever. Waking the next morning with a diamond ring sparkling on her finger, the only reminder the night before really had taken place.

  By accepting Jake’s ring, Jane knew her arranged marriage was going to happen, after all. But, would it she thought be a “proper” marriage, as he’d told her he wanted, or would it really be just a sham, a marriage of convenience? And, how could it be a “proper” marriage if Jake wasn’t in love with her as she was with him?

  Chapter Six

  Each time the phone rang in the outer office the next morning Jane was sure it was Jake telling her he’d made a mistake and they weren’t going to get married after all, or perhaps it would be her father, telling her he’d found another backer, one that didn’t want Jane as collateral in order to save him from ruination! It was much later in the day before Jessie signalled there was a private call for her. Picking up her extension Jane heard Jake’s familiar voice. Other than a curt “hello”, all he said was, ‘It’s all arranged, next Monday, 11.30 a.m., at the registry office near to where you live!’

  Jane didn’t know what to say. A virtual stranger had mapped out her future with no thought for her opinion!

  ‘Did you hear me?’ he asked, when he’d received no reply.

  ‘Yes… I heard.’ She stammered, unable to make light-hearted conversation with him. It was like talking to a robot.

  ‘Well? Is that fine with you?’

  ‘Yes. I suppose so.’ Was all she could think of saying, mentally working out that counting what was left of that day, she had precisely four more days in which to buy an outfit and organise her own and Jessie’s workload…and…

  Jake closed the conversation by simply saying, ‘talk to you later, then?’ Giving her no time to ask questions: making no mention as to whether they would be going away after the ceremony or not, or even where they would they live after they were married? On that subject there’d been no discussion and, as far as Jane was concerned it was all too rushed. Why the hurry when she’d said she would marry him?

  Jake hadn’t thought of those questions either, at least not until he spoke to Andrew later and told him the arrangements he’d already made. Andrew asked him the same questions as Jane and, like her had already realised small talk wasn’t one of Jake’s fortes, except when business was being discussed. So far it seemed as though it was only Jane that bore the brunt of his crass behaviour, something she hoped wouldn’t continue when they were married!

  Being the efficient personal assistant she was, Jessie knew straightaway the call had upset Jane but being the caring friend she was, she couldn’t just sit back and not question what was wrong. Jane was still holding the dead phone in her hand, with an expression on her face that said more than a thousand words when Jessie walked in. She looked as though she wanted to strangle whomever she’d been talking to as the phone cord was wrapped menacingly around her hand. Jessie knew from the switchboard in the outer office the call had been terminated a few minutes earlier and, as she neared Jane’s desk she asked, ‘what’s the matter, love?’ Her voice was full of concern for her friend.

  ‘I’m going to be married next Monday at 11.30 a.m. precisely, that’s the matter! And I need you to be my maid of honour and a witness, along with my father, who is not just giving me away, he’s selling me!’

  Jessie was stunned! ‘You’re getting married? For heaven’s sake, who to?’

  ‘To Jake Adams, that’s who to!’

  ‘And who,’ Jessie asked, stunned at Jane’s pronouncement, ‘is Jake Adams?’

  For a few minutes, even Jessie began to wonder if Jane was having a mental breakdown. She’d certainly never heard the name mentioned before and surely, if Jane was getting married she must have fallen in love with the man, and would have told her before now? Wouldn’t she? After all, they were best friends who told each other everything about any man they dated, although as far as Jessie knew, Jane hadn’t dated anyone for a long time.

  ‘It’s a long story, Jessie. No that’s not right, it’s a short story, and it just seems to have happened a long time ago. As to where do I start? Well! Jake Adams is the man who’s supposedly going to save my father’s business from bankruptcy. He’s the man who’s going to rescue my father’s company and save the jobs of all the men who work there!’

  ‘So what’s saving your father’s business got to do with you marrying Jake Adams? I don’t understand!’

  ’It’s quite easy really. I marry Jake Adam! Jake Adams saves the business! If I don’t marry him, he walks away! That’s about the gist of it.

  ‘Jake and my father have decided to broker a deal. They’ve come to a financial arrangement! And I’m the pot for the winner! It’s going to be an arranged marriage or, put another way, I’m to have an arranged marriage for the convenience of my father!’

  ‘You can’t be serious?’ said Jessie, starting to laugh but quickly smothering her laughter when she saw the look on Jane’s face. She could see her dearest friend wasn’t laughing at all, she was crying.

  Jessie could see silent tears running down Jane’s face and finally she understood. Jane was deadly serious; it wasn’t a laughing matter to her at all.

  ‘Oh, you poor darling, isn’t there any way you can get out of marrying the man?’ she said, at a loss to understand how Andrew Reynolds, who she’d thought to be an honourable man, and one she’d like to know better, could possibly arrange for his only daughter to marry someone she didn’t know and, from the sound of it, didn’t like either!

  Jessie looked at her friend, a bemused expression on her face as at last Jane stopped crying, wiping her eyes, looking to be in a trance, no doubt thinking of the man she was due to marry in a few days’ time, and the vows she would make she doubted being able to keep.

  ‘So, tell me, what is this Jake Adams like? Do I know him?’ Jessie asked, carrying on with her questioning, wanting to know how Jane had managed to get tangled up in such a bizarre situation at her age. It wasn’t as though she was a teenager, she was an adult, a naïve one perhaps, especially as far as men were concerned, even though Jessie knew her friend had had relationships in the past, by the sound of it she had no more sense now than when she’d been ten years younger! Ah, well, Jessie thought, she was in much the same boat herself, still unmarried at thirty-eight, and with no eligible man in sight!

  Jane looked at her friend. ‘Jake’s tall, dark and handsome, exactly what every woman wants in a man and, I also believe he’s very rich as well!’ This last comment she’d said cynically.

  At Jane’s description of Jake, Jessie shook her head. ‘Rich, tall, dark and handsome men don’t necessarily make the best husbands, you know?’

  Jane ignored her, and her comment. ‘Jake, supposedly, uses his money to help others, so maybe he’s isn’t as rich as all that!’

  ‘Money isn’t everything either.’ Jessie said. ‘Maybe it would be better if he was poor and you wanted to marry him because you loved him?’

  ‘And he loved me? Is that what you’re trying to say? It’s the love part that worries me. Why does he want to marry me when he doesn’t even know me?’

  Jane looked hard at Jessie, ‘what do you think I should do?’

  Jessie didn’t know what to say, it was a conundrum she couldn’t give an answer to, except that, to her mind, any man who didn�
��t want to marry Jane must be mad, she was the most gorgeous woman she’d ever met, stunningly beautiful with the added bonus of having an attractive personality. Jessie could well understand why Jake Adams wanted to marry Jane. Perhaps it had been love at first sight for him? It was a pity Jane hadn’t fallen in love with him at the same time, then there wouldn’t be a problem at all.

  ‘Another question for you to answer for me, Jessie, is how do you know when it’s love you feel and not just lust?’

  Jessie couldn’t give that question a straight answer either, for she was no expert on lust or love, or the intricacies of relationships, or even how you could tell whether a man loved you or merely lusted after you. She’d once thought she’d been in love with a man who she believed loved her in return, and look what had happened there? He’d met a younger woman and gone off with her in a flash! Suddenly Jessie stopped and thought of how she felt about Andrew. Whatever would Jane say if she confessed her feelings towards her father?

  Meanwhile, Jane was still verbalising her thoughts about Jake Adams. ‘I don’t know him at all, except he’s very glamorous. What is it he sees in me that makes him so adamant he wants me as his wife? Oh, yes…’ she began pacing round the office, ‘another thing, what if I become pregnant and he doesn’t want children? He hasn’t indicated he’s into being a family man.’

  ‘Are you going to turn up on Monday then?’ Jessie asked, when they’d calmed down a little.

  ‘Yes.’ Jane said. ‘I’ve decided I’m going to marry him. I’ll get my revenge afterwards!’

  Jessie didn’t believe for a single moment Jane was serious; it wasn’t in her nature to be vindictive. She wanted to ask what form her friend’s revenge would take, but it was too late, as Jane had already picked up her handbag with every intention of leaving the office and, after giving Jessie one of her lovely smiles, she was out of the door and walking down the road to the tube station, deep in thought.