by Katie Dowe
“Sorry mother,” he said with a gentle smile. “I just drifted off a little bit. What was the question?”
“What would you like for lunch?”
*****
Leonie stretched in the bed lazily and used the remote to switch the television on. It was nine o’clock on a Sunday morning and she was planning to go to Simoniel’s house later in the afternoon to have dinner; but for now she was going to have a relaxing morning until she got her bearings together. Sundays were the only time she had for herself except for public holidays and she usually spent it doing what she wanted to do.
She burrowed herself further down on the pillows and turned up the volume on the tube as she absently watched a news broadcast. Her apartment was functional rather than luxurious and she liked the freedom and self sufficiency that it gave her. She had always been comfortable in her own space so she never minded in the least being by herself. When asked if all that matchmaking made her hanker after someone of the opposite sex she had laughingly said that it makes her appreciate her space even more.
Never one for lying in bed for long, she soon switched off the TV and padded barefoot in the kitchen to fix herself some black coffee and a scone she had picked up from her favorite pastry shop in town. She had the laundry to deal with and some bills to pay and she had brought home some files she needed to deal with before Monday.
She had had a happy childhood. Being an only child she had been relatively spoiled and had been given a lot of attention. She had been daddy’s little girl and had followed him around everywhere and hung on to his every word while she was living at home. He had been a mail man and she had told them both that was what she wanted to do when she grew up. She wanted to be like daddy.
He had sat her down and told her that he wanted her to be her own person. Nothing was wrong with being a mail delivery person but parents tended to want their children to turn out better than they were. Her mother had been a stay at home mom, contented to make a home for them and help her daughter with whatever project there was when she came home from school.
She told her daughter later that she had seen the signs that he was unhappy but had chosen to ignore them. He had been dissatisfied with his life and the way it had turned out and had just left without a word to the wife he had committed his life to and the daughter he had made with her. His being unhappy at the pace of his life was no excuse for him leaving like that. She had felt her complete love for him turn into hatred and then contempt. He was not the man she had thought he was.
It had taken them some time to bounce back and her mother had realized that she had to earn a living as well as help fund her daughter while she was in college and had come up with the idea of the matchmaking company.
Leonie had spent nights upon nights hoping to hear from her father and him telling them that he had made a huge mistake by leaving his family and he wanted to come back.
She had had it out with her mother when she came home one summer for the break. They had been in the kitchen and her mother had been packing some things for her to take to the summer camp where she had signed on as a counselor. “How can you just move on with your life?” she had asked her in an accusatory voice.
“Excuse me?” Leonora had looked up at her daughter startled. The girl had come back from college looking as thin as a dog and she had vowed that she was going to fatten her up before she went back in September.
“You have formed a company and you are behaving as if Daddy was not living in this house!” she slammed her palms down on the kitchen counter, her eyes blazing and her thin body shaking. “How can you move on as if he no longer exists?”
Her mother had put aside the packages of sandwiches she had been putting together and turned to face her angry daughter, her heart going out to her. “Sit down honey,” she had told her quietly.
Leonie had refused at first and then she had sat on one of the stools grudgingly, her hands clenched into tight fists.
“Your father was unhappy for a long time.” She began, taking a seat beside her. “I do not agree with what he did, but I get it. I should have said something to him but I had this thing that maybe if I did not say anything it would be okay. I was wrong and as much as I am suffering because of him leaving us, I am not going to bury myself in mourning for a man who did not have the decency to say anything to us. Life is too precious and I have you to think about and you have you to think about as well. I am not saying this is going to be easy honey but we are going to have to dust ourselves off and continue living because life goes on. It is his loss and we are going to make it. Do you understand what I am saying to you?”
She had nodded sullenly and then had burst into tears right there at the kitchen counter surrounded by sandwiches, some sort of pastry, and her mother’s comforting presence. She had taken her into her arms and comforted her until she had been all cried out and only the hiccups had been left.
That had been the last time she had cried for him. With a determination that had become a part of her she had studied hard to prove to herself and him that she was not going to let his leaving control what happens to her. She was going to make it in spite of him leaving.
And she had.
*****
John sat back on his haunches and used the back of his hand to wipe the beads of sweat off his forehead. It was approaching sun down and they had been working in the greenhouse for the past two hours. He was ready to take a break now. He had humored his mother this weekend and helped her put in some new seedlings and prepared the ground for some more that she was going to be purchasing on Monday.
Typically on Sundays if they did not have a function to attend, they would spend the Sunday’s drinking tea in the gazebo under the shade of the large apple tree and talking about the week that had passed. It had become like a tradition for them and even if he had a young lady he was seeing, he always reserved Sundays for his mother. Now he was not seeing anyone so he was free to spend time with her.
“Darling you look like you are about to drop,” his mother said teasingly, her hands elbow deep into a bag of soil. Apart from a film of perspiration on her face she looked as fresh as when they had just started.
“I am ready to call it quits mother,” he told her grimly, putting aside the trowel he had been using.
“Goes to show that women are a lot stronger than men are,” she told him smugly.
“I am in no position to argue with you right now.” He stood up gracefully and stretched his muscles. “Need anything from inside the kitchen?”
“No thank you darling, you go ahead, I will be in shortly,” she told him with a wave.
She watched him take long strides out of the greenhouse, a smile playing about her lips. No matter how busy he was with work, he always made time for her and she had learned to appreciate that. She had watched him grow into a fine handsome young man who was very respectful towards women and a business tycoon to contend with. The papers referred to him as the ‘Japanese mega force’ in business. He had taken over his father’s company and turned into one of the largest in the country and had done it with more than a college degree; it had been innate business acumen.
The only concern she had was his failure to settle down. She had seen him out with some of the most beautiful women around, not just sticking to Japanese nationals but others as well but they had not been serious. He was too caught up with work and if truth be told he was also making sure that she was not left alone.
She had been mildly in love with Kobe Hamasaki but it had been a prearranged union and she had been forced to adhere to her traditional Japanese parents to marry him. She had been obedient and had been a good wife to him and very supportive. It helped that he had also been a very good man and had treated her kindly and with respect. But she had vowed that when she had children she would never force them to marry a total stranger even though hers had turned out well enough. Love has to be a very integral part of it.
She smiled secretly and wondered what her son was going to say
to her when he found out she was planning to sign up with ‘Love in Prime’, the fifties and over Matchmaking Company. This time she was going to be doing the choosing and if she failed at doing so then it was her choice to fail at. It made it better that both her parents were dead. She knew what they would have thought about such a thing.
*****
John settled back against the soft leather of the high back chair inside his den. He had enjoyed the meal his mother had prepared and now it was his time to be alone and delve into work. He enjoyed seeking out new companies and loved the challenges it posed and he was looking forward to turning it around because that was what he did best.
Chapter 2
“You will never believe the new client we just got!” Simoniel rushed inside her office in excitement, her slightly plump attractive face lighting up.
“The President of the United States?” Leonie asked teasingly.
“Not quite but almost,” she said plopping down on the chair in front of the desk. The interview had been aired two days in a row and they had been getting an influx of clients since then. She had gone to dinner at Simoniel’s house where she had spent a relaxing evening with little Danny. Enjoying her friend’s delicious fried chicken and potato salad.
“Ever heard of the Masaki’s?” she asked smugly.
“Who hasn’t?” Leonie said her heartbeat quickening in excitement in spite of herself.
“The mother is coming in to see us with the intention of acquiring our services.” Simoniel said triumphantly. “I told you the interview was a great idea!”
“What does a woman like that wants with a service like ours?” Leonie wondered out loud.
“There you go again looking a gift Masaki in the mouth,” Simoniel said with a shake of her head. “She is coming in this afternoon so play nice and try and pretend that you are all about love.”
*****
“Mother please tell me you are joking!” John held the phone between his shoulder and face as he signed the documents his secretary had just handed him quickly. He had just come out of a meeting when his cell phone rang and he had realized that it was his mother.
“I am afraid I cannot tell you that darling, I am actually on my way there now.” His mother told him cheerfully.
“Why didn’t you tell me this when we were having breakfast this morning?” he asked her in a pained voice.
“Because I knew you would have tried to stop me.” She told him honestly. “I am doing this John and nothing you come up with is going to make me change my mind.” She added firmly.
“In that case, I am meeting you there.” He hung up before she could protest. “Linda please get me everything you can on the matchmaking company by the name of: ‘Love in the Prime’ and cancel my two o’clock meeting.”
“Yes sir,” Linda said smoothly, her facial expression never indicating what she was thinking.
*****
He got there shortly after his mother because he saw her just as she entered the building. He had asked his driver to take him there so he could read the dossier on the company. He noticed that it had been owned by the mother before the daughter took it over some time ago and it has been doing surprisingly well. Yet still, he was not about to let his mother be taken for her money, whenever people heard the Masaki name, they saw dollar signs and he had not gotten to be this successful by being careless.
“Stick around Bob, I don’t think I will be very long,” he instructed the driver.
“Yes sir,” Bob said with a respectful nod as he opened the door for him and closed it behind him.
“Mr. Masaki!” an attractive woman a little on the plump side greeted him in the lobby. The interior was pleasant and cheerfully decorated with what looked like a receptionist sitting behind a large curved counter with several phones displayed. “Your mother never said you were with her.”
“I am not,” he told her briefly, his piercing dark eyes meeting hers levelly. “Where is she?”
“She is in my- Leonie’s office,” Simoniel was a little flustered. First the mother and now the son, this day was getting too rich for her blood. “I will let her know you are out here.” She disappeared quickly before John could say anything and he was left there cooling his heels while she was gone.
Simoniel knocked discreetly on the door before turning the knob to go in. “I am sorry to interrupt,” she apologized. “But your son is outside in the lobby and he wants to see you.” She looked at the beautiful woman in a silk pants suit that must have cost an arm and a leg.
“And you left him there?” she asked in amusement, her cultured voice very soothing. “My son is not used to be kept waiting.” She stood up in one fluid movement. “I’ll be back shortly my dear.” She told Leonie.
“What’s he doing here?” Leonie asked her in an undertone as soon as the woman had left.
“I have no idea,” Simoniel said with a shrug. “I nearly passed out when I saw him but Lee he is one gorgeous piece of Japanese hunk.”
“I hope he did not catch you drooling,” Leonie told her dryly.
They both looked towards the door as it opened and Simoniel’s eyes widened as both mother and son came inside the office.
“If you will excuse me,” she said and hurriedly made her departure, closing the door behind her.
“Leonie this is my son John and I know this is highly unusual but he insists on sitting in on our conversation. He is very suspicious and protective so I am asking you to bear with him,” the woman smiled at her kindly.
She stood up and stretched her hand for him to take and was aware of him sizing her up, his dark eyes going over her face.
“I have no problem with that.” She said pulling her hand away from his and sitting down, indicating for him to take a seat.
“You took over the company from your mother and made it more successful than when she had it.” He made the comment before she could say anything else and she looked at him in surprise. “Do you believe in love Ms. Williams?” he asked her coolly.
Her eyes met his and she had the feeling that he was staring into her soul and finding the real her that she had kept hidden for so long.
“Do you?” she countered equally coolly, not bothering to answer his question.
“John, really!” his mother said quickly, breaking through the strange tension that had suddenly appeared between both of them. “This is about me not you and if you alienate Leonie before she finds someone suitable for me then this will all have been for nothing.”
“You do not need to go through this channel mother,” he protested, his eyes leaving Leonie’s to focus on her. “There are other ways of finding someone who is compatible.”
“Like the traditional way?” Leonie’s comment brought his gaze back to her. “We are very thorough here Mr. Masaki and we weed out the undesirables and get rid of the awkwardness of a first meeting. Generally people in their prime are shy and uncertain when it comes to finding romance and love the second time around. They are shy when it comes to certain aspects of their physical appearances and with this approach they get to know each other on paper before actually meeting each other first.”
“You sound like a P.R. firm Ms. Williams,” his tone was condescending and it got her back up. “I just wonder if you believe all of what you just told me.”
“John-“ his mother started to say but Leonie held up her hand to stop her.
“It does not matter what I believe Mr. Masaki, it just matters what the people involved believe and our record speaks for itself.” She told him with a bite to her tone.
“Properly said my dear. Now John, please be quiet while this lovely young woman tries to fix me up with someone I can bear to be with for more than a day.” His mother told him.
*****
Leonie walked with her to the door as soon as she had finished the interview and had filled out the form. “I will be in touch with you in a day or two.” She told her, feeling drawn to her despite her son with his towering appearance of disapproval.
He was right behind them and reached to open the door before she could do so, his fingers brushing hers. His eyes caught hers and held her gaze before he took his mother by the arm and left.
Leonie had just sat back around her desk before Simoniel breezed in and closed the door behind her. “So how did it go?”
“It went pretty well but the son is suspicious that we are about to take the mother for all she has.” Leonie said with a small smile.
“He said that?” her friend stared at her, not sure if she was joking or not.
“He might as well have,” Leonie leaned back against the chair her expression thoughtful. “He is not very trusting.”
*****
“Sometimes a spade is just a spade John,” his mother had rebuked him just as she was about to get into her car. “The young lady Leonie is really a beautiful girl isn’t she?”
Now he sat behind his desk and stared at her picture, his expression unreadable. His mother was right. She was exceptionally beautiful. He had seen her up close and had noticed the smoothness of her skin and the fullness of her lips. He had felt something but he had also read something from her facial expression when she had been speaking to his mother. As much as she tried to hide it there was something not quite right about her. She was far from believing what she was saying to them.
He put the photo back inside the folder and closed it; he was going to be very involved in his mother’s personal life.
*****
“The doctor seems harmless enough.” Simoniel commented as she handed Leonie the report their P.R. had given her. “It states that he was not a wife beater, not a heavy drinker and he pays his taxes on time. The first wife died of a heart condition in her thirties and he mourned her for ten years before he married a woman who ran out on him with the local gardener, someone young enough to be her son and now he is determined not to give up on love. You could take a leaf out of his book.” She added looking at her friend. It had been a week since they had had the interview with Mrs. Masaki and Leonie had been going through trying to find a suitable match for her.