by Jerilee Kaye
Then finally, Jac said to his son, “How do you know you’re not going to fall in love with your betrothed?”
Justin sighed and in a more respectful tone he replied, “Because I only have one heart and it’s no longer mine to give away.”
“All the while, we thought we were only doing what’s best for you.”
“I did, too,” Justin murmured. “Then I met her. And I realized that my love, my loyalty, my allegiance, my soul...wasn’t yours to promise to some girl you see fit. The choice must be up to me. Because I’m going to be the one to decide whether I will be happy or miserable for the rest of my life. You cannot choose my happiness for me, Dad.”
His father sighed. “Justin…to back out this late on this agreement would destroy the friendships we’ve built for generations. Her grandfather and yours were like brothers.”
“So you’d rather destroy my life?” Justin couldn’t help muttering.
“No. That would never be our intention.”
Justin didn’t answer back. Instead, he just drank his whiskey.
“Your mother was dreaming of a wedding in two months.”
“And she’s going to be disappointed.” Justin said. His father stared at him. “You can’t compel me to marry this brat earlier than three months.”
His father raised a brow at him. “Why?”
Justin sighed. “I almost lived with Adrienne, Dad. And I’m sure it’s no surprise to you if I say that…we’ve been together in bed. If I’m going to agree to this marriage, I have to at least make sure that Adrienne isn’t pregnant. Because if she is, I won’t care if you disown me or erase any trace of me in this family. I will not make my own child a bastard. I’m sure even you would understand that.”
His father fell silent for a moment and then he nodded. “Fair enough. But in return, I want you to do something for us.”
Justin sighed. “Really? Haven’t you already asked me to hand in my life to a woman I’ve never even met?”
Jac nodded. “I want you to court your betrothed.”
Justin almost fell from his seat. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Jac shook his head. “Get to know her. One year. That’s what we usually do. Build a bond with her and make her like you…fall in love with you.”
“Even if I’m not in love with her?” Justin asked.
“You don’t know that, son. I didn’t know that and yet I am still as in love with your mother now as I was when I married her. When I proposed to her, it wasn’t a business arrangement anymore. I was proposing as a man…in love with the woman of his dreams.”
“Really? You’re really sure this woman you set me up with is the woman of my dreams? Because the last time I checked, I already found her.”
“Justin…one year. And if she doesn’t feel even a little bit of fondness for you…we will set you free.”
Just held on to his glass tightly. Suddenly, he wanted to punch something, but he doubted his father would take that well.
He thought his father just gave him a way out of this. But one year is such a long time to wait to be with Adrienne again… one year seemed too long to make her wait.
“She will fall in love with you. Because you’re Justin Adams…the guy underneath is so much more worth falling in love with.”
Adrienne’s faith in him made his heart swell and break at the same time. How the hell is he going to make her wait that long? And how the hell is he going to make sure that the woman his parents arranged for him to marry wouldn’t like him at all?
“I think I’ve just given you a fair bargain,” his father said. “One year, son. And in that one year, you’re not allowed to see or contact your girlfriend. Give yourself a chance to be happy without her. And if by some miracle, you find it in yourself to accept your betrothed…give your girlfriend the chance to move on and find her happiness with somebody who is free to give it to her.”
Justin didn’t say anything. His father put his glass down on the table in front of them and stood up. He took one last look at his son. He put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. Then he silently left the room.
Justin sat alone in his balcony, thinking.
One year. One year was too long. He absolutely believed that he couldn’t wait that long, even if Adrienne could. He had to find a way to expedite things…and make his misery shorter. He targeted one month as his limit. Not a day more.
But how could he turn one year eleven months shorter?
He took a deep breath. Well, his father gave him permission to see his so-called betrothed as often as possible to make sure she fell in love with him.
An idea formed in his thoughts. He would break some of his principles and values, but hell! He thought it would be worth it.
One month.
It seemed too short to make somebody fall in love. But too long to do the opposite.
Smiling now, he felt a new sense of hope and energy surging through his veins. He flipped his phone and typed a message to the only woman he would want to spend the rest of his life with.
Justin: Where will you be in exactly forty days? Let me answer that for you. In Italy. Changing your last name to mine.
29. Stjålet
Norwegian for Stolen.
Adrienne walked beside Jin Starck into the lavish mansion he called his home. Yuan and Jill trailed behind them.
“You still live with your parents?” Adrienne asked.
“In this house, yes,” he replied. “But I have apartments of my own. This is a ten-bedroom house. It gets a little lonely for Mom sometimes so I make it a point to spend time here to keep her company. She doesn’t work for our hotels. She spends a lot of time in her study. Writing.”
Jin was greeted by their butler in French. He gave instructions to take Yuan and Jill to one of the waiting rooms and serve them refreshments.
Then he turned to Adrienne. “Follow me.”
They ascended the stairs to the second level of the house. Adrienne couldn’t help admiring how elegant and luxurious the house appeared. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that somebody related to her could live in a house like this.
They stopped in front of the room, situated in the corner. Jin took a deep breath and stared at her.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“I don’t think I will ever be,” she replied truthfully.
Her brother reached down and squeezed her hand. “She is wonderful, Adrienne. You have no idea.”
Adrienne nodded. “Let’s go.”
Jin gave her one last smile and then he opened the door.
The room they entered in was huge. She saw the four walls covered in shelves, all full of books. The room almost looked like a library. At the far end of the room was a huge oak desk with a white Macintosh computer and stacks of paper.
Jin pulled her towards the desk, where a woman sat, staring intently at the computer screen.
She said something in French to Jin, without looking up from her screen.
“English, Mom,” Jin requested. “We have a guest from America.”
The woman looked up from her screen. “Oh. I’m sorry. I expected you twenty-four hours ago. You didn’t show up and left no word. And now, you’re disturbing my battle scene.”
Adrienne walked slower than Jin and hid behind his back.
“I doubt this can wait, Mom,” Jin maintained, as he stopped in front of their mother’s desk.
Finally, the woman peeled her eyes away from the computer screen to look up at his son. She immediately noticed Adrienne behind Jin’s back, uncertain of what she would do or say.
No one will ever be ready to meet their real mother ten hours after learning about her. Adrienne’s heart pounded loudly against her chest.
“Jin Adrien Starck!” the woman exclaimed. “Are you telling me that I’m going to be a grandmother soon?”
Adrienne blinked back for a second. Then she heard Jin laugh.
“I’m only twenty-three, Mom. And I’m not the first
one in line to give you grandkids. I’m not your first-born, remember?”
Adrienne immediately saw the sadness that crossed the woman’s face. “Well…” she sighed sadly. “Maybe you should then introduce me to your lady guest. I thought I taught you better manners.”
Jin pulled Adrienne and made her step forward. She stood face to face now with the woman…who’s been searching for her all her life. The woman whose words she lost herself to during those hours when she read her novels. The woman she didn’t even know was her birth mother.
Ariana looked at Adrienne curiously. Her eyes narrowed, as if she was trying to figure out what was so familiar about her.
As Adrienne stared at the woman in front of her, she could see how Jin thought she looked familiar that first night they met. Her hair was the exact color as hers, even with the red highlights in them. Her eyes…exactly the same green of hers. She was older and looked more confident than herself. But Adrienne could see herself in this woman…the way she never saw herself in the mother she’d known all her life.
“Mom…” Jin said softly. “I’d like you to meet… Adrienne.” Jin paused for a second. “Actually, we’ve been calling her Andrea for years.”
Andrea?
In a second, her mother’s eyes widened. Recognition and realization finally crossed her face, as if she finally found the final piece of the puzzle she’s been trying to solve for decades.
“Adrienne…” she whispered. Then she stared at her son, “Our Andrea?”
Hearing her say those words brought tears to Adrienne’s eyes. She heard the love in her voice…just by saying the name of her child. And she realized she’s been waiting all her life to hear the mother she’s known say her name the way this woman did just then.
“I have three DNA results that says she is,” Jin disclosed.
Adrienne heard her mother gasp and put her hands on her mouth. Tears spilled from her eyes. Immediately, she moved from her desk and in a few seconds, Adrienne felt her arms around her. She was almost hysterical, hyperventilating as she hugged her.
“Oh my God! Oh my God!” Ariana cried. “My baby! My baby!”
Adrienne couldn’t help crying, too. She put her own arms around the mother she never knew existed until a few hours beforehand.
Ariana pulled away and stared at her. She cupped her face in her hands and whispered, “I thought I had lost you forever. I thought I would never see you again.”
Adrienne bit her lip. She couldn’t stop crying. She held her mother’s hands in hers.
“Where were you all these years? Was your father good to you? Did you have a good life? Where did you grow up? Did he give you everything you needed? Did he take good care of you?”
Adrienne didn’t know which question to answer first. And even if she did, she couldn’t find her voice. She just kept crying, finally feeling for the first time in her life the motherly affection she craved all her life.
“She lived in Boston. Your ex changed his name, his identity and hers so we wouldn’t find them. He changed her name from Andrea Blanc to Adrienne Miller,” Jin answered for her. “If by good life, you meant did she have a roof over her head or food to eat, or was she taken care of whenever she got sick, or was she sent to the university to finish a degree, then yes. She did. She was.” Jin paused for a moment and then he added, “But if you mean did she have a mother who loved her and took care of her the way you would have? No. She didn’t.”
Ariana bit her lip and looked at Adrienne apologetically. She hugged Adrienne again, as if she was trying to erase all the pain that her separation from her birth mother had caused her.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” Ariana whispered to her. “I am so sorry. None of this was your fault. None of this would have happened if I made the right choices from the beginning. I shouldn’t have trusted your father. I am so sorry, my baby.”
Adrienne cried like a little girl. She felt the comfort, security and love that her mother’s embrace provided her. Now, more than ever, she wished she’d have felt her embraces whenever she got wounded or hurt all those years when she was growing up.
“I-it’s not your fault,” she whispered. She pulled away from her mother and looked into her eyes. “We cannot recover those years that were stolen from us. But I’m so glad I was still given a chance to meet you now.”
Her mother nodded and kissed her forehead. “Yes, my baby. I never thought I would have the chance to see you again. But thank God your brother found you. A couple of weeks ago, he said he had a lead on you. I didn’t really think that it would be so soon. I thought this day wouldn’t come at all. I have loved you all my life. And until now, I thought I would never get a chance to say that to you at all.”
Her mother pulled away from her, took her hand and led her to the couches. They sat beside each other. Then she turned to Jin. “Have somebody bring something to eat and drink here. Adrienne and I have a lot to talk about. Then have dinner prepared. We’re all dining together.”
Jin nodded. Adrienne looked at him and smiled in spite of the tears rolling down her cheeks. She gave her brother a smile.
Jin turned to his mother and spoke to her in French. Her mother nodded. Then Jin smiled at his sister one last time and turned to leave the room.
Ariana turned back to Adrienne and once again touched her cheek, tears brimming her eyes. “I thought I would never see you again.”
Adrienne let out a small whimper. Then she said, “I… never knew you existed until after Jin came to find me in Boston.”
“He erased me from your life,” her mother said soberly.
Adrienne took a deep breath and told her mother everything that her father did and how she grew up all these years.
They must have talked for hours. Her mother couldn’t stop crying and cursing at the same time. Adrienne understood how she felt. She felt exactly the same. They were both just victims of her father’s lies and treachery. She didn’t tell her much about how the mother she’s known all her life had treated her. She figured that could be saved for later. Right now, her father’s obvious deception seemed already too much to bear.
“When you were a baby, I wanted to name you Adrienne,” her mother divulged. “Your father knew I has half-French. I didn’t tell him though…that I had a family obligation I wanted to escape. My father…bless his soul…was a tyrant. What he said…must be done. He arranged for me to marry Pierre. I didn’t want to. Then I met your father and fell in love with him. He thought Adrienne was too French, and named you Andrea instead.” Her mother looked at her, “Then he changed your name to Adrienne? I would never have thought he would use that name. He was so much against it when you were born.”
“Were you ever married to my father?”
My mother shook her head. “No. We lived together. We didn’t have enough money. I was writing but it wasn’t enough. Your father had just started his career and we struggled.”
“Why did you separate?”
My mother took a deep breath. “Because your father was too proud,” she stated. “I decided to be honest with him. He found out that I was an heiress. He was nothing. He couldn’t accept that. It made him feel small. It got into his head. Plus, money remained difficult. He was hot-headed.” Her mother sighed. “Then I found out that my father had become very ill, and I couldn’t take the guilt. In the middle of it all, we just…decided to go our separate ways. It wasn’t an ugly fight. We just both decided to give up.
“I went back to France. Upon my return, my father set everything into motion. He wanted me to marry Pierre as soon as possible. I was still heartbroken about leaving you. I know it was a mistake. And it’s not a valid reason, but I wanted to fix everything here first. My father was dying…all my life, he’d provided for me. The only thing he asked in return was for me to marry Pierre so our company would become part of Starck Corporation.
“Then I finally met Pierre. He was the exact opposite of what I thought he was. He was very level-headed. I was heartbroken with your father an
d torn apart about losing you. I didn’t know how to tell my father about you. And surprisingly, I found myself confiding in Pierre. And when I thought he would surely reject me for my past, he still accepted me and promised to help me bring you back from the States. He was the one who told my father about you. He told my father that he didn’t care. He would still have me and would raise you as his own.”
She looked at Adrienne wearily. “My…father wasn’t pleased to know I already lived with somebody in the States…he thought at first that he had delivered… ‘damaged goods’ to Pierre and he felt embarrassed. But Pierre said he didn’t care. We became the best of friends. Soon, I fell in love with that wonderful man. He did for me what your father didn’t. He became my friend. He fought for me. He stood up for me. He was my only ally during those times.
“When Pierre told my father I had a daughter, he wanted to meet you.” Her mother sighed and looked at Adrienne for a minute. Then she smiled bitterly. “In his last days, he accepted you…and wanted you to be returned to our family. But… your father had disappeared. You both vanished.” Tears rolled down her mother’s cheeks. “I would never forgive your father for stealing you. You have a destiny here in France. He took that away from you. He prevented you from claiming what is rightfully yours. I put down Andrea Blanc in your birth papers. You didn’t even carry his name. He changed your identity…to keep you away from me.” With a grave look on her face, she said, “He will pay for this!”
Tears rolled down Adrienne’s cheeks. She felt her mother’s pain, and her anger towards her father. Anybody would feel that way. Even she. She felt like her father stole the most important thing a person could have—an identity.
“He must have been so angry at me. When I returned to the States, Pierre came with me. I felt he was jealous of Pierre. He also knew he couldn’t do anything about it. He knew Pierre was my fiancé by an arranged marriage.” Her mother sighed.
“But…maybe during that time we met him to give him money so he would have means to take care of you for a couple of months while I fix my life and my rift with my Dad…he saw that Pierre had become more than a forced fiancé. During that time, we were really together. Not because my father wanted me to. But because I was falling for him. I think I hurt your father. And his way of hurting me back…was to take away the most important thing in my life—you.”