Consequences

Part 23

Doug's mind returned to his meetings with Isabelle. It was that air of calmness that he seemed to find attractive. The fact she, in the face of adversity, simply smiled, kept her wits about her and acted with genteel grace. Those characteristics did not describe the average woman in his social circle. He glanced over at his younger brother. "You'll have to meet her. I was impressed by the way she kept her cool. Having read this, the engagement farce is probably child's play to her." Doug muttered with a mixture of pride and awe in his voice.

It wasn't so much his brother's words, more then tone that gave him away. "You like her huh?" Ryan wasn't quite sure what to make of that state of affairs. His brother was usually very cautious about whom he liked and disliked, and even more cautious about making his feelings known.

Doug nodded slowly, his lips quirked at the corners, "She's growing on me." He grinned at his brother, when Ryan snorted at that simplistic statement. Then Doug admitted, "I thought she was a bit standoffish, a bit of a snob when I met her that first time." He shook his head as if he couldn't believe he'd been so rude to her, and even more astonished when he recalled how unflappable she was. "I even gave her the spiel about working for a living. She seemed to have a social life that would make yours look tame. Well, yours before you and Charlie got pregnant that is!" Doug exhaled. "The first time I met her I thought she was cold, rather than cool." He shook his head as if he still couldn't believe it, "But the way she managed Tina's little demonstration spoke of class. Real class. So, yeah, she's growing on me."

Ryan laughed without reservation. Then he asked, "You think Gram was seriously worried about our connections, or just playing cupid?"

That sobered Doug. Why would his grandmother do this? It wasn't as if this family did not have to overcome enough challenges without adding to the mix. "I'm going to ask her as soon as she gets back from Christchurch. I did wonder about the suddenness of her trip, but, now, it makes perfect sense."

It was at that moment that Charlie, Ryan's pregnant wife entered the kitchen, and grouched, "Are we going to eat today or not?" Doug and Ryan looked briefly at each other a secret, silent message flashed between the brothers. "And stop that!" Charlie added when she saw them flash another look. She had less than one month to go and was getting irritable.

Ryan could see that Charlie was in no mood to be soft-soaped today. "Sorry." Ryan pushed some noodles into the pan of hot water. Time to throw Doug to the wolves! Charlie would find Doug's views on Isabelle Sojour-D'Sa fascinating. And that just might take her mind off the fact that she was heavily pregnant and tired of being tired! "We got talking. Doug's Isabelle is a financial whizz."

"Financial whizz? Really? I thought socialite."

"Nope, definitely a whizz. She took her family from bankruptcy to millionaires." Ryan over inflated the Sojour-D'Sa current status.

Curiousity won. Pregnancy was temporarily forgotten and Charlie's researcher instincts kicked in. "I thought the Sojour-D'Sa family were already rich. Old money. Plenty of it. Rich. Society people."

"Were rich." Ryan clarified.

"Were? Ryan you are doing my head in! What do you mean were? If they weren't anymore it would be in the papers, that sort of news would make the papers."

"Ah, well, the thing is, not only is she a financial whizz, she is amazing! Ten years ago, she found herself paying death duties as well as clearing all her parents' debts." He announced and almost felt for her and her predicament back then. It could not have been easy. Made all the harder by the fact she had managed to juggle and keep her family's name intact. Some feat.

Charlie scowled and absently massaged her protruding belly. "Ten years. I didn't hear anything about that. She'd have been what?" The more she heard, the more intriguing she found the whole situation. The Sojour-D'Sa family's fall from high society would have made the papers. She recalled no such event.

"Twenty." Both brothers chimed in.

"Phew. At twenty I was dithering about going clubbing or washing my hair." Charlie muttered, somewhat distracted by the fact someone so young was handling such a tricky situation. But then, her husband and his brother had done much the same, except in their case they had clawed their way out of poverty.

Ryan grinned at his wife. "Not much changed in the last five years, love!" Ryan teased his wife and then added, "Well our Isabelle was debating on whether to go for Seatrak or Whichline." Two companies that were risky but with the potential to pay decent dividends in the long term and great shares hikes in the short term.

Doug reached for the bowl of salad and placed it on the table, "They climbed out of the red, two years ago." He told Charlie.

Suddenly the day seemed interesting to Charlie. She liked these sorts of news stories. "I didn't hear anything about that family being in trouble." Charlie frowned, as a young keen journalist she was proud of her memory for detail. "Surely I'd have heard something."

"Nope, not a breath of it escaped." Ryan told her.

"That's what I find amazing. Not the fact that she was so young when she took the helm, but the fact that she kept it together when it was going under and no one knew it was going under." Doug mulled aloud.

Ryan reached for the colander, checked the noodles and then drained them. He looked over his shoulder and asked his wife, "Not his usual type eh?"

Charlie snorted. "Hey, anything with more than one grey cell and he'd run a mile. This one must be special!" Charlie took a seat and waited for the two men to join her. Each brought food to the table. Ryan brought the steaming noodles and Doug carried the beef in black bean sauce.

"Get off my case!"

"Hmm, so I can do a story on her?" Charlie asked eagerly, "Seeing as Ryan's done all the research, it would be such a shame to let it go to waste."

"No." Doug stated firmly but quietly, "She's worked damn hard to keep it under wraps."

"Exactly. What a story. I could..."

Doug shook his head. "No Charlie. She doesn't deserve it. Leave her alone." Doug stated flatly. Both Charlie and Ryan knew that he meant it. What puzzled them was why he was being so adamant. It wasn't as if this Isabelle Sojour-D'Sa meant anything to them. So no skin of their noses if Charlie did a story on the great Sojour-D'Sa financial escape.