The Five-Year Contract. (#arrangedmarriage)

Chapter 17 - Eleanor Mulroney

Connecticut, Greenwich, 22th November

Today had officially passed a week since my dad and Robert passed away in that helicopter accident. If I could describe it, the word I would use was brutal. It had been a brutal week for the Van Lowden's and for me. The lonely nights, the wills, the sadness, the service in their honor...

Back in New York, the police were still recovering pieces of the helicopter in the Hudson River. So, they could do a reconstruction of what had happened minute by minute.

The twins were going back to school at the beginning of next week and Carter was going back to college soon. Although, he was trying to convince Tess that the best option was to do a gap year and go travel around the world, just like many of his friends were currently doing. Tess was reluctant in letting him do that. She thought it would be more like a year to be daily drinking around the world than actually experiencing new cultures and healing from the loss of his father. However, Carter was nineteen years old, which meant, he was of age to go travel out of the country without his mother's permission. He may not be of age to access his shares at Dot Com Corporation, but he was of age to access his massive trust fund.

Will was going back to Miami in a few days, his wife Erin had already gone ahead two days ago because she had a big surgery any day now.

And Jack...well, he and I were waiting on the marriage license that would come any day now. Other than that, if he was a known workaholic, now he was worst. If that was even possible. His days were basically working at the computer and phone, closed in the office. He was a cold stone, it was like I didn't even almost see him breakdown a few days ago after putting his drunk brother to bed.

From what I gathered, even though Jack wanted to just get back to New York, to his life and to the office, he wasn't leaving Connecticut until he made sure that everyone was doing better, especially Carter. He didn't agree with Carter's gap year, but, just like Tess, there was not much he could do. Carter was of age and he had money, he could do what he wanted. On another note, Jack wanted to go back to New York because he desperately wanted to keep an eye on McCarthy, who we had known and expected was thrilled when the announcement of our lack of voting power for five years dropped on his desk. Then, there was Grant Williams, Jack wanted to prove to him that he had made a big mistake in choosing Eric Fowler for the interim CEO position instead of him.

I would say Jack was a robot machine in an assembly line, repeating task after task. Seeing Carter's breakdown three days ago had affected him deeply. The suffering of his brother had been too much and too similar, at least that's what I think, to his suffering, but while Carter could not contain it and felt guilty to have had a fight in the morning of his father's death, Jack felt he couldn't show weakness because he had the responsibility to hold his family together. Even during that tiny moment, we shared that night, when I said it was fine if he wanted to let loose and cry as well, he wouldn't have it.

It was eight in the morning. I was working on my computer on the dining table while sipping my coffee. Aside from Jack, who had been in the office since it was six in the morning, the rest of the house was pretty much sleeping. It was almost nine when Jack emerged from the office and came to the living room, he was still dressed casually...well as casually as he allowed himself. He was wearing a white shirt with a round neck black sweater on top and beige trousers, with him, was his phone in the left hand. He stopped at the dining table and pushed the chair that was at my right.

"Yes?" I ask, taking my eyes from the computer and looking at Jack, while he sat next to me and laid his phone on the table. He looked serious, so, something was up.

"They have the license. Woolworth just called me." He announced.

So, this was it. The marriage was finally going to be real, this was really happening. I felt like...I didn't know what to feel. I've known Jack my whole life, but this was a whole different situation for us, this wasn't seeing each other over dinner or in the office, this was not seeing each other in Connecticut or in vacation. This was marriage, whether it was out of love or not, it was going to be a legal marriage. We will be married for five years and living together during that time.