The Five-Year Contract. (#arrangedmarriage)

Chapter 19 - Jack Van Lowden

Connecticut, Greenwich, 23th November

As Charles Woolworth laid the marriage license and the prenup on the office desk, I couldn't help but think that on paper I was not single anymore. This changed things. Sure, it was just two papers and four signatures, it was nothing fancy. The problem was if those two papers and four signatures someday make their way into the news outlets and social media. The lawyers thought we weren't going to manage keeping this a secret for five years but I was confident we could pull that off if we do things right and don't raise suspicions. 

God, I'm going to get married. While I may be thirty-two and have friends that are married and others in stable relationships, my goal was never to join their club. I like being single, I like going out with whomever I want and without having to give any sort of justification to anyone, and most importantly, I like to fuck whoever pleases me. Growing up in a stable family with parents in a stable marriage, meant that I should probably believe in marriage and that you are capable of loving someone so deeply like my father loved my mother and vice versa. Well, I saw their relationship a little differently from what my brothers and sisters saw. For me, that kind of relationship was so rare that it was completely impossible to achieve. So, yeah, even though I was married on paper, I was never going to be happily married and have the kind of marriage my parents had. That was never going to be me. I like the way my life is.

At least I can look back and see this as the most untypical wedding ceremony ever to exist for sure. Normally, the groom should be wearing a black suit...even white if you fancy those, and what was I wearing? Just some black trousers, navy trainers, a white button-down shirt, and a deep-green knitted sweater from Ralph Lauren. Looking to my right, my soon-to-be wife on paper, Eleanor Anne Mulroney, is not in the typical white dress either. Nope. Instead, she's wearing some black pants that flared at the end, a pair of black high heel boots, a black fitted blouse, and on top, a cream knitted cardigan. Her long blonde hair is down and wavy, Elle is also not wearing glasses but rather her contact lenses, which was nice, it allowed me to see her blue-grey eyes. Also, by her gestures, I could tell she was a little impatient and nervous.  Her right hand is on her upper chest, constantly going in circles and making a gesture like she was touching a necklace that was supposed to be there but it wasn't. Elle had lost Sophie's necklace two years ago and ever since she would make the gesture like the necklace was still there. 

If Elle was nervous, I just wanted to get this over with. I had people to call and I wanted to make sure that everything was running down smoothly back in New York at Dot Com Corporation headquarters. Like I said many times before, she may be my wife on paper, but she was not in reality so while we had to change a little our lives, the dynamics were going to be the same. No matter what Will's opinion about that last night was. 

The one issue I really wanted to clear out until we get back to New York is the fact that I'm not going to be celibate for five years. I had to think of something that can guarantee that I get some with some women and that it does not go to the media. As Woolworth and Honiton said, the marriage was a secret but it can come out any time to the press that we were married. So, that meant my escapades could not make it to the magazines plus, it would not help my reputation if I wanted to get mine back with the company shareholders. 

"Very well," Woolworth said, clearing his throat and bringing me back to reality. "This is simple. We need four signatures in total from you. You have each to sign the marriage license and the prenup that came with your fathers' will. That's all I need from you. Then, after the signing, the two documents are going to be filled and you'll be legally married by the power of the Connecticut state. Are there any questions?" 

"So, just signing and it's done?" I asked skeptically and practically not believing that getting married is so...simple. As it ever been this simple? Just signing documents and that's it?