Page 4 of What the Doctor Ordered
Others might have been affronted by their mother trying to pry into their private lives, but I understood where mine was coming from. She lost her husband, her best friend, just a couple of months ago. I was her only child, so it was natural for her to be worried about me, especially since I was really the only close family she had left. For that reason alone, I could be understanding and patient with her.
“Mom, you have enough to worry about,” I said gently. “Let me be concerned with the logistics of this. I’ll speak with my lawyer. I’m sure we’ll be able to come up with some kind of solution.”
I expected that to calm my mother down, so I was surprised when she actually stared at me with large eyes and her lower lip poked out.
I blinked at her. “Are you actually pouting?”
“I wouldn’t have to if I didn’t feel so worried for my only child,” she said with disdain. She let out a heavy sigh. “You have always had a mind of your own, much like your father.”
I smirked at her. “You’re saying that almost like it’s a bad thing.”
Mom actually managed to smile at that, but it didn’t quite meet her eyes. “I admire that about both of you,” she said seriously. “I apologize if I am coming on strongly, but you need to understand that this isn’t just about your father’s company. I’m not getting any younger and neither are you. I understand your work is important to you but there is more to life than that.”
“I understand that,” I said, holding back a grimace. This wasn’t the first time we’d had this conversation, but this was probably the most serious one we’ve had on the topic. I could tell how important this was to my mother. I sighed deeply. “I have every intention of marrying one day, Mother. Rest assured that I will look into this further and figure everything out.”
That seemed to finally appease my mom. She smiled but then gave me the stern look she used to use when I was a kid. “I sure hope so, Simon,” she said. “For both of our sakes.”
“Thanks for coming on such short notice, Brandon,” I said to my lawyer the following evening.
Brandon Carlowe was a serious guy. He had worked for my father as well, so I had known him for most of my life. I don’t think I’d ever seen him smile.
Brandon just nodded, lowering his bag onto my desk so he could produce some forms from it. “I owe your father a great debt,” he said in a tone that suggested he wasn’t going to elaborate on the details.
I cleared my throat and stood beside the older man so I could look over the will with him. “Were you able to find a way around this stipulation?” I asked eagerly, getting right to the point of the visit.
Brandon started shuffling papers on the desk, organizing them in a way that made me wonder if he had an obsessive-compulsive disorder. He was quiet for a couple of moments before he looked at me from over his tiny glasses. “It was far too easy. I thought that you would have provided more of a challenge for me. It was a bit disappointing.”
I chuckled with confusion, not sure how to respond to that.
Brandon grunted before tapping his ball point pen against a line he had highlighted. “This clause states that you only need to be engaged or married in order tofullytake control of the business.”
“Yes, that is correct,” I confirmed, glancing over the points the other man had highlighted.
Brandon gave me a look that strongly implied I was missing something obvious. “You have nothing to worry about,” he said slowly. “Whoever put this poorly written document together should have been more detailed in terms of the time constraints of the agreement.”
“So, does that mean that I don’t have to get married?” I asked, wanting to make sure I understood correctly.
Brandon tapped his pen against the desk. “Essentially, yes,” he said. “Basically, what you’ll have to do is get engaged and then stay engaged for six months to abide with the stated requirements. Then, you should be able to break off the engagement without any repercussions.”
This wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for in terms of a loophole, but I could work with it.
“Why six months?” I asked. “Is there any way we can get that time cut in half?”
“No,” Brandon said without hesitation. “That is the one part of the document that was clear in terms of a timeline. Once you’ve surpassed the six-month mark, your control of the company will be permanent and no longer subject to the condition of any engagement.”
I could feel a load of tension rise off my shoulders as I processed Brandon’s words.
“Thanks for everything,” I said to Brandon as I walked him to the front door.
Brandon just grunted as he shrugged his jacket on and turned the knob to let himself out. He paused and looked back at me and something in his expression reminded me of my father’s before he gave me some kind of sage advice. “If you decide to go this route and obtain a fake fiancée, I suggest that you don’t treat it lightly, even if it’s just to keep up pretenses.”
I blinked a couple of times before nodding, a little dumbfounded, unsure what the point of his comment was. There was no use trying to decode something coming from the old lawyer though, so I just nodded my head agreeably.
“I’ll make sure to do that,” I replied.
Brandon eyed me seriously and then grunted one more time before taking his leave.
I wandered back into my home office, booting up my computer to do some research. If I employed Brandon’s suggestion, I would be able to take over my father’s company and appease my mother by becoming temporarily engaged. It was the letter of the law, so to speak, if not the spirit.
