Save the Date (Modern Arrangements) (19 page)

In section one of the Marital Conditions
Agreement, Aidan and I were to agree to four years of consummated and
monogamous marriage. Infidelity voided the contract. I was required to take the
Iverson last name. Living in the same home for the full four years was also a
requirement, as well as sharing a room and bed.

Section two was the ‘Marriage Agreement’.
Aidan would receive his one hundred billion dollar inheritance, his
grandfather’s estates and possessions. In return for marriage, I would be
allocated full purchase of Donald’s home in Winter Harbor, which was already
done, college tuition for the length of the marriage and one million dollars.

"Aidan, I don’t need a million
dollars," I croaked out. "What is this
Indecent Proposal
?"

"Lilli, look at how much money I’m
inheriting. Please realize my inheritance is on top of money I already
have." He looked at me with sternness. "Anyone could use a million
dollars."

"But—"

"No buts," He argued.
"Once four years of marriage is complete you will receive a million
dollars. You can consider it guaranteed alimony if you wish." He shrugged.
"What’s
Indecent Proposal
?" He asked with a curious glance.

"The movie? You’ve never seen the
movie?"

"I haven’t gotten to watch many
movies," he laid his head back on the headrest of the seat.

Furrowing my brow, I went back to the
contract. Seeing the next sections that were to be addressed I felt my stomach
knot and I had to swallow a large lump in my throat before I could continue.

Section three was the ‘Heir’ Conditions
Agreement’. We were to conceive a child within the first year with a healthy
birth before the end of our second year of marriage, unless medical
complications are incurred. The child is to be a legitimate heir to the Iverson
family and will be bestowed with the Iverson name.

Section four was the ‘Procreation
Agreement’, in which, upon conceiving, AIS would be granted to Aidan Walsh
Iverson III as sole proprietorship. In return to being the Iverson family
incubator I would receive a home in New York, financial support for the child
and the child would have a trust established in his or her name.

"Aidan…" I hesitated.

"What?" His voice waivered.

"I can’t have a child. I’m sorry, I
just can’t. Not like this." I laid the papers back on the table and shook my
head at him.

"Lilli…look, I get your
apprehension and trust me, I’m not exactly thrilled or excited that this is
what it has come to for me but we can make it work." He pleaded.

"I’m from a broken home, Aidan. I
can’t voluntarily have a child knowing I’m going to provide them with a scheduled
broken home. I don’t want to offer a solid family dynamic and then rip it away
from them, regardless of how old they will be at the time." I argued.
"I think this is a bad idea. I’m sorry." I took a deep panic filled
breath. "You need to find someone that will do all of this for you, cause I
just…I just can’t. I can’t."

"Lilli." He said firmly as he
knelt in front of me. "It will be fine." He picked up the papers.
"That’s what the home in New York is for." I twisted my face in
confusion. "This way you will have a home close to my home. We will stay
friends after all of this, at least I hope that we will, and we will keep our
residences close enough so that the child will be able to see us every day if
they want to. It won’t be perfect, but then again, what is perfect anymore? The
child will grow up with two parents that care about them deeply." He
sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Look at me. I didn’t have
either of my parents after I was ten. Viola, Liam and Maggie kept my family
dynamic intact and it was completely different for me."

"I can’t do it," I spit out.
"I’m sorry."

He sighed heavily.

"You can do it. You’re going to do
it." He said firmly.

"Wh-what..?" I stuttered at
his tone and at his words.

"Lilli, I don’t have anyone else. I
am not going to just pick some girl up off the street and ‘hope’ that she isn’t
a psycho, a gold digger or something even worse." He sat back into his seat
and took a deep breath. "I need you…I need you to help me and allow me to
help you." He kept his head down.

I internally cursed myself and picked up
the contract again to go over the last section.

Section five was the ‘Prenuptial
Agreement’. This section simply secured Aidan and the Iverson’s assets before
the marriage as well as the company’s assets acquired during the marriage. The
final clause was in regards to family jewelry, which I was unsure what that had
to do with me. I didn’t want any jewelry.

After some more legal jargon and clauses
I sat back in my seat with my eyes closed, the contract in my lap. My mind was
spinning and I was having an internal battle. Part of me wanted to grab a parachute
and head for the plane door. The other part of me felt bad for Aidan’s
situation and the easy help I could provide. Releasing a heavy breath, I rubbed
my hands over my face.

"You okay?" Aidan spoke in a
hushed voice.

"I don’t know," I answered
quickly, slightly annoyed by his interruption of my thoughts.

"Are you going to sign?" He
pressed.

"Hah," I breathed out in
partial amusement and partial astonishment.

"What?" His nerves were
working into his voice, again.

I glanced at my watch.

"We have less than ten minutes
before we arrive to JFK," he said matter-of-factly.

I nodded.

"Please talk to me," he
requested.

"What do you want me to say? That I
feel like a high price whore or that I’m selling my soul?" I raised my
head to stop his argument, it would prevent the hurt look on his face. "I’m
sorry but you asked."

"You’re not a whore and I’m not the
devil," he growled.

"It doesn’t feel that way at the
moment," I chuckled, humorlessly. Stressful situations had always caused
me to have inappropriate reactions. I took another deep breath. "You’re
ready to purchase the next four years of my life?"

"I have no other choice," he
grumbled.

Nodding, I understood what he meant. I
barely had any choices left myself and I knew he was right. He didn’t have a
choice unless he wanted to lose everything.

"Is it only the…the conceiving part
or is it the marriage as well?" he questioned without looking at me.

"It all bothers me, Aidan," I
sighed out and then growled. "I could handle the marriage but putting the
baby thing on top of it...well…."

"Let’s just focus on the marriage part
right now and then after we’re married we can discuss the baby portion of the
deal. Okay?" He looked at me hopefully.

"But I still have to agree to have
a baby, right?" He nodded slowly. "I don’t know if I can do
that."

"It doesn’t have to be right away,"
he argued. "We can wait a few months to see how things go with each other
before we decide to bring a child into this." His eyes were pleading
again.

"Fine. Where’s the pen?" I
spit out. I watched him search around. "Hurry before I change my
mind!"

"Here," he shoved the pen into
my hand.

As I approached the sections about
having a child, I hesitated and looked up to him.

"I will continue to take my birth
control pills until we talk about this again." He nodded, knowing that it
wasn’t a question.

I signed and every pen stroke felt like I
was signing a deal with Satan.

Aidan took the pen and signed his parts
of the contract. I felt a tear slip over my cheek as I turned to my side in my
seat trying to force myself to relax.

"Now we just need to talk about the
wedding," he sighed out.

"Wedding?" I croaked out
trying to hide my tears.

"Yes, it will be in a month,"
he said factually.

I wiped my face and sat up turning back
toward him.

"Aren’t we just going to go to a
Justice of the Peace or something?" I scoffed.

He shook his head.

"Viola wants to plan the wedding.
It will be small, just family." He shrugged.

"So, I have to wear some dress and
do the whole
down the aisle
thing?" My voice hitched up a notch at
the end of my question.

"It’s not a big deal, Lilli. Viola
can handle it all. My family is close and we have certain traditions. If this
were a real wedding then it would be much more elaborate and take at least a
year to plan."

I scowled at his choice of
real
wedding
.

"I don’t want a wedding," I
argued.

"It would crush my aunt if I didn’t
do this, if
we
didn’t do this. Besides you can talk to her about it when
we get to the airport," I instantly turned my head back to him.

"At the airport," I exclaimed.
"How about you just fill me in on all these damned plans and meetings you
have arranged for me?" I spit out, angrily and sarcastically.

"Calm down. Viola wanted to meet
you and talk to you before the wedding. She suggested coming to pick us up from
the airport. Maggie should be with her too."

"Who the hell is Maggie?" I
raised my hands palms up.

"She is Viola and Liam’s daughter, my
cousin, though she is like a sister to me."

I nodded, thinking that he had mentioned
her before in a conversation.

"Anything else?" I pressed.

"Well, there is this," he
placed a small black leather box on the arm of the seat. My nerve endings were
firing rapidly and my body started to go numb from one small box. He cleared
his throat.

"Are you going to open it?"

I shook my head. He laughed.

"It won’t bite you." He rolled
his eyes and opened the box, took out a ring and looked down at it. "It
was my mother’s," he said almost too low for me to hear him.

"Oh, Aidan, no," I shook my
head and put my hand on his arm. "Save that for the," I gulped,
"for the real thing."

He shook his head and handed it to me.

"I want you to wear it," he
nodded lightly.

"I can’t," I pushed his hand
back. "Save it for the real thing, Aidan, honestly. Don’t waste it on
me."

He looked up to my face, grabbed my hand
and slipped the ring on my finger.

"Huh," he smiled a little.

"What?" I choked.

"It fits," he smiled up at me.

I pulled my hand closer to my face and
looked at the ring. It was pretty and vintage looking. It was a large round
diamond set in silver or platinum, I wasn’t sure, and it looked like knots on each
side of the diamond.

"Did I mention that we’re
Irish?" He watched me look at the ring.

I put my hand down.

"No," I answered shortly,
mainly because I was embarrassed for getting caught checking out the ring that I
didn’t want in the first place.

He grabbed my hand and lifted the ringed
finger between us.

"The diamonds are set in a platinum
setting. See right here?" He was pointing to small knots on the sides.

I nodded.

"Those are Celtic Trinity
knots." He put my hand down. "There will be a few Irish or Gaelic
portions to the wedding." I just nodded. "Your opinion matters you
know?"

"It’s okay, it really isn’t my
thing." I forced a small smile, sitting there quietly until I couldn’t
take it any longer. "Okay, time to talk everything out."

He looked up to me and smiled.

"Like?"

"Wedding is when? Clearly we have
to live with each other, etc…I think you need to tell me all the details as
well as about your family." I turned sideways in my seat, ready to listen
and discuss.

"Wedding is in a month, after the
wedding we will move into my grand…erm, my, our mansion," he smiled at his
self-corrections. "As you read, we have to live in the same home for the
four years and sleep in the same bed at least a few times a week."

"Okay…family?"

"Uh…obviously my parents are not
alive. I grew up with my Aunt Viola and Uncle Liam, as well as with
Maggie." He took a deep breath. "You’ve met James, he is my cousin.
His wedding is in a week." He paused and smirked. "Will you go with
me?"

My eyes widened. "Um I…uh…"

"It will be a way for you to meet my
family and family friends that won’t be at our wedding." He raised an
eyebrow at me.

"Ugh…do I have to?" I whined.

He laughed. "That’s a yes."

"I didn’t say—"

"You’re my fiancée, you have to go
with me," he turned his gaze on me. Never before has anyone unleashed a
gaze on me the way that Aidan was right now. I couldn’t even form a word. It
was like he had put me in a trance.

When he smirked, I shook myself out of
the trance.