When The Stars Align Ch. 01

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As I sat in the day room, the darkness was a comfort to me. I held a glass of water in my hand as my mind wandered back over the conversations we had so far. I'm not even sure how long I sat there, when I heard the click of a door open. Victoria walked toward the kitchen, the oversized T-shirt doing little to hide the swing of her tits and she bent into the fridge to get the carton of milk. It was also clear to see she apparently went for the smooth look. Good manners made me look away.

"Would you like something to drink Doug?"

I should have been shocked that she even knew I was here but being around my own daughter made me understand how her other senses had seemed to have sharpened, as a result of her blindness. Thanking Victoria and then telling her I had water, she replaced the carton and joined me on the couch.

"I heard you leave your room. Something is keeping you awake, anything I can help with?"

The thousand and one questions all seemed to come down to one in the end. "Why me?"

Victoria took a sip of her milk before placing it on the coffee table.

"If I'm not married within seven months I will lose my position on the board. Those three bastards will maneuver one of their own into the position of chairman and even though they no longer hold positions on the board, they will hold sway over what goes on. I can't allow that."

There it was again. That straight way she has of talking to people that too many would classify as rude. Around folks that I deal with, it cut straight to the chase and saved a heck of a lot of time.

"You're a rich, good looking woman. I'm just a guy who lives on a farm, the board will see through what you're doing before you can even sell it to them."

"Did you notice you didn't mention blind?"

It was my turn to look closely at her, now more confused than I was already.

"Just what the heck has that got to do with anything?"

Victoria gave a little giggle, we both heard the door to her room open and she then set about telling Gretchen what had been said so far as she passed us to grab the milk out of the fridge. The light showing me she was dressed in a t-shirt as well, although when she bent down rather than squat to replace the carton it showed Gretchen seemed to prefer trimmed rather than clean. My cheeks felt warm and again I turned away to concentrate on Victoria.

"Let me give you a brief rundown on my dating history. Since I left UCLA and sat on the board I have dated four times, by the time I had been on the fourth date, every member of the board had a dossier on them. Two thought it was neat dating a woman richer than them, it meant I picked up the tab. One tried to get his hand up my dress on the way back from the opera, seems he thought that since I was blind I must be begging for it. The last one forgot to tell his fiancé he was dating me at the same time as he was planning their wedding."

Victoria could barely contain the anger in her voice as she explained how one relationship after another crashed and burned and had to sit through the board telling her how her sordid affairs were dragging the good name of the company through the mud even though nothing ever got to print. It was soon after the last tragedy that she found her own work load increasing. She seemed to be putting out one fire after another until both Gretchen and she were practically living out of suitcases, always on the road.

"If it wasn't the fourteen hour days, it was the constant traveling. Gretchen figured things out and started snooping, when she came to me with proof, my first thoughts were really nasty. In retaliation, I started to delegate the workload amongst the rest of the boardroom. Of course the ensuing battles simply heaped time that could be spent actually looking for my life partner into more fourteen hour days."

Gretchen reached over and placed a hand on Victoria's arm to calm her down. Victoria in turn looked towards her friend and gently nodded to her, her other hand reached over to the coffee table picked up her glass and sipped her milk, she used the pause in conversation as another way of calming herself.

"That pretty much brings us up to date, with the breakdown in re-negotiations with our advertising agency, we cast the net out amongst those in the city. The famous three always seemed to find fault with every one of them, so Victoria and I came with the team that was to see your presentation. When the head of the team did everything he could to de-rail us using your company, Victoria sacked him. That's when your company phoned and asked for an appointment to talk to us."

"Hell, I thought I was having a bad day. Yours went on for years."

Both heads nodded in agreement. By now, Gretchen was snuggled close to Victoria both for comfort and warmth. The ease with which she asked her next question gave me a glimmer into her world.

"Tell me Doug, since my family insulated me in our homeland for ten years and when I came back, I went directly to UCLA. Once there, I didn't often go further than the sorority house, classes and the campus complex. I was pulled back to Boston, when I had barely graduated to fight practically every man on the board on everything from designs to dealing with mining companies and governments. When do I get time to find my soul mate?"

Victoria sipped from her glass once again before she continued.

"I could place an ad in the lonely hearts column I suppose. 'Owner of a diamond company looking for life partner, mustn't be intimidated with the fact I'm worth more than they are and understanding when I'm not always home to cook you dinner. Deemed 'ok' looking for a blind girl, and have all the right bumps and holes in all the right places.' Yes, I can see that working don't you?"

I laughed. I genuinely laughed at her description, Both of them simply smiled and held each other a little tighter for a moment before calm once again settled in the room. It was also time to play a hunch.

"Show me the file you have on me."

Gretchen stiffened, Victoria seemed to have expected my request and told Gretchen where it was. She stood and walked over to a desk by one of the monitors constantly feeding out numbers across the screen, reached into one of the drawers and came back with a file two inches thick and placed it on the table directly in front of me. My hand went to it before Victoria's words stopped me.

"It will serve no purpose unless you can read Braille."

The temptation to remind them both that I have a blind daughter was real; when Lou-Lou sat down to learn Braille I was sat right next to her, so for the next twenty minutes I read about my life with my finger tips. After a while, I just closed the file and put it back on the table.

"I hope you didn't pay good money for this."

Gretchen's cheeks flushed. "That file was compiled by the best detective agency in Boston."

She watched me smile. "His in Boston, I live in Atlanta. What's my favorite food, do I shave daily or weekly, how many sexual partners have I had since Carol, what's the name of my first dog. All you have here are words and although most are factual they mean nothing, unless you know the person involved."

I still wanted to press home to both what I meant, perhaps I should have quit while I was ahead, but my mouth just kept going and I didn't see the trap I had set myself.

"It says here, I don't work. I'm my own boss; I have been since I came back from the city. I'm an independent and I have three of the biggest clients any man could wish for and although they are all in competition with each other, they know that the work I do for them never gets given to the competition. That's called trust, lady. I've never had to sign a confidentiality agreement. My word does that for me."

I was so wrapped up in my own opinion and pressing that point home that I just didn't see it coming, it's also why, I suspected, she does really well in the boardroom.

"The trouble with the both of you is that you have haven't been out in the real world, you have guys with suits and guns between you and the people that care about you. No wonder all your dates are assholes since there the only ones that would put up with that sort of shit."

That's when she blindsided me. I could use the excuse of, it was late and I was tired. Hell so were they and I still didn't see it coming.

"You have given me some valid points, Doug. So when you go back on Thursday, we shall come down on the following Saturday and stay for awhile, so please ask your father to pack the shotgun away."

Gretchen just looked at me with my mouth hanging open, not sure if I had heard Victoria correctly. The nod of her head telling me I had, it was only then I realized what I had done and asked myself what I was letting myself in for.

End of Chapter One.