The Matchmaker's Gift(16)
“I’m curious, Diane,” Nicole interrupted. “Why go to so much time and trouble to negotiate an agreement you’re so certain we’ll forget?”
If Diane was put off or surprised by the remark, she made certain not to show it. She flashed Nicole her widest smile. “It would be irresponsible for two public figures such as yourselves to marry each other without certain protections, both financial and otherwise. In addition, Victor is bound by earlier agreements, which he is legally obligated to uphold. Without a prenuptial agreement, there is no guarantee he will be able to fulfill those previous commitments.”
Nicole crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair. Her posture was relaxed, but her tone was all business. “Are you referring to the children? The child support and inheritance arrangements Victor made with Patrice when they divorced?”
Diane didn’t skip a beat. “Among other things, yes,” she replied.
“Good,” Nicole said. “May I say something before we go any further? I’d like very much for all of us to be completely transparent in these meetings. I know I’m young, but I am not ignorant. There is a large age difference between Victor and me. He is an enormously successful business owner. He has two children from his previous marriage, and they will always be a priority. You don’t need to come up with euphemisms for these subjects. After all,” Nicole continued, “they are the reason we need a prenuptial agreement. I understand all that, and I understand, too, that this will not be a romantic process.”
Abby wondered what Diane’s strategy would be, now that Nicole had disproven all her expectations. But Diane’s expression betrayed no trace of concern. Was it possible, Abby wondered, that the terms of this agreement could be negotiated more easily than her boss had thought?
As they moved on to a discussion of financial information, Nicole possessed an unnervingly intricate knowledge of the structure of Victor’s company and his real estate holdings. Every time she spoke, Victor nodded in agreement—it was clear how proud he was of his fiancée’s business acumen. After about an hour, Nicole’s lawyer pulled a document from his briefcase and slid it across the table to Diane. “These are some thoughts Nicole and I had regarding what she’d like to see in the final agreement.” As soon as the paper was in Diane’s hands, Nicole looked at her watch and announced that, unfortunately, she had somewhere else she needed to be.
Insecurity crept into Victor’s features. “Are you certain?” he asked. “I thought we were taking your mother to see the wedding venue. She’s never been to the Puck Building before.” Nicole leaned forward and whispered something into his ear. Whatever she said, it seemed to do the trick—a moment later, Victor’s smile returned. “Of course, my love,” he murmured to her.
Nicole apologized for ending the meeting abruptly. She slung a giant handbag over her shoulder and rearranged the stack of silver bracelets on her wrist. Abby searched her ensemble—from her leather jacket to her jeans—for anything from Victor’s collections, but nothing Nicole wore bore any trace of the famous étoile silver star logo. Victor excused himself to walk Nicole and her entourage to the elevator, leaving Diane and Abby alone in the conference room.
Abby turned her attention to Diane, who was flipping through the document Nicole’s lawyer had drafted. With each page she turned, Diane’s frown grew deeper. When she came to the end, she slammed her open palm onto the conference table’s glossy surface.
“Uh oh,” Abby said. “How bad is it?”
“Let me put it this way,” Diane answered. “That woman isn’t marrying him for the croissants.”
* * *
Abby spent the rest of the day on another case, researching child custody issues. She left the office late and took a bus headed up Broadway, but she wasn’t able to shake Victor étoile from her mind. As the bus inched forward into traffic, she considered the assumptions she had made before the meeting. She had presumed that the designer would be the more assertive of the two, and that the model—a woman decades younger without a college degree—would surely be the one making all the concessions.
It was clear to Abby now just how mistaken she had been. Nicole was far more sophisticated than Abby thought, and Victor seemed more smitten than Diane wanted to admit. Of the two, it was Nicole who was the most informed, Nicole who radiated awareness and strength. And even though it was Victor—not Nicole—who was her client, Abby couldn’t help smiling as she thought about the way the young woman had commanded the conference room.
At the next stop, several passengers got off the bus and Abby grabbed a seat. She pulled the Style Section of last Sunday’s newspaper from her tote bag and did an obligatory search through the wedding announcements. According to Diane, they were mandatory reading, but Abby hadn’t had enough time to keep up. The truth was, she despised the overly romanticized stories and put off looking through them as long as she could. Her grandmother, on the other hand, had always read them faithfully, with great delight, every weekend.
“Why do you keep reading those things?” Abby would ask Sara. “It’s not like you know the people getting married.”
“So what?” Grandma Sara used to say. “I don’t have to know them to be happy for them. Sometimes, I like to be reminded that people can find love all on their own.”