No specific time frame, but somewhere in time when Lee and Amanda decidedto keep their marriage a secret.
Lee went and met with his informant and tried to come back to Amanda as quickly as possible. Every time, they went to one of these functions, some man or another approached Amanda. In the past, it always made him feel a little uneasy; dare he say it, jealous even? But since their secret marriage, he was even more jealous, if that was even possible. Maybe the reason their advances made him so jumpy and jealous was that here he was married to the most amazing woman in the world he'd ever known and he had to act as if they were merely colleagues. All he wanted to do was to shout it out to the world that they were married, to show how proud of her he was as her husband and as her partner. He wanted to be able to tell someone about his two incredible stepsons and his wonderful mother-in-law. He also wanted others to know how much having these wonderful people in his life made up for the childhood and family life that he didn't have growing up.
So, when Lee returned to find Amanda in a conversation with an elderly couple, he was pleasantly surprised, but a little peeved nonetheless, having hoped to have Amanda by his side alone a little longer. But as he joined in the conversation, Lee was once again reminded of how amazing Amanda was. She seemed to radiate and shine during the conversation, talking to the couple as though she'd known them since she was a child.
The wife was shy, and very seldom spoke, whereas the husband was very talkative yet not annoying. Lee discovered that the couple married when they were young and now were married over thirty-five years. That was a long time to be married to someone. Lee thought to himself. Would he and Amanda make it that long? Not if we don't go ahead and tell everyone about our secret marriage, we won't. Lee said to himself.
After a time, the couple said their goodnights and goodbyes.
"Alone at last," Lee said as he moved closer to Amanda. "Have I told you just how beautiful you look this evening?"
"No, I don't believe you—" Amanda began to answer.
"Lee," a woman's voice interrupted Amanda.
"Oh, hi, Gissette." Lee stammered. "This is—"
"Well, what are you up to this evening?" Gissette cut in completely ignoring Lee's comment, therefore, ignoring Amanda in the process.
"We'll be leaving here soon. But right now my partner and I are here on business." Lee said as he gestured towards Amanda.
"Call me later. You can call me anytime." Gissette said as she pulled out a card from her purse and placed it in Lee's hand.
Amanda arched an eyebrow at Lee who simply tore the card into two pieces and placed it on a tray of drinks that was nearby.
Before they could even pick up their conversation, a medium height brunette, passed by and ran her hand along Lee's arm, winked and continued on her way.
Amanda didn't know what to say to that; she merely gave Lee a look. She acted as though I wasn't even here. Amanda thought to herself.
"Hmm, Amanda, as I was saying, have I told you that you are looking particularly lovely tonight Mrs. Stetson?" Lee asked quietly.
"No, you haven't Mr. Stetson."
"I'll show you just how gorgeous I think you look later."
"How much longer do we have to stay here?" Amanda asked.
"Oh, about another-" Lee began.
"Lee, darling? I didn't know you were coming here tonight." A rather tall blond announced as she moved towards them.
"Hi, Rebecca. Meet my partner, Amanda King."
"Hi Amanda, you are partners, hmm?" Rebecca looked Amanda up and down for a second before she said, "That's a little hard to believe."
"You can believe it all right," Lee said as he glanced at Amanda who became extremely quiet.
"Lee, it's been a while since we've played backgammon, I bet your partner wouldn't mind if we left her for a while so we could play a game."
"Oh, I only play backgammon with one person now," Lee said and gave a secret wink to Amanda.
"Are you sure?"
"Lee, I'm going to get a drink," Amanda said decidedly. "Nice meeting you Rebecca."
"Amanda, I can get it for you," Lee said, but Rebecca moved rather quickly and grabbed Lee's arm.
Surprised that Amanda would leave him there, Lee looked on as Amanda walked away.
Amanda watched as Rebecca rubbed her hand along Lee's arm and then whispered something in his ear. Lee managed to move Rebecca's hand, yet remained very close by his side, still whispering something to Lee.
Amanda turned her back on them and watched as the bartender made her drink. Oh my gosh! Amanda thought to herself. Not one or two, but three different women had hit on Lee so far. If only they knew that we were married. Amanda thought to herself. Would that make any difference either and was Lee starting to enjoy all of this attention? Amanda turned back around to Lee whose face had 'help' written all over it. Amanda smiled slightly at Lee's expression which answered Amanda's question.
Amanda took a few sips from her drink then sauntered over to Lee.
Before Lee could say anything, Rebecca turned her eyes towards Amanda and said, "Oh, hi I thought you'd gone home."
"No, I'm still here." Amanda replied then turned to Lee. "Lee, I thought we were going to leave soon?"
"Who did you say you were again?" Rebecca asked before Lee could answer.
"She's my partner," Lee answered.
Amanda leaned in towards Lee and said, "Yes, I'm his partner." Amanda placed her hand on Lee's arm and rubbed her hand across his arm and then caressed his hand. "If you know what I mean."
The woman glanced at Amanda's hand, then at Lee. "I see, well goodbye." She said and instantly walked away.
Eyes sparkling, Lee said, "You're my partner, huh?"
"Yes."
"And, I wouldn't have it any other way," Lee smirked and showed off his gorgeous dimples in the process.
"Me either, except for one thing."
"What's that?" Lee asked.
"I think it's time we come clean about our marriage," Amanda replied with a solemn look on her face.
Lee saw how serious she was. "I think you're right." Lee took Amanda's hand in his. "But, there's something else we need to do first," Lee said, as he continued to look deeply into Amanda's eyes.
"And that is to go back to my apartment, so we can continue our conversation about how beautiful I think you look."
"Sounds good to me," Amanda replied. "You aren't looking too bad yourself, Mr. Stetson."
Lee grinned as he propelled them towards the exit. "And we need to talk a little more about this partnership."
"What about our partnership?"
"I wondered how long you expect it to last."
"Oh, I was thinking a lifetime."
"Exactly what I was thinking," Lee replied as they stepped outside and headed towards his place.
The End