The look in her eyes was like a knife to his heart. How could he tell her what he had been thinking? He didn't want to hurt her anymore.
"Jonathan..." She repeated
"Darling, I didn't know what to think." He said, "I saw someone that looked like you cozy with another man. I was going crazy."
"Then why didn't you tell me right away?" She asked, "We've always told each other everything."
He sighed, "I know, but this was something that had never happened before."
She pulled away from him and sat on the bed, "Jonathan, you know I would never do anything like that. How could you have doubted me?"
He leaned back against the dresser, looking down, ashamed and unable to meet her eyes, "I don't know." he said quietly then finally brought his tearful eyes up to meet hers, "Jennifer, you are my life. I could lose Hart Industries and it would be a difficult adjustment but if I lost you I don't know if I could go on. For the first time in my life I felt confused, out of control and unsure of things."
She had never seen him so vulnerable. He was normally a very confident man, sure of himself, but to admit and expose himself this way, she began to understand his anguish. She got up and went to him, wrapping her arms around his waist, "My Darling, I love you and I'm not going anywhere. We can figure this out together, like we always do."
He smiled, tightening his arms around her as if he was afraid she would disappear, despite what she had said, "I don't know what I did to deserve you."
"Don't you remember?" She asked, "You asked me to marry you after two days."
"And you said yes right away."
"Ah, but what else could I do when we had managed to survive multiple attempts on our lives?" She replied, "It was like fate tapped me on the shoulder."
"And here I thought I was irresistible." He joked
"You are." She leaned in and kissed him
He responded by guiding her over to the bed
She protested, albeit halfheartedly, "Darling, as irresistible as you, uh, are, don't we need to talk about this?"
He nuzzled her neck, "I thought we had."
She pushed away slightly, "No, I mean, try to figure out what exactly is going on?"
He continued to nuzzle her, "We can do that when we're done."
"But Jonathan..." She trailed off
"But what?" He asked moving to the other side of her neck
"Damned if I know." She said as they fell back on the bed
/
Lying in bed, tangled in the sheets, Jennifer rested her head on his chest while he ran his hand up and down her arm. They said nothing and the only other sound besides their breathing that she could hear was the steady beat of his heart.
Jonathan kissed her head and finally broke the silence, "Penny for your thoughts?"
She lifted her head and looked at him, "You first." She said, "Tell me what happened." She folded her arms under her chin to prop it up, continuing to meet his eyes
He sighed heavily but he knew they needed to talk about it, he just hated to ruin a peaceful moment, "Alright, the day you were supposed to meet Margo I saw you outside L'Orangerie with another man and you kissed him...I mean whoever she was kissed him."
"Did she really look that much like me?" She asked
"Yes, I was stopped at the light long enough and from that distance very much so." He informed her
She smiled softly, encouraging him, "Go on."
Then the other night when you said you were at UCLA for the lecture I stopped by La Cachette to pick up some bread to have with a bottle of Chateau St. Clair and I saw her again with the same man. At least I think it was the same man, his back was to me. She was very cozy with him. She even had on the same outfit as one of yours, both times I think."
"When I came home did you notice if I was wearing what she was?" Jennifer asked
He shook his head, "I didn't even notice, I was so upset."
She reached up and caressed his cheek then brushed the hair off his forehead, "Do you have any idea what this is about?"
"No, it could be a coincidence. They say everyone has a twin. But that seems too easy."
"You think it's another plot to break us up?" She asked, "But why?"
"Well, chances are it's not another bet on our marriage." He said half joking
Jennifer's expression became pensive for a moment, "Do you think it could be Fred Brunis? Revenge maybe?"
He shook his head again, "No, he's in prison, most likely for life. Besides, that wasn't personal, Darling. He never would have done it except for the money. He held no personal grudge."
"It sure seemed personal then." She replied, "So what do we do?"
He tightened his arms around her, "We enjoy the rest of this weekend. Then we go home and bring in the reinforcements."
She laughed slightly, "Max."
"And Stanley." He said, "He can do some digging. But we want as few people as possible involved until we know what and who we're dealing with."
She nodded and smiled, "I love you, always."
He leaned in and kissed her, "I love you, too."
/
Sunday evening they arrived home to find a nervous Max meeting them at the door.
"Mr. H, Mrs. H, boy am I glad you're home." He said
"What's the matter, Max?" Jennifer asked
"Something really weird is going on." He explained, "I was out running errands yesterday and I thought I saw Mrs. H with another man. I mean it looked just like you."
Jonathan and Jennifer exchanged a look, "Max, there is something we need to talk to you about."
"You mean you know about this?" He asked
"Let's go in the kitchen." He gestured
They sat at the table and Jonathan began to explain, "A couple of weeks ago I saw a woman outside L'Orangerie that looked just like Jennifer and she was with another man."
"And you think it's not just a coincidence, don't ya, Mr. H?"
Jonathan nodded then rubbed his chin, "It's definitely more than a coincidence."
"So what are we gonna do?"
"Well, we've been talking about it all weekend and on the way back." Jonathan explained, "And given we have no idea who is behind this or why, we really don't know what reaction they're wanting."
Jennifer nodded in agreement, "We assume that whoever this is wants us to break up. But it could be an elaborate scheme just to make Jonathan think he's going crazy."
"First thing tomorrow I'm going to have Stanley look into all our current projects to see if anything seems strange. You know, the dirt that's hard to find on the companies we outbid."
"Darling, I thought you said this probably wasn't about work."
"It probably isn't but where else do we start?"
/
Monday morning Stanely Friesen got right to work on his research and by mid afternoon he reported what he found to Jonathan. Thorough with a capital T, Jonathan had to prod him to get to the point.
"Mr. Hart, there isn't anything that stands out. The other companies we've recently outbid, Galaxy Global checks out, John Madsen, the CEO is about as straight as they come, big philanthropist. He's not known for being the least bit cutthroat or to hold a grudge."
Jonathan nodded, he knew John by reputation and this wasn't something he would do, "What else?"
"Well, the only company that seems to be a little hard to find much on is M.E Corp." He went on, "They seemed to pop up recently and the CEO seems to be some mysterious overseas operator, Martin Ellis."
"Did you find anything on him?"
"Not yet, I'm still checking." Stanley said, "I'll let you know as soon I find out anything."
"Thanks, Stanley. That'll be all for now." Jonathan said and Stanley exited his office
Jonathan sat there for a moment and if his hunch was right, this was even more personal than he thought.
TBC
