“I will, I promise. I’ll meet up with you tomorrow at breakfast?”
She asked Shaun if that was good for them, to which he nodded. “It’s good.”
“Okay, honey, knock them dead, and you show them how good you and Shaun are together. We’ll fix this, all of us.”
Saying goodbye to her friend, she felt a little better. “It’s time you got dressed for show time.”
Kissing her billionaire husband, she moved toward the clothes, and grabbed something she would actually wear.
Once she was dressed, she turned toward Shaun. “How do I look?”
“You look beautiful, baby. You always do to me.”
Moving toward him, she snuggled in close and locked her hands with his.
“Will our lives ever get easier?”
A knock sounded at the door, and she turned to look at Shaun.
“It will get easier. I promise. It’s going to be amazing.”
He kissed her lips, and they both moved toward the door, where a guy was waiting to escort them onto set. They had microphones attached to their shirts that were similar to the one she used for her own work.
She took a deep breath as they made their way onto the set, taking the two available seats. Shaun moved his seat closer to her, and held her hand as they waited for the countdown for the interview to start. They were staring at two people, a married couple themselves, Elizabeth and David Palmer. They were a rock within the television community, and Shaun’s friend had made sure they were interviewed by those two.
“Welcome back, and I have to say our next guests have been all over the news lately for a marriage that is supposed to be a sham,” Elizabeth said.
“That’s right, honey. Please welcome Shaun and Addison Woodside.”
The camera pointed at them, and Addison held her hand up, waving, and said hi to the couple. Shaun squeezed her hand a little tighter, and she accepted his comfort and his warmth. Taking a deep breath, she turned her attention back to the couple.
“I can see already that the rumors couldn’t have any credence? Look at that, baby, they’re holding hands, and he’s even moved the seat closer to her.”
Suddenly there was a replay on the screen of Shaun moving closer toward her, and locking their fingers together.
Addison’s stomach was all in knots as they started to talk.
“You’re both here, and I know you want to set the record straight? Am I right?” Elizabeth asked.
Turning to Shaun she waited for him to answer.
“You’re right. Addie and I, we didn’t have the best start in marriage. We had a fucking awful start. What you read in the papers, and listened to on the news was partly right.”
“Partly?” Elizabeth asked.
Sitting on a television set, about to share their story with the world, terrified Addison.
“Our families came together to grow stronger. Originally, my parents wanted me to marry Evangeline, Addie’s older sister. It wasn’t happening. I didn’t love Evangeline, let alone like her. Addie, though, in a room full of darkness and cold, she sat there, and I just knew I was going to have her. If I had to marry someone for the company, I was going to marry a woman I knew I could fall in love with.”
“What about you, Addie?” David asked.
“At first I thought he was like our parents, cold, and without a heart. I was wrong, and he’s proven that to me.”
“So, your marriage started out rocky, you said that yourself,” Elizabeth said.
Shaun revealed pretty much everything, how they’d lived separate lives, and how earlier this very year, he discovered that he’d not been wrong about her at all. He’d been right. They’d reconnected, and he was very much in love with her.
“What about your parents?” David asked.