An Extraordinary Love Story

An Extraordinary Love Story

“You will not catch a millionaire if you are dressed in blue jeans and a sweat shirt!” grumbled Mrs. Barker as she caught sight of her daughter entering the large drawing room. Melody looked at her mother and frowned. She brushed her golden curls off her shoulder and retorted, “I don’t want a millionaire, mother. I just want someone I can fall in love with.”

Melody’s mother stood up and walked across the room. She looked straight into her daughter’s eyes and said, “And don’t you think your father and I fell in love?”

“Of course you and daddy are in love, mother! That is what I mean; you weren’t out to ‘catch’ a millionaire. Both of you just fell in love!”

Mrs. Barker turned and went back to her Victorian high backed chair. She sat down and contemplated on whether to enlighten her daughter. Melody had been so protected. She had no idea what the real world was like and Mrs. Barker wasn’t sure she would know what to do with it if she came face to face with it. Melody with her big blue eyes, her long golden curls and her petite shape, she never saw the need for trying to go out of her way to attract the right sort of man. In fact, that was the problem; she always seemed to attract the wrong kind of guy. All the boys she dragged through the front door to introduce to her parents were far below their expectation of someone who would take care of her financially.

“Melody, where do you find these rascals that you bring home with you?”

“Mother! You can be so rude! They are nice guys it is just that you and daddy are such prudes.”

Okay, the time had definitely come that her little girl needed to have her eyes opened to the facts of life. She had been sent to all the right schools and kept in all the right social circles, but invariably she found her way into some gas station attendant’s car or on the back of some mechanic’s motorbike.

“Okay young lady, let me tell you a story, and this is a story you’ve never been told before.”

“Mom, please! No more sermonizing. I am already twenty- one and I will find myself an appropriate husband. It may not be someone you or dad will approve of, but you know what, I’ll live with that!” Melody turned on her heels and was just about to leave when her mother commanded her to stop. She stood with her back to her mother. She would stay but she would not turn around.

“Melody, please, I would like to tell you something. It is not sermonizing. In fact, it is a story about my life.” Melody had never heard her mom beg before. It was so unlike her mother. She couldn’t help but turn towards her mother and go across to sit next to her.

“Okay mom, I’m listening.”

Mrs. Barker leaned back into her chair. She attempted to find a comfortable position from which to tell this uncomfortable story. This was a story that had been hidden far too long in changes of details, different addresses and alternate life histories. Now she would pull away the lies and reveal the truth for her daughter, and hope that her daughter would not begin to despise her.

“Mom, I’m waiting.”

“Yes, dear, I’m just thinking how to start….”

“Start at the beginning,” replied Melody in her matter of fact manner.

“There was a young girl, many years ago. Her name was Jane. Such a plain name for a girl that was quite beautiful. Jane started life out with a lot of things going the wrong way for her. She was born to parents who were both addicted to drugs. They couldn’t take care of her and she ended up in the system. By the time she was ten years old, a wonderful family chose to adopt her. It seemed like life was going her way at last. However, her happiness was short lived. No sooner was the adoption proceedings underway, her family was in a terrible accident and they were all killed. Jane survived. She wondered why she had survived. Once again she had to be shuttled around from one family to another. As she got older, she found that she attracted a lot of unwanted attention from some of the men in the various homes she was placed in. She learned at a young age to fend for herself.” Mrs. Barker took a moment to catch her breath. She glanced over at her daughter who was listening intently. “Do you want me to continue?” she asked her daughter.

“Sure, I’m interested in what happens to this Jane girl.”

“Well, let me try to make a long story short. Jane grew into a gorgeous woman. At eighteen, she knew that she was captivating. She could walk into any restaurant and have her food paid for by men who admired her. She worked hard. Every month she hardly made enough to survive. One day, she woke up to the realization that she was not making her most important asset work in her favor. Her beauty was something she could use to advance herself financially. She then decided to embark on a strategy to hook a rich man so that she could forever be free from not having enough money.
With her new plan in mind, she began to ask her girlfriends questions on how they thought she could accomplish her goal. Each person had a different idea, but basically they all agreed that she had to somehow make sure she was where the rich men were. After all, if she wasn’t around rich man, how would they even know she existed? Jane embarked on an all out effort to discover where the rich people ate their meals. She researched on where the rich people spent their vacations. Jane made a list of the stores that were frequented by rich people. She was determined to catch herself a rich husband. Her plan was not one that could be carried out quickly, it took time. It took effort. She knew that she had to be very thrifty so that she could save up enough money to be able to go to these places where she would be able to rub shoulders with these rich people.
Her friends thought it was all a wild fantasy, but they didn’t discourage Jane from her goals. Jane determined to not let anything stand in her path. A rich man is what she wanted and a rich man is what she was going to have!
After two years, Jane had saved up a couple thousand dollars. She made sure she had clothes that were appropriate for the places she was going to frequent. She then enlisted two of her other girlfriends to go with her to various restaurants that she knew would be places where she could potentially meet the man of her hopes and dreams….”

“Mom, this Jane sounds like a calculating….”

“Melody, just wait and listen to the whole story before you pass your judgment!” Mrs. Barker rebuked her daughter, then she continued, “It was on one of the nights that she was sitting at a large table with her two girlfriends, Lily and Marie, that a waiter walked up to her table with a drink. He put the drink in front of Jane and told her that the gentleman at the table across the room had sent the drink to her. Jane glanced at the man at the table. Her heart sank. The man that was looking across at her was an elderly gentleman. Yes, she was all in favor of marrying a rich man, and even a rich old man would be fine, but this man was ancient in her eyes. She was a mere twenty two years old and this man had to be at least fifty if not more! Jane ducked her head and whispered frantically to her friends that she wanted to leave as soon as possible.
A few days passed and she chose a different place to eat at, this time she was alone. She had just sat down when a young, lanky man stood over her. He looked familiar; she had seen him at one of the other places. She knew he was wealthy. He asked if he could join her. She felt thrilled that at least this time someone a bit younger was paying attention to her. Now this was more like it. Her enthusiasm was short lived as this young man was a complete bore. Jane couldn’t wait to finish her meal and exit the restaurant as soon as possible. The only productive thing from that evening was she had gotten a free meal.
Jane let a few more days go by before she went out again with her friends. This time she went to a high end night club. Her research had told her that this was where anyone of any importance was to be found. Her beauty gave her a free pass into the club and once inside she began to dance to her heart’s content. She almost forgot why she was there. Jane twirled around and was totally unaware that the same older gentleman was watching her. He watched her intently. He had never seen someone so beautiful in all his life. As she moved on the dance floor, she appeared to be the only one there. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. If he had been married and had children, this angelic being could have been one of his daughters. He knew she was ridiculously young but he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He slipped away without her even knowing that he had been her captive audience.
Now it was his turn to do some homework. He went back into his big offices and ordered his personal assistants to find out about this young girl. When they threw up their hands in despair, suggesting that this was like finding a needle in a haystack, he told them that was what he was paying them for. Find her, that is all there is to it. The assistants tracked her down to the club, they asked questions, but no one seemed to know who she was. Finally they got a hold of the waiter who had brought her the drink from their boss. The waiter said that she was someone who came in often, but he wasn’t sure who she was either. Her name was Jane. That was all they seemed to know about her. Their boss was not to be discouraged. He was determined to find his Cinderella, if he had to search through all the night spots in town.
He was not one who went out to eat unless it was for business. Now every night he was found at a different restaurant trying to see if he could catch a glimpse of his dream girl. She seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and now to have disappeared into nothingness. This rich business man who could command thousands of workers to do his bidding was left feeling very inadequate. He had never been married and never wanted to be married. He always figured there was no need to be married when he could have his pick of any beautiful woman. Now as he thought about this young woman that he only knew as Jane, he couldn’t help but think of her by his side for the rest of his life. He would try and shake himself and get the cobwebs out of his head, but thoughts of her would come flittering back into his brain spinning new captivating webs.
Finally, one night as he sat at a table with some business associates, he glanced towards the door and saw Jane walk in alone. She was ushered to a table near the picture window overlooking a beautiful lake. This time he was not going to leave his fate to some waiter. He would walk over to Jane’s table and introduce himself. He couldn’t help himself. Excusing himself to his associates, he walked across the room towards the woman of his dreams.
Jane was looking out the window. She had become tired of her search for a rich man to marry. So far all the men she had met were jerks. At least she had determined that whether a man was rich or poor they could be equally stupid. A gruff voice interrupted her thoughts, and when she turned to see who was talking to her, she was shocked to see the same old man who had sent her the drink weeks ago. He asked if he could sit down and she figured there was no harm in allowing him to do so.
‘I noticed you across the restaurant. Actually, I’ve noticed you before, and if you remember I sent you a drink once.” This great man fumbled with his words.
Jane felt sorry for him. He just seemed so unsure of himself. She felt she needed to put him at ease.
‘Yes, I do remember you.”
She remembered. That made him so happy. It didn’t matter to him what she remembered, only the fact that she had remembered. He couldn’t think of what else to say.
‘What are you doing here?’ Did he just ask her what she was doing here? He wondered why he knew what to say in big corporate board meetings but found himself at loss for words in front of this young, beautiful girl.
‘I’m looking for a rich husband.’ Jane’s laughter bubbled over. Her audacity attracted him all the more.
‘I’m rich and I’ve been looking for you all my life.’ The rich man said.
‘You are too old for me; I want a rich man, maybe a little younger than you.’ She smiled and laughed at her own boldness. It felt good to be able to be honest. She was surprised that her openness had not scared this man away. He was equally surprised that he was willing to put up with her straightforward manner.
‘How old do you think I am?’
‘Oh, you are probably in your fifties.’
‘Now I don’t know whether to be offended …. I’m only forty-five….’ He was laughing as he responded to her. Maybe the years of stress and work had made him appear older to this young lady. Now he was defending his age.
‘Wow! Forty-five, I could live with that!’ Jane teased. ‘How old do you think I am?’
‘Well, you look around twenty-five.’ He answered.
‘Nope, I’m twenty-two. I’m probably as old as one of your daughters.’
‘Wrong again. I don’t have any children.’ Now the rich business man felt confident. He felt like he was at a negotiating table and he had gotten the upper hand. He could see that his answer had unnerved her.
‘Why have you never been married?’ Jane asked.
‘I’ve been too busy making money and waiting for you to come into my life.’ Even he knew that was a great line. He was right; it went straight into Jane’s heart like an arrow from Cupid’s quiver. No one had ever told her that they were waiting for her to come into their life. Many men had admired her when she walked in front of them, but she felt like she was a piece of merchandise. This man was telling her that she was someone so precious that he had actually been waiting for her to come into his life. For once, Jane was speechless. All her plans seem to disintegrate in front of her. Even if at that moment this man sitting across from her said that he was as poor as a church mouse, she would probably say that it didn’t matter.
‘I’ve been looking for you, Jane.’
‘How do you know my name?’
‘I know your name because I’ve been trying to find you. You have captivated my heart and I want to get to know you more.’
Jane tried to shake herself out of the dream world she was in. This type of thing didn’t happen to her. He had something up his sleeve.
‘You mean you want to sleep with me, well forget it, I’m not that kind of girl.’ Her voice cut into his heart like a knife.
‘Ouch! You know how to hurt a guy. Well, eventually I do plan to sleep with you, but for now I want to get to know you and I want to spend the rest of my life getting to know you. I want you to be part of my life.’ He couldn’t believe what he was saying. He didn’t even know who this girl was. He knew nothing but her name. How could he be telling her he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her?
Jane looked at him. She searched in his eyes. She could see only good things there. She saw warmth and comfort and love. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She knew this was the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. Jane felt a warm feeling moving all over her body. It was a feeling that she had never felt before. She reached across the table and took the man’s hand, ‘Let me introduce myself, my name is Jane King.’
‘It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss King. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mr. Daniel Barker.’”

“Mother! No, it isn’t true! You can’t be telling me that the story was about you and daddy?? I won’t believe it.” Melody exclaimed.

“What don’t you believe? That I was once a gold digger? Or that your father and I could have fallen in love almost at first sight?” Jane stood up and walked over to the window facing the gardens. “Your father and I have been madly in love all these years dear and it doesn’t matter that that love didn’t start in the normal conventional manner that most love stories start.”

“But….how about the stories I’ve always heard of your rich parents dying at sea and daddy taking you under his wing and you both falling in love as you grew older?”

“What were we to tell our young daughter? Honey, your mommy was a gold digger and your daddy was an old man that fell in love with this young girl who he didn’t even know.” Jane turned to look at her daughter. She realized that as she had told the story to her for the first time that she wished she had told her sooner. There was nothing to be ashamed of a beautiful love story that brought two people together. Two people whose love grew every day of the twenty- four years that they had known each other. She loved her husband more now than she had ever before.

Jane heard a noise near the entrance and turned to see who it was. Her heart jumped within her as she saw her husband walk through the door. She could never get used to how her heart would leap when she saw him. Daniel’s eyes brightened as he caught sight of his beautiful wife. He was across the room before she could blink and he swept her up in his arms. She melted into him. Jane peeked up at her husband’s face and smiled.

“What are you smiling about?”

“Us.”

“What do you mean?”

“We have an extraordinary love story and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”



Word count: 3,286