Free Love and Chaos by Elizabeth Powers

of the aircraft. She had intended
on working for most of the flight home, but between the busy week and her own
exhausted emotional state she actually managed to sleep for a couple of hours.
When she woke up, she reached for the newspaper that she'd picked up at an
airport kiosk in hopes of catching up on the news.
    Ah,
world news. Depressing. Local news. Depressing and not really pertinent to her.
By the time she'd made it through the front section, Emma was looking forward
to the lighter inserts. Book reviews. Entertainment. Anything but politics,
disasters, and killing in the name of religion. An article on indoor dog parks
caught her attention, and she briefly wondered how Chaos would do in that kind
of situation. He would be suspiciously wondering where the squirrels were
hanging out, and not pleased if he didn’t smell anything to chase.
    Flipping
the page, she glanced at the headlines. She was just about to turn the page
again when something in the middle of a column caught her eye. FINANCIAL MOGUL
MARRIES. And a photo of Mason followed. And oh, dear God, there was her name.
Oh no. Oh no. Closing her eyes tightly, she willed the story to disappear, but
when she opened them again, the story was still there. Oh no. OK, at least
there was no photo of her, she thought. So the chances of anyone back home
actually reading about this were slim. Unless, of course, their local paper
devoted more space to the story. Emma forced herself to breathe deeply, not
wanting to upset her seat mate into thinking that she was having a heart
attack, but also not wanting to actually have a heart attack.
    OK,
she thought. Mom and Dad won’t see this. Gran might. People at work definitely
would. So she needed a plan. First, she needed to read the rest of the article
to see how bad this was. She grabbed her plastic cup of ginger ale, took a
healthy swallow, then refocused on the story.
    Not
as bad as it could be, she thought when she finished. Her name was in there. So
was her occupation, but just ‘lawyer.’ Most of the article was dedicated to her
new husband - his business acumen, his charitable contributions, his family
background. And a whole paragraph on his dating history - now there was
some interesting reading! Wow. He’d dated a whole slew of women, Emma thought.
And none of them, not one, was anything close to who she was. Wow. A
supermodel. A Hollywood actress. Several society women. The daughter of a
famous politician. Geez.
    Emma
folded the paper and leaned back in her seat. Not that she needed a reminder of
how unsuited the two of them were, but this was a clear indication that she was
a business decision, not a decision of the heart. Or anything lower, Emma
thought with amusement. Compared to the perfect tens that these other women
were, particularly when they were all glammed up, Emma figured she was about a
six. Slightly above average in the looks department, but nothing like these
other women. It was a wonder that Mason was willing to be associated with her
in public. And she wondered again why he was.
    Yeah,
business. She got that. But there were other gorgeous women out there he could
have married. Immediate need, and discretion. OK, she got that too. But again,
not insurmountable. Maybe Mason saw her as tractable and moldable - someone who
would never raise a stink down the road when they quietly ended their marriage.
Someone who recognized from the start how truly incompatible they were.
    By
the time the plane was getting ready to land, Emma was feeling decidedly down,
but determined to face her life. Tomorrow, she’d let her staff know about the
wedding. Calling it an elopement would make it more romantic, and thus more
acceptable. She’d talk to her parents tonight, when she went to pick up Chaos.
It was a darn good plan, she thought. Until she walked out of the gate area
toward baggage claim, and found her mother, father, and grandmother, waiting
for her outside of security. And they did not look