Signed & Sealed

E L E V E N - A Comforting Presence

Happy reading, Sade xx

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IT APPEARED as if her son's new relationship status was the talk of the town. Walking into the headquarters of the City Women's Association she could hear the shallow murmurs of the members as she made her way into one of the tea rooms to attend the meeting.

Isabelle never liked attending these gatherings; truthfully she did not care much to be a member either. The women were so haughty and inflexible to the changes in modern society. She was first approached by one of her husband's associates with the invitation to join at the time their company starting gaining ground. Not wanting to shut down future business proposals Isabelle took one for the team and went ahead to become a member.

She was not an active member by any means, but she did her fair share to contribute and support causes which she felt a connection too. Very little could be said about the other representatives who were more concerned about their own social status than doing well by society.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Barbara swiftly approaching from her direction dressed in one of her signature cropped blazer and skirt combinations. Isabelle resisted rolling her eyes; it was way too early in the day to be dealing with this woman.

"Isabelle, I'm so glad you came," her voice too chirpy for the morning time.

Reminding herself that she was surrounded by bored women who spread gossip faster than the plague she faked a smile.

"Yes, I enjoy assisting in campaigns dealing with the city's orphans and unprivileged youth."

"Oh yes, the meeting," Barbara remembered, confirming Isabelle's suspicion that she did not approach her to talk shop, "I wanted to talk more about our children who now seem to be acquainted with each other."

Braving a smile, she turned towards Barbara. Clearly, this was not the appropriate time or place to discuss that topic.

"Well our children are adults and are perfectly capable of making decisions for themselves," Isabelle replies curtly.

"Then I guess I'd be seeing a lot more you," Barbara was so giddy, she resembled an over-excited Chihuahua about to get it's favourite treat.

"I wouldn't bank on that," she let out as she made her way towards the refreshment cart.

She had barely spoken to the women and already felt like she needed a strong espresso after. It seemed apparent to her that Charlotte's relationship with her mother was strained to say the least. The obvious look of shock on her and Barbara's faces when seeing each other at the gala fed into her suspicions. Now she was not the type of person to pry to other's personal lives, that much; but if she happened to come across some information during a conversation, who was she to overlook the facts?

DAYS had passed since the news of her 'current relationship' littered the pages of almost every tabloid she could name. The odd journalist would still call or send an email or two requesting an interview or asking a question here or there but it seemed as her brain just switched to autopilot to give them the same answers time after time. One would think that after being brushed off so many times they would take a hint and merely leave her alone, but they persisted, nonetheless.

It constantly surprised Charlotte just how far some people were willing to go to collect the slightest bit of information from her.

Getting over the overwhelming amount of attention she received went a lot smoother than she expected, but maybe Nicolas had something to do with that. She was well-aware he possessed a team of publicists and other PR related individuals at hand to dispose of any unnecessary or other image tarnishing information which floated around.While she was eternally grateful he could somewhat control the span of how far the stories were spun, she found that his presence and constant reassurance that the whole ordeal would soon breeze over was oddly comforting to her.