The Royal Couple: A Christian Romance (Royals Book 1) Page 18

  Barbara smiled at William and slid her hand into his. “Definitely friends, Wills.”

  William returned her smile. “What’re your plans for tonight?”

  “I go to church most Wednesday nights. That’s where I’m headed tonight.”

  “May I accompany you to church?” he asked.

  She blinked rapidly in surprise. “Sure,” she replied.

  “What time should I pick you up?”

  “Service typically begins at 6:30 p.m.”

  William smiled. “I’ll be at your building at ten past six.”

  “Okay, Lord William Lamport, I’ll see you later then.”

  Chapter 18

  William collected Barbara at 6:10 p.m. sharp, as promised.

  He ushered her to her seat on the right hand before he got into the driver’s seat. She was impressed, as usual, by his gallantry. How many men did that these days? He was a class act that was for sure.

  During the service, Barbara used her tablet while William used his Bible. It was taking him such a long time to find the scriptural references Rev. Fulbright was making that Barbara leaned over and whispered, “Why don’t you use your tablet?”

  William briefly glanced across at her and then continued searching his Bible as he whispered, “My Grandmother gave me this Bible for my 30th birthday. I think it’s about time I started reading it, don’t you?”

  How could she argue with that? Witnessing firsthand the power of God at work in William’s life was an amazing thing.

  After the service was over they drove in comfortable silence to The Breslin, the British restaurant that William had recommended. The atmosphere immediately reminded Barbara of the pub where William had taken her on the first day they’d met. She wondered if he had brought her there to produce feelings of nostalgia. If that was the case, his plan had worked.

  “How was the service?” she asked after they’d ordered their meals and she sat sipping lemon-flavored water.

  “It was actually quite interesting.”

  “Really? I thought you were put off. You asked Rev. Fulbright plenty of provocative questions.”

  He nodded. “Some of this is so new to me. In this age of relativism the concept of absolute truth seemed, well, so absolute. But when Rev. Fulbright provided the scriptural references to back up what he was saying it all began to make sense. There are absolute truths all around us. I guess it’s easier to deny them, then it means that you can create a truth that’s convenient for you –”

  “–and not abide by the truth of God’s word, right? I know. Don’t get me started on that. That has been my position for the last two years and I’ve gained many enemies because of it.”

  “I can see why you defend your position so passionately. Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life. I found that one very compelling. So does that mean that all those people from other religions who claim to love people and do good works are going to Hell, Barbara? That’s what I found a little difficult to understand, I guess.”

  “Once, someone asked me if all those peaceful Tibetan monks would be going to Hell. All I could tell them was that the Bible says there is only one way to Heaven. If you choose another way then you can’t get there. You may be loving, peaceful, and kind but that’s not the way to get to Heaven. There’s nothing that we can do on our own that can save us. No good deed or kind act. We can’t buy our way into Heaven. We are sinners and in need of a savior and if we don’t believe on that Savior and accept His sacrifice then we are all doomed. That’s how I still feel, William. That’s why as good as converting to Judaism was, it was not enough to save me. I had to look to the Messiah to do that.”

  William smiled at her. “So do you want to tell me a bit more about how you became a Jew? Was it because of your marriage to Salzman?”

  Before Barbara could respond the waiter appeared at their table with the appetizers. She did a good job of hiding her astonishment when William reached across the table and asked, “May I bless the meal?”

  After his short prayer, she picked up her fork and said, “Yes and no to your question. Gerald and I started out as friends. I was producing my first movie. It was a romance called The Christmas Tree.”

  William nodded and brought a forkful of smoked eggplant to his lips. “That was a very good movie.”

  “The film was well made, I’ll agree. And there were positive themes about family and friendship and love. Unfortunately, I can take no pride in it now because it glorified premarital sex. Anyway, that’s in the past. As I was saying, I had hired Gerald to do the musical score. We hit it off. I could tell that he was attracted to me but I didn’t encourage him. I knew that I didn’t feel the same way. I was interested in his religion, though. My grandmother was Jewish. I didn’t know her at all. She died before I was born. I was at a period of life when I was searching. I decided to try to connect with my Jewish heritage. I began studying Judaism and Gerald was a wealth of knowledge. We began spending more and more time together and soon we became romantically involved.

  Barbara’s thoughts drifted to the day Gerald had confessed to her that while he loved her deeply he could not marry a gentile woman. In response, she had eagerly agreed to convert to Judaism. This decision had deeply hurt her mother and she had refused to attend her Jewish wedding.

  She had told Barbara that she had taken a significant step away from God. Barbara had shot back, “My grandmother was a Jew, Mom. I’m just getting in touch with my Jewish heritage, that’s all. Besides, the Jews are God's chosen people. I thought that you would be happy for me.”

  Her mother had responded quietly, “Barbara, your grandmother’s heritage was Jewish, her religion wasn’t. Your father told me that he was raised in a Christian home. Honey, Gerald is still waiting for the Messiah to come. The Messiah has already come. He came, he suffered and he died for you. To deny his existence would be a grave error. It is through him alone that we are redeemed. Jesus said ‘I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.’ I love you sweetheart, and I will keep praying for you, but I cannot be present to watch you make the worst decision of your life.”

  She and Gerald were so happy the first year and a half of their marriage. It was a different, quieter love to what she had experienced with William. There weren’t all the bells and whistles. But she did love him.

  Then things began happening in her life that brought her to her knees. When she and Gerald began trying to have children and were unsuccessful they soon discovered that Gerald was infertile. He was diagnosed with azoospermia, a condition where sperm production is severely limited or absent.

  For as long as she could remember, Barbara had dreamed of being a mother. The reality that she would never have that pleasure was devastating for her, yet it didn't seem as though it had affected Gerald in the same way. Even when the doctor suggested that it might be possible for them to still have a child with the appropriate surgery and post op procedure, he rejected the idea outright. His reasoning was that if God wanted him to be a father then he wouldn’t have azoospermia.

  And then she starred in a movie that was a box office flop. She had gone against her better judgment and on the advice of her agent agreed to do a superhero movie. It was to be a summer blockbuster. Instead, plagued by a myriad of problems from day one, it ended up being an over budget disaster that lost money for the studio.

  All Barbara had known up until then was success. In fact, the media had nicknamed her Queen Midas, saying that she had the golden touch. She didn’t know how to cope with failure and it shook her confidence. In the meantime Gerald’s career was soaring. He was in demand and he couldn’t seem to relate to how she felt. They began to fight and bicker, and soon Gerald buried himself in his work and was largely non-communicative.

  Barbara began to despair over the state of her marriage and went to stay with her mother. It was her mother and sisters who rescued her. Her sisters came to visit and they all prayed for her and comforted her with the word of G
od.

  Barbara finally realized that she could not reject the truth of the Gospel. She could not reject Jesus. There was no other Messiah out there. He paid the price. He alone had the power to save. He was her only hope, the only one who could take away her pain. She recognized that God was pursuing her, and that she needed Him. She gave her life to Christ and she was filled with such hope and peace that she knew that nothing else mattered. Not her career, her dreams, her possessions. Nothing. She just desired to do the will of Christ and have him lead her where He wanted.

  She sought reconciliation with her husband. They received counselling and gradually things began to improve, they began to get close again. However, there was still the issue of their religious affiliations. Barbara was going to church while Gerald was going to synagogue. He was celebrating Chanukah, while she was celebrating Christmas. Eventually, however, by praying for him, loving him and showing him the power of Christ at work in her, she was able to get through to Gerald and he finally accepted Christ as his savior. Then, a month later, she received the news that the plane in which Gerald was travelling to Madrid, a trip that she had to cancel because of a stomach flu, had crashed. There were no survivors.

  Barbara looked over at William now. He looked pensive as he ate. She wondered if she should ask the question which had been playing on her mind. She was afraid to because she didn’t want to get too personal with William. She wanted to keep things nice and casual between them. Already talking about Gerald had taken them to a level of intimacy that she hadn’t expected.

  “I’ve got some exciting news for you,” he said, breaking into her thoughts.

  “What’s that?”

  “I sold two gala tables this week.”

  “Wow! You have been a busy boy.”

  He smiled. “Anything for you. I’ve got a suggestion to make, though. I was talking with some people about the Foundation, and I realized that, while there is some awareness of the work it does, quite a few people don’t know about it. You need to market it some more. In addition to the traditional marketing strategies you already employ you should also launch a social media marketing program. If you’d like I can get you a consultant who’ll do that. I’d be happy to pay his fee.”

  “Thank you, William. That’s such a great idea! I probably do need someone dedicated to marketing the Foundation. Thanks for your offer, but I think I can afford to pay the consultant with the money we’ve raised.”

  She paused. She could feel the Holy Spirit prompting her to go on. “Um, William, there is something that I would like you to do for me, though. It pertains to my production company.”

  “Go on.”

  “Well, you know I told you that I’m working on a project about Jacob and his sons, called Israel, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well. I’ve pretty much raised $10 million so far but I need more.”

  “Okay.”

  “What I’m saying, well asking, is would you be willing to invest $10 million in the movie?” she said the last part all in a rush and then darted a glance at him, biting her bottom lip.

  “Do you have a business plan?”

  Barbara nodded. “Of course.”

  “I’d like to see it. I want to send it to certain members of my senior management team, get their opinions.”

  “Sure, that’s no problem at all. Is a soft copy okay? Because I can email it to you right now.”

  “That’s fine. Go ahead.”

  Barbara pulled her tablet from her bag and in a few minutes sent William the business plan.

  “Okay, I just sent it.”

  William nodded. “I’ll read it tomorrow and get back to you.”

  “Okay. I hope it meets with you and your team’s approval. I’m surprised you’d have to send it to them. Isn’t that a decision you can make on your own?”

  William smiled at her and leaned forward so that she was staring right into the twin oceans of his eyes.

  “I can in fact make every decision on my own. It’s my company. I like to get their input though, that’s why I pay them, to advise me. Besides, I’ve never invested in film before. This would be new territory for Lamport Holdings. I need to have an idea of the risks involved. While Lamport Holdings is a private company I still owe it to the thousands of people we employ to ensure that I’m making wise business decisions.”

  He must have noticed her deflated expression because he said, “Hey, don’t look so down. Relax. Personally, I think it would be a good area for Lamport Holdings to move into.”

  “Really? Why do you say that?”

  He took a sip of his red wine. “It represents new territory and further diversification for Lamport, and diversification can be good for business. Case in point, a decade ago the Waldorf Hotel was up for sale. I had just started working for Lamport Holdings when I suggested to dad that we buy the hotel. He told me to do my research and bring a proposal to him and the management team. So I did my homework, I did the analysis and I suggested to them that we should purchase the hotel chain for a couple of reasons. One, we had operations in all of the cities in which the Waldorf had branches. Some of the staff managing the overseas operations had been posted there from headquarters in London. I argued that instead of paying exorbitant monthly or yearly fees leasing apartments and condos, not to mention renting hotel rooms for short stays, we could pay that money into our own business.

  “Second, research has shown that real estate fits well as part of a portfolio because it has several qualities that can enhance the return of a larger portfolio. I won’t bore you with the technical jargon but essentially this is basically an investment strategy that aims to balance risk and reward. Real estate income tends to increase faster in inflationary environments.

  “Next, the Waldorf already had a great track record and a recognizable brand which we could capitalize upon. It was already well managed and we could maintain many of the staffers.

  “There were other arguments I proffered, of course, but the bottom line was that management was sold. As CEO, dad didn’t need their approval to accept my proposal. However, I think he wanted to show me, even then, that I needed to clearly analyze matters, as well as be accountable. He also wanted me to gain the team’s respect and trust. I have been able to do that by consistently involving them in the process and by producing results. By the way, the Waldorf is one of our consistent top revenue earners, a close second to Lamport Financial Corp.”

  Barbara’s admiration was evident on her face. “Impressive stuff.”

  “Now, in terms of your proposal, I know I haven’t seen your business plan yet, but I believe in you and I have no doubt that my team will too. In any case, I make the final decision. Based on your track record I’m quite confident that the decision will be yes.”

  Barbara was floored. “Thank you. I appreciate your support. I wasn’t aware that you knew about my track record in business.”

  William smiled. “Yes, I admit I’ve been following your career. I know that you began Barman Films four years ago and then changed the name and focus to Changing Lives Films. I know that you’ve made four films, three of which were Christian films, all small budget and they’ve brought in substantially more than they cost to make. The last three were targeted at the Christian demographic. Now, either the Christian demographic has increased since I last checked or you’re skilled at what you do. I’m willing to bet it’s the latter. So just imagine what you’d be able to do with a bigger budget and a greater publicity campaign. I’d say the sky would be the limit.”

  Barbara could feel the heat rise to her face. She looked down at the table. She couldn’t believe that he knew all that she’d been doing over the years. She felt so overwhelmed in the face of this knowledge that she gulped and was silent for a few moments. Eventually, she recovered her composure but even then she didn’t feel that she could trust herself to meet his eyes when she said softly, “Thanks for your confidence, William.”

  The waiter came to clear away their empties and
William paused until he left. Then he said, “So, I understand that you’ve done some investing?”

  Barbara cleared her throat and nodded. “Yes. Early on in my career I decided that I needed to have a back-up plan if acting petered out. I was seeing too many actors who had spent their paychecks on fast living and then when their careers took a nose dive were practically living on the streets. As you know, I didn’t grow up well off so I knew what that was like. I didn’t want to go there again. I got a financial advisor and I started investing some of my earnings in several companies that I considered to be lucrative or potentially lucrative. Those have panned out fairly well, especially the tech startups like WhatsApp and Mobli. I also endorse a line of fitness wear for Nike, a make-up line for Cover Girl and I launched a perfume called ‘Barbie Girl’ about three years ago. Last year I followed up that with ‘Barbie Girl Remix’. Both fragrances are pretty popular. And of course there is the Changing Lives Film Company which you already know about.”

  William nodded appreciatively. “Brilliant. So you already know about diversification. You could have told me to shut up.”

  They laughed together.

  “I actually enjoyed listening to you. There is still a lot I don’t know about finance and investment. You’re a wealth of knowledge.”

  “Anytime you need advice all you need to do is whistle. You do know how to whistle don’t you?”

  Barbara grinned. “Hey, that’s supposed to be my line.”

  William held up his hands in surrender. “Forgive me. Go right ahead.”

  Barbara took on a sultry look and appeared to channel Lauren Bacall as she said in a low husky voice. “You know you don’t have to act with me, Wills, you don’t have to do anything, and you don’t have to say anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just…whistle. You know how to whistle don’t you, Wills? You just put your lips together...and blow.”

  William gave a low whistle. “That was fantastic. I can see once again why millions flock to movie theatres to see you. You just awoke a desire in me...” he said in a low intimate tone.