Chapter 2 - Isabella’s New World
When Nicholas first met Isabella Bellamy, she was not embarrassed by his work clothes.
She had been standing beside a damaged tire on a rainy road, arguing with a roadside assistance operator. Nicholas pulled over, changed the tire, and refused the money she offered him.
“You’ll ruin your shirt,” she said.
“It’s already ruined.”
She laughed, and Nicholas fell in love with the sound.
For the first few years of their marriage, they lived quietly. Isabella taught art at an elementary school, and Nicholas divided his time between construction sites and Northstar’s growing operations.
They ate dinner in a small kitchen, took weekend drives, and talked about having children.
When Mackenzie was born, Nicholas believed his life was complete.
But as Northstar expanded, Isabella changed.
It began with invitations.
Charity dinners.
Private clubs.
Luxury vacations with her cousins.
She left teaching and joined her mother’s social foundation, an organization funded almost entirely through donations from Northstar executives.
Nicholas attended events when necessary, but he hated performing wealth. He drove the same truck for twelve years and wore suits only when business demanded it.
Isabella began to notice the difference between him and the husbands of her friends.
Those men displayed their success.
Nicholas hid his.
At one charity dinner, Isabella leaned close to him.
“Couldn’t you buy a better watch?”
“This one belonged to Walter.”
“It looks cheap.”
“It isn’t valuable because of the price.”
She rolled her eyes.
Frank’s influence made everything worse.
He frequently reminded Isabella that she had married below her family’s status. This was absurd, considering Northstar had quietly rescued Bellamy Construction from bankruptcy twice, but Frank measured men by appearance.
Nicholas looked like a worker.
Therefore, Frank considered him one.
Isabella stopped defending her husband.
Soon, she began participating in the jokes.
When the heating system failed during Thanksgiving, Nicholas repaired it while the family ate dessert.
Isabella’s cousin called into the basement, “Try not to charge us holiday rates!”
Everyone laughed.
Even Isabella.
Nicholas heard her from beneath the furnace.
That night, as they drove home, Mackenzie slept in the back seat.
Nicholas asked, “Do you think the way your family speaks to me is acceptable?”
Isabella stared out the window.
“They’re joking.”
“Jokes are supposed to be funny to everyone.”
“You’re too sensitive.”
“I don’t want Mackenzie learning that this is how people treat someone who works with his hands.”
Isabella finally looked at him.
“Maybe she wouldn’t hear those jokes if you stopped dressing like their maintenance man.”
The sentence remained between them for the rest of the drive.
Nicholas could have told her that his personal ownership in Northstar was worth more than everything her family had ever possessed.
But wealth was not the point.
Respect was.
If Isabella only respected a number in a bank account, then revealing the number would not repair their marriage.
It would only hide the damage.
So Nicholas said nothing.
He hoped she would remember the man she had loved before she cared what strangers thought of his watch.
Instead, Isabella moved further into the world her father had built for her.
May you like
A world paid for by Nicholas.
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