Shades of Deception

She showed him her business plan.

He read it and quickly signed on to assist her.

When Mark said he would relocate to New Mexico, she quickly said, "The agent managing the acquisition of the spa can find the ideal place for us."

Mark would cash in some of his stocks and bonds to help buy the health resort, put his house on the market, and the proceeds from the sale would go toward buying a new home in Albuquerque.

It was now Monday. Mark called his broker, gave him instructions to cash in most of his stocks and bonds and to wire the money to his bank. A week later, he went to the bank and had a cashier's check made out to Misty.

That evening, he asked her to marry him. With a fake shock on her face, she accepted his proposal. He then handed her an envelope, and in it was her engagement gift: A check for three hundred thousand dollars.

She kissed him and said, "Thank you, my love. You do not realize how happy you have made me!"

He said, "I do, because you've made me the happiest man on earth."

Misty mailed the check to her real estate agent and told Mark it would take a couple of months before the title to the spa would be in her possession.

He contacted his real estate agent and said, "If you can find a buyer now, I will come down on the asking price." The following week, the agent had scheduled an open house for potential buyers.

Meanwhile, Mark and Misty were celebrating their engagement and business venture. The two were eating out just about every other day, checking out some of the local nightclubs and playhouses, shopping at the strip mall, kissing, laughing and holding hands and acting like teenagers going through a puppy love phase. To say they were not having the time of their lives would have been false.

By now, talk was spreading quickly that Mark was seen flaunting around town with a woman who was young enough to be his daughter.

Some went so far to say, "He was her sugar daddy."

Yet, those who knew him well could not believe he would be attracted to someone half his age.

A few thought he was going through a mid-life crisis and the fling was just a passing moment.

Many of the women he dated, in his earlier years, wanted to know where he met this person, and who was she.

When folks found out the two were getting married and planning to live in New Mexico, everyone was at a loss for words. It was as though the cat had gotten their tongues, but soon, those tongues would be wagging faster than a dog's tail.