Two weeks after Veronica punished Greg for not appointing his adjudication panel member Veronica met Greg's pick. It was clear that He had picked a natural enemy for Angelica. Gwendolyn Hennessy was a conservative member of the state legislature. She routinely advocated for family values, and really believed in her cause. Veronica had been prepared to accept that as a lie until they met at the golf course on Sunday morning.
Her children at twelve and fourteen had come to learn about riding and carting. This specific move by Greg had caught everybody by surprise as he found twenty Shetland Ponies and asked a local engineering company to make little carriages to be pulled by them. Cart racing was a fairly big gambling sport. But as a way for a family picnic and a hobby it was novel. What this idea was doing was to turn the club into a viable civic interest company.
There were horse trails and carriage tracks being set all over the farm with private and semi-private picnic spots as well as open spots being put up. Officially Gwendolyn had come to see what was happening in her constituency and to give her children a new experience. Greg drove the carriage as Gwen sat next to Veronica and chatted.
She had made it clear that she knew all about Greg from his correspondence and by reputation. She knew his intention and had suggested an interesting option to reduce divorce rates. She wanted to know about Veronica. She also understood that in the dispensation of the relationship Greg and Veronica had he was of lesser status and the power was with Veronica.
"Did you write those essays and arguments and just have Greg send them?"
"No, Greg is way ahead of us Gwen. He evolves those arguments in his novels in fact. For some reason he decided to love me. Then he approached me with what he wanted."
"Why not just get married and just have this in private?"
"We are both concerned about the way families are broken up. It is one thing we agree on. Although how to save marriages has a somewhat different approach to the accepted ways in the industry. Our most fervent desire is to have a marriage that succeeds. We both understand that the two people involved are seldom the best suited to understand if they should get married. As such the first idea here is to convince a panel that a marriage is likely to work. We could call that an adjudicated marriage. Should three accomplished people consider a successful marriage likely then we should be confident the marriage will stand the test of time. We think it's too easy to get married in the first place."
Gwen looked at Veronica openly curious. Greg had not put that weddings were too easy to arrange. She was not parroting Greg unless he had an incredibly broad ability to argue a point. What she was getting here was a different starting point for a similar intended destination. Putting thoughts of criminal charges aside for now she decided to find out more about this. The idea of adjudicated marriages was intriguing. Greg had not brought that idea up either.
"So the idea is that both of you are skilled psychologists and want to try to find a better way to get married and to be able to stay married. I need to tell you that even the Bible has a divorce law. It's a formidable task."
"Yes but it is an effort. It won't be fool proof, but forcing two people to speak about each other to a panel will drive them to look at each other openly without glands getting in the way. It will mean they go down the aisle with a more mature understanding of each other. It will mean that their commitment will have been tested because the panel, well this panel Greg and I are putting together is formidable and challenging. If it becomes a thing the adjudication boards need to be the most formidable in the area. Marriages are set in the challenge Gwen that is why so many fail, they were not challenged before the two said I Do. When the challenges hit then, they suddenly cannot stand."
Gwen considered what Veronica said and thought about her own marriage that failed. Yes, it had not been able to withstand the strain of her working in Raleigh while he was in Grantsboro. She remembered her own failed marriage. The four years she and her ex-husband had dated had been no test. The year they were engaged had not been any sort of test because both were from affluent families and work in the family businesses had been easy. The test came when she decided to run for state legislature, and he was supportive until it came to the campaigning. Then he had issues with costs, time, and publicity. She lost that campaign because he sued for divorce a week before the election.
"I can agree about that. But this idea of Greg's is too radical. What will he do when he realizes it can't happen?"
"He's not insane Gwen. Far from it, he knows it can't happen. He cannot give me his rights and I cannot own him, he knows that. But he is a romantic too, he wants to love and he wants a marriage where I have the power. Some of that is also a very cold realization of what he is like with power. The mere fact that he knows he will be a nightmare as the head of a family is telling of his incredible judgement."
"If I may interject Mistress?" Greg asked from the driver seat ahead of the two women.
"Yes, speak your mind." Veronica said.
"I have no problem with being the head of the family. I have a problem with the head setting policy and direction. We follow our hearts to be happy. Why not follow the heart of our families to be happy families? I'll happily be the head working out how to achieve objectives, that's just management, but the direction, the humanity; that needs to be at the heart of our marriage and with you."
Both Veronica and Gwendolyn considered this. This was something Gwendolyn could actually get her constituents to buy. The idea that the wife was the heart of the family. The term, Happy Wife Happy life, was a more cynical expression of this.
