Weird Proposals

[arewethereyet]

In the early-mid 80s I dated a man for a while who was considerably older than me.  That was unusual in itself as I tend to go for younger guys (husband is nearly eight years younger).

This man was British, a news reporter, handsome, financially secure, and liked to party.  We met in the bar of The Copper Queen Hotel in Bisbee, AZ.  He had a house that jutted out of the side of one of the foothills in town.  I had two daughters at the time and he had a young son who he was trying to gain custody of.  

He totally wined and dined me and it was like a fairy tale.  He proposed rather quickly but I wasn't quite ready for marriage that soon after the death of my first husband.  In pretty short order I found out that his desire for a wife was in large part to have someone available to step in and care for his son should he get called to report on a story.  I started to wonder if his life story was accurate.  Had he really been a reporter in Viet Nam?  Had he really been a reporter in Hollywood?  Was he really a reporter covering all things nefarious on both sides of the Arizona/Mexico border?

I walked away.  

A few months ago I found information about him online and yes, his stories were true.  Yes, he was well known in the world of journalism.  Yes, he did end up raising his son with someone else.

It sounded too good to be true - but a lot of it was true - and I walked away.  Damnit man.

edit - he shared in the winning of a Pulitzer Prize with a team of reporters