Complete Indelible Love Series

by Cee, DW

  Somewhere on earth, there was a man who would treat me as his first priority. When and where this man would appear, I didn’t know. What I knew was that I would hold out until I met that man.

  I broke out of my epiphany and told Max how lucky he was. “You are both blessed to have one another. I know your marriage will be an example for the rest of us.”

  “Thank you. Will Michael and his family be here? I did call and personally invite Michael, but I haven’t seen him yet.”

  “They will all be here by Friday for your dress rehearsal. Mrs. Estelle Ascot sent a personal invitation to the duke asking him to attend. Where the duke goes, the plane follows—which means, the rest of the family will be here with him.”

  “Got it.” Max smiled. This man truly made me want to ask if he could introduce me to his brothers.

  “If you don’t have any other questions, I should go see if Jane needs any more help.”

  “Thank you, Chloe. Jane would have been lost without you.”

  “It’s nothing. I am pleased I could be of help. The duke insisted I be here the entire week to make sure every part of your wedding is perfect. He’s very fond of the Reid family.”

  “And we are most grateful. If I may ask a couple more questions?”

  “Of course,” I was happy to help.

  “Are the wedding plans that much in arrears because of the change of location?”

  “Not at all. Jane and I have gone through every facet of your special day. We are ready to host your wedding.”

  “That’s what I thought. If I took my bride away from here for a night, would you be able to hold down the fort until she gets back?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “I think the longer Jane stays here, the more opportunities she has to make changes that aren’t necessary. A quick getaway may be the key to both our sanities. Any suggestions?”

  What an incredible man! Yes, this was what I wanted for myself—a man who held me at the forefront of his heart and mind.

  “Venice? Since you have the ultimate setting on land, how about a night in the floating city?”

  “You are a wealth of information. Thank you. Could you send my bride on an ‘errand’ to the train station as soon as I make all the arrangements?”

  “I sure can!”

  With the engaged couple soon to be off on their one-night getaway, and the planning in order, I had a moment to sit and drink a spot of tea. I went off to the duchess’ old sitting room that’s stayed vacant since she passed away, with my tray.

  “Miss Elizabeth. What are you doing in here by yourself?” I found Ellie hiding behind the chair.

  “Shhh!” she commanded. “Mama is looking.”

  “Are you hiding from your mom?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t wanna go nigh-nigh.”

  “Ah, it’s nap time.” I understood now why this little one thought she could hide from her mom whose steps were closing upon us.

  “Elizabeth Reid.” We heard the stern warning. “If you come out here right now, you will not be in trouble. If I have to go in and search for you, you will be in big trouble.”

  “Uh-oh! Bye.” She ran out and yelled, “Here I am, Mama!” and she ran into her mother’s arms. I followed her out.

  “Were you hiding from your nap or were you keeping Chloe company?” Elizabeth giggled in answer.

  “Daddy has James and JR on his lap, and they’ve begun reading. Don’t you want to join? I don’t know if there are any pages left for you to read. They might be done already.” Emily’s reverse psychology worked. Ellie jumped down and ran toward her room.

  “They’re reading already?” I asked in awe.

  “No.” Emily laughed. “James loves the book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and we’ve read it to the kids so many times, they’ve memorized it. The twins take turns ‘reading’ each page with JR ‘reading’ a word or two here and there. That’s our last item on the bedtime ritual.”

  “I envy you, Emily.” Those words came out more serious than intended.

  “You’ll get there soon, Chloe. I don’t think you’re far behind.”

  “I think it’ll be a very long time before I meet the man of my dreams.”

  Emily showed an understanding smile. “May I share my story with you? Perhaps that might give you hope that life is never what you’d expect and when you’d expect it.”

  What a treat. We sat to tea and Emily surprised me with her heartbreaking story of her past. I would have never thought she could have shared a love so deep with someone not her husband.

  “I loved Max and had no doubt we’d be married,” she explained with candor. “When we broke up, I never believed I could love another as profoundly as I did Max. When Jake showed up at the grocery store, he scared and excited me like no other. Within the course of a very short time, the ‘unending love’ I thought I felt for Max vanished. The same happened to Max. He thought he was still in love with me until he met Jane. In the course of a dinner, he was on his way to falling in love with his future wife.”

  “I’ve never loved that deeply, Emily. I don’t know what that feels like.”

  Emily responded. “I think you haven’t had a chance to love. Do you think Michael or Brendan might fill that role?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  My surprised friend asked, “Really?”

  “I had an epiphany tonight.” Emily waited for me to continue. “Watching Max with his bride, I decided I’m going to wait for a man who can’t see, think, feel, touch, or love anyone but me. I want to be loved like you, Jane, Laney, and Estelle. I want that type of love where almost seventy years later, the duke can’t forget his first love. I want a man to move his entire life to a different continent so he can woo me. I want a man to be so in love with me that his life stops because I’ve left him. Unless I meet that kind of man, I’ll hold off on a relationship.”

  Emily thought through what I’d just said. “How will you know if you’ve found this man without getting into a relationship with him?” She did have a point.

  “I’m unsure. I guess I’ll have to judge case by case. What I know is I’m not willing to settle, even in a relationship.”

  Emily didn’t have much more to say. She enjoyed the snacks and we spoke of the wedding.

  For me, this Reid family wedding was an eye-opener. Now that I knew what I wanted in a man, it was a matter of finding him.

  Michael: Empty Relationship

  Grandfather, Ruby and I watched the Reid family celebrate their generations-old tradition during the rehearsal dinner. Laney’s father walked up to the stage and explained, “We have a wonderful tradition in our family. It started with my father, Jerry Reid, then continued by myself and then by Jake. My father was the first to marry from his generation, and he presented my mother, Estelle, with an heirloom pearl necklace. I was the first to marry from my generation, and I very generously gifted my bride a blue garter. Now, Jake, that showoff, presented his wife with not one, but two diamonds in the category of something old and something new. My son-in-law took that challenge to new heights and my baby girl received a tiara filled with diamonds from her family, as well as her husband.”

  “What a sweet tradition.” Ruby whispered. “I think I’ll have to set my caps on a Reid. That’s an ideal family. Do you know any who are still available?”

  “Save yourself the heartache, Rubes,” was my advice for the day.

  Laney, in all her pregnant glory, took the stage next and expounded on the relationship between her, Donovan, Jane, and Max. I remembered her explaining the story to me on our way back from the States. It was all sadness then, but now, with twins on the way, there was a comical bent to her story. I was enjoying every bit of the story until I saw her husband take the stage and kiss her with the love of a besotted man. The tenderness in each other’s expression was hard to stomach.

  “I thought you were ove
r Laney Taylor.” I couldn’t answer my sister.

  When Max stood up on the stand to present his bride-to-be with her gift, there wasn’t a dry eye in the audience. The one hundred fifty-two black and white picture mosaic of his gorgeous fiancée hit me like a battering ram to my heart. Here was a man who loved his woman.

  I had loved a woman that deeply. From early on, I knew Laney Reid was the woman who’d make me want to cut out a thousand diamond-shaped pictures. There was nothing I wouldn’t do, make, or buy for her. Whatever she wanted, it was hers. For the first time in my grown-up life, I was in love.

  I didn’t love her anymore. Who was I kidding? I was forced to not love her anymore. If I was honest with myself, if for some reason—like Donovan Taylor disappearing from the face of the earth—there was a chance to be with Laney again, I’d take her, babies and all. With such feelings, I guess I wasn’t completely over her, or the idea of being in love with her.

  “Your face looks to be solving EU’s monetary crisis. What’s with the heavy pondering, Brother?” My attempt to ignore didn’t pass. “What’s the matter? Laney Taylor getting to you again?” I pulled her away from the crowd to explain myself. This wasn’t what I wanted; I had no choice with her pestering.

  “All the love in this villa is making me realize how empty my life is. Twenty-six years later, I have nobody I’d like to share my life with, nobody to love.”

  “And you’d like to love Laney? A married woman with two kids on the way?”

  “Shut up, Rubes. You’re going to get me killed if you say that any louder.” My sister snorted. “It’s not Laney I’d like to love…not really. I would just like to love someone and after Laney, I wondered who’d fill her shoes.”

  “Why don’t you take a pair from Jane’s gift and see which single woman might fit into a pair? It might be as simple as that.”

  Now it was my time to snort. “I think I’ll be a little more selective than that. Plus, I’m staying away from the Reid women, except for that adorable two-year-old who has everyone wrapped around her finger.”

  “I’d like to learn her secrets. She has boys, men, girls, women, young and old, all under her spell.”

  “Hey Michael?” Jake walked over after their rehearsal festivities concluded.

  “Yes?”

  “Tomorrow morning, the men will be headed to a racetrack near Bologna to drive cars and motorcycles. Would you like to join us?”

  Max overheard our conversation and encouraged, “Please come. You’ll meet the rest of the men in our families and it should be great fun.”

  Right now, I didn’t want to be a part of any festivities. I wanted to go to my bedroom and cry the night away like some hormonal teenage girl. Rather than being buoyed away by the energy in this room, I was borderline depressed with my life.

  “Thank you, but I’ll pass. I should stay and make sure Grandfather is taken care of since Chloe is busy with the wedding.”

  “Are you sure? If it’s because of Donovan…”

  I cut off Max before he could continue. “Not to worry. I’m not running away from Donovan Taylor. Grandfather is reason number one, and Chloe is reason number two. She might need my help. I should stick around. Have a great time.”

  I walked away before Laney could see me. I didn’t want to join in the revelry.

  “Your face is going to resemble a prune if you don’t unwrinkle it. What’s the matter?” Amidst playing wedding coordinator and babysitter, it took me by surprise that Chloe saw through my inner battles.

  “Are you done? Can you get away from all the merriment?”

  She didn’t know what to do with me. She told me to wait for her in the duchess’ sitting room—one of the few rooms kept empty.

  Before heading there, I went to the kitchen and prepared a tray filled with tea and carrot cake, and informed Ruby she was in charge of taking care of our grandfather tonight.

  “Why the long face, Michael Henry Montague Bennington?”

  “God, Chloe. You sound like my mother when you put my names together like that.”

  “We’re at a wedding.”

  “And?” I tried to argue.

  “And you should have a smile glued to your face. That’s what weddings do to people.”

  “Where’s your smile?” I snapped at her happy mood.

  “It got lost somewhere after catering to seventy-five people and three little bodies. Weddings make me happy, but tired overruled happy tonight.”

  Scooting to the other edge of the sofa, I placed Chloe’s legs on my thighs, took off her shoes, and started rubbing her feet. “You would have made a formidable wedding planner. You are an impeccable hostess. Everything was perfect tonight.”

  “Thanks.” She let out a good kind of sigh; the kind that let me know she appreciated my efforts to alleviate her fatigue. “What’s the matter tonight? Was it hard watching your ex?”

  After battling with a case of cat-got-my-tongue, I tried to explain my thoughts. “What did you think of all the love in the villa tonight?”

  “I thought…” Chloe had the same problem I had. She couldn’t express herself. I saw neither a smile nor a frown. “The Reid women are deeply loved. That’s what I took away from this night.” I frowned at her sentiment. “What?” she asked.

  “Why the sadness in your eyes? It’s not as if you’ve been dumped by a Reid.”

  “I had an epiphany today, Michael.”

  “An epiphany? A bold statement, Chlo-No. Tell me about this revelation.”

  “You tell me first why you’re so down tonight.”

  “You asked earlier if it was hard watching my ex?” My childhood friend watched and waited. “When I saw her husband walk up on stage and kiss her as if she was his last breath, I realized I missed being in love.”

  “With her?” This woman was always a sharp one.

  “Maybe…no…I don’t know. I guess I realized I’d never been in love—true love—until I met Laney.” After I’d uttered those words, I knew I’d made a mistake. She was no longer my heart-to-heart companion. A blank expression was all this vivacious woman would give me from here on out. “In short, my life is empty. I’d like to find someone to love again.” I ended quickly and asked, “Your epiphany?”

  She stated clearly and succinctly, “For as long as it takes, I will wait for a man who will see me as his one true love.”

  Huh…

  Brendan: Dissecting Relationship

  Chloe gave me much to think about after leaving Florence. She was clear on her stance concerning us and a possibility of a relationship. She wanted neither to entertain nor to involve herself in anything long-distance. That pretty much cut out any chance of us becoming a couple.

  Since I graduated top of my class, I never doubted I’d do well in the financial world. Between being highly motivated to succeed and having the gift of schmoozing people, this line of work was perfect for me.

  I started at the bottom of the food chain at my company. My parents were hard-working lower middle class folks. All his life, my father worked for Tesco. He, too, started from rock bottom as a bagger and he worked his way up to a manager. My father had no desire to be anything greater than a manager of a grocery store.

  My mother worked as an aide at a nursery school since before she married my father. She, too, had no desire to better herself and become a teacher rather than an aide. As long as my parents were content, it didn’t bother me that they lacked ambition.

  Growing up, I always amazed my parents with my goal-setting and high-achieving ways. They would have been proud of me regardless, but there was always a bit of awe-struck befuddlement when they saw what I was capable of in school.

  My parents might say I was an oddball child. I was always busy, always performing a task, accomplishing a goal, seeking out new challenges. I had no siblings but I didn’t care. I put myself out there and made friends wherever I went. That was my early form of schmoozing.

  Though my pare
nts never fully understood me—something they told me often—we had a good relationship. Their lack of comprehension gave me the freedom to explore and make mistakes early on. By the time I’d entered St. Andrews, I knew what I needed to become successful.

  All these years I’d been sure of myself. Neither work nor women ever confused me. I set my attention to what I wanted and everything eventually came to me, usually easily. Take, for instance, this promotion. I was only twenty-six and the company wanted me in a vice president position. What company promoted someone in his or her twenties to such a lofty position, and in sunny Los Angeles to add? This offer was beyond a promotion. This could lead to something huge!