Ricky shrugged. “Sometimes, money should not be any object. That’s the philosophy that I try to live my life by.”
“Yeah, that works until you are broke,” I joked.
“I just wanted to have a very special evening with you,” Ricky said. “This is the first of what I hope will be a lifetime of beautiful memories together.”
I finished the dessert, which was a cross between peach cobbler and a hot fudge brownie alamode. It was just fantastic. I was now full, stuffed like a tick. As I sat there watching Ricky finish up his own dessert, the violinist came over to our table and began to play a beautiful melody. It was sweet and romantic.
Before I realized it, Ricky was reaching across the table and taking my hand in his. “I want you to have a wonderful time tonight, so if there is anything that you want to do, or need, just let me know babe.”
I nodded and squeezed his hand twice. I wanted to see if I could gauge how drunk he was, but Ricky appeared now to be very sober and in control of things. “I’ll be sure to do that,” I said. “But for right now honey, I’m fine. This has been wonderful. Thank you so much.”
“Sure,” Ricky said.
The past few weeks had been a bit of a rollercoaster and we were finally starting to normalize and get back to where we had once been. Ricky and I had talked things over a bit and we were on the same page now. I apologized for ever accusing him of standing in my way. That was so wrong of me and I felt terrible about it. We’d made love every single night since I returned home. I told him all about school and how bad it had gone down, and he didn’t make me feel like crap about it. I thanked him so much for that.
And now here we were. Our relationship felt like it had spread its wings and we were walking towards something beautiful. I wasn’t sure what life was going to hold for us, but it looked as if it was going to be wonderful. Our family had come together in such a random way. We were three people who really needed each other and somehow we’d found our way together.
I couldn’t have been happier.
The waiter came back one final time to lay down the bill. He was the best waiter who had ever waited on me in my entire life. There was something stylish and dapper about the way that he had taken care of us. It was like the waiter you would have at other restaurants, only he would go that extra mile to make sure you were well-served. It was like he’d been trained well to be a professional. That was the sort of thing that patrons really liked to see. It would stick in their minds.
“So, I met a girl at the gym who is a web designer,” I said. “She likes my work apparently, and she wants to help me build a great website that will attract traffic. Then hopefully, I can start to build my audience online.”
“Wow, that’s great, sweetie,” Ricky said.
“Yeah, and she wants to help me set up a YouTube channel and I’m going to start blogging about the creation process and basically log my journey from where I’m starting to where I hope to end up.”
“Awesome,” Ricky said. “I knew bigger and better things were going to happen for you. I’m so proud of you, baby.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I’m not sure I would have the guts to be doing any of this without you. I wanted to say thank you.”
Ricky shook his head. “It’s all you. There is nothing to thank me for.”
“Yes, there is,” I said. “I know that sometimes I can be a bit temperamental or that I can close myself off, but I consider myself the luckiest woman in the world to be with you. Thank you for believing in me.”
Ricky smiled. He reached across the table and held my hand, caressing it. Then he kissed it gently. The softness of his lips was endearing. He was the most special man I’d ever known. I felt honored to be with him and I hoped he understood that.
“Come on, let’s take a nice walk. It’s a beautiful night for it,” Ricky said.
The night air was pleasant. It was warm, but not bordering on hot as it had been recently. Even the humidity seemed to be down a bit. I inhaled deeply as I walked along the quiet sidewalk. We were in a nice part of town which typically enjoyed a bit of tourism, but it was as if most of them had received some type of memo telling them to stay home because very few people were out walking the way we were, and none of them were dressed up as nicely either. But I found I liked it. There was something so fun about dressing up when most people weren’t. It instantly put you a cut above the rest and made others stand up and take notice. As we passed, several people were checking us out. A few guys were giving me the eye hardcore.
“I think that our fan base is increasing,” I teased.
Ricky laughed. “With your beauty, I’m sure you make fans everywhere you go.”
I put my arm around him and held him tightly. “You are too good to me,” I said. “Too much of this and I’m liable to get a swelled head.”
Ricky shook his head. “Never happen.”
We walked a few more minutes in silence and then we stopped right in front of a building. It was an art exhibit.
“Ah, this looks nice,” I said.
“Yeah, I thought it would be something special,” Ricky said.
We entered the exhibit. There were a lot of people inside already browsing and looking at the artwork all around. It was nice to see an exhibit with a great turnout. There were more people here than the one Ricky and I had gone to when we first started dating. That seemed like forever ago for some reason.
“What do you think about this piece?” Ricky asked, pointing to a painting on his right.
I walked over beside him and took a good look. It took me a moment, but then I recognized the painting as my own. What…?
I looked at Ricky who was smiling widely. He was almost laughing with joy. I turned back to the painting. Then I noticed the painting beside it. And the one behind that one. And another one.
My work. All of the paintings in this section… it was my work…. how…?
“Ricky… what is going on?” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“This is your showing,” Ricky said. “These people are here admiring your amazing work.”
Tears stung my eyes. I had to cover my mouth to keep from gasping. This was truly a dream come true. “But… how?”
Ricky leaned in close. “A woman I saved in a fire a few months ago… her mother owns this gallery. And I got in touch with her. She agreed to look at your work and she loved it. She decided to stage this showing for you. And I enlisted Becky and Tessa to help me get your art out of your old apartment and out of the studio you set up at home.”
I was flabbergasted. This was the best day of my life. I had always dreamt of having my own gallery. People were actually looking at my work. I could see they were enjoying it and a few pieces had already been sold. Wow…. This was incredible. There was no way… just no way this could have happened without my knowing…
But it did. Ricky had done all of this for me. He helped set everything up.
Ricky held me close and kissed me sweetly as he wiped away my tears with his hands. “I want all of your dreams to come true, baby.”
“I love you. I love you so much,” I said.
“I love you, more,” Ricky replied. “Now there is one more surprise for tonight and I hope you love it just as much. Are you ready?”
“I’m not sure my heart can handle another surprise,” I told him.
“Well, let’s see.” Ricky pulled something from his pocket right then. He got down on one knee and looked up at me.
This was not happening. Yes! Surely not… but there he was getting ready to pop the world’s biggest question.
“Oh, my!” I gasped as Ricky started to speak.
“Julie Peters, you have made me the happiest man in the world, and I wanted to see if you’d be willing to top that and make me even happier. Will you marry me?”
Everything slowed down just then. I felt like I could actually feel my heart racing through my chest in a very slow, gushing wave. It sounded so loud, as if there were bombs being dropped rig
ht outside. But at the same time, it felt like it was literally flying and I was about to take off like some kind of a rocket towards the moon.
Several of the patrons were now watching us and cheering. We already had supporters. That was fantastic.
“Yes!” I exclaimed. “Yes! I will marry you.”
Ricky stood up and placed that beautiful ring on my finger. We looked at the ring and then each other before we kissed. The whole thing seemed magical, like it was not really happening to me. I was watching this happening to someone else. It was all too surreal. It couldn’t have been real.
But it was. It was real. I was going to marry Ricky.
I ended up selling seven pieces of art that night and becoming engaged to the man of my dreams. This was truly a miracle. Yet, as the evening wound down, I couldn’t help wondering if I really deserved it all. I mean, what were you supposed to do after you had everything you ever wanted?
What was next in line?
Epilogue
Julie
Three Months Later…
“Wow, that is a gorgeous sunset,” Ricky said as he placed his arm around me.
“Honey, not right now. I want to finish this,” I said.
Ricky laughed and walked over to the door to our room. I was trying to sketch something just right, but the slight motion of the ship kept interfering with my work. This was enough to drive me bonkers, but I wanted to finish this last sketch right away.
“Honey, are you going to work the whole honeymoon?” Ricky asked as he poured himself a scotch on the rocks.
I laughed. “No, but this came up unexpectedly. I want to get these sketches in.”
“I thought they were rewriting the story? Are they even going to be able to use any of your sketches?”
“It is just to give them a good visual guide of how everything should look once it is done. And when they change things completely around—because they will—they will at least have some solid visual references. They are doing this comic book old school and trying to steer clear of the modern day graphic novel approach.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Ricky replied. “But you should have told them that this week was a bad time for you. They need you badly enough, they will wait for you.”
I laughed and shook my head. “That’s not the way it works. If I tell them I’m not available, then they just go get another artist. That’s how that actually goes. I don’t want that to happen. This is a big opportunity for me.”
I’d been contacted by a comic book publisher to draw an issue of a Mighty Berry’s comic book. They were supposed to be some kind of family of superheroes. It was a big throwback issue, so they wanted everything to look like comics used to. There were no computer graphics in this one. It would all be drawn by hand. That was the golden era. It just had such a nice charm to it. I missed it.
“I think you are underestimating your talent, but ok,” Ricky said. “I was hoping we’d get to walk around on top of the ship together for at least a little bit tonight.”
I sighed and looked up at him. He was right. This was our honeymoon, and I could get those sketches done tomorrow and still be alright. This was one of the most important weeks we would ever spend together. It was our first official week as husband and wife.
Husband and wife… those words kept echoing in my brain. I was so excited to be officially married to Ricky. I still had to pinch myself to make sure I was not dreaming all this. It had all happened so quickly that it was like a big whirlwind that hadn’t stopped quite yet.
The night with the gallery show that Ricky set up was the start of my career. I sold several paintings and the gallery owner wanted me back for another show in two months. I agreed to come back and I sold even more paintings that time. I worked daylight until dark for eight straight weeks and the hard work had paid off.
Around this time I got my website set up and I was now selling paintings for a much bigger price online than I had been able to in the gallery. And I got to keep one hundred percent of the profit. That was such a game changer for me. It was all happening almost on autopilot. I was selling paintings faster than I could paint new ones.
This was around the time that my YouTube channel started to really take off. I would film tutorial videos on how to draw or how to paint and surprisingly, people started to watch them. There was a big market for this and it all grew, and this funneled back to my website and helped me command an even higher price for my paintings.
Then the call came to me that I found very interesting. This publisher for this comic book series wanted me to draw some illustrations for it. This was very different work, but it was lucrative, so I dove into it head first. I was a bit obsessed with doing a great job.
I closed my sketch pad and left the room with Ricky. We made our way up to the deck and there it was, the beautiful sunset Ricky was talking about. I had to agree that it was quite spectacular, but my mind was still on my work. Ricky was used to that. He expected my mind to always be there at least partially, and he claimed he loved me for it.
He placed his arm on the small of my back and we watched the sunset and inhaled the sweet, salty ocean air. The Alaskan Cruise idea was Ricky’s. It was one of the things he’d always wanted to do. And it was amazing. Sailing on the ocean, the wind at your back, the bright sunshine on your face, and your beloved at your side—who could ever ask for anything better than that?
The really cold air had not quite hit Alaska yet, but it was starting to get a little bit cool in the evenings. I’d had enough of the cold in Chicago, and I would have loved to move to a warmer climate, like Florida. But Ricky did not want to move. There was his job and of course Zoe’s school. She’d made a lot of friends recently and she was doing so well that I never would have dreamt of uprooting that. She had also grown very attached to me. We did everything together. I’d always wanted a daughter, and gotten one. A stepdaughter technically, but none of us really thought of it that way. Zoe was amazing. She was just the sweetest little thing.
“So, what do you think?” Ricky asked me.
“I think this is one of the most beautiful things that I’ve ever seen. This is truly breathtaking. It’s sometimes easy to forget how much else there is out there to see and experience. I’m glad we chose this.”
“Me too,” Ricky said. “I wish Zoe was here to see this. She would love it.”
“Yes, but I believe that there are rules against bringing eight-year-olds on honeymoons,” I said.
“I get that, but I know she would love to get out on the ocean like this. Maybe take her out in the wilderness sometime. She has never been camping before.”
“Neither have I,” I said.
Ricky gave me a very shocked look. “What? Are you crazy? How deprived was your childhood?”
“It wasn’t that deprived. I just didn’t go camping or do many outdoor related things. I still think I turned out pretty well.”
Ricky laughed at me. “Well, I guess I have to introduce both my girls to the wider world beyond the asphalt of the city.”
“Ok, I’m down,” I said. “But you have to plan it all out. It will be your thing. And I have to agree to it before we go.”
“Ok, that’s fine. I’m not going to set something up I think you and Zoe will hate.”
“And you shouldn’t schedule anything extreme for the next nine months,” I said.
I waited for Ricky’s response. At first it wasn’t there, but then he turned to me with a look of total confusion on his face. He was adorable sometimes. “What’s in nine months?”
I smiled and shot him a look. Come on. He had to get this.
Suddenly, his eyes went wide and he grinned wildly. “You mean…?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“When did you find out?”
“A few days before the wedding,” I said.
“Honey, that is amazing. I’m so happy!”
He kissed me hard on the mouth and held me close. I loved to be held by this man. He was going to be the fathe
r of my child. I was really going to be a mother. And that was by far the best artistic work I would ever do.
As we drifted along in the huge cruise ship, I found myself wondering what if I had stayed at school? What would have happened if I hadn’t come back? Would we have been married now? Would we even still be together? I didn’t want to think about the bad alternatives. I was just happy to be here and now.
“I love you, Ricky,” I said.
“I love you, Julie. I once thought my world had ended, but now things are just beginning. It’s a whole new beginning for the both of us. And the future looks bright. I could never have dreamt how happy I could be. You complete me in every possible way. I need you with me always. Please, never forget that.”
I knew that I never would.
I hope you enjoyed reading Burning with Desire. If you love Second Chance Romance with loads of steam, keep reading for an excerpt from my Amazon TOP 100 Unprepared Daddy.
Author’s Note
Thank you to all my readers, especially those who are reading my work for the first time. I know there are so many books to choose from these days, and I am glad and thankful that you all chose to spend a day or two reading mine.
If you have a minute—or even, say, like 30-40 seconds—please take a moment to leave a review on Amazon for BURNING WITH DESIRE. Reviews help indie authors so much!
XO, Bella
Excerpt
She can’t run away from me…she’s carrying my babies.
Serena, you’re mine and only mine.
I will bring you back…and make you beg.
My life was just so perfect.
Money, Fame, Women – you name it, I had it.
And yet something seemed missing.
Until Her…
Her delicious, curvy package was made for me.
She’s a sweet and spicy seduction…completely intoxicating – you could call her every man’s dream.
Burning With Desire Page 23
