“Oh, relax, Celeste. Stephen and Mario want us here. Those security people wouldn’t dare do anything to upset them. Besides, I am here to have a good time, and I don’t want to think negatively. Come on,” says Jenny, taking Celeste by the wrist and pulling her toward the bar, “Let’s get a drink and check out the dance floor.”
Celeste is surprised to see that the club is crowded already. They have to squeeze through the crowd and push their way toward the bar. Celeste orders a Shirley Temple and Jenny orders one of the exotic drinks featured on the menu. Sipping on her soda, Celeste takes a visual tour of Four Aces.
It is a cosmopolitan sheikh decorated club which features video screens, flashing lights synchronized to the beat of the music, and more than one dance floor. In fact, it features three separate dance floors, which play different types of music in each. There is a room for techno, reggae, and hip-hop. Celeste is impressed. She wonders who the genius is whose mind conceived the idea of catering to three different tastes in music on the same night.
When Celeste and Jenny leave the bar to tour the club, they come to a flight of stairs guarded by an extremely large security guard standing in front a velvet rope at the base of the steps. Jenny, in all of her courageousness, asks the security guard, “What’s up there?”
The security guard eyes them both with a pondering expression on his face before stepping aside. Moving the rope he gestures for them to climb the steps, “Why don’t you go on up and see for yourself. You are wearing VIP bracelets.”
“You mean, these gold bracelets,” says Celeste, holding up her wrist on which the club’s bracelet had been placed, “Allow us to go up those,” she continues while pointing to the steps in question, “steps?”
“Yes,” is all the security guard says as he nods.
Jenny grabs Celeste’s arm and begins to climb the circling staircase. “I didn’t even know there was a room up here,” says Jenny in a voice full of excitement.
“Well, maybe we shouldn’t be up here. I mean, maybe the valet guy made a mistake and,” before Celeste can finish her statement her and Jenny reach the top of the stairs and are surprised to see a lot of celebrities sitting around chatting.
Stephen notices Celeste before she clears the top step. He has been watching and waiting for her to ascend the steps. Man, she has fabulous legs, he thinks to himself. Whether she knows it or not, she is going to be my wife, Stephen thinks to himself. But, she’s not yours yet, and from the look of things, you have your work cut out for you. Stephen notices that she looks terribly uncomfortable. Thinking to himself, he decides that his first order of business is to get her to relax so that he can find out more about her.
Standing up as gracefully as he can, he begins to approach her. When he is all but a few feet from her, she looks directly at him and her expression changes. Why, he has no clue. All he knows is that she is no longer looking around the room in amazement.
Play it cool, Celeste thinks to herself. You have a plan. Have a good time. Maintain your dignity and self-respect. And most importantly, show this man who’s the boss. This word echoes around in her head as Stephen approaches her, hand extended. Celeste instinctively reaches out to take the hand he offers and allows him to guide her to the table he apparently had been sitting at when she entered the room. It offers an unobstructed view of the stairway she and Jenny had just ascended. Celeste figures this is how he saw her enter and knew that they had arrived.
Glancing back toward the staircase, intending to invite Jenny to sit with them, Celeste sees Mario whisking her off to the other side of the room. Well, you’re on your own now Girlie, Celeste thinks to herself.
“I’m glad to see that you didn’t change your mind abo ut coming,” Stephen says, pulling out a chair for her, inviting her to sit down.
“I always keep my word. In this day and age when people can be so unreliable, I think it is extremely essential to follow through with what you promise,” Celeste says while Stephen takes his seat. As he pulls his chair up to the table, he edges it closer to hers. So close that his knee brushes hers under the table. Even though it is not skin-toskin contact, it still sends a jolt of pleasure up her leg.
“Is that so?” Stephen asks, reaching out to take her small delicate hand into his much larger masculine one. “I hope that will prove to be the case. I am also a person who believes in keeping his word,” And I will keep my word, Celeste, Stephen says to himself, thinking of what he said to the guys after Celeste and Jenny left their dressing room.
“Well, then I suspect we will get along just fine then,”
Celeste says, taking a gulp from her glass and emptying it. “Would you care for another drink?” Stephen asks, no
longer just holding her hand but caressing it. He doesn’t
know what has come over him since meeting Celeste. He
can’t seem to keep his hands off of her. He feels as though
he has to touch her.
“Sure. I am drinking a Shirley Temple,” Celeste
whispers, barely able to hear her own voice. Stephen’s
touch is weaving a magic spell around her. She becomes
conscious of nothing but her and Stephen, together. The
slow feeling of Stephen’s thumbs caressing the back of her
hands is almost more than she can handle. She can smell
the spicy masculine scent of him which makes her want to get closer and nestle her nose into the crook of his neck to inhale deeply of the scent that is him. Her eyes feast on his
beauty.
His beauty?
Celeste never would have considered a man beautiful
before, but Stephen is. His jaw is impeccably chiseled in a
way that denotes strength and determination, which is
toned down by the tenderness that she can see in his eyes. Tenderness?
Girl, you better get a grip. This man is playing a serious
head game with you and you are falling right into his trap.
He wants you to see tenderness so that you will think that
he is sincere in whatever he says to you tonight. Don’t fall
for it.
As Stephen lifts a hand from hers to signal for the
waiter, Celeste tries to seize the opportunity and places her
hands in her lap; but Stephen is not having it. He
steadfastly holds onto her two hands with just one of his
while he asks the waiter to bring what she has requested.
When the server turns to go carry out his duties, Stephen
asks Celeste, “Would you like to dance?”
Without waiting for her to answer he begins to rise from
his chair and pull Celeste against his body. Celeste doesn’t
want to dance with Stephen. At least not to a slow song. A
song that requires her to be held in his arms. The arms that
look strong enough to protect her from anything. Short of
causing a scene, which would be the exact opposite of
maintaining her dignity, she has no choice but to take him
up on his offer.
As they walk to the dance floor, Celeste slightly ahead
of Stephen with his hand in the small of her back, Celeste is
conscience of eyes on her. She can already imagine what
they are thinking, ‘There’s Stephen’s latest conquest.’
Celeste is determined to prove them all wrong.
When they reach an open spot on the dance floor,
Stephen slowly turns Celeste in his arms. Stephen can’t
wait to take Celeste into his arms. He can’t help himself.
He feels like he has no choice. He needs to see if her body
will mold itself as perfectly to his as he imagines it will. It
does. Stephen believes that Celeste has been made just for
him.
Celeste decides to ask him question in order to make the
time fly by faste
r and get her mind of the fact that they slow
dancing together. “So,” Celeste begins but falters because
she doesn’t know what to ask. Quickly she thinks of
something, “What are your long term plans? I mean, do
you want to perform all of your life or do you want to get
more into producing?”
“To tell you the truth,” Stephen begins, weighing his
words uncommonly carefully. “Actually, I want to be a
family man. Of course, I always want to be a part of the
music industry. I actually want to start a Christian music
label, but having a family is something that is tremendously
valuable to me. You know, a wife, a few kids, maybe even
a dog.”
“So, you want to get married?”
“Well, that is not how I planned for the question to be
asked because I wanted to be the one to ask you in a
romantic, more traditional way. But since the offer has
been placed on the table… I accept.”
Celeste can’t help but to smile and laugh. What an
exceptionally good way to lighten the mood, with laughter,
she thinks to herself. She gives him credit for that one. “I’m serious. I want to marry you,” Stephen says as he
brings the dancing to halt but continues to hold Celeste
particularly closely.
Well, should I tell him that I know what kind of game he
is playing and that I am not buying it one bit? Or I can play along allowing him to think that I am falling for it and torpedo his load of bologna when I leave this club alone. Smiling the grin of the Cheshire cat who has just eaten the fattest canary she has ever seen in her entire life, she opts for the latter, “Of course I’ll marry you, Stephen. What
date would be good for you?”
“How about this week? I have it free and clear. We’re
not touring and I planned on visiting my family back in
Philadelphia, but I’m sure that Mom won’t mind me
bringing along my beautiful new wife and the future mother
of my children. So how about it?”
Man, he is good, mentioning his mother and all. Did the
women he usually met actually fall for this kind of
malarkey? Well, I’ll show him. Smiling up at him she says,
“That’ll be great. Of course I don’t have the week off from
work, but I am sure that my boss would not dream of
interfering with the wedding plans of the future Mrs.
Stephen Haule.”
Clearly, she thinks that I am joking, are Stephen’s thoughts to himself, for it’s written all over her face. I don’t blame her. We have only met a few hours ago. But I know with every fiber of my being that she is the one that God has intended for me. And I’m sure that given a little time, Celeste will come to know just how right we are for one another.
Stephen can’t actually believe that he just proposed marriage to Celeste on one of the dance floors of Four Aces. However, now that the words are out he feels that they make perfect sense, so he runs with it. “Why don’t we go to your house, pack some clothes, and head for Las Vegas tonight? I admit, I never would have imagined getting married in Vegas. I am equally sure that is not what you had in mind for yourself either. The only thing I want to do is make you my wife as soon as possible. If you like, we can have a second wedding with all the trimmings, family, friends, flower girls, you name, and it will all be yours. For now, I just want you.”
Chapter Four
“All right, Stephen. I’ve had enough,” Celeste begins as she disentangles her arms from about Stephen’s neck. “Did you really think that I was falling for that line of bologna you were trying to feed me?” Celeste asks. Not giving him a chance to finish she rushes on, “You probably do. I can’t believe that actually works on women. But I guess some women will fall for anything, or any body, with enough money.”
Celeste can see the shock in Stephen’s eyes, but she is traveling faster than the speed of light and can’t stop herself. The only thing she can do is allow the ride to come to a complete stop, by itself, “Well, I’ve got news for you Stephen, not all women can be bought. I certainly can’t be.”
“If you are quite finished...” Stephen pauses to weigh his words carefully. “I was not trying to feed you a line as you so eloquently put it.” Taking Celeste’s hands into his own he leans closer to whisper in her ear, “I meant every word I just said to you Celeste. Care for me to prove it to you?”
“No, I don’t care for you to go on with this charade you are trying to deceive me with. Give me some credit, Stephen.”
“But, my lady, I am giving you a lot of credit. In fact I am counting on you.”
“Counting on me? What do you mean, counting on me?”
Stephen smiles sweetly down at Celeste as he says, “I am counting on you to be a woman of your word and marry me this week. Just like you said you would.”
I can’t believe how far he is willing to go, Celeste ponders to herself. And just a minute ago he spoke of starting a Christian record label. Doesn’t this man feel any remorse, what so ever, about leading women on in this fashion? Celeste sits on the stool in the ladies sitting room. Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she tries to figure out how a man can be so cold in his heart but come across in his music like a warm-hearted, flesh and blood man.
Celeste sees Jenny enter the sitting room through the mirror and knows, instinctively that she is going to be questioned about her hasty retreat into the ladies’ room.
“What happened to make you scramble into the ladies’ room the way you did? You almost knocked down the waiter,” says Jenny coming to occupy the chair next to Celeste.
Here it goes, thinks Cele ste, “I just couldn’t stand there listening to him lie to me and make false promises any longer. I mean, it’s not as if I believed that he actually wanted to marry me but what if I were one of those women who fell for lines like that, then I would be genuinely hurt to find that he is a disgusting little fraud.”
“Whoa.... Whoa… Back up a second now will you?
Marry you? What are you talking about?”
“OK. Let me clue you in. I asked Stephen what else he
wanted to do with his life.” Celeste recounts the whole
episode to Jenny. When she is done, she is surprised to see
Jenny smiling at her.
“Girl, you are too funny for words.”
“There is nothing funny about this situation. I have had
enough and I’m ready to go home. Besides, I have to go to
work tomorrow. I’m going to go out there and tell Stephen that I am tired and that I am going home.” Rising from the stool and heading for the door Celeste turns to Jenny to add, “I’ll meet you downstairs. Please don’t take long saying good-bye to Mario. I have had enough of Fairy Tale
Theater for one night.”
You can do this, Celeste, she encourages herself. To
Celeste’s surprise Stephen is standing only a few feet from
the ladies room door.
“Are you alright? I didn’t mean to scare you,” Stephen
says.
“I know you didn’t. But I know exactly what you did
intend, so let me set the record straight, once and for all. I
am not impressed with your wealth. I am not going to bed
with you tonight, or any other night for that matter,”
Celeste continues ticking off her fingers, “And I am
thoroughly ashamed of you. Good night, Stephen and I
hope you get your act together and stop acting.” As Celeste turns to walk away she hears Stephen calls
out to her loud enough for people to hear, “But what about
the wedding? Are we still getting married this week?” Celeste stops dead in her tracks as she hears the sharp
intake of breath from everyone in the VIP lounge. What
kind of game is this man playing, she muses to herself?
Turning slowly, she sees that everyone is standing,
watching, and waiting for her response. Waiting to see
what she is going to do or say next. If word got out that
she jilted Stephen Haule within a week of their pending
nuptials, she would never, ever live it down. A rumor like
that, whether true or not, would break her career. Celeste walks back to stand in front of Stephen. “Could
I please see you outside?” she whispers as low as she can.
With as much dignity as she can muster she walks down the
steps to the main floor.
Outside the club Celeste wraps her arms around herself.
It is a warm evening, so she doesn’t understand why she should feel chilled. It is probably the shock of
embarrassment.
Stephen catches up with Celeste as she waits for the
parking attendant to take her claim ticket in order to
retrieve her vehicle. “So are you coming with me now or
do I pick you up from your house tomorrow morning?” The nerve of this cocky, arrogant, self-righteous man...
He just won’t take ‘No’ for an answer. “I am not coming
with you tonight, nor tomorrow morning. Tomorrow
morning I will be at work. Like the rest of the world.” “I’m sure that Vines and Robert’s will be able to get
along without you while we are on our honey moon.” “How did you know where I worked?”
“While you were in the ladies room I went to speak
with Mario and your friend Jenny. She says that you are the
best advertising agent on the West Coast.”
“Stephen, why are you going to such lengths to get
me?”
“Because, my dearest, Celeste,” says Stephen as he
takes the step necessary to close the gap between them.
Standing this close to Celeste he can feel every breath she
exhales warm the base of his neck. Placing his hands on her
shoulders he continues, “I want a kind hearted woman who
A Wife for Stephen Page 3
