An Unexpected Bride

by Shadonna Richards

  She carefully took a bite out of each freshly baked pastry on her plate and washed them down with a glass of non-alcoholic wine. “What a marvellous touch,” she gushed and licked her fingers as her assistant typed notes on her laptop. She gently wiped her hands on a designer napkin and continued to feast her eyes on the presentation.

  There was talk of how Weddings R Us provided more than the proverbial picture perfect wedding. They took the stress out of planning a wedding. A one-stop design center. Need help choosing the wedding cake? No problem. Want to know about the latest cake trends? Weddings R Us is there. They have affordable wedding planners on site for the cost of less than a wedding dress. They’ll do the counselling, planning, preparation, menu options, venue selection, wedding dress consultation and design, all you need to do is dial 555-weddings-r-us and leave the rest to us. “Less Stress and More Success” was the slogan that was pushed during the meeting.

  After her presentation, Ms. Endo gave Emma a blank stare. She then lifted up her hands and clapped. Her assistant and the rest of the team joined. “Wonderful.” She nodded her head. “Very impressive, indeed.”

  Emma let out a deep sigh of relief but tried to stifle it.

  Much later, at the end of the day, the team had already cleared out of the boardroom and prepared to leave on time after the overtime they’d been putting in to prepare for the big pitch.

  Evan walked in while Emma and Lucinda cleared out the boardroom. He had already pulled down most of the ads on the wall and helped restack some of the chairs.

  “You ladies need help?”

  “Oh, almost done. Thanks,” Emma said cheerfully.

  “Well, I have to leave, I’ve got a dentist appointment.” Lucinda looked at her watch. It seemed as if she wanted to stay when she caught a glimpse of Emma and Evan locked briefly in a stare before they uncomfortably diverted their eyes elsewhere.

  “Thanks for your help, Lucinda. See you tomorrow.” Evan locked off the elevators that opened up directly on to the floor after Lucinda left. He probably wanted to make sure everything would be locked, though Lucinda usually tackled that chore as the receptionist and office manager.

  Clearly everyone was pumped by the response at the presentation. It went exceptionally well, to say the least. Ms. Endo winked at Evan as she grabbed his arm to say that she had already made her choice. Expect a call from her office tomorrow. That was good news, indeed. Evan was far more relaxed. He was so thankful for his team. Once all went well and official, he would assign Emma as the main person on the account to work with him.

  “I especially loved that added touch with the stats,” Evan offered.

  “Oh, that’s nothing.”

  “No, that was something.” He smiled a deep, dimpled grin. “Ms. Endo loved the figures.” And he loved Emma’s figure. “You really hit it home, stating that every year there are 2.34 million weddings in the U.S.” He paced as he recounted her speech. “People spend on average $60 billion a year not counting the honeymoon. Nice. Then, you showed how Weddings R Us can alleviate the stress and pressure of producing the best while they take care of the rest.”

  “Feel your best and we’ll take care of the rest,” Emma continued. They both held up a glass from the boardroom and clinked to cheer.

  “Hope we’re not being premature.” Emma sipped her beverage.

  “Whatever the outcome, we put on a great presentation. We should be proud,” he said with conviction.

  “So, you wanted to ask me something?” Evan’s voice was deep, relaxed, and inviting. He had his hands shoved in his pocket as he walked over to Emma. He looked directly into her almond brown eyes. She had the right mix of eye makeup. Not too much, not too little. Just enough to accent her beautiful large, brown eyes. They were so innocent looking.

  So bright. Hopeful.

  And those lips. God, he loved those full lips. So defined. She had the most naturally beautiful features he’d ever seen on a woman and he loved how she held court with herself. She wasn’t arrogant about her good looks. He figured she probably didn’t even realize how beautiful she was.

  He was turned on by her inner beauty as well as her exterior charm.

  Emma swallowed hard. Her heartbeat raced in her chest. She feared he would hear the lub-dub sound pounding from the very core of her being. If she thought she was nervous giving the presentation, what about now?

  She had finished clearing the table and held up her folder with her notes to her chest to comfort her. A psychological shield. Or something to stop her hands from quivering.

  “Yes, actually, I did have a question to ask.” Oh, God, how on earth am I going to do this? If only this was a presentation to a client instead of a proposal to my boss.

  She sucked in a deep breath.

  Evan leaned over by the side table with a salacious grin on his face, arms folded beneath his pecs. Waiting.

  God, his dimples are so sexy. So inviting.

  He was sweet and smooth as honey, Emma concluded. This didn’t make it any easier. She was glad the office was clear. But then a sudden thought struck her. It was just she and Evan in the office complex.

  Alone.

  Together.

  She could hear the sound of the ice machine in the pantry and the muffled roar of the evening rush hour traffic outside the window. And the beat of her own heart.

  You can do this, Emma.

  What’s the worst that could happen?

  Um. I could lose my job, my reputation, my world, and my chances of a happily ever after…

  Okay, focus, Emma. Think positive. This isn’t the end of the world. Or your life.

  Now was the time for her to replace her inner-worrier with her inner-warrior. Emma took another deep breath and decided to go along with the truth. Well, the abridged version. What Evan needed to know. About her grandfather. The promise that prematurely spilled out of her mouth, but as she commenced to speak, she could barely meet Evan’s eyes. At last, the whole convoluted story came tumbling out. For more dramatic effect, she paced around the boardroom telling her story, especially the finale. The part about her grandfather arranging for them to get married by the end of next week. When she finished, she turned to face Evan.

  Her breath stopped.

  Evan froze on the spot with his arms still snugly folded across his chest, eyes glazed in shock staring at her. The honey-caramel tanned color of his skin had drained from his face. There wasn’t a sign of the earlier friendly, warm expression that he donned moments before. Not a trace of it dressed his face.

  Emma wished at that moment the ground would open up and swallow her whole. Or a giant serpent would eat her in one gulp. Or she could melt. Die. She didn't care! Okay, now might be a safe time to panic. Had she just made the most career-ending, friendship-destroying mistake of her life?

  6

  “You did what?”

  Evan had heard and seen a lot in his thirty-three years, especially in the corporate climbing world of advertising, but never had he ever encountered anything of this magnitude. He could not believe his ears. They burned. His mouth felt parched all of the sudden. He could feel his blood curdle.

  He unfroze from his position and got up from leaning on the side table. He took a deep breath. He did not let his eyes move from Emma’s.

  Emma parted her lips to say something but immediately clamped her mouth shut tightly again. She realized it was a rhetorical question. Of course, he wouldn’t want to hear the repeat of her spiel of lies she weaved that left him at the center.

  He paced with his hands shoved in his pocket of his pants. He had already taken off his jacket and loosened his tie after the meeting.

  Then, he laughed. His eyes diverted momentarily to the April evening sky; the sun was beginning to set and traffic was lightening as the headlights beamed from the cars driving to their destinations. The town hillside looked gorgeous from the view of his ceiling to floor window in the boardroom. He had to gather his thoughts. He had to choose his words carefully. He shook hi
s head.

  This was Emma Wiggins, his prized employee. His secret crush. His partner. His…

  Part of him was in shock. But a fraction of him was also quite flattered that she would think of including him in her marital fantasy. Too bad he despised the idea of marriage or anything to do with getting betrothed. Especially on such short notice when he had absolutely no say in the matter. What was she thinking? Had she taken leave of her senses?

  He gave much thought before answering. “Now, let me get this straight…” He continued to pace as he looked in her direction, trying to still his temper and keep his cool—as hard as that was. “You told your grandfather that we were engaged?” He could barely usher the words to part from his lips. “And he went ahead and arranged for us to get married next week?”

  “Well…yes.” Emma could not lie about that part. But she had to go to plan B.

  For the first time in his life, Evan was stunned. Speechless. And very little in this world left him in such a state. Not even his father’s bizarre behavior from his mental illness.

  “Are you for real? Emma, how could you let him think that?”

  “Because…Listen, it was never my intention to lie to him. I got caught up in wanting to make him happy. Do the right thing. I honestly thought…” She tried to fight back tears, he could tell. The last thing he wanted to do was make her weep, though what she did was unbelievable.

  “I thought I was going to lose him. The doc’s still giving him weeks to live. I just wanted to make him happy. To let him think I was at least getting married.”

  Evan stopped cold. He knew what it meant when you love someone and you want to do the right thing. When you feel as if you’re going to lose a part of yourself when a loved one departs this world.

  He gave it much thought in the time allotted and changed his expression. Emma was pretty much like him. And God, she looked so adorable. So willing to do the right thing even though her actions may be a little off. Her heart was in the right place. He could not fault her there.

  Still, she did say the key word “think” she was getting married. Maybe he could grant this dying man a last wish. Heck, last Christmas he faked being Santa Claus for some poor kids in the community just to give them a happy Christmas, even though he didn’t believe in Santa Claus any more than he believed in marriage. Why not for his devoted assistant to go along with it?

  Just this once.

  Why, surely it wouldn’t kill him. And with Emma's help, he pretty much landed the Weddings R Us account anyway. He can’t be that apposed to the idea of marriage for other people, not if he’s representing his client who believed in happily-ever-after-for-two.

  Besides, he found Emma to be the most sexy woman he’d ever met and he’d met a lot of beautiful women, but there was something special about her. He knew he would not, could not, ever get married, but why not pretend? It may be the closest he ever got to walking down the aisle with a beautiful bride. If only he could have a not-so-pretend honeymoon with Emma, too. But that would be too much to push right now.

  “Fine,” he finally uttered. “I’ll go along with it for next week. We’ll pretend to get married.”

  Emma’s heart must have skipped, jumped, and leapt simultaneously. It's a wonder she did not have a heart attack. She could not believe her ears. “You will? Um…thank you so much, Evan. I really do appreciate this.” She was flabbergasted he'd agreed to it, considering his stand on marriage.

  Wait a minute, did he just say pretend? Uh-oh! Well, I guess I’ll have to work on that for next week. At least he’ll go along with it for now. That’s at least a little headway.

  Emma had just finished a long day and needed to go home. Just then, a phone call buzzed in on Evan’s BlackBerry.

  “Hey, you!” He seemed to be speaking to a woman. “Right, B. Pick you up at eight.”

  Oh, dear. Pick you up at eight? That doesn’t sound good.

  “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to keep you from your date,” Emma gushed.

  “It’s not exactly a date.”

  Emma tried to hide her relief and sighed inside her mind. Then another thought hit her. If it’s not exactly a date, then what is it? Now that they were sort of pretending to get married next week, she really needed him not to be dating other women. How was this going to work out? Emma really needed to tell him that he really had to go along with it—all the way. Then they could get an annulment after. She bit down on her lower lip. She knew she would be damned forever for lying. But she really didn’t want to take real vows. Since the chaplain at the hospital would be involved, she would sort of have to take vows. How much should she tell Evan? So far, he thinks they are faking it. Emma took another swig of the non-alcoholic wine.

  Faking it was definitely not going to be easy.

  7

  Evan rolled over in his king size bed. Emma was beside him, naked under the covers. A grin as wide as the Mercy Springs Lake sprawled across his face. He could not believe what transpired last night. The passion, the lovemaking…. The loud beeping sound of the alarm caused him to flinch. Annoyed, he reached over and hit the snooze button. Talk about bad timing. When he leaned over to give his assistant a good morning squeeze, she was gone.

  “Emma?”

  There was absolutely no sign of her or that she’d even been at his cosy condominium last night. He flipped onto his back with his hands behind his head, grinned, and shook his head.

  It was only in his dream.

  He could not believe he dreamed of making passionate love to Emma last night. It was as real as it seemed, and he thought she’d stayed the night. Why was he thinking of her so much? He really needed to get a life. She was his assistant, nothing more.

  Then a stunning thought struck him upside his head. His heart sank.

  Did I promise Emma I’d pretend to marry her next week?

  He could not believe it. Now, in hindsight, it all seemed so…damn crazy.

  He sprung out of bed and stretched as he headed for his ensuite bathroom with the granite top counters and marbled floor.

  Maybe that whole getting married next week gig was nothing more than a crazy dream as well. Maybe he’d imagined the whole damn thing. The idea sounded as crazy as he felt. Why or how could she even propose such a thing? He was her boss for heaven’s sake.

  When he gazed at his image in the bathroom mirror—looking at the man he’d become, he thought to himself how much he’d wish the part about Emma spending the night with him wasn’t simply some fantasy. Heck, it wasn’t just about a one-night stand either.

  Was he missing something in his life?

  Up to this point, it hadn’t really dawned on him. He’d just made a decision to live the life of a carefree bachelor. His entire life. He didn’t want to be chained down or imprisoned in the institution called marriage. His mind flicked back to the incident with his father. God, he didn’t want to end up in pieces over a woman. That damn "Fletcher Curse!" He swore the words out of his mouth while brushing his teeth with his battery operated toothbrush and spat out the toothpaste with vengeance as if spewing his thoughts of marriage out into the sink, hoping the idea of marital commitment would slither down the drain pipe and never surface again.

  Evan got washed up, dressed for an early morning workout at the gym before work, then headed out the door with his car keys, gym bag, and briefcase.

  Emma rushed into the hospital as quickly as she could. She needed to see her grandfather before heading to work. She knew her time with him was limited. The doctors and nurses had told her that every day was different.

  He could be responsive and seem okay one day, only to end up tentative and weak the next. Unfortunately, that was the nature of his illness. It was hard to say what kind of day he would have.

  Emma shivered inside at the thought of losing him, forever. She remembered the time she had visited not so long ago when he seemed as stiff as a slab of wood. Lifeless. His meal trays untouched. She flinched at the idea of him alone with no visitors when…the worst sh
ould happen. She wanted to hold his hand, to be with him every chance she got. She would never, could never, forgive herself if she started or ended her day without gracing his day with a friendly, warm visit.

  She would often visit on her way to work to make sure he was eating his breakfast. Emma had already picked up two fresh baked biscuits and muffins for them to devour while she visited him briefly. The aroma of the biscuits made her mouth water, though she resisted the desire to break off some and eat before she got there. She held her own coffee in one hand. Her grandfather didn’t care too much for it. When he was up to it, he’d drink juice or plain water.