Snowy Mountain Nights
Page 17
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Richards.” Reyna squeezed her extra tightly in thankfulness for the man she had raised her son to be.
“I already told you to call me Marian. The only Ms. Richards I know has a tombstone over her head in Tampa somewhere.” Her smile took the sting from her words.
“Marian.” Reyna squeezed her hands before slipping around the table to greet her mother.
“Baby, you look very Olivia Pope in that suit.” Her mother named a character from a popular TV show she was obsessed with.
Reyna glanced down at her maroon skirt suit and black heels. “I thought she only wore white?”
Her mother shrugged. “That outfit is gorgeous and take-charge, and my baby is beautiful. Ergo, Olivia Pope.”
Her father chuckled and gazed fondly at his wife. “She’s just not used to seeing you in anything other than jeans. She’s right, though, you look like a billion bucks.”
Her father, a lover of word games of all sorts, was fond of hyperbole.
“Thanks, Daddy.” Before her mother could say anything, she leaned over and kissed her powdered cheek. “You, too, Mama.”
She quickly greeted her friends with hugs then started toward the chair Garrison was saving for her. Bridget grabbed her hand en route. “Girl! You didn’t tell me that Wolfe was so fine.”
Reyna laughed. “I think he’s taken.”
“That’s not what he said.” Bridget raised a mischievous eyebrow, making plain her objective for the rest of the night. But Marceline, in her tight white dress, looked ready to give her some competition.
Garrison stood up and cleared his throat as Reyna sat next to him. There was an unfamiliar nervousness to him, an almost manic energy. “Thank you, everyone, for making the trek all the way here.”
“Anything for you, honey.” His mother smiled.
Garrison nodded and visibly pulled himself together. “I’ve already asked Reyna to marry me.”
A collectively indrawn breath, Reyna’s included, filled the room. She didn’t think he would announce it quite like this. Her friends knew, but not their parents.
“She’s accepted my proposal,” Garrison continued, his voice falling into the commanding, I-will-get-my-way cadence he used at the office. He was nervous.
Reyna smiled and touched the engagement ring she wore on the chain with the Adinkra love charm he’d given her a year ago.
“Even though she hasn’t said anything, I know she’s still concerned about commitment.” He glanced briefly at her, gifting her with that smile of his again. “So I invited you all here, the people we both love and trust, to pledge in front of you to always love this woman and always treat her heart as if it were my own. Fifty years, at least. That’s what I asked her for, and that’s what I’m telling you now.”
Tears burned Reyna’s eyes. She already knew their commitment was stronger than anything she’d had before—they spoke of a future together, of children, of the depth of their love for each other—but it humbled her that he wanted to make absolutely certain she trusted in the permanence of them.
“Wouldn’t it be simpler to just marry her and make the same promise in front of God and everyone else?” Bridget pursed her lips.
“God is not going to drag him through Central Park and beat him with spiked Louboutins if he doesn’t treat Reyna right,” Louisa said with her martini glass raised to her lips. “But I will.”
The parents stared at her.
“Exactly.” Garrison winced. “But as you can imagine, I’m betting it won’t come to that.” He cleared his throat again. “And in any case, I will make that pledge to her in the church, but I want her to know my intentions before we get to that point.” He touched Reyna’s hand and met her eyes. “You’re never getting rid of me,” he said.
The tears she had been holding back spilled down her cheeks. “Why do you always make me cry?”
“I’m not sure this is a good start to forever, Garrison,” his mother teased. But she was wiping away tears of her own.
Garrison cursed and jumped to his feet. His chair fell back and clattered to the ground. “I don’t want you to cry, Reyna…” He enfolded her in a warm embrace. She burrowed into his body and clung, weeping.
“Let her get it out,” she heard her mother say from her cocoon in Garrison’s arms. “I haven’t seen her cry like this since she was a child. Let her feel the sweet ache of loving you.”
Reyna gasped on a sob. The feeling was almost too much. Her heart felt as if it was about to burst out of her chest.
“I feel like such an idiot for tearing up like this.” She sniffed into his shirtfront and clung to the lapels of his blazer.
“But you’re my idiot.” He smiled against her cheek.
The door creaked open. “I thought this was supposed to be a celebration?” Vivian stood in the doorway with an open bottle of champagne and ten empty glasses. She was smiling.
“Congratulations, honey.” Vivian put a warm hand on her back as she passed to distribute the champagne. “You found yourself a good one.”
Reyna drew back to gaze into Garrison’s smiling face. Her heart turned over in her chest and lay down completely for him. “I know.”
*
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ISBN-13: 9781460378557
Snowy Mountain Nights
Copyright © 2015 by Lindsay Evans
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