Business of Love

by Hodges, Cheris

  “You haven’t heard the latest, huh?”

  Jill shook her head.

  “Atlanta Scene folded and David is currently being sued by someone else he did a hatchet job on. I think it was the guy who used to run Concurrent. Anyway, he said this man was gay and having an affair with some high-ranking city official.”

  “He’s such an asshole,” Jill muttered. “But you know what, no more talk about David and his rag. I just want to get the right dress, marry the man I love and ride off into the sunset.”

  “I’m so happy for you. You deserve this happiness and so much more. I’m glad you and Darren found each other.”

  Happiness was too weak a word to describe what Jill felt. Deliriously overjoyed was more like it.

  Finally, she had it all, a great business and an even greater love.

  Epilogue

  The clock read eleven-thirty p.m., and Jill couldn’t have been happier. Just thirty minutes until the New Year rolled in. She rubbed her forearm and looked behind her. Where was her husband?

  Shari walked over to Jill with her cell phone stuck to her ear. “Yes, well, I just wanted to make sure MJ got to bed all right. Did he eat? All right, thank you for indulging me. I love you too, Mom,” she said, then snapped her phone shut.

  Jill smiled at her, admiring how her body had snapped back into shape after the birth of Malik Jr. “This is the first time you left him alone, huh?” she asked.

  Shari nodded. “Does it show?”

  Eleven-forty. Jill searched the crowd for Darren again and found him bounding toward her with Cleveland and Margaret in tow.

  “Hello, beautiful,” Darren said, then leaned in to kiss her. “These two got lost.”

  Cleveland shrugged his shoulders. “I thought you said the Marriott. My bad, Sis.”

  He hugged Jill tightly. Since the wedding, Cleveland had accepted Jill into the family. He admired how she loved his brother and even though he wouldn’t admit it, he wanted a love like that. Darren and Jill were the real thing.

  Margaret hugged her daughter-in-law. “I knew something was wrong when the desk clerk didn’t know who you were and what party I was talking about.”

  Jill smiled at her mother-in-law. Though they still had their moments, they’d been getting along better. Margaret knew her son’s heart was in good hands, although she wished those hands were at home more often. But Margaret knew that times had changed and the days of the happy homemaker were no more. That didn’t keep her from longing for at least one grandchild.

  “They should be coming around with the champagne soon,” Jill said as she took Darren’s hand.

  “Excuse us,” Darren said as he and Jill dashed behind the stage. He pulled his wife into his arms and kissed her until her knees buckled.

  Jill placed her hand on his chest. “It’s not midnight yet,” she said, glancing at her watch. “We have ten minutes.”

  “So, I have to wait a year to kiss my wife?” He stroked her cheek. “What did the doctor say?”

  Her eyes stretched to the size of silver dollars. “Congratulations, you’re going to be a father.”

  Darren lifted her off her feet and spun her around. “God, I must be the happiest man in Atlanta right now.”

  The band began to play George Benson’s “On Broadway” as the clock ticked closer to midnight. Darren put his hand on his wife’s slender tummy, ready for the day when it would be filled with their son or daughter.

  “You know,” she said, “I’ve been waiting for a night like this for a long time.”

  “Really? Why is that?”

  “It isn’t every day that I hand the reins over.”

  “What?” Darren asked incredulously.

  “I want to spend my pregnancy without worrying about the day-to-day operations of DVA.”

  “Are you sure this is what you want? I don’t want you to feel like you have to do this for me.”

  She stroked his cheek lovingly. “Don’t you know by now that I don’t do anything that I don’t want to do?”

  “Yeah, baby, I know. But I support your right to work and this company has been your baby for years.”

  “One minute until midnight,” the bandleader announced.

  Jill grabbed Darren’s hand and pulled him out of the shadows. Tonight, she was going to welcome the new year with her lips glued to her husband’s.

  “Ten,” the crowd exclaimed. Jill turned to Darren and licked her lips.

  “Nine.” Darren wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

  “Eight.” Jill slipped her hands underneath his suit jacket, looping her fingers through the belt loops on his pants.

  “Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one! Happy New Year!”

  Darren captured Jill’s lips, kissing her as if they were the only two in the room. Lost in the kiss, Jill nearly forgot that she had to deliver her annual speech.

  Finally, she had her New Year’s kiss, a loving husband and soon a child of her own. She might be leaving the computer business, but she was more than happy to trade it for the business of love.