“You come back here.” I set off in a run, but I felt a pull from the sore skin around my belly button. The antibiotics cleared up the infections, but I was getting more and more uncomfortable. I needed that operation. I had to ascend the stairs at a slower pace, but I was going to catch him.
I followed him down Grandmother’s wing. He was making me so mad. He was running, then turning around, just to anger me. He was such a child.
“Come,” he called as he disappeared through the closed door to Grandmother’s room.
I opened the door and saw Maria Elena standing in front of the bed. “Señorita, you need to see.” She held out her hand and moved to the side.
On the bed lay necklaces and rings, loose red and green gems, and unmistakable Fabergé eggs.
I bent over the bed to examine them more closely. Inside one of the eggs was a photograph of the Russian royal family. I felt like I’d faint. I sat down on the bed. “Maria Elena, where did you find these?”
“There a trunk in her closet. All these years, I thinking it empty.” She held up a necklace for me to see.
I looked at it closely. “It’s just like the one you have on.” It was identical to the one I’d taken to the jeweler.
“It the same, but much more beautiful.” She pointed to the one in my hand while she fingered the one around her neck.
Now I understood. The one I’d taken to the jeweler was an imitation of the authentic one. “She wasn’t crazy,” I said to myself. “Poor Grandmother couldn’t get any of us to listen to her.”
Abel materialized in front of me.
I was speechless as I saw him there in my father’s smoking jacket again.
“Please forgive me,” he said.
I held my hands out and I felt his manly hands engulf mine. “It’s you who has to forgive me.” I swallowed hard. “That is, if you can find it in your heart to do so.”
Maria Elena took a step back. “Hay no, the ghost. I leaving.” She ran toward the door and closed it behind her.
“My heart beats for you.” He smiled so widely, dimples I’d never seen before appeared in both of his cheeks.
“My life has changed so much in the last year, having the operation, losing weight, and, and, best of all, falling in love with you.”
His edges undulated, the halo effect disappeared. He was whole again.
“You don’t have to explain.” He sat down next to me on the bed. “I don’t just love you when you’re in a good mood or when things are going well. I love the whole Raquel.”
I remembered how he looked at me when I’d weighed four hundred pounds, when my hips were wider than many door jams.
His hand slipped from my hand to his pocket. “I will ask you again and I will continue to ask you to wear my ring.” He pulled the box out again and flipped it open. “Although I’m afraid it pales in comparison to your grandmother’s jewels.”
We both turned and looked at the jewels spread out on the bed behind us.
“No, don’t think that.” I gazed fondly at the tiny ring with its dainty pearls around the diamond. I held my left hand out, extending my ring finger. “This is the ring I want to wear.”
He glided it over my nail, then over my knuckle. It fit perfectly.
His mouth neared mine and I tasted his lips. My arms encircled him and I pulled myself closer to him.
There was a knock on the door. “Señorita.” Maria Elena called. “I so sorry.” The door opened and Maria Elena stood there staring at us with her mouth open.
“What?” I demanded.
“He no ghost no more.” She smiled and bobbed her head up and down. “And, your grandmother very right. He very guapo, Señorita.”
I got up from the bed and pointed to Abel. “Are you telling me you can see him?”
“Yes, and he muy caliente.” She giggled uncontrollably.
“What does this mean?” I asked Abel.
He shrugged his shoulders. “I have been a ghost for almost a hundred years. I assumed I’d always be one.”
Maria Elena was still giggling and looking at Abel.
“Maria Elena, why did you come in here?”
She stopped laughing and stood up straight. “Oh, that lady coming back. She say she find her thing.”
“The lady from the Gretna Foundation?”
“Si, that her. She downstairs.”
“Okay, Maria Elena, you stay right here with Grandmother’s things.” I turned to Abel. “Would you please come downstairs with me?”
“I would follow my fiancé anywhere.”
I tingle ran up my spine as I realized I was actually engaged. I used my thumb to feel the ring to make sure it was still there.
Abel and I walked downstairs arm in arm.
The lady was standing in the foyer holding her briefcase as if would run away from her.
“Good afternoon,” I called as we descended the stairs.
“You’ve got company now.”
It was true. People could see him, not just me.
“I’m sorry,” she continued. “But I found the papers and it would just take a few moments to get your signature.” She smiled hopefully.
“I am very sorry,” I started. “But there have been some recent developments. It appears I’m going to be able to keep my home.” I tried not to smile, but I was so happy.
Her chin crinkled. “That is indeed unfortunate news for the foundation.” She looked down at the floor as if trying to think of an argument.
“You see, I’m engaged.” I held my ring up for her to see.
“Congratulations,” she said dryly. She looked at Abel then back at me. “If you should change your mind in the near future, you know how to reach me.” She did a crisp about-face and opened the door. Her heels clomped across the driveway as she headed toward her car.
I closed the door and turned to Abel. “If it hadn’t been for you, I would have signed those papers and I would have lost my house.”
“Even if you had lost the house, you wouldn’t have lost me.” He held my hands together between us. “I want to be by your side for you for the rest of your life.”
Chapter Eighteen
All I could think about as the anesthesia swept into me from the IV was how good I’d look in my wedding dress after this surgery. I tried to put out of my mind the pain I’d be in the next few weeks. The best part was that being obese would be behind me. My eyelids grew heavy…
“Raquel,” Abel said. “It’s over.”
The surgeon had cut me up like a harried seamstress cutting on a bolt of fabric. The stitches stung, but even lying down, the extra skin wasn’t weighting me down. How lucky I was to be marrying a true gentleman who’d never mention the scars I’d be left with! My eyes opened and I gazed into the face of a man who’d literally waited decades for me.
Gripping my free hand a little too tightly, he kissed the ends of my fingers. He’d never completely get used to seeing me in a hospital.
“I’m fine,” I said with a dry mouth.
He tried to act cool, but I saw relief run over him like a warm shower. “You’ll be up and around in no time,” he reassured me, though he was really reassuring himself.
“How is the house coming?” Workmen started to arrive last week, but today they were going to start making the east wing into a dormitory for the children the State was desperate to send our way.
“The architect is overseeing everything so you don’t have to worry.” He bent over and let his forehead touch mine for an instant, then kissed my brow.
“I have to worry. I want everything to be working perfectly when the kids get there and I want to make sure everything’s done for the wedding.”
“I promise you it will be.”
I trusted in him. Hawks could take lessons from his ability to oversee things. He was going to make sure that orphanage was everything it could be.
The nurse came in and hung a yellowish looking bag from my IV pole. “Sir.”
Abel jumped, clearly not used to
people being able to see him.
“You’ll have to leave the room.” Another nurse came in behind her. “We need to check her dressings.”
“I need to run along to keep an eye on the workmen, anyway.” He blew me a kiss as the other nurse blocked him from view. “See you soon.” I heard him say.
A few hours later, the nurses had checked my incisions and were satisfied that there was no bleeding. I had a little plunger I could operate that gave me the pain meds I needed. I tried not to concentrate on my discomfort. Rather, I tried to imagine the gown Regina had picked out for me. She’d opened up her shop and the first month she’d broken even. The second month, she’d even made a little profit.
There was a faint knock from outside. “How is my svelte ex-dance partner?”
“Owen.” I perked up. It was always good to see him.
He sashayed in, twirling around in place. “We did it.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off.
“That’s right. We won that danged thing.” He spread his arms out making his silk shirt glow under the hospital lights.
“I’m so happy for you.” The thought of getting up and dancing made my sutures pull even more.
“Sorry I was such pissant about the whole thing.” He hung his head like a five-year-old.
“I’ll forgive you if you and Loraine will dance at my wedding.”
“I am going to cater your wed’n and dance like a bunch of skin heads are after me.”
“I don’t want you working during the wedding.” I slanted my eyes at him. “You’re a guest.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve hired some really good guys. In fact, as soon as the orphanage opens up, we’ll be ready to start breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” His eyes sparkled when he talked about the orphanage.
“We’re just waiting for them to finish the construction.” The sale of the jewels was allowing me to realize all of my dreams.
“And, Raquel, you know I can’t thank you enough for…” He looked down at the floor.
“Owen, I have invested in you. I know you are going to be very successful.”
He twisted his torso and leaned against the end of the hospital bed. “Well, so far so good. The restaurant is bringing in the customers and I’m catering a few more weddings this winter.”
“You see? I know a good business opportunity when I see it.”
He crossed his arms like he was posing for a magazine cover. “And you. How are things with you? Other than being all bandaged up in the hospital.”
“I couldn’t be happier.”
“With your ghost.”
“You haven’t met him yet, but you will at the wedding. And, I assure he’s no ghost.” We were waiting for our wedding to consummate our relationship, but I was very aware from our embraces that all parts were alive and working.
“And does he have any of those little thingies in his spud?”
I breathed in, angered by Owen’s obnoxious question, but my stitches pulled against my skin. I shook my head at him. The two men in my life were so childish at times. “Yes, he’s been to a doctor and his sperm count is just fine.”
He looked down at his watch. “I need to run. Got to check on the troops back at the restaurant.” He winked at me. “Thanks to you, girl.”
I smiled at him knowing how grateful he was.
“And then I’m going to be meeting Loraine. We’re dancing in the tournament in New York.” He held his arms out and spun around. “Imagine me... in the Big Apple.”
A couple of weeks later, I was out of the hospital and was able to get around fairly well, although going up or down stairs was torture. I was glad Father had put the elevator in the house when Granddaddy was sick. That also meant we could house handicapped orphans.
Abel was busy making sure the men were constructing the children’s living quarters correctly, and I wanted to make sure everything was ready for the wedding. Regina had already been a great help in planning it and had almost single-handedly picked out all of the flowers. In addition, she’d made things very easy for me by not really saying much about Abel, other than she thought he was very handsome and perfect for me.
I gingerly maneuvered myself into the driver’s seat and drove toward Regina’s store. It was in a lovely little shopping area where all of the buildings were painted in pastel colors and antique shops stood beside clothing stores, shoe shops, and bakeries.
I parked and walked slowly down the sidewalk. Regina had hung a little shingle over the door with Regina’s written on it in a swirling cursive. In the window stood a mannequin with exaggerated bell-bottoms and a short tweed jacket. I opened the door and bells tinkled over my head.
Someone was modeling a floor-length evening gown in front of a three-way mirror in the back.
“It needs a tuck in the back and a little hem, but the color is perfect,” Regina said to the woman.
She turned her head. “Raquel, finally, you’re here.” She turned back to the customer. “Excuse me.” She headed toward me and wrapped her arms around me barely touching me. “I don’t want to touch you for fear of hurting you.”
I nodded. “The shop is beautiful.” It was hard not to notice how much more bounce there was in her step. Her cheeks were rosy, as if there were more blood pumping through her veins.
“Thanks. Listen, let me finish up with this customer.” She pointed to a row of white dresses in plastic wrap along the back wall. “Those are the wedding dresses.”
I headed back there and began to go through the gowns. They were all so beautiful and with my new figure, I could wear any one of them. I closed my eyes for a minute, remembering how far I’d come in the last year.
I heard Regina’s footsteps behind me. “I already have one in mind for you.” She grabbed a sparkly champagne dress off the rack. “This color will do wonders for your complexion and your hair.” She pulled the plastic cover off it.
The dress was very plain, with an a-line form and a row of large pearls around the plunging neckline.
I gasped. “For me.”
“Of course for you.” She shook it out so that I could see the long skirt with tiny pleats at the bottom. “You need to show off that slender form of yours.”
I just stared at the dress. I’d always bought things that hid my form rather than showed it off.
“You are going to love it. Just go in there and try it on.”
“I don’t think I can.” I pointed to where my stitches had been. “I don’t want to rip anything.”
“Right.” She walked toward the front door. She turned the lock and hung the “closed” sign. “I’ll help you get it on.”
A few minutes later, Regina pulled the dress over my head and zipped it up in the back. I closed my eyes, afraid it wouldn’t fit.
“Open them, silly, it looks great!”
Slowly I took a peak. It fit. Not only did it fit, but the dress clung loosely to my hips and showed off my narrow waist. I opened my lids all the way and saw how the dress accentuated my bust line. The pearls looked like a big necklace on top of my cleavage.
“I don’t think I need to try on any more.” I looked in the mirror and didn’t recall ever seeing my own smile that wide.
Regina disappeared into the back of the store as I stood in front of the three-way mirror, checking how I looked from every angle.
“I’ve got the perfect veil.” She held a delicate piece of lace in her hand as she came up behind me. “This just came in from Paris,” she said as she placed the tiara-like ring of pearls on my head and arranged the lace around the back of my head.
“It’s beautiful,” I said, tears springing to my eyes. “If only mother…” I caught Regina’s gaze in the mirror.
She wrapped her arms around me. “If only mother were here with us.” I saw her eyes grow glassy, then she wiped them off and stood back. “I have some news though.”
I turned slightly, liking the way the satin felt against my skin, but not liking how stiff I was because I hadn’t he
aled all the way yet.
“Carter is coming to the wedding with me.”
“Carter?” The last I’d heard, they were still arguing about the divorce.
“He’s been helping me out quite a bit with the dress shop—you know, with the accounting aspects and things like that.”
“That’s wonderful.” I didn’t really have anything against Carter. In fact, I’d liked him in spite of the fact that he’d hurt my sister’s feelings when they split up. “So, you’re..?”
“Well, we certainly are talking a lot—a lot more than we used to talk when we were married.”
I turned my back to her so she could unzip me. “I’d be glad to have Carter at our wedding.” I shot her a smile so she’d know I was truly happy her marriage was going to work out after all.
Chapter Nineteen
Workmen carried two-by-fours toward the wing they were revamping for the kids. A layer of sawdust covered the marble floor in the foyer, and the sound of electric saws permeated all the way through to the kitchen almost a football field away.
Maria Elena wandered around helping out by translating. I knew she was looking forward to helping out in the orphanage, but what her role would be was still undecided.
She walked through the foyer toward the kitchen. Her head was hanging down so low she didn’t even see me.
“Maria Elena, a penny for your thoughts,” I said in the sweetest voice I could find with all of the debris flying around.
“I no seeing you, Señorita.”
“You need to start calling me Raquel.”
Her eyelids fluttered covering her big dark eyes. “Yes, Raquel. You right.” She leaned against the staircase.
“You look so sad. Aren’t you excited about the children coming?”
The ends of her cranberry lips curled up. “Yes, I excited about the children and your wedding.” Her mouth trembled.
“You don’t look excited.” I cocked my head to the side to let her know I wasn’t falling for it.
She splayed her fingers out in front of her then locked both hands together. “I will feel better when the kids here, but now I missing your grandmother.”
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