I stood by too long waiting to see if Ari would leave you and come home to his true family. You will never love him the way I do. Send my daughter’s father home to her. I knew he would be away this week; I always know my man’s whereabouts. I even know where you stay. You know how? He’s my man, that’s how.
Let me fill in a few blanks so you won’t be confused. I met Ari almost three years ago in Miami. He was with some friends and we hit it off. The rest is, as they say, history. I don’t know how your bomb ass got in the picture but bitch, step off!
Consider this fair warning, Taylor. You think you ’bout to marry the only man I ever loved? I have too much invested in this to lose. Ari is mine.
Sincerely,
I’m watching you.
Taylor calmly ripped the envelope several times; the ceiling fan blowing the pieces of paper around the floor like confetti. Then the reality of it all overwhelmed her. Her companions stood by stunned as Taylor crumpled the letter in her hand and suddenly burst into tears, ran to her room, and locked the door.
She flopped across the bed, the waterworks from her eyes saturating the covers. She felt so many mixed emotions. How could she not have known he was cheating? How the hell did he have a child by someone else? He wasn’t the man she thought he was, and she hated him for that.
She came out of her fog when she realized that Libby and Pam were pounding on her bedroom door. She rolled out of bed and opened the door. Immediately both women reached out for her. Taylor stepped aside to let them in.
“I’m going to kill him,” she snarled as her bare feet swept across the carpet. Kneeling at the edge of the bed and reaching under it, she pulled out the black box that held her shiny Smith and Wesson Model 35—her crime stopper, as she called it. She stood up and opened the chamber. It was loaded.
“Tay, why do you have that gun in your hand?” Pam stared at the gun and back at Taylor.
Taylor simply stared back.
Pam stepped a little closer to Taylor. “Let’s sit on the bed, sweetie, and talk.” Pam sat, patting the bed and extending her hand toward Taylor.
Taylor sat at the opposite end of the bed. “When he comes back, I’m going to kill him.”
“Kill who?” Libby asked as she cautiously approached the bed.
“Ari. I’m going to kill Ari.” Taylor’s tone was unfamiliar even to her own ears.
“What happened?” Pam demanded, moving closer to Taylor’s side of the bed.
Taylor craned her neck and reached for the balled-up letter near the pillow. She handed it to Pam, who hastily read the contents. More than once, Pam’s fist rose to her lips and she gasped at the startling revelations. “Oh, my God. I’m so sorry, Tay.”
Libby snatched the letter from Pam and hastily skimmed through it. “Hell naw, I’ll kill him for you!” Angry tears started to form in Libby’s eyes.
Everyone snapped to attention as they heard footsteps barreling down the hall. Toni came busting into the room, a worried look on her face. “What happened? Why y’all call me saying get to Tay’s place right away?” Toni looked down at her sister’s hands and realized she was holding a gun. “Oh no, Tay. Don’t kill yourself.” She looked desperately at Pam and Libby. “Help her. Help my sister.”
Libby stood and put her arm around Toni’s shoulder. “It’s not what it looks like. Come on; I’ll fill you in on everything.” She led Toni out the French doors from the bedroom to the patio. Toni reluctantly followed Libby, purse and keys still in her hands.
As Taylor lifted her eyes from the floor and stared into Pam’s face, she knew this was something that neither her sister nor her two friends could make better. Taylor and Pam sat there in silence.
Pam started to inch closer. “I need you to give me the gun, Tay.”
Taylor raised the gun toward her friend, handle first, and handed it to her. Feeling defeated, she folded her body into the fetal position and cried.
Pam wrapped her arms around her best friend and cried with her.
There was a faint hope-I’m-not-intruding knock on the door. “Is it okay to come in?” Toni quietly asked.
“No, we’ll come out there with you,” Pam replied between sniffles. “It’s hot in here.” She wiped away Taylor’s tears, blotted her own cheeks, then took her friend by the elbow. “Come on, Tay.” She guided Taylor to a tan wicker patio chair.
“That’s alright,” Taylor uttered. “I need to stand for a little while. Do I …” She envisioned how her makeup must look. “Do I look like a raccoon?”
The four BFFs shared a good chuckle. Libby moved forward, licked her thumb, and acted like she was going to use that moisture to clean off Taylor’s smeared mascara and eyeliner. Taylor jerked her head back. When the laughter died down, the only sound was the crunching of fall leaves where Libby stood tapping her foot.
Libby was first to break the silence. “Okay, I can’t hold back anymore. I can’t believe this bastard has a two-year-old daughter. How the hell did he walk around all these years and not say anything?” She paced the floor back and forth, rattling off one question after the next. “Does he feel any remorse for his actions? You definitely can’t marry him.”
“Actually,” Toni responded, looking directly at Taylor, “I think you have to marry him.”
Three pairs of puzzled eyes glared at Toni.
“Why does she have to marry a cheater?” Pam asked standing up.
“Hear me out, ladies. You all know our father is running for his second term as mayor of Chicago. If Taylor calls off the wedding, which is next week, it could cost him votes. Everyone will want to know why and then the media is going to start poking around. This is something father doesn’t need. It would really hurt his chances of getting re-elected.”
Taylor pointed her index finger at her sister. “I don’t give a damn about that. I refuse to marry a cheater and a liar. And how can you—” Realizing how loud her voice was becoming, she lowered her volume. “How can you stand here and think only about the family reputation?”
Backing up, Toni raised her hands. “I know, I know. I shouldn’t think like this but it’s the politics in me.”
Toni was just like their mother. Taylor remembered the countless town hall meetings they had to attend and the late-night press conferences her father held in city hall since she and her sister were young. She knew how hard her father worked as an activist for the community to get where he was today. Mayor John Briggs was well known on Capitol Hill and it was rumored that he could be a great president one day.
As Pam and Libby gave Toni testy feedback, Taylor thought about all the times her mother had told her that one day life was going to throw her a problem and she was going to have to put other people’s needs before her own. This must be one of those problems. Money has already been spent and countless friends and family will be flying in from around the world for the wedding. I’d have to explain to my parents why I was canceling the wedding. Lost in her thoughts, she almost didn’t notice when Libby approached her and embraced her in a hug. For the second time that evening, Taylor cried on a friend’s shoulder.
Pam offered her some Kleenex. Blowing her nose, Taylor took a seat, cleared her throat, and put on her best smile. “Toni is right. The choice I make not only will affect me but also the family. The wedding is already in the newspapers and it’s the talk of the town. I have to go forward with this wedding.”
Pam set the box of tissue on the espresso-colored wicker lounger and grabbed Taylor’s hands. “Tay, I love you and respect any decision you make but are you sure about this? Are you going to tell Ari you know about his infidelity? I mean this woman, whoever she is, is threatening your life. You have to take this seriously.”
Taylor understood their concerns but she didn’t scare easily and she truly still loved Ari. He was her first real love. Taylor met Ari when she was eighteen and a freshman at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She was pulling her trunk up the dorm steps when someone with a Jamaican accent spoke to her from b
ehind. “Hello, Ms. Lady. Do you need help?”
She had turned around and looked into the most gorgeous pair of hazel eyes she had ever seen on a man. His chocolate creamy skin was baby smooth. Teeth couldn’t get any whiter than his; his smile captivated her. “Hmm … yes, please. Thank you,” she had responded, trying to sound calm.
Ari picked up the trunk with ease and carried it up the steps as his muscles rippled under his tight-fitting tee. “What room will this be going to?”
Taylor had been admiring his firm butt and hadn’t realized he had spoken to her.
“Ms. Lady, what room?” he asked again, louder this time.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Room 217. And the name is Taylor Briggs.” She squeezed around him and the heavy trunk, rushing up the last few steps and down the hall to open her door.
He caught up to her in no time, stepped across the threshold, turned and dropped the trunk against the wall, then extended his hand and introduced himself as he slowly backed out the room. “Okay, Ms. La—I mean, Ms. Taylor Briggs. I’m Ari Gallagher.”
Taylor, who had never believed in love at first sight, was totally smitten; from that day they were inseparable.
Taylor looked at the girls she called family and walked across the wooden patio to lean against the railing. “No,” she said, “I’m not going to tell Ari that I know about this woman and his child. I expect you all to do the same. I’m going to marry him like I planned.”
Their expressions made it clear that they were very concerned.
“Don’t worry about me,” she added. “I can take care of myself. I know exactly what I’m doing.”
Libby leaned over to Pam and whispered loudly, “Is she really okay or is she putting on a show for us?”
“Hel-lo. I’m standing right here. I can hear you,” Taylor said in a sing-song voice. “You’ve got to trust me on this. Like I said, I know exactly what I’m doing. Now will you all go home?” she pleaded. “Besides,” she added, trying to lighten the mood, “I know I look good, but this jumpsuit is not a stand-out-on-the-patio-in-the-middle-of-fall kind of outfit, okay? Get on out of here so I can go inside and think.”
Toni grabbed her purse and keys and prepared to leave.
“You’re just going to leave your sister like this?” Pam asked, hands on her hips. “You know she is lying and not okay. She is hurting.”
“You know our family,” Toni answered. “And Taylor is a Briggs. She will overcome this hurdle just like she has done so many times before. She asked to be alone so I’m respecting her wishes and I advise you both to do the same.” With that, she turned and left.
Pam and Libby both took one last uncertain look at Taylor. Pam blew out a deep breath, mouthed “I love you” to Taylor, then gently shoved Libby toward the door. “Come on, let’s go.”
Chapter 2
“I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Ari Gallagher,” Pastor Payfer said. “You may now kiss your bride.”
Five hundred and eighty-nine guests seated inside Naperville Country Club watched as Ari lifted Taylor’s veil and parted her lips with his tongue. He deepened the kiss, letting their tongues find a rhythm. Taylor could hear the applause and whistling from the onlookers. She drew back from the kiss and smiled at her new husband.
“Is this everything you dreamed about?” he asked her as they made their way down the aisle, people reaching out here and there to congratulate them.
“It’s more than I dreamed about, and I’m so happy. You gave me my fairytale wedding.”
Guests enjoyed appetizers while the bridal party went outside for a photo session then moved back inside the chapel with the photographer. Afterward, Taylor’s father’s bodyguards ushered Ari and Taylor to the reception hall area across the eighteen-hole golf course and seated them at the head table next to Toni, her maid of honor, and Ari’s brother, Jay, his best man.
One person at the back of the room began clinking a spoon against a glass. Others followed suit, and group began chanting, “Kiss, kiss, kiss.”
The bride and groom grinned at each other. “Can’t disappoint our loyal fans,” Ari joked as they shared a kiss. The spectators cheered and clapped.
At a nearby table, Mayor John Briggs softly kissed his wife and said, “Excuse me, sweetheart.” He walked to the head table and beamed at his eldest daughter. “May I have this dance?”
Taylor stood and he led her to the dance floor for their father-daughter dance. He pulled her close and kissed her forehead. They swayed to the music. Taylor always felt comfort in her father’s arms. She laid her head on his chest and just listened to the steady beat of his heart. Then she heard his deep voice in her ear. “I’m so proud of you, sweetie. You found a good man.” The mayor kissed his daughter on the temple when tears glistened in her eyes.
Taylor loved her father with all her heart and she knew he perceived these to be tears of joy. She wondered how he would feel if he knew the sacrifice she had just made to keep the family name intact.
Her mother, Tammy, was the daughter of the late Governor Ian Wheaton from Louisiana.
Born into the world of politics, Tammy was well-groomed on keeping the family scandals in the closet. Tammy would certainly be pleased that Taylor didn’t destroy the family status. Caring so much about what her country club friends would think, Taylor couldn’t help wonder how her mother would have saved face if she had called off the wedding. Taylor’s father was more of a humble, kind man. He would be furious if he ever found out the choice she had made to save his career.
The music was smooth and mellow but there was a whirlwind brewing inside Taylor. She still hadn’t dealt with Ari’s betrayal. He took away the only thing she ever wanted in this world—to have his first child, to be the mother of every child he would ever create. She almost let out a loud wail as she stood next to him at the altar and heard him swear before God and all those people that he would be true and honest.
“May I cut in?” Taylor lifted her head from her father’s chest and stared at her husband. Looking into his deceitful face made her stomach knot but she had kept up the appearance as the loving fiancée and would now put on the adoring wife façade. She knew some day she would have to deal with his unfaithfulness.
Mayor Briggs gave his new son-in-law a hearty pat on the back. “Sure, son. Take care of my daughter. And let me take this old woman off your hands, young man,” he added with a chuckle as he swapped partners with Ari and began to dance with his wife.
Taylor breathed in her husband’s cologne as they slowly rocked to the love songs played by Emmaculate Fusion. Ari started singing the songs in her ear. Aside from the accent, he sounded just like Luther Vandross when “Here and Now” came over the speakers. Ari sang along with the band: “Here and now, I promise to love faithfully. You’re all I need. Here and now, I vow to be one with thee. Your love is all I need.”
Tears flowed down Taylor’s face. Ari sounded so sincere. She wished she could believe him like she had when he told her that his heart melted every time he saw those two dimples in her cheeks. Or when he said that he knew the first day he met her that she was going to be his wife. He always said he felt he didn’t deserve her love but he couldn’t let go of the best thing that had ever happened to him.
When his parents had died in a car crash in his junior year of college, Taylor was his backbone. She had been there for him through the good times and bad. He loved her with every part of his being. Well, that’s what he had said. And Taylor had put all her eggs in that basket. She hoped that she could one day find the true love she once had for her husband.
Taylor felt an uneasiness beginning to build. Not just because of the lies Ari was trying to hide. Something else was putting her senses on high alert. From the time she had entered the banquet hall, there was a vague awareness that someone was watching her. Of course, everyone would be looking at the bride and groom but Taylor felt a bad energy coming from somewhere in the room. Something wasn’t right.
Still in Ari’s embrace, Taylor glanced aro
und, catching glimpses of a few people. Just when she was about to chalk it up to insecurities, she noticed a lady she didn’t recognize standing in the doorway. The stranger seemed to go out of her way to ensure that they made eye contact.
She was wearing a black strapless dress over her curvy figure and a black veil over her face. Taylor couldn’t make out the woman’s face, nor could she tear her eyes away from the mystery lady who lifted her veil, winked at Taylor, and gave her a look of pure evil. Then she turned and quietly left.
Taylor stared at the doorway. Ari continued to sing to her, oblivious to what had transpired just ten feet away.
“Hey, Ari man. Can I dance with my sis?”
Ari stopped his mini concert and grinned at Taylor’s brother, Tyler.
Taylor was grateful for the distraction; it took her mind off the woman in black for the moment.
“Dang, man, I’m never going to have my wife to myself. You have five minutes,” Ari playfully pointed to his watch, “then I’m coming back for her. You got that?”
“A ‘right man, I got it.” Tyler grabbed his sister’s hand and spun her around the floor as the tempo of the music sped up.
He was her baby brother. She couldn’t count how many times her family had teased her for being so overprotective of him. “Almost like a second mother,” they would say. He would bring his secrets to her instead of confiding in their mom. Her relationship with her brother grew stronger with the years. She was proud of him. In his twenty-two years, Tyler had graduated from college and had become their father’s personal assistant. He was very interested in politics—and women.
“So, sis, when are you going to hook me up with Libby?”
Emmaculate Fusion switched to an old school song and everyone on the floor starting doing dances from years back. Taylor stopped doing the robot long enough to give her brother “the eye” and laugh as he stuck his tongue out at her. “Are you seriously trying to get hooked up on my wedding day with my best friend who is five years older than you? I’ve told you a thousand times Libby is not interested in you.”
His Betrayal Her Lies Page 2
