“Hey!” I said, greeting Devin and then Leigh. Taking her hand, I said, “I’m so sorry.”
As I led them back to my office, Devin said, “You’re gonna be sorrier in a minute.”
The two of them settled onto the leather sofa, and I sat across from them in one of the two matching chairs that I had set up to make half of my office feel homier. I found that clients always talked more, always told you more when they felt most comfortable.
“So . . .” That was all I said, because often that was enough to get a client started.
“I want to hire you,” Leigh said softly. She sounded like she’d been broken, and my heart went out to her. “I know Devin’s told you . . . I want a divorce.”
Before I could respond, Devin jumped up from the sofa. “And do you know what, Chyanne? That low-life scum gave her AIDS! Leigh is HIV-positive.”
I gasped, exactly what I wasn’t supposed to do as an attorney. I wasn’t supposed to show shock. But what else could I do? This story just got worse and worse.
I reached for Leigh’s hand. Forget about all that attorney decorum. I wanted her to know just how I felt.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, wishing that what Skye had said just a little while ago was true. Wishing to God that they had been at the hospital because Leigh was pregnant.
“So, what are you gonna do?” Devin demanded to know. “How are we gonna get him?”
Slowly, my eyes turned to Devin, and my heart started beating fast. If Leigh was positive, did that mean . . .
As if he knew what I was thinking, he said, “No, I’m not. At least not yet.” Devin fell back onto the sofa. “But I have to keep getting tested for the next couple of years. I do that, anyway, but now . . .”
Devin sighed, Leigh lowered her eyes, and I shook my head. Well, Devin and Leigh had come to the right place. I was going to take Michael, Antonio, or whatever his name was, for all that he had and all that he didn’t have.
When I finished with him, he was going to be calling Leigh and me all kinds of dirty names.
Chapter 44
Skye
I balanced the package I held in one arm and glanced down at my cell phone. It was another call—from him. That was it. I was going to spend the money to have his number blocked, though I didn’t really think that was going to stop Noah. He knew where I worked; he knew where I lived.
I sighed. From that day that I’d seen him three months ago, Noah had been relentless. The first few times he’d called, I’d actually talked to him and listened to what he had to say.
But his words were the same all the time—he kept apologizing and saying that he didn’t want to let me go. Soon after, I started letting his calls go to voice mail.
Not that that dissuaded him. He sent cards and flowers to my home and job, telling me—again—how he missed me and wanted me back.
The only thing he hadn’t done was show up at my door, which was a very good thing because Trent would’ve killed him.
And then . . . just as I had that thought, I looked up and Noah was there. A few steps away from me, right in front of my apartment building.
Oh, God! It was a good thing that Trent was in New Jersey, working on closing a deal on a property. I didn’t expect him back in the city for hours.
“Hi, Skye,” he called to me above all the noise of New York that was surrounding us.
“Noah, what are you doing here? I don’t want to talk to you,” I said as I put the key in the door leading into my building.
“I just want a few moments to say what I have to say. I didn’t get to say everything last time. Just a few moments,” he repeated.
“You’ve said it all, and I’m still getting married.”
“Well if you are, what do you have to lose? Let me in, and we’ll talk for just a moment. And then I’ll be gone . . . forever.”
This was not what I wanted to do, but it was the “gone forever” part that made me agree. Inside the elevator I tried to keep my eyes on the door, but through my peripheral vision, I could see him staring at me, his eyes intense, and his lips and his locks . . . oh, God!
I rushed into my apartment, so anxious to get this over with. I placed the bag of groceries on the kitchen table and tossed my keys there as well, then turned back to Noah, who was standing in the center of the living room.
I folded my arms, kept my eyes on his eyes and away from his lips and his locks and his jeans, which he was wearing, oh, so well. “Okay, speak,” I said as if I didn’t care.
He looked around, as if he was getting used to the familiar surroundings, and then his eyes stopped moving when he got to the entryway wall. “What happened to the picture?”
“What? The sketch you gave me?”
He nodded.
“I threw it away!” My words were meant to hurt him. Maybe he would now leave me alone—even though I hadn’t thrown it away at all. The sketch was sitting in the back of my closet, though I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it now that I was getting married.
“I really hurt you, didn’t I?” he said, and for the first time, I heard real sadness in his voice.
“Yes, you did. And you’re hurting me now by not leaving me alone.”
“I can’t, because if there is one thing I know, it’s that we belong together.”
Noah had said this to me at least one hundred times since we’d met up again. And each time, I wanted to strangle him. Why hadn’t he said that before? Why hadn’t he known that? Didn’t he know that he was the first man I ever really loved? He could have had me into eternity. But I wasn’t enough for him then; I wasn’t dumb enough to believe that I was enough for him now—even though the flames I had for him were still burning inside of me. But like Devin said, that was normal. After all, Noah was really my first love. Could you ever get over that?
“Is it because of money?”
I frowned. “What money?”
“The money that Trent Hamilton and his family have. I saw the announcement of your wedding in the New York Times. Is that why you want to marry him? Because he can give you more than I can?”
I crossed my arms even tighter across my chest. “The mere fact that you can ask me that lets me know that you don’t know me at all.”
“I had to ask.”
“Because you can’t think of any other reason why I’m saying no to you?”
“Exactly. Because I know we’re supposed to be together. I can see it all over you, even now.” He stepped closer, and the smart thing for me to do would’ve been to move back. But I didn’t. He said, “It’s in your eyes.” Another step. “It’s on your lips.” Another step. “It’s in your heart.” There was nowhere else for him to move. “Like I said, it’s all over you.” His lips were right there in front of me, juicy, wet, thick. And his locks swayed as he talked.
I couldn’t figure out how I was still standing, because my heart had stopped beating. And then he lowered his face, closer, closer, closer to me . . . until his lips were on top of mine. So gentle, at first.
But then I closed my eyes and he took me into his arms and we went at it. We ravaged each other with our passion, which I could feel all the way down to my center.
This was exactly what I remembered, the fire that passed between us every time we touched. I didn’t know how long we stayed connected. Two minutes? Two hours? I wasn’t sure. But finally, I broke away, stepped back, and covered my lips with my hands.
Noah’s eyes were filled with lust when he looked at me. And he smiled. “Finally,” he said. “I knew it.” He sighed. “Thank God you know it now and we can just start again where we left off.”
I had to force my legs to move, and I took the twelve steps to the door. My back was to him the entire time, until I opened it.
Turning to him, I said, “You need to leave, Noah.”
There was nothing but confusion all over his face. “What?”
“You need to leave. It’s over between us.”
His locks swayed. “After that kiss?”
“It
was just a kiss,” I said as I stared at his lips. “I’m still marrying Trent.”
He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it. “You’re actually going through with this?”
I nodded.
“What about me?” he asked. He had not taken a single step toward the door, but I still held it open.
“I loved you,” I told him. “And my heart has been broken for a year. But I’m in love with another man, who loves me completely,” I said. “And I cannot wait to marry him.”
Those must’ve been the first words that I’d spoken that Noah actually heard, because finally he moved toward me. He stood at the edge of the door, just inches away from me, and asked, “Are you sure?”
I looked straight at him when I nodded. “Yes.”
“You’re making a big mistake,” he said before he stepped into the hallway.
I didn’t give him a chance to say another word—not even good-bye. There was no need for us to say anything else. After what had just gone down here, in the middle of my living room, I think Noah Calhoun and I were finally on the same page.
We both knew that it was over once and for all.
Chapter 45
Skye
The dressing room was tight and small in the back of this church, but it didn’t matter to me. I didn’t need many people back here with me, anyway. Those who loved me most were here to make sure that I didn’t explode with happiness before the wedding.
It was amazing.... The day was finally here. I was about to marry Trent Hamilton. After a year of dating and months of doubts, today I would do the right thing.
“You look absolutely amazing,” my sister, Simone, said. “But I’ve got to get going.” She hugged me, and I closed my eyes as I held her back. “I’ll see you out there,” she said.
I still couldn’t believe that Simone wasn’t standing up for me, but she had said that she really wanted to be in charge of the music.
“I’m gonna rock that church,” she had kidded at my bridal shower. “Y’all done forgot that my singing roots began in the church, and when I finish singing those songs, Abyssinian Baptist Church will be talking about Skye’s wedding for a long time.”
Everyone laughed, but I had no doubt about it. ’Cause there was not a singer on the market today who could rival my sister’s talent.
Through the reflection in the mirror, I could see Chyanne and Leigh standing behind me. Leigh and I had never been that close, but we’d all become closer since her divorce proceedings began and her diagnosis with AIDS. It was still hard to believe what had happened to her, but you couldn’t tell it in her face. Devin said that it was our friendship that gave her strength, and she was moving on, praying for a Magic Johnson kind of cure.
“Okay, I think I’m done, Mz. Thang,” Devin said as he tucked one last curl behind my ear.
“Oh, my goodness,” Chyanne said. “You do look absolutely beautiful.” She started waving her hand in front of her face, as if that would keep her tears away.
I wished my mother had done that, because she was already crying and the makeup consultant that Trent hired had to redo my mom’s makeup twice already.
“Okay,” my mother said, standing up from the vanity next to me. “I promise, I’m not going to cry again.”
Then she looked at me, and the tears started coming.
“Mama, you’ve got to stop,” I said, laughing.
“I know, but I can’t help it.”
“Okay, that’s it. It’s time for you to go, anyway. Time for the mother of the bride to be escorted down the aisle.”
My mother nodded, then hugged me, though she kept her face away from mine so that neither one of us would have to have our makeup done again.
“I am so proud of you,” she whispered.
“For what? For getting married?”
“No, for being you, for always standing your ground and going after what you wanted, for growing up into the magnificent woman that you are.” She sobbed, and I pointed toward the door.
“Devin, take her. And it’s time for you to go, too.”
When I stood and looked into my best friend’s eyes, he was about to cry as well.
“Stop it! Stop!” I said to all of them. Now I had to wave my hands in front of my face. There was no way I could cry. Not now. Not yet.
“Okay, we’re going, Mz. Thang!”
He hugged me one last time, and my mother blew me a kiss.
Leigh said, “I’m going to let them know that we’re ready.” She followed Devin and my mother out the door, and I was alone with Chyanne.
“Well, this is it, kiddo,” Chyanne said.
“Yeah.” I held her hands. “I always thought you were going to be first.”
“Well, you got the husband first, but I got the baby first,” she kidded. “Seriously, though, do you know how much I love you?”
I nodded because I was afraid to speak. Chyanne was my sister, just as much as Simone. We had been through so much together: from her father’s death to going to college together, choosing our careers, and finding our first loves. We’d both lost the men who’d had our hearts first. But I had no doubt that Chyanne would find what I’d found with Trent. He wasn’t the first, but he was the best.
“I am so happy for you,” she said as she handed me my bouquet. “Now, let’s go get married.”
I stepped into the hallway of Abyssinian Baptist Church. It was quite a coup and quite special to be married here, in the oldest African American church in New York. It was only because we were being married here that my father agreed to a wedding outside of Atlanta. Plus, my father understood that the Hamiltons had so many connections in the city and really wanted the wedding here. But the kicker for my father was that our wedding would be held in this church with so much history. And when Reverend Butts, the pastor of the church, agreed that my father could preside over my nuptials, it was a done deal for Daddy, the Reverend Arthur Davenport.
The only thing, though, was that my father took his responsibilities seriously, and that meant that he wanted to stand at the altar during the entire ceremony. So, I was going to walk down the aisle myself.
I had thought of other options: walking with Simone, but she was singing, or my mother, who wouldn’t have been able to handle it. So, I’d decided that I could do it alone. It was perfect, anyway, so apropos of my life.
As Simone sang “With You I’m Born Again,” Leigh and then Chyanne sauntered down the aisle, looking stunning in the emerald green dresses I’d chosen. I stayed away from the doors so that no one could see me. And then, right after Simone killed that last note to the song that Billy Preston had made famous, the wedding march began.
I could hear the rustle of the crowd standing, and I took a deep breath as I turned the corner.
The gasps were immediate, and the oohs and aahs continued from the three hundred or so people who had packed the church. I knew I looked great in the custom gown that I had designed, but I didn’t really care what anyone thought—except for Trent. Not looking to the left or to the right, I kept my eyes on the center, first seeing my father, with a smile so wide on his face that his cheeks had spread up to his eyes.
Then Trent came into view, and a shiver ran through me. It was a good one, one filled with all the love that I had for this man. I loved him because he loved me so much.
And Trent showed his love. For the first time ever, I saw his eyes glassy with tears. That made me smile; that made me melt; that made me love him even more.
Trent didn’t wait at the altar, the way we had rehearsed. When I was just a few steps away, he came into the aisle to get me, and that made the congregation laugh.
When Trent took my hand, I was sure this was the moment I was going to burst with happiness.
The music stopped, and my father began.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here on this special day to witness the nuptials of two very important people to me. My daughter Skye and the man who in just minutes will be my son, Trent Hamilton.”
As my father talked, I had to blink back tears. My father and I had had such a rocky relationship over the years. But finally, we’d found our groove. And as we stood here today, I no longer had any doubts that he loved me, his firstborn.
My father’s words made their way back to my ears. “We rejoice and celebrate in the ways life has led Skye and Trent to each other. Therefore, if any man can show just cause why they may not be lawfully joined together, let him speak now or forever hold his peace.”
“I can show just cause!”
“What?” I whipped around and watched my nightmare come to life. Noah, dressed in a tuxedo, walked down the aisle toward me.
“I can show just cause,” he said again as the murmurs that rolled through the congregation became louder.
“What?” Trent said. “Who are you?”
“I’m the man who Skye should be with,” Noah said.
And, I wanted to die right there. Why was this happening to me? On my wedding day!
Trent turned to me. “Skye?” he asked, his eyes filled with such confusion. “What is going on?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
“Tell him, Skye,” Noah demanded, though he was stopped in his tracks by two of the ushers. “Tell him that you love me!”
It was hard for me to get the words out of my mouth.
“Skye?” Trent called my name again.
“Skye!” my father called to me at the same time.
I felt every eye in the church on me. And my heart was beating so hard, I couldn’t speak.
“You can tell him, Skye,” Noah said as he tried to wrestle his arms from the grasp of the ushers. “And then we can get married. Today. Right now. Here, in front of all of these people.”
It was hard for me to breathe. I glanced at Trent, and there was no longer confusion in his eyes. Now all that was there was hurt. And his pain was because of me.
I pushed my bouquet into Chyanne’s arms, even though she was standing frozen. Gathering the satin skirt of my gown, I walked up the center aisle toward Noah and the men who held him.
“Skye!” Trent called, and now his voice trembled with his fear and his pain. But I was so sorry. I had to do this.
Date Cute Marry Rich Page 22
