Road to Casablanca

by Leah Leonard

  He saw Gloria at her desk typing away and he realized he had acted horribly to her the past few days. He wanted to be a better man and stop being his father’s son, which is what he knew his father wanted anyway.

  “Good morning, Gloria. I wanted to tell you I appreciate everything you did for me the past few days. I couldn’t have gotten through it without you.”

  Gloria looked up from her computer, a look of stunned amazement on her face, “You are most welcome.”

  “Do you have a few minutes right now to talk?”

  “Of course; what is it?”

  “Step inside the office.”

  Gloria followed him to the office and closed the door behind them, “How can I help?”

  “I have to find Cindy and you said there is no way to get the agency to give her personal information to us, correct?”

  “That’s right.”

  Erick had been so infuriated when he heard this yesterday he wanted to go to those imbeciles personally and tell them off, but now he’d had a change of heart. He wanted to be nicer, but still expected to get exactly what he wanted.

  “I’ve been thinking about it and we need to employ a private investigator immediately, and I need an afternoon flight to Dallas.”

  “Leaving today?”

  “Yes, and as soon as possible.”

  “And coming back when?”

  “I don’t know yet. Make it three days from now and if need be, I can change it.”

  Erick knew this would infuriate his father even more since he was now expected to make daily appearances in the office.

  “On second thought, today’s Tuesday so book it to come back on Sunday, if that’s okay. I might as well stay the whole week.”

  “Hotel, too?”

  Erick did not want to stay in a hotel. He did not want to be anywhere but in Cindy’s arms. He shook his head, hoping that by the time he arrived the hotel wouldn’t be necessary.

  “No.”

  He took the wedding rings from his front pocket and stared at them, twisting them around in his hands.

  “Just a rental car. And make it something expensive and exotic like a…oh, I don’t know…a Lamborghini or something like that, okay?”

  “Yes sir; right away,” Gloria confirmed. She turned and quickly got back to her desk to make the arrangements.

  “Oh, and Gloria? Please do whatever it takes to get this private eye to find her – the sooner the better. This is an emergency and the longer it takes, the more the situation is in jeopardy.”

  “I understand, and I will do everything in my power to help you.”

  “Thank you. It means everything to me, Gloria.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Can you get Diana Lovemore on the line?”

  “Of course I can, sir, but as I said….”

  “I know they can’t give out the information, but I need to tell her something, okay?”

  “Right away.”

  Gloria rang the phone through to Erick’s office and he heard a familiar voice answer.

  “Welcome to the Lovemore Agency, where our goal is to bring more love into your life. My name is Bambi; how may I help you?”

  “Bambi?”

  “Yes.”

  “Erick Redmund. Is Diana in?’

  “Yes, right away. How was your trip?”

  Erick took a deep breath. It was all he could do to keep from pouring his heart out to the ditzy receptionist, but he realized it wouldn’t do any good.

  “More than I could have ever imagined.”

  “That sounds great! Hang on, k? I’ll get her for you.”

  Two clicks later the husky voice of the woman who started it all was on the line.

  “Erick! How are things going? We weren’t expecting to hear from you until next week sometime.”

  “Yes….uh…I just wanted to call and say…uh, thanks.”

  “Well you’re most certainly welcome.”

  “Cindy Brown was…I mean is…the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my entire life.”

  “Well now, that is something. I’m so happy for you both. So what’s the next step? Moving in together? Marriage?”

  Marriage, Erick knew in his heart, was the only option for him, but with things the way they were, he wasn’t sure it was possible.

  “I’m not sure yet…I’ll…have to keep you posted on it.”

  “Wonderful, Erick. We are always so pleased to hear about our client’s success. May I send out a testimonial letter for you to complete?”

  Always the saleswoman.

  “Uh, sure; go ahead.”

  Hopefully Erick could find Cindy, straighten this mess out and if that happened he would not only fill out a form, he would gladly shout from the rooftops. That is, if it wasn’t too late….

  Erick stood staring out at the Hollywood Hills once more, this time feeling completely different than he had before his trip to Morocco. Sure, it would be great to hobnob with the celebrities in this town, but right now he was only concerned with one person in the whole world, and her name was Cindy Brown. The trouble was, he had no earthly idea how to find her, or if she would speak to him when he did.

  “Cindy, I’m coming for you. Hang on!”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  That evening, Cindy went out to dinner with Victoria and filled her in on the scoop about her lunch date with Stan.

  “He is a nice guy, but it’s not the right time.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I still can’t get over Erick.”

  “Don’t be silly. You just met the guy a week ago. Surely there’s room for somebody else in your life. You know what they say about dating, don’t you?”

  “No, what?”

  “You fall off the horse, you gotta get back on and ride! And the sooner the better!”

  “That sounds like some bad Texan advice to me.”

  “Take it from somebody who knows: its good advice, my friend.”

  “Stan is nice, I like him, and for now I need to keep him as just a friend. That’s it.”

  “Okay, you’re the boss.”

  “Now you’re talking. I have to get home to Max now.”

  “Yes, of course, your one true love.”

  “You got it, girl.”

  Cindy drove the short distance from the restaurant to her apartment and pulled into her parking space. As she began to walk toward the sidewalk leading to the stairs in front of her apartment, she didn’t immediately notice the expensive cherry red Lamborghini parked out front.

  She climbed the stairs, looking down to find the proper key to her front door. When she looked up, she was shocked. “Erick?”

  Erick, wearing a black tuxedo and carrying three dozen red roses, stood in front of her door smiling at her. He shifted the roses to one arm and reached out for her.

  “I missed you.”

  Cindy shook her head, not wanting to fall victim to his manipulative ways any longer.

  “Look, Erick, it’s over, okay? I don’t know how you found me. but you need to get going back home. And also, you…”

  Erick reached out and grabbed her, placing a deep sensual kiss on her mouth that took her breath away; still, she managed to push him away.

  “Stop it, Erick, you can’t just barge in here and do whatever you…we are not getting back together, Erick, so just sto–” Cindy yelled as he stopped her words with his kiss again and this time she felt herself, body and soul, melt into him. Damn him, she thought. She was powerless to resist him.

  Erick kept kissing her through every single protest she could mutter, unwilling as always to take any kind of “no” for an answer. It was obvious to Cindy he wanted her and he was here to get her the same way he acquired any property or business.

  “I love you, Cindy Brown. I’ve looked high and low for you and finally had to call a private investigator to find you. I want to marry you, Cindy. Cindy…”

  To her stunned amazement, he fell to one knee as he pulled the now boxed ring
s out of his pocket.

  “Cindy Brown, will you marry me?”

  Cindy shook her head violently as she shouted at him, unable to believe what she was seeing.

  “No, Erick, no! I am not falling for your games this time. You don’t want me, you want…movie stars and…models. You don’t want me at all, you never did!”

  “No, it isn’t true! Petra and I are only friends; it’s all we’ve ever been to each other. She has a boyfriend and is getting married in six months. She only kissed me to get the reporters off her back about him. You have to understand none of what you see on those shows is real; I promise I am telling you the truth! I told Petra all about you and how much I love you and how even in Morocco after that night we spent together I wanted you, I wanted to marry you right then and there, not for some showy farce but for real, Cindy, for real. I love you! You are the only woman I’ve ever loved; you are the only woman for me in the whole wide world.”

  Erick was actually crying now and at first Cindy didn’t know whether to believe him or to offer him applause and accolades for superior acting capabilities. Instead, she just looked at him and stared down at his pathetic image slumped down on his knees in his tux, flowers thrown on the ground and wedding rings in his hands.

  For a moment, it appeared the tables were turned. Now it was he who was in a sniveling teary-eyed mess and she was the strong, confident woman who just that afternoon had a new date of her own.

  What if he is telling the truth? It seemed far-fetched at first, but the longer she watched him miserably sobbing on the concrete slab in front of her apartment, the more she thought that this might not be acting, but might be real after all.

  “Please, Cindy, just let me come inside. I love you, I do; this is real. I can’t live another day without you and I want you to marry me as soon as possible. Please, Cindy. I love you more than anything or anyone in the world.”

  By now, a few neighbors were starting to peek out their windows and doors since it was already after nine and the commotion outside was getting quite loud, not to mention interesting for nosy gossipers in her complex.

  “Okay. Come in and just try to keep it down, will you? My neighbors are going to be talking about this tomorrow at the mailbox, I just know it.”

  She let him inside and a startled Max instantly ran upstairs to hide under the bed. Cindy offered Erick a seat on the sofa and got him a glass of water.

  “Thank you for letting me in. I hadn’t gotten your address or phone number before you left the other day, so you were tough to track down.”

  Cindy wasn’t sure if she should feel flattered or violated by his invasion of her privacy. A private detective? That seemed a bit extreme.

  “I’m sick of the games, Erick. I can’t take it any more.”

  “I can’t either; that’s why I’m here.”

  Cindy held up her hand to shut him up.

  “Will you give me a minute to talk? Please? I haven’t been in a lot of relationships in my life until you. I’m shy. I live here in this tiny place, as you can see. I’m sure it’s a far cry from whatever palace you reside in. I grew up on a farm in Iowa with totally different values and a completely different background from yours. Up until a week ago, I spent most weekends at home with the cat, reading my books. Occasionally, I went to a movie with friends. Other than that, I worked.”

  Erick started to say something, but Cindy put her palm over his mouth.

  “I’m not finished yet, mister. The point here is that you hardly know me at all. You know the girl who you transformed from terrified wreck to Moroccan beauty queen on our little fantasy vacation, but do you know the real Cindy Brown? Do you even want to? That’s what you have to ask yourself.”

  “Yes, I know her….” Erick began, only to receive her hand over his mouth once more.

  “Hey! I’ll tell you when to talk, okay?”

  Erick nodded obediently.

  “I’m a small-town girl with small-town values, Erick. How could you possibly think I could fit into your glamour world? I doubt you and I have anything in common at all, and to top it all off, there you were sitting in a bar on our date, wrapping yourself around some Hollywood starlet on TV. How am I supposed to feel about that, and what’s more, compete with that? We come from two different worlds, Erick. How can you expect this relationship to work out?”

  “I’m sorry, Cindy. I told you that and I can tell you sorry a thousand times, but none of the things you mentioned change the way I feel about you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and quite honestly, you are the sexiest woman alive when you yell at me like that. It’s exactly what I need to keep me in line.”

  Erick had that look on his face that made him completely irresistible to her, and Cindy both loved and hated him for it.

  “The trouble is, that in spite of the fact that I can’t see any logical reason for you to want to be with me and I can see plenty of reasons why I should run as far away from you as possible, the point is that I can’t do that now. I just can’t walk away from you because as much as I’d like to shake myself free of you and get over all the wonderful and awful things that have happened over the past week. I can’t because I love you too, Erick, and if you are serious about wanting to marry me, then I accept. Yes, Erick Redmund, I will marry you.”

  Erick cheered with joy as he threw both of his arms around her, hugging her like she had never been held before and kissing her with love and passion she had only dreamed was possible.

  “You have made me the happiest man alive, and I love you,” Erick told her as he kneeled on her carpet, and placing the rings back on her finger.

  Cindy looked down at her rings and at Erick and smiled as tears filled her eyes.

  “I love you too, more than anything.”

  She tenderly put her arms around his neck and kissed his lips, feeling at last that the part of her she left behind in Africa was once again back with her.

  “Do you like those rings? I mean, you didn’t get to pick them out yourself. I’m happy to give you anything you want; just let me know.”

  Truthfully, Cindy couldn’t imagine any other rings after the incredible sentimental value she had attached to the ones he’d already selected.

  “I love these. They remind me of our journey to Morocco and everything we’ve been through together.”

  By now, Max was inching his way back down the stairs. After looking at them as they held each other, he greeted them with a big meow.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  The tangerine sunset fell over the Pink Palace of the Beverly Hills Hotel as the friends and guests of Erick and Cindy filed in to witness their marriage on December thirty-first.

  Cindy’s family was shocked by her sudden announcement, but they were happy for her, especially when Erick flew her home in his jet so they could meet him. Her sisters were initially green with envy, but when they realized the man was so generous with them all, they were more than happy for their sister.

  Now the entire family and all their friends were all gathered in Hollywood at the location most closely resembling the place where Erick and Cindy first met. The pale pink stucco on the towers of the hotel and the palm-lined driveways reminded them both of their paradise in Morocco.

  The chapel was adorned with white lilies and red rose petals; a classical pianist played quietly as the guests all took their seats.

  Victoria, Cindy’s mother and her sisters were all inside the large dressing area helping the bride with last-minute touchups to her hair and makeup. Her gown was like something out of a storybook, and as always, Erick had it hand made to her specifications.

  “I’m so happy for you, although we’re going to miss you around the office, you know?”

  “You always have a place to stay when you come to California.”

  Cindy wasn’t kidding. She and Erick now lived in a ten-bedroom house in Beverly Hills, not too far from the hotel.

  Max the cat had no idea what to make of the place and practically got lost explor
ing every square inch of the rambling mansion since coming to live here just a week earlier.

  Cindy smiled at Victoria, her maid of honor. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “You know what. For this…all of this. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you,” Cindy said, tears welling up in her eyes.

  Victoria embraced her friend. “Hey, girl, you were the one who answered the ad; I only pointed it out to you.”

  Just then, there was a knock at the door of her dressing room.

  “Who could that be?” Cindy asked.

  “You’d better get it,” Victoria said. “We can finish this talk later.”

  Cindy opened her dressing room door and saw Forrest Redmund standing in the doorway, smiling at her.

  “Oh…uh…hello, Mr. Redmund.”

  “Hello.”

  “This is my friend Victoria.”

  “Hello, Victoria.”

  Cindy never liked Erick’s father very much, although she wanted to. She hated how he made her feel so nervous all the time. She hoped Erick’s stories about him hadn’t colored her judgment of him, but she always felt he looked upon her with disapproval, though she could never understand why. Despite her personal feelings, though, she always went out of her way to be polite and respectful toward him.

  “Well, Cindy, don’t you look beautiful today,” he said kindly, smiling at her.

  “Thank you,” Cindy said, blocking the doorway with her huge veil.

  “May I come in?”

  Cindy was embarrassed that she temporarily forgot to be polite.

  “Oh, yes, of course; come on in.”

  The elder Redmund was carrying a small white envelope with an expensive pearl clasp.

  “You are one lucky lady, you know, but I am eternally grateful to you, as I know Erick is also.”

  Cindy wondered what this was about, especially since the wedding was less than thirty minutes from now.