by Leah Leonard
Surely whatever it is can wait, can’t it?
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“This is yours. It’s your share of the company. I thought it only fitting since your marriage is saving Erick from being disinherited that you should receive some shares of your own as a…wedding gift…from the Board of Directors and myself. Yes, young lady, you just might be the saving grace of this company, and for that I will always be grateful.”
Both Cindy and Victoria’s mouths fell open at the little announcement, neither believing what they were hearing. Cindy began shaking her head as the magnitude of Redmund’s words began to sink in. Sobbing hysterically, she ran out the door, down the hall, and out of the chapel.
Erick saw her run by and heard her crying and started to run after her but decided it would be best to go to her dressing room to see what was going on first. When he saw his father bending down to pick the white envelope up off the rug, his blood began to boil.
“What did you say to her, Dad?” Erick shouted for all to hear, including Victoria and Cindy’s family.
“Nothing. I just gave her this and she apparently refused it. Either that or you’ve got one hell of a little actress on your hands, son.”
“Give me that.”
Erick snapped as he grabbed the envelope from his father’s hands and unlatched the pearly clasp to reveal a promissory note for 1000 shares of company stock.
“What the hell is this?”
“It’s a little wedding gift from me to your bride, Erick. I thought it was the least I could do since she basically saved you from disinheritance and she certainly saved the company. Our stock went up ten points on the exchange since you announced your engagement. I’m sure it will go up even more now that you’re about to marry.”
“You bastard! Your damned company has nothing to do with Cindy and my love for her. Nothing at all. Our relationship is real and I love her, Dad, and now you and this damned company are trying to take all that away from me. Well I’ll tell you something, pops! I don’t want your lousy job, this company or even one single dime of your money! You got that? You make me sick!”
Erick left the flabbergasted crowd with his father and ran as fast as he could down the hall to catch up with Cindy. He looked in every direction, each time reaching a fork in his path, not knowing which way she went.
Unfortunately, the scene did not go unnoticed by virtually anyone at the wedding since seated guests could hear the argument through the closed chapel doors and even over the pianist, who started to play louder.
If he had time to think about what had just transpired, Erick would have felt completely humiliated by his father and the heated argument that played out in front of everyone they knew, but for now, he had no time to worry about any of that. The only thing that mattered was finding Cindy.
“Did you see a lady running in a wedding dress?” Erick asked various hotel guests who were stopped in the hallways staring at the commotion. Surely crying females sprinting in wedding gowns were enough to make anyone stop and stare.
Some guests tried to help Erick by pointing in the direction they saw Cindy run, while others hesitated, afraid to give away her hiding place for fear she really did want to run kicking and screaming out of the pending nuptials.
Erick could practically guess their thoughts: Better to run now than to go through with something you know is a mistake.
Erick was surprised by how many people would not help him, but again, it was nothing he could think about now. He continued to run until he caught a glimpse of a white veil slipping through a side door that led to the swimming pool.
He ran outside as fast as he could as Cindy reached the wall and finally stopped, heaving and sobbing, her makeup smeared and her hair falling out of her bun. She looked up through her blurry tears to see Erick and began to shout at him.
“Stop it! Don’t you come near me! You’re a liar!”
By now, nearly everyone on the deck hushed their own irrelevant conversations to look at the runaway bride.
Erick didn’t know what he’d done to deserve this, but he only prayed there were no reporters there to snap pictures. Porn stars were one thing, but this would surely be an image he would never live down.
“You don’t understand…you don’t understand. Please, let me explain.”
“Explain what? That you are only marrying me so you can keep your inheritance? Is that what you want to explain?”
“Cindy, I wish I had sat down with you earlier and explained my father to you. By the time I reached Texas and connected with you again, and with all the wedding planning we’ve been doing to get our wedding done by New Year’s Eve, I forgot. Well, I didn’t forget exactly….”
“Well then what exactly would you call it?”
“Let’s just say I didn’t want to stir things up between us unnecessarily. I mean, we were getting along so well and everything. I didn’t think this stuff was that important. The things Dad and I argue about are between us and quite frankly, I didn’t really believe he’d actually be cold enough to follow through with any of his stupid threats. Boy, was I ever wrong!”
Cindy said nothing as she glared at him with her arms crossed. It was so hard to sit here and listen to him. On the one hand, she wanted to punch his lights out; on the other, she wanted to kiss him and hope he was telling the truth. It was all unbelievably confusing.
“Drink, sir?” a waiter asked Erick.
“Not now!” Erick yelled for all to hear, sending the waiter away with a frown and a shake of his head.
“Cindy, I love you and I need you to calm down and just listen to me. Hear what I have to say. We’ve been though so much together and I want to have the opportunity to explain.”
Cindy thought about what Erick was saying and wondered if she owed him anything at this point. It seemed he lied to her about everything – women, his life, and now his inheritance.
“How could you do this to me, Erick? My whole family is in there and you are ruining my life!”
“Cindy, please…”
“What the hell are you possibly going to tell me that your father hasn’t already? I wondered why he’s been so cold to me since I got here and now I know, don’t I? He thinks I’m here for the money. He thinks the only thing I want from you is your money and the simple truth is I really don’t give a damn about any of that.”
The nosy crowd continued to listen in as Cindy burst into uncontrollable tears.
“I quit! I resigned from my position at the company and I told my dad I don’t want the money.”
“Yeah, right! That’s bullshit and you know it!”
“No, it isn’t. My dad and I had a fight and yes, he threatened to disinherit me if I didn’t get married by a certain time. Fine. But that has nothing to do with you. And yes, okay, I did contact the agency initially thinking it would be a quick way for me to find someone to masquerade as my wife…Look, I realize I’m digging myself a hole right now, Cindy, but I swear everything I’m saying is the truth. You’ve got to believe me. I love you!”
“So you mean it wasn’t to impress your Moroccan friends? So what you’re saying is that you lied about that too?”
“I…no… I mean…yes, I guess, kind of, I mean…well…yeah.”
“Stop it, Erick! Just stop it! I am so sick of your lies! You must be a pathological liar! I’ve seen TV specials about people like you, but unfortunately I was too blindsided by your smooth-talking ways to see I was being taken for a fool!”
“It’s not like that, Cindy. Yes, I hired the agency and I wanted to find a shy, quiet girl like you to introduce to my dad so I would stay in his good graces, and yes, of course so I would keep my inheritance….”
Cindy was pretending to plug her ears at this point, but heard it all anyway. She had to know one way or another. Once this mess was over she would have to go back to Texas and try and put her life back together.
“I decided to take the shy blind date to Mor
occo to get to know her because the deadline for his offer is today. I admit all that. But what I found in the desert of Africa wasn’t some shy wallflower. What I found was you, the only woman who’s ever been able to put me in my place and give me a hard on at the same time. I mean, look at me now….”
Erick blatantly pointed out the growing bulge in his crotch as a humiliated Cindy took her hands from her ears and covered her face with his last remark.
“Oh, sorry for that folks. Anyway, you know what I mean, Cindy. You know the connection we’ve had since the beginning and it’s only gotten stronger. I never planned to actually marry anyone when my dad came up with this whole thing. I was going to hire someone to pretend we were married until this whole thing blew over, but then there was you. Unmistakable Cindy Brown, the only woman I’ve ever wanted to marry in my whole life, and now here we are, in the most beautiful hotel in the world, other than the one we stayed at in Morocco, of course, and I am about to marry you, commit my life to you…forever.”
A slight applause began to erupt from the crowd and Cindy turned to them angrily.
“Shut up! Stop listening to us!”
Once the eavesdropping became more subtle, Cindy resumed her sulking demeanor as she considered all Erick had told her. She thought about the trouble he went to tracking her down and the nice little things he did for her. The way he made her feel like the only woman on earth, that is when he wasn’t emblazoned on the cover of the National Enquirer….
“I love you, Cindy. Please, won’t you marry me? If you want we can call this whole thing off and I’ll prove to you the money isn’t a factor to me because it’s not. You’re the only thing that matters now. Please, won’t you be my wife?”
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Will you, Cindy Brown, take Erick Michael Redmund to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward until death do you part?”
Cindy looked up into the hopeful eyes of her soon-to-be-husband Erick and said the words he’d waited so long to hear, ones he would cherish for the remainder of his days: “I do.”
“And do you, Erick Redmund, take Cindy Claire Brown to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward until death do you part?”
“I do.”
Erick spoke with feeling and passion as he held Cindy’s hands and stared lovingly into her eyes.
“Then by the power invested in me by the State of Nevada, from The World Famous Little White Chapel, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
As the neon lights of the chapel began to flash in recognition of the special moment, their minister, Elvis, closed his book of wedding ceremonies and photographers finally took the kind of photos Erick could be truly proud of.
He kissed Cindy passionately as their families and friends looked on, and when their lips finally separated, Cindy asked him an important question.
“Was it worth the wait?”
“Yes, I think Valentine’s Day in Vegas is super romantic, don’t you?”
“Yeah, it is, but the more I think of it, I could’ve just gone ahead with it in Beverly Hills, you know?”
“Oh, so now you tell me!”
Erick recalled the events of the past two months, the public apology of his father to the entire gathering in Hollywood on New Year’s Eve, his reinstatement of Erick’s inheritance and how he handed the keys to his entire company over to Erick on January first.
“Well you have to admit, things certainly turned out better than we ever could have imagined.”
“You’re right, they are better than I ever imagined. You’re the only thing I ever wanted.”
“I feel the same way. After all you’ve done for me—for us—I now know for certain what my heart was telling me all along was true.”
“Oh? And what was that, exactly?”
“That you are the one. You always have been. I am so happy, Erick. I love you.”
“I love you more than I can tell you. If we’d married in Beverly Hills, everything would have been just fine. I know that now.”
“Yeah, but they don’t have Elvis in Beverly Hills, so what fun would that have been?”
Erick chuckled and kissed her as they walked hand-in-hand out of the Little White Chapel and into the neon lights of Las Vegas as man and wife.
The End
HOMEPAGE URL: www.leahleonard.com
www.shelleykaehr.com
SHORT AUTHOR BIO
Leah Leonard is the pen name for Shelley Kaehr, Ph.D., critically acclaimed author of over fifteen books in the mind-body arena and international lecturer whose lifelong dream of becoming a published fiction writer is now fulfilled through her titles at Red Rose Publishing.
Red Rose Publishing
Kiss at Blarney Castle
Road to Casablanca.
The Sheikh’s Design- coming soon
Lady In Red- coming soon
Familiar- coming soon
Love Letters from Sunset Hill- coming soon
Country Gold-Coming soon
