Her Premarital Ex (The Alexanders Book 3) (6 page)

“What did he do to
you?”

“Anything he wanted. But
unlike Mark, Dilvan never punched me...his abuse was more mental
than anything else, and he seemed to enjoy every minute of it.”
Gabrielle took a sip of water and got her thoughts together. “But
nothing hurt more than the miscarriages.”

“Miscarriages?”

“Yeah. I had one early on
in the relationship and the second one the weekend Tyson rescued
me.”

“I’m so sorry that
happened to you.”

“No, Gabrielle. You can’t
blame yourself. It’s not your fault.”

“I know. I just feel bad
about it.”

“I get it...I used to feel
bad too, ‘til I realized that I have no control over another
person’s feelings. Mark did what he did to me because he wanted to.
I can’t be the blame for that.”

“Yeah. You’re
right.”

“But enough about all this
depressing stuff. We’ve endured it so there’s no use in dwelling on
it, right?”

“Yep...got that
right.”

“So how’s my brother
treating you?”

“Look at you glowing,”
Tamera commented. “Just the mention of Tyson has your face lit
up.”

“I’m glad. He’s so happy,
Gabrielle. Mom told me he was beaming at the reception.”

“Yeah...so was
I.”

“I wish I could’ve been
there, but my work schedule is so messed up right now.”

“What do you
do?”

“Well, I have two jobs
actually. During the day, I’m a health inspector. At night, I’m a
food blogger for Charlotte Magazine.”

“So you go around to
restaurants, have a meal, then review them?”

“Yep, after I take a
picture of the meal. I rate the presentation, flavor, ambience of
the place, friendliness of the staff...it’s fun, but it can be
challenging at the same time because I have to meet a monthly
quota.”

“I bet.” Gabrielle thought
it was interesting how Tamera and Tyson seemed to enjoy working in
the food and beverage industry.

“So tell me about the
proposal, the wedding and how everything went down.”

“Um...well, Tyson proposed
in a rather short time frame. I mean, we started off as friends and
then we were really into each other and everything, but we’d gotten
into a small disagreement. Well, small for me but big for
him.”

“What
happened?”

“While I was living with
Tyson, I went to see Dilvan and didn’t tell Tyson I was going.
Tyson was pretty upset about it...didn’t understand why I would go
to see the man who abused me. But in my defense, I only went so
Dilvan could offer up his apology and so that I could make it clear
to him that I had no intentions on getting back with him. That was
all, but Tyson wasn’t trying to hear it. So we went out separate
ways. I moved back home to Greenville, to my father’s home, and
guess who showed up?”

“Aww...” Tamera said,
covering her mouth with her hand. “So what did he do when he came
there?”

“Well, he sure did a good
job of sweeping my father off of his feet.”

“He cooked a fancy dinner
for us.”

“Of course.”

“Then he declared his love
for me...said he wasn’t going to leave Greenville without me. A
couple days later, we’re on a private beach in Rodanthe exchanging
vows. Have you seen the pictures?”

“Not yet.”

“Then I’ll show you
tonight.”

“Cool. I know my brother
is making something good for dinner. He loves to cook.”

“He’s so good at
it.”

“He is. When he first told
me he wanted to be a pastry chef, I was like,
really
, Tyson?
A pastry chef
...”

“But he stuck with it.
After the Marines, he wanted to do something on the opposite end of
the spectrum and culinary arts is on the opposite end of the
spectrum. He studied in Paris, too.”

“Yeah, he told
me.”

“And I’ll be doggone if
the man can’t cook his behind off.”

“Does he still get up
every morning to go jogging?”

“Yep.”

“He got you going with
him, huh?”

“Every morning. I enjoy it
though...gives us more time together.”

“Yeah. That’s
true.”

“What’s on your mind,
sis?” Tamera asked.

“Nothing.”

“Oh, spit it out already.
I’m not going to tell Tyson anything we talked about.”

“Well, you had mentioned
something about Desiree earlier and I know Tyson loved
her—”

“Oh, let me tell you about
that heffa.”

“Girl, she called herself
trying to be a player...telling Tyson that she loved him and was
creeping behind his back with his best friend. So
trifling...”

“So if I understand
correctly, Desiree and Dennis were married?”

“Yeah, but that was
short-lived. Dennis got killed in a robbery. Desiree tried to
convince the police that Tyson had something to do with it and,
don’t get me wrong, Tyson was one of the best sharp shooters the
U.S. government has ever seen, but you can’t be in two places at
one time. He was in Atlanta the weekend Dennis died.”

“Why would Desiree say
those things about Tyson?”

“Because she was
mad...thought her life with Dennis was going to be picture perfect,
but what people sometimes fail to realize is, you really do reap
what you sow.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m just
glad Tyson ended up with you instead of her. I’m sooo
glad!”

“Well I am too.” Gabrielle
laughed.

“Listen...I’m going to
give you some advice about my brother.”

“Uh oh.”

“No, no, no...nothing bad.
Tyson is a very responsible, stand-up guy. He just likes a lot of
order. And he’ll go to the ends of the earth for you. He will. I
know you look at him and see this big, buff, tough guy, but he’s so
sweet. When we were teenagers, he was extremely protective of
me...still is in a way. He told me the next man I dated had to pass
his approval.”

“Yep. He sends mom flowers
every month. I told him to stop making me look bad.” Tamera
giggled. “I’m sure you get flowers too.”

“Yes, very frequently. I
use them as centerpieces for the dining room table and pretty much
all throughout the house.”

“Yeah. Tyson’s an honest
soul. All he asks for is loyalty, honesty and trust. Once he sees
those in a person, he’s down for life. If one of those are broken,
he’ll walk away from you in a heartbeat.”

“Well, I love him too much
to ever hurt him so I’m good.”

“Perfect. Now let’s get
out of here, girl,” Tamera said looking at her watch. “I can’t
believe we’ve been here for almost three hours.”

“Wow...doesn’t seem like
we’ve been here that long.”

“That’s how you know
you’re in good company,” Tamera said standing.

“Yes,” Gabrielle said.
“Good company.”

“
Hello
, Mother,” Dilvan said when
Padma opened the door.

“Just figured I’d pay my
mother a visit, especially since you don’t visit me any
longer.”

“Come on in,
son.”

“No. He had to meet a
client.”

“On his day
off?”

“You know your
father...always working, as am I.”

“Yeah...always
working.”

“Yes, trying to wrap up a
few things before I head out of town.”

“Where are you
going?”

“To an expo in
Chicago.”

“Chicago,” Dilvan said. “I
was supposed to have a shoot there this weekend, but I turned it
down.” Dilvan paced back and forth in front of her desk, glancing
at a desktop full of papers.

“Why’d you turn it down?”
she asked him.

“Well, I didn’t think it
is what you guys wanted.”

“Dilvan, Dilvan,
Dilvan...your father and I only want you to be happy. You know
that, don’t you?”

Gabrielle is going to be
in Chicago
, he thought quietly to
himself.

“Dilvan?” Padma said to
get his attention.

“Yes?”

“Boy, have you heard a
word I said?”

“Yeah...just thinking
about it. So you said you want me to be happy.”

“Of course. You’re my son
and I love you. I just don’t want you to get mixed up with the
wrong crowd, and you need to watch the way you treat people,
especially your family. And you know what else, Dilvan?”

“What’s that?”

“I need you to improve
your relationship with your brothers. You know there’s tension
between you guys and that needs to be remedied right
away.”

“Well, it takes more than
one party to agree to sit down and make things work.”

“Of course.”

“Then why are you talking
only to me? What about Heshan and Prasad?”

“I’ve already spoken to
them.”

“Well, that must mean that
I have to reach out to them because they certainly haven’t
contacted me.”

“Want some
tea?”

“Yes. I like
old-fashioned. What’s wrong with the way I make tea?”

TO: Len Phillips

FROM: Dilvan Alexander

SUBJECT: New Gig in the
Windy City!

Len, changed my mind about
the shoot. Send me the details right away. Oh, and I’ll make my own
hotel arrangements.

Tyson
carefully kneaded the dough in preparation for the blueberry
croissant puffs he was in the process of making. He’d gone by the
farmer’s market and purchased a fresh batch of blueberries because
only fresh ingredients would do for his pastry creations. He
wouldn’t settle for frozen, bagged fruit. The rest of the
ingredients – cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla flavoring and milk
– were in ample supply at the restaurant.