The Light in the Wound (29 page)

Sometimes I forgot that he was three years older than me.

“I guess they were just so young, what do you really know at that age?”

“Maybe this is what’s best for Alicia. It will give her a fresh start. Just be there for her, Isabel, like you always are.”

“You know that my grandparents disowned her, right? She hasn’t really gotten any support since the kids were born.”

“She won’t need it. We’ll help her as much as we can.” The sincerity in his voice as he uttered those kind words meant more to me than he will ever know.

It was the night of our one-month anniversary as a couple. A Friday night. Alex and I were going to a late dinner after work. He was actually flying in from an overnight business trip, so I offered to pick him up at the airport on the way home from the office. I planned to just freshen up at work before heading out to see him. By this time I had become an expert in choosing work outfits that could easily be “converted” into evening wear for nights out with him. That day, I chose a black halter-top leather dress and matched it with a black blazer, so the only leather you could see was the skirt. I wore it with understated black pumps that were going to be transformed into understated leopard print pumps as soon as it hit 5 o’clock. I was sweating bullets in the office all day, but the look was worth it.

The trip to the airport took about 45 minutes. Enough time to transform my outfit and freshen up for Alex. We didn’t have to wait at all by the time we got to the airport. He was standing outside in a gray suit with a white button down shirt that was already unbuttoned due to the heat. Bernard waved at him, and he stepped up to the right side of the door to get in.

“Hi,” I said shyly.

“Hi baby. Wow. You look amazing, as always.”

The blazer had come off and the four-inch leopard print shoes were on. The skirt looked much shorter on me without the blazer.

I slid toward him as he grabbed me and placed me on top of his lap. “Happy Anniversary,” he whispered sensually into my ear, as his nose traced a line from my jaw to my neck and his fingers softly rubbed the inside of my thigh.

I giggled nervously. His touch felt so good, so safe.

“One month down, 959 more to go,” he groaned, his hands now on my back, pulling me close.

“That’s 80 years, A.”

“I’m in love with a math genius.” He chuckled.

Alex asked Bernard to drive us over to the country club where I assumed we were going to have dinner. On the way there, we talked about his trip and how the negotiations went for another acquisition he was working on for his father. I was so engrossed in our conversation that I didn’t notice that Bernard had taken an unfamiliar side entrance to the club that I had never been through. We got out of the car to find ourselves in the middle of the large Polo field. From a short distance, I could see a table dressed in linen, all decked out with flowers and surrounded by tiny white lights strung around each and every tree around the field. The place was lit up in a beautifully vivid glow. The peripheral pond around the field was filled with tiny little floating candles. Bernard nodded at Alex and drove away. He took my hand as we walked to the beautiful table setting.

“Alex, this is beautiful! Did you reserve the entire field?”

“Do you like it?”

“I love it! All this for a one-month anniversary? How’d you pull this off?”

“I’ve been planning this ever since the night of the charity event. Every single day that brought me closer to celebrating an anniversary with you. One day. One week. One month. Do you remember all the times you were at this field during practice runs? I watched you from there, every single time.” He pointed to the spectator’s box that was off to the side of the field.

We arrived at the table and were met by waiters dressed in tuxedos. I didn’t hear it at first, but soft swirling music was playing in the background. The table was set for four. I didn’t think anything of it because my attention was focused on a shiny teal blue box wrapped in a white ribbon in the center of the table. Anyone would have known that it was a Tiffany box.

He took the box in his hand, unraveled the ribbon and opened it as he knelt on one knee in front of me. He was visibly nervous, but his eyes bore a hole right through my heart. This beautiful man had all this prepared for me.

“Isabel Francesca, the first time I met you, I knew I would never be the same again. You are breathtakingly beautiful, not just on the outside, but more importantly, on the inside. You are kind, generous, loving and not to mention, mind blowingly sexy. I don’t need weeks or months or years to figure out what my future might be like with you. I need weeks and months and years to be with you. Marry me, Isabel. Your heart may not be full of love for me just yet, but I promise you that my heart is overflowing with love enough for both of us. I love you so much.”

I was crying as soon as he uttered his first words. He was so filled with emotion that his voice cracked every so often and his eyes filled with tears. Those enticing pools of blue looked like an endless sea of love to me. I didn’t realize that he was waiting for an answer because so many thoughts were running through my head.

How do I go from loving someone with all my heart to marrying someone else?

My thoughts kept circling back between Jesse, Alex and my mother. Marriage? That’s such a big deal.

Do I love him enough? Is he my forever? How could I ever let someone who loves me this much get away?

“Isa? Are you okay?”

“Huh? Oh, my God, Alex. Sorry! You just took me by surprise! YES! YES, Alex, I will marry you! I’m the luckiest girl in the world right now! I love you.”

He swept me up in his arms and sat me down on his lap. He took my right hand and slipped the ring on my finger. It was an emerald cut diamond set in a platinum band. We kissed. Slowly and deeply, our lips moving in sync like a passionate slow dance.

“Isabel, did you have to wear leather tonight?” he asked, his vibrant blue eyes so clear and dazzling.

“Actually, Alex, I did,” I answered breathily.

“Then let’s have dinner now so I can get my dessert,” he whispered.

I stood up and watched him pull his smart phone out of his pocket and punch out a message. Five minutes later, a couple holding hands with the girl shrieking as she walked through the grass, approached our place in the middle of the field.

“I thought you’d like to celebrate with our best friends.”

Leigh and Betty.

Leigh walked up to us with a big bright smile as he shook Alex’s hand and bumped shoulders with him in the typical man hug. Betty squealed as she hugged Alex first and then ran over to me to do the same.

As she did so, she whispered in my ear, “Five carats, chica, and don’t get overwhelmed. It will be okay.”

“I am in Love with Love and Love is in Love with me
. My body is in love with the soul and the soul is in love with my body. I opened my arms to love and love embraced me like a lover.”

—Rumi

Dinner went on longer than we expected. It had been a while since the four of us had been able to catch up with each other in such a relaxed setting. Leigh was traveling so much for work, and Betty often accompanied him on those trips. Two bottles of wine later, Alex was ready to call it a night. We asked Leigh to take us back to my house since Alex had his car taken there earlier that evening. As soon as we walked in the door, Alex took me in his arms and said, “Please pack an overnight bag, we’re spending the night at the Four Seasons.”

“Why the Four Seasons, when we can just stay here?”

He licked his lips and broke into the widest grin. “I want you to be able to scream my name out loud without worrying about Mellie hearing you.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that comment. I must admit that I had covered his mouth once or twice and stifled a scream during sex for fear that Mellie was going to hear us.

Alex drove to the hotel like a madman. As soon as we got to the hotel driveway, he jumped out of his Range Rover and threw the car keys to the valet. He knew the people at the front desk, so it was a quick and easy check-in. We held hands as we walked through the lobby. There was a wedding going on in the main ballroom, so people were spilling out of the function room and sitting all around the lobby tables and couches. As we stood by the elevator banks waiting, Alex pulled me tightly into him and was holding me by my waist. And then I felt it. The hot breath that you feel on your back when you know that someone’s eyes are on you. I turned my head quickly to the right as I caught a glimpse of Jesse directly behind us. The elevator door opened, and Alex immediately pulled me inside with him. I can still picture the registered look of pain on his face before the elevator doors closed. He stood there, staring right at me, blinking twice, three times, as if trying to ascertain whether the girl he just saw with her boyfriend wrapped around her was really, actually, me.

Alex was kissing my neck and untying my halter even before the bellboy was out of our hotel room. He backed me into the wall with my legs wrapped around him and my hands all over his hair.