17
One Month Later
Bianca looked up as Mimi and her father walked into her kitchen, hand in hand. Kahron followed behind them and leaned in the doorway. Bianca’s face filled with surprise. “I didn’t know you were in town, Mimi,” she said, rising to her feet to hug her close.
“I just got in a few minutes ago, sweetie, and we came straight over here.”
The new Mimi—or was it the old Beulah—took a little getting used to. Thank God she’s found a happy medium, Bianca thought as she reclaimed her seat. She had compromised: she was midway between the over-the-top Mimi and the dowdy Beulah. Her hair was in a classic bob, and she wore minimal make-up on her still-beautiful and refined features, but gone were the 1980s Dynasty suits, the bulky jewelry, and the Beverly Hills cowgirl garb, replaced by a simple fitted silk T and linen slacks, with crocodile flats. Mostly, that voice was gone. Her sharp sense of humor had remained, and for that, Bianca was grateful.
“Are you in for the weekend?” asked Bianca as she leaned back against Kahron, who stood behind her.
“No, she’ll be staying for a while,” Hank said vaguely, with a hearty smile, as he sat down on one of the stools.
They looked at each other.
Bianca’s eyes darted from one to the other. “What?” she asked, sensing there was more. She turned slightly to look up at Kahron, but he just shrugged.
Mimi pulled her hand from the pocket of her pants and extended her arm to them. A good-sized solitaire twinkled from her left ring finger.
“Is that an engagement ring?” Bianca asked as she escaped from Kahron’s hold and grabbed Mimi’s smooth hand with both of hers. Her mouth dropped open as Mimi smiled.
“Congratulations, old man,” Kahron said, stepping around the island to shake Hank’s beefy hand.
“Thank you, Son. Thank you,” said Hank.
“Ms. Mimi, welcome to the family,” said Kahron. He literally picked her up off her feet and twirled her before he planted a kiss on her cheek.
“Oh, come on, Kahron. You have Bianca, and I have Hank. There could never be anything between us,” Mimi joked as she playfully fluttered her lashes at him.
Everyone laughed. Everyone but Bianca. She gave them all a hesitant smile as three sets of eyes turned on her. She met each look.
Her father sought approval. Mimi sought acceptance. Kahron wanted peace.
Mimi and her father were getting married. It took a minute to get used to the idea. The minute was over. She had never seen her father happier, and who was she to block him?
Her father jumped to his feet, with a stern look. “Bianca—”
“Kahron, baby, will you get a bottle of sparkling cider for us? Looks like we have some celebrating to do,” Bianca said, pulling Mimi to her for a tight embrace before she moved over to hug her father.
“That’s my girl,” Hank said as he gave her a big bear hug.
Kahron handed each of them a flute. “Here’s to a life filled with lots of love and happiness for you both.”
“Hear! Hear!” they all said in unison.
Bianca placed a hand on her flat stomach as she smiled into her flute. “Since we’re celebrating, anyway, now is a good time. I’ve been trying to figure out a really cute way to tell you something, Kahron.”
Kahron’s eyes darted to her, over the rim of his flute.
Bianca sat her flute on the island, then picked up her purse and dug into it. “Your mama and her damn fish dreams,” she said softly, holding up the pregnancy stick as she looked into her husband’s loving eyes.
Hank jumped to his feet. “Hot diggity damn!”
Kahron almost dropped his flute to the floor as he crossed the kitchen and pulled Bianca close against him. He picked her up and sat her on the counter and stood between her legs. “I love you so much, Bianca Strong,” he whispered before he captured her lips with his own.
She was touched by the brightness of his eyes, hinting at tears she knew he wouldn’t let fall. She caressed his silvery stubble with her hand as she smiled into his eyes. Eyes that she hoped their child inherited. They were having a baby, and she’d never loved him more.
That Sunday afternoon after church, Kade paused as he entered the kitchen, and all conversation came to an immediate halt at the sight of him. Five pairs of female eyes locked on him. His mother’s, his sister’s, his sister-in-law’s, his daughter’s, and his girlfriend’s.
“Hello, ladies,” he said, throwing them a charming smile.
“Hello,” they all said in unison, with soft smiles.
“I, uh, just wanted to grab some beers for me and the fellas.”
Garcelle cast him a soft smile before she walked over to the refrigerator. “How many would you like?”
He moved into the kitchen and walked past the ladies to reach Garcelle. He looked down into her laughing eyes. “Were you all talking about me?” he asked her as his eyes dipped down to her lips.
She nodded as she began to pass him the beers one by one.
“Good things?” he asked.
“Great things,” she told him as she reached up to press her fingers to his lips.
He kissed them softly as he looked down into her eyes. His heart exploded in his chest, and he didn’t think he could stop the words if he tried. “I love you, Garcelle,” he whispered to her fiercely. “I really love you.”
Her eyes widened and then softened before they smoldered. “Good. Because I love you, too.”
“Get a room, you two,” Kaitlyn called from across the kitchen, sending Kadina into a fit of giggles.
“I better go,” he said, bending his head to taste her lips.
All the ladies sighed.
“Tell me again,” Garcelle whispered.
Kade moved his mouth near her ear. “I love you,” he repeated, with ease.
With one last kiss to the side of her head, Kade turned and strode out of the kitchen, with a wink at his mother.
“Well, whatever he said to you sure has put a big old Kool-Aid grin on your face,” Bianca teased as she stirred a big bowl of potato salad.
Garcelle couldn’t stop smiling, but she didn’t share with them what had just passed between her and Kade. She would remember it always. A woman never forgets the first time her man tells her that he loves her.
“You ladies are discovering something that I have known for nearly forty years,” Lisha said as she smiled warmly at Bianca and Garcelle. “There is nothing—and I do mean nothing—like the love of a Strong man. Take it from the one who has the original. They live up to their names, ladies, they live up to their names.”
“Doh, Mama,” Kaitlyn joked.
“I don’t mean just in the bedroom, daughter,” Lisha said as she looked at Kaitlyn. “See a real man . . . a real good man . . . is good in and out of the bed. He got more going for him than what’s below the waist. He got a lot going on in his head and his heart. That’s a Strong man, baby, and I love mine.”
Bianca grabbed the bottle of wine and topped off everyone’s glass. She gave herself and Kadina more lemonade. “Well, here’s to the Strong men.”
The women all lifted their glasses.
“Hear! Hear!” they all said in unison.
“And to the future generations of Strong men and women,” Lisha said warmly, giving Kadina a hug before she winked at Bianca.
“Garcelle . . . Garcelle . . . wake up, baby. We’re here.”
Garcelle stirred in her sleep and sat up in the seat. She looked out the window of Kade’s Expedition. “Where are we?” she asked as she stretched.
“At the hotel,” he said as he climbed out of the SUV and came around to open her door.
“The hotel? Why are we at the hotel?” she asked out loud as she slipped her feet into her sandals and grabbed her purse.
She accepted his outstretched hand. “Kade, Kadina stayed in Walterboro with your grandparents. Why didn’t we just stay at your house?”
“I thought you would like this better,” he told her as they walked into the hotel lobby.
Garcelle stopped in her tracks. He turned. She looked at him appraisingly. His eyes shifted from hers. She tugged on his hand. He looked up and locked his eyes with hers. She raised a brow. Kade smiled. She felt a tugging at her heart.
Love was an amazing thing. She pushed any doubts she had aside and followed him into the hotel lobby.
Kade carried Garcelle into the unlit suite, using his foot to nudge the door closed. She caressed his face, then bent her head to nuzzle his neck as she talked to him softly in Spanish.
He swung her onto the bed, and she stood, towering over him. The sliver of light through the crack in the curtain offered just enough illumination to silhouette the curves of her body as she kicked off one shoe and then the other. She reached up to unzip the lavender sundress she wore.
Kade ran his hands from her ankles to the firm contours of her calves and then to her thighs before massaging her soft buttocks. The dress fell to her waist, and he grabbed the material and jerked it the rest of the way down her body.
“Yes, Kade,” she gasped as she reached up to release her hair from its ponytail.
He slid his fingers beneath the lacy rim of her panties to play in her soft curls before he slipped two firm fingers up inside her moistness. She bent her legs to receive them, with a hot gasp, as she rotated her hips against his hand.
“Garcelle,” he said thickly before he removed the fingers and then slipped them into his mouth, with a deep groan.
Garcelle kicked her leg high, almost losing her balance, and rested it on his shoulder. He turned his head and pressed his nose and mouth to the soft and warm flesh of her thick thigh as he inhaled deeply of the scent of her intimacy. She laughed softly and freely before she lifted her leg from his shoulder and did a cartwheel across the bed. She eased off her panties and bra before she crawled on her knees toward the middle of the king-sized bed.
Kade nearly tore the buttons from his shirt as he removed it. His hands fumbled as he removed a condom from his wallet and held it with his teeth as he tore off his belt, pants, and boxers. Naked and hard and ready, he covered as much of his throbbing length as he could as his heart pumped wildly. He crawled on his knees to meet her in the middle of the bed. They came together in a heated rush.
Kisses. Touches. Strokes. Caresses. Skin to skin. Body to body. Furious heartbeats. Panting breaths. Racing pulses. Urgency. Need. Want. Electricity. Desire. Fire.
Garcelle put her hands on the hard contours of Kade’s chest and pushed him away. He landed on his back, with his erection pointing up to the ceiling, then watched her shadowy figure move from the bed and climb atop the dresser. Her back was pressed to the mirror above the dresser as she brought her legs up.
Kade held his hard and throbbing penis in his hands as he got up from the bed and walked over to where she waited for him. Panting and wet. Her fresh feminine scent heavy in the air. With one thrust he entered her swiftly.
“Ah,” they both gasped.
Kade put his hands on her knees and pushed her back until she touched the mirror. He wished for more light so that he could see his hardness surrounded by her lips. See the way her thick bud was swollen with want for him. See the way she made the length of him wet.
He stroked deep inside of her.
Once. Twice. Three times.
Again and again and again until she lost count. Each thrust brought a deep, guttural moan from her.
He bent down, offering her his tongue to suckle, as he shifted his hands to massage her soft breasts and tease her hard nipples until he felt her walls pulsating and pulling him deeper inside of her.
Garcelle sucked his tongue deeply and brought her hands around to grab his buttocks. She enjoyed the way the hard muscles relaxed and then tensed with each delivery of his strokes.
“I’m coming, Garcelle,” he moaned into her open mouth as that urgency caused a warm sensation to float over his entire body.
Garcelle let her tears flow as she felt her body free-fall as she came. He tasted her tears as he moved his hips and buttocks until he thought he would break his back. Then his seed shot from him, with a jolt. She clutched his stiff body as he fought to find the strength to continue stroking inside of her.
“I love you . . . I love you . . . God, I love you,” he chanted as he fought for control of his body.
“And I love you,” she whispered against his sweaty shoulder as they slumped against each other, exhausted and sated.
Long into the night, as Kade slept with his arm and leg over her as they lay on their side, Garcelle could not find enough peace to sleep. Her thoughts were heavy. The truth was a bitter pill to swallow.
In every way imaginable, Kade had given himself to her. They’d spent time together. He’d introduced her as his girlfriend to his family. He’d told her he loved her.
Yet, not once since they’d become involved had she spent the night or enjoyed more than passing affection inside his home. She had fooled herself into thinking it was because of Kadina. But tonight there had been no excuse. There had been no feasible reason for him to pay for a hotel suite when his home sat empty.
Correction. His home was anything but empty. It was filled to the brim with the ghost of his dead wife. And she knew tonight that there was still a piece of Kade that he was sheltering from her.
And that hurt like hell.
Kade knew something was wrong. Late into the night he had reached for Garcelle, but she had seemed to draw away from his touch. Then she hopped out of bed and dashed into the bathroom. When he heard the shower running, he jumped out of bed to join her, but the door was locked. When she came out fully dressed and suggested that they leave so that he could go home and rest for work the next day, she wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Garcelle, what’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing, Kade. Just go and wash so we can go home,” she said, with a light tone, which he didn’t buy for a second.
He stared at her long and hard. “I don’t read minds, Garcelle, and I don’t play games,” he told her coldly.
“And I don’t play with people’s heart and make promises I can’t keep,” she returned in a stiff voice.
Kade sat down on the edge of the bed. “Now you’re giving me riddles?”
“Can we just leave?”
Kade laughed sardonically as he snatched up his clothes and started to get dressed. “Since you’re in such a rush, I’ll wash when I get home.”
Garcelle laughed sarcastically. “Yes, hurry and get back to your precious house, with your precious memories.”
Kade paused in zipping up his pants. “Oh, okay. I see what you’re getting at that.”
“Yes, I’m getting at the fact that you lied and said you were ready to move on. I’m here, living and breathing and loving you, but I’m not about to fight with a ghost, because it’s a losing battle.” Garcelle turned away from him, and he saw her shoulders shake with her tears.
He started to go to her, but he stopped himself. “I love you, Garcelle—”
“But you love her more,” she said in a soft voice as she looked at him.
Kade dropped his eyes from hers, and he felt the pain he knew he’d caused her.
She dropped the cell phone he’d given her and the keys to his house on the dresser as she passed it on her way to the door. “I can’t win against a ghost. I wish you and your memories the very best.”
Kade strode across the room and grabbed her arm. “Don’t go, Garcelle. Don’t do this.”
She looked up at him, and her eyes were gorgeous even as they were filled with pain. “I’ll call my father to come pick me up. Good-bye, Kade.”
She pulled her arm away and walked out of the room. The door closed with the utmost finality, and the sound echoed deep in his soul.