A Promise of Forever (20 page)

For a brief and wonderful moment, Katelyn fantasized about a very happy and willing Gianfranco, waiting at the altar.
He would be smiling, looking only at her and everyone would see for themselves that the infamous Gianfranco Broccolini had fallen deeply in love.
This was her dream, after all.

“The alterations I have to do on this dress are minimal; so I could have it ready whenever you need it.
I also have an ideal choice for the other dress you need.
Another dress, I think, will wow you.
Gianfranco will take one look at you in it and it will be an image that will be burned into his memory forever.
I’m still working on it but it will definitely be ready by the time you need it.
Do you like the color red?” she asked as she moved to another rack of dresses in the corner of the room.

Katelyn loved the color red and, other than the dress that she had worn to shock Adam the other night, she hadn’t owned anything red before.
She thought the color would draw attention to her, and, up until now, she wanted to be invisible.
She had avoided the color red at all costs because of the attention she might’ve received.
Rosa is right, it’s time for me to come out of my shell and start living again.
If the color red pops on me and brings attention, so be it.
Her husband was going to have to learn to deal with the sudden competition.

Once again, Katelyn was moved by Nellie’s ability to design.
When she tried on the red gown, she saw that it was tightly gathered around the middle to emphasize her small waist.
The shoulders were bare; she had no doubt that her bare neck was enough to give her an edge over Gianfranco, should he decide to come to the charity event at all.
She knew if he saw her in this dress that he would have a very hard time controlling his desire.
It was a perfect fit and as Nellie had said it was almost complete.
Katelyn could see how much attention Nellie paid to detail because the dress looked perfect as it was to her untrained eye.

Nellie went over to her workbench and came back with two long strips of fabric that had tiny silver beads hand-sewn into the fabric; she took one strip and pinned it around the top of the dress and the other around her waist.
Katelyn couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
The silver beads were reflecting the red color of the dress.
That small detail completed the dress, making the dress even more alluring than before.

“You’re amazing Nellie, the dress is beautiful.
Tell me something, I don’t mean to pry, but is there something going on between you and Brody?” She asked.

Nellie didn’t say anything at first.
It was as though she were weighing whether she should share her past with Katelyn at all.
For whatever reason, the two of them seemed to have connected more in their short visit than Nellie had with anyone else since returning to Montana and so Nellie chose to confide in her.
Katelyn couldn’t believe how close to the truth her hypothesis had been.
Nellie was, in fact, the well-known fashion designer, Eleanor Mulaney, who had disappeared a year earlier.

It was a big story a year ago.
Eleanor Mulaney had disappeared the year before at the peak of her professional career.
It was as though she had clawed her way to the top in no time at all and then disappeared just as quickly.
However, Nellie must have left Brody long before then because Kevin and Sylvia were never aware of Brody having a wife.
Nellie told Katelyn that she had lived in Montana years ago with Brody.
They had dated all through college and later when Brody went on to law school.
It wasn’t until they eloped that things changed between them.
Brody wanted a family and she wanted to pursue her career.
She loved designing clothes and she thought that he would support the career she trained so hard to achieve, just as she supported him with law school.
When her work required her to travel more and more, he gave her an ultimatum, their marriage or her career.

He wanted her to come home and raise a family but she wouldn’t leave Milan until she achieved what she had set out to do.
At that time, Nellie thought she had made the right decision but she found out the hard way that the life she had with Brody was the path she should have chosen.
Still, she had no regrets for achieving what she did but she had always hoped that Brody would have supported her career.

“No matter how rich and famous I became, it was never enough.
I wasn’t happy.
It took years to figure out what was missing.
It was because Brody was no longer a part of my life.
It didn’t matter if that life was in Paris, New York or Milan; without Brody in my life, I was pretty lonely.
My career was no longer filling the void left by Brody.”

“I must have changed a lot over the years or Brody’s rich friends simply never cared about me at all because I realized when I came back that I wasn’t recognized by his wealthy friends.
Brody was the popular jock back in the day, dating the girl from the other side of the tracks.
Women I had met in previous years through Brody would come into the shop and not know who I was.
I thought if none of them recognized me that I could keep my presence hidden from Brody as well.
I came up with this silly idea of how to approach him again.
I wanted to finish a dress design that Brody had helped me with years ago.
I thought that if Brody saw me in this perfect dress, it would be the best way to win my husband back.
Is that silly?” she asked as she opened another wardrobe bag hanging on the mobile rack.

When Nellie opened the wardrobe bag, Katelyn was awestruck once again.
There were definitely two sides of Nellie Mulaney.
This dress was white and very plain, at first glance, but when Nellie slipped it on the mannequin and turned it around, Katelyn saw what she was hoping Brody would see and admire.
The deep plunging line of the dress reached all the way down the back and just barely tapped the derriere of its wearer.
Brody would have to be dead not to react
. She grinned as she gave her approval.

Nellie smiled and turned her mannequin around.
“Just like its intended, there are two sides to the dress, a contrast between the front and the back and innocence and sex,” she said.

“How long did this take you?” Katelyn asked as she once again admired the dress up close.

“I think I’ve been working on this design for years. Subconsciously, I knew that without Brody in my life, I could never finish it,” Nellie added with a soft smirk.

“I’m meeting Brody for dinner in a few minutes, would you like to go instead of me?”
Katelyn asked.

“No, you go, Katelyn, and have a good time.
I need to stick to my original plan.
Brody will never believe that I’m back to stay unless I prove to him publicly that I have always loved him.
When he sees me for the first time, and I’m wearing this dress, he’ll know I came back for him.
The ball will be in his court then and if I have to wait a little longer, I’ll wait.
He’s waited a long time for me.
Besides, I feel better knowing you’re with him; I don’t have to worry about another woman in his life,” she added hopefully.

Brody was waiting, as promised, at the bar at the Captain’s Table when she arrived.
He smiled when he saw her and, for the first time, Katelyn understood the pain she had always suspected lingered just beneath the surface.
There were good reasons for his aloofness and now she knew the secret that he had kept hidden from all the people closest to him.
It was easy for him to keep the secret from Kevin and Sylvia; they had moved to town after Eleanor and Brody split up.

Brody waited to order while Katelyn rambled on and on about her purchases.
She rattled on for so long about what a great designer Nellie was and how worthy her designs were of the international fashion seen.
“Sylvia was right.
Nellie is that good.”
Katelyn couldn’t resist teasing Brody as she told him about the plunging necklines and bare shoulders and deep dipping backs of the dresses.
Brody, out of shear embarrassment, stopped her from talking and, in doing so, helped to contain her enthusiasm.

She was sure that somewhere in this conversation with Brody, he admitted, quite innocently, to being involved with a designer once.
He confessed that they were very young when they were together and he remembered a dress that she had started to design while they were dating.
That dress was cut provocatively low in the back, just like the one you were describing.
In fact, my ex had designed it so it barely hid a tattoo on her buttock.
The tattoo was one that coupled with mine in the same place on our bodies.
We got them after a night of too much drinking.
It was a young foolish gesture, meant to symbolize our unending love for each other.”
He admitted while laughing at what he just confessed to.

“I’m afraid now you know all my secrets,” Brody teased.
He then apologized for bringing up his past, almost wishing he hadn’t because remembering the lonely years without Eleanor in his life was painful to him.

“What kind of tattoo?” she teased unmercifully.
Brody continued to eat and, in between bites, he tried to change the direction of the conversation.

“I’m afraid I have to draw the line there.
You would have found out had you agreed to marry me though,” he added triumphantly.
When they finished dinner, Brody signaled for the waiter and paid the check.
They took their coats and headed for the door and were greeted by a cold brisk wind.

The Montana sky was already beginning to change and a storm was moving in.
The temperature had dipped dramatically from the time they entered the restaurant.
On the trip home, Katelyn was sure Brody’s silence had little to do with his recollection of the past and more to do with the quickly changing weather.
They had decided not to go to the movies as planned because the weather didn’t look promising.
When they arrived at the ranch, it was quiet and looked as though everyone had already gone to bed for the night.
There was a porch light on which she was sure was left for her convenience.
Brody, being the gentleman that he was, helped Katelyn from the truck again but not before she dropped her purse on the floor in front of him, hoping he would bend over and reveal a hidden tattoo.

“Don’t think for a minute that I’d fall for that one.
You were going to check out my derriere, weren’t you?” he teased.
“How you were going to accomplish that with my coat on is another question?”
They both laughed; it felt good to laugh for a change.

It was disturbingly quiet and there was a strange car parked in the driveway she hadn’t noticed before she left.
Brody gently and innocently kissed her good night and she found out who the owner of the mystery car was; he had been lurking in the shadows on the porch.
Katelyn saw his figure first as he emerged from the darkness.
He stepped into the light and she saw the anger he was experiencing in his eyes.

Brody could sense that Gianfranco Broccolini was indeed the mystery man Katelyn had kept secret from everyone.
He didn’t know what to do at this point and it was definitely an uncomfortable situation for all.
Gianfranco looked as if he were ready to kill someone.
Brody had a hard time believing that he was the same man he had come to know and admire.
He had met Gianfranco on numerous occasions and knew him to be a man that kept his cool under dire circumstances.
Yet, he also knew from experience what the other sex was capable of making men do.

Brody knew that no matter how angry Gianfranco was, no physical harm would come to Katelyn.
He couldn’t get over it.
Gianfranco Broccolini was the man who had stolen her heart.
He wondered if he knew how lucky he was.
Brody thought that it was time for him to leave and he bid them both farewell and decided to exit, but not before asking Katelyn if she’d be alright.

“I’m fine; you don’t have to worry about me.
I guess our secrets are out now for the both of us,” she whispered, knowing Brody knew what she was talking about.
Brody walked to the other side of the truck, got in and drove away.
It was no wonder people feared Gianfranco; at this moment, from the look in his eyes, he feared him.
He was capable of emanating a sense of power so ruthless that he made you fear for your life without muttering a word.

Every nerve in Katelyn’s body was alive when she was in his presence.
Her own body was betraying her.
He on the other hand was ready to explode and she was his target.
She had to give him a little time to gain control of the emotions he was saturated with.
He thought that something was going on between her and Brody.
She’d be damned if, after his recent display with that woman at the restaurant, she would explain the error he had made.
Let him feel what I felt, only days ago.
Before Brody had reached the end of the drive, Gianfranco pulled her into his arms and punished her with a deep assault of kisses.
He wanted to be sure Brody understood and witnessed his branding of her in his rear view mirror.