Better for Us (9 page)

Chapter 14

“Y
ou look happy,” Ian said as he walked through the door with a newspaper in hand.

“Do I? Hmmm.” Noel leaned back in his chair. He still had a silly grin on his face as he admitted, “I was just thinking about how well Ryla has been handling herself with the rallies, meet and greets, and fundraisers. It’s almost as if she was born for political life.”

“There’s no doubt that she has helped your sorry self.” Ian slapped the newspaper down on Noel’s desk and pointed to the section that listed poll numbers. “Your numbers are back up. If things continue the way they’ve been going these last few weeks, you could win this election, my friend.”

“If Ryla keeps turning on the charm the way she’s been doing, I’ll probably win by a landslide,” Noel joked.

“Careful, you sound like you’re falling,” Ian said as he sat on the couch.

Noel moved from behind his desk over to the chair that was next to his couch. “Watch your mouth with that crazy talk.”

“Oh, it’s crazy talk, huh?”

“Straitjacket crazy,” Noel said as he loosened his tie and began mimicking a man walking around with a straitjacket on. When he sat back down, Noel continued, “Just because I can appreciate the way Ryla handles herself on the campaign trail, it doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten what she did to me and that she is the reason my poll numbers dropped in the first place.”

Ian held up a hand. “Um, she did tell you that it was a bad idea to have Jaylen here for the summer.”

Noel waved that notch away. “That was only because she didn’t want Jaylen and me to bond. But that’s all over now. My baby girl and I are tight.” Noel smiled as he thought of Jaylen. “I’m taking her to the Texas Discovery Gardens this weekend to see the free-flying butterflies.”

“She will really like that,” Ian said, then with a mischievous grin he asked, “So, what do you have planned for Ryla?”

“Oh, don’t you worry, I have something special planned for her also. She said she wanted me to date her—well, I just hope she can handle all of what I have in store for her.”

“So you’re going to do it up for her, huh?”

Noel lifted his collar. “You need to take a few lessons from the master. I know how to keep a woman happy.”

A knock on the door interrupted Noel’s bragging. “Come in,” Noel said.

Cathy walked in. “You told me to remind you about the racket club meeting I set up for you with my sorors.”

Noel stood and went back to his desk to check his calendar. “Is that today?”

“It’s set for two o’clock this afternoon.” Cathy inched closer to Noel’s desk as she spoke.

He looked at his watch. “That gives me less than an hour and a half. Is there anything I need to know about this group of women? Any special interest I need to be aware of?”

“Our group is big on literacy, and we host numerous events each year. You should be a guest speaker at a few of those.”

“Check,” he said while typing that information into the notepad app on his iPad.

“One other thing,” Cathy said as she closed the gap between them.

Noel looked up. “What’s that?”

“They don’t like for their guest to be late or look unkempt.” She grabbed hold of his tie and slowly tightened it back around his neck. When she was finished with the tie, she straightened his collar and smoothed out his shirt. She licked her lips as she looked back up at him. There was hardly any daylight between them as she said, “I’ve already put in a good word for you, so you should do fine.”

It wasn’t her words, it was the way she said them that made Noel think that something other than business was going on, and he didn’t want any part of it. He was just about to step away from Cathy when his door slammed. Noel jumped and glanced toward the door. There Ryla stood, breathing fire out her nose.

Ian jumped up. “Is anything wrong, Ryla? Can I help you with something?”

Noel wanted to advise Ian to just step out of the way. Ryla was about to blow and nothing either of them said was going to stop it.

“I think I just figured out that I wasn’t crazy after all,” Ryla said as her eyes darted from Cathy to Noel.

Noel lifted hands in protest. “Ryla, this is not at all what it looks like. Cathy was just straightening my tie because I have to be at a meeting in a little while.”

“Oh, so are my eyes playing tricks on me again? Is that what’s going on, Noel? Or did I just catch you cuddling up with—” she pointed at Cathy “—this man-stealing woman again?”

“Again?” Cathy said, with confusion written on her face.

Ryla turned on her. “I saw you kiss Noel in the locker room when we were in college. I’ve known for a very long time that you want to be with him.”

“Look, Ryla...” Cathy began.

“Don’t you
look, Ryla
me.” Ryla held out her ring finger, prominently displaying her engagement ring. “Does this ring on my finger mean nothing to you? How dare you try to steal him away from me again.”

“Baby, calm down,” Noel said as he watched Ryla fume. He had never seen her this
angry. And now he wondered if there might be some deeper issue Ryla was dealing with that would cause her to respond in this manner when he hadn’t done anything.

She turned on him. “And don’t you dare call me baby. You’re just as bad as she is. I told you to fire her, but you refused.” Tears stung Ryla’s face as she twisted the gorgeous ring off her finger. “Well, you can forget about our little engagement, because I wouldn’t marry you if we had three kids out of wedlock.” She threw the ring at him and ran out of the building.

Noel didn’t know what to do. He was caught in the midst of a dilemma, wanting to run after Ryla to put that ring back on her finger, but not understanding why, since he had no interest in marrying her in the first place. He picked up the ring off the floor and then plopped down in his chair.

“I—I’m sorry about this,” Cathy said as she rushed out of the room.

Ian got up and walked toward the door. “I don’t think I’ll be needing those lessons,” he said with a smirk on his face.

Noel shook his head. “Kick a brother while he’s down, huh? I see how you are.”

“The way I see it, you’re not down or out. There’s only one reason why a woman would be that angry at a man.” With his hand on the doorknob, Ian added, “Think about it, and then go get your woman back.”

* * *

Yawning and stretching in bed, Ryla glanced at her ring finger, and the emptiness of it brought tears to her eyes again. Noel must think her a fool...throwing a fake engagement ring at him and refusing to marry him when he’d never wanted to marry her in the first place.

So much for being sweet and loving, as Danetta had advised. When she’d walked into Noel’s office and seen Cathy acting as if she was Noel’s office woman, she’d lost her cool. That woman had been after her man for ten years now—when would she finally give up? Ryla turned over in bed as she came to the conclusion that she might be the one who needed to give up.

Her stomach growled as she inhaled the aromas coming from the kitchen. She hadn’t felt like eating last night. Aunt Shelly had practically begged her to eat. She’d even gone so far as to fix peach cobbler, Ryla’s favorite dessert. But her heart wouldn’t let her eat a thing. Even now, with the aroma of bacon and sausage tickling her nose, Ryla couldn’t find the strength to climb out of bed.

Why had she agreed to Noel’s crazy idea in the first place?
Because I planned to trick him into marrying me,
she reminded herself. But Ryla could never marry a cheater, no matter how much her heart cried out for him.
I survived this once, I’ll survive it again.
She punched her pillow and pulled the covers over her head. Ryla wanted to sleep the day away, but Jaylen would never let that happen. She was supposed to be going to the Texas Discovery Gardens with her and Noel today to take the butterfly tour. At noon hundreds of tropical butterflies were released into the Rosine Smith Sammons Butterfly House and Insectarium.

Jaylen was excited because she imagined the sight of hundreds of butterflies flying around with their multicolored wings would be beautiful. Ryla prayed that Noel would show up to take Jaylen to that butterfly house. But her own experience with daddies’ not showing up once they were no longer in a relationship with the mother was enough to make her want to keep Jaylen’s expectations low.

After her father had left her mother, he rarely ever kept his word about picking her up. There was always something more important that came up. When he had more children, it seemed as though Ryla had been pushed further out of his life, because by then her visits had been totally cut off.

Sinking deeper into her pillow-top mattress, Ryla wiped tears from her eyes. She wasn’t looking forward to saying, “Your father is a very busy man. Something really important must have come up to keep him from picking you up today,” as her mother used to say to her all the time. This was the very thing that she wanted to spare Jaylen.

Just as she was contemplating getting out of bed to search for the address of the Texas Discovery Gardens in case she would have to take Jaylen herself, the door to her bedroom burst open.

Jaylen ran in and jumped on her bed. “Mommy, Mommy, wake up. We have to get ready so we can go see the butterflies.”

She looked at her watch. It was nine-thirty in the morning. Noel had said the butterflies were released at noon. Lifting up, Ryla said, “Okay baby, let me call your dad. He may have a rally to attend today. So I might be taking you to see the butterflies myself.”

“What are you talking about, Mommy?” Jaylen giggled. “Daddy’s downstairs fixing breakfast.”

She flipped the covers off. “He’s where?”

“Downstairs. He wants to fix us breakfast before we leave.”

Grabbing a comb, Ryla headed for the bathroom. “Go tell your father that I’ll be down there in a minute.”

She jumped in the shower, brushed her teeth, then took off her bonnet and unwrapped her hair in record time. Back in her bedroom, she fumbled around her closet trying to figure out what she should wear. Technically, she should still be angry with him about fooling around with Cathy while supposedly being engaged to her. But just the fact that he had shown up for Jaylen made her want to take Danetta’s advice again. She would watch her attitude but remain casual. Throwing on a pair of white linen Bermuda shorts and a pink fitted tank top, Ryla slipped on her sandals and headed downstairs.

Jaylen and Aunt Shelly were seated at the table while Noel passed several plates over to them, filled with French toast, bacon, sausage and eggs.

“Orange juice coming up,” Noel said as he headed back to the kitchen counter. As he began pouring the juice in the cups, he looked up and smiled. “Hey, sleepyhead.”

What was she supposed to say to that?
He was acting as if nothing happened between them yesterday. She reminded herself that she was grateful that he bothered to show up for his daughter and said, “Hey.”

“Grab a seat—breakfast is still hot,” Noel told her while placing the syrup on the table.

“And good,” Aunt Shelly said, busy chewing and cutting up her French toast.

Noel pulled a chair out for her. “I know you like French toast, because you were making it that day I visited your house.”

She sat down and filled her plate without saying anything. Ryla figured the less she said, the better, especially because her feelings were conflicted.

“I wish I could see all those butterflies.” Aunt Shelly shook her head. “I can’t believe that I’ve lived in Dallas all my life and I’ve never seen the release of those butterflies.”

“Come with us, Auntie Shelly,” Jaylen said to her great-aunt and then asked Noel, “She can come with us, can’t she, Daddy?”

“Of course,” Noel said as he sat down next to Ryla. “Your mom can come, too, if she wants.”

No, he didn’t
. Nice was one thing, but she wasn’t about to let him act as if he was some rolling stone, hanging his hat here today and at Cathy’s house the next. She held up her ring finger and shook it in his face. “Have you forgotten?”

Noel stood up and dug in his jean pocket. “I found your ring. We can get it re-sized if you think it might slip off again.”

He looked so innocent, so serious and so cute as he gently placed the beautiful three-carat diamond ring back in her hand. She wanted so badly to put that ring back on her finger, but she would never wear a cheater’s ring. He’d fooled her once about Cathy, but she knew she wasn’t crazy now. Something was going on, and Noel needed to explain himself. Abruptly, she put down her fork and stood. “Can I speak to you in the family room, please?” she pointedly said to Noel.

Kissing Jaylen on the top of the head, Noel stepped away from the table and followed Ryla. “I’ll be right back, baby girl.”

“Okay, Daddy, just don’t forget to put Mommy’s ring back on her finger. She was pretty sad about losing it,” Jaylen innocently said, and then turned back to her food as if she hadn’t just told on her mom.

Noel was pretending that everything was fine between them, so Ryla did her best to pretend that she wasn’t completely embarrassed by Jaylen’s comment. When Ryla was a kid, her mother always told her that she shouldn’t tell outsiders anything that went on inside their house. Ryla would now have to have that conversation with her own child. Noel might be Jaylen’s father, but as of right now, Ryla wasn’t sure if she wanted to have anything to do with him.

Once in the family room, Ryla crossed her arms. “What are you trying to pull? Didn’t you get the memo that I don’t want to be engaged to you anymore when I threw the ring at your head?”

“Baby, look...” Noel began.

Ryla wagged a finger at him. “Watch yourself. I don’t allow cheaters to call me that.”

He stepped closer to her, took her hand in his and looked her in the eye as he slid the ring back on her finger. “Then we don’t have a problem, because I’ve never cheated on you.”

Chapter 15

N
oel couldn’t explain the feeling of joy he experienced as he toured the butterfly house with Jaylen and Ryla. Aunt Shelly had changed her mind right before they left the house. Noel suspected that she wanted him to be able to spend time along with his family. Whoa... Where did that thought come from? Yes, Jaylen was his daughter, but Ryla was not part of his family and it would do him well to remember that in the weeks to come.

But Noel was having a hard time taking his own advice as he and Ryla walked hand in hand through the butterfly house, watching butterflies dance around them.

“Daddy, look, the butterflies got me!” Jaylen called out, as several butterflies nested in her head.

“Not as long as your daddy is here.” Noel stood in a Captain America stance and sang, “Daddy, to the rescue.” He made as if he was diving toward Jaylen. Then with care, he freed her hair of all the butterflies.

Jaylen and Ryla giggled at his antics. Then as Noel turned toward Ryla, butterflies dancing in her hair also, he leaned into Jaylen and said, “Captain Daddy has to save Mommy now.” She looked so beautiful that he just had to touch her.

“What? I don’t have any butterflies on me,” Ryla said.

Noel kept walking toward her. Ryla had gotten most of the butterflies off her, but one still hung on, giving him an excuse to run his hand through her hair. “Stand still,” he said, as he slowly pulled his hands through her hair, took the butterfly out and showed it to Ryla. “See, Captain Daddy can save you, too,” he told her with hunger in his eyes. When she didn’t move away from him, but rather tilted her head backward, staring at him, he lost himself in her penetrating brown eyes. Noel prayed that she wanted to be kissed, because he couldn’t help but lower his head and devour her mouth.

“Daddy’s kissing Mommy, Daddy’s kissing Mommy,” Jaylen sang.

Backing away from Ryla as he came to his senses, Noel grinned and told Jaylen, “I had to make her feel better about being attacked by those swarms of butterflies.”

“Then I need a kiss, too.”

“Okay, baby girl, you got it.” Noel picked his daughter up, swung her around and then planted wet kisses on her forehead and both her cheeks.

“Stop, Daddy. You didn’t give Mommy that many kisses.”

“Little girls need more kisses than big girls after being attacked by butterflies.” Noel kept kissing his daughter on each cheek, again and again.

“Mommy, make Daddy stop. Little girls don’t need these many kisses.”

He put Jaylen down. As the three of them walked out of the butterfly house, he told her, “I’m just making up for lost time, Jaylen. Sorry if I gave you too many kisses.” A bit of sadness touched Noel’s eyes as he thought of all the time he missed out on giving kisses and hugs to his daughter. He sighed as he tried, with everything in him, not to go back to his place of anger.

When they got in the car and Noel was driving them back home, he glanced in the back and noticed that Jaylen had fallen asleep. He then directed his attention to Ryla.

“I won’t claim to understand this fixation you have with cheating men, and why you keep trying to put me in that category, but, Ryla, I swear to you...I’m not interested in Cathy.”

“You might not be interested in Cathy, but she is interested in you, Noel. The sooner you face that, the better it will be for all of us.”

As Noel pulled up to a stoplight and glanced over at Ryla, he saw fear in her eyes and realized that she was dealing with him from a place of pain. Someone had hurt her, and since he always thought that he was her first love, Noel was once again clueless in trying to understand Ryla’s pain.

Noel’s eyes darted to the backseat again. His little girl was still sleeping soundly. He turned back to Ryla and asked, “Who hurt you, Ryla?” He held up a hand, stopping her before she had the chance to respond. “I know you want to blame your issues on me, but I didn’t cheat on you. You left me before discovering or even seeking out the truth, so somebody must have hurt you before we ever met.”

She turned to the window and stared out into the sky.

“I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me about this.”

She turned back to him and held up her left hand. “I took your ring back, so I must believe you. I just think that women like Cathy O’Dell have been breaking up marriages since the beginning of time, and if you don’t watch it, you’re going to lose your family, too.”

He noticed that she hadn’t answered his question about who hurt her, but instead warned him about losing his family. That comment brought him back to when they were in the butterfly house, and thoughts of them being a family sent shivers down his spine. Noel wanted to correct Ryla, but knowing that she was dealing with heavier matters, he shook it off and directed the conversation to their upcoming wedding. “We have an appointment to meet with the hostess at the Four Seasons on Tuesday. I can fly us down and fly back that afternoon. Will that work for you?”

“I could call my mother and have her meet us there. She’s been itching to help me with the wedding plans. And since we’ll be getting married in Houston, she’ll be able to take care of things for me while we’re campaigning in Dallas.”

There was no reason for him to be excited over Ryla agreeing to marry him again, especially since he had asked her to jilt him at the altar...but he was.

* * *

The Four Seasons was absolutely spectacular, and Ryla couldn’t believe that Noel had remembered where she wanted to have her wedding reception, based on a conversation they had so long ago. “Can you believe how beautiful this place is?” Ryla said to her mother as they toured the grounds of the hotel. Jaylen had stayed in Dallas with Aunt Shelly so that she would be able to give her full attention to the planning of this wedding.

Looking around in wonder, Juanita said, “You always did have expensive taste.”

“Tell me about it,” Noel joked. “I was only twenty-one when she told me about this place. I made up my mind back then to make her dream come true, even though at the time I knew nothing about this place.”

Juanita patted him on the shoulder. “Well, thank God that you have the money to make my daughter’s dreams come true.”

“Mother,” Ryla said, as she blushed from embarrassment.

“It’s okay, baby.” Noel grabbed Ryla, twirled her around and wrapped his arms around her as he kissed her neck. “I’m glad that I could do this for you.”

Noel was playing the loving fiancé to the hilt. When she agreed to fake marry him, Noel had strongly expressed that no one was to know that their engagement wasn’t the real thing. But now Noel was playing too much into her emotions, and she didn’t like that. Pulling herself out of his arms, Ryla turned to the wedding coordinator and asked, “Can we see the ballroom?”

“Right this way,” Melinda, their hired wedding planner, cheerfully said.

When they entered the ballroom, Ryla was immediately swept away as she pictured herself and Noel dancing below the handblown Venetian-glass chandelier. The entire room was gorgeous, filled with beautiful bouquets in clear glass vases that stood five feet tall. “Now, this is breathtaking.”

Melinda jotted something down on her iPad. She then gave them a tour of the room. When she was finished, she told them, “The Four Seasons offers white and sand-colored linen for your banquet. If you’re interested in another color, that would need to be special ordered.”

“The sand-colored linen works for me,” Ryla said, then she pointed at the standing flower bouquets. “I also like the way you have these flowers around the room. Is this standard?”

Melinda quickly typed Ryla’s comments and then said, “No, the flowers are not standard, but if you like this design, I can definitely make it happen.”

Noel nodded. “We like.”

Next, Melinda showed them the grand staircase, where the bridal party would be able to take pictures. Ryla was handed pamphlets on flower arrangements, catering, entertainment, cakes and much more. She was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed. And then Melinda asked if they would be staying overnight.

Noel quickly answered. “We’ll stay two nights after the wedding.” He put his arm around Ryla and added, “I’ll need to get back on the campaign trail after that. So, the missus and I will have to plan a full honeymoon after the election.”

Ryla looked at Noel as if he had lost his mind with all this after-the-wedding talk, but then she wondered if he knew her intentions and was just trying to smoke her out. Or maybe he’d changed his mind about her leaving him at the altar and now wanted to get married just as much as she did.

“So, would you like to pick a hotel suite or check out the place where we’ll hold the wedding ceremony?” Melinda asked.

“I don’t know about Ryla, but I’d like to pick our honeymoon suite and then we can check out the ceremonial spot afterward.”

Juanita nudged her daughter. “He’s anxious, isn’t he?”

“Please stop embarrassing me,” Ryla whispered to her mother.

“Ah, girl, hush, I was young once, too, you know.” Juanita smacked Ryla’s bottom. “Now let’s go see the suite you’ll be staying in for your honeymoon.”

“Which rooms do you have available?” Noel asked Melinda as they headed toward the elevator.

“We have several executive suites available for the weekend of your wedding. But the Governor’s Suite and the Presidential Suite, which are both located on our top floor, are also available.”

They stepped into the elevator. Noel said, “I’ve never wanted to be a governor, so why don’t we go ahead and check out the Presidential Suite?”

Melinda took them to the twentieth floor and let them out in front of the spacious nineteen-hundred-square-foot suite fit for a king.

While Ryla’s mother stood in the living area of the suite, oohing and aahing, Ryla grabbed Noel’s arm and pulled him into the bedroom. “Can I speak with you for a moment?”

“Sure, baby, what’s up?”

Ryla planted her hands on her hips as she stood at front him. “What is this all about?”

He scrunched his eyebrows. “I’m not following.”

“Why in the world did you ask for the Presidential Suite? Do you know how much this room costs?”

He sauntered over to her, bent down and nibbled on her lip. “So you don’t want to spend the weekend in this luxurious space with me?”

Her hands went to his chest and she pushed him away. “Have you forgotten that I’m supposed to leave you at the altar?” she whispered while watching the door to make sure her mother wasn’t walking into the bedroom.

“Look, Ryla, this whole Four Seasons thing is not just your dream.” He sat down on the four-poster king-size bed. “Ever since you told me about this place, I have been dreaming of the day I would marry you here.”

“But you don’t want me to marry you,” Ryla reminded him.

“That’s no reason not to enjoy the journey.” He winked and then pulled her so close that she was standing between his legs. “You could have your bags brought up here earlier in the day, so when you leave me at the altar, you can just run up here. We could order massages or something and relax.”

No, he wasn’t coming on to her
...trying to sleep with her even though he didn’t want to go all the way and marry her. Now she didn’t feel so bad about tricking him into marrying her. Matter of fact, she would take that massage.

“Melinda,” Ryla called out.

When Melinda came into the bedroom, Ryla looked directly at Noel and, calling his bluff, she said, “We’ll take this suite and we’d like couple’s massages also.”

Melinda jotted that information down. “Anything else?”

“Yes, I’d like to see the area for the wedding ceremony,” Ryla said as she pulled away from Noel.

“Where are you going? I thought you brought me into this room so we could try out the bed,” Noel said as he tried to pull her back.

“I’m not going to try out that bed until my wedding day, thank you very much,” she told him and meant every word. She was done sleeping with Noel Carter without the commitment of marriage.

Melinda took them all back down to the lobby. As they were headed outdoors, Ryla heard her mother yell, “Ryan, what in the world took you so long?”

No. No, it can’t be,
Ryla thought as she whirled around and came face-to-face with her absentee father.

“What are you doing here?” Ryla asked as Ryan attempted to hug her.

“Your mother told me that I needed to give away the bride.” He kissed her on the cheek. “I’m so happy for you, Ryla.”

Ryan then turned to Noel and stuck out his hand. “I’m Ryla’s father, Ryan Evans.”

Noel took his hand. “Nice to meet you, sir. I’m Noel.”

“Boy, I know who you are. I’m just glad to see that my daughter has done so well for herself.” Ryan then turned his attention to Melinda. He slowly took the woman’s hand and kissed it. “And who is this lovely lady?”

Ryla absolutely could not believe what was happening right in front of her face. She hadn’t been in her father’s presence for more than a minute and he was already flirting with some woman who wasn’t his wife. Ryla felt compelled to remind him that he was a thrice-married man.

She cleared her throat. “I doubt if your third wife would appreciate you checking out my wedding coordinator, Dad.”

He looked at her nonchalantly and said, “Sylvia and I are separated.”

Ryla couldn’t stand Sylvia. In the eleven years she’d been married to her father, the woman had never made an effort to get to know her. But even though she couldn’t stand Sylvia, Ryla knew with everything in her that the separation was due to her father’s wandering eyes. It wasn’t enough that he destroyed her mother with his cheating ways—he also had to destroy the relationship that he was supposed to have with his daughter. Ryan Evans thought the fact that he was tall, handsome and made a decent living meant he could do whatever he wanted to these unsuspecting women, and that made her sick.

At that moment, Ryla realized that if she never in her life saw her father again, that would be just fine with her. She pointed toward the exit and screamed, “Get out! I don’t want you here.”

Ryan dropped Melinda’s hand and turned toward his daughter. “What did you say?”

“You heard me.” Ryla’s voice was still blaring. “You never spent any time with me when I was younger...too busy out chasing women to notice that I needed a father in my life. But guess what? I don’t need you now. And I don’t want you here.”