His Paradise Wife (4 page)

Desmond headed up the marketing department
and was focusing all of his attention on the mass wedding event
planned for this Saturday at Pleasure Island. He’d drafted a few
press releases to review this morning with Dante and Dimitrius.
Only problem was, Dante’s mind had been elsewhere.

Dante looked at his brother. Yes, something
was bothering him. That didn’t mean he wanted to talk about it. And
he tried to keep up the no-nonsense, hardcore businessman role to
hide the fact that he was upset, but his brothers could read him
well. Too well. So well that it aggravated Dante to feel their
inquisitive eyes on him. So to quell any further interrogation from
Desmond, he said, “Nothing’s bothering me. I simply want to ensure
that the activities this weekend will go smoothly. This is the
first time the company is embarking on an idea as such, so we need
to make sure every single detail is handled accurately and
appropriately. If we can pull this off, I’m sure monthly
subscriptions to the service will increase dramatically.”

Desmond nodded. “I got local media on board.
Once the ceremony starts, there will be plenty of interest in
Grieving Hearts Connect, long after this is over. Think about it.
What we’re doing is unprecedented, and people are responding.”

Dante nodded.

“
Also, I’ve done some
research online...seems bloggers have read our flier on our social
media sites and have blogged about it.”

“
What kind of feedback are
they giving?” Dante inquired.

“
Well, from the ones I’ve
read, they pretty much had good things to say about the wedding,
but then, of course, you have negative feedback. Some people seem
to think that meeting people online and getting married in
untraditional ways will inevitably end in divorce.”

“
Then they are not changing
with the times,” Dante said coolly. “People don’t just randomly
meet at a bar or the supermarket like they did back in the day,” he
explained.

“
Wait...I have to disagree
with you on that, my brother,” Desmond said. “I met a fine honey at
a bar just last night.”

Dimitrius chuckled. “What else is new?
You’re always meeting women, or shall I say twenty-one-year-old
party girls.”

“
You’re one to talk,”
Desmond shot back. “You have a chick on speed dial for every day of
the week.”

“
And yet again, you speak on
what you don’t know...”

“
Okay, let’s get back on
track,” Dante said. He’d always been the mediator between his
siblings. “Dimitrius, have you seen a spike in membership due to
Saturday’s event, or is it too soon to tell?”

“
Membership has been up
twelve percent since the first press release went out three weeks
ago.”

“
That’s excellent. That was
a good strategy to send out a pre-press release, Des.”

“
I thought it might make a
difference,” Desmond added. “Now here are the new press releases I
drafted up for the local media at Carolina Beach.” Desmond handed
Dante and Dimitrius a copy. “As soon as you give me the okay, I’m
sending these babies out.”

Dante placed the press release on his desk,
then got up from his seat and walked over to the windows. The
reason he came up with this mass marriage idea in the first place
had been a selfish one. He wanted to get Emily. He tried to pretend
he wasn’t upset by the fact that he hadn’t heard from her at all on
Tuesday and not so far today. He’d been watching his fake ‘Armand
Hill’ profile all day, waiting to see if she would log in and she
hadn’t.

“
Dante, what gives, man?”
Dimitrius asked, watching his brother gaze blankly out of the
windows. “Thought you’d be more excited than this.”

Dante slid his hands in his pockets and
turned around to face his brothers. “Emily broke it off with me
Monday night, well with my fake online identity but you get what I
mean.”

“
Why? I thought
Armand
was putting his
mack down,” Desmond quipped.

Ignoring his youngest brother, Dante said,
“I think I pushed her too hard, too fast.”

“
She hasn’t been online at
all?” Dimitrius inquired.

“
No. Monday, she ended
things.”

“
That’s a shame,” Desmond
said, shaking his head. He would never get caught up with one woman
when there were so many to pick and choose from. Still, he could
understand why his brother had been so taken by Emily. She was a
beautiful woman, and from what he knew of her, she was smart, a
hard-working business owner and she had eyes that a man could lose
himself in over and over again.

“
Since you’re both here,”
Dante said, “I want to let you know that I will not be going to
Pleasure Island this weekend.”

“
What?” Desmond said,
frowning. “You
have
to go. The media is all geared up to meet the CEO of Grieving
Hearts Connect.”

“
Des, you and Dimitrius will
suffice as representatives in my absence.”

Dimitrius shook his head. “Dante, I’m with
Des on this one, bro. You said you wanted everything to go
smoothly...well what kind of press are we going to get once it’s
known that you’re not there?”

“
How can I come there when
the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with won’t be there
to accept my ring?” Dante asked in one long, frustrated breath. “I
won’t do it.”

Desmond rubbed his hand across his head.

Dimitrius sighed because he wasn’t sure of
what else to say. Once Dante had resolved to do something, it was
as good as done. The same was true when he hadn’t wanted to do
something.

“
Why didn’t you just talk to
her? Over the phone, I mean?” Dimitrius inquired.

“
Because she would’ve picked
up on my voice and I couldn’t risk her finding out that
Armand
is really me. She
doesn’t like me, remember?”

“
Why do you sound like
you’ve given up?” Desmond asked. “Today is Wednesday. The ceremony
is Saturday. If you really want this girl, you got today, tomorrow
and Friday to convince her to come to Pleasure Island this
weekend.”

“
And how am I supposed to do
that when she won’t log into her account?”

“
I got it,” Desmond said.
“Send her a private message. She doesn’t need to be logged into
messenger to get a private message. Send her your phone number and
type the words, ‘call me’.”

Dante shook his head. “I don’t want her to
pick up on my voice, Des.”

“
Well, in order to get
something you never had before, you have to do something you’ve
never done before. Right? So, send her your number. Once she talks
to you for the first time, that has to be all she needs to convince
her to be standing on the beach Saturday, ready to exchange vows
with you. Now when she gets there and realize that you tricked her,
well, you’re on your own then.”

“
I’ll think about it,” was
Dante’s response. “Was there anything else we needed to
cover?”

“
I don’t think so,”
Dimitrius said.

Desmond spoke up and said, “Don’t forget
that we need help in the marketing department. I can wait until
after the hoopla has died down around the upcoming GHC events,
though. Just a reminder.”

“
Okay,” Dante said. “I’ll
work on it. For now, this meeting is adjourned. I’m sure you both
have plenty of work to do.”

Dimitrius smirked. “We’re sure you do,
too.”

Chapter 6

If ending things with Armand seemed like the
right thing to do, why did she feel so bad about it? Emily had even
logged on to her instant messenger on GHC last night and saw that
he was offline.

What had she done?

She missed talking to Armand already. In a
way, he’d become a distraction from the grief she struggled with
after losing Melvin. Now Armand was gone. Or was he? Maybe if she
apologized to him for ending things so abruptly, he would be
forgiving and they could pick up right where they left off.

Feeling good that this was the right
approach, she logged on to her laptop and signed into her profile,
noticing a private message indicator light blinking. Before she
could click on it, a customer had walked in.

“
Good afternoon,” Emily
said. “Welcome to Emily’s Boutique.”

“
Hi there,” the lady
responded.

“
Can I help you find
something?”

“
Um...no. I’m just browsing.
I’m getting married this weekend and wanted to find a nice vintage
piece for my gown.”

“
Oh, Congratulations! That’s
exciting.”

“
Thank you.”

“
Well, we keep pins in the
counter display case. Earrings are hanging on the wall as well as
necklaces and there’s a scarf rack near the display
window.”

“
Perfect.
Thanks.”

“
No problem,” Emily said
excited for this woman whom she hadn’t known. She remembered how
she felt when she married Melvin. It was her day – her time to show
off her man to the world. There was the dress, bridesmaids, hair,
makeup, nails, the shoes – getting married was an exciting time.
But to do it all over again, to repeat those vows to another man
gave her an unsettling feeling. She had no desire to marry again.
She had, however, missed talking with Armand.

She walked over to her customer while she
was looking at earrings and asked, “So when is the big day?”

The lady beamed, holding two pairs of
earrings in her hand.

“
Saturday.”

“
Girl, you should have your
maid honor running these types of errands for you.”

“
Well, that’s the
thing...this is going to be a very non-traditional style wedding,
so I won’t have a maid of honor or bridesmaids.”

“
Are you getting married at
the court house?” Emily questioned. She realized how intrusive and
nosy she sounded. She just didn’t care.

“
Oh, no. I’m getting married
at a mass wedding on Pleasure Island this weekend.”

Emily’s eyes lit up. “Wait...are you getting
married at the Grieving Hearts Connect Resort?”

“
Yes! You heard about
it?”

“
I did, actually. I met
someone on the site and he asked me to marry him there but I
refused.”

“
Why?”

“
Because I didn’t feel I
knew him well enough.”

“
How long have you two been
talking?”

“
Three months.”

“
Wow. I’ve only been
chatting with my guy for two months and we decided to take the
leap.”

“
Have you met him in person
or spoken with him on the phone?”

“
Haven’t met, but we talk on
the phone every night. He lives in Atlanta. Where does your guy
live?”

“
He said he was in
Charlotte.”

“
Charlotte? That’s a hop,
skip and a jump...then you’re there...and you haven’t
met?”

“
No. He actually only wanted
to chat online and didn’t want to meet or talk on the phone, so I
recently broke it off, but now I think I was too rash with my
decision. My friend thinks I should go to Pleasure Island and meet
him in person. It’s like she has this vision of me being whisked
into the arms of a prince and living happily ever
after.”

The woman chuckled as she took another pair
of earrings from the rack.

“
I’m Emily by the
way.”

“
I’m Audrey. Nice to
officially meet you.”

“
You as well.”

“
Hey, which pair of earrings
should I get?” Audrey asked. “I can’t decide.”

Emily looked them over for a moment and
said, “They all look nice.” She only stocked the best merchandise
for her store.

“
Yeah. Maybe I’ll get all of
them.”

The women giggled.

“
How long have you been a
member on GHC?” Emily inquired.

“
Um...’bout a year now. When
my husband died eight years ago, I had trouble talking to men. A
friend of mine told me about the Grieving Hearts site and I made
good use of the online therapists there. But I didn’t know that I
would meet my new soulmate. He’s truly amazing and this journey for
me has been wonderful.”

Audrey had decided to get three pairs of
earrings, and after Emily swiped her credit card and handed it back
to her, she asked Audrey, “Was it difficult for you to make that
decision to start over and get married again?”

“
It was at first, but I
realized something.” Audrey slid her credit card back in her purse.
“I’m responsible for my own happiness. I could choose to be
miserable or I could choose to be happy. I chose
happiness.”

“
I like that,” Emily said as
she handed Audrey a small, logo-imprinted bag.

“
Thank you,
Emily.”

“
You’re welcome.”

“
Hope to see you Saturday,”
she said, standing at the door.

“
Maybe you will.”

Chapter 7

You are responsible for your own
happiness.

Those words that Audrey said earlier
resonated deeply within Emily because they were simply true. Since
Melvin passed, Emily found many reasons, excuses and opportunities
to be unhappy. For a long time, rain made her feel sadness. Made
her think of him. Even sports programs brought tears to her eyes
since she used to watch football with Melvin.