Page 73 of Love Me Carefully
Leah couldn’t speak.
“That’s right. I’m marrying you, Leah Graham. And I’m marrying you right here in Negril, where we both finally let go of our past issues and found each other.”
“Weddings…in Negril…are…um…expensive,” she stammered, unable to believe her own ears.
“I told you I’d give you everything I had, and I meant it.” He cupped her face in his hands, pulled her closer. “Just say that as soon as my mother’s wedding is over you’ll start planning ours, and I’ll take care of everything else.”
“I…I don’t know what to say.”
For once she was speechless, and Terrell found he liked her talkative better. He nipped her bottom lip. “Say, ‘I love you, Terrell and I’d like nothing more than to marry you here on this gorgeous island.’ ”
Her hands went around his waist as he tried to deepen the kiss, and she pulled back. “I can’t say all that with you kissing me.”
“Oh, sorry.” Terrell smiled and pulled back so she could speak.
Leah cleared her throat. “I love you so much, Terrell. Marrying you on this beautiful island would be the best decision I’ve made thus far in my life.”
Terrell let out a whooping laugh as he picked her up, spinning her around until she screamed for him to let her down. “I’m going to make you so happy.”
“You already have.”
And as they lay entwined in their bed that night, she realized that for the first time in her life she was truly happy. She prayed nothing would spoil this moment or what she and Terrell had planned for their future.
* * *
They were all packed and ready to leave. Terrell was paying their hotel bill, and Leah was enjoying the scenery one last time. She’d already picked up all the brochures in the gift shop she could squeeze into her overnight bag to look at on the flight home. She definitely wanted the ceremony outside, with the light breeze and the swaying palm trees as their backdrop.
She was getting married. Butterflies danced happily in her stomach at the thought.Just wait ’til Nikki hears this.
She was so deep in thought that she almost missed the tall figure standing outside the hotel. He wore dark glasses and a baseball cap and just before he’d turned away she could’ve sworn he’d been staring directly at her. His jeans were worn at the knees and his long- sleeved shirt uncharacteristic for the Jamaican heat.
“You ready, baby?” Terrell came up behind her, tucking the receipt into his back pocket and she turned to give him a smile.
“Ah, yeah. I’m ready.” Leah looked back in the direction where she thought she’d seen the man, but no one was there. She shook her head. Probably just some tourist who’d gone on about his business.
* * *
The Ortega wedding went off without a hitch. Leah and Melinda were busy packing up the decorations and chit chatting about the day’s events when her cell phone rang.
Immediately recognizing the number, she pressed the talk button. “Hey, baby.”
Melinda knew from Leah’s greeting, the tone of her voice and the smile on her face who that was and quickly left her alone.
“Hey, sweetness. Listen, I’m gonna be at the office a little later than I thought. We ran into a few problems with the new program,” Terrell told her.
She tried to mask her disappointment. “So you’re not meeting me at my place?”
“Oh no, I’ll be there. I just wanted to let you know I’d be a little later than I originally promised.”
“Oh? Okay, that’s fine.”
“So how did things go?” he asked.
“Just fine,” she answered and pulled another tablecloth from the table. “The bride was beautiful, the groom suave and debonair. And the best man got drunk and fell into the punch bowl.” She laughed as she recalled the incident. Across the room, Melinda heard her and frowned. She was still sporting the red stain on the peach blouse and skirt she wore.
“Damn, I’ll bet that went over well.”
“Hardly anybody even blinked an eye. I suspect he does this kind of thing often.”
