A Merry Little Christmas (28 page)

Hours later they were still wrapped in each other’s arms. They had gotten up a few times to feed the dogs and let them out, to get something to eat and to shower together twice, but for the most part they were content to make love over and over until the shadows lengthened and the day began to fade into dusk. They also talked, making plans for their future and continuing the process of getting to know each other. They were feeding each other grapes in the middle of the big bed when Angelique gave him a sideways glance.

“You know about it, don’t you?” she asked. At his inquiring look, she elaborated. “You know my big secret about being dyslexic, don’t you? You had to figure it out when I was trying to read to you yesterday.”

Donnie looked at her for a long moment and the love he felt for her was plainly written on his face. “I didn’t know at first. I thought it was because your concussion was worse than we realized
.
I called Paris to get some answers,” he admitted.

Angelique nodded “But you didn’t treat me like I was deficient, you treated me like a woman. Your woman,” she said softly.

“You
are
my woman, just like I belong to you now. I’m yours, my Angel.” He leaned over and kissed her.

They were both naked in the middle of the bedclothes, which had been rumpled so
badly
that Angelique insisted on changing them. Donnie had teased her about her fetish for cleanliness and she had blithely ignored him as they tucked in fresh crisp linens. She was admiring his body in the firelight; the desire to explore it was building once again. But before they got to that point, she had to finish telling him what was in her heart

“When I woke up this morning and all the pieces fit back together, I was scared
.
I was so afraid that you wouldn’t want me, that you were just humoring me and feeling sorry for the little special-
ed
child
that
I even thought about not telling you that the amnesia was gone. I wanted everything to just stay the way it was, but I also wanted it to last forever. So I had to tell you the truth.” She stopped to take a big grape from his fingers, looking like a golden nymph as she did so.

“I had to believe that since you heard me stammering and stumbling over those words and you didn’t treat me any differently that maybe, just maybe you could start to care for me.
And you do.” She smiled at him;
a radiant smile full of adoration that made him fell in love with her all over again.

He took the bowl of grapes from between them and set them out of the way. Grasping her hands, he guided her to lie down on his chest while he covered both of them with the sheet. He kissed her forehead and her lips, and held her to his heart while he talked “Angel, you are the most fascinating, incredible woman it’s ever been my privilege to know. You have so many wonderful facets, I’m never going to know all there is to know about you. You’re everything any man could ever want and I plan to spend every day of the rest of our lives making you happy, just so you know.”

She ran her hand over the hard muscles of his broad chest, enjoying the smooth warmth. “I love you, Adonis. You’re everything I always wanted and never thought I’d have,” she said drowsily.

She was almost asleep on his shoulder when she remembered what she hadn’t told him. “I remember our wedding, Adonis. I remember getting married.”

“That’s wonderful, baby,
tell me about it tomorrow.” He y
awned and in minutes they were both sound asleep.

Chapter Seventeen

Lisette couldn’t stop smiling as she looked at Donnie and Angelique across the table. She and Warren were dining with the newlyweds at a posh restaurant in Greektown. And Donnie and Angelique were acting like newlyweds, to her delight. They were warm and affectionate with each other, holding
hands
and unable to keep their eyes off each other.

“My, my, my!
What a difference a snowstorm makes,” she teased. “Look at you
two,
you look like you invented love.”

Donnie kissed Angelique’s dimples and smiled. “Don’t forget the hockey puck,” he reminded her. “I owe a special debt of gratitude to the Red Wings and the Calgary Flames.”

Angelique laughed and squeezed her husband’s hand. Then her smile got dreamy and she looked at Lisette. “And I think he did invent love. Being married to him is the most wonderful thing in the world.
Better than chocolate.”
She sighed.

“My goodness,” Lisette said, awed. “If I didn’t have my Warren, I’d be terribly jealous right now.” She put her hand on Warren’s arm and smiled at him adoringly. He looked at her with his heart in his eyes and gave her a brief kiss on the lips that spoke volumes.

The two women excused themselves from the table to visit the facilities and their men rose as they left the table. Donnie watched every movement of Angelique’s body as she walked away and Warren had to give him grief about it.

“Look at you, Cochran! A few months ago you were ready to marry someone else and now you can’t let her out of your sight. You’re one lucky son-of-a-
gun,
you know that, don’t you?”

Donnie fervently agreed. “Yes, I do. I feel blessed in the extreme. I have the pleasure of being with the most exciting, the most beautiful woman in the world and she loves me. Love is a beautiful thing, Warren; you tried to tell me and I wasn’t hearing it. You were right and I was totally wrong.”

Warren got serious for a moment, asking Donnie if Angelique knew that he’d proposed to someone else not two months before they got married. Donnie also got serious.

“No, I haven’t told her that. You know she’s working with Aneesah to get the exhibit set up at the museum, right?” At Warren’s look of horror, Donnie hastened to reassure him.

“
Don’t get excited, it’s not bad at all.  They get along great, they like each other a great deal, in fact. 
Aneesah called me after the news got out about the wedding and gave me a hard time.” He laughed. “She talked about me like a dog and reminded me that she’d warned me this would happen. That love was something that sneaked up on you and took over when you least expected it.”

He smiled at the memory of their conversation. “But she also said she would make sure that nobody knew that I had proposed to her. She said that was between us and it would stay that way.”

Warren grinned and raised his glass to Donnie. 
“Like I said, Cochran: a lucky son-of-a-gun Where
are those women? I still haven’t figured out what they do in there,” he complained.

“I told you, they talk about us. So now it’s your turn,
Warren. I’ve led the way, when are you going to make an honest woman of your Lisette?”

Surprisingly, Warren didn’t have his usual snappy comeback. He looked away from Donnie and finished his wine in one gulp, signaling their server for more.

Meanwhile, Lisette and Angelique were back where their friendship started, in the ladies’ room. “Marriage really agrees with you, Angel. You look even more beautiful than before. Donnie must be an extremely romantic man,” Lisette said enviously.

“Oh, Lisette, he’s wonderful.
We drive in to work together most of the time and we have lunch together as often as we can.
He brings me breakfast in bed on Saturdays and we cook for each other during the week.
We go to church together on Sundays and then we spend the rest of the day together just doing nothing.
He’s the best friend and support in the world.
And he’s so romantic!”
She fanned a hand in front of her face to indicate extreme heat. “I’m so happy I could cry. But you know what that’s like—you and Warren are in love.”

Lisette looked crestfallen and Angelique was alarmed at how quickly her friend’s face had changed. “What’s the matter, Lisette?”

“Warren doesn’t want me,” she said sadly. “He’s sweet to me and attentive and all of that, but he’s a perfect gentleman.
He’s never tried to, you know, make love to me.
And when I try to get really amorous, he manages to push me away.
He treats me like a pretty little doll, but there’s no real passion.
I don’t know what to do, Angel, I really don’t.”

Angelique was appalled for her friend’s sake.
“I don’t know much, but I do know that Warren loves you like crazy.
You have to get to the bottom of this and the only way I know how is to level with him.
You’ve got to talk it out.
Maybe he just wants to wait until you’re married, have you thought about that?”

“Well, if that’s the case, why doesn’t he propose?
Warren is so sexy,
such a big, handsome teddy bear
, if I don’t get with him soon I’m going to drug him and tie him down!”
She looked determined enough to do it, too.

“Ooh, don’t hurt poor Warren, girl! I’m sure there’s a happy medium in there somewhere. In Warren’s defense, though, isn’t it nice to be with someone who likes you for you and not what he can get from you?”

Lisette looked shamefaced and agreed. “I should be smacked, I know. I have a wonderful man who treats me like a lady and I’m complaining because I want to jump his bones. I’m a wench, I really am.”

“No, you’re just in love. Now let’s get back out there before they forget who we are,” she said.

Lisette scoffed. “As if that handsome Donnie could ever forget his beloved wife.”

“And Warren could never forget you. Open communication, Lisette, that’s the only answer.”

***

The day of the exhibit opening finally came, and with it a cases of nerves Angelique wasn’t anticipating. She was hot one minute and cold the next, her head hurt and she couldn’t keep anything down. She was totally miserable and all the comfort Donnie had to offer didn’t help. At present he was holding her in his lap and rubbing her arms and back while he nuzzled her neck.

“Look, sweetnes
s, I’m going to get you some Vern
or’s and crushed ice. It’ll help settle your stomach. Maybe you can get some crackers down, too,” he suggested.

Angelique started to nod her head,
then
stopped as it made her dizzy. “Do we have any gingersnaps?” she asked. H
er favorite snack lately was Vern
or’s ginger ale and the hard, crunchy, ginger-flavored cookies. The thought of the combination made Donnie gag, but she’d been so
n
ervous about the exhibit, he indulged her every whim.

“I’ll see. In the meantime, you lay here on the sofa and get some rest. It’s going to be fine, baby. We both walked through last night and it looks perfect. It’s an amazing display, Angel. You have every reason to be proud of it.”

“And every reason to be terrified, Adonis. My whole family is coming up here for this and I don’t want to disappoint them. I want them to be proud of me,” she admitted.

“Angel, how could they not be proud of you? You’re so talented, it’s actually frightening. You make your subjects look so real, it’s like you could reach into the picture and touch them. They’re astounding photographs, Angel. And if it means anything, I’m so proud of you, I could burst. You, my queen, are an extraordinary woman,” he said as he gave her a wet, tickling kiss right in her dimple. “Now, you sit here and I’ll be right back with your ginger ale.”

Her eyes moistened in gratitude for his loving attentiveness. “You’re too sweet to me,” she murmured.

He held her for one more moment, and whispered, “It’s not possible to be too sweet to you. I love you, my Angel.”

A couple of hours before the opening, Angelique
walked carefully
through the carefully displayed pictures, looking in vain to find something wrong or out of place.

“You’re wasting your time, Angel. It’s perfect. Just like you.”

Angelique turned to find A.J. standing behind her with a smile on his face. She opened her arms for his hug and he enfolded her in his arms and held her tightly.

“I’m so glad you’re here. How’d you know I’d be a nervous wreck?”

“Because I know you
Angel.
How’ve you been? How’s that husband of yours treating you?”

They hadn’t seen each other since the night of the Red Wings game. After calling Donnie from the hospital to let him know about her accident, A
.
J. naturally waited with her until her husband arrived. He and Donnie had exchanged words that would have led to a fistfight had not the hospital personnel intervened. There was no love lost between the two men. Donnie knew a predator when he saw one and he was sure A
.
J.’s feelings were more than brotherly. And A
.
J. was equally sure that Donnie wasn’t capable of giving Angelique the unconditional love she deserved.

Angelique gave A
.
J. a beautiful smile and turned around in a circle in front of him. “See for yourself! How do I look?”

A
.
J. had to admit that she looked radiantly happy and totally fulfilled. She was wearing off-white in the form of a slim-fitting, silk, jersey wrap tunic and
matching
wide-legged pants. She had on a pair of incredible gold earrings made of interlocking flat circles that hung almost to her shoulders. They were a gift from Donnie and accentuated her graceful neck, drawing attention to her sculpted collarbones. Her hair was arranged in a sophisticated chignon that gave her the look of a young Lena Home. She looked absolutely beautiful and AJ.
told
her so.