Sweet Sins (20 page)

             
“Adam, I can’t wait to put my wedding dress on. It’s just a simple white satin dress but it’s perfect for us. When I become your wife, I could want for nothing more but for all of us to stay healthy and all things good will come.”

             
“You’re my world—my all. My dreams will be a glorious reality the day we speak our vows.”

             
Their wedding took place in a quaint hall designed for small, intimate ceremonies. It was laden with beautiful flowers, candles glowing in abundance. Strawberries, caviar and champagne were placed at every table. It was a breath of heaven. There was a center fountain scented with jasmine. Two violinists and a piano player provided the soft background music.

             
Her boys walked in front of her throwing white and red rose petals across the center lane leading to Adam. He waited for her dressed in his black tux. She felt he was the more beautiful of the two of them. He looked exquisite. She prayed that this day would be the start of a wonderful life together. This perfect moment, let it be the beginning of many perfect moments.

             
He grasped her hand gently in front of the preacher and said,

             
“Arianna, we’ll be the ones to make it because true love finds a way. This is what
Keats
and Dylan have been talking about and now what we’re living.”

             
“Good luck, kids,” said Mrs. Ryder as she hugged them both.

             
Like feathers they floated through the night and when he lifted her up and carried her to their limo, life was all that it could be.

             
Effortlessly he took her hand and headed into the
Don Cesar
where they had obtained the bridal suite. The
Don
at night, it’s lights cascading against the lustrous pink building, the waves crashing into the beach and the moonlight on their faces, this is what little girl’s fantasies were made of. It was their time in history to be glorious. He carried her in his arms and crossed over the threshold into the dazzling suite. It had two tiers; in the upstairs area was a Roman bath with floating gardenias and tea lights and candles on a marble sill surrounding the wall side of the bath. They lay skin to skin in the warm aromatic water, massaging each other into ecstasy.

             
He laid her gently on the oval bed, tasting every bit of her. She was as an untouched maiden allowing him to take the lead. He kissed her face and neck, treating her like a treasure he had found. He brushed fragrant oil on her back, massaging her and breathlessly kissing her as he run his strong hands across her. Their love making on this night was like virginal nymphs experiencing thrills that could shake the earth. This paradise found the culmination of their desire for each other.

             
“Arianna, my bride, my wife, I will love you forever, into the afterlife I will meet you. Wherever you are, I will be by your side.

             
“And I with you, Adam, our long awaited forever has begun and I will taste every moment like honey.”

             
The next few days they were landing on clouds above the world, their eyes reaching into each other’s souls and capturing all. Making love till the early morning hours and then beginning again at first light. The touch of his body was so stimulating now that he was her husband, every delicious graze against his skin, heightened by their wedding bands.

Chapter XIX

Paramount Star

             
She could not remember when life was so good. Harmony was found between Adam and her boys and both families were now embracing their marriage, welcoming them together as a couple. The next few months flowed like champagne on New Year’s Eve. It was more than she could have ever hoped for.

             
Perhaps due to the glow on her face and in her heart, her modeling gigs had been lucrative and she was getting calls consistently for work. This assisted in giving them some additional cash flow so they could enjoy trips to Disney World and Busch Gardens. The boys delightfully existing in this fantasy land.

             
Her involvement in two modeling agencies had allowed her to teach and participate in auditions. The teaching gave her additional income and afforded her many contacts with aspiring girls. The mother to one of her younger student’s owned several Cadillac dealerships and was quite wealthy. One evening she had contacted Arianna at home and asked for her and Adam to meet her for dinner. She had assumed because of her generous nature, she had wanted to thank her for her attention to Nadia, her daughter. Arianna had helped secure two commercials for her daughter recently.

             
Sitting down at Charley’s Steak house, Mrs. Lynch launched immediately into what was on her mind.

             
“Arianna, I think you are the talented one at the agency. You’re more aggressive than the others, in tune with the other girls and you just want it more. You take it seriously. You are the first person who took a sincere interest in Nadia and I believe she has incredible potential. I know that’s a mother speaking but I have the time and the money to try and promote her and I will do it. The thing I want to know is if you would like to do it with me. I am offering you an opportunity to go into business for yourself. I will put up the finances for you to start your own agency. What do you think?”

             
Adam grabbed her hand as she felt like she would jump up and hit the ceiling for the thrill of what she had just heard.

             
“What do I think, I think it’s fantastic. This last year I have thought about it and discussed it with several of my friends, that we might try a joint venture, but none of us had the capital to risk it. The agencies that exist here primarily focus on promotions of all kinds but don’t seem to even try to get some of the legitimate work that’s out there. That always goes to the agencies in Orlando and Miami. Tell me more, please.”

             
“Arianna, wait a minute. It’s a huge commitment to go into something like that. It will take and extraordinary amount of time and effort,” said Adam.

             
“Adam, I don’t care if I have to work half the night, this would be the peak of all my dreams. This is the answer to everything I had hoped for. Please, Mrs. Lynch, tell me more.”

             
“I will put up the money. You can draw a reasonable salary against future earnings. I will having controlling interest and oversee everything that goes on with the agency and, of course, Nadia will be given preferential treatment. I would like you to focus on her as much as possible.”

             
The balloon high she was on became deflated as she heard Mrs. Lynch’s words. Her vision of what the agency would be changed everything. She didn’t have an understanding of how things work or connections like Arianna had. Arianna had dreams too, she didn’t want to be the primary agent for a small child and relinquish all of her own possibilities and that of her friends.

             
“Mrs. Lynch, those requirements would be very restricting and as tempting and flattering as your offer is, Adam and I will have to discuss everything and get back to you.”

             
Driving home from Charley’s, she was both elated and perplexed. It was everything and nothing that she wanted.

             
“Arianna, I think you could do anything, you can make fish walk and dogs talk. I always believed that about you. When other people just talk the talk, you go at it with all you have. I love you for that, but it does sound like Mrs. Lynch would have you on a tight leash and that you would end up just trying to get her daughter jobs instead of having a real agency. I mean, do you really want a person like that in control of your every move?”

             
“What do you mean?”

             
“She pompous, overbearing, controlling, inflexible, do you want me to go on? You’ve told me plenty about her and today I got the real thing and I see what you’ve been talking about.”

             
“I know, she is all those things, but she is all those things with money. It’s just that it’s too much of a chance to pass up.”

             
“Let’s talk about it later and see if we can figure something out.”

             
When they were alone in bed that night, he put his arms around her and began to speak,

             
“If you want it that much, what makes you think you can’t do it on your without her. You wouldn’t have too much overhead. You’d need a studio, of course, a runway and all that stuff but after that, you wouldn’t have too many expenses except for the regular rent and utilities, maybe a couple of employees. If you think about it, we could probably figure a way to do it. Maybe you could get an equity loan on the house.”

             
“I’d be too scared to do that. I don’t want to lose that safety net. Our mortgage payment is low right now and I want to be sure the kids have a home in a good neighborhood and great schools and we have that right now.”

             
“I’ll support you if you want to try. Think about it, maybe there’s still a way.”

             
“If you mean that, Adam, how could we not succeed? You’re right, there’s just got to be a way.”

             
After making love ferociously with feverish passion, he drifted into sleep and she watched him, her beloved, her angel, how blessed she felt she was. She couldn’t sleep wondering how she could fulfill this dream of an agency without Mrs. Lynch’s assistance. Her life was so full right now with delightful possibilities, she had to do this. Now that the idea was spoken out loud and with other people, it was a real possibility, no longer just an unattainable wish. If he were by her side, she could do anything.

             
“I’m so happy, Adam. I hope you’re happy. I’ll do anything to make you happy and to be sure you are always at my side.”

             
Mental flurries darted inside her mind. Pictures of what their life could be in the near future. She would work till she was raw if she could be a successful agency owner. Imagine all the possibilities, what if her or her boys could land a national commercial or some other lucrative gig? What if she could be so successful she could develop a franchise?

             
That next day she spent several hours on the phone with Mrs. Lynch, going over details and ideas they each had for an agency and what the focus and direction it would take, but even the location presented a problem. The area of town in St. Pete where she wanted the agency was not an ideal location. She wanted it near St. Pete. Beach where she lived, the problem was that area was great for tourists but too far away from the business community and the residential areas she wanted to reach. It became apparent to her that their ideas of what the agency could or would be were too far from each other. They left it at a stalemate with Arianna stating she would contact her soon with her reply. She would wait and discuss it with Adam tonight.

             
“What’s the matter?”

             
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t want anything to cloud this elation I am feeling that everything is just going our way. It’s just that Mrs. Lynch said some things that might make it impossible for me to work with her.”

             
“Like what?”

             
“She’s wants the agency to function solely on her daughter’s career. I think she would be hovering over me questioning every move I made if it didn’t relate to her daughter. She wants the agency to be at the beach and that’s too far a drive for most people. I think it would limit traffic into the agency.”

             
“I think you should think about another way. I don’t think you would be happy, besides I can’t believe she is giving you so many rules. She can’t do it without you. She has no connections, no following, and no insight on how it even works.”

             
“I know, I already feel like I am beholding to her and nothing has even begun.”

             
They lay together talking of possibilities. They had decided to ask both their parents for assistance. It was a long shot but why not take it.

             
“How much money do you think you would need to get started?” asked Arianna’s father.

             
“I’m not sure, Dad, but it might not be that much. I would need first and last month rent for a place, office stuff, a runway, and mirrors for a start. I could start checking office suites and pricing some stuff out.”

             
“Listen, I don’t have a lot of money but I could lend you about five thousand. Would you be able to make a start with that?”