They’d arranged to use the community hall for the evening, and Kayanne was astonished to see a packed house when she peeked out from behind the curtain. People of all ages crowded in to see their grandmothers, mothers, wives and sweethearts strut their stuff. If tonight’s reception was any indication, she might actually have a chance of selling her new line of clothing when she got back to Manhattan, a place whose glitter had lost much of its shine for her.
Suddenly Kayanne found herself desperately missing Dave. She wished he was there to share this moment with her. To hold her hand and settle her nerves with his steady humor—and his mind-blowing kisses. Her throat tightened around the object stuck there. It could well have been her heart. She cursed Dave soundly for intruding on her thoughts at the most inopportune times. Like every other minute of the day. That only made it all the more difficult to focus on the crisis at hand.
“What’s the problem?”
Kayanne assumed a light tone with the assembled crowd in the dressing room. She was afraid some of the ladies might be getting cold feet and didn’t want to have to confiscate any alcohol being used to steady anyone’s nerves. The way she was feeling at the moment, Kayanne wasn’t sure she’d be strong enough to resist taking a swig herself.
“Why did you call me in here anyway? It looks to me like everything’s under control.”
Rose stepped forward to a round of polite applause and presented Kayanne with a huge bouquet of fresh flowers.
“Whatever happens out there tonight, we just want to thank you for what you’ve done for us. For making us feel desirable again.”
Kayanne looked around the room and saw nothing but smiling, grateful faces. All of the women gathered about were gray and wrinkled. Some were still grieving missing breasts from mastectomies and until now hadn’t ever been able to find clothes that didn’t make them feel freakishly self-conscious. A few would need walkers to help them down the makeshift runway. Swathed in a rainbow’s array of colors and textures, they were all incredibly beautiful.
And brave.
“I’m so proud of you,” Kayanne said, giving each one a flower from the bouquet to carry during her debut. More nervous for her elderly friends than she’d ever been for herself, she checked her watch and announced, “It’s almost time to get this show on the road.”
Five minutes later, she was sitting in the front row directly in front of the runway watching the curtain go up. Butterflies danced in her stomach and doubts toyed with her mind.
What if one of the models falls and breaks a hip?
What if the audience doesn’t like my designs?
What if they laugh?
Or boo?
Who in the world do I think I am trying to launch a new line in Podunk, Wyoming, when there are over five thousand designer showrooms in New York alone?
Sitting next to her, Kayanne’s mother squeezed her hand and gave her a reassuring smile. “Everything’s going to be just fine.”
It seemed only fitting that Rose was the first model of the evening. She shimmered down the runway in a mid-length dress of pale blue that was appropriate for attending a formal affair or simply dining out at an elegant restaurant. With all the aplomb of a seasoned veteran, she smiled at Kayanne, blew a kiss to Joe Hansen who was sitting behind her, and tossed a lily over her shoulder to a young lady sitting with her grandfather. The audience was utterly enchanted.
Kayanne heaved a sigh of relief and settled in her seat to enjoy the rest of a very special evening. She didn’t know exactly how special it was going to prove to be until Rose stepped out from behind the curtain after the last model had completed her turn.
“As a finale to tonight’s festivities, we have a special guest who is going to model his own version of humble pie for us,” she announced with a sly wink.
Then she reached through the curtain and exchanged places with Dave in a move that proved she could have been a magician’s assistant as well as a fashion model. Kayanne’s palms grew sweaty at the sight of the man she loved dressed in a white tuxedo with tails, holding a dozen red roses and looking better than any airbrushed model she’d ever seen. He looked terribly nervous. That this clearly was beyond his comfort level only endeared him to Kayanne all the more. She couldn’t imagine what Rose had done to get him to agree to such a public exhibition, but the instant that he stepped out onto that stage, she knew she didn’t want to live another minute without him.
He cleared his throat, stared into the lights, and deliberately sought her out. He began his long journey down the runway to the hoots and hollers of an audience delighted to be getting far more than they had paid for. Dave stopped at the end of the runway and looked directly at Kayanne. Bending down on one knee, he cleared his throat.
“It was brought to my attention that my earlier proposal lacked a certain romantic appeal. This is my clumsy attempt to remedy that. I want everybody in this room and the entire world to know how much I love you, Kayanne. If I promise to never, ever hurt you again, would you please consider making me the happiest man alive by agreeing to be my wife?”
As moved by the trickle of sweat running down the side of his face as by the elegantly wrapped box that he pulled out of his jacket pocket, Kayanne knew how hard it was for him to so publicly put himself on the line. Any nagging doubts that he might have proposed before only to assuage her hurt feelings dissolved, along with her fear that he was secretly ashamed of her. A man didn’t risk this level of embarrassment unless he felt anything other than the most convincing love.
Rose was right. She was a fool.
Kayanne stood on wobbly legs to take the roses from him.
“Say yes!” called out one overly involved onlooker, setting off a chain of such cheers.
“Go on, honey,” her mother urged, dabbing her eyes with a tissue.
Dave helped her up onto the runway by way of a strategically placed stepladder. Juggling his flowers, she accepted a ring box from him and held it up so that the audience could take a peek.
“It’s perfect,” she said over their oohs and aahs.
Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him fully on the lips. Any resistance to the idea of spending the rest of her life with this man melted beneath the heat of a flame destined to burn throughout eternity.
The crowd roared.
“Yes!” Kayanne told him through a blur of tears. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Dave refused to let go of her. His arms remained anchored solidly around her waist as he whispered in her ear. “I’ll burn the manuscript if you want me to.”
“Over my dead body,” she whispered back. “I love what you’ve done with my character. And more importantly what you’ve done to me. To us.”
Dave’s eyes lit up with the realization that she’d actually read the chapters he’d given her. And liked them. With Kayanne by his side, he couldn’t imagine anything keeping him from achieving all of his dreams. He beamed.
“Just be careful not to make Spice too good in the final chapters,” she warned, fearing his tendency to swing from one extreme to the other. “And remember. You’re marrying a real woman, mister. One with real emotions, a checkered past and immediate needs….”
Only more than happy to oblige on that last count, Dave was forced to settle for what was audience appropriate at the moment, promising to meet those needs more completely once he got her where he wanted her in his bed. Bending her deeply at the back, he gave the crowd the finale they wanted—a real old-fashioned Hollywood kiss.
Basking in the thunderous applause as a cast of sexy senior citizens joined them on stage, Kayanne felt she’d finally come home. Home to a man who loved her for who she was. A man who understood that love alone had the power to change a beast into a beauty—from the inside out. Home to a life that made her feel productive and happy. Home to the belief that she deserved a happy ending just the same as any character her husband chose to put in his next bestseller.
Real life just didn’t get any better than that.
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ISBN: 978-1-4268-7423-9
A SPLENDID OBSESSION
Copyright © 2006 by Cathleen Galitz
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