Better for Us

by Vanessa Miller

  Shaking his head, Noel said, “I seriously don’t understand you. You asked me to get you a ring. So I went and got it. Now you don’t want me to give it to you?”

  Ryla plopped down on the high-back chair next to the sofa. “Men,” she said with exasperation in her voice. “I’ve never been engaged before, Noel. So, I don’t just want you to take the ring out of your pocket and hand it to me. I want you to propose.”

  “I did that last night.”

  Ryla hit him with both barrels. “Don’t you want Jaylen to know how a man is supposed to propose to the woman he loves and wants to marry?”

  This was all a bit much for Noel. He’d done everything she’d asked of him, but even that wasn’t good enough for Ryla. Now she wanted him to perform. He was about to decline from partaking in this spectacle, but then he realized that this could be a teaching moment for his daughter. He would never want her to marry a man who just handed her a ring without much thought. “I’ll be right back,” he said, and then swung around to leave.

  Ryla jumped up and grabbed his arm again. “Where are you going? I thought you had something for me?”

  “I do, but you have a point. I should do this right. I’ll be back in an hour.”

  As Noel made his way out of the house, he looked down at his attire and couldn’t believe that he’d worn a Nike jogging suit to propose to Ryla. What was he thinking?

  He rushed home and changed into a tailored charcoal-gray two-piece suit with a lavender shirt and a lavender, gray and black tie. Noel then made his way to Mockingbird Florist on East Mockingbird Lane. His first thought was to purchase a dozen red roses, but that seemed too cliché. So, he purchased the dozen, but then asked for the petals without the stems on ten of the red roses. The florist handed him the two stemmed roses that were still intact and then gave him the petals in a clear plastic bag.

  Having everything that he needed to make this a memorable moment for Ryla and Jaylen, Noel got in his car and sped back to Ryla’s place. Before announcing his presence, he opened his bag of petals and sprinkled them on the porch and the three steps that led to the door. Noel then rang the doorbell and waited.

  Jaylen was the first one to the door. She opened it with a huge grin on her face. “Daddy, you came back!”

  “Of course I did, sweetheart. You can always count on your daddy to keep his word.” He handed his daughter one of the roses and said, “That’s for you, baby girl. I’m the first man who ever gave you a rose, but I sure won’t be the last.”

  Jaylen inhaled the fragrance and then looked back to her father with so much joy in her eyes that it nearly made him weak.

  “Thank you, Daddy. And if some man wants to give me a rose when I get older, I’ll be sure to tell him that my daddy did it first.”

  Ryla and Shelly came up behind Jaylen and pulled the door open. Ryla stepped onto the porch while Aunt Shelly leaned against the door frame. “What did you do first?” Ryla asked Noel as she looked around at the rose petals all over the porch.

  “This,” he said as he handed her the other red rose. He then took her hand, walked her across the rose petal-laden porch and got down on his knee. He pulled a three-carat princess-cut diamond ring with a white-gold band and the Tiffany & Co. inscription on the inner side of the ring.

  Ryla gasped as tears ran down her face.

  Her tears caught him off guard and made him want to make this moment even more special for her. He kissed the hand he was holding, and then glanced up at her as he said, “Ryla Evans, would you do me the honor of m-marrying me?” He fumbled a bit, but it wasn’t every day that a man asked a woman to marry him.

  Ryla squealed, jumped up and down and then fell into Noel’s arms. “Of course I’ll marry you.”

  Noel was holding on to Ryla feeling pretty good about pulling off a proposal that brought tears to her eyes, when Jaylen jumped onto his back and screamed, “Thanks for marrying my mommy.”

  Aunt Shelly ran down the porch and hugged Ryla. “Let me see that ring, girl.”

  As Ryla showed off her ring to Aunt Shelly, Noel was brought back to reality. This wasn’t some reality show with a script, where everyone knew where they were supposed to be and what type of drama they were supposed to bring with them. Jaylen was his daughter, and he had an obligation to bring her happiness and do no wrong.

  Ryla waved her hand in front of him, indicating that he should place the ring on her finger.

  She was so excited that Noel could tell she had gotten swept away in the moment also. Neither of them had thought very much about how all this would affect Jaylen, but they needed to talk about it very soon. He slipped the ring on her finger, and then helped Jaylen down from her spot on his back. As Noel stood, he grabbed Ryla’s hand and stared at the ring. It was beautiful, as if the designer had Ryla in mind when he’d made this particular ring.

  He covered her hand with his own as he stood and pulled her close to him. Their lips were so close they touched as he said, “We need to talk.”

  * * *

  Talk? Ryla didn’t want to waste time talking. She wanted to wrap her arms around Noel and kiss him as he whispered words of love in her ear.

  “Come on,” he said as he pulled her back toward the parlor. Jaylen and Aunt Shelly followed behind. But Noel turned to Jaylen and said, “Honey, Daddy needs to speak with Mommy alone. Do you mind going to your room for a few minutes?”

  “Okay,” Jaylen said, and then skipped out of the room as if she was the happiest little girl in the world.

  Aunt Shelly stretched and yawned. “I think I’ll go to bed and give you two some privacy.” She hugged Ryla again and then hugged Noel. “Welcome to the family,” she said with joy, and then headed to her bedroom.

  “I think we’ve made a mistake,” Noel said as soon as they were alone.

  Ryla was looking at her ring when Noel said those words. But she quickly put her hand down and gave him a what-you-talking-’bout-Willis stare.

  “I didn’t think about how all of this would affect Jaylen when I asked you to do this for me.”

  “Jaylen will be fine.” Once we’re married, she wanted to add, but left that part of the conversation in her head.

  Pacing the room, Noel said, “I don’t know about this. I really don’t want to hurt Jaylen any more than I have already by not being around.”

  If Ryla was truthful with herself, she would admit that she hadn’t thought much about how this would affect Jaylen if things didn’t turn out the way she planned. Her daughter would be crushed. But she was the one who pushed Noel out of their life, so now she had to do everything in her power to bring him back. She sat down on the couch and held out a hand to Noel. “Come sit next to me.”

  Noel kept pacing.

  She got up, walked over to him, grabbed his hand and walked him over to the couch, then said, “Sit.”

  Noel sat down and admitted, “I was angry and I blamed you for my poll numbers dropping. But I was the one who forced you to bring Jaylen to Dallas while I was in the middle of a campaign. So, if this fiasco is anyone’s fault, it’s mine.”

  “It’s not your fault that I kept Jaylen away from you.” She caressed his hand. “I want to help you win this election.... Let me help you, Noel.” She wanted to say, “Let’s just go all the way and get married,” but she hadn’t forgotten the look of horror on his face when she’d asked about that the previous night.

  “Maybe I should just run my race and not worry so much about what the reporters are saying about my personal life.”

  “Even President Obama once gave a speech while running when the whole Reverend Wright issue wouldn’t go away. So, I really think we need to stick to your original plan.” Please, please, please stick to the plan, she silently begged. “Jaylen and I will be fine.”

  “Are you sure about this, Ryla? I mean, I don’t want my ambiti
ons to negatively affect Jaylen.”

  “Believe me, Jaylen couldn’t be prouder of you. She wants you to win this election just as much as I do.”

  He sat there for a moment. Then as he took a deep breath, he turned to her and said, “If you’re sure...Ian has scheduled a meet and greet with some potential campaign donors. The press will be at the event and he’d like for us to announce our engagement at that time.”

  “That’s fine, but I need to make sure you understand my expectations.”

  He gave her a don’t-start-no-mess look and then asked, “Your expectations?”

  Ryla lifted a hand. “Calm down. I’m not asking for alimony or anything like that,” she joked.

  “Okay, so what do you want?”

  “Well, if we are going to convince people that we have fallen in love again and that’s why we’ve decided to get married, we need to do a few things to make it look real.”

  “Like what?” Noel sounded skeptical.

  “For one thing, I think you should take me out on a few dates.”

  Noel laughed. “In case you missed it, I am in the middle of running for the U.S. Congress.”

  “A man in love would make the time,” Ryla chided.

  “But a man on a mission wouldn’t have the time for love. And people would understand that I’m busy and don’t have time for anything but campaigning.”

  Ryla folded her arms. “I wouldn’t understand, so I suggest you find the time to wine and dine me, Mr. I-Need-a-Wife.”

  “A fake wife,” he reminded her.

  “Whatever.”

  * * *

  After putting Jaylen to bed, Ryla sat on the edge of her bed staring at the princess-cut ring on her finger. After leaving Noel, she had given up on the idea of ever finding someone to marry. Men were just too unpredictable. One minute they were in love and the next they were cheating.

  Ryla had convinced herself that she didn’t need or want the unpredictable life that falling in love would bring. But now that Noel was back, and now that she knew for sure that he hadn’t cheated on her with Cathy, she was ready to move forward.

  Lying down in her bed, Ryla still couldn’t take her eyes off her ring. She chided herself for being silly and then reached over to turn the light on her nightstand off. That was when her cell phone rang. Glancing at her caller ID, Ryla saw that her mother was calling.

  She smiled as she answered the phone, because she couldn’t believe that she’d totally forgotten to call her mother and tell her the good news. “Hey, Mom, have I got news for you.”

  “And I have news for you also,” Juanita told her.

  Tamping down her excitement, Ryla said, “Okay, you first.”

  “Well, I just thought you’d want to know that I signed two new clients for you today.”

  Ryla sat back up. “You’re kidding. Who... What kind of event do they want?”

  “One wants a sweet sixteen party for his daughter and the other wants you to plan their engagement party. Both parties are six months out, so I just need to know when you’ll be back home so I can set up a meeting with the clients.”

  Ryla glanced at her ring and smiled. “I don’t know, Mom, I may have to move my event-planning business to Dallas.”

  “What? Are you telling me that you’d rather be there with Shelly than back in Houston with your mom?”

  Ryla wanted to drag her news out, make her mother sweat a little while, but she was so excited about the possibility of getting married to Noel that she couldn’t hold it in. So she blurted out, “Noel just asked me to marry him. He gave me a beautiful princess-cut diamond ring.”

  There was silence on the line for a moment and then Juanita said, “But what about all those women who came out of the woodwork talking about how they used to date him?”

  “Mom, Noel and I haven’t been together in eight years—of course he’s dated other women. I’m not worried about them.”

  “But I thought you told me he was a cheater?”

  She had brought this on herself, with her mistrust and quick judgments. Now she would have to fix things or her mother would forever see Noel as something he wasn’t. “I was wrong. Noel never cheated on me. I left him before figuring out what really happened.”

  “I guess your father and I are to blame for that.” The sound of Juanita’s voice held regret.

  Ryla could have spent all night long explaining to her mother just how much her mother and father had cost her, but she wasn’t going there. Juanita Evans-Berkley was a wonderful woman; the fact that in a lineup of one loser and six good men, her mother would pick the loser every time had nothing to do with the love she had for her mother. “I don’t want to think about things like that now, I just want to enjoy this moment and be happy.” She also wanted Noel to marry her for real, but she was keeping that little secret to herself.

  Chapter 12

  “She wants me to take her out on dates,” Noel told Ian as he walked into his office.

  “Isn’t that what a man does for the woman he loves?” Ian asked with a noticeable smirk on his face.

  “Don’t be cute,” Noel said as he flopped into his napa leather office chair. He kicked his feet up onto his desk. “That woman is driving me crazy. First she demands an engagement ring, and then she tells me that I couldn’t just hand it to her.”

  “So you got all romantic with it, huh?”

  Bragging a bit, Noel said, “You know how I do it.” He stood and started strutting around the room. “I put rose petals on the porch and the steps, and then I rang the doorbell. I handed both Jaylen and Ryla a single red rose when they opened the door.”

  As if remembering something he’d forgotten to do, Noel walked over to the file cabinet, grabbed a folder and then went back to his chair.

  “Don’t keep a brother waiting. What did you do after that?” Ian asked.

  Noel sat down as he looked through the file folder.

  “Was the proposal that bad for you?” Ian continued waiting for Noel to respond.

  “Huh?” Noel glanced up, and then shook his head. “Actually, I enjoyed every minute of it. That is, until my daughter jumped on my back and thanked me for marrying her mother.”

  “What could be so wrong with that?”

  Noel hadn’t yet revealed his plan to have Ryla leave him at the altar to Ian. Since the man was his campaign manager, Noel felt that he owed him the truth. “Sit down, Ian. I have something to tell you that you’re not going to like.”

  Noel spent the next few minutes clueing Ian in on his runaway bride plan. When he was finished, Ian said, “Do you know how many marriages of convenience there are in the political spectrum? Why can’t you just marry the girl and let her move back to Houston?”

  “I can’t do that, Ian. Not even to win an election.”

  Ian shook his head. “I think you’re making a mistake. You’re counting on your constituents giving you the pity vote, but some of them may just assume that Ryla had good reason for not marrying you.”

  “And some of them will feel as if I’m free of a woman who could keep a child from me for seven years.” Noel opened the file he needed to review and began going over information his staff had compiled on some of the campaign donors that would be attending the luncheon today.

  Ian sighed as he sat down in the seat in front of Noel’s desk. “You really need to let go of this bitterness you have against Ryla. She seems like a nice woman, and if you want my opinion, I think she’s still in love with you.”

  Noel glanced up and then pointed at the file he was studying. “Are you sure that David Lewis will be attending the luncheon today?”

  “He confirmed last week, so I believe he’ll be there.” Ian leaned forward and asked, “Did we just change the subject?”

  Noel closed the file and stared at
Ian. “Shouldn’t you be happy that I have my mind on the campaign?”

  Ian held up a hand. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad that you’re all-in when it comes to your campaign. I just don’t want you to forget about the issue that is dogging us at the moment.”

  “That issue being...?” Noel asked, in a sarcastic tone.

  Before Ian could answer, there was a gentle knock on the door and then it opened with Ryla and Jaylen peering in. “Is this a good time?” Ryla asked.

  Ian jumped up, with a big smile on his face. “Come on in.” As Ryla and Jaylen walked in, he added, “I hear that congratulations are in order.”

  “Show him your ring, Mom,” Jaylen said as she grabbed Ryla’s left hand.

  Ryla held up her ring finger. “Thank you, I was really surprised with the ring that Noel had chosen. It is absolutely gorgeous.”

  Beautiful was the word Noel was thinking of as he watched Ryla show off her engagement ring. Her makeup was flawless, but if Ryla wore no makeup at all she would still be lovely. It irritated him that he was attracted to her, so instead he gruffly said, “You’re early.”

  Ryla glanced at her watch. “I thought you said the luncheon begins at eleven?”

  “It does. And you made it here at the perfect time. Now you can ride with us to the event,” Ian interrupted.

  Noel stood and approached them. Ian was butting in, trying to smooth things over with Ryla for him, but he didn’t ask for any help. Jaylen ran to her father and he picked her up. “Hey, pumpkin, how are you doing today?”

  “I’m great. Mommy says I get to be the flower girl.”

  “I can’t think of anyone who’d do a better job than you, pumpkin.”

  “I’m going to sprinkle rose petals on the floor for Mommy, just like you did.”

  Noel drifted back to Saturday night when he got down on bended knee and watched tears roll down Ryla’s face as she accepted his proposal. The memory softened him as he spoke to Ryla again.

  Noel put Jaylen down and then said to Ryla, “Thank you for helping me with this luncheon. And I’m glad you’re early enough to ride over with me.”