by S. Tamanaha
Whenever he had some time off, Johnny would try to take her and Angel riding outside of the city so that she could see greenery and the ocean. She never complained, but he knew that she needed that and he loved to watch the sea as well. And then they would return home and love each other, making up for all of the lost nights.
Their lovemaking sessions were always followed by long peaceful moments during which they simply held each other, satisfied and happy, and felt each other’s love.
“Will you marry me?” he asked on one such night. There was no warning, no romantic dinner to set the mood, no bending of the knee. He asked it simply and directly.
“I don’t need marriage Johnny,” she said quietly. “A piece of paper isn’t going to make me love you any more than I do now.”
“I think I need it,” he said.
“Why? Is that paper going to make you love me more?”
“No, of course not. But I can’t ever express to you how I really feel. Words don’t really describe it. Even the lovemaking ... . That piece of paper—it’ll at least be one more thing that I can give you to show you the commitment that I’ve made. Do you know what I’m saying?”
She understood. She also understood what he wasn’t saying—he wanted that evidence from her for himself. An outsider would never understand. It had taken her a while to fully understand. He was the dream man of thousands of women. A lesser man would have felt that she would never leave him; perhaps, even, that she should be grateful that he chose her. But Johnny was not that kind of man. He didn’t believe that his looks or celebrity status entitled him to anything, especially her love since she had already made it clear to him that those things were unimportant to her. He realized, too, that what they had found with each other was rare and special and she could sense that he sometimes worried about losing that bond. She saw it in his eyes, on occasion, when other men spoke to her and, whenever they were out, he always made sure that any man who was remotely interested knew that she was his.
She nodded. “Then yes, Johnny, I’ll marry you.”
“Will you? Even though you once said that you didn’t want another marriage?”
“I didn’t say that. I said that I didn’t want it if it meant settling for less than I wanted and having my soul die each day. With you, I wouldn’t be settling for less. You are what I want. And you wouldn’t let my soul die would you? I’ve given it to you, you know.”
“I’d never do anything to cause that,” he said. “I’ll never hurt you like that.” He pulled her to him and kissed her. “Are you sure you want to?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” She recognized that troubled look in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Why didn’t you ship all of your stuff here?”
“What stuff?”
“The things in your cabinet. Your treasures.”
“I thought that they’d be safer where they were. Especially my glass ship. Los Angeles has earthquakes. I didn’t want to take the chance that it would get damaged. I mean, it isn’t like we’re never going back there, is it? You said we could when your schedule allowed us to.”
“It wasn’t because you thought that this—you and me—might not be permanent?”
“Of course not. Is that what you’ve been thinking all this time? That I left those things behind because I was planning on leaving you and going back?”
“The thought crossed my mind,” he said quietly.
She frowned. “Johnny, are you asking me to marry you because you want to be married or did you ask just to see what I would say because you were wondering about that? Or maybe because you think that piece of paper is going to make me stay here? Because a piece of paper can’t make me stay where I don’t want to be.”
He reached out and placed a gentle hand on the side of her face. “I’m asking you because I want to be married to you,” he said. “I want you to be my wife.”
She turned her face and kissed his hand. “And I’m saying yes because that’s what I want too and I don’t take marriage lightly.”
“I know you don’t. I don’t either.” He drew her to him and kissed her again.
“Johnny, from now on, if you ever start wondering about things like that, can you please just ask me? Because we can’t have much of a marriage if we can’t talk to each other.” She didn’t tell him what she was also thinking—that his kind of imagination and brooding was dangerous to a relationship. She understood that he had been emotionally alone for a long time and that he was used to keeping his deepest thoughts to himself and trying to work out his problems and fears by himself. She was the same way, but when it came to relationships, she was a more evolved Scorpio than he was. She knew that openness and honesty were necessary because secretiveness and inner fears only fueled the dark imagination of a Scorpio. She knew that she needed to persuade him to share his thoughts and fears before his imagination took over.
He smiled slightly. “All right, I promise.”
“I’d have to keep my name, Johnny. I promised my father.”
‘I don’t care about that.”
“And yes, I will sign a pre-nuptial.”
“What?”
“I’m answering you before you have to ask me.”
“I wasn’t going to ask you. A pre-nuptial anticipates a divorce. There’s never going to be a divorce.” He spoke with the finality of a true Scorpio.
“It’s also a way to let the world know, and particularly your mother, that I’m not interested in your money. So, I’ll draw up the terms and you let me know if they’re fair to you and then we’ll have an attorney make it official.”
He shook his head. “This has got to be a first.”
“It’s the only way I’ll say yes,” she said.
“Okay, go ahead, but I’m telling you it’s not necessary.”
“Then just humor me. Also, I don’t want a big wedding, okay? In fact, the smaller the better. Maybe we can elope to Vegas.”
He grinned. “You want to be married by Elvis?”
She laughed a little. “I just want it simple. I don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a dress and a cake and all that stuff. And I have no interest in walking down an aisle being the center of attention. If we’re going to spend any money on this, let’s just have a nice honeymoon somewhere, maybe back in Hawaii, or anywhere as long as Angel can come along because I’m not kenneling her.”
“You are so unique.” he said, smiling and giving her shoulder a squeeze.
“And I don’t want a diamond engagement ring or anything like that. Maybe we can just get a pair of Hawaiian wedding bands or something. Diamonds are such a waste of money.”
He laughed. “You know that everyone’s going to blame me, right?”
“Blame you for what?”
“I’ve already got a reputation for being cheap because I haven’t bought a home in Beverly Hills and I don’t drive an expensive car and I don’t hang out at the clubs. They’re going to think that this was all my idea.”
“Well, you can tell them the truth. I don’t care.”
“When can we get married?”
“Right after we see your attorney and get that pre-nuptial signed,” she said.
“Come here.” He pulled her to him again and kissed her. “I love you, you know that? And not because you’re saving me a boatload of money.”
“Helps though, doesn’t it?” she joked.
He smiled and then kissed her again, deeply, lovingly. “This is forever, right?”
“I told you, Johnny, it would be forever even without that piece of paper.”
The following day, he had to make an appearance on a talk show to announce that his series had been picked up for another season. The talk show taped in the morning and aired in the late afternoon. They agreed that they would record the show and watch it together at dinner since he had to return to the studio and resume filming during the afternoon.
Before he left the house, she kissed him and said, “Please don’t mention the engagement. Yo
u haven’t even told your mother yet. And if, by any chance, it does get mentioned, please don’t tell them anything about me.”
At the show, when the host, Ray Jennings, introduced him and he walked out onto the stage, the women in the audience went wild. He was dressed in a tailored black leather jacket, dark blue pullover, and black pants and boots. The outfit had a retro look and the dark colors emphasized his blonde hair and stunning blue eyes.
“So, congratulations,” Ray Jennings said when the applause died down. “I understand that your series is being picked up for another season. Will it be airing on the same night and time? Thursdays at 9:00?”
“Yes, on Fox.”
“I also understand that your latest poster ... ah, there it is.” The poster, which featured a photo of Johnny emerging out of a pool, his hair slicked back and his body glistening with water, was put on the screen and the women screamed again. “I understand that sales on that poster have already passed the 100,000 mark. So congratulations on that as well.”
“Thank you.”
“So, other than working on your series and doing photo shoots for posters, is there anything new that’s happening in your life? Are you seeing anyone special?”
“I am,” Johnny replied. “Actually, we just got engaged.”
There were “awws” from the predominantly female audience.
“I think you just broke a lot of hearts,” Ray Jennings observed. “So when did this happen?”
“Last night.”
“Oh ... so, the news hasn’t even gone out yet?”
“This is the first announcement I’ve made. I haven’t even told my mother yet, although if she watches the show later, I guess I won’t have to.”
The audience laughed.
“Well, thank you for the exclusive and congratulations again. If I recall correctly, though, you said in an interview not that long ago that you didn’t intend to get married for a long time.”
Johnny smiled slightly. “I did say that,” he admitted.
“So you met this woman and everything changed? She must be very special.”
“Very special.”
“Why?” Ray Jennings asked. “What makes her special? Can you tell us a little about her?”
“She really doesn’t want me to talk about her on television,” Johnny said.
“You just broke thousands of hearts across America, John. Come on, tell us just a little bit. What about this woman completely changed your mind about getting married?”
“I’ve just never met anyone like her.”
“Is she in the business—show business?”
“No. Actually she’s an attorney from Hawaii.”
“An attorney? Wow. She must be a very smart woman.”
“She’s much more than smart,” Johnny said. “She’s very caring and giving and definitely not one-dimensional. And she’s multi-talented. She has a wide range of interests and she seems to excel in whatever it is she decides to do.”
“Give us a ‘for instance’. Tell us a few things that she’s done.”
Johnny was too deep into it now so he decided that he might as well tell it all. Besides, he felt so happy and so proud of her that he wanted people to know; something that was against his usual private nature. And, he reasoned, if he told the real story here, he could beat the tabloids to the punch.
“Well, she won a pool championship when she was in college. She played keyboards and sang backup in a band when she was in Hawaii. I’ve seen them perform and they’re very good. She paints—very beautiful work. She designs and sews most of her own clothes. Last year, she won a writing contest and now has a contract with Penguin Books so she’s working on another book. She’s also doing consulting work for a non-profit organization back in Hawaii. And she’s a great cook and very good at home improvement projects like painting, laying tile, replacing fixtures, that sort of thing.”
“Wait. We are talking about one woman, right?” Ray Jennings asked.
The audience laughed.
“Like I said, a very special woman. Very unconventional too; very different from most women.”
“Different how?”
“Well, she hates shopping for one thing.”
“A woman who hates shopping!”
“I know, very strange. If she has to shop, she’ll try to buy the things that she needs online or from catalogs in order to avoid going to a mall. And she doesn’t want a big wedding. She doesn’t even want a diamond engagement ring.”
“Okay, you’re making this up, right?” Ray Jennings asked and the audience laughed. “I mean, you have a reputation of being ... well ... ‘thrifty’.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Some people have even called me cheap. I think that was you as a matter of fact.”
The audience laughed again.
“Now you’re saying that you’ve met this smart, multi-talented woman and she’s just as thrifty?”
“I don’t know if I’d call her thrifty. Not like me anyway. She just has different priorities. The usual types of material things just don’t interest her too much. You know, things like jewelry and designer clothes and fancy cars.”
“Okay, I have to talk to this woman,” Ray Jennings said.
“I’ll introduce you one day, certainly.” Johnny assured him.
“No, I mean let’s talk to her now. Is she here in LA? Let’s call her.”
The audience applauded loudly.
“No ... I don’t think she’d like that,” Johnny said. “She’s a very private person.”
“Well, let’s try, okay?” Ray Jennings insisted. “Otherwise I’m going to think that this is all fiction and you’re pulling my leg. Let’s take a short break and then we’ll try to get her on the line.”
He was pushy and Johnny wouldn’t have normally allowed himself to be persuaded but the audience had already been enticed and somehow he knew that she would come through, just as she did at the charity event with Isabel and her friends. So, he allowed the call to be made. The host dialed her cell phone number and it rang a couple of times.
“This is Susan,” she answered in her usual sultry tone.
“Hi Susan, this is Ray Jennings. I guess you know that your fiancé, John, is a guest on my show today.”
“Yes, I knew that he’d be taping your show today. Wait ... did you say fiancé? He told you?”
“Me and about a half a million other people.”
The audience laughed.
There was a pause. “I’m not on the air am I? Please say no.”
“Yes, you’re on the air. I apologize. John said that you might not like it, but we twisted his arm because he’s been telling us about you and, frankly, you sounded too good to be true so I’m calling to check out his story. Do you mind answering a few questions?”
“I guess not.” She hated being caught off guard like this. She mentally commanded herself to be poised and to project the right image for him even though she felt like strangling him at the moment.
“John tells us that you’re an attorney.”
“Yes, licensed in Hawaii.”
“Okay, so that’s true. John also says that you’re a multi-talented person. He says that you’re a pool champion, a backup singer and keyboard player in a band, you paint beautifully, you design some of your own clothes, you work as a consultant with a non-profit, you’re a published author, a great cook, and you do home improvement projects. Is all of that true?”
“Well, I don’t think I’m that great of a cook and he might be the only one who thinks my paintings are beautiful but the rest of it, yes, it’s true. Some of those things are just hobbies though.”
“Even so, that’s quite a list of accomplishments. Tell me, is there anything that you can’t do?”
“Act,” she replied. “I can’t act.”
The audience laughed.
“Are you interested at all in acting?”
“Oh, no. Definitely not interested.”
“Now, just let me ask you a couple of other question
s. First, if you were given the choice between spending a day at a horse ranch where you’d have to groom the horses and clean out their stalls and so forth and spending a day at the mall with your friends, which would you choose?”
“The horse ranch,” she replied, without hesitating. “I like horses. I hate shopping.”
More laughter.
“A woman who hates shopping! I think you’re the first one I’ve ever met. Okay, now John says that you’re not interested in having a big wedding. Is that true?”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“I’m very surprised. I always thought that little girls grew up wanting that fantasy wedding where they could get dressed up like their Princess Barbie doll.”
“Well, I grew up in a neighborhood of boys so I was kind of a tomboy I guess. I’ve never owned a Barbie doll.”
“Really? So, when other little girls were playing with their Barbies and dreaming of walking down the aisle one day dressed like a princess, you were playing with the boys in your neighborhood and dreaming of what?”
“Probably hitting at least a triple with bases loaded,” she replied.
Ray Jennings and the audience laughed.
“Did you ever get your wish?” Ray Jennings asked.