Nathan took control of the baggage cart and threaded his fingers through hers as they walked along the promenade to the food courts where they could sit and wait in hope for some good news. He loved the feel of her small hand wrapped within his. It had been a long road to getting to this point with her and every victory brought a new smile to his face. A few months ago she was still resisting even this closeness between them but last night all of that changed when she accepted his marriage proposal. She finally trusted him and there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to make sure she continued to do that.
“What about that deli, I’ve always had a thing for soup and a sandwich when the rain falls,” Candasee said.
“I think that is a great idea. You sit and I’ll get the food!”
Nathan left her with the bags and went to the counter to place an order for both of them. Candasee sank down onto the soft, leather seat of the booth and scanned the food court of the airport. It was amazing just how little had changed here in the two years since she left. Her gaze returned to the deli where Nathan placed their order and she couldn’t help admiring him as he stood there.
Nathan Carthswright was such an incredible man in his own right, thought Candasee as she watched him standing at the counter. His lithe dancers’ body didn’t have an ounce of fat visible anywhere but instead his long muscles were like thick sinews that gave him the appearance of powerful grace. Dressed in dark blue jeans and a grey long-sleeved knit shirt, he looked confident and like a man in his element. Even at thirty-seven he was just as strong and flexible as the younger males at the academy. He was the Principal and Creative Director at Carthswright’s Academy of Modern Arts and Media in Barbados and also sat on the Board of Directors of the Grace B. Carthswright Foundation for Excellence in Creative Arts. The Academy had planned a week long media and arts intensive here on Derrien Island for people all over the Caribbean.
It was always his late mother’s dream to offer a performing arts scholarship to a multi-talented artiste who couldn’t afford formal tertiary education and this year marked the third anniversary of the event. For the first two years, it was held in Barbados and it quickly grew to attract many young people from around the region. The last winner of the scholarship was a young man from the island of Grenada and this year he was now accompanying them as one of the junior classical song instructors during the intensive.
This was Nathan’s first attempt at taking the intensive on the regional scene, so she knew that although he was trying to remain positive he had to be feeling the pressure of the situation right now. But amidst it all, he was still showing the signs of strong leadership and optimism she’d grown to really like about him in the short time they knew each other.
Ever since she’d begun working at the Academy last year, it was clear just how important it was to the Carthswright family to offer this opportunity every year. His late mother in particular had a long and celebrated career in the performing arts before she passed away four years earlier from cancer. They established the Grace B. Carthswright Foundation for the Excellence in Creative Arts to honour her memory and to continue her work in developing the creative arts back in Barbados. But, nothing they did during the year was on the scale of this intensive. This was their brainchild and the highlight of the year’s activities. The winner of the intensive would get a full scholarship to attend a university of their choice to further their studies in the arts.
When she was hired as the director for modern and jazz choreography it was literally a dream come true. After years of taking weekend classes and being a member of several dance troupes over the years, her skills were excellent enough to allow her to land this job even without a degree in dance. Darius had never understood why she spent so much of her time at the studio rehearsing when they were married. In fact, he always made her feel that unless she was making the big bucks like him, she was wasting her time! So, in a way she had found a kindred spirit in Nathan, her fiancé and boss!
Ugh! Would she ever be able to say that word ‘boss’ without feeling as though she had crossed the line somewhere with him? Becoming a dance instructor was her dream career and it was important to her to make the most of this opportunity.
She’d planned to open her own studio here on Derrien Island back then, but somehow she’d buried those thoughts deep inside ever since the divorce. Besides, being at the academy was comfortable and she was well-liked and accepted among the staff and students.
She and Nathan had begun dating nine months ago and that took some persuasion on his part because of her workplace ethics and the fact that even then, she was still reeling from the divorce. Dating him like this was a huge risk and she hated to think what could happen to her job if things did not work out between them. But, he was charming and sweet and when she was with him she had a little respite from thinking about Darius and the fact that she’d vowed to swear off the notion of romance. It wasn’t the best foundation for a relationship but she believed that eventually it would progress to something much deeper if given the chance.
To safeguard against any problems with her job she tried to take their relationship very slowly at first but after getting to know Nathan, she discovered that she liked him a lot and she knew that he shared her feelings in that regard. It wasn’t the kind of relationship where sparks flew at every turn as it had with Darius and that gave her some measure of comfort. Instead, there was a deep, steady, safe attraction between her and Nathan that made her feel both accepted and appreciated by him, and that she could trust him, which were things she really needed ever since Darius made it clear that she could never get those qualities from him again!
After Nathan placed the order, he turned around and rested his back against the counter so he could look at Candasee Maxwell. They were perfect for each other. Did she even realize just how irresistible she was to him and to every other man in the area? The beautiful thing about her was that although she was gorgeous, she didn’t flaunt it and she was one of the most humble persons he ever had the pleasure of meeting. He knew from her job interview that she was divorced, but she never liked to discuss the details. With her youth and beauty, he often told himself that one man’s stupidity was another man’s treasure and he had certainly struck gold where Candasee was concerned.
Catching her eye he winked at her and held her gaze as she smiled back at him in return. After he got their meal, he sauntered back over to her making sure he never broke eye contact. He could look at her all day if only she’d let him, he thought to himself with a smile. She had the most astonishing pair of slate-grey eyes he had ever seen and although grey was supposed to be a cool colour all he felt was fire and heat deep in his heart whenever her eyes connected with his.
No, it did not take him very long to fall madly in love with Candasee Maxwell at all. He just wanted to take care of her and love her in the way he knew that she deserved even though it meant that he was now seeing his employee.
“Okay, here we are, soup and sandwiches,” he said sliding into the booth with her so that their thighs touched. I hope you like spiced pumpkin soup and deluxe roast beef sandwiches?” he added with the intonation of a slight question.
“Yes you made a good selection,” replied Candasee with a playful wink while sniffing the delicious aroma of the food.
“Aha, I knew it! It is this powerful mind-heart connection we have going here,” he said jovially wiggling his eyebrows in the way that he knew always made her laugh! Was it selfish of him to want her to smile especially when he did it just so he could drink in the sound of her laughter and see the way her face became simply luminous when she smiled. He was in love with this beautiful woman and he did not care who else knew it.
His family had advised him of the risk of dating his employee and yes he knew that it was far from ethical. But, he had gone way past caring about ethics now. Last night she’d agreed to become his wife and he wouldn’t be so foolish as to let her get away like her first husband did. He wanted her to have a stake in all of h
is affairs so she never had to consider herself as his employee again but rather his partner in all things.
Uncapping her soup quickly, Candasee dug in. There was something about eating hot soup on cold rainy days that made her sigh with pleasure as her toes curled at the warmth sliding down her throat. She always hated storms and Darius could never understand why she wouldn’t sit and watch the lightning displays with him. Why couldn’t he be more like Nathan who understood her and never tried to force her into being who she wasn’t? Nathan just accepted her as she was and that meant so much to her. He was well, predictable and she liked that about him!
Suddenly conscious of her own train of thought, she noted to her chagrin how easily her thoughts still slipped back to her ex-husband Darius. Distance and time may have separated them, but still her heart had not yet forgotten him and the fact that their divorce still hurt infuriated her to no end!
After enduring a year of him trying to convince her how silly her dreams of becoming a dance instructor were he’d planned the worst betrayal she could have ever imagined. He and his damned money! Oh and according to him, she should be proud to be an attorney and she was lowering her standards for a hobby! She wasn’t simply a trophy to be displayed on his arm when he proudly introduced her as his wife or by her job title as a high-powered corporate attorney. Every time he did, it had annoyed her because he only started doing that after she declared her desire to change her career. He always knew she loved to dance, so why the sudden change of heart when she decided to make it her career? Sure he gave a little resistance to her going to classes over the years but nothing like when she decided to make it her passion and her life.
She could appreciate wealth and prestige as much as the next person but her heart just longed to do something else. Her father taught her that a person’s worth was measured by more than their career and the size of their bank account. Character, integrity and fulfilling one’s divine purpose were also extremely important to her and to her family. She would never forget the disdainful words Darius spoke to her after she closed her private law practice to work part-time at a studio which taught dance on the island.
“Surely you don’t expect me to say that you teach dance for living, do you? What would my associates think about that? Why don’t you work with me at the hotel or just continue practicing law if you need to be busy? Leave dancing as a hobby for the ordinary folks!” His words still echoed painfully in her mind even till now.
Who were these ordinary folks and did he forget his own roots and how he came to be where he was today? It was after that moment and several other tumultuous ones which followed that made her wonder how she could have ever thought she knew or loved that shallow excuse for a man.
But nothing prepared her to discover that he’d paid her dance troupe to make sure that she never performed any starring roles even though she knew she was the best. He’d let her think she wasn’t good enough to try to manipulate her and to break her spirit so she would do exactly what he wanted her to do. Just remembering the many times she would audition for a role only to see her name in the supporting cast and the surprised reactions from her fellow dancers broke her heart many times. It took her finally confronting the troupe leader to discover that Darius had been paying them off for almost a year.
The man she loved betrayed her trust and she’d tried to close her heart to him and every other man that day. She went home and left him immediately and filed for divorce once she’d got back home in Barbados.
How could she still have feelings for that inconsiderate, manipulative bastard? She knew the answer immediately because of the almost paralysing stab of pain that she once again felt deep in her heart. Once again, the pain was an indicator that what he said and what he’d done still mattered, and it still mattered a lot even now and it wasn’t fair! There were purges and cleanses of all kinds for the body, so how come she couldn’t find something that would take care of this constant dull ache in her heart?
Was that all that she was to him after all they had experienced together? Had becoming a hotel magnate changed him so much that all he saw was money and status and the need to show off and to fit in with the crowd? What had happened to the man who used to spend hours with his head resting on her lap listening to her talk about her hopes and dreams? He seemed interested then, but she had to wonder if it was just all an act to get her down the aisle. Granted, it only took six months from their first date to their wedding day but surely she could not have been so blind! She always prided herself on being able to see through the façades presented to her by her clients in the many cases she worked on as an attorney. But nothing prepared her to discover that the biggest lie was the trust she had placed in Darius Brogan to love and support her, she recalled bitterly.
“Hey, you seem as though you have drifted off to a faraway land!” said Nathan touching Candasee’s shoulder lightly.
She’d blown on that spoonful of soup in her hand about twenty times now and he was pretty sure it was cold!
“Hmm?” she intoned, coming slowly back to reality before pushing the spoonful of cold soup into her mouth barely registering its temperature.
“Are you okay, I hope you aren’t worried about the conference, somehow I have a feeling that Solange will come through for us!”
“Yes, you are right! Let’s just eat okay!” snapped Candasee, not bothering to explain the true direction of her thoughts. Nathan knew she’d lived here on Derrien Island for four years but she’d avoided going into any details about her marriage. Talking about this former life was her least favourite subject because she still felt way too much when she thought about it! She always found a way to deflect attention from discussing her past, because that was how she wanted it to stay, a past event and nothing more. The time never seemed right to discuss the subject of her failed marriage to Darius.
Nathan actually only knew her as Candasee Maxwell because she had reverted to using her maiden name after the divorce was finalized leaving off the name Brogan which would so easily tie her to her well-known ex-husband. The less Nathan knew the better and the fewer questions she would be forced to answer! The subject of her marriage was still a very sore point she just didn’t want to discuss with anyone!
Although Nathan was wealthy in his own right, he would certainly be intimidated if he knew that the simple woman sitting before him used to be married to a billionaire who owned three major hotel properties throughout the Caribbean and several other real estate businesses. It was probably for the best that he knew as little as possible!
Suddenly Nathan’s phone rang and he grabbed it quickly hoping that it was Solange with good news.
“Hello, Nathan speaking!”
“Hi Nathan, Solange here, and I have really good news for you!” she sing-songed with excitement in her voice. “I managed to find a replacement hotel for you to host the intensive for the next week,” she said excitedly. “The owner and I discussed the monetary aspect and he agreed that it will not cost you much more than you would have spent here at the Meridian Hotel.
“Solange, this is great news!” exclaimed Nathan smiling broadly, grasping Candasee’s hand, giving it a hopeful squeeze.
“Now, I know that you wanted to have a hotel which the delegates could afford and we had arranged special discount rates, but at this hotel that arrangement will be problematic!” continued Solange.
“I don’t understand! I thought you said the rates were going to be similar. Is it significantly more expensive?” interrupted Nathan with concern.
“Oh definitely more expensive, out of your budget actually, but I managed after much negotiation, to still get you a really good discount. It will work if you can get the delegates to share rooms and split the costs!” she said.
“I am not sure they would want to do that! These people are practically strangers to each other,” Nathan replied warily.
“I knew that would have been a concern for you, so I took the liberty of asking the delegates who are already here what the
y thought about the idea! When they heard the name of the hotel, they were more than willing to make the sacrifice,” said Solange laughing.
“Which hotel did you book for us Solange?” demanded Nathan.
“None other than the luxurious five-star Derrien Island Grande Spa Resort and the owner’s name is Darius Brogan. He’s been a good friend of mine for a while now so don’t worry I am in the process of sending out all of the details to his hotel to help you all get settled in quickly. This is a loss for us here at the Meridian, but we want to make sure that you still have a wonderful event!” replied Solange sincerely to her friend. She and Nathan were old college friends and they had kept in touch occasionally throughout the years!
“Yes, I am sorry too about not being able to use your property but did you say, Derrien Grande Spa Resort and Darius Brogan? Do you mean the billionaire hotel magnate who has been buying up properties all over the Caribbean?” exclaimed Nathan loudly. “I heard that property was one of the most luxurious in the southern Caribbean.”
“You heard right!” laughed Solange in response.
At the sound of Darius’ name and the Derrien Grande Spa Resort, the sense of dread Candasee felt on the plane returned in full force and completely eliminated any appetite she thought she had left. Instead a wave of panic flooded her abdomen and her heart began to race erratically. Her soup filled spoon dropped from her hand back into the container as every muscle in it became listless. Surely she didn’t just hear Nathan say that the venue for the intensive shifted to that hotel?
“The one and the same,” Solange continued with a smile. “So I know that you and all of your delegates will be well taken care of in five star quality. I scheduled a meeting with his events coordinator for you this evening, so you can go over with her your plans to set up the conference area and I will drop by the hotel tomorrow to check up on you.”
Fighting Destiny Page 3