****
“I can’t wait to get settled on the plane,” Faith said. “I need to speak to you privately, Mercedes, and find out what you plan to do about your relationship with Dante. I’m certain the false rumors about his father and his aunt, along with the gaggle of photographers that appeared outside his private neighborhood were the cause of the slight estrangement we all felt simmered below the surface.
“Fortunately, when we left Dante’s house after we returned from Key West, your parents drove us home and the photographers had no idea we were inside their car.
“Do you love Dante, Mercedes?”
“Yes, Faith. How can you ask such a question?”
“Did you enjoy making love to him? Better yet, did he make you feel wonderful?”
“I’ve never had such a passionate experience in my life. Every touch, every kiss, a breathtaking and sensual moment. He taught me things I hadn’t even read about in novels.”
“Maybe you should read one of the books we publish at Townsend,” Faith joked.
“I don’t think that will be necessary now. Our night of lovemaking became quite an experience for me. I felt enraptured and ravished and hungered for more. I will never forget a moment of the time we spent making love. I’m not sure I will ever be able to love anyone like I love Dante.”
“Then what are you going to do about this situation? Why don’t you try to move beyond your fears of being rejected? From what I’ve seen and what Max told me, Dante is madly in love with you. You can’t walk away from that kind of love simply because you’re afraid the relationship might not last and the world might know you’ve been rejected, or that you slept together without being married. You don’t want to spend the rest of your life like those women who are always talking about the one that got away, do you?
“I admire his love for you because he didn’t come and beg me to speak to you and get you to change your mind. He’s mature and thoughtful and most women would be proud to be seen with him in public.”
“I don’t know what to do, Faith. I’m frightened and confused.”
“If it will help, Mercedes, why not consider seeking some professional help? Maybe a few therapy sessions to get over those unhappy episodes in your life. You’ve been living a wonderful existence for the past twenty years, well, except for the tennis injury.”
“How can I forget?”
“You and Dante have a lot in common. Don’t give up so readily. At least go on a few dates until you know what the future might hold in store for you.”
“I will be seeing him. I’ll do the interview after the U.S. Open and send a private photographer to the Open and also have him take some informal shots and other photos for the article.”
“And?”
“And I will talk to him on the phone and see how things fall into place.”
“Why not call his mother? Maybe she’ll make you feel better about the media. Dante told you she and his aunt thought the airport situation was humorous.”
“Yeah, well what if his dad wasn’t at Heathrow to meet his sister? What if he had a mistress?”
“Good grief! Now you’re living in the world of what if’s, Mercedes, and I can’t help you. You have to love and want Dante enough to make some changes and sacrifices.”
Faith reached for her hand, and said, “I’m sorry I can’t convince you to change your mind.”
The two of them were silent for the rest of the flight…
Chapter Twenty
After Mercedes settled back into her condo, she found herself wallowing in melancholia over the dilemma the press corps presented that threatened to keep from her enjoying a normal, private life. She pondered what her life might have been like if she hadn’t broken her wrist and instead had gone on to become a top professional tennis player.
What had she contemplated might have happened to her life after years of practicing with coaches, workouts with trainers and diets prepared by nutritionists? Hadn’t she always dreamed of being a champion? Hadn’t she considered how her life would have changed the moment her name appeared at the top of the list of champions? The excitement? And hadn’t she daydreamed about how she’d respond to reporters and photographers waiting for her after every event? Apparently she had forgotten.
She spent a couple of hours recalling that time of her life and remembered that she had never actually had any problems being treated like a celebrity when she became the U.S. Junior Champion. What caused her to react this way now? And then the answer dawned on her. Her problem started after she was injured. The hounding. The humility she suffered, along with the pain. The loss of her future plans and dreams…
The current fear of the media had nothing to do with her childhood and the hurt over the years of not being adopted, but instead had to do with her accident and the surgery and their constant chasing after her with questions about her career and her future, until she began to believe they reveled in her agony of defeat.
Relief over this discovery brought a smile to her lips. This didn’t mean she wanted to live the life of a celebrity, but this conclusion made her feel better about herself. Before she could pick up the phone to call Faith and share this information, her intercom buzzed.
Another florist delivery! She hurried downstairs to sign the receipt, and the young man said, “I don’t think you can carry these and I’ll be happy to help.”
There were three large boxes of flowers and she barely managed carrying the one. She thanked the driver, gave him a tip, and hurried to see what Dante had sent. No card, of course, only six-dozen long-stem red roses complete with baby’s breath and ferns. Fortunately, she had three vases, and after arranging the roses, placed one vase on her desk, one in her living room and one on the night table next to her bed.
She went back in the living room and sat down to admire the flowers. The phone rang and she knew immediately Dante would be on the other end. She picked up the phone, “How do you always know when to call me? I thought perhaps you had my condo bugged.”
She heard him chuckle. “It’s called a tracking system—they texted me and told me the flowers had been delivered.”
“Flowers? You mean this vulgar display of beautiful, fragrant red roses?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“You shouldn’t have, Dante. However, they are lovely and smell wonderful and my home looks like a photo in the Architectural Digest. Thank you.”
“My pleasure. Send me a photo and a selfie.”
“Okay.”
Then came the silence she hated.
“I’d like to see you, Mercedes. I take that back. I need to see you. I want to see you. I miss you, but my schedule is too tight and I can’t get to New York for a while.”
“I don’t know what to do, Dante. I will admit that I’m miserable now without you and I love you and miss you terribly.”
“That’s a start,” then more silence before he spoke again. “We need to discuss what happened in Florida, and I don’t mean our love making. That was perfect.”
“Your parents were fortunate that incident in the tabloids worked out in their favor. They didn’t have to live with all that horrible publicity, but that, at least for me, makes our being together nearly impossible. Suppose, Dante, you and I went public with our relationship, and there was a photo of you in the press one day kissing someone else. I’d be devastated when the world would know not only that you cheated on me, but they’d know before I did.”
“That’s mere speculation on your part, Mercedes. And, I would never cheat on you, or anyone for that matter.”
“If you did, or if your father had cheated on your mother, that would be disastrous enough, but having your private life smeared all over the world is something I’m not willing to risk.”
“Do you believe that I would never cheat on you?”
“I don’t think you would, but beautiful women are thrown at your feet all the time. I don’t want to share you with anyone.”
“You don’t have to, Mercedes. I don�
��t plan on seeing anyone else. You’re the one whose been missing in my life. However, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since I left and I have a solution to the problem.”
“Are you planning on sharing?”
“Yes—we can get married. You’d still have to deal with the media, but we’d be together as a couple, and when you got pregnant, they’d know when the baby would be delivered before you,” he joked.
“Pregnant? Did you say, pregnant?”
“Yes. It’s one way I can be certain to keep you close by my side. I want a family and I want us to create that family together. There are many reasons couples divorce, and I hope that will never happen to us, but I can’t see into the future, Mercedes. I will put in writing my promise never to cheat on you and never risk being caught kissing someone else. The press will never have anything negative concerning me to print on the front page of some damned tabloid. When you’re alone tonight, I’d like you to reminisce about our night together making love and then think of all the fun we’d have getting pregnant and having a baby. Let’s change the subject for now and practice our interview.”
“All right,” she answered, not sure whether or not she was in shock. “Mr. Edwards, since we’ve covered your background and learned about your exciting life—the traveling, living in Europe, becoming a grand champion, is there anything special you’d like to do in your lifetime? Something maybe on your bucket list?”
“Hmm. I can think of one thing offhand.”
“Would you care to share that with your fans?”
“Yes. I’d like to get you in the backseat of my limo.”
“I can’t print that!”
There was silence on his end, and all she could hear was her own breathing.
He spoke, “I know you’re smiling and I know your cheeks are flushed. I’m going to hang up now and let you think about this: This is my formal proposal until we can be together and I can get down on one knee. Will you marry me, Mercedes McFadden? However, you’re not allowed to answer until you are ready to say, ‘Yes, Dante, I will marry you and have your babies.’ If that doesn’t convince you how much I love you, I don’t know what else to say.”
Mercedes laughed. “Now it’s babies, plural?”
“Do you love me enough, Mercedes?”
“More than I can tell you.”
“Do you have something you’d like to share from your bucket list,” he asked, “perhaps, you’d like to attend Wimbledon?”
“That’s not it,” she answered. “I’d like to record an album with Willie Nelson?”
“Willie Nelson?”
“I still love you, though.”
“I love you, too,” he said, chuckling. “I didn’t know you could sing.”
“I can’t, but I can sing all the songs on my Willie Nelson CD and sound like him.”
“I’ll have to hear this. In the meantime, if I ever get a chance to meet him, I’ll ask him if he’d be interested in meeting you and recording an album.”
“Don’t you dare, Dante.”
“Good night, Mercedes. I’ll call you soon…”
Mercedes sat on her sofa, stunned, happy and filled with his love and thoughts of him. She wanted to give into her temptation to call him back, but decided against that since she wasn’t ready to answer his proposal. She picked up the phone and called Faith, instead.
Chapter Twenty-One
A couple of days had passed since Mercedes had heard from Dante, and she decided to call him that evening. She had talked to Max and he explained how rigorous the tournaments and scheduling were that lead up to Wimbledon, one right after another, one country, one city, in a row, traveling, packing and unpacking, training, playing set after set. She satisfied herself watching The Tennis Channel and stealing a peek at Dante each time he played.
The nights became mere torture for her. One wonderful night of lovemaking had left her starving for him, his love, his kisses, and his touch. She needed to be with him and got a strong dose of missing him and his love—she couldn’t stop thinking about him.
She finished all her work projects and kept her condo chores caught up—in case he surprised her and came to New York for a visit—she wanted to be free to spend every moment of her time with him. That afternoon her phone rang and the caller ID read—Edwards. Her heart pumped wildly when she answered, expecting him to say something amusing.
“Hello, Mercedes. This is Dante’s mother, Julia.”
“Julia? How are you? Is everything all right? Is Dante okay?”
“Yes, yes. Everything is fine. I’m calling because Mark and I are about to leave for New York. Mark is presenting a promo at a meeting of fashion designers tomorrow and we’re attending a banquet tomorrow night, and I decided to call to see if you’d be free for lunch.”
“Absolutely, I’d love to see you. Would you like to have lunch here at my condo?”
“I’m looking forward to seeing your place. But I’d also like to take you out to lunch. How about if I meet you at your place, you can give me the grand tour and you can choose someplace nice nearby for lunch.”
“All right. Sounds wonderful. I look forward to tomorrow.”
After making their arrangements, Mercedes gave her the address and the call ended. She felt excited about the next day and smiled at the thought of having something to do besides sitting at home feeling sorry for herself.
****
Dante called her that evening and apologized for not having called earlier. “Max told me you seemed concerned, and I apologize. Now you see why I wanted you to tour with us.”
“I’m glad you called,” she said, “I had planned to try to reach you later, if I hadn’t heard from you.”
“Miss me?”
“As a matter of fact, yes.”
“What do you miss most?’
“You don’t have to ask that after all the time we spent together.”
“You miss loving me?”
“More than that, Dante. I miss being with you. I no longer like being alone now, ever since you seduced me.”
“I seduced you because you are sensual and seductive. I don’t believe I will ever stop loving you.”
“Thank you. Can we change the subject now?”
“Yes, but not the mood. You keep my senses stirred. But, I will try to pay attention. I hear my mother is coming to see you tomorrow and you ladies are planning to have lunch together.”
“I was surprised to hear from her—I thought you were calling me, but we had a nice conversation and I chose a lovely French restaurant. I thought about Indian or Turkish restaurants nearby, both of which I like, but wasn’t sure about her preferences. I felt safer with French and eliminated Italian since she lives in Italy most of the time.”
“Mother likes most foods. She didn’t have much choice when my dad was assigned to a different foreign embassy every couple of years.”
“Sounds like they had a very exciting adventure.”
“Well, we had a great adventure together, Mercedes, and we could have the same kind of life. I’ll only be playing tennis somewhere between five and ten years if I have no major injuries, or unless we get married and have too many kids to travel with, then I’ll have to give up my career.”
Ordinarily, Mercedes would have blushed and been frustrated, but she had begun to understand him and his hot pursuit of her, and also enjoyed his teasing.
“Max is coming for a couple of days next week. We’re meeting with attorneys and executives about a half-hour sports highlights program for me on TV and radio.”
“That’s wonderful, Mercedes. Sports news?”
“Not exactly. Each half-hour or perhaps each fifteen-minute period will highlight an article I’ve done on top athletes in all sports, rather than the current day’s news. I’m going to do a couple of tapes first to bring to the meeting. I have the material already prepared and have tapes of interviews I’ve already conducted. Then they will decide whether or not to do the previously recorded program or do some of them or all o
f them live.”
“What’s your preference?”
“Originally I proposed talking about the written interviews I had done, I have audio for radio, and video and still photographs for TV, and would prefer to do that at least in the beginning. If the show is popular and a success, we can begin to contact athletes and tape them in the studio for either pre-recorded or live interviews.”
“Sounds like a major project.”
“Exactly. I don’t want to get involved in having nightmarish schedules, interviews, taping and editing headaches. So, we’ll see. Although Max has a law degree, he deals in contracts; we’re bringing an attorney with media expertise. I’d be happy to simply do a local radio program, but the producers are interested in going national. Everything will depend on the scheduling. I think radio would be easier for me to begin with—I might be able to record from my office, which would be ideal. What do you think of this idea?”
“I’ll be anxious to hear how your meetings go and wish you luck. But I’m concerned you’ll be a great success, and once your photo is released in ads and you begin to be recognized from your TV exposure, you’ll be very popular. Pretty soon you’ll be hounded by handsome men and paparazzi. I’ll be ready for a private life and not certain I want to live in a fish bowl.”
“God, I hope you’re teasing. I suppose I deserve that comment, except I don’t think that will happen.”
“You underestimate your talent and your beauty. Did you ever ask any of the other athletes you interviewed if they had a bucket list?”
Laughing, Mercedes said, “No, and now that I heard your answer, I will make sure I don’t ask questions like that again, even though I knew you were kidding.”
“Where did you get the idea I was joking about getting you in the back seat of the limo?” He laughed then added, “Now I know you’re blushing.”
Love/Forty Page 18