by Cee, DW
Rhys enfolded me into his body. “I’ll miss you when we’re apart.”
“Me too, Rhys. But you’ll be busy with school and I’m going to make a few decisions myself about the next two years.”
“What are your options?”
I didn’t know if I should give him the entire story. “I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you, but before I met you, I’ve had a few offers brewing.”
His enigmatic smile appeared. “Such as?”
“Well,” I answered, somewhat embarrassed, “I’ve been accepted into an MD/PhD program, I have a ‘modeling’ job offer, I’ve been offered a three-book publishing deal with one of the big five publishing firms, and Nicky Jr. and I have a new invention idea that we started developing already. I was hoping to become Mrs. Kent this year, but since that’s not happening, there are offers that need answers.”
To say my fiancé was slack-jawed and shocked would not adequately describe his handsome composure. “You were going to settle for being my wife and give up all those offers?”
“Being your wife isn’t settling. It would be an honor!” I disagreed.
“I think the honor is all mine, Lilah Rose Taylor,” he answered with a stunning grin. “What will you do with yourself, my little genius? You’ll be so busy; you might even forget you’re betrothed to an inconsequential man in London.”
“I highly doubt that. But until we marry, I think I might do everything but the MD/PhD program.”
“Explain it all to me.”
“My cousin, Nicky Jr., the one who made millions off his anti-aging serum, wants to invent another winner. I have an idea for hair growth for men and talked to him and Uncle Nick about this. They both validated my theory, but Nicky is forcing me to ‘model’ for his anti-aging serum in an exchange for working with me on this new project.”
“What do you have to do for the product? I thought Nicky sold it.”
“He did sell it, but he’s under contract to promote it for the next two years. The buyers want him to go around the world and do press conferences. He’s really the best person to answer questions.”
“And what will you do?”
“Literally wear the product and be his arm candy. He doesn’t want to travel with some random woman he doesn’t know. Plus, if we’re traveling together, we can continue working on our invention.”
“I see. And the book writing?”
“During my senior year in college, I wrote a book and submitted it to a friend whose mother and aunt own a literary agency. They loved the book and promised there’d be a bidding war. True enough, I woke up one day to a three-book offer and a bonus check the size of my brother Henry’s head. I accepted the offer, cashed the check, am almost done with book two, and have been working on ideas for book three.”
The amazement continued. “Were you seriously not going to pursue any of this after we married?”
“Well, I’m contractually obligated to write the books; I’ve already accepted the money. As for the invention, I figured I could work on it after our year-long honeymoon. As for the modeling, I don’t know. I would’ve asked if you minded and made a decision together.”
“Wow.”
“I guess I’ll be busy, too, while you’re in school.”
“You definitely will be, my sweet Lilah.”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Grandpa Henry called, “we’d like to begin dinner so our Reid family tradition can continue.” Grandpa Henry, Rhys and I were told, had always been the emcee at everyone’s nuptial festivities. As long as he was alive, he would continue this tradition.
“Why don’t we go and start our forever?” my fiancé suggested.
“Sounds wonderful.”
Rhys and I stood at the head table and greeted well-wishers. With a family as large as mine, and the Kents being a well-known, well-liked family, it was hard to keep the engagement party small.
We were about to sit and start our future when suddenly I heard, “Delilah Rose Taylor!” A man charged straight for us while yelling, “I told you to wait for me because I was going to marry you one day!”
What?
Then, all hell broke loose.
This boy/man pulled my hand out of Rhys’, grabbed me, and kissed me like he was searching for his last breath.
Rhys pulled us apart and punched this unknown person in the face.
I grabbed this boy/man before he fell backwards, hit his head, and died.
This stranger pulled me into his body as we both fell onto the carpeted floor. He didn’t die, but he would be dead soon enough.
The last thing I remembered before every male Taylor, Reid, Davis, and Kent rushed the head table, was this person nonchalantly asking, “Hey there Delilah, how ya doing? Long time no see. What’s it been like on Reid Place?”
What The Hell?!
Pre-(hey there)Delilah
Nolan: Who?
“Mom! We are late. Could ya get your stuff together so we won’t miss another flight?”
“Hold your horses, Little Man. A supermodel doesn’t become a supermodel without her arsenal.”
“I am hardly a ‘Little Man,’ Mother. I’m twenty-two and on my way to finishing an MD/PhD/JD/MBA.”
“What the hell is that, Nole? Do you really need all those degrees?”
“Yes, Dad. I told you. There are so many things I want to do, so many ideas in my head—I am going to do them all!”
“You’re going to be in school forever, Nole. A man has to get out there and start working at some point. How will you support the Little Woman, Little Man?”
“Speaking of, have you talked to Michael and Chloe lately?”
“No. Where did that come from, Nole?”
“How could you have forgotten, Dad?”
“What’d I forget, V?”
“I don’t know, B.”
My parents kissed, giggled, and behaved like teenagers. Sometimes, I wondered who was the child and who was the adult in this household.
Brendan Rory O’Shaughnessy, forty-eight, banker, half-Irish, half-English, good-looking, according to all my girl friends, a great dad, and an even better husband, according to my mother.
Veronica Lane O’Shaughnessy, forty-seven, model, all-English, gorgeous, according to everyone, a fantastic mother, and a superb wife, according to my father. Even at her age, people in her industry considered her a supermodel. My mother was beautiful inside and out.
There was a time early in my life when my parents separated for a few years. They were as final as divorced, but Mom came to her senses and returned to us. Dad accepted her into our fold without hesitation. We became a family again when I was five and stayed this way ever since. Unfortunately for all of us, Mom never had any more kids. She and Dad explained that she just couldn’t get pregnant again, no matter how hard they tried. In the end, it was all good. The three of us had a blast.
“Well, Son?” Dad asked.
How could I have digressed for this long? “Delilah Rose, Dad!” My no duh...tone didn’t wipe the befuddled look off his face. “How can you forget your future daughter-in-law?”
“Is our son engaged, V?”
“I’ve no idea, B. Last I understood, he wasn’t seeing anyone. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen my son with a girl in the romantic sense. He’s always been their best friend, not their boyfriend.”
“I can’t believe you’re my parents!” I truly couldn’t believe this fact, nor could I understand V and B. “When I was five, I told you I was marrying Delilah Rose Taylor. Am I not a part of this family? Something this important should’ve been noted somewhere, anywhere!”
Mom and Dad’s eyes popped, but their mouths stayed shut. It took a while for Mom to speak. “You were serious about marrying Delilah?”
“Of course I was serious.”
“Have you kept in touch with her since Michael and Chloe’s wedding?”
“No. With us traveling so much, there was no time to stay in touch.”
“Then how can you believe yo
u’ll still marry her? How do you know she’s not already married?”
“Mom.” I kind of did that no duh tone again. “She’s not married and in my heart, I know she’ll be mine.” I patted my heart to show my parents that my feelings were true. “It doesn’t matter that we’ve been separated all this time. We will marry.”
“Um...when are you marrying and does she know that you’re marrying her?” Dad asked.
“Not yet. I’m not ready to show myself yet. She’s done well for herself, but I haven’t. My life is still all over the place.”
Mom’s head tilted as she wondered, “How do you know she’s done well for herself if you haven’t kept in touch? What has she exactly done with her life? She’s only twenty-two, probably just out of college just like you.”
Before I could answer, Dad asked, “Let’s talk about you first, Son. What is it that you hope to accomplish with all these degrees? If you’re still harboring fantasies about Delilah, you need to reconnect with her and see if she’s who you remember her to be.”
I contemplated what Dad asked. What did I want to do with myself?
When Mom and Dad reunited, Dad altered our lives with a life-changing decision. He wanted to give Mom’s career a last push before she was considered “too old” for modeling. Technically, she was already “too old” and Dad knew it. Thus, he decided to take us on the road.
What that meant was we’d travel with Mom wherever her job took her. For a good seven years, we saw the world. Dad quit the company and went solo. His income took a hit, initially, but Mom’s income skyrocketed. I had tutors, took online courses, and lived what I was learning. Being a precocious child, living from city to city, having intelligent tutors teaching me through life rather than textbooks, worked perfectly. By the time our traveling slowed, I had finished high school at age sixteen. Dad taught me how to drive and sent me off to college.
By sixteen, I was already six-three and looked like a man. Though I couldn’t engage in most of the collegial revelries, I thrived in an environment where all the great minds converged. I loved being surrounded by brilliant people.
By eighteen I was done with my B.S.E., by twenty-one I had earned a JD and MBA and now I was working on my MD/PhD. As to what I’d do with all these degrees, I didn’t know. That was my problem right now.
Focus. I needed to focus.
Before I reintroduced myself to my bride, I needed a clear direction in my life.
Nolan: (Say) What?
Our family loved London. Of all the gorgeous places we visited, this was the only city we revisited without a reason.
With Mom’s career on the downswing and Dad’s self-employment on the upswing, we didn’t travel as much. Between Dad’s business and my schooling, we were grounded in Los Angeles.
During our brief stay here, I decided to visit my old roommate, Ronnie. Ronnie and I met while he did a semester study in the States. As with everyone else, he was three years older than I, but he never treated me like a kid. Of all the roommates I’d had, he was my favorite. I knew we’d stay lifelong friends.
“Hello, Mate. How was the flight over the pond?” Ronnie greeted me when we met at the pub.
“As always, it was long. It gets longer each time.”
“You’re too young to be saying that, Nole.”
“I know, Man. It’s not easy keeping up with my parents. It wouldn’t surprise me if my parents told me that I slowed them down.”
“Now that you’ve graduated, what’s on the horizon, Mate? You ready to join me?”
Ronald Kent was an entrepreneur. With a deep trust fund, he had his hand in all kinds of businesses. He came from a large family, five boys, and from what I knew, they were all successful in their own way.
“What’s the latest business?”
“I found a fantastic invention and I need a scientist to help me prove a few theories.”
“Sounds cryptic, Ron. How am I to know if I can help you if you won’t tell me what it is that I will be working on?”
“Commit a year of your life to me, Nole. We can do great things together. With your mind and my business acumen, we can go places.”
“What about my MD/PhD?”
“You can do that here. Consider moving. You can live in my house, attend school, and work on my latest business with me.”
“All right. I’ll consider it. A change would do me good. I’d like to have a focus rather than doing everything under the sun.”
Ron asked, “I’m happy to hear, but why the change? You were always the man who wanted to conquer the world.”
“Before I marry my girl, I need to show her that I can provide for her.”
“Marry?” Ron almost choked on his beer. “When did you decide to marry? Where’s this girl been? You never mentioned a girl.”
I grinned. I knew Ron would freak if I told him about Delilah. “Well, there’s this girl that I met when I was five.”
The choking continued. “Five as in five years ago?”
“Five, as in five-years-old, five.” I corrected.
“Damn, Nolan. I always knew you marched to your own beat, but this is outrageous.” He chuckled and asked me to continue.
I obliged. “At age five, I knew I was in love. She was the girl for me.”
“The operative word might be, she was. You mean to tell me you still think she’s the girl for you? Does she feel the same about you?”
“Well...”
“She doesn’t agree?”
“She doesn’t know.”
Now, Ron was going nuts. He was choking, laughing, and snorting. Beer was coming out of his mouth, his nose—I had to place a napkin over my face to keep his beer from drowning me.
It took him some time to calm down. “All right, Mate. Continue.”
“My future wife just graduated from college and she and I are alike in many ways. She’s brilliant and has a bright future ahead of her. Her life also diverges into many fields. With copious options, she, too, is wondering what to do.”
“Now,” Ron wondered, “do you know all this because you’re good friends and she’s confided in you?”
“No. We haven’t spoken since we were five.”
“Mate. This is getting a little creepy. You’re bordering on being a stalker. How do you know all this about her?”
I laughed. “I have my ways, Ron. I can’t reveal my source, yet.”
“So, if all is good, you meet again and you marry. What if all is not good and she’s not on the same page as you are.”
“I know I sound like a lunatic, but what my heart tells me is true. She’s the girl for me.”
“OK. I’ll go with it. Crazy-love appears to be in the air for everyone.”