The Designer's Wicked Intentions

by Yvonne Sibanda

  “I still can’t believe he was once gay”

  “He was young. Just like Garret, traumatic experience from an early age. I remember when he first got saved and he got into training on being a man program fashioned out by pa which Garret had gone through. He would twitter like a girl and flap his arms, and will be like dude, man act like this. Pa rather despaired because of his line of work since he had to be around women and the title of Cookie would stick for life. He has come a long way. Now he is breaking women’s hearts into smithereens and he is hailed as a macho man.”

  Sophie giggled at her husband’s description before he said, “I never thought it might be Abby. I guess we rather assumed Luc making the waves.” He scratched his head realizing for the first time that Ethan’s idea was doomed to flop, since he enlisted the help of his ex from the start. The ex-girlfriend who might still be in love with Ethan, wondering on what he saw in the older woman with six kids.

  ***

  “ETHAN, ABBY is here,” his mother shouted before informing her to go to the study. He was sketching a few designs by hand as it helped clear his mind off things forgoing the use of Dom’s gift.

  “Hey love, how are you.” Abby greeted.

  “What brings you to my humble abode on this Sunday afternoon?”

  She giggled. “Thought you needed to go out and have a good time love, than be cooped in here.”

  “Am tired, this is the day when I actually rest after all.”

  He had caught a glimpse of Aggy and her family in church and he could swear people were holding their breath anticipating war. He merely nodded to Luc and the children, Aggy having walked on ahead to the pews and not having glanced his way.

  Rolling her eyes, Abby stood from her seat and plucked the drawing pad from his hands before she perched herself on the desk instead as he looked at her with a raised brow “What are you doing?”

  He stood up and got shoved back on his seat. “Doing what I have really wanted to,” she wrapped her arms around his neck and drew his head for the kiss. How she had missed him. He made her feel so special and to think he only thought about that older divorced woman with her girls.

  He was solid and strong and understood her feelings more than anyone else. She had never met such a good guy who knew how to treat a woman, that’s why she never stopped loving him. He groaned and pulled her from the desk to his lap. Missing Aggy and searching for some form of relief from the torture he felt.

  “I love you,” Abby said managing to bring him back to the present and to where they were. He drew away from her. “I am sorry Abby, but you should go.” She looked hurt and he cringed for having sounded harsh. “Why her. What does she have that I don’t?”

  Abby moved away and settled on the seat opposite with a scowl pasted on her beautiful face, sulking and eliciting a chuckle from him. She could be dramatic like Aggy. When he dated her, she reminded him of Aggy, the difference being their heights. Her attitude was exactly the same. He was ashamed for having tried to bring into his life another person like Aggs.

  “I thought with this whole commotion happening you might finally come back to me. We were good together. Those articles didn’t help at all.” She said the last part under her breath yet he managed to catch the words.

  “Abby what did you do?” He stared at her like he was looking at a petulant child. From what she had said, it suddenly dawned that she was the one behind the publicity and making Aggy look like a home wreaker. A home he was yet to have.

  “No you didn’t”

  She stood up in a huff, they were almost the same height and they looked at each other in the eyes. “I love you, can’t you get that. That’s why I did all that. I know you will hate me for doing it, but it was worth a shot.” He heaved a sigh as she had lowered her eyes. Abby had always been good to him, considering he dropped everything and rushed to Aggy and her bedside when she divorced with her husband, not even for a second thinking about his girlfriend.

  He tilted her head so she stared into his eyes, “I am the one who should be apologizing for treating you in an appalling manner. Don’t you just wish you could slap me and scratch my eyes out? Better yet you can just do that now. Scratch all you like, it’s not like I still have my pretty looks.”

  She giggled and hugged him instead. “You are a good guy Ethan, I am sorry for messing up your life.”

  “Nuh, its nothing. Am sure will sort our differences with Aggs. Though you still owe me a favour for ruining things for me.” She pinched him, “Not again, this time I might manage to get you to break up for good with Aggy.”

  “You already have. Make sure you show up for your wedding on the 29th.” She gaped open her mouth in shock.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “IT’S ABBY,” Greg stated over the phone to Ethan who chuckled in return, “I know. She told me.” Greg laughed, “Our sweet Abby turned out to be vicious after all. Sophie immediately guessed the culprit while we kept on nailing my cousin who is capable of resorting to such measures.”

  Ethan laughed.

  “I still think you are better off with Abby. Look at Aggy, according to the papers she kicked you off to the curve, she is busy frolicking around with her husband and children while you beg for Abby to take you back. It’s the whole eight years starting over again. Are you sure you are willing to wait for another eight.” Greg was laughing at his expense and he knew the other guys would be saying the same. Life could be cruel.

  “You should hear Soph saying Ethan can make any woman feel special, ya right, to the point he has two scorned women to boot.” He chuckled.

  Ethan sighed, “If I can do that, then the woman I want should have dropped everything and got married to me in a heartbeat. By the way I asked Abby to do a last favour for me.” Greg groaned over the phone, “I don’t want to hear about it bud, already I have been starved off sex for two days over the Aggy issue. She was saying as long as Aggy doesn’t come around to treating her like the best friend they were I should forget about it.”

  Ethan roared out in laughter at that. “Ok I will not tell you in case your time gets extended for plotting with me again. I will chat with the other guys. So when are you coming back to the city?”

  “A week before schools open. Sophie will be busy with establishing her cake business, so it might be a while for us to visit the parents again. Then she has the Collins foundation among other things, then as you knows my businesses. We are making it a point to see everyone right now, before it turns gruesome and ugly.”

  “I get you. Have a nice day bud and tell Sophie submission is key.” Greg chuckled at that before he hung up.

  ***

  IT WAS a month after the blow over. As promised Ethan stayed away from Agatha. Luc was always around putting effort into forming bonds with his children and he would take her out, wine and dine her also.

  Cassie was getting married to Jason and her family seemed happy. Aggy chuckled at the fact that she wasn’t branded scandalous like her, rather her mother had pointedly looked at Aggy over her glasses while reading the announcements and stated; “We have a widow who has made us proud by her commendable conduct in doing things the right way. She will be getting married on Saturday to one of our brothers in the Lord.”

  She nearly retorted, yet Cassie giggled and held her back. The women had clapped and congratulated her friend. Of course she was happy for her that’s why she was now rushing over to dress her for the big day. The big day for Ethan also as he was getting married to Abby.

  Her heart ached at the thought, but she had to let him go. It was the best for all of them. Abby had paid her a visit and apologized for everything including disclosing that she had been the one behind the articles.

  “We got what we need after all so no need to apologize,” she had stated to the young woman. “I will make it work with my husband and you do the same with Ethan.” She had choked on the words for a bit yet continued. “I hope you never make him regret his decision of being with you. He is a good man.” Abby nodd
ed and left. Like she had realized before, they looked great together.

  “Boss lady is here,” Rita hollered and winked at her as she led her to where her mother was. “I see Rita you are still up to your old antics.” Aggy said trailing behind her and coming to the bedroom door where Cassie was. “You have a huge family like mine,” she commented after settling down for a reprieve.

  She had greeted the women in the kitchen and in the living room as she searched for Rita to lead her to her mother. Cassie laughed. Rita left the two ladies and went to her cousins. “With the way you are breathing are you sure you are not pregnant Aggy.”

  Aggy rolled her eyes, “I am not.”

  “With Ethan,” Cassie had a curious expression. Aggy got up and took the gown from its bag before helping her wear it. “Nothing happened, apart from the shelf incidence in the shop and others of such a nature.” She giggled on how once upon a time she had felt so alive especially on the night of the fashion gala when she almost gave it all up if it weren’t for her conscience. “Luc,”

  “Now you are stretching it. Whatever I thought can be reignited is gone. It suddenly dawned on me that the seventeen years I worked hard to preserve are nothing and I had stayed with a stranger all along. Right now is when I am beginning to get to know Luc but I find he is better off as a friend.”

  “Shame,” Cassie said. Aggy zipped her dress at the back and turned her around. “You look beautiful love. Her hair had been done prior hence they had been careful not to mess it up when she donned the dress on. All Aggy had to do was do the finishing touches of the dress and make up after draping a cloth over her chest so as not to get any smudges on the dress. She applied the makeup to Cassie’s beautiful face, little of it actually as the bride was already glowing from the happiness she felt.

  Cassie grasped her hand after she showed her the results on the mirror. “You can still stop this Aggy. It’s not too late. You have…” she turned and looked at her clock, “half an hour to stop this whole thing. Already you are being punished at church, why not add this one little scandal and get punished over everything at once. Than for you to have an affair with Ethan once his married and really become the shameless other woman or better yet marry horrible Luc and have six more other children.”

  Aggy laughed at that picture and her friend’s exaggeration over the situation. Cassie spoke soberly, “I am serious love. It’s now or never. You will not be able to do anything about it after this. And you have 28 minutes left.”

  “Your wedding?” Cassie scoffed, “Go and get him then you attend my wedding together, after all we are using the same church and priest.”

  Aggy rushed out from the room to her car while Cassie hollered “Make sure you get your man and keep him this time.”

  She drove like a maniac only to be stopped by the traffic. “Damn,” she started hooting and yet the cars moved slowly. She grimaced at seeing she was left with fifteen minutes. She swerved her car to the side and heard someone yelp, watch it old lady making her giggle and move the opposite direction. She knew a path that would lead her to the old cathedral but she would have to walk. After parking the car, she ran. By the time she reached the cathedral the doors had been shut.

  Her height the bane of her life proved to be against her as usual as she tried to peek through the huge windows. Moving around, she noticed the door to the sacristy was still opened and rushed towards it. She walked with misgiving, huffing from the jog as Cassie words rang.

  She wasn’t pregnant, she knew she had put on some weight since she had been eating junk and bingeing on movies also, clogging up her system. She was no longer a teen who could munch out everything she got her hand on and expect to remain slim.

  She didn’t listen to what the priest was saying, rather rushed in and shouted “stop,” before panting loudly and clutching at her waist. People gasped.

  The Sacristy was located on the side almost at the back of the church.

  “Wait a minute let me catch my breath,” she yelled before clutching her waist again and wiping her brow. Ethan hadn’t turned to look her way but remained facing the priest. She noticed Abby grin and cover his mouth as if he had been about to say something.

  She walked through the pews and came to the aisle before moving ahead.

  “Ethan I am really sorry for making you feel like you are not enough. I am the inadequate one, the insecure one and of course the dramatic one. I didn’t think I deserved to be happy that’s why I pushed you away. But I know now that I was wrong about everything. To hell with what people think or say,” people murmured and she apologized. “I mean I no longer care. To you age was never an issue but I always managed to bring it into play. You are way more mature and more of an adult compared to me in the way you do things and look at life. I love you and if you would just give me the chance I will make it up to you for the rest of my life.”

  The groom turned while Abby giggled and Aggy almost fell in a faint. That wasn’t Ethan, and she had made a spectacle of herself again. Her mother was staring at her accusingly, she already knew, excommunication was the next step. Why was her mother attending this wedding?

  Her father looked at her with understanding as she wished the ground would open up and swallow her. She was turned around into the arms by the one steadying her so she wouldn’t fall over and breathed in the familiar cologne.

  “And I love you Agatha Cooper, my dramatic woman,” he muttered.

  “You finally got the proposal you wanted Ethan,” Brad hollered making the guests laugh. The door of the sacristy opened again, this time her six girls lunged in with Greg and Sophie following behind. She started taking note of the family members around and realized they were hers and Ethan’s.

  “By the way did I tell you, that I did go to your father to ask for your hand in marriage? He held a rifle over my head. I fainted, he revived me and I fainted again,” he whispered. “He made me promise to love his princess more than my life.” She chuckled at that before he swiftly picked her up and walked towards the priest. “This woman tends to run away at the last minute” he joked as the family laughed at the spectacle being made.

  ***

  “CONGRATULATIONS,” Sophie hugged her followed by Marg. They were now at her reception and everyone appeared to be enjoying. Even her mother had a slight twitch on her lips when Ethan and Aggy were finally pronounced as husband and wife. As if she was relieved at the whole thing.

  “Pink suits you Aggy, you did a proper thing. A divorcee is not meant to wear white,” Luc sneered as the rest roared in laughter at the imitation of his former mother in law. “Not bad Luc, not bad at all,” she retorted, surprised he had agreed to stand and pretend to be Ethan at the altar with Abigail. She had been attending Cassie’s wedding after all so had made sure to dress for the occasion unaware that her wedding had been planned out. The lacy light pink knee length pencil dress with a flared bottom had a plunging neckline and was long sleeved. It had a silver metallic belt emphasizing her tiny waist and the shoes had been made to match the outfit. “Can I have this dance with you, Mrs. Agatha Ross?” Ethan whispered in her ear and they excused themselves for the dance floor.

  “Aggs did you put on some weight, I could swear I was carrying the whole world in my arms when I walked down the aisle.”

  Aggy giggled. “What did you expect after you dumped me. Have been surviving on junk food.” He nodded and turned her around, Luc having hinted at her other bath fasting episode.

  “How did Luc agree to all this?” she asked.

  “Apparently he can’t handle a stinky Agatha like I could” he answered and received a swat on his arm. His curiosity got the better of him, “How long this time did it take you before you hit the showers?”

  She blushed before replying, “A week.” He stared at her in horror, “Madam you do know I hate dirt right, I will scrub you along with the pots and pans if you try it at home.” She giggled, sighed out of contentment and kissed her handsome dependable husband.

  EPILOGUE
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br />   ETHAN CHUCKLED when he felt the click of metal as Aggy smirked. She had managed to lock his hands up while they kissed and to think he felt it weird when she kept on raising his hands to the bed rail when he tried touching her.

  “Aggy love, remove these shackles from me.” She giggled and shifted from lying on top of him on the bed and moved away. Came back with a bowl of strawberry and melted chocolate before lying next to him. She dipped the strawberry and brought it to his mouth before taking it away and biting at it.

  “This is punishment for you taking your mother’s brew on our wedding night and snoozing off to sleep while I was left sexually frustrated. She chewed on the fruit while he watched on, wanting to get a taste of her. “And to think the Cookie I know never backed out of a challenge.” He grimaced at the fact that he still had insecurities over his scarred chest and abdomen. The thieves would have skinned him alive if Luc didn’t turn up when he did. The scar was still evident yet it no longer repulsed him like before.

  He had travelled with Aggy to his parents safari lodge for their honeymoon. Like he had expected, she squealed in delight like a teenager at seeing the elevated tree houses and scrambled off leaving him behind with the bags. “I take it that’s the scorned woman you mentioned before,” Samson had jokingly remarked with a smile.

  “Aggs you do know coming with food here rather invites baboons.”

  She rolled her eyes, “Ethan has anyone ever told you that you talk too much, shut up.” She giggled, kissed him and he tasted the strawberry from her sweetness. She opened the buttons of his shirt and gasped when she noticed the scar of the knife wound that ran across his chest and abdomen guessing that he hadn’t wanted her to see him in that state. That answered the question on why after the show in their room she was almost naked and she didn’t manage to remove his shirt.

  He made sure that her head reeled from his kisses and she writhed in pleasure making her forget what her hands had been up to. Silly Ethan, he would always be beautiful to her regardless of the wounds he received from the thieves.