The Senator's Hispanic Bride (4 page)

“Thanks, Mama. I’ll let you know.” He smiled at having called her mama and hung up the phone.

“Glenn, are we sure we want this many people coming? I don’t want to invite all of these people to the wedding.” Michael looked at the list with distaste.

“We invite them all to the engagement party, they won’t all come. Less than half of them will come to the wedding. Everyone likes a party, not that many people like going to weddings.” Glenn continued to scour the newspaper and write notes about what he found.

Michael slumped a little in his chair. “Alright. I guess that’s what we will do.”

Two weeks later, the party was on and there were more than three hundred guests coming to it. It had become the spring bash to be seen at in Manhattan, though Michael had no idea how that had happened.

The guests were invited, and requests for invitations kept coming in, the ballroom was rented, the food was ordered, the bands were hired, Michael got his tuxedo and Isabella found a dress she loved, and all of it was done before the event. The night finally came and Michael’s limousine pulled up outside of Isabella’s house. He went up the stairs of her old brownstone to her door and knocked. A minute later, the door opened and he stared at her as she stepped through the doorway. Her body was sculpted into a full length strapless bright red dress that didn’t show too much of her caramel skin, but did show off her enviable curves.

Michael raised his eyebrows in appreciation. “You look beautiful!” He closed his arms around her and kissed her softly, stealing her breath from her and making her smile.

“Thank you,” she said in a velvety voice to him. “You look so gorgeous! It’s a good thing this is our engagement party! I can make sure all the ladies know that you are off the market!” She winked at him and they got into the limousine and headed to the hotel.

The party got off to a good start, and everything was going wonderfully when halfway through the night, Michael picked up a microphone and asked for their guest’s attention. He took Isabella’s hand in his, lowered himself to one knee, and looked up into her beautiful face.

“I am honored and privileged to have all of you here, but there is one person here who means the whole world to me, and it is because of her that we are all together tonight. It is because she agreed to spend the rest of her life with me. When I asked her to marry me, I didn’t have a ring, and I didn’t offer her a proper proposal, so I want to do that right now.”

He pulled a small box from his pocket and she gasped as he opened it and pulled the ring from it, taking her hand and kissing her fingertips. “You are more than everything to me, my sweet, loving, beautiful lady, and if I could have any wish come true in my life, any dream made real, it would be to have you as my wife to live out my days with until I leave this earth. Please say that you will marry me.”

Cameras flashed like stars all around them, lighting up the dimmed room.

A tear rolled down Isabella’s cheek and she took a deep breath trying to slow the rushing emotion coursing through her. He slid the ring on her finger and as she watched him do it, she knew that she had made the right choice. She knew they would be happy together. She nodded and said yes to him, and then pulled him to his feet.

Michael embraced her, holding her closely to him, and then he placed his hands gently on either side of her face and lifted her mouth to meet his. He kissed her tenderly, sweetly, and as their lips touched, and her breath was caught in her chest, the cameras flashed again, all over the room, and their precious moment was captured by masses.

After a long moment, he let her go and looked at her with a smile meant only for her, then they turned and faced their guests, waving happily. The music started again, and before Isabella could ask him to dance with her, he was whisked away into groups of politicians and businessmen who were waiting to talk to him, and Isabella’s family crowded around her to hug her, kiss her, and gawk at the enormous diamond he had placed on her finger.

It was half an hour before she had a moment to herself, and when she looked for Michael, she saw him buried three men deep in the center circle of a lively discussion. She sighed and walked to the ladies room. While she was washing her hands, another woman came up to the sink beside hers and leaned over close to the mirror, touching up her perfectly applied dark red lipstick.

She was blonde and built like a pin up star, and she was dressed in a revealing black gown that offered generous views of her melon sized breasts and long tapered legs. She turned and leaned her back against the counter and narrowed her eyes at Isabella, smiling a razor sharp smile at her.

“So, you’re the new girl,” she said in a thin voice.

Isabella lowered her brow and looked at the woman. “I’m sorry?”

The woman lifted the corner of her mouth in an indulgent half smile. “You’re Michael’s new girl. I’m his former fiancé. We were engaged all through college and we were going to get married after he graduated. It’s interesting he chose someone of your… ethnicity… to become engaged to.”

Isabella felt her stomach drop through the floor underneath her feet. Michael never mentioned being engaged before. He never mentioned any of his former girlfriends, and this one had just appeared out of the blue. Isabella took a deep breath and tried to remain calm and polite. If she was at the party, obviously Michael invited her because Isabella certainly hadn’t, and she didn’t want to be rude to anyone who was his guest.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Miss...?” she raised one eyebrow curiously.

The woman lowered her eyes at Isabella. “I’m Kelsey. I’m the one woman who mattered to him the most all of his life.” She tilted her head slightly. “Until he ran for office,” she said snidely. “That’s alright. We have an evergreen love; no matter what seasons may come into or go out of our lives, we are always going to be there for each other and we are always going to love each other. That’s what real love does. I hope you two are able to find something like that together at some point. It really doesn’t do much good to marry someone when a part of that person’s heart belongs to someone else.”

She smiled disingenuously once more and then tossed her long, wavy, blonde hair over her shoulder and strutted out of the bathroom.

Isabella had wanted to smack her when she was talking, bragging about her time with Michael, but she had held herself back. If she was going to be his wife, she had to think of him and of his career, and the last thing he needed was a wife who attacked other women or past girlfriends in public restrooms. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to let go of all the anger and frustration that was raging through her.

She wasn’t even sure that what the woman had said was true. How was she to know if Kelsey was a blatant liar? She washed her hands again and pressed a cool wet paper towel to her face, neck and chest, took another deep breath and then walked out of the bathroom.

She didn’t get fifteen feet into the ballroom when she was met with a sight that almost ripped her heart out of her chest. Michael was on the dance floor with Kelsey, turning her in slow circles to the love song that the band was playing. His arm was around her waist and his hand was resting a little low on her back. She was grinning at him and tickling one of his deep dimples with the tip of her red fingernail, grinning at him and pressing her body up against his.

Isabella took two steps toward the dance floor and then stopped, looking around herself at the people that were still at the party. Most of them were not her people. Most of them were the businessmen and politicians that Michael had invited. As much as she wanted to rush out and yank Kelsey out of Michael’s arms by her hair, she couldn’t. She had to remain dignified and respectful. She had to be the bigger woman and tell herself that nothing was going to happen on the dance floor between the two of them with the whole world watching, but she hated it. She glared furiously at Kelsey and gritted her teeth.

“Who the hell is that?” came a soft irritated voice by her side. She turned to look at her sister and frowned.

“If I am to believe what she just told me in the bathroom, that’s his ex-fiancée Kelsey. She was going on and on about their evergreen love and how it will always last, and then I come out here and find her dancing with him. Is it possible to hate someone you’ve just met?” she asked venomously.

Marisol gave a dark chuckle. “Yes, it is. Obviously you can’t do anything with all of these people watching. Do you want me to go trip her?”

Isabella laughed at the thought and held her sister’s hand. “Yes, and no. We can’t cause a scene here tonight, but thank you.” She turned her head and kissed her sister’s cheek. “You’re the best.”

Michael turned slowly on the dance floor with his arm around Kelsey, and looked at her in slight surprise. “So, Kelsey, how is it that you’re here?”

“Oh, Michael, I had to come wish you the best of luck. After all, we were engaged just like this, not too long ago. Do you remember? We had it all planned out… our wedding in Boston, our honeymoon in Bermuda, making love on the pink sand… or have you forgotten what we were going to do?” she asked in a soft voice, reaching her finger to his cheek to touch his dimple.

“I remember all of that. I just don’t know what you’re doing here. I was talking with those men, Kelsey, I was right in the middle of an important conversation and you just walked up and pulled me right out of it.” He looked at her disapprovingly.

She pouted slightly and moved closer to him. “Honey Bear, it couldn’t have been too important. They didn’t stop me. Please don’t be mad at me.”

He sighed deeply. “Don’t call me Honey Bear, Kelsey. They wouldn’t have stopped you because they are gentlemen and you’re a lady, and that would be rude to do, just like it was rude of you to interrupt them.”

She drew close to him and looked up into his bottomless blue eyes. “Are you mad at me, baby? Please don’t be mad at me. You know I can’t stand it when you’re mad at me.”

Michael nodded his head slightly. “I’m not mad at you. Just try to be more considerate of others. Now, would you mind telling me what you’re doing here, crashing my engagement party?”

She smiled at him and ran her red fingernail along his jawline. “I came to congratulate you and see the woman who stole you away from me. I didn’t think it would ever happen, you know. You were so hot for me for so long that I thought no other woman would ever turn your head.” She nuzzled his cheek with her nose. “Do you remember that?” she asked silkily.

He felt his skin warm up and his pulse begin to quicken. “I remember, Kelsey, and I remember that we broke up. You wanted that rich old man and you got him, and then you wanted me on the side and I said no. That was that. You chose him.”

Kelsey looked up at him and pressed her body snugly against his, and he hated that he remembered so well how she felt without clothes on. “I didn’t want him, baby, I wanted you, and as soon as you left I was sorry I had done it, but now I guess it’s too late for that. I still want you, though,” she whispered, running her hand over his shoulder and licking her lips, “and I bet that when you’re alone, you still want me, too.”

Michael stepped back from her and looked at her darkly. “I’m not alone, Kelsey, and I am with the woman I want to be with.”

She smiled at him and slid her arms around his neck, whispering, “Well, if you ever change your mind, you just let me know. I’ll be waiting for you, baby. I’ll always be waiting for you.” She leaned up and kissed his mouth hungrily, and for a moment he was too surprised to move, but then he gently pushed her back and shook his head slightly.

“You can’t ever do that again,” he said as frustration tangled with remembered passion and sorrow.

“I want you to leave, now.” He looked directly at her and she smiled at him and winked.

“Whatever you want, baby.”

She touched his nose and turned to walk out, and just as she was leaving the dance floor, she saw Isabella and laughed, blowing her a kiss and then she walked out of the party.

Marisol turned to go after her and Isabella caught her arm. “No! Mari, you can’t do that! Not here, not with all of these people!”

Isabella looked at her sister with imploring eyes. Marisol stopped and glared. “I better never see that woman again. I’m not thrilled that you are marrying him, but he’s yours and she needs to keep her dirty hands off of him. What the hell was he doing dancing with her anyway? He shouldn’t have even been out there with her! He should be out there with you!”

Isabella frowned. “I know. I felt like that, too, but I guess it just happened.”

Marisol turned her narrowed eyes toward Michael who had left the dance floor and rejoined the men who were waiting to speak with him. “It didn’t just happen. He should have kicked her out of here, because she had no business being here. Dances don’t just happen. Holding your ex in your arms doesn’t just happen. I don’t trust him, m’hija.”

The party wound down sometime after two in the morning and most of the guests had left when Michael found Isabella and hugged her. “Well, that was a huge success! What a great party. Did you have fun?”

They were in the limousine and he was taking her back to her house. Isabella sighed. “It was alright when you were with me, but I wasn’t thrilled when you were dancing with Kelsey.”

He looked at her, startled. “How did you know-”

She frowned at him and asked, “Is she really your ex-fiancée?”