AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You were gone so long,” she tells him with a disapproving tone.
“Christian needed me more than you did.” He tips her chin up with a one inch long scarlet fingernail. “Besides, you and your man seem to be back on the same page again. Now, I couldn’t credit myself with that if I’d stayed, could I?”
“Okay, Cupid.” Ivy laughs as she fakes shoving him away. “I suppose it wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that we were already in love and married before…”
“Oh my, I forgot how beautiful these are.” He smiles and titters as he takes Ivy’s left hand from his chest and holds it up, but none of the warmth he shows her is in the gaze he levels at me. He lifts her hand up and down. “And they weigh a ton.”
I stand and take his hand when he holds it out to me. Draw him closer so that I can say, “We need to talk.”
“You think?” he snaps in my ear.
But then he’s back to his charming queenly self. “Any chance you want to come and sing a duet with me, Love? Is your alter ego in the house? Or not tonight?”
“I’m not sure.” Ivy glances at the stage. At me. At Jackson.
Adira cups his hands around his mouth and pretends to yell in Ivy’s ear. “Uma, babe, you in there?”
“I…” She takes a deep breath and her expression changes. The nerves that were showing a moment ago become a brilliant smile as she puts on her Uma Cookie persona.
Even her posture changes when she becomes Uma. My gorgeous woman becomes a siren with the flip of a switch. She lured me to her and I was helpless to resist. Still am.
“I’ll be back,” she says as Adira tugs her toward the stage.
I can’t drag my eyes from the stage as the two of them take it over. I swear everyone in the audience can see the way my heart hovers outside of my chest while they re-create the same act I did with Adira. Of course their version a hundred times better.
I can’t stop grinning the entire time Ivy is on the stage. It’s hard to believe this is the first time that she’s taken part in the show. It wasn’t that long ago she wouldn’t have even attempted doing something like this in front of anyone but Adira.
But she’s learned to embrace her fears and conquer them. She made friends. She took part in the wedding expo act the queens put on even though she was terrified. And she stole my heart clean out of my chest along the way.
That quiet girl has become the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. That I want to propose to before the year is out.
When Adira and Uma finish I stand and clap so hard my hands sting. The queens in the room join me. Soon the entire audience has risen to its feet to give Ivy and her alter ego the standing ovation that they deserve.
Adira and Ivy disappear backstage as the crowd settles and the next act starts. A few minutes later Adira comes to the table without Ivy. He sits in her seat and glares at me from under inch long lashes. Grabbing my shoulder, he forces me to lean in to keep our conversation as private as possible considering the public venue. “What the hell are you doing? I thought you’d have told her the truth by now, but I just heard about how beautiful your wedding day must have been and how sad she is she doesn’t remember it.”
“Look, I didn’t mean for it to get this out of hand.”
“I’m going to say this to you nicely, because I believe this all started from a place of love and sincerity.” He splays a bejeweled hand across the base of his throat. “Ivy has spent her life being a pawn. And the way you are treating her… moving her about the board without giving her a choice… or even telling her the truth… that’s going to backfire. And you aren’t the only one who will end up hurt.”
“I know that.” I’ve been there. It hurt like hell and I hate that I’m doing the same thing now. “I want to tell her. I want to ask her to marry me for real.”
“What?” Ivy gasps.
Adira and I spring apart. We have to look guilty as sin.
My throat thickens as I lift my gaze to the girl who is now wearing huge white bunny ears on top of her blue wig. “Ivy, what you heard… it’s—”
“What is the gossip? You two look cozy.”
“Well, we were just talking about…” Adira touches his neck as he glances at the stage. “Ivanna’s boobs are lopsided tonight, don’t you think? We should probably tell him.”
“Oh.” Ivy’s brow furrows as she stares at the queen on stage. “I don’t see it.”
“What’s with the bunny ears?” I rise to my feet so I can pull Ivy into my arms. My heart is still racing.
“You told me about our first date and the bunny ears,” she reminds me as she reaches up to rub one soft ear. “And about how I used the idea of wearing bunny ears to build my confidence when I talked to people.”
“You need to talk?” I find myself growing still.
