Excerpt
The house was quiet and dark. Douglas flipped a switch that threw a warm yellow light into the downstairs hallway, before going to pour himself a drink. He had just spent the last four hours at his office in town, where he could better focus on the task at hand. It was great having company at the house. And it wasnt that she bothered him in any way. But, admittedly, with LaRetha around, he wanted to do anything but work.
While they were out exploring, he had spent time scanning some files and shredding others, reading over briefs and preparing his opening statement for Kincaids trial. That part had been easy, until thoughts of the woman staying at his house had crept in, totally taking his mind off his work.
LaRetha! Contagiously kind, caring and everything he wanted and needed in a woman. Finally placing the last folder on top of the stack to the left of him, hed realized it was getting late and was sure that she was wondering where he was.
But, he had needed a few more minutes; time to wallow in the pleasantries of these new memories and the prospect of more. Looking at the family photograph on his office wall, he had thought about the last Christmas he had shared with both of his parents and his little sister. He was eleven, then. Those holidays celebrated after his mother died were nice but never the same. And now, with his father gone
Holidays did this to him. While he was very appreciative of having such a good life, he often longed to regain old feelings of happiness and good cheer, again. He had remembered to call Candace.
Hey, Sis, hed said, smiling into the phone. Hed just spoken to her on yesterday. Still, hed felt the need to call. Hows everybody?
Everybodys just great. We wish youd made it up here, this year. But, we understand that schedule of yours. I told Dade it must have been because of a woman. So, hows your holiday going?
Great! Much better than Id expected, He said, teasingly. She caught his meaning.
Ooohh! So, Big Brother, it sounds like somebodys in love!
I think so, Candace. And I cant even help it.
Thats wonderful. Tell me about her.
He began to tell her.
You mean, that same woman who? With the intruder and her boyfriend shot her cousin or something like that? Douglas, do you know what youre doing?
No, not at all, he had sighed.
Well, then it must be love. Take care, dear brother. I cant wait to meet her.
I cant, either. Youre going to love her as much as I do. Shes wonderful. She has a grown son almost grown. She and her mother are very close. She really loves her family, and shell be crazy about you and Dade, and the kids.
Well, youre the biggest kid I know, so that must be true. By the way, my kids are still trying to get to the bottom of that gift box you sent. Itll take them a year, at least.
Good, that should keep em busy, he had teased. He loved her three children and she knew it.
They had laughed and talked a bit longer before saying I love you, and hanging up.
Leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed, he had recalled how yesterday and today had been so full of pleasant surprises. It was nothing short of amazing, how the right woman could come along and change a mans existence, entirely. And without hardly trying.
She was the other side of him, LaRetha was. She was people, being from Lovely, as well. But not so much that she had those country, conniving ways hed come to dislike in the women hed always attracted.
She was educated and industrious, sure of herself with a mind of her own. She challenged him, and he loved the way she didnt agree with him just to be in his good graces. Or to take advantage, like other women had. Her spirit was certainly refreshing and it was giving him a whole new outlook on life.
And now, back at his house and standing outside the bedroom she was sleeping in, he was tempted to knock. To awaken her so she would get up and talk to him. But she was probably sound asleep. He decided not to bother her.
Kellen Kincaid didnt know what he had, he thought as he went into his own bedroom. But, so it goes with younger men who always put themselves before their women. Or men who, like Gerald Greer, thought that weakening a womans will, would keep her in her place. Or so her mother had said.
After twenty years of him, it was no wonder she held men at bay. Everyone except for Kincaid, that was. And he still couldnt figure out what, if anything, was happening there.
His father had once said that a happy and fulfilled woman was the greatest blessing a man could ever have. And he did intend to have LaRetha - as his wife. Whatever happened at that trial, the time was drawing near when LaRetha Greer would become Mrs. LaRetha Davis. And he planned to make her a very happy woman.
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