BEAST (39 page)

“Hello…?”

“Lieutenant Kennedy, Ma’am.” He tilted his head at her and looked like he was ready to salute then he relaxed. “But everybody calls me TK.”

“TK.”
She smiled. “Thanks for helping me when that idiot wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“Not a problem. Did you like the shirt and hat? The guys…well they wanted to give that to you.” He looked suddenly embarrassed.

“I like it a lot.” She showed Christopher her gifts when he looked at her curiously. “Can you tell the guys thanks for me?”

“I will. See you tomorrow.”

“Uh…
?
”

TK chuckled as he went into the building. “I know, you won’t see me, but I’ll see you.”

“Ok, that was creepy.” She mumbled with a chuckle when he was gone. But it was also sweet. After a few more minutes of gushing over Christopher, Kendra and Lance headed to the parking lot. Christopher looked after them thoughtfully.

“I can’t wait until your belly is big like Kendra’s.”

Ashleigh grimaced before it switched automatically to a smile. “That part is going to be hard but…it’ll be worth it.”

Christopher stooped down to kiss her. “Yes it will.
Ready to go do some engagement ring shopping?
There are some nice jewelry stores right on this
street
.”

“I am more than ready!” She decided not to say that she was born ready.

Jewelry stores lined Main St. and it was a beautiful evening. The two walked hand in hand, staring into windows and discussing the finer points of diamond rings.

Ashleigh wasn’t picky; she would have chosen the first ring that made her go ‘
oooh
’ except Christopher insisted they continue to look. They finally ended up at Tiffany’s. She wasn’t sure why he suddenly looked so nervous. He was the one that kept urging her towards this store.

“Welcome back sir.”

Ashleigh gave Christopher a quick look and he just smiled. He’d already checked out all of the rings then.
Hmmm, interesting.
She focused on the cases and went
ooooh
several times. And then she saw the ring of her dreams. Ashleigh’s eyes lit up and she looked at Christopher excitedly. He glanced down at the display that had excited her and gave her an amazed look.

Ashleigh cringed. It was too expensive. She could find a different one to love. But the salesman was already there unlocking the case and slipping out the gorgeous ring.

“This is our platinum, three stone Lucida. Would you like to try it on Ma’am?” Ashleigh could just nod. The salesman handed the ring to Christopher who took her hand and looked deeply into her eyes.

“Will you marry me, Ashleigh?”

She giggled. “I already told you that I’d marry you, silly.”

“Yeah but it wasn’t official since I didn’t have a ring to put on your finger. Now I got the ring.”

She smiled. “You have to buy it first. I believe that’s how it works, baby.”

“I already did. This ring is yours.”

Her brown face paled and Christopher slipped the beautiful ring on her finger. Ashleigh looked at it in surprise. She looked from Christopher to her ring, unable to find her words.

“Thank god you picked the right one. But Lance and Kendra seemed to know that this is the one you’d want.”

Ashleigh made a strangled sound and then she threw her arms around his shoulders. He chuckled and lifted her off the floor as she stared over his shoulder at the ring on her finger.

“You had me worried the first time your eyes lit up at a
wayyyy
cheaper ring.” But it didn’t compare to the look she had when she had seen this one. To him, that look was priceless.

Everyone in the store was looking at them and smiling. The clerk handed her a blue Tiffany’s bag with care instructions and thanked them.

She looked at Christopher in amazement. “I can wear it out?”

“I hope you don’t take it off, but yes. It’s bought and paid for.”

“I won’t ever take it off!” She promised.

Christopher’s hand rested her on soft hip as they walked out of the store. 

She was smiling brightly. “I can’t believe Kendra and Lance! They didn’t let on once!”

“Ashleigh?”

Christopher looked over at the tall black man that was heading for them. The smiled slipped from his face.
DeAngelo.
Shit, why did he have to show up to mar this perfect moment? He could have replayed this in his head over and over but not anymore. Now all he’d do is get pissed off.

The man had hurried from across the street. Christopher studied his athletic form and knew that he was the type of man most women went for. He was a tall, good-looking, dark skinned guy with a well-kept build.

“Ashleigh!” He said while coming to a stop right in front of them. “I can’t…believe it. You look wonderful!”

Christopher looked down at Ashleigh who had a forced smile on her face. His arm around her waist tightened and it might have been a bit on the possessive side but…hell! How dare this old boyfriend come out of the blue and look at her like that!

DeAngelo was staring at her with a wide happy smile on his face. It was a look as if he didn’t know that this was no longer his woman; as if he had every right in the world to look at her like that. Christopher had to clench his teeth because he wanted to punch him right in the center of his face!

“Hi DeAngelo.”
She said and the slightly older black man finally looked at Christopher. It wasn’t impolite but it was curious. “DeAngelo, this is my fiancé Lt. Christopher Jameson-”

“Fiancé???
You’re getting married?” His eyes almost bugged out of his head.

Ashleigh narrowed her eyes. No he didn’t!!! He did not just go there…

DeAngelo looked down at Ashleigh’s hand and the big gleaming rock on it. His face fell and he met Ashleigh’s eyes once again.

“Oh.” He said softly. “I know that you always wanted to get married.”

Christopher shifted positions. This guy was really pissing him off. “I’m just lucky that no one snatched her up before me.” He said stiffly.

DeAngelo looked at him and took in the way his hand rested comfortably around her waist, and not just that, but also the way that she leaned in to him. Ashleigh looked up at Christopher.

“Honey, this is DeAngelo Murray, my ex-boyfriend.”

Christopher tilted his head in a brief greeting. “Well if you’ll excuse us, DeAngelo, I need to feed both of my babies.”

DeAngelo’s eyes bugged even further before he masked the look. “You’re pregnant. Congratulations I…” He sighed. “Are you happy?”

Christopher glared at him and all he could think was
kill
kill
kill
kill
…

Ashleigh placed her hand over her belly. “I am. I’m finally happy.” Ashleigh led Christopher away without another word; without a goodbye. Christopher smiled to himself.

~***~

The family reunion had been pushed back to allow Christopher’s bandages time to be removed. But Uncle Ray was anxious to get it underway while all of the school age children were off for summer break, so the weekend after next was designated family reunion time. But before Ashleigh could even think about joining Christopher at his family gathering she knew that it she had to rectify her own wrong in not formally introducing Christopher to her family.

So on Saturday Ashleigh made plans for her own mini-family gathering. Her father wasn’t able to fly
back
up
so soon after returning to
Florida but invited them down to spend a few days, an invitation that they readily accepted. Ashleigh’s Mom, having just made the trip was unable to come back up but promised to return at Christmas, which just left her two sisters and their families. Ashleigh decided on
Buca
di
Beppos
for a family style dinner. Christopher didn’t understand why she didn’t want to have dinner at the house. He was willing to put together a nice barbecue and pull out the lawn furniture and put up a gazebo.

Ashleigh just shook her head explaining that it was too much trouble when they’d be heading down to Cobb Hill a week later. The truth is that she wanted the ability to leave if they got on her nerves. Ashleigh loved her
sisters,
she just didn’t always like them.

Christopher noticed that Ashleigh spent an extra long time selecting her outfit, looking at herself in the mirror, running her hands over her stomach and poking at her butt. She was…uh… callipygian; a fact that he hoped would never change.

He moved behind her and kissed her neck. “You look beautiful.”

“You think I look okay?” She had a worried expression on her face.

“I’ve never seen you look more beautiful.”
Which wasn’t the exact truth.
When she was beneath him and her mouth was opened in a silent scream of pleasure, her eyes rolled to the top of her head and a pink flush flowed beneath her brown skin, it was a look that he found most pleasing.

She seemed satisfied with his answer and they headed to the restaurant. Both sisters were so late that Christopher wondered if they would show. The two sat at the bar anxiously and Ashleigh kept checking her cell phone.

“Why don’t you call them?”

She shook her head adamantly. “It’s CP time. You don’t call. They’ll get here.”

Half an hour late, the first sister showed up. Christopher and Ashleigh left the bar to greet her and the sister was still craning her neck, searching the room even though Ashleigh was standing right in front of her.

“That
heffa
left…” She said. Christopher stiffened a bit at the use of the word ‘
heffa
’ but couldn’t help the smile when she finally looked at Ashleigh in confusion and then shocked recognition. Her expression was priceless, she almost recoiled. The woman squealed and grabbed Ashleigh in a hug.

“Oh my god!
Oh my god…” She pulled back and examined Ashleigh at arm’s length. “You are so thin…”

Ashleigh giggled happily.   

Ashleigh quickly grabbed Christopher’s arm. “

“This is my sister Darlene and
her husband Luther and this is my fiancé Christopher.”

Darlene stared in shock. But…Mom said…uh, hello.” She offered her hand and Christopher shook it. Darlene was a little thing and maybe a little more made up then to his liking. But he couldn’t deny that she was beautiful, yet a little uncouth. He shook her husband’s hand. He was dark skinned, handsome, very fit but still dwarfed by Christopher’s height and weight.

“Well maybe we should head back to the bar and wait for Venita.”

Darlene made a face. “Girl, please, that
heffa
is going to make up some excuse not to come.” Ashleigh looked alarmed.

“She wouldn’t do that-”

“Honey, Venita is trifling. I invited her to a party a few weeks ago and the bitch didn’t even show up and it was RSVP…” Her words trailed at the look that crossed Ashleigh’s face. “Oh…I would have invited you but I know how you don’t like that sort of thing…”

Venita showed up then, thankfully, saving Ashleigh from having to decide how to address her sister’s snub. Venita came in looking like a model. She was the tallest sister at approx 5’10” without heels. With them she was impressive. Christopher noted that the sisters were all very pretty but they had a penchant for lots of makeup and glam. Ashleigh was now a woman that went for comfort over glam though she still dressed up for work.  But at home she had taken to shorts and a t-shirt.