Her Premarital Ex (The Alexanders Book 3) (2 page)
Read Her Premarital Ex (The Alexanders Book 3) Online
Authors: Tina Martin
Tags: #suspense, #reflection, #true love, #unrequited love, #jealousy, #stalker, #fiction romance
disconcerted stupor, Beatrice said, “Okay, Suh, let me grab my
plate and I’ll be right back.”
He waited a few beats...hadn’t even touched
his food. Once Beatrice was sitting in front of him, he began his
meal.
“
Ah, see you’re trying the
pittu,” he told her.
“
Yeah...never thought I’d
be eating Sri Lankan cuisine, but I figure it took me two years to
learn how to cook it...might as well eat it.”
“
It’s pretty good,
Suh.”
Why does she keep calling
me, Sir,
he pondered. The way she said it
sounded more like ‘Suh’ but still, he wanted to know why she kept
on saying it. At any rate, he laid his fork in his plate and took a
sip of coconut milk, thinking about the last time he sat at this
table with Gabrielle. He had told her to never make eye contact
with him. Now, that’s all he wanted. Eye contact, to see her big,
beautiful eyes would make his day.
“
Is something the matter,
Suh? You look upset.”
Beatrice his full attention. “Why do you call me, Sir? Is it just
what you do, or—”
Beatrice grinned.
“
What?”
“
You don’t remember,
Suh?
“
No. Enlighten
me.”
“
When I applied for this
position, almost five years ‘go, you told me to address you as
Suh...not Mr. Alexander, not Dilvan...but Suh.”
“
Yes, Suh. You sho nuff
did. I just figured it was your thing to do, especially after you
made Mrs. Gabrielle call you ‘My Lord’.”
and said, “Well, from now on, I want you to call me Dilvan.”
“
Come again, Suh,”
Beatrice asked with raised brows.
“
I said, from this point
forward, I want you to call me Dilvan. Can you do that?”
“
Yes, Suh...I mean, yes,
Dilvan,” Beatrice grinned. “It sho gon’ sound mighty funny me
calling you by your first name and all...gon’ take Ms. Bea a while
to get used to that.”
“
Okay, well just keep it
at the front of your mind. Can you do that for me?”
“
Yes, Dilvan. I can do
that. See, it’s working already, now ain’t it?”
“
Yeah. It is.” Dilvan
dropped his fork again. He hadn’t known Beatrice that well. He
didn’t even know if she had a family. He’d never seen anyone come
by to visit her. She lived in one of the downstairs bedrooms in his
home. Out of curiosity, he asked, “Beatrice, do you have
children?”
“
No,” she replied
downcast. “Ms. Bea never had no chilrens. Doctor once told me I
couldn’t have youngins.”
“
Oh. What about family?
You have any family in North Carolina?”
“
No. I do have a brother
that lives in Newport News, Virginia. A younger
brother.”
“
Really?”
“
Yes.”
“
Why has he never come to
visit you?”
“’
Cause you told me I
could not have any visitors.”
“
I did no such thing,”
Dilvan responded facetiously, thinking she was joking.
“
Oh yes you
did.”
“
I did?” he asked with a
frown.
“
Yes, you did.”
“
Well, why don’t you visit
him?”
wrong with Dilvan, well other than the obvious. He couldn’t
remember a thing this morning. “You told me I couldn’t have any
time off work.”
“
I did what?”
“
You told me I could never
take any time off of work...said I needed to be available any time
you needed me.”
frustrated and exhausted. He couldn’t believe how selfish he’d been
to the people around him. That’s why he didn’t have Gabrielle any
longer. He shook his head. There were so many things he would do
differently if given the opportunity. He would love Gabrielle like
she deserved to be loved, tell her how beautiful she was and make
love to her. Since Tyson stole her from him, he hadn’t had the
opportunity to make recompense for his past actions, didn’t even
have an opportunity to win her back.
At any rate, he couldn’t
dwell on the past. He could only start rebuilding his character one
small step at a time. So looking at Beatrice, he said, “Okay, so
I
am
a jerk. I
can’t believe you haven’t had a vacation in five years, so here’s
what I’m going to do. You tell me when you want to take a vacation
and it’s yours. And if you want to visit your brother, I will
personally make the arrangements as well as pay all of your
expenses.”
“
Really, Suh?”
“
Dilvan,” he said,
correcting her and refreshing her memory on what she should be
calling him now.
“
Yes...sorry,
Dilvan...told you it was gon’ take Ms. Bea a while to get used to
calling you by your first name.”
“
And yes, I am
serious...let me know when you want to see your brother, and I’ll
pay all of your expenses.”
“I...I...I don’t know how to thank you.”
“
You already have. Oh, and
by the way, how much am I paying you?”
“
Twenty dollars and
hour.”
“
That just went up by ten
an hour.”
placed both of her hands on the table and steadied herself since
her head was spinning. She took a handkerchief from a pocket on the
apron she was wearing and dabbed her forehead and the perimeter of
her face. “Dilvan, do you have a fever?”
He grinned. “No, I’m fine, Beatrice...just
righting a lot of wrongs, starting with you.”
“
Well, ain’t God good,”
she declared, raising her hands to the roof. “I sho do ‘preciate
it.”
“
You deserve
it.”
“
Well, let me get these
dishes cleaned up,” she said with a pep in her step, eager to work
now that she’d just gotten a raise and apparently a sane
boss.
“
Um...actually, before you
go, I need to ask you something.”
“
Okay.” She gave him her
attention again.
“
At the wedding reception
party, did Gabrielle say anything about me?”
said, “No...I don’t believe she did.”
“
I saw her that day...at
the store. She was buying some ice,” he said in a nostalgic
way.
“
Oh yeah, ‘cause the ice
maker had stopped working or something like that. So you spoke with
Mrs. Gabrielle?”
“
Dilvan, you know
Gabrielle and Tyson are
happily
married now, don’t ya?”
him in the heart. “Yeah, I know but—”
“
But don’t you think it’s
best to let her be...for her sake and for your own?”
“
I thought about it, but
no, I don’t. I can’t get over feeling like Tyson took her from me,
Beatrice. I mean, I know where I went wrong with Gabrielle, and all
I want to do is make it right.”
situation for the first time since Gabrielle left. Dilvan seemed to
be genuinely sorry for what he’d done to her and Beatrice could see
firsthand that he was making changes. Yet and still, he needed to
realize that Gabrielle was with Tyson now, and they were married
and in love. So drawing in a breath, she said, “Sometimes, it’s
hard for us to move on, ‘specially when we know we’re the one who
messed up.”
Dilvan shook his head in agreement. “Let me
ask you this...you know me. Do you think I’m a loveable
person?”
Beatrice sighed. She
didn’t want to tell him what she
really
thought – that he was too
rigid to even think about love. But she didn’t want to sugar-coat
anything either. “I think that sometimes, people rush into love and
relationships. You’re still young, Dilvan, and you a handsome
fella, too. Just take some time, get yourself together and figure
out how you can make yourself a better person – a person that will
be ready for a relationship. Everything else will fall into
place.”
advice.”
“
Anytime. Now, let me
clean up in here.”
Dilvan crossed his arms
and leaned back in his chair. He’d been getting a lot of advice
lately but something about Beatrice’s advice resonated with
him.
Make yourself a person that will be
ready for a relationship...
it sounded easy
but Dilvan knew it would require a lot of hard work, and to win
Gabrielle back, he was up for the challenge.
After
extending the umbrella above the four-chair patio table,
Gabrielle sipped on a cup of coffee, topped with cool whip and
cinnamon, waiting for Tyson to join her. The morning was sweet, the
humid air dampened her skin and while she looked towards the water,
she admired the way the sun struck it at different angles which
brightened some spots and darkened others, producing a variation of
colors.
Gabrielle inhaled it all in and released a slow, steady breath like
she was practicing some type of deep breathing technique. Her body
was well exercised thanks to jogging, and thoroughly loved thanks
to Tyson. Now he was busy making breakfast.
She watched him emerge
from the kitchen holding two plates. She smiled. Every time she
laid eyes on him it was out of admiration and appreciation. He
inspired her in so many ways – she wanted nothing other than to be
a better woman for him. A woman with something going for herself.
She wanted him to admire her as much as she admired
him.
She watched him smile. He
had on a white T-shirt and a pair of raggedy, distressed jeans that
gave him a sexy, bad-boyish edge.
“Here you are, my dear,”
he said setting a plate in front of her. “Let me know how you like
it.”
the table across from her, then took the seat in front of
it.
Gabrielle hadn’t touched
her food because she was too busy watching Tyson take his seat.
Once he did, he looked up at her and met her gaze.
“What?”
Gabrielle shook her head.
“Nothing,” she decided to say. At some point, she knew he would
grow tired of hearing her say how lucky she was to have him and how
much she loved him. But that’s exactly what she was
thinking.
“Nothing?” he responded.
“Looks like you’re in deep thought.”
“I was.”
“About what?”
As if you don’t
know
. Gabrielle took another sip of
coffee. “Nothing.” She studied him more, realizing that he was
somewhat of a mystery. The fact that she didn’t know every single
detail about him seemed to give him an edge. Besides, everyone had
a past – some hidden secrets that they didn’t want anyone to know
about. Even though Tyson’s secrets were the topic of many rumors,
she could see for herself that he was a good man. He’d helped her
get back on her feet and rescued her from his cruel, self-absorbed
cousin. In the process, he’d fallen in love with her, made her his
wife and now, they were sharing breakfast on a most beautiful
day.
“A penny for your
thoughts,” Tyson said, watching the breeze tackle her hair. The
wind had picked up considerably. A storm was in the forecast for
the evening hours.
just thinking about some stuff.” She took a knife and a fork,
sliced open the pastry watching cheese ooze out. Then she collected
a piece on her fork and tasted it. “Mmm,” she mumbled. “Tyson, this
is so good.”
Tyson smiled and began
eating his own meal. Then taking a sip of coffee, he set the cup on
the table and said, “Talk to me, Bri.”
“Okay, okay. So, I’ve been
thinking about something,” Gabrielle began with garbled words
because she was still eating. “I want to learn the business of
restaurants. That’s what you do...that’s what Padma does, so since
I haven’t mapped out a career path for myself, I was thinking that
maybe I should learn the career of those around me.”
looking at her in an intriguing way. She was married to a
millionaire, yet, she still wanted a career? She didn’t need a job.
She didn’t need to do anything but be his wife.
“What?” she asked when she
noticed he’d stopped eating.
smirk on his face, he said, “Just curious as to why you want a
career.”
She shrugged. “I always
wanted a career. My father taught me I should work for what I want
and not rely on anyone for anything.”
He frowned. Something
about the way she said that didn’t go over well with him. “Not rely
on anyone?” he said, borderline offended. “I’m your
husband.”
“I know that,
but—”
“But you don’t want to
rely on me.”