Center Stage (16 page)

“Nicely said, Forrester. So then give me what you have in your pocket.”

He chuckled. “I thought I’d had that hidden fairly well.”

“Um, no.”

John reached into his pocket and touched the box, then pulled his hand out without having grabbed it.

“Can I have everyone’s attention?” That was probably the most uncomfortable phrase he’d ever spoken aloud. Had her sister and her sister-in-laws not helped him pick out the ring, he’d have given it to her while they watched MythBusters. That was more their style. But this was going to need some onlookers.

When he looked back at Arianna, her eyes had gone wide. Yeah, he’d taken her by surprise, too.

Regan ran past all the guests. She had her camera in her hand, and he figured if that didn’t give it away, nothing would.

John took Arianna’s hand. It shook in his.

“I wanted to give you something very special for your birthday.”

“You did. You’re taking me to San Francisco.”

He’d heard Madeline gasp and then sniff back tears. Regan, on the other hand, was doing some kind of dance just behind him.

“I am. But to mark your fortieth year and to seal the commitment you and I have made to each other, I thought you needed something with a bit more longevity.”

Tears were forming in her eyes. God, he wished he’d have done this in the privacy of their own home.

He pulled the box from his pocket. Arianna pulled her hand away and clasped them both over her mouth.

John opened the box, and this time he heard Emily Keller begin to cry.

“Arianna, I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you. And I know we said no marriage licenses and no wedding vows, but that didn’t mean you didn’t deserve the most beautiful ring your sisters could pick out for you.”

She shuttered and dropped her hands. “You took them shopping with you?”

“If I’d have picked this out, you’d have a Ring Pop.”

She laughed through her tears.

John pulled the ring from the box and handed the empty box to Madeline, who was now nearly sobbing.

He pulled Arianna’s hand toward him. “I love you. I want you to wear this as a daily celebration of my love for you. That commitment is real. I’m never going anywhere.”

He was sure she’d have said something, if she could. Her nose was red, and her breaths came in quick pants. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She was the most beautiful mess he’d ever seen.

“How many more secrets do you have?” She laughed as he slid the ring on her finger.

“Only one more, but you can have it on Tuesday.”

He pulled her into his arms and held her tight. Everything felt right.

John had caught her throughout the night looking down at her hand.

“I think she likes it,” Simone said as she sat down beside him on the sofa.

“You girls did a good job.”

“You did not have to use our suggestion. You get all the credit.”

“I wanted it to mean something. I wanted her to know how much I love her.”

“Oh, I think she knows.” Simone touched his arm. “You are a very thoughtful man, John Forrester. I have always enjoyed that about you.”

“Thoughtful? Couldn’t say I’d use that word.”

“I have seen you with your employees. You are strict, but you have a good heart. You care about them.”

He did care about his employees. Every one of them—usually. And if he couldn’t make himself care about them then they didn’t need to be working for Zach’s company.

“I hear you’re the caring one. You’re starting an organization at the clinic to help people find jobs?”

“I know a lot of people with big businesses. I do not see why I should not help people with what I have.” She brushed her hands over her skirt. “I may not have wealth in money anymore to help people, but I have so much more. I wish
I
were my father’s riches, as Avery and Curtis are mine.”

He never thought he’d see eye to eye with Simone Pierpont, but with that statement, he sure did.

John had never thought himself a wealthy man, not monetarily speaking, but seated next to a woman, once worth perhaps a billion dollars, he thought perhaps they were as wealthy as two people could be.

Chapter Eighteen

John had personally watched Arianna shine her ring at least ten times over the weekend. When they’d gone to the grocery store, he noticed how she held the charge slip so everyone could see her finger. It was as if suddenly she was a hand model, and it thrilled him.

Regan had been right. Attaching a proposal to the ring would have been the biggest mistake. They were right where they needed to be—together, in love, and happy.

Monday morning, Arianna had set up meetings with local business owners. She would need their support when the theater opened. She understood networking, and he loved watching her work, but construction called, and he spent his day receiving the shipment of theater seats, which were two weeks early.

Eduardo convinced Carlos to excuse him from school so he could work on Arianna’s office. John wasn’t sure how much he agreed with that, but if an educator agreed to call in his own son, who was he to judge?

He hadn’t seen much of Eduardo all day except at lunch time, out at the break truck, when he’d bought him a Pepsi and a hot dog. Now they were an hour from quitting time, and he figured he’d better make sure the room would be ready for Arianna’s surprise tomorrow morning.

When John opened the door to her office, he wasn’t sure why he’d even questioned that it might not be done in time or be absolutely brilliant. Eduardo Keller was a natural.

Eduardo was in the corner behind the desk, which would be his aunt’s. He was finishing a detail, no doubt.

“Hey, John, what do you think?”

John looked around the room. Every detail was exactly as Eduardo had described it less than a week earlier. The colors were vibrant. There were two desks in one half of the room as well as a large table where they could work. The other side of the room was divided by a wall, which had a window so Arianna could see the door, and had a desk and two chairs. The windows looking out into the street had blinds on them, and there was even a plant in the corner.

“You have certainly showed me your potential. Your uncle will be very proud of you.”

“I hope so. Maybe he’ll give me a reference into Virginia Tech.”

John felt the unmistakable warmth of pride in his chest. “I’m sure he will. And you can expect one from me, too.”

Eduardo’s head snapped up. He was suppressing his grin. “Really?”

“I know what you’re capable of. You and Zach are very alike, you know.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Shows you just how old I am. I remember Zach learning the ropes.”

“This is what I want to do.”

“And you’ll do well. I can’t wait to see your aunt’s face when she looks at this place.”

Eduardo’s shoulders dropped. “I wish I could see her expression.”

John contemplated for a moment. “Call your dad and tell him I’ll bring you home. Let me get your aunt down here.”

John walked out into the lobby, which was looking very good if he did think so himself. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Arianna. She had to come down now. Eduardo deserved to see her face.

John had felt bad about disrupting her afternoon. Arianna had just filled a bubble bath and poured a glass of wine, she’d told him. But he promised it would be worth it,
and
that when they got home, he’d join her for the bubble bath and that glass of wine.

That had worked for her, and she was on her way.

By the time she pulled up in front of the theater, the last of the construction crew was pulling away. John smiled as he opened the front door and watched her climb out of her car. The place wasn’t so eerie anymore. It didn’t have that
inhabited
feel.

He kept the smile on his face even though he was thinking about the night that someone had tried to hurt Arianna and April. It hurt to think that someone would break into the building and deface it after they had put so much work into it.

She hadn’t said much more about the phone calls or text messages she’d received, and he knew she would no longer keep them a secret from him. She understood the severity of the situation. But that part still haunted him. Someone had taken a lot of time to mess with her and follow her. All he could hope, as she walked toward him with her hair piled on top of her head and her feet clad in UGG boots, was that her terror was over. It was time for Arianna to become part of the community again and to do what she wanted to do.

Arianna walked up the steps. “I got a phone call from this location. A man said to meet him here, and he’d make it worth my while.”

John laughed when he noticed she had on flannel pajamas under her coat. “I see you dressed up for the occasion.”

“Well, only the best for you, dear.”

She kissed him softly on the lips, and it warmed him throughout.

He shook his head. “What if I was going to take you out to a fancy dinner?”

She gave him a look over from head to toe. “With an inch of construction dust on your shoes, and what is this?” She reached up to his hair and pulled out a small piece of wire. “Do I have lights?”

He nodded. “Yes, you do.”

“So why am I here?”

“Another birthday surprise, but the person in charge of it wanted to be here when you received it.”

He stepped back through the door and closed it behind Arianna as soon as she crossed the threshold.

She looked around. “It’s starting to look very nice in here, Forrester.”

“I aim to please.”

“And please you do.”

“C’mon.” He took her hand.

He led her down the hall toward the office and very calmly led her in, but she gasped and stopped at the door.

“Oh, John! This is wonderful.”

He smiled. “I know.”

Eduardo moved around the wall and walked toward them. “Do you really like it?”

“It is perfect.” She turned to John. “This is my surprise?”

“Yes.”

“So who wanted to see my face?”

John pointed to Eduardo.

She turned to look at her nephew. “You did this?”

“Yes.”

“You and John?”

John shook his head. “Oh, no. I gave this young man a project. I asked him what he’d see in here and told him he had a week to make it work. I think he did an excellent job.”

Arianna moved through the office right to Eduardo and wrapped her arms around his neck. John laughed when he only staggered back, trapped by his aunt’s embrace.

“I love it, Ed! You’re amazing. Just amazing.”

“Thank you,” he said, muffled against her.

Arianna pulled back. “Let me see. Creative colors. A window in the wall so I can see the door, but the room is still one room. Two more desks for others to work here. A table to lay my stuff out on. And, is that a closet to store stuff?”

John chuckled, shoved his hands in his pocket, and leaned back on his heels. “Well, Eduardo, I’m very impressed. You did see exactly what she’d want.”

She turned back to Eduardo, who had managed to move at least two feet away from her. “That’s what you’d told him?”

“Yes.”

“I think you’ve found your calling.” She threw her hands in the air. “We need to take him to dinner to celebrate.”

“You’re in your pajamas,” John reminded her.

“And you have construction crap in your hair.”

Eduardo cleared his throat. “I skipped school today, and I have a test tomorrow. So I’d better go home and study.”

Arianna smiled. “You are your father’s child. School first.”

Eduardo shrugged.

“Well, we have to celebrate.” She thought for a moment. “Ice cream on our way to take you home?”

“Can’t turn that down.”

Arianna drove home after they had treated Eduardo to ice cream, and she’d convinced John, one more time when they went back to the theater to pick up her car, to go in and look at her office. She couldn’t believe how well it fit her, and she couldn’t wait to move in and start working. John wasn’t going to get rid of her now.

She turned up the radio when she heard the familiar voice of Luke Bryan, and she was in the kind of mood that a good southern twang made her heartbeat kick up a notch. But she knew it was because it reminded her of John. And even though he was only a mile ahead of her, thinking about him made her happy too.

There had been a bit of a sting, knowing she was facing forty. John had greatly eased that. She knew the surprise party was all Regan’s doing, but the ring…oh, the ring.

She looked down at her finger. Even in the dark of her car, the sapphire sparkled up at her. Certainly there wasn’t a happier forty-year-old in the world.

John was parked in front of the house when she pulled up. That meant he was still looking out for her. She was very sure that the worst was behind them. The theater was nearing completion, and no matter what John said, she was sure it would be done before July.

Every entrance and exit had been rekeyed and redesigned, so no vagrants were going to be keeping house there. The outside was scheduled to be painted the next week, and John had contacted the city to have the lights fixed on the street. But this is how it would be now—forever.

She liked the way it felt, knowing he’d always be protective over her.

He was at her car before she climbed out.

“Hovering, Forrester?”

“Never going to be too careful.”

“Remember,” she patted her purse, “I’m protected.”

He rubbed his cheek, and she could hear the scratch of his whiskers against his hand. “Don’t get too confident, okay? My rules still apply, for now. You don’t go to the theater unless I’m there.”

“Right.” She chuckled and shut the car door, but he quickly caught her arm and turned her toward him.

“I’m not kidding, Arianna. You don’t go unless I tell you to be there. I’m not messing around with this. Whoever was calling you and following you is still out there.”

His grip had become tight, though she knew he didn’t mean to hurt her. “Okay. Okay. I promise not to come down unless you tell me to.”