Forgotten Love: A BWWM Pregnancy Billionaire Love Story (16 page)

“
Gawd
you ruined my announcement,” she said putting her hands down.

“
Oh
my sorry. Okay pretend I know nothing. Go,” he said.

“
I’m
getting married!” she exclaimed.

“
Yay!”
Kareem replied. “About time he made an honest woman of you.”

Allen
was infected with nostalgia at the thought of getting married; he was
looking through pictures of his parents, and all the memorabilia they
left behind including the postcards they sent from St. Maarten and
some photos that had been rescued from their camera. They were so
happy and content and Allen took comfort from the fact that their
last memories were obviously happy ones. Frances came into the study,
carrying a cup of coffee for him.

“
Thought
you could use one,” she said.

“
Thanks,”
he replied absently. “How would you feel about getting married
on St. Maarten island?”

“
What?
Where?” she asked caught wrong-footed.

“
I
was thinking we could retrace my parents’ steps you know? They
went to St. Maarten for their anniversary. I thought we could get
married there,” he said still studying the pictures.

“
Don’t
you think that’s a little bit…morbid?” Frances
asked.

“
Nah.
I mean, sure they died in a horrific plane crash returning from
there, and that’s maybe a bad memory for me. But for them, they
were happy when they were there. I want to turn that memory around.
make it good.”

“
Well,
when you put it like that, I can hardly refuse can I?” she said
sitting on the seat opposite his and sipping her own coffee.

“
Hey,
it's your wedding too. If you don’t want this we don’t do
it,” he said looking up at her.

She put
down her cup to look at him, “Let’s do it.”

“
Great.
So next item on the agenda; who are we inviting?”

“
I’m
guessing your uncle is not on the list?” she asked.

“
Nah.
No way,” he replied with a quick head shake. “What about
you? You inviting Karl?” he asked with a grin.

“
Yeah,
sure. When hell freezes over,” she said with an answering
smile. She picked up her cup. “So okay that’s who we’re
not
inviting. How about who actually makes it onto the VIP list?”

“
I
was thinking Kareem?” Allen said.

“
Well,
obvs,” she said.

“
And
maybe your agent?” he asked.

“
Nope.
We don’t know each other like that,” she said.

“
Then
who?” he asked.

“
You
know I’ve always been the introvert. Kareem and Miguel are my
list,” she said.

“
Wow.
Okay well, mine is a bit longer. I have my college buddies and some
people at the foundation,” he said.

“
Yeah,
okay that sounds about right. What about your high school buddies. I
know you guys still Facebook,” she said.

“
Yeah…but
they were mostly mean to you so no,” he said.

Frances
smiled, “Look at you standing up for me.”

Allen
narrowed his eyes. “I always did,” he bit out.

“
Okay
okay, let’s not get our panties in a twist. Do you want a
sandwich? I could use a sandwich. Some steak and tomatoes. With
cheese,” she said as she stood up and left the room. Allen
watched her go with a smile on his face.

*****

Logistically,
it was a nightmare getting everyone to St. Maarten by the following
weekend. But Allen wasn’t a billionaire for nothing. He hired
the best event managers to make sure everything went as planned. They
wanted to keep the wedding as exclusive and out of the public eye as
possible so they told only those who were attending and no one else.
Frances hadn’t yet told her agent that her memory was back,
they decided to hold off until after the ceremony just so they didn’t
have to deal with the fall out till then. Frances knew that if the
publishers had their way she would be going non-stop for the next few
months but for her sake, Allen’s and the baby’s she knew
that was probably not a good idea. Hiding was a temporary fix though
and a more permanent one would have to be found soon.

She and
Kareem went shopping for a wedding dress because even though he lived
in Vegas, he still knew the best places to shop in New York. It
wasn’t like she was on a budget; Allen had literally given her
a blank check, but that didn’t mean she was going to go crazy.
To that end, they ended up at the The Bridal Garden which was the
only not-for-profit bridal boutique in New York City, with donated
designer wedding gowns discounted up to 75% off the original retail
price. Most dresses were samples, overstock, and once-worn; a
majority of the gowns are donated by designers, stores, and brides.
The proceeds obtained benefited education for disadvantaged children.
It was right up Frances’ street. Kareem had made an appointment
so they waited in the foyer for someone to come and attend to them.
An attendant came hurrying toward them, smiling with welcome.

“
Hi.
How are you doing?” she asked and then turned to Kareem and
frowned. “Er, I should take you through our rules just so you
understand.”

“
Okay,”
Frances said already intimidated.

“
Each
bride is allowed to bring two guests to the consultation. Brides
cannot bring men or small children into the boutique,” she said
with a glance at Kareem before continuing. “ We do not allow
photographs to be taken of the gowns. Brides are kindly asked to
remove their shoes before trying on the gowns. Brides are allowed to
bring a maximum of five gowns into the fitting room at one time. We
kindly ask that brides hang the gowns that she tried on back in the
garment bags, and that they be returned to the correct section in the
boutique. Deposits are non-refundable and can only be applied towards
the purchase of a gown. All sales are final,” she finished,
like some kind of automaton.

“
Er,
Kareem is a transgender individual,” Frances said in a small
voice. It was helpful that he was wearing a skirt/kilt sort of thing
and he had on eye liner and lipstick.

The
attendant hesitated, clearly at a loss for what to do about this;
then she smiled. “I’m sure it will be fine. Come on this
way,” she said and led them to the shop .

The
second dress that Frances tried was perfect. It had a tight bodice
that held up her swelling breasts and then fell to the floor in a
cascading A-line skirt. It was simple and elegant and she felt
absolutely right in it.

“
Found
it,” she said emerging from the changing room to show Kareem.

He
clapped his hands, “You have the eye my dear. It's perfect.”

“
Yeah?
You really think so?” she asked looking down at herself.

“
I
know so. Come on, lets go. Time for shoe shopping!” he said.
They paid for the dress and left.

“
And
no discount stores for this!” Kareem said.

“
Yeah
of course. New shoes for both of us,” she said hooking her arm
in his “I like shopping with you – so fun.”

“
That’s
cause I’m fabulous,” he replied smiling at her.

They
ended up at the Glass Slipper which Frances thought was extremely
corny but Kareem said it was thee place to shop. She managed to find
some flats that would do just perfect. They were
Benjamin
Adams and were just bright and sparkly. The were known as The Halle
wedding shoe which had an all-over crystal look and flat - 1"
heel. The open peep toe and closed pump heel were just great for a
steady walk down the aisle. She chose the ivory Duchess silk only but
with the crystals covering the fabric. Kareem was disappointed at her
flat heel, though not surprised. He himself tried on some heels and
came away with two pairs of shoes; Milly as well as Pilar by Badgley
Mischka.

They
were flying to St. Maarten on Wednesday to make sure arrangements
were made and bachelor/bachelorette parties could be had. Now that
everything was set, Allen was peculiarly excited and he’d
stopped going to work to make sure that everything was ready. Frances
had a talk with her publisher to let her know she’d be out of
town for the next two weeks and then they were off.

*****

The
hotel they were staying at was a five star and they booked the entire
floor for the wedding party. Since the party wasn’t that large,
they didn’t fill every room but they were able to have a lot of
fun since nobody would be complaining about the noise levels. This
meant impromptu gatherings in the hallway to eat junk food and bond.
Frances got to know Allen’s friends a bit better in those two
days and they got to know her too, discovering that she was indeed as
cool as Allen was always telling them. They were supposed to get
married on the beach and the chaplain who was to conduct the ceremony
wanted to meet them prior to the ceremony. Which meant putting on
some actual clothes and going to meet up with him at his office. He
was a kind man, eager to ensure that they were ready for the
responsibility of marriage.

“
How
long have you known each other?” he asked.

Allen
and Frances’ eyes met and they smiled.

“
Who
knows? Like ten years?” Frances said.

“
Something
like, yeah,” Allen agreed.

The
chaplain smiled. “That’s good. So you know each other
well. And why do you want to take this step?” he inquired.

“
We’re…having
a baby,” Allen said bashfully. “And we want to make it
official before the baby arrives.”

“
Oh,
congratulations,” the chaplain said.

“
Thank
you,” Frances said.

“
But
what about love. I have not heard you speak of it,” he said.

Frances
and Allen looked at each other again. They reached out simultaneously
to link hands.

“
That’s
because we assumed that was a given,” he said.

“
Ah,
but you know what they say about assumptions,” the chaplain
replied with a smile at their entwined fingers.

“
We
love each other Pastor Jim, and we are planning to spend the rest of
our lives together. We’re each other’s family and now our
family is growing. For all intents and purposes, we might as well
already be married; but the law requires a certificate from a
licensed practitioner to say so; so here we are,” Frances
explained with a polite smile. Pastor Jim nodded.

“
Well
said,” he said.

“
Thank
you. So can we get on with it?” she asked.

“
Yes.
There are just some forms you need to fill out…” Pastor
Jim said passing them over, “And a fee that needs to be paid;
check or cash will do,” he continued.

“
Right
on,” Allen said taking the forms. “It shall be done.”

*****

When
they got back to the hotel, they found Kareem teaching Allison, one
of Allen’s college buddies, how to put on eyeliner the
right
way. They had also arranged a joint bachelor/bachelorette party
complete with strippers and burritos. They’d arranged to have
the party in one of the empty rooms on their floor to make it easier
to limit gatecrashers plus they could get as loud as they pleased
without bugging anyone. The male strippers were performing in one
room while the females were performing in another. Allen was
reluctant to be separated from Frances, mostly because he got a look
at the male strippers and they were
buff
.

“
Okay,
compromise,” Frances proposed.

“
What?”
asked Allen.

“
I
go to your show, you go to mine,” she said.

Allen
thought about this for a while. “Okay then,” he agreed.

Frances
got through his show okay, even when one of the strippers was
pressing her boobage into Allen’s face and his eyes were glued
to them. Not for long though, he knew she was watching. When it came
to the main show however and one of the dancers was shaking his junk
in Frances’ face, Allen came forward to pull him away, shaking
his head in negation. He was booed by everyone as they called him a
wet blanket and spoil sport and pig but he would not be moved. He
grabbed Frances, leading her to the dance floor and gave her a lap
dance instead. Frances was perfectly okay with that, and so were all
the other females in the room when he began to strip.