A Seductive Arrangement, page 11
And common sense would keep her from even once imagining that any of this could be real. No matter how much she might wish it to.
Toyin turned sharply when she heard something move behind her. She saw Mama Bisi standing tall, her finger pointing at her in accusation.
“Stop the wedding! This marriage is doomed!”
Chapter 23
The crowd gasped and a wave of uneasy murmurs swept through the chapel.
“Mummy please,” Toyin’s mother said.
“Why is that woman shouting?” Rudy asked his brother James.
“I will not keep quiet,” Mama Bisi declared. She motioned towards the two couples. “There is only one pair that should be at that altar.” She pointed to Toyin again. “This must not continue. Walk away now before this farce becomes real.” She narrowed her eyes. “I was right about Lance.”
Toyin’s cheek burned in remembrance.
“I am right about this. I am always right.”
“I’m sorry,” Toyin stuttered feeling weighted by the crowd’s gaze on her. “I know I didn’t consult with you first, but I care—”
“Don’t lie so blatantly in a church. I know what I know and I see what I see. She doesn’t deserve him.”
Jackson frowned. “Madam—”
Mama Bisi rested a hand over her heart. “I love my granddaughter, she is my flesh, but I also know a poor match when I see one. Especially for you. I will not sit here and be silent.”
Aunt Gretchen stood to her feet and pressed her hands together, pleading. “Mummy, please it’s already done. This man is Toyin’s choice and—”
Mama Bisi folded her arms and pinned Jackson with a stare. “His heart is too big.” She shifted her gaze to Toyin. “Her heart is too small. They do not suit each other. There is no balance here. How can grass grow in a desert? Heed my words. Continue at your peril. You won’t—”
Edgar stood. “He will do what he damn well wants to!”
The crowd turned to him.
“I do not know you,” he said. “But I know Jackson. He is a Fortune and we Fortune men know our own minds. If my stepson wants to marry your granddaughter a hundred times he will do so. She’s one of us now. Do not interfere.”
Mama Bisi sent him an ugly look. “You use people as pawns. You have no idea what I’m saying.”
“You can—”
“Enough!” Jackson said in a voice that left everyone quiet. He turned back to the pastor and said in a soft voice, “Continue.”
The pastor hesitated then did so as the sound of Mama Bisi’s heels pounded the ground as she stormed out of the church.
Toyin began to look back, but Jackson grabbed her hand, stopping her.
The rest of the wedding ceremony continued under a more somber air, but they both made it through. Tansy sniffed instead of giggled and before they parted she gave Toyin a watery kiss on the cheek.
In the limo on the way to the reception, Toyin held her head in her hands.
“She’s wrong,” Jackson said in a fierce tone. “I deserve you. I want you and no one else.”
“She should have punished me, not you. I should have just left. Now everyone knows.”
“They don’t know anything.”
“They’ll suspect this isn’t real. Now they’ll—”
“I don’t care.”
Toyin lifted her head. “Yes, you do. She’s right. I don’t deserve you and now everybody knows it. How humiliating.”
“She’s wrong.”
“She’s never wrong.”
Jackson’s tone hardened. “She’s wrong about us.”
“Is she? What are we doing and who are we doing it for? For money and a job position? Does that even make sense? She probably won’t speak to me again.”
Toyin could understand her grandmother’s words. Jackson was just a man who loved being in love. He could fall in love with anyone and be happy. However, she had never been in love. She liked people. Cared. But love…she’d never felt that way or maybe she’d never tried. Whatever the reason they were two very different people and that wasn’t going to change.
“Is there a way to change your grandmother’s mind?”
“Why would we want to do that? She knows this isn’t real. It’s all make believe.”
“Is there a way?” he insisted.
“You’re not making sense.”
“Answer the question.”
“I suppose nothing is set in stone. But I’d have to ask my mum—”
“Ask her.”
“You don’t see how lucky we are. We dodged a bullet. We can shorten this farce and—”
“I need this to work. Even if it’s just for a year. I need the world to see that someone’s willing to marry me because she wants me. Not because of a business deal or some other reason, just me.”
“Jackson—”
“These last few days have been the best I’ve had in a long time. And it’s because of you. I’m not asking you to love me for real. I didn’t realize how much I needed this wedding until now.”
“You heard my grandmother. I don’t deserve you.” She shook her head. “And stop saying she’s wrong. She rarely is. I don’t want to hurt you.” Toyin called out to the driver. “Stop the limo.”
“No,” Jackson countered. He took her hands in his. “I know you’re nervous about the reception. I know this has been a lot to take, but you’re doing great. Don’t worry.”
“That doesn’t help.”
“What?”
She pulled her hands away. “Telling a person who’s worried not to worry. It doesn’t help.”
“Okay, then relax. Take deep breaths. You don’t have to do anything but smile.”
“I’m not looking forward to an encore of humiliation. I was crazy to do this. I should have known Mama Bisi would make me pay.” She hung her head. “I’ll do everything else, please don’t make me do this.”
“I need you to. It’s important that Ava and Edgar—”
“I wish I could.” She held his gaze, pain squeezing her heart. “When we’re alone it’s like magic. I feel completely myself. It’s wonderful but when others see us together something in me just…dies. And now Mama Bisi’s words keep echoing in my head. I can’t face another crowd. Tell them I’m sick. Tell them an emergency came up.”
He grabbed her shoulders, desperate to convince her. “Everyone will be waiting for us.”
“I can’t go.” Her voice cracked in misery. “I can’t…I can’t.” Her mind raced but she couldn’t find the words. She hated disappointing everyone. Why did she always have to be a disappointment?
Toyin rubbed her hands feeling as if she were being torn apart inside. She wasn’t good with words. She wasn’t good with people. She pulled out her cell phone and began to draw the image of a woman underneath an anvil about to fall. She showed it to him.
“I won’t let that happen to you,” Jackson said.
She drew another sketch showing the same woman and people pointing and laughing.
“I won’t let that happen either.”
She felt his chin as he rested it on her shoulder. It had a calming effect on her. She drew a woman melting into the floor.
“Not that either,” he said in a quiet voice. He pointed to the screen. “Now draw me.”
She looked at him in question.
“What?”
“The way you said that reminded me of—”
His gaze held hers, intense. “Who?”
She shook her head. “Just a boy I once knew. It was a long time ago.”
“I acted like him?”
“It’s was just a memory and you’re not him so it doesn’t matter.”
“Are you sure?”
“That it doesn’t matter?”
“No, that I’m not him.”
She frowned. It was a strange question. “Of course you’re not him. He had a different last name and—”
Jackson nudged her with his elbow. “Go on and draw me.”
She began to sketch him in his tux.
“Now add a sword. Go on,” he urged when she sent him a skeptical look.
She rolled her eyes. “Do you want a cape too?”
“Next time. Better yet, draw me with my shirt off.”
“No.”
“Naked?”
“No.”
“I’ll pose if that helps.”
The memory of Jacky came back to her again. Draw me. Draw me. I’m strong.
She remembered standing outside of school and seeing Jacky show the picture she’d drawn for him to his mother and brother.
His brother…
His twin brother.
Jacky had a twin brother.
But that was impossible.
She remembered he was sad towards the end of the year. She heard from another student that he had to move. She remembered giving him another drawing and her address but he never wrote back. She always imagined him having three more girlfriends at whatever new school he would go to. She didn’t cry like the others, but she did miss him. She wondered what he would be like now.
“Figured it out yet?” Jackson said.
She turned to him. “How can you be Jacky Brownson?”
He nodded and grinned. “In the flesh.”
“I don’t understand. Your name—”
“When my mother remarried my stepfather adopted us and gave us his surname. I started to go by ‘Jackson’ in the fourth grade.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“How about ‘Long time no see’?”
“When did you know who I was?”
“The moment I heard someone say your name then I saw you in the New Worlds store. I was so shocked I toppled the display.”
“Oh, right…that was you. I thought I remembered Ava…” She paused. “And now that I come to think of it—”
“Don’t think of it,” Jackson said with a groan. “It wasn’t a good day.
“Why didn’t you say anything before?”
“Pride, I was hoping that you’d finally recognize me. But then I got tired of waiting.”
“You look…”
He lifted his chin in a haughty manner. “Amazing I know.”
She rolled her eyes. “I should have known it was you. It was the lack of three girlfriends that threw me off. But then again you did have Ava, Enomwoyi and Sylvia.” She shook her head. “I was so silly. I even gave you my address to write me so that we could be friends.”
“I know.”
“You never wrote me.”
He nodded. “I know. Don’t ask why. I was six. But I did make up for it.” All humor left his voice and eyes. His gaze darkened and his voice deepened. “Toyin, I love you.”
She smiled, sad. “You love sex.”
“No, I like sex. Actually I like sex a lot but I love you.”
She didn’t know how to respond. Why was he saying this to her? Had he really married her on purpose because of some faint connection years ago? That didn’t make any sense.
Finding out who he really was had come too late to save her. She shouldn’t have fallen for him. Despite all his female woes he would keep having them. She now knew why he always got his heart broken. Her grandmother was right, his heart was too big. He was a man who loved being in love. The woman didn’t matter, only the feeling. He was a man who could find pleasure anywhere. Once she was out of his life, he’d fall in love with someone else all over again.
Women would always be part of his life just as he’d been surrounded by girls as a child, as an adult it hadn’t changed. There would be adoring women outside a club, in a bar, at the office. Everywhere.
And she’d fallen in love with him. But she would not continue down the doomed path Mama Bisi had predicted. Her tiny heart could not weather the pain he could inflict.
Toyin looked up at the driver. “Stop the limo.”
“Toyin.”
“I’m not going. I’ve already ruined my poor cousin’s wedding day I won’t ruin her reception as well. Don’t worry, I’ll fulfill my contract.”
Jackson looked at her both hurt and surprised. “Contract? Did you hear what I said? I love you. I want to be with you. I want to spend my life with you.”
When the limo pulled up to the curve, Toyin reached for the door. “Tell everyone I’m sorry.”
He stopped her, his tone pleading. “Stay with me. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy. I don’t care if you don’t love me.”
Toyin looked at him for a long moment, her heart breaking. She opened the door and got out afraid she might stay, the cool autumn air chilling her skin spite the bright sunshine. She turned to him, blinking back tears. “That’s the problem, Jackson. You should.”
Chapter 24
“Sorry about your wedding,” Ava said, entering Jackson’s office at BioMed Solutions that Monday.
“Are you?” he said, doubtful.
“It was interesting. Has Toyin recovered?”
He hadn’t seen her since she left the limo. But Ava didn’t need to know that. He’d arrived at the reception alone and made excuses that everyone understood. But he hadn’t been able to fool his brother James for long. While people were dancing he called him aside and said, “What’s going on?”
“I told her who I really am,” Jackson said, staring down at the champagne glass in his hand.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
He took a sip. “I mean who I was.”
“And who were you?”
He lifted his gaze. “Jacky Brownson.”
James looked at him sharply. “She knew you from before? Who is she?”
“A girl I knew from elementary school. The one I told you about. She drew me on the elephant.”
James’s brows shot up. “The girl who barely spoke? The girl who had you drawing hearts for days?”
“Shut up.”
James looked at him for a long moment. “You fell in love with her, didn’t you?”
Jackson looked down at his drink. “I didn’t plan to. At first I only wanted to…” He let his words fall away.
James patted his brother on the back. “Once the shock wears off, I’m sure she’ll understand.”
But Jackson knew there was more to the story than his brother could fathom. He’d told her he loved her and she’d run away. How come his love was never enough?
He looked up at Ava now, dressed in her classic dark suit, in no mood for sarcasm or pity. “What do you want?”
“I want to talk to you and there’s no point in saying no.” She closed the door before she took a seat.
He reluctantly sat back in his chair and waited.
“Her grandmother’s words hit a nerve and made me wonder. How long are you going to keep this up?”
“I’ll keep it up for as long as it takes.”
“What takes?”
He shrugged and came from behind his desk. “What do you want?”
Ava crossed her legs and sighed. “I’m sorry about thinking of suspending you. I was out of line.”
Jackson folded his arms, wishing she’d get to the point. He glanced out his window at the clear blue autumn sky. “Is it summer already?”
“Alright, I’ll get to the point. I don’t like coincidences. I have a devious mind.”
Jackson sat down beside her and rested his chin in his hand, bored.
“Toyin surprised me. By some stroke of luck you found someone who genuinely cares for you.”
He slowly blinked. “Miracles do happen.”
“Since I no longer thought that Toyin sought you out to use you in some way, I started to think about something else. You.”
He straightened. “Me? I’m flattered.”
“Don’t be. What were you doing in Vegas? How did you happen to bump into someone whose comic store you’ve visited before? I find that very odd. You targeted her for a reason and it’s not the reason everyone thinks, is it? I wonder what Toyin would say if I told her my suspicions?”
Jackson lightly rested his hand around her throat. “There are times when the thought of squeezing your neck is so tempting.”
Ava grinned. “I’m right, aren’t I? Who is she to you?”
“None of your business.”
“Try again.”
He tightened his hold a fraction, his gaze darkening. “So tempting.”
“I like a little pain. Be careful or you’ll make your brother jealous.”
“What?”
She pushed his hand away. “Never mind. Now confess.”
“No.”
“I will find out.”
“Maybe.”
Ava swung her foot. “Should I tell her that you’re her new landlord?”
Jackson swore. “How did you find out about that?”
Ava clicked her tongue. “Because I know you too well. I remember how you reacted when we first entered New Worlds. I also went to the store and heard about their current plight with the landlord and then miraculously the landlord said that all was well. That got me thinking. So I tracked down said landlord and he was very cagey at first, until I treated him to a drink or two, then he because a little more chatty.”
“What do you want?”
“I just told you.”
“Toyin has nothing to do with you or this company. I’m good at my job.”
“I know that—”
“But you still want me out of the company.”
“No,” Ava said shocked. “I never said that.”
“You wanted me suspended.”
“For your own good.”
“I know you love my brother, but don’t pretend that you ever loved me.”
“I thought you’d forgiven me for that.”
“I did too, until you went behind my back and tried to turn my family against me. This is all I have. I don’t mind sharing, but I won’t have it taken away.”
“I wasn’t trying to do that. Okay, I should have talked to you first, but I was worried about you. We all were. Really. I—” Ava suddenly stopped and swore. She jumped to her feet and stared at him reluctantly impressed. “You clever bastard. You put me on the defensive so you could distract me. That maneuver almost worked.”
