From This Moment Read online

“Have you thought seriously about what I said the other night?”

  “No, I haven’t. I’m enjoying us getting to know each other.”

  “I am, too, but I think it’s time for us to seriously think about how we’re going to spend the rest of our lives.

  Are we going to stay together, or are we going to get an annulment?”

  Silence.

  “Hello?”

  “I’m still here,” Ivy said.

  “Ivy, don’t get quiet on me or feel down about it. All I’m saying is that it’s time to think about it. You already know where I stand.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Good, because I’m not going to mess up what I have with you like Randall did. He didn’t handle his business, so now he’s alone. I don’t want to be that man.”

  Ivy was breathing hard. “I hear what you’re saying, and I promise to seriously think about it.”

  “Did you want to go out to eat tonight or did you want to stay in?” Jonathan changed the subject. He realized that the day must have been hard for Ivy, but he wanted her to worry about their lives and not someone else’s.

  “I think I’m going to cook. I’ll see you later,” she said.

  “Tonight,” Jonathan said, then waited until she hung up the phone. He stared at the blinking cursor on his computer screen as he pondered his next move in sealing his fate with Ivy.

  * * *

  Jonathan didn’t hear his brother when he came into the office.

  “Jon,” Marc yelled.

  Jonathan jumped at the sight of Marc coming toward him.

  “Man, you scared me.”

  Marc took a seat. “What were you thinking about?”

  “Ivy Hart just called to tell me that Lauren Kabins cancelled her wedding.”

  Marc leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. “After all the extra charges that had to be paid for rush orders and supplies we’ve done, now she’s not getting married.” He shook his head.

  “These people don’t know what they want to do. They shouldn’t start planning their wedding until they’ve been engaged for at least a year.”

  Jonathan interrupted. “Okay, you can get off your soap box, bruh. This young lady had some extenuating circumstances.”

  “I know. The dude she was marrying used to be Ivy’s boyfriend back in the day. I know all about it, Rosie told me.”

  Now Jonathan understood why Ivy didn’t want her sisters to know about their marriage. They talked too much.

  “Lauren didn’t cancel because of Ivy, did she?”

  “Hell, no,” Jonathan snapped.

  Marc held his hands up. “Okay, okay, don’t bite my head off. I just asked.”

  One look at Marc’s facial expression and Jonathan knew he’d said the wrong thing.

  Marc got up and walked closer to the desk. “What’s going on, Jon?”

  “Nothing’s going on. I just didn’t want you to blame Ivy when she didn’t have anything to do with that punk not standing up and being a man.”

  Marc nodded, staring at his brother out of the corner of his eye. “You know what else Rosie told me?”

  Jonathan rolled his eyes. “What?”

  “You took Ivy out on a date.”

  “So . . . and . . .”

  “What are you holding back from me, little bruh?”

  Jonathan got up from his chair and walked back and forth. As always, Marc kept pushing him.

  “I think it’s cool if you’re taking her out. Maybe that’s why her attitude has changed. She doesn’t seem as uptight as she used to be. I always told Rosie that all her sister needed was the right man to love her.”

  Jonathan stopped and stared at Marc.

  Marc dropped his head. “Don’t tell me that you’re in love with her.” He walked over to the door and back over to the desk, shaking his head the whole time. “Man,” he whispered, continuing to move his head from side to side.

  Jonathan was still standing in the same spot. “So what if I am in love with her?”

  Marc stopped in front of Jonathan. “Don’t get me wrong, I think love is a beautiful thing, but with Ivy? I don’t know, man. You better be careful, you might get hurt.”

  It was rare that Jonathan got angry with his brother, but Marc had pissed him off. He walked closer to him. “Remember that time you told me that you would take care of your Mrs. Damon? Well, I can take care of mine.”

  As soon as the words came out Jonathan regretted them. He’d lost control and blurted out the very thing Ivy wanted to keep secret.

  “You married her,” Marc said in astonishment.

  Jonathan ran over to the door and closed it. He didn’t want anyone else in the building to hear them.

  Dropping in a chair, he ignored his brother’s remarks. It was obvious by the expression on his face that Marc didn’t see that one coming.

  “When?” Marc yelled, pacing the floor. “Man, I can’t believe you got married and didn’t tell anybody.” He shook his head.

  Marc took his seat and they both sat silently.

  Time passed quickly and Jonathan knew his brother wasn’t finished with the conversation, so he decided to speak first. “I know what you’re thinking.”

  Marc’s eyes didn’t move from his brother’s. “You do, huh? Well then, what am I thinking?”

  “I’m a grown man, Marc. I can do whatever I want. It’s my marriage, my life and my wife.”

  “Wrong. I’m thinking that you’ve done some dumb stuff in the past, but this one . . .” He shook his finger in the air all the while shaking his head. “How did you pull it off? When did you marry Ivy?”

  “In Vegas.”

  Marc looked toward the ceiling. “Back in January?”

  Jonathan nodded his answer.

  “You’ve been married to her for almost two months. Her sisters don’t know, do they?” Marc jumped up and walked in the opposite direction. “Of course they don’t, because Rosie would have told me.”

  Jonathan had heard enough. It was time that he calmed his brother down and swore him to secrecy.

  “Look, Marc, I need you to keep this under your hat.”

  “Why all the secrecy, Jon?” Marc asked, releasing an aggravated sigh.

  “I’m not going into all of that. I just need you to do this for me,” Jonathan pleaded.

  Marc gave Jonathan a puzzled stare, but then agreed to keep quiet. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Jonathan stopped him.

  “Don’t say another word about the situation. You never heard me say anything about being married to Ivy. I promise when the time comes, we’ll handle the family.”

  “Man, I hope everything works out. I’m only concerned about your feelings.”

  “Don’t be. I’ve got this.”

  Marc walked over to the door and opened it before he said, “I hope so,” before leaving the room.

  Jonathan hoped his brother didn’t hear him say, “Me, too.”

  * * *

  Ivy called an urgent meeting in her office with her sisters so they could get some ideas about what to do with Lauren’s wedding supplies.

  Lili walked in the room last.

  “What took you so long?” Rose asked.

  “I was busy.” She leaned against the wall and crossed her ankles.

  “Lauren cancelled her wedding,” Ivy said.

  Violet’s mouth dropped open. “Wow, I was just about to call her to let her know that her dress came in this afternoon.”

  “Looks like home girl won’t be wearing it,” Lili said.

  “Unfortunately, Lili, you’re right,” Ivy said, flipping the pages of a notepad she’d been writing in.

  “I’ve made a list of everything we’d done for her. The only thing we can’t donate and use for another client would be the invitations.”

  “If we were to give this wedding away, would the bride need to buy anything?” Rose asked.

  “Depending on her size, she would have to buy a dress. Lauren was petite, I think I ordered a siz
e four,” Violet said.

  “Do we even have a bride that size that hasn’t ordered her dress?” Lili asked Violet.

  “I’ll have to check and see.”

  “I’m not ever getting married, so you can’t even give it to me to put up for later.” She laughed.

  “Vee, I might know someone,” Rose said, her voice filled with excitement.

  Ivy raised her brows and gave her a smile in return. “I know where you’re going with this Rosie.”

  Lili frowned. “Well, fill us in. We have no clue what you guys are talking about.”

  “Did you know that Gwen was engaged?” Rose asked.

  Lili threw her hand forward. “Girl, that’s old news. Gwen’s been engaged for more than a year.”

  The rest of the sisters looked astonished.

  Ivy playfully pushed Lili. “Why didn’t you say anything to us about it? You blab about everything else.”

  “She didn’t tell me, her mother did.”

  Rose smiled. “Mrs. Clark?”

  “Yep, she called and asked me if I would bake the wedding cake. She was purchasing it as a gift since Gwen didn’t have the money.”

  Ivy picked up the phone. “Let’s get her in here. We need to talk to her.”

  Violet pressed the button to hang up the call.

  “Why did you do that, Violet?” Ivy asked.

  “If she wanted us to know, don’t you think she would have told us all? You guys keep forgetting this isn’t our business.”

  Ivy laid her hand on the phone. “I’m sorry, Violet, but I want to do this for her. If anybody deserves this, it’s Gwen.”

  Before Ivy lifted the receiver again, she asked the rest of her sisters, “Are we all on the same page?”

  They all nodded, yes.

  Ivy asked Gwen to come into her office. Once she arrived, Ivy asked, “Gwen, have you and your fiancée picked a wedding date?”

  A surprised expression covered Gwen’s nut brown face. She dropped her head. “I didn’t want you guys to treat me as a charity case. I wanted to pay for my wedding like any other customer.”

  “Umph,” Lili said. “Girl, if I worked at a place like this and I had a good relationship with my boss, I’d be trying to get everything I could for free.”

  “You would,” Ivy added.

  They all laughed.

  Clearing her throat, Ivy’s playful attitude disappeared.

  Violet placed her hand on Gwen’s shoulder. “We wouldn’t think of you as a charity case. We’d love to help you. And that’s why you’re here today.”

  “Yes, one of our clients cancelled her wedding. She told me to give her items to a bride that needed it. You not only need it, but you deserve it,” Rose said proudly.

  “Why don’t we go over everything being offered to you, Gwen? You don’t have to take anything you don’t want,” Ivy said.

  “Yeah, especially those ugly lime green and peach bridesmaid’s dresses,” Lili added.

  Violet shook her head. “They actually are really lovely. They came in today, but there are only three dresses.”

  “How many bridesmaids do you have?” Ivy asked.

  “I only have one, my sister Shauna.”

  Ivy noticed Gwen’s demeanor had changed. She figured all of this was overwhelming, so she wanted to slow down the pace of the meeting.

  “Listen Gwen, we got so excited about being able to do this, we didn’t even ask you if you were interested.”

  Tears were rolling down Gwen’s face. Lili went and picked up the open box of tissue that sat on Ivy’s credenza and dropped it in her lap. “Girl, you better say something quick.”

  Gwen looked at each person one by one before she said, “Are you sure you want to do this for me? I know you have others that you could give these things to.”

  The sisters looked at each other then back at Gwen. They all responded together: “We’re sure.”

  “Then I’m sure,” Gwen said, hugging Violet.

  She embraced everyone before Ivy spoke again. “Gwen, there is only one catch to this whole situation.”

  Gwen’s eyes widened filled with tears. “What’s that?”

  Ivy leaned forward. “You have to get married next Friday night.”

  “I don’t think Anthony will care. He’s wanted to get married at the courthouse over a year, but had been patient because I wanted to have something special.”

  Ivy pulled Gwen to her side. “Well, sweetheart, you’ve finally got your something special.”

  There was a spirit of joy and peace that permeated the room. Ivy was once again excited about being able to make another bride’s dreams come true. They sat down and went through every detail and gathered the other ideas Gwen had for her special day; next week, she would be getting married at Magic Moments.

  * * *

  Ivy almost missed the deadline for her column because she was trying to finalize everything for Gwen’s candlelight wedding and reception. Now that Gwen had gotten married and was off on her honeymoon, she could e-mail it to her editor.

  Everyone seemed to be pleased with the romantic and heartfelt ceremony. Ivy had put together a lot of weddings, so she’d heard all the things that were said at the ceremony before, but the words the minister spoke to Gwen and Anthony really touched her heart. The sheer happiness on the couples faces was extraordinary. Once Gwen made it to the altar, it appeared that they were the only two people in the room.

  Ivy had been so caught up in the moment that she didn’t care that Jonathan stood in the back with her and caught her hand when the minister started the vows. Everyone had done their job well and now it was on to the next bride.

  “Vee,” Rose said when she walked into the room.

  Ivy looked up from her computer. “Hey, Rosie.”

  “Gwen made a beautiful bride, didn’t she?” Rose sat down in front of Ivy.

  “Everything was just lovely. Now, I’ve got to get caught up. It’s time to tape the next couple for the show.” Ivy said.

  “When will they air them?”

  “In the fall. They’ll alternate between the three cities. So one Sunday it will be me, the next, the New York planner and then the L.A. planner.”

  “I’m excited. I can’t wait to see it.”

  “How’s it going answering phones?”

  “The temp they sent over from the agency is doing an okay job. She’s fascinated with the wedding business, so I think if we can get her to focus she’ll do a good job.”

  “Most women, whether they admit it or not, love weddings and all that they represent,” Ivy said.

  “I came down here to invite you over to my house for dinner on Friday night. Marc is going to make us a fabulous meal.”

  “Sure, Rosie, I’ll be there.”

  Rose stood up and said, “Now that you and Jonathan have gotten cozy, I don’t have to tell you that he’s going to be there, too.”

  Ivy chuckled. “No, you don’t. I’m okay with him being there, Rosie.”

  “I’m so glad you’re starting to socialize with us more.”

  “Marc’s a great cook, and we had a lot of fun that night we went skating,” Ivy replied.

  “I’m going to check on our temp.” Rose disappeared through the door.

  * * *

  Ivy picked up the phone and called Violet.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Violet said when she picked up.

  “Are you going over to Rosie’s Friday night for dinner?”

  “I’ll be there. You know I love Marc’s cooking, especially when he does those fancy dishes.”

  Ivy smiled. “I said the same thing. I wonder who else is going to be at the party.”

  “She said she was inviting everybody. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

  Violet hesitated before she spoke again. “Vee, how are you doing sorting out your feelings for Jonathan?”

  “You know he wants us to live together now.”

  “And . . .”

  “I don’t know, Violet. I’m just as con
fused as I was before.”

  “But you said that you loved him.”

  “I do, I really do, but . . .”

  “But, you don’t trust him.”

  “I trust him,” Ivy said before releasing a groan. “I don’t know.”

  “I won’t badger you about it. You know how you feel about him. Just keep on doing what you’re doing, taking things one step at a time.”

  Chapter 23

  It was Friday already and another week had come and gone. Ivy had completed her last taping with the second couple and now she was on the home stretch. She was given the last portfolio and would meet with the final couple, Ryan Curtis and Keisha Marshall, next week.

  Business had picked up for the upcoming summer and fall wedding season.

  She and Jonathan continued to enjoy each other’s company, laughing and talking about their favorite music, childhood memories and movies. She was surprised when he said that the movie The Best Man was his all time favorite with Love and Basketball coming in a close second. Both movies were in her top five.

  They made love with such passion that she was unable to put her feelings into words.

  Ivy took a quick shower and then walked into her closet to find something to wear for the evening. She laughed at Rose when she called and asked Ivy to wear red to the dinner party. Ivy knew that red was Rose’s favorite color, so she obliged. She carefully chose a red three-piece pants suit. It had strips of satin and lace appliqué, beads and gems on the collar, cuffs and the camisole. She paired it with her diamond stud earrings and red oxford pumps.

  Admiring herself in the mirror, she heard the doorbell. She hurried to the door.

  “Look at my baby,” Jonathan said, smiling brightly, as he walked into the condo.

  Ivy, feeling playful, modeled the outfit for him.

  Jonathan put two fingers in his mouth, whistling. “You really dressed up, didn’t you?” He pulled her to him.

  Ivy stepped back and went to the closet to retrieve her coat. “Rosie called and asked me to wear red.”

  She looked over at him. “You’re not shortstopping.” Ivy loved the way his red shirt complimented the black pinstriped pants and vest.

  Placing a kiss on his lips, she said, “I guess they’re going to pull out their best china.”

  Jonathan chuckled. “Yeah, I guess. When my brother gets in the mood to cook, he goes all out. Did she tell you what was on the menu?”