Page 19 of The Perfect Lie
When I returned to Reyna, I could tell by the way she was sitting on her chair that she was anxious about what caused me to leave her and go to the bedroom. Not once had she taken her eyes from me as I walked toward her. The moment I fell to my knee, she would know what was about to happen. I was certain she’d seen enough movies to know what it meant when a man fell to one knee before a woman. I could prolong this a little longer than necessary, but even I didn’t want to wait for her answer.
Reyna was special, and she deserved a proposal like no other. I didn’t want her to share the standard down on one knee proposal that millions of women have shared across the nation. This proposal had to be special, one only for her.
Taking a seat at the table, I only had to be patient a little while longer. It was hard to keep a straight face knowing that there would be a knock at the door that would start the ball rolling in five minutes. Grabbing the coffee carafe, I poured myself another cup of coffee before looking at Reyna. “Would you like another cup of coffee, princess?”
Her arms crossed at her chest, and there was no mistaking she was annoyed. “You’re hiding something from me. And no, I don’t want another cup of coffee.”
Thankfully, I didn’t have to respond. The awaited knock came at the door. Pushing to my feet, I gave Reyna a brief kiss on her forehead before going to answer it. I commissioned one of the top designers to bring a few of his gowns I was sure Reyna would love.
When I opened the door, it didn’t surprise me that Reyna knew Lee Quan and his reputation to make every woman look beautiful. “Davian, is that Lee Quan?”
Lee pushed his way past me, followed by his assistant and two racks of gowns. I would never understand the life of a designer. Lee was dressed to the hilt in a purple velvet sports jacket with matching trousers. The scarf that he wore around his neck had more colors in it than a bag of Skittles. Even his purpled gemmed glasses matched his outfit.
“Davian, what is this all about?” she questioned, appearing more confused about what was happening than the fact that a top designer was in the suite.
Reyna’s expression was priceless as Lee Quan took her by the hand and pulled her toward the bedroom. “Come, come, Miss Reyna.”
Twenty minutes later, Reyna appeared from behind the bedroom door, and my heart skipped a beat. Her beauty was unmatchable. She wore a beautiful off-the-shoulder gown embellished with white diamonds along the bustline and waistline. Her hair was fixed in a half updo, allowing her beautiful curls to cascaded on one side. She took my breath away. It was only the first gown she had put on, but God, if she wasn’t beautiful.
I didn’t need to see her in any more gowns to know this was already my favorite. Stepping over to where she stood, I took her hands and brought them to my lips. After showing them with a light kiss, I looked down at our joined hands before meeting her eyes. “You look absolutely breathtaking. There is only one thing missing.”
Reaching inside my trousers’ front pocket, I pulled out the diamond ring that I’d been waiting to place on her finger. Holding it in my hand, my eyes met Reyna’s, and I could see tears begin to form. “Davian.”
“Don’t say anything, princess. All I want to hear is that you will agree to marry me.” Holding her hand in mine, I carefully slipped the ring on her finger.
She hadn’t said a word, but when I looked up after placing the ring on her finger, I got my answer. The minute I released her hand, she wrapped her arms around my neck. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’”
“Yes, a million times yes.” She said as she pulled away from me to admire the ring.
We were in our own little world until Lee and his two assistants clapped their hands behind us. “I guess I should have brought some wedding dresses for Miss Reyna to try on instead.”
Now there was a thought. Tucking that idea to the back of my mind, I looked at Reyna. “I think since you’re already dressed to go out, we should celebrate.”
Reyna insisted that she needed to redo her make-up even though I argued with her that she looked beautiful. While waiting for her to finish whatever she needed to do, I decided to follow-up with Patton to see if there was any more information on Crosby McCall. I still hadn’t told Reyna the truth about him, and I was afraid that if I told her now, she wouldn’t want to celebrate our engagement.
Once we got past tonight, I would tell her everything about him and our theory regarding Gwen. Removing my phone from my suit jacket pocket, I pulled up Patton’s contact information. “Patton, I thought I would check in with you to see if you have any more information on Crosby McCall.”
“Nothing new, except something strange came up when we did a background check on him. It might not mean anything, but until thirty years ago, Crosby McCall didn’t exist. I’m still looking into it, though. Everyone has a past. Even him.”
“That does seem odd, but there has to an explanation. Let me know as soon as you find any information. No matter how small. One way or another, the truth about who Crosby McCall is will come out.”
After ending the call with Patton, I headed back to the bedroom to see how much longer Reyna would be and practically ran right into her. “What did you mean that you don’t think my father is who he says he is?”
I was screwed. The cat was out of the bag, and as much as I wanted to avoid this conversation until after our night together, I had to let her know what Patton found on Crosby McCall. Taking her by the hand, I pulled her over to the bed and took a seat. “I was hoping to put off telling you about Crosby McCall until later. I didn’t want to ruin our celebration. I really would like to wait.”
“Davian, whatever you have to tell me about Crosby McCall, I can handle it. I don’t want to spend our night together thinking about what it is. I’d rather know now.” Reyna’s confident front did nothing to mask her willpower to stay strong and not break down. Even though she was one of the strongest women I knew, this might just be the tipping point to break her completely.
I prayed that I was wrong. Giving her hands a light squeeze, I knew telling her about Crosby was going to be the hardest thing I had ever done. “When your father, Crosby, was with Gwen when I came to the hotel, I had questions about why he was here. I had Patton look into his agency and business dealings to see if anything turned up.”
“Why didn’t you just ask him? I’m sure he would have told you.” Reyna’s ability to see good in everyone had me in awe. So innocent.
“I did ask him. He told me that Rui Salko reached out to him and told him that Gwen would be landing in Atlanta.”
“Why would Gwen be with Rui?”
I couldn’t tell her what Gwen had told me. I wasn’t even sure if it was true. So, I stated the obvious. “We are still trying to figure that out.”
“I know that the McCalls adopted Gwen. That would explain why my father was with Gwen. It makes perfect sense. Right?” Reyna defending Crosby wasn’t how I expected this conversation to go. I knew the truth was going to hit her a lot harder than I thought.
