Page 66 of Made For You
The dinner portion of the ball was called over the intercom, and we marched across the ballroom floor to our seats. Aurora drew the attention of every man in the room, just as I expected she would. She whispered in my ear that everyone was staring at her, and I simply pressed my lips to the top of her head. My sweet, naïve wife had no idea the appeal she projected to others.
Because not only were the men interested, but the women were too. I’d seen numerous cat fights at these events over the years, but most of the women here seemed to only look at Aurora with respect. Only a few sneered as she passed, and anyone could’ve seen it was only from jealousy.
“Thank you,” I leaned down and whispered in her ear.
“For what?” she asked as we reached our table.
“Being here with me. Agreeing to marry me. Take your pick.”
Surprising me and our tablemates, Aurora leaned in to place a chaste kiss on my lips. As she pulled away, I caught the thoughtful smile and watery gaze of my grandmother.
“Well, now. Please don’t hog our beautiful guest,” a familiar voice bellowed as he stood behind my vacant seat.
Aurora’s eyes lit up when she noticed our interrupter. “Dean! I didn’t think we’d see you again until we were in Miami.” She wrapped him in a tight hug I thought lasted a bit too long.
“Plans change. I need to steal your husband for a bit. I’ll have him back before the dinner starts.”
“Oh.”
I looked at my friend, and I could see something was brewing. He never attended these events, so for him to be here, there was something serious on the line.
Gigi quickly took the reins with Aurora, and the two of them sat and called over a server for a bubbly beverage.
I followed Dean to a darkened corner close to the auction table.
“What’s going on?” I asked him as he pulled out a slip of paper from his suit pocket. “Look this over. I know you didn’t read it in her background check, but I missed it too. And this is common knowledge, so there is a good chance the press could catch wind of it.”
I read over the notarized script on the first page. It detailed Aurora’s annulment to her high-school boyfriend. The second page listed her times spent completing community service as a minor when she was caught spray-painting the water tower and super-gluing the doors to the school shut. The third page detailed how she was the mistress of Jeremy Mitchell, the son of a politician. Apparently, Jeremy had an entire second life Aurora knew nothing about.
“I know about the annulment, and the stuff when she was a teen is admissible to anyone. I mean, look at the trouble we caused in school.”
“Yeah, but we had money to save our asses. She didn’t.”
I thought to myself,She does now.
“Okay.”
“The mistress piece could really ruin her reputation if it got out, and Talon, it wasn’t hard to find. An article was posted about Jeremy and his fiancée just the other day. It said they’d been college sweethearts.”
I didn’t believe a word of the orchestrated article. He was doing it to hurt Aurora, probably after our incident at the bar. I told Dean what happened, and he agreed, but the damage was there in the writing.
“Talk to your lawyer, for her sake,” Dean surmised as I folded the sheets of paper and shoved them in my tuxedo pocket. I’d show them to Aurora later. She had every right to see what was coming to light, even if it wasn’t true.
We walked back to the table just as the salads were set in front of us.
“Everything okay?” Aurora whispered next to me.
Gently, I slid my hand over the exposed skin of her thigh, relishing the touch of her soft skin. “Everything is fine. We’ll talk about it later.”
She nodded, but I could sense she knew something was amiss.
At the table, Gigi held up the conversation, going on about past events and some of her travels in the upcoming year. At one point, I asked her how Grandfather was taking the news of my nuptials. It was the only time she frowned throughout dinner.
“Everything is being adjusted,” she said with a heavy sigh. After that, the group quieted.
After Aurora reapplied her lipstick, we returned to the ballroom where the auction was finishing up. Music began to play, and I guided her out onto the floor despite her yanking on my hand and her saying she couldn’t dance. She may not have been able to dance, but I could.
By the end of the night, Aurora had captivated Gigi, just as I knew she would. She even promised to come visit the small town where Aurora lived when my wife talked up the restaurant by Roland McEntire and the cake shop her sister ran.
