A Holiday Romance (8 page)
Authors: Bobbie Jordan
"Mrs. Blanchard-"
"Please, Ruth."
"Ruth- of course I am willing to fight for your son. You have just given me exactly the information I needed. "
Mrs. Blanchard's expression softened, and she reached out and gave Latisse a hug.
"Good girl. I knew you were right for my little boy, from the moment I saw you. Now on to happier times, let's find you a dress for this evening."
The Blanchard's New Year's Eve party was much like the Christmas party had been; lots of people, lots of champagne, lots of music and lots of dancing. As it turned out, Tracie's parents did show up- Mrs. Blanchard did the honors of introducing them- and to Latisse's surprise they seemed like such a lovely couple. It was hard to imagine that they had raised a spoiled little princess like Tracie.
Latisse spent most of the evening in Guy's arms, twirling on the dance floor. They danced, and laughed, and just enjoyed the feeling of being in love on New Year's Eve. Latisse couldn't remember being so happy in her life.
At about a quarter to midnight, Latisse suddenly felt Guy's body go tense, and his face lost whatever joy it had held just moments earlier. Before he could stop her, Latisse turned to glance in the direction he was looking, and that's when she saw her-
Tracie Morgan.
She was some kind of beauty, alright. Stick thin, blond hair, blue eyes, and a face that screamed
FAKE!!!
She was decked out in a pink gown with a very low-cut v-neckline-
anything to show off the goodies.
Purple eyeshadow smeared heavily on her eyelids clearly labeled her a tramp. Of course she was wearing a ton of bling- an overtly gaudy diamond necklace, huge diamond hoop earrings, and rings on each finger, as well as sparkling jewels decking out her wrists halfway up to her elbows. Latisse hated her the moment she laid eyes on her. She reminded her an awful lot of Nikki, that bimbo Daryl had left her for.
From the moment she walked in, it was clear Tracie was here for one reason and one reason alone- to make a scene. In fact, she even brought a group of photographers trailing after her. She had a Gucci handbag that, upon closer inspection, had the head of a tiny Chihuahua peeping out of it.
"For heaven's sake!" Latisse muttered under her breath. Guy glared angrily in the direction of his ex.
"What the hell is she doing here?"
"Isn't it obvious? She's here to see you."
"I don't want to see her."
"So go tell her then. Maybe she'll get the hint."
Without uttering another word, Guy left Latisse standing on the dance floor and headed for Tracie. Tracie appeared to be heading straight for him, but then breezed right by him at the last minute. Guy was left standing there, looking utterly confused. Before anyone could stop her, Tracie marched up to the DJ at the head of the room, and snatched the microphone from his stand.
"Everybody, I would like to make an announcement." Oh god, her voice was just as fake as the rest of her. Guy rejoined Latisse's side, grabbing her arm tightly as he stared ahead at his ex in horror.
Latisse just notice one thing. SHE WAS A BLONDE HAIRED BLUE EYED WHITE WOMAN. “Typical!” thought Latisse.
"What the hell is she doing?"
"Shh, let's find out."
Tracie paused- a long, dramatic pause, as she waited for all eyes to turn on her. Out of the corner of her eye, Latisse noticed Mrs. Blanchard pushing her way through the room, with a security guard hot on her tail.
"Get her out of here!"
Tracie gazed around the room, with a hideous fake smile plastered on her face. Her Hollywood dentist whitened her teeth to perfection.
"Everyone… I’m pregnant……with Guy Blanchard's baby." She dropped the microphone and burst into tears.
Latisse was numb. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't even begin to process the information that had been broadcast for the whole world to hear. Slowly, as if in a dream, she pulled away from Guy. His face had gone white as a ghost, draining of all color. At that point, he really looked white and not a hint of chocolate was anywhere in sight. He stared at her frantically, reaching out as if trying to pull her back to him.
"Latisse, I-"
"No," she said, shaking her head, as she continued to back away. "No."
Divas do not do drama. She had to repeat that mantra over and over again just to get her head on straight and back from her fairy book romance.
Yes, it was too got damn good to be true!
She wasn't going to cry; she wasn't going to make a scene, or any kind of fuss. She was simply going to go upstairs, collect her things, and call a taxi to pick her up and deliver her to the airport. She would fly home to Atlanta, and life would return to normal.
She would go back to her fabulous company and continued being the best business woman that Atlanta, Georgia had every seen.
She was Latisse Charles, and she would NOT show the world any type of weakness. She would not let this break her!!!
Oh, Guy,
she thought sadly,
why didn't you tell me?
This reminded her so much of a bad episode of that stupid reality show, The Kardashians. Kim and Kanya West are having a baby while Kim is still married to the NBA star Kris Humphries.
She just kept saying her mantra “Divas Don’t Do Drama’ as she prepared to leave. It was the only thing that soothe the sting of betrayal and stopped her from getting dramatic.
She left without saying goodbye. There was no need. She stared dully out the window of her cab as it drove her to the airport. She would have to spend the night in the airport while she waited for the next flight to Atlanta, but that was ok. She had called ahead and her flight was leaving first thing in the morning.
had
been happy. She would forget about Guy, just as she had forgotten about Daryl. How hard could it be?
Absentmindedly, she realized that midnight had come and gone, and she had not rung in the New Year kissing Guy as she had planned. Another year had come and gone, and like always, she was alone. Damn!
She didn't go straight to her condo when she landed in Atlanta. Instead she took a cab to her parents' house. Her mother took one look at her and knew immediately something was wrong.
"What happened, baby girl?"
"Oh momma, he broke my heart." It was only then, wrapped in her mother's warm embrace that the tears began to flow. Once they started they would not stop.
Guy tried to call but she never answered. She read in the paper a few days later that billionaire Guy Blanchard was engaged to socialite Tracie Morgan, and that they were expecting a child.
She threw the paper in her fireplace and burned it. Once in a moment of anger she answered Guy's call, but then hung up on him as soon as she heard his voice. He left countless voicemails, trying to explain, which she of course deleted.
"Latisse, I know you hate me now, but I am truly sorry… I had no idea any of this would happen. Please call me… I didn't want things to go down this way."
It really did not matter if he was black or white.Latisse was convinced that Men no matter race, creed or whatever were dogs-with capital D-O-G-S.
The month of January slowly passed, and eventually Guy stopped calling. Latisse didn't know if she was happy or sad when she stopped receiving his calls.
In a way, even though it was already over, it felt like another end- now that he had stopped calling, he was out of her life forever. Latisse refused to think about what could have been; it only left her crying. A dull ache had settled permanently in her chest. She supposed it was her wounded heart, trying to heal itself. That would take time.
One day she arrived home from work to find Daryl waiting for her in front of her condo.
"Nikki left me," he announced, before bursting into tears. Maybe it was due to her own broken heart, but Latisse felt bad for the old brute, and invited him upstairs for a drink. One thing led to another, and before she knew what happened she was in bed with her old boyfriend.
Afterward she felt disgusted with herself, angry that she had let her guard down and had displayed any signs of weakness toward him.
She snuck out of her apartment early the next morning, hoping that he would leave once he woke and found her gone. The last thing she needed was to rekindle anything with him.
The first week in February, the Dalai Lama was scheduled to make a trip through Atlanta. She had always admired the man, and decided that she would try to meet with him.
Latisse wasn’t into any particular religion. She was very much into spirituality. She did not want to get caught up into any type of dogma. She just wanted to know the spiritual solution to her problem and Deepak was busy at the White House with President Barack Obama.
Perhaps he had some advice for her- some words of wisdom that could help her find inner peace. She hoped so, anyway. Hope was such a rare thing to come by these days.
Since Latisse was a well-respected and well-known business woman with a law degree, she had no problem getting an appointment to meet with the wise master for only $4,897.97. Even peace of mind has a price from his holiness.
She found his presence to emit pure love and joy, something which she found unnerving. Yet he made her feel at ease, and was happy to answer any questions she had for him.
"My child, you are at war within yourself. You lack inner peace." She swallowed and nodded in agreement.
"I have been having a hard time finding happiness these days, yes. I have recently had my heart broken."
"I see. You have questions? What is it you wish to ask me?"
"What is the secret to happiness?" The wise man laughed.
"There is no secret. Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions."
"I see… what about love?"
"Great love and great achievement involve great risks. We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us, and make us kinder. We always have the choice. "
Latisse left her meeting with the Dalai Lama contemplating her own path in life. What was she doing to achieve happiness? How about inner peace? She realized that peace and happiness had to come from within; outside sources should not be able to strip her of it.
Yet that is exactly what had happened; Guy Blanchard had come through her life, like a whirlwind, and stripped her of her sense of contentment. But maybe that sense of contentment had been false all along.
She was angry- yes, ANGRY!- and she had been for months now, ever since she first learned that Daryl had cheated on her. In a way, this situation with Guy was like Daryl all over again- only wasn't she the one who he'd been cheating with? Technically he had broken up with Tracie, but they had already made a baby-
a baby, dammit!-
had he known about the baby all along? Was that why Tracie kept calling during their little honeymoon in Napa?
If that was the case, then shame on Guy for yelling at her and refusing her calls- even if she was a spoiled ditz of a woman, she still deserved to be treated with respect from her partner-
former partner-
once a baby became involved.
Maybe the secret to inner peace was simply to let all of this go. Yes, let go and let God.
She remembered a picture that hung in her mother’s den she would read frequently as a child.
“If you love something let it go. If it comes back to you then it is yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.”
