A Wife for Stephen (15 page)

The two weeks before she would go to Philadelphia
passed remarkably quickly considering that Celeste was
anxiously anticipating her meeting with Stephen’s parents.
She had settled on the locations for the perfume shoots,
okayed the wardrobe, and hired the actors. All that was left
was to begin shooting.

Shooting was scheduled to begin the last week before
her trip. To Celeste’s glee, the taping of the first
commercial went off without a hitch and took only one day
to shoot. Celeste thought that at this pace they would finish
well before the deadline.

Friday evening before she leaves for Philadelphia, the
taping of the second commercial is half-complete. The
actors were showing up on time,
which is a rarity in
Hollywood,
and cast
and crew seemed to be working
together in harmony.

As Celeste boards the plane she is excited at the thought
of seeing her man. Has it really only been six weeks since I
first met Stephen?

Celeste doesn’t need to consult a cale
ndar to know that
it had indeed only been six weeks. She is also aware that
she is blossoming in her relationship with Stephen and
learning to trust anew.

Celeste had spoken with the pastor’s wife over
lunch
last weekend about her feeling for Stephen. Paula had been
happy that Celeste was moving past the hurts she had
suffered in her relatively short years.

Celeste had blushed, just as she is now, at the thought of
Stephen loving her even half as much as she loved him.
The in-flight movie is a James Bond movie and keeps
Celeste’s full attention focused on the plot and subplots.
When it was over, she began to feel sad that she couldn’t
share her joy with Jenny.
Jenny hadn’t spoken to Mario
once
since
her
and
Celeste had departed Las Vegas. Jenny was too proud and
stubborn to call Mario. “If he wants to talk to me then he
will have to do the calling. I refuse to chase after a mere
man,” Jenny had said.
Jenny
was
steamed that
Mario
had treated
her
so
casually and hurt that he hadn’t shown any signs of missing
her even in the least.
Although Jenny and Celeste were not much alike, the
girls have been friends and have helped each other through
nursing so many wounds that their personalities no longer
even came into the equation.
Surely, Jenny will be upset that Celeste has gone off to
Philadelphia without informing her of her trip, but Celeste
just couldn’t bring herself to tell Jenny, discerning that she
would wonder if Mario was going to be there. Celeste
knew that Jenny would be filled with longing to see Mario
had she been aware of Celeste’s travel plans.
In the midst of her thoughts, the pilot comes on and
announces that they will be landing shortly. The landing is
smooth and uneventful. First Class being first to disembark,
Celeste soon finds herself standing in the middle of the
terminal wondering which way to go. After searching the
monitor, she discovers from which baggage claim area she
will retrieve her bags. As she arrives in the baggage claim
area,
she notices Stephen among the sparse
crowd of
people waiting to meet the arriving passengers.
When her eyes meet his she feels a smile on her lips and
is filled with the need to fly into his awaiting arms. She
gives in and off she goes.
Celeste is caught up in Stephen’s arms and hugged
tightly. As Stephen lowers her to her feet he places his
warm lips against her own and breathes a sigh of relief that
she has arrived safely. Celeste feels safe and secure being
snuggled in Stephen’s arms, like this is where she belongs.
When the kiss ends, Stephen says, “I have missed you,
Baby.”
“And I you.”
“Let’s go get your luggage,” says Stephen as he takes
Celeste by the hand and walks side by side with her to the
baggage claim carousel.
After retrieving her bags, Stephen takes her to the car
park where he settles her into the passenger side of his
BMW 650 Gran Coupe.
Their entire trip to Stephen’s parents’ home is made
over pleasing conversation. Celeste relishes being able to
share the success of the campaign she is involved in at
work. Stephen informs Celeste that the studio for sale in
the Los Angeles area that his real estate agent had faxed
him the information on seems worth a trip to further check
out.
“So when will you be coming out there?”
“I was thinking of going back with you and asking you if
you could drive me over. I would much rather spend the
drive in your presence that Valerie’s.”
“Valerie?”
“Yeah. She’s the agent I’m working with.”
“Oh,” is all that Celeste can murmur.
Celeste could sense that Stephen had picked up on her
mood shift but was saved from answering the questions
that she knows are inevitable when Stephen announces,
“We’re here.”
Stephen slows the car and parks in front of a beautiful
home with green grass and rose bushes lining the front
walk. A brief moment after exiting on his side of the
vehicle, Stephen opens Celeste’s door and offers her his
hand, helping her from the car.
Celeste is showed into a beautiful entryway that is lined
with
family
photos
in
wooden
frames.
Stephen
helps
Celeste with her coat and hangs it in the closet with his
own.
“They’re probably back in the den,” Stephen says as he
takes her hand and leads her through the living room. Next
is a clean and tidy kitchen with every appliance to make
cooking an effortless and fun venture, Stephen pauses at
the
entryway to
the
den using his body to
block
his
families’ view of Celeste.
“Everybody,” begins Stephen, “I would like you all to
meet Celeste Brooks.” Stephen pulls Celeste
alongside
himself and places his arm across her shoulders as he goes
about informing her who is who.
Everyone in Stephen’s family is happy to make Celeste’s
acquaintance
as
is
evident
by
their
rising from
their
individual seats and coming forth to greet her. The women
embrace Celeste as best they can with Stephen’s arm still
placed protectively across her shoulders. The men shake
her hand.
Celeste finds it very easy to get to know Stephen’s
close-knit family and finds out that he is the only boy of
four children and the only one, save one sister who is not
yet married. The one sister who is not yet married is
engaged and currently making wedding plans with the help
of her fiancé and their families.
Joyce Haule, Stephen’s mother, is a wonderfully warm
woman who smiles and laughs quite a bit with her family;
she is truly unlike Celeste’s own mother. Celeste especially
notices
how easy
touching comes
to
this
family.
A
halfhearted punch to the arm of one of Stephen’s brother in
laws, a wife cuddling up to her husband for a quick kiss
before leaving the room.
Having never
seen a family so comfortable in each
other’s presence, Celeste is in awe. She had never known
that being with and around family could be so warm and
inviting. At this moment, Celeste is filled with a longing to
belong to not just any family, but this family.
She briefly entertains the thought of what it would be
like to share her life with such a jovial and welcoming
group. The thought, as fleeting as it had been, leaves
Celeste wanting more.
After sharing a home cooked meal, which was prepared
in expectation of Celeste’s arrival, Celeste is shown to her
room, which belonged to Stephen’s sister Joleen, and is left
to retire. But not before Stephen kisses and hugs her on the
threshold and thanks her for coming.
The rest of the weekend is passed with Stephen taking
her on a tour of the city where he grew up. Stephen shows
her the middle school and high school where he attended
and the church his family attends. He even takes her on
their first official date.
They go to a nice cozy restaurant that has only been
open a short while but is acclaimed to be quite good. They
also go to a movie.
Both having been so wrapped up in their careers, it took
them almost an hour before deciding which of the new
movies they would much rather see since they had not seen
any of the ten that are currently playing. They finally settle
on an action flick with a hint of romance.
After the movie ends, they retire to Stephen’s house
where he kisses her, truly kisses her, for the first time since
they have met. The feeling is like no other Celeste has ever
felt with Stephen’s warm lips caressing her own. When
Stephen ends the kiss at the foot of his parent’s staircase,
she stands before him gazing into his eyes searching for an
answer for what she is feeling.
The answer she finds is right where she knew it to be,
although it is an answer she had not allowed herself to hope
she would find. “I have never in my life said this to any
other woman besides my mother and my sisters,” Stephen
began. “I love you. You might think that I haven’t known
you long enough to say such a thing, but the truth is, I’ve
known since the day we met that you were meant for me.”
Celeste had never imagined that he
could
be, yet had
always hoped that he
would
, come to love her. Feeling all
her inhibitions melt away under the warmth of his touch she
says, “I love you, too.”
Stephen takes Celeste by the hand and ushers her to the
couch. He stokes a fire in the fireplace and sits on the
couch next to her, holding her in his arms, happy to be in
love. They sit there for hours, in silence, each enjoying the
company of the other before Celeste falls asleep. Stephen
carries her up to her bed and gently removes her shoes
before tucking her beneath the covers. After placing a
whispering kiss on her forehead he retires to his own room.
Celeste wakes briefly in the night feeling safe and secure
in her surroundings. Before falling back into a restful sleep,
she thanks God for what she has found with Stephen and
prays that she is not making a mistake in giving her trust to
the wrong man.

When Celeste awakes Sunday morning, she sets about
getting dressed and packing her belongs since this is the
day she returns home. She is sad to be leaving. Celeste
hopes that it won’t be too long before she gets to see
Stephen’s family again. Stephen’s family, who had been so
excited to meet her, also appeared sad that her short visit
had already come to an end.

“Now, don’t you wait too long to come and see us
again. You hear?” said Stephen’s mom as she hugs Celeste.
“Your mother is a remarkable woman,” says Celeste on
the ride to the airport. “To think she didn’t become a
teacher until after she had all of her kids in elementary
school. I never would have thought about waiting to begin
my career until after marriage and kids.”
“That’s because you needed something to occupy your
time until I came along,” Stephen says with a mockingly
confident look on his face. “Mom and Dad met in high
school
and knew right
away that
they wanted to
be
married.
Dad had always worked during summers and
weekends with the plumbing company, and so he had a
stable job when he graduated.”
“I like your parents,” Celeste chimes in. She had
intended for the comment to come out lighthearted but
instead it sounded rather longing, even to her own ears.
Stephen, misinterpreting the longing in her voice to be
apprehension over his parents opinion of Celeste, seeks to
comfort her by saying, “They like you too.”
As Stephen pulls the car into the covered parking area it
begins to rain. They have to run across the tarmac to the
entry of the baggage check-in department to avoid being
drenched as it is coming down quite hard by the time they
had found a parking space and were exiting the parking
area.
On board the plane Celeste asks Stephen, “What else
would you like to do on your short visit to Los Angeles?”
“I’m afraid I won’t have time for much since I’ll be
leaving Tuesday.
Valerie
says
we
can
see
the
studio
tomorrow evening if that is convenient.”
“Sure, I could take off a little early, say three o’clock,
and we could go right over. What will you do tomorrow
while I’m at work?”
“I have an idea for a new song I would like to work on.
Once I get an idea for a new project it takes up a lot of my
time because I lose all sense of time.”
The in-flight movie is a comedy and keeps Stephen and
Celeste laughing most of the trip. Upon landing, Celeste
turns
on her
phone to
see if she has any voice mail
messages while Stephen retrieves their luggage. Celeste
discovers that she not only has a message, but she has quite
a few of them, all from the same person. Jenny.
She hadn’t told Jenny of her trip to Philadelphia, but
Celeste knows that the time is quickly coming. However,
instead of focusing on that,
Celeste puts her mind to
figuring out what she and Stephen can do on his first day in
her city.
In the limo ride to Celeste’s house to retrieve her car,
they decide to go to Disneyland since the only time Stephen
had ever been there were as a kid and as a performer. As a
kid, he doesn’t remember a lot of the trips and much has
changed since then. As a performer, he hadn’t had the time
to wander around and see the sights.
As Stephen steps over the threshold of Celeste’s home
he notices two things right off the back. One, she is a neat
and tidy sort
of person.
And two,
there aren’t many
pictures on the wall, which is utterly foreign to him since
even
his
homes, both of them, have various photos of his
family lying about and hung on the walls. He keeps his
realization to himself and doesn’t ask any questions. This
being his first visit to her home, he doesn’t want to appear
critical.
Celeste offers him a seat on her couch while she goes to
put her luggage in her room and check on Thomas.
Thomas, when he is brought to the living room to meet
Stephen, eyes him warily. Stephen gets the uncanny feeling
that he is being measured up by a
dog
. Impossible, Stephen
thinks. It must be his over active imagination.
After the greetings are made, in which Stephen rubbed
the beast on his head, they make their way to Celeste’s car
and their appointment with fun.
Celeste doesn’t give voice to her surprise that Thomas
appeared cautious
of
Stephen.
Thomas
usually
likes
everyone. After thinking it over a bit, she chalks it up to the
fact that Thomas hasn’t been introduced to many men since
Tyrone had been the only she’s dated and brought to her
house. Setting Thomas’ reaction aside, Celeste focuses on
navigating them safely to the freeway.