I Saw Your Profile (16 page)

Chapter Eighteen

Janelle
dabbed vanilla musk in all the important spots.
Behind her ears. On her wrists. Between her breasts and the insides of her
thighs.

 
Dinner was warming in the oven and
Chauncey was on his way.

 
He called and told her he had something
important to discuss and wanted to do it in person. She hoped it was a marriage
proposal.

Her
heart jumped when the doorbell rang.

She
opened the door to a bouquet of red and yellow roses. Chauncey lowered the
bouquet and revealed himself. He was wearing a navy blue suit, white shirt and
gray and blue tie.

“Surprise.”

She
opened her mouth to speak, but he interrupted.

“Wait.
Don’t say a word. Let me speak, first.”

He
dropped to one knee.

“Janelle
Carter. Would you please do me the honor of being my wife? I know I don’t
deserve you. But I promise, if you give me a chance to make up for all the disappointments,
lonely nights and borrowed money, you won’t regret it. I will spend the rest of
my days proving that you were right to put your faith in me.”

Janelle’s
mouth gaped, words frozen in her throat.

“Well,
don’t just leave me hanging, sweetie. Say something.”

He
handed her the flowers and pulled a fancy piece of paper from his back pocket.

“Maybe
this might help. I couldn’t find a card to express my feelings, so I wrote this
myself. Let me read it to you. Janelle, you are the air that I breathe. Your
love gives me purpose. It gives me hope. Thank you, for loving me.”

She
stood in the doorway, a broad smile on her face.

He
continued. “When we make love it’s as if our bodies are a musical instrument
making a sweet melody. We never miss a beat or stray off key. Our lovemaking is
like cool jazz on a hot summer night. No words, just the blending of sounds,
striking just the right chords until we hit the high note, the crescendo of
passion, the climax of love, the resolution of a beautiful song.”

Puddles
filled Janelle’s eyes. “That was so beautiful.”

Chauncey
stood up and she stepped aside to let him in. He grabbed her hand, led her
inside and shut the door.

He
reached inside his front, right pocket and pulled out a small, velvet box.

“I
almost forgot the best part. I know this isn’t much. But it’s the best I can do
now. I promise if you say yes, on our first anniversary, you will get at least
a carat.”

He
slipped a quarter carat diamond with a simple gold band he’d bought at a
Brooklyn pawnshop on the ring finger of her left hand. The stone was round and
dull.

Janelle’s
response jumped from her lips before her brain could catch up. “Yes. I will
marry you.”

He led
her to the bedroom. They kissed. He unbuttoned her blouse.

Suddenly,
she stopped him.

“Why
now?” she asked, gently pulling his hand from her breast. “What’s happened to
make you suddenly want to get married?”

Chauncey
dropped his eyes, sighed, and sandwiched her right hand between his ten
fingers.

“I’ve
gone through a lot lately, most of it bad. You are the best thing that has
happened to me this past year and it took going through what I did to make me
understand that. I’ve realized that it’s time for me to get my priorities in
order.”

He took
a deep breath, looked down and continued.

“Janelle,
I haven’t been completely honest with you. If you’re going to be my wife, it’s
time I start. When I finish, if you change your mind about getting married, I
will understand.”

Janelle
pulled away from him. She nervously twisted the diamond on her finger wondering
if it should stay there.

 
“What is it?”

Her new
fiancé fidgeted on the bed next to her, struggling to find the right words.

 
“The two people I have been living with
aren’t my mother and my brother. They are my ex-girlfriend and her son. That’s
the reason we always had to stay in hotels when you came to visit.”

Janelle
swallowed. Her intestines went acrobatic.

“Your
ex-girlfriend?
”
she said in disbelief.

“We
broke up a year ago, but we agreed to live together for the sake of
convenience. I thought if I told you that I lived with a woman, especially my
ex-girlfriend, you wouldn’t want to be with me. At any rate, the woman has gone
mad. She found out about my relationship with you and she is having a jealous
fit. I can’t believe she is behaving this way, but she kicked me out of the
house and she has commandeered my email account. Has she been in contact with
you?”

“No. How
would she know how to reach me?”

“Your
numbers are in my cell phone and she has stolen that as well. In fact, that’s
how she found out about you. She listened to the messages you left for me.”

 
“If you weren’t together, why does she
care? And why would you keep me a secret in the first place? I have called your
house a million times. Who did she think I was?”

“A
client. I didn’t tell her you were my girlfriend to keep things simple. I don’t
care what women say, once you have slept with them, you can never go back to
just being friends. They are going to be jealous and compare themselves to
every woman you get involved with after them.”

“Then
why did you even try?”

“Like I
said, convenience. Besides, as long as I didn’t flaunt my relationship in front
of her, things went along fine.”

“Why are
you telling me now?”

“Because,
I don’t want there to be any more secrets between us. And I’m sure at some
point, she is going to try and contact you and poison you against me.”

Janelle
pulled the microscopic diamond off, threw it on the floor and stomped toward
the door, tears welling in her eyes.

Chauncey
grabbed her, keeping her from leaving the room.

“Please
don’t turn away from me,” he pleaded. “I love you, Janelle. I don’t want it to
be over between us. I know I haven’t been there for you and I’ve lied to you,
but it was because I didn’t want to lose you. I still don’t. I want us to be
together. Can we start all over? Try again. This time with no secrets. My
feelings for you are real. I never lied about that.”

 
She wrestled herself from his grasp.

“How can
I ever trust anything you say to me? What’s your girlfriend’s name?”

“You are
my girlfriend. My ex-girlfriend’s name is Nicole.”

Tears
trickled down Janelle’s face. Her voice trembled. “Did you love her?”

“I did
once, but not anymore. I love you.”

“Why?
What about me do you love?”

“What
kind of question is that, sweetie?”

“Just
answer it, Chauncey. You could have any woman you want. Why do you suddenly
want to marry me?”

“Because
you have a big heart, you love unconditionally, and I know we can be great
together. You deserve happiness and if you let me, I can make you happy.”

“It’s
not because you need a place to live since what’s her name kicked you out?”

Chauncey
bent over and picked the ring off the floor. He then pulled Janelle to a seat
next to him on the bed and held her hand.

“I don’t
blame you for thinking that, but my circumstances have changed and I can make
different choices. I could have stayed in New York with my sister. That’s where
I lived before I met Nicole. I had a life there and I could make one there
again. If I didn’t want to be with you, why would I be willing to move to Richmond?”

“So you
want to move here when we get married?”

“Yes.
Why should you give up your life and your business to follow me to god knows
where? You’ve made enough sacrifices for this relationship. It’s my turn. I’ll
move here and start over. We’ll start over.”

Janelle
got up and walked to the bedroom door. “I need time to think, and I need to be
alone to digest this.”

“You
want me to drive all the way back to New York while you think?”

“I guess
so. I can’t make any decisions right now. If you want me as bad as you say,
then you should be willing to wait.”

He
acquiesced. “You’re right. And I am.”

He laid
the ring on the bed. “Keep this while you think. Maybe it’ll help you make up
your mind. When you look at it, remember how much I love you.”

He asked
her for a piece of paper and pen and gave her his new cell number.

“Call me
when you make a decision. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll call you in a few
days.”

Janelle
was sitting on her bed stroking the engagement ring in the palm of her hand
when the phone rang.

“Hello.
I’m sorry to bother you. My name is Nicole Harris. Your number is on my cell
phone bill. Do you know a Chauncey Cockfield?”

Nicole’s
pulse quickened. “You already know I do. He said you’d call.”

“What
else did he tell you about me, if you don’t mind me asking?”

 
“That’s between us.”

 
Nicole paused, put off by the anger in
Janelle’s voice.

“I
wanted to warn you about him. We’ve been living together for two years. I
kicked him out a few days ago because I found out he’s been cheating on me with
dozens of women.”

Janelle’s
heart thumped. “Dozens!”

She
wasn’t prepared for that revelation.

“He
meets them on the Internet and charms his way into their lives, like he did
with me,” Nicole continued. “Is that how you met him?”

Janelle paused, wondering
whether she should answer.

“Are you
still there?” Nicole asked.

“I’m
here,” Janelle sighed. Feeling she had nothing to lose, she continued. “I found
him on the Internet through an ad for his business, Tender Touch. We met at a
pamper party.”

“So he
actually did pamper parties?”

“I just
told you that’s how we met.”

“Barbara
in California was a pamper party. So was Lisa in Atlanta and a bunch of others.
Every time he was going to see one of his women, he told me he was doing a
pamper party.”

Janelle
took a deep breath, laid the ring on the bed and massaged her temple. Trying to
sort out the truth of this drama was like getting all the blue blocks to line
up on a Rubik’s Cube.
 

 
“Who did he tell you I was when I called
your house all those times?” Janelle asked.

“A
client. Women called here for him all the time, but I never questioned it
because of the business.”

“He told
me that you broke up a year ago and you were just living together as roommates
for convenience.”

“Yeah,
his convenience, but we were more than roommates. I don’t care what he told
you. We were engaged.”

“He
asked you to marry him? When?”

“A month
ago.”

“He
asked me to marry him today. Did he buy you a ring, too?”

“No.
Why?”

“’Cause
he bought me one. I’m looking at it now.”

Silence.

Confusion
held Janelle in a vice grip as her emotions bounced between distrust and
loyalty. She looked again at the ring. Nicole never got one. She did.

Was
Nicole just a woman scorned out to get Chauncey for choosing another woman?

She
decided Nicole’s story didn’t add up.

“You
know, I’m sorry. I find it hard to believe that a man could be sleeping with as
many women as you claim he was while he lived with you and you were
supposed
to be his woman and didn’t have a clue. I may have put up with my
ex-husband’s cheating, but I never acted like I didn’t know about it.”

“Look, I
didn’t call you to start trouble,” said Nicole. “I’m just trying to warn all
the sisters who’ve been scammed by this man, some giving up thousands of
dollars to him. I’ve even talked with one who said he gave her an STD.”

Janelle
gasped. “Who? What did he supposedly give her?”

“I’m not
giving out names. No need to embarrass anyone else. You do what you need to. I
was just trying to help.”

Janelle
leaned back, giving her angst to the stack of pillows against her headboard.

 
Could Chauncey have given her an STD?
They’d never practiced safe sex.

She
threw the ring across the room and howled as questions swirled through her
mind. Then she buried her face in the comforter and soaked it with her tears.