Lovers Premiere (Kimani Romance) (16 page)

T
he next morning, Sofia woke with red, swollen eyes. She had spent the whole night staring at the phone and drenching her pillow with tears. The few times that she managed to drift off to sleep her mind would replay the scene of Ramell telling her that he was going to file for an annulment. Each time it repeated she would experience the same stabbing pain in her heart. But what had she expected? She was guilty of everything that he'd accused her of. She cut him off when they were children over some stupid misunderstanding and then she did the same thing again these past few days. And because of what? Because she couldn't handle hearing that her father wasn't perfect?

Ramell was right. Why didn't she turn to him in her time of trouble and not away from him? It wasn't like she didn't trust him. She did. She trusted him with her
life. Climbing out of bed, Sofia shuffled to the bathroom to see how bad the damage was. It was worse than she thought. Bed head, red eyes, puffy nose—she looked like a train wreck and she had to be on a plane to Napa Valley in a couple of hours.

She headed for the shower even though all she really wanted to do was go back and climb into bed. But there was no peace there, either. Her thoughts tortured her as she scrubbed and rinsed.
I can't keep waiting for you to love me as much as I love you.
Sofia's tears blended with the hot water spraying down from the showerhead. By the time she turned off the water she was rubbed raw and her fingertips looked pickled.

Realizing that she needed to hurry, Sofia attempted to pick up the pace, but she was sluggish at best. When she got into her car, she had every intention of going straight to the airport but the minute she hit the highway she drove to her old house instead. “Please be here. Please be here,” she prayed feverishly. In the driveway, she'd barely put the car in Park before hopping out and running into the house.

“Ramell,” Sofia shouted as she jetted through the house. She kept calling out for him as she ran from room to room. He wasn't there. When she reached their bedroom, she was shocked to discover that his clothes weren't there. Not in the walk-in closets, not in the drawers—not anywhere.

“Oh my God. What have I done?” Sofia slapped a hand against her mouth while a fresh wave of acid tears started to burn the back of her eyes. She needed to fix this. But how?

Think. Think.
She fixed problems all the time. Being a good agent meant being a problem solver.
I don't think I can solve this one.
Sofia walked over to the bed and sat down for a few minutes. In the back of her mind, she knew that she needed to get over to the airport. Her sister was getting married that afternoon, but the other part of her wanted—no—needed, to find her own husband. She needed to stop him from filing an annulment.

Torn, she hopped up from the bed and returned to her car. While she drove out to the highway, she picked up her cell phone, took a deep breath and called Ramell. Hopefully, he wasn't too mad at her that he wouldn't answer his phone. At least that was her prayer…until her call went to voicemail. She was about to hang up but then waited too long and heard the beep. “Uh, hello, Ram. It's me. Sofia.” She cleared her throat. “Look, I've been thinking a lot about what you said last night. You know the whole thing about you thinking our getting married being a mistake and you, well you know—”

Beep!

“Damn it.” Sofia tossed her phone over to the passenger seat and then slapped a hand against the steering wheel in frustration. Heartbroken, she made it over to the private airport. She was twenty minutes late, but her uncle held the private jet until she got there. She quickly apologized for her tardiness and climbed aboard.

Actually, she had a lot of apologies to make, she realized upon boarding the plane, the first one being with her Aunt Lily.

“Don't worry about it, baby,” her aunt said, cupping her face. “All that matters is that you're all right.”

Sofia wasn't all right, but she had worried them enough. Plus, it was supposed to be a happy day. Rachel's day. She was going to put a smile on her face and be there for her little sister. When the plane took off, Sofia glanced out the window and stared out at the white fluffy clouds. Ram said that all his troubles faded when he was in the sky. She waited for that feeling to come over her now. But there was nothing on earth that was going to make her feel better about losing the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Nothing.

 

The beauty of Napa Valley rolled past Sofia without her noticing. She sat in the car next to her aunt with her thoughts tumbling over the mess that she made with Ramell. Beside her, Aunt Lily exclaimed at the vineyards they passed while riding up to the Chambers Winery.

“This is such a wonderful place for a wedding.” Lily clasped her hands together. “I know I'm going to cry.”

Jacob chuckled. “You always cry at weddings.”

“True. But today there's going to be some real water-works.”

“Don't worry about it. I come bearing handkerchiefs.” He wrapped his arm around his wife and delivered a quick kiss against her temple. He noticed his other niece brooding on the other side of the car, but held his tongue. When they arrived at the Chambers' breathtaking château, he helped his wife out of the car and then lingered to offer a hand to Sofia. He already suspected what was going on but he asked anyway. “Everything all right, Sofia?”

She instantly plastered on a fake smile. “Fine. I'm doing just…” she met his knowing eyes and came clean. “I messed up,” she admitted. “I messed up badly.”

Jacob pulled in a deep breath and slid an arm around her waist. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

“I wish that you could, but…I don't think anything can fix this.”

He cocked his head. “It's not like you to just give up.”

“I know, but—”

“Then don't start making it a habit now.” He squeezed her waist as they headed toward the front door.

Sofia let her uncle's words hang in her head. The more she thought about it, the more she drew strength from them. They were quickly introduced to Ethan's parents as well as his older brother, Hunter, and his six-year-old niece Kendra. They were a beautiful family that was clearly a close-knit unit. And when Livia Blake entered the room and slid an arm around Hunter, Sofia felt a kick. It wasn't jealousy this time, but longing.

Excited, Lily clasped her hands together. “Well, I hope everyone is ready for a fantastic wedding,”

The women said their goodbyes to the men and headed off to a separate wing of the house that was temporarily dubbed the bridal suite. Rachel, who was sitting in a chair with a hairstylist, jumped from her chair, screaming,
“Guess who's getting married today!”

“You are,”
the women screamed back and then rushed forward for a group hug. Music, champagne, hor d'oeuvres, before long there was a full party in swing. Sofia's mood lightened. She loved seeing her baby sister
so happy. Rachel positively glowed while she recounted the story of how she and Ethan met and fell in love on the set of
Paging the Doctor
.

“Well it's not like I'm the only one getting married.” Rachel turned toward Charlene and then all the ladies in the room followed suit.

Charlene cradled her hands on her thick waist. “I wasn't going to say anything. It's your day.”

Rachel waved that comment off and reached for her girl's hand and thrust it toward the other women. “Bam! Look at that sucker.”

All the women blinked at the mammoth rock that Akil had put on her finger.

Sofia's mouth hung open just like the rest of them and she wondered how she hadn't noticed the ring when she first saw her. It was just that big. “That
definitely
says that you're off the market,” Sofia said and all the women laughed.

“And what about you, Livia?” Charlene asked. “Have any news that you'd like to share with us ladies?”

You've got to be kidding me. Sofia turned her head toward Livia, who was now blushing as hard as Charlene.

“What? You want me to talk about this?
Bam!
” She thrust out her hand, also adorned with a beautiful, equally sizable diamond.

“And?” Rachel prodded.

“And…Hunter and I should be hearing the pitter-patter of little crawling feet by summer.”

There was a collective, “Oh my God,” before every one rushed to hug and congratulate Livia. At least now
Sofia knew the real reason why Livia had recently quit the business.

“And let's not forget my big sister, Sofia,” Rachel chimed.

Sofia shook her head. She definitely didn't want the attention on her.

“She recently got married, too,” Rachel continued.

Sofia hadn't gotten around to telling Rachel that Ram was filing for an annulment. And she certainly wasn't about to tell her right now, either.

“Let's see the ring,” one of her sister's friends said.

Sofia glanced down at the simple band that she and Ram picked out during their quickie marriage and couldn't help but smile when she thrust it forward. “I believe that it was the best one Elvis had in his display counter,” she chuckled.

“Well I can testify that it was certainly an interesting ceremony,” Charlene said. “And after taking a peek at that video clip floating around, at least Akil and I now know why Ramell wasn't wearing a shirt when we showed up.”

Sofia slapped a hand across her face while the women laughed. “So much for what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

Luckily Sofia was soon spared any further inquiry about her marriage and she went back to just celebrating Rachel's day.

“Oh I wonder if Uncle Jacob remembered to write his toast,” Rachel said. “The last time I talked to him he said that he hadn't gotten around to it.”

“I'm sure he has,” Sofia reassured her.

“I don't know. Uncle Jacob likes to adlib a lot, and he's not as good at it as he thinks he is.”

The girls laughed. “Sofia, can you call him and check?”

Sofia grabbed her purse, but then remembered that she had left her cell phone in the passenger seat of her car. “I'm sorry but I don't have my cell phone with me.”

Instantly, everyone stopped what they were doing and gawked at Sofia.

“What?”

“All right. Hold up. Who are you and what have you done with my sister?” Rachel asked with her hands on her hips.

Sofia frowned at all their stunned expressions. “What do you mean?”

“You never forget your phone,” Rachel told her. “Never.”

Sofia thought about it. Lately she hadn't been as much of a slave to her gadgets as she used to be and…it felt good. “Hollywood can wait… every once in a while,” she said with a wink.

Everyone applauded.

After makeup, manicures, and intricate hairstyles, the women all shimmied into their dresses in time for the wedding photographer to usher them to a designated area and take the first round of pictures. Rachel looked like an angel floating around in her white dress and striking poses.

When the women finished taking their pictures, they headed back toward the bridal suite. Bringing up the rear, Sofia and Charlene were laughing as Livia told
them adorable stories of her soon-to-be stepdaughter. It was clear to everyone that she was going to make a wonderful mother. They turned down the wrong corner and ran directly into the groom and the groomsmen.

“Afternoon, ladies,” Ethan greeted.

Sofia sucked in a startled breath when her eyes zeroed in on Ramell.

“Ooops. I guess we should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque,” Livia laughed. “But first,” she rushed over to Hunter, “let me just steal a quick kiss.”

The small group laughed…all except for Sofia and Ramell, who were both left standing off to the side. “What are you doing here?” she finally asked.

Ram cleared his throat and forced on a smile. “I, uh—”

“I invited him,” Ethan said. “After all, in about an hour he's going to be my new brother-in-law.” He gave Ramell a good, hearty whack on the back. “Besides, I had a cousin that had to back out at the last minute and it just all worked out.”

Sofia swallowed. There were a million things going through her mind at the moment and she couldn't settle on a single one to say. Their laughter died down and an uncomfortable silence started to hug the group.

“Well, we're just going to head on back to the blushing bride,” Charlene said, tugging on Livia's arm.

“Yeah. We don't want them to think something happened to us.”

“Can I come with?” Ethan joked.

“No.” Charlene waved a finger at him. “It's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.”

Ethan tossed up his hands. “Fine. I guess we'll just go get our pictures taken.”

The bridesmaids and the groomsmen started to part ways. Sofia's moment was about to pass her by.
Stop him! Stop him!

“Ramell, can I talk to you for a moment?” she said so quickly that it sounded like one long word.

Ram stopped in his tracks and turned back to face her.

“Please?” She glanced at the others and then tried to swallow the large lump in the center of her throat. “It'll just take a moment.”

No one waited for a brick to fall onto their head. They quickly scrambled out of the hallway. Sofia hesitated because she had the distinct impression that Ram wanted to leave, as well. Was it too late?

“I…” She stopped, feeling her throat closing up on her. She closed her eyes at the threat of tears. “I've never been at a lost for words,” she said and tried to laugh at herself, but even that fell flat.

“Maybe that's a sign, too,” Ram said.

Eyes shimmering, she looked up to see tears shining in his eyes.

“Love isn't supposed to be this hard,” he said.