Male Order Bride (5 page)

She did admit to herself that that might be an obstacle
for him. Outside of her buying trips like the one to Atlanta next week,
Lacey was not the type to hang out in bars to meet new men. When she
was in town she was up to her hemlines in work. She just didn't have
time for men. And until Rafe Chancellor's flowers had turned up on her
doorstep to remind her of the absence of a male in her life, she had
been content with her manless existence, as long as she didn't give it
too much thought.

She just didn't have time to spend on a man right now, she
convinced herself as she drove home again for a quick lunch. If she
should meet him later and he should ask why she hadn't responded to his
flowers and letters, she would simply tell him they had gotten lost in
the pile of her other correspondence. The flowers weren't easy to
overlook, but the two letters were.

The cassette tape that arrived in her mail that day wasn't
as easy to ignore either. Lacey sat at the kitchen table with an apple
and unwrapped the letter from the tape Rafe Chancellor had sent her.
The letter was written on the back of a magazine-subscription reply
envelope. She turned it over several times. Couldn't this man afford
proper stationery?

She couldn't help smiling as she started to read.

Dear Lacey,

Have you noticed how friendly I have become? In case you
have not found my references in order, I am forwarding the enclosed
tape for your review. You will note that the tape has two sides. Side 1
is called "Musical Insight of Rafe" and Side 2 is called "Musical
Insight of Rafe, Side 2."

The suggested manner to review this tape is first to brew
a cup of either coffee or tea. I recommend that you use a
coffee-chicory blend or else an economy blend of pekoe, orange pekoe
and cut black tea in tagless tea bags.

Wow
, Lacey thought. For being a new
man in town he certainly picked up on details right away, tapping right
into the local New Orleans-based favorites that were served here on the
Gulf Coast. And tagless tea bags? What man ever cared about how tea
should be served? She read on.

Remember, you want this to be an experience. While your
special liquid refreshments are cooking, it would be advisable that you
locate your cassette player and ensure that it is in proper working
order. You now should have your cup, filled with whatever, and it is
time to punch up the tape. While the tape is playing, you do have
permission to get up and dance around the room if you feel the urge.
(Continued on backside.)

Lacey turned the envelope over and upside down, smiling as
she read the remainder of the message, which he had written around the
printing on the magazine's envelope.

After you have allowed the words and the music to affect
you, I hope that you will be able to reflect and agree that maybe you
should mail back the specially prepared mail-back card without delay.
Do not worry. I am checking my mailbox. I hope you do not feel that I
have been too forward or pushy.

Do you like cavalry officers? I hope so!

Your newfound
gentleman friend in southern Mississippi,

Rafe

Lacey set the letter down and picked up the tape. A
musical insight. Did that mean he was singing on the tape? Maybe there
was a verbal message enclosed. Hearing the sound of his voice could
also give her a more vivid insight into his personality.

A tape recorder. Whom could she borrow one from? She
thought of the girls in the boutique and couldn't remember any of them
having one. Andrea, her best friend, and her husband had one, Lacey
remembered, because Andrea had brought it to Lacey's Halloween party.
And Andrea would probably also let her borrow it without asking
questions.

"What do you want it for?" Andrea asked when Lacey stopped
by her house after work to get the player.

"It's a long story," Lacey said, acting as if she had
somewhere important she should have been two hours earlier.

"I'm not planning anything this evening," Andrea said,
sitting on the couch with the tape player clutched in her lap. "Is it a
party?"

"No, nothing like that," Lacey said, sinking into the
chair closest to the door and resigning herself to filling her friend
in on all the details of Rafe Chancellor.

"He sounds positively intriguing," Andrea said when she
had heard all the details. "Why haven't you sent the card back by now?"

Lacey looked at her best friend and sighed. "I don't know.
I guess I'm afraid."

"Of what?" Andrea asked, laughing. "From what everyone's
told you, he sounds positively dreamy. I wouldn't think he's one of
those crazies you read about in newspapers."

"That's not what I'm afraid of," Lacey admitted.

"What, then?"

Lacey sighed, then tried to put into words the feelings
she hadn't allowed herself to admit the past few days. "He does sound
too good to be true, especially since everyone's speaking so highly of
him. You can judge a person by the company he keeps, and I happen to
like the friends of his that I know too."

"What's the problem?"

"There has to be a catch. I mean, why approach me this way
instead of directly, like any normal person?"

"He's obviously not your normal run-of-the-mill person. I
think that's a plus in his favor."

"True. But—"

"Besides, how much chance do you give most men who
approach you the direct route?"

Lacey shrugged. Andrea had been with her before when she
had turned down strangers who tried to ask her out. "What if I send the
card back, agree to meet him and get my hopes up and he turns out to be
a nothing? John Alden, Miles Standish. Maybe he's even copying these
letters from some kind of mail-order kit to hide his own personality.
Some magazines sell the strangest things these days."

"You worry too much," Andrea said. "Why don't you just let
loose for once and give the man a chance? I think it's all exciting. I
would have mailed the card back long before now."

"I should have done that," Lacey agreed, "before I had a
chance to think about it and get the input of others' ideas about him."
She thought over what Andrea had just said. "Would you send in the
card?"

Andrea nodded and handed Lacey the tape recorder.
"Everyone risks disappointment when they first take the chance of
meeting someone, even when they have some kind of prior knowledge of
that person. You write it off to experience if it doesn't work, and you
go on from there."

"Maybe," Lacey said, wavering. She sighed. "I guess I'm
just plain scared of getting hurt again," she admitted to her best
friend.

Andrea smiled and patted Lacey's hand. She had known Lacey
back in college when Dominick had taken advantage of Lacey's naiveté.
"That's probably a perfectly normal feeling. But I think you're putting
more fear into this situation than it warrants. Send the blasted card
back and let him call you. Then go out with him, just once, for the fun
of it. Don't expect to build an entire relationship around a postcard.
Just take the date he's offering, and if you enjoy what you find, go on
from there, one day at a time."

Lacey smiled. "You always did have a sensible head on your
shoulders. I should have come to you first, or just plain mailed the
card back and not given it another thought. This way, I've thought
about it too much, and as you said, totally taken it out of context."

"Right," Andrea said, laughing. "Just think how scared the
poor man would be right now if he knew his novel approach with the
flowers and letters and tape was causing you to have visions of
ministers and bridesmaids."

Lacey laughed with her. "You're right. I'm too young for
an early marriage. Not until I get my business where I want it to be
first."

"With you, and the way you like challenges," Andrea
warned, "that could be never."

Lacey picked up the tape recorder and stood. "I'll drive
down to the post office tonight, as soon as I hear the tape."

Lacey drove home with Andrea's tape recorder balanced on
the seat next to her. She couldn't wait to hear Rafe's taped message,
but already could imagine it heavily laced with country music. She
couldn't claim that as her style, but at the same time wasn't turned
off by it as she was by punk rock.

When she got home she set the tape recorder aside,
deciding she'd take a shower first and change into something more
comfortable. Then she'd listen to it once she was relaxed. Whatever
kind of music it was, she hoped it wouldn't put her to sleep.

Lacey played the tape through twice. It was a hodgepodge
of disco, country and popular music in bits and pieces, some as short
as a phrase, others almost the entire song. It started off with bits
from the country song about love being a rose, so you'd better not pick
it, since it only grows when it's on the vine, and you lose your love
when you say the word "mine". Another song made the musical comment
that he was always getting in trouble and leaving little girls who hate
to see him go.

"Let's go dancing, baby," appeared throughout in the
message, along with "I love the nightlife". Then there was a segment of
Kermit the Frog speaking to another character about why he lives alone.
"Stay away from women" was his motto, but since he couldn't, that's his
trouble. Then came Johnny Cash with "I'm a hero—General Lee".

Side two spanned the gamut from only needing five-o'clock
loving to Willie Nelson to "Travelin' Man" to "Let's Dance" to guitars
in Texas and "Celebration".

Not bad, Lacey decided. She wondered how carefully he had
selected each song to apply to Lacey. Or was this a standard tape he
sent to all the women he decided to pursue? Whatever the answer, she
felt compelled to tap her feet with the beat and caught herself singing
along.

Okay, she thought, laying her hands flat on the table. It
was time to send the return card. She got her purse and brought it back
to the table, rummaging through until she found the original card and
reread the message.

"If you decide to return the card, all you will have to do
is write in your own handwriting, 'Give me a call sometime.' This will
put Phase Two into action. At that point all you will have to do is
answer the phone if you are home when I call, and be prepared at Phase
Four to say 'yes' or 'no'."

"Phase Four," Lacey muttered, reading over the entire card
again. "He skipped Phase Three. What can Phase Four mean? A date, a
phone call, or more? Hmm." She frowned, trying to draft her reply.
Besides not wanting to give him the satisfaction of responding to him
like a puppy in obedience training, she wanted to give some clue to her
personality.

Of course, he might not want to know anything about her.
He might feel he had all the information he needed and a simple "Give
me a call sometime" was all the go-ahead he needed for…
whatever.

If he was going to give her a call sometime, it was going
to be partially on her terms. And as short as a postcard was, she was
going to do her best to give him some clues about herself. She picked
up the card and carried it to her desk, slipped it into the carriage of
her typewriter, and typed: "I feel it's only fair to warn you I have
2,001 ways to say no, depending on the question. However, in regard to
your phone call and very exciting date, I'm looking forward to both."
She pulled it out of the typewriter and signed her name with a flourish.

Lacey smiled at the reply card. This way she couldn't be
boxed into any misunderstandings about that missing Phase Three. If he
was talking about anything more intimate than a dinner date, she was
letting him know up front her answer was "no times 2,001". Let him try
for anything beyond the phone call mentioned in the letter, and she'd
send him packing in no time.

Lacey picked up her car keys, purse and the card and went
out to her car. She would take Andrea's advice and mail the card right
away; it had cluttered her work space too long already. If she dropped
the postcard down the slot tonight, he'd get it sometime tomorrow and
give her a call sometime during the day or evening. She didn't have
anything to do tomorrow night, so if he suggested a brief first
meeting—say over coffee or dinner—she could oblige
him. But only if he sounded half as good over the phone as he did in
his letters.

At the post office Lacey parked her car in front of the
door and ran up the steps, taking them two at a time. She walked across
the hollow-sounding floor and let the postcard slide down the slot
marked for local mail. Well, she sighed, looking after it, wondering
when the postal employee would pick it up and carry it on its way, she
had done her part. The next move would come from Rafe. All she had to
do was sit home and wait. Since that was how she usually spent her
evenings, it wouldn't be too bad.

Lacey woke up the next morning with an eagerness that
overrode her usual enthusiasm. Today or tonight some of the suspense
would end.

She entered the boutique, seeing it with new eyes. As she
walked through each room, pleased with the displays, she wondered what
Rafe Chancellor would think of her shop. Would he be the type of man
who could enjoy her success and be proud of her accomplishments? Or
would he be the kind of man, like so many she had met in the past two
years, who would feel threatened? If he were that type, he wouldn't get
more than a first date out of her, and not a very pleasant one at that.

"The Bride-To-Be called this morning," Jane informed Lacey
as she strolled through to the back room, where her manager's office
was located.

Lacey smiled. Bride-To-Be was the nickname she had given
her client who had asked her to design her wedding
trousseau—at the groom's expense. He came from one of the
oldest and wealthiest families on the Gulf Coast; Lacey was given carte
blanche with the designs and expense.