“I can see that.” Daniel eyed them both, a smile hovering at his lips. “I have to hand it to you, what you did – taking the power away from me showed a lot of balls and I respect the fact that you fight for what you love. I am proud of you.”
“Thank you.”
“We will leave you two alone for now.” Deidre said as she gathered up her coat and purse. “May I call you so that we can talk about the dinner party we plan for you?” She asked Athena.
“I don’t want her tiring herself….”
“Shh… darling,” Athena placed a finger over his lips. “You may call me. I suppose that now we are a family and all that, it is appropriate to call you Deidre?”
“It would be strange if you do not.” The woman said with a smile.
“And please call me Daniel.” He looked at his son. “I will see you in the office tomorrow. Don’t bother getting up. We will show ourselves out.”
Alan waited until they had left before turning to look at his wife who was snuggled into his arms. “That went better than I expected.” He murmured.
“I thought they were coming up to the podium to announce to the world that they were done with you and never want to see you again.”
“My family has never aired their dirty laundry in public and my parents knew that if they objected to their white son being married to a black woman, they would be in a lot of trouble. The company would have lost face and profits would have gone down.”
Athena eyed him quizzically. “Was that why you did it?”
He nodded. “That and the fact that I was tired of the secrecy. I love you and want to show you off to the world.”
“You have certainly done that. By tomorrow, the papers will be filled with the story about us.”
Chapter 16
Over the next few weeks, they became fodder for reporters and talk show hosts who discussed the reason for the secret wedding. “An interracial couple is not a novelty these days,” a well-known talk show host admitted. “But Alan McGregor and Athena Blakely make a perfect foil for each other. She complements his blondness and it makes them such a beautiful couple that we cannot help but admire them and make them the topic of every discussion. And they love each other. One can see it by just looking at them. I have always admired Athena’s ebony skin and her natural beauty, but I have to say that she is even more beautiful now. Whether or not the rumors about the family’s racial bias is true or not, this is definitely a couple that makes you sit up and take notice!”
Debra turned the television off. “Is it ever going to stop?”
“I don’t mind it.” Athena said mildly as she dug into her cantaloupe. It had been a week since her husband had made the announcement and her life had been changed overnight. She could not go anywhere without being pounced on by reporters and her husband had insisted on assigning a security detail to her. His assistant was taking care of the publicity and the frequent questions, but innovative reporters kept dogging her steps. It was Sunday afternoon and Alan had gone off to the club and she had decided to come and visit her mother at home, something that had always been simple but was now a chore. She had been in discussions with Deidre about place settings and invitations until she felt as if her mind was about to explode. She had told the woman that she was going to leave everything in her expert hands and concentrate on being pregnant. She had started to feel the effects a few days ago with constant nausea and Alan had insisted that she take it easy.
“That’s because you are used to it.” Debra eyed her beautiful daughter, finding it hard to believe that she was one and the same woman splashed across the various papers and on the internet. She was wearing a simple white sweater over faded denims and had tiny gold knobs in her lobes. Her face was devoid of makeup and the way she was sitting around the kitchen counter and digging into the fruit made her looked like a teenager.
“What?” she asked as she noticed her mother staring at her.
“I cannot believe that you are now Athena McGregor.” She went to pour a glass of milk and brought it to her. “Married and pregnant and a famous model. Your dad would have been over the moon.”
“I wish he was alive to see all this.” She murmured.
“So do I.” Debra climbed onto the stool next to her. “Have you decided what you are going to wear to the reception?”
“Monique and I have been in dialogue.” She grinned. “It’s another secret and not even my husband is going to know until he sees me in it.”
“You are getting very good at keeping secrets.” Her mother said dryly as she took a piece of the fruit off the plate.
“That I am.”
*****
“You are not wearing that.” Alan told her as he stared at the gold dress that barely covered her thighs. It reminded him of the dress she had been wearing when they had first met, the one that had sent the blood rushing to his loins and staying there. He was the only one who was supposed to see her like this!
“You are being a prude.”
“I am being a husband.” He caught her shoulders and turned her around. “And I am saying that you are not wearing that damned dress if it can be called that. I can see every inch of your body and it is cold. You are going to catch a cold.”
“I don’t get sick.” She pointed out.
“Athena,” He shook her gently. “We are going to dinner at my parents place and they have friends who are old-fashioned and would certainly not approve of what you are wearing. The relationship with my parents is tenuous as it is and there are going to be reporters there. I am asking as your husband that you change into something else.”
“Playing the husband card?”
“I am.” He cupped her cheek and lifted her face to his. “Will you change?”
“Okay fine.” She grumbled. “But if I end up looking shabby and old-fashioned, you have no one to blame except you.”
He laughed softly at that. “You could never look anything but beautiful if you tried.”
“Flattery will not work right now.”
“Who is flattering?” he asked her mildly as he let go of her and went into the closet to rifle through the dozens of jewel colored dresses hanging there. Picking out a shimmering burnt orange one with a scooped neckline, he showed it to her. “How about this one instead?”