Marion Ekholm - An Act of Love

“Why so much luggage? Dede said you were going for a week. I didn’t have this much when I spent three months in Australia.” Probably because he wore the same rags Marley saw him in every day.

The doors opened and he greeted a man leaving the elevator and finagled the luggage inside. “You got a dead body in here? This weighs a ton. Want me to come to the airport? I could fly out with you to...Where we going?”

Totally frustrated, Marley pressed her hand against her aching forehead. At some point, all the tension had turned into a headache. She said authoritatively, “I am flying—alone—to Pennsylvania.”

Brant leaned against the wall, studying her. “I see pain in those beautiful brown eyes. Headache?”

She nodded but didn’t go into detail.

When the elevator stopped on the fifth floor, he moved to give the woman entering some space. “You’re breaking my heart. You know that, right? How can I exist a whole week by myself?” He smiled at the newcomer and waved offhandedly at Marley. “We’re newly engaged, and she’s taking off without me. After I gave her that gorgeous ring.”

Marley compressed her lips and tried her best to ignore Brant. She would not talk to him. She would not acknowledge his remarks. The elevator stopped at the fourth floor and the woman got out. The doors were closing when he raised his voice and said, “She’ll probably hock it as soon as she gets to Transylvania.”

Marley finally shook her head and turned to stare at him directly. “You’re a real nutcase,” she said before the door opened on the first floor.

“So when are we going on a date? Engaged for twelve hours, and we haven’t even shared chopsticks.” The door started to close, and Brant pushed one of the suitcases forward to stop it. He rolled the other bag into the lobby, pushed both out the front door and down the ramp into the parking area.

“Where are you going with those?” Was he about to make off with her luggage? Marley gripped her purse and carry-on even tighter as she started after him. “I have a taxi coming.”

“I’ll drive you. I’ve got my truck parked right here.”

“Stop.” She grabbed one of his arms, accidentally whacking his chest with her purse. “I mean it, Brant.” She backed away to put some distance between them. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you.”

He leaned against the white truck, hooked one scuffed boot over the other and folded his arms across his chest. “May I have a serious word with you?”

“Are you capable of being serious?”

He stared her down. If she missed her plane...

“What do you want to say?”

“I’m between gigs right now.” He paused. “No work for maybe a couple of weeks.”

Defeated, she let out a sigh. Given the panhandler outfits he wore, he had to be broke. Probably hadn’t had work since they’d first met and wouldn’t get more till that convention, which was still weeks away. She wasn’t about to start lending him money. But...if he was desperate. “How much do you need? I don’t have a lot with me but...”

Brant frowned, lines puckering his forehead. “I don’t need money. Let me finish what I have to say, okay? I have work coming up later this month, and I’d like to get away from my picture posted on every free space in Phoenix while I wait for the assignment.” He looked away. “And I have personal reasons to disappear for a while.”

He put his index finger to his lips when she tried to interject a comment.

After another pause he said, “You need a fiancé, and it could be fun to act the part. My upcoming job is in New York, so if I stop off in Pennsylvania, I’ll be more than halfway there.”

Marley’s heart raced. No way could she ever have him show up in front of all her relatives and embarrass her. She held her breath and hoped the panic she felt wasn’t visible. “My turn?”

He tossed a hand in the air.

“I don’t want to hurt your feelings, Brant.” He straightened slightly. “But you’re not the type of person I want to present to my family as my fiancé.”

He edged away from the truck, and she backed off so he couldn’t get too close. Since last night when they’d become “engaged,” he had begun to take up too much of her space. And that casual touching of his when he got near her played havoc with her sense of well-being.

“As an actor, I can make myself into anything you want. A Texas billionaire?” he twanged. “How about an English count related to the royal family?” he asked, switching to a British inflection.

The accents rankled. Unable to think rationally, she attacked an obvious fact to distract him from the truth: that his very presence had begun to mess with her comfort level.

“You don’t have the wardrobe to carry it off. I doubt either the billionaire or the member of the royal family shops for clothes at the local Goodwill.” When he looked as though he might continue to argue, she said, “My taxi’s here,” and motioned to the yellow cab pulling to the curb nearby.

Brant shook his head, rolled the luggage to the cab and put the bags in the trunk once the cabbie had flipped the lid. When Brant opened the cab door for her, he said, “It’d be fun, and you’d be saving me from a week of boredom.”

“No way, mister.” She got into the cab, grabbed the door handle and shut the door. The last thing she wanted to do was provide him with entertainment.

“I have other clothes,” he shouted as the cab took off.

It was only when Marley was on board her plane for Pittsburgh that she realized she’d forgotten her guitar.

The one thing she could rely on to get her through this pending wedding.

CHAPTER THREE

MARLEY SAT BACK AND WATCHED the young women, relatives and friends, gathered for Lindy’s shower on Sunday. She had intended to remain nonchalant and not mention her engagement. And she managed it, right up until Chloe, the sister closest to Marley in age, noticed her ring.

“You’re engaged!” Chloe grabbed Marley’s hand and nearly pulled her arm out of the socket.

Questions flew at her from her other sisters. “What does he look like?” from Jen. “How long have you known him?” asked Morgan. “When do you plan to get married?” squealed Franny. “How come you never said anything before?” The last from Lindy, who looked very upset. Marley managed to answer questions by showing Brant’s picture on her cell phone. Her well-rehearsed lies seemed to satisfy everyone and eventually, when the spotlight returned to Lindy, Marley thought she could finally relax.

No such luck. Lindy took her hand and examined it. “Your nails are so...so stubby.” She looked up. “People will notice it, Marley, when they look at the ring.”

Marley glanced down at her left hand. Had Brant noticed her fingers when he’d held her hand a few nights ago? “I play the guitar, remember? I can’t have nails touching the strings.” Her hands never matched, the right one having longer nails because she used them as picks.

“Well, you’ll need to do something about them for my wedding. Maybe some fake nails.”

Once Lindy finished with the examination, her focus turned to the ring. “He must be very rich.”

The large cubic zirconia that served as Marley’s engagement ring overshadowed the half karat wrapped in a Tiffany setting on Lindy’s hand. Marley cringed from the comparison and slowly pulled her hand out of her sister’s grasp. If only she could soothe Lindy’s pride and tell her the obnoxious stone had no value compared with her genuine diamond.

Why had she created this bogus engagement? Why? She never meant to hurt Lindy. Marley tried to remain inconspicuous and concentrated on crafting a bouquet of all the ribbons from the gifts for the wedding rehearsal.