"Oh, poor Angel. What a strange way for him to find out her deepest secret." She sighed. "I knew about her dyslexia; she told me about it not too long after we met. She was so afraid he wouldn't want her if he knew she was dyslexic. She really believes that it affects her intellect, not just her learning. I hope he has sense enough to treat her gently. If he were to make her feel bad because of this, I would... I would..."
Warren interrupted her tirade to assure her that Donnie would do no such thing. "He told me last night, before her accident, that he loves her. He wants her happiness above anything, Lisette. He'll be good to her."
Lisette's eyes lit up and she left the counter and wrapped her arms around Warren's neck, then sat down in his lap. "Oh, that's wonderful." She sighed. "Now they can be as happy as we are."
"Maybe, but I don't see how," he replied as he bent his eager mouth to her willing lips.
When Angelique awoke, she felt odd. The pain in her head was almost gone and she felt refreshed but curiously disoriented. For some reason she was feeling uneasy and strange and she couldn't figure out why. She looked around the room at the pictures she saw displayed and it suddenly hit her. She held up her left hand and stared at it. Everything was becoming clearer to her. She scooted up so her back was against the headboard and sat there deep in thought. That's the way Donnie found her when he came to see how she was doing. He sat down on the side of the bed and looked at her troubled face.
"Hey, there. You look deep in thought. What is it, Angel?" She returned his look of concern with a bleak expression. "We're not really married are we?"
Donnie almost fell off the bed. "What do you mean, we're not married? Of course we're married."
"I don't have a ring. There aren't any pictures of me anywhere in this room, much less anywhere in the house. And we haven't made love at all. We're newlyweds, so you say, but you never put your hands on me. I think you're lying to me."
Donnie moved from his position to sit closer to Angelique. He held his hand out to her and she placed hers in it in a gesture of trust. "I'm not lying to you, Angel. We really are married; I have the certificate if you'd like to see it I don't have as many pictures of you as I should, but that's your fault," he teased her. "You only like to take pictures, you don't like to be in them. But I do have a picture of you." Reaching over to the small chest that served as a nightstand, he opened the top drawer and took out a framed photograph and handed it to her.
She made a soft sound of surprise as she looked at a picture of her in a fantastic tangerine-colored dress. She was smiling brilliantly and looked beautiful and happy, even to her own eye. "Where was this taken?"
"This was from your brother Marcus's wedding. You were the maid of honor," he told her. "And as for us not making love, baby, you've been in an accident. What kind of husband would I be if I was pawing all over you before you had a chance to recover?"
Angelique finally put the picture on the nightstand. She looked deeply into Donnie's eyes. "So it's not because you don't want to make love? Are you sure? I thought you just didn't think I was sexy or something."
Donnie laughed out loud and grabbed Angelique, pulling her into his embrace and rolling over so that she was on top of him. "You, not sexy? Oh, my God, I've been putting ice down my pants and taking cold showers and sleeping on the couch, anything I can think of to keep my hands off you. I've been going out of my mind from wanting you, baby."
Angelique felt better from hearing his heartfelt words, but she still had one question. "But where is my wedding ring? I don't have an engagement ring, either. Why is that, Donnie?"
Donnie hesitated only briefly. The things he'd just told her weren't whole truths, but they were more truth than fiction. He cared about her more than he thought possible and he just couldn't stand to have her look so bereft. Making himself another promise to make everything right as soon as possible, he sat up and gently set her aside so he could retrieve something else from the drawer by his bed. He took out a Tiffany box and handed it to Angelique. "It has to be sized, which is why you don't have it on. But here you are, my dear."
She opened the box to find an ornate wedding ring set in platinum with a huge center stone and an elaborate wraparound band. "Wow. Put it on me, please," she said eagerly. He did as she asked and slid the ring on the proper finger, and, as he'd said, it was several sizes too big.
"See why it's still in the box? We'll get it fixed as soon as possible. Do you want to keep it on? You could put it on a chain or something."
Angelique shook her head and put the ring back in its box with no reluctance. "No, I can wait. It's beautiful, Donnie, thank you very much," she said but without the exuberance he would have expected. Just then Jordan and Pippen started barking like mad. Donnie laughed and said the snowplows must be out. "Let's go see what that racket is all about, it could just be their way of telling me they're hungry."
At the mention of food Angelique commented that she was hungry, too. "Can we have some soup?" she asked. "Some of that soup with hamburger."
Donnie was delighted. "I think you're starting to remember things. I made you hamburger soup not too long ago," he told her. "Do you remember anything else?"
"I'm not sure," she replied. "Who is Evie?"
Chapter Sixteen
The next morning Angelique awoke to the sounds of Detroit digging itself out of a record-breaking snowstorm. She was warm and comfortable, although a little bit unhappy that her husband wasn't in the bed with her. But on the other hand, it was probably better that he was gone. Angelique had suddenly remembered everything, every single detail of her life and their life together. It was just like Dr. Feinstein said: after a couple of days, her memory had returned. She should have been elated but she wasn't. She was both happy and sad, an odd reaction. She was happy because during the brief time that she'd had amnesia Donnie had been so loving, and caring, just what she wanted from him. She was sad because she had no doubt that as soon as he knew her memory was back, they'd return to their farce of a marriage and she'd be sleeping in Siberia, aka the guest room, once again.
She didn't want to get out of bed, for fear of breaking the enchantment that had surrounded them. When she thought about what they'd done the night before, she had to wipe her eyes because the memory was so poignant and sweet. They'd had lunch and talked some more, then Donnie took the dogs out and Angelique had persuaded him to let her come out as well. He agreed that she could come in the backyard for a few minutes, only because she'd never seen so much snow in her life. He made sure she had on enough socks and sweaters and two thick scarves as well as a knit hat and two pairs of gloves with her warmest coat. "I can't move!" she complained. He insisted that she needed all that gear and finally took her outside into the backyard. It was like being in a snow globe or being somehow transported to a Christmas card. Jordan and Pippen loved the snow and raced up and down with great enthusiasm. She and Donnie played like a couple of children until it got too cold even for Angelique. When they finally came in the house, they dried the dogs with old towels and Angelique made big cups of hot tea. It was one of the best afternoons she'd ever had.
After dinner that night, Angelique questioned Donnie about her photography. "What kind of pictures do I take?" Donnie answered that by getting out her portfolio, which was stowed in the guest bedroom. He'd told her, "I have to confess, Angel, I've never looked in this, so this is all new to me, too." He'd unzipped the portfolio and they began looking at her photographs together. Donnie had been stunned as he'd seen die range of her work. They pored over the pictures together as Donnie told her she was having an exhibit at the African-American museum the following month.
"A whole exhibit? Me? Wow. Is my stuff good enough for that?" she'd asked him.
He'd answered that hers were the most profoundly moving works of photographic art he'd ever seen. "I'm totally humbled by your talent, Angel, I really am."
She had teased him by saying, "Bet you didn't think Evie could do this, huh?" He had confessed that Evie was his pet name for her, or it had been back when they didn't get along. She'd responded by saying something about SpongeBob and they ended up chasing each other through the house with the dogs joining in and the entire evening had been warm and funny and eventually romantic. After things calmed down, Donnie had lit another fire and they sat on the sofa holding each other, talking very little. They simply stared at each other and kissed once in a while, very softly. It was enough just to be in each other's arms, more than enough. When it was time for bed, Angelique suggested that she sleep in the guest room so as not to disturb him and he'd looked at her like she was crazy.