She Woke Up Married by Suzanne Macpherson Read Free Book Online Page A

worse, and I would be honored to have children with you, Paris.”
    Paris’s insides turned into an iced latte. All bitter and too sweet and too cold at the same time. She stood up so fast the chair behind her fell over. She ran for the bathroom.
     
    Anton came over, picked Paris’s chair off the floor, and sat down in it. “My, my. If I ate fried food I’d finish this for her.”
    “Nadine is a terrific cook. This steak is great.”
    “What became of our purple princess?”
    “I believe she’s unraveling in the ladies’ room.”
    “Again? My goodness. So, now, what’s the basic plan, Turner?” Anton swirled the swizzle stick in his drink.
    “Let’s see.” Turner put down his fork. “I can bunk with you for a week while I look for a more permanent place to stay. I have to admit it, Anton, I have huge doubts and other night terrors plaguing my mind at the moment. I need to study the situation and find the honorable path. That’s all I’ve got so far.”
    “No kidding? Wow, are you up for a long-term project?”
    “As long as it takes. I’ve got to make some decisions. I’ve come to New York to settle things with Paris. Part of that might be sticking around long enough to work things out properly. She’s never had anyone do that. She just needs someone extremely patient so she can ride out her feelings and get to the other side. Under that prickly exterior is a very vibrant, loving woman. She just doesn’t remember that.”
    “That’s true with her men, without a doubt.She’s never let anyone stick around. What was her family like? She never talks about them.”
    “She’s very private that way,” Turner said. He changed the subject. “I have a very strong feeling that Paris is going to need some help from a man like me very soon. I feel that this is the right thing to do. When I feel that way, nothing is going to make me give up.”
    “That’s quite odd you should say that, because I actually have the same feeling about her myself. I think Paris’s time has come. She’s needed to make a shift in her career goals for a while now, but she’s refused to face that.”
    “Perhaps I can help her with some of those things.” Turner picked up his fork again and dug into Nadine’s great baked potato. “I felt quite clearly when I looked down from my pulpit at the Graceland Chapel in Vegas and saw Paris standing there that she had been sent to me. I wouldn’t be much of a spiritual person if I didn’t see that project through.”
    “So basically, like Elwood and Jake, you’re on a mission from God to help Paris through this time in her life?”
    “Blues Brothers, aye?” Turner chuckled. “That’s one way to look at it. We’re certainly not being aware if we don’t see the people coming and going out of our lives and what they have to offer us as far as learning goes. It’s no accident who we meet and who we help. On the otherhand, maybe Paris was sent to me to change my life.”
    “You and I are going to get along so well, philosophy boy.” Anton reached over and gave Turner’s arm a pat. “What is your birthday, by the way?”
    “I’m a Christmas Eve baby. December twenty-fourth. I just turned thirty-one last December.”
    “Capricorn. Paris is an Aries, you know. That’s what makes her hair so amazing. Aries people have gorgeous heads of hair.”
    “She is that, isn’t she? But it’s not so much her looks for me. ‘Twas the truth in her eye ever beaming. That made me love Paris, the Rose of New York.’” Turner repeated the line from the song he’d sung.
    “Oy,” said Anton.
     
    It must have been a bad Danish. Or she’d eaten too many of them. That was it. That’s why she wasn’t hungry, and that’s why she yakked. That, and the very upsetting conversation with Turner. There was no other explanation. No explanation she could even entertain right now. Paris held a wet paper towel against her forehead and leaned against the wall.
    As soon as Turner had started