All of Me

Cameron was quiet for a few minutes as he searched on his computer, and Diana waited. She could hear the clicks of his typing. “Ok, so, your mom is friends with him on Facebook…” Cameron murmured.

“What?” Diana hissed, anger filling her mind.

“Does she still speak to him?”

“I have no idea. She and I haven’t spoken since Marty and I got engaged,” Diana explained, her eyes tearing up. “Certainly she wouldn’t tell him where I am, though. I told her what he did, how he behaved. She doesn’t hate Marty so much that she would tell Ronaldo anything.” But she remembered the text message about her white fiancé. Somebody was telling him something. However, she kept the information to herself for now.

“You never know,” Cameron replied. She heard the creak of his office chair as he sat back. “Right now, with what we have, we can’t prove he wasn’t there for some innocent reason. If I were a betting man, I’d bet he knew you were at work and followed you to the Starbucks.”

“Do you think he’s stalking me?”

“I think he might be, but I have no proof. If he contacts you again, shows up somewhere with no reason to be there, anything, you let me know. Because he made physical contact, if he does so again, we can get a restraining order.”

“Can’t do anything to him right now, though?” she asked.

“Not yet. He didn’t hurt you, not really, and we can’t prove anything. The text messages, are they threatening?”

“No, just crude,” Diana replied with a sigh.

“That’s what I thought,” Cameron said. “Just let me know if something else happens, okay. And keep the texts he sent and any he might send as well as the picture.”

“I will. Thanks, Cameron.” Diana ended the call and glanced at the time. She had plenty before Marty came home, so she could find her composure. A glass of wine, a bubble bath, and she’d have the conversation planned out. He’ll be okay, she assured herself, nodding as she meandered to the kitchen for the wine. He’ll be pissed, he’ll shout, but he’ll be okay. And he won’t do anything stupid…I hope.

Two weeks later, Diana hadn’t heard from Ronaldo at all. As she’d predicted, Marty had been infuriated, yelling about that motherfu*ker and so on, but he’d calmed down and behaved rationally rather than emotionally, after the initial shock and fury wore off. Because his first priority was to make sure Diana was fine, he’d released the anger and treated her to an evening that was all about her. A good dinner, amazing s*x, and cuddling afterwards. She’d gone to bed and slept a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

Marty had, however, slept poorly. The thought of that son of a bi*ch with his hands on her tore at his conscience. He wanted to rip the man’s throat out and watch him suffer until he died. He remembered how hesitant Diana had been when they’d started dating because of that man’s cruelty. He’d struggled with her as she’d healed from the heartbreak and practical brainwashing the man had inflicted on her. She was so strong now, but he worried Ronaldo could find her weakness and manipulate it.

Diana would never leave him, though. The man would mess with her mind, but he could never win her. Diana’s love for Marty was stronger than anything Ronaldo could do. And Marty returned that love just as strongly. He couldn’t wait to make her his wife and to be her husband, to unite together against the world. They would be stronger together.

However, as Marty made himself a cup of coffee on a peaceful Saturday morning, he heard Diana on the back porch with who he assumed was Rena. He’d been eavesdropping earlier and had heard some disturbing ideas flying around about the changes they planned to make for the wedding to take place at their home. He liked none of them, but wasn’t sure how to approach Diana. He wanted her to have everything she wished when it came to their wedding, but not at the expense of the value of the property. Too many changes of the wrong kind, and selling the vineyard when they were ready might prove difficult.

He listened to their happy tones, the few giggles, as they talked and planned, and he wondered if he should discuss with the pair of them or just with Diana. Alone would be the most appropriate, but after making a fresh pot of coffee and placing all the necessities on a tray, he meandered to the back porch and plopped down on the chair opposite them. They glanced up, smiled at him, and returned to the sketches Rena had brought with her.

“I brought coffee out,” Marty announced.

Diana looked up, startled, and saw the tray. “Aw, thanks babe.” She glanced at Rena. “Want some?”

“That would be awesome,” she murmured as she made some notes on a page.

Marty watched the pair of them. Diana poured Rena’s coffee, adding sugar and cream without asking how much. She could make his coffee perfectly as well. Diana was the most thoughtful person he’d ever known, which was why making her happy was important to him. However, he’d only glanced at the plans and was uncomfortable with them.

“How goes the planning?” he asked solicitously, smiling at his wife.

“Beautifully,” she said triumphantly. “Actually, we were getting ready to call you out here so we could show you everything.”

He winked at her. “So I do get a say?”

Diana and Rena giggled together, exchanging a glance. “Well, sort of,” Diana replied, blowing him a kiss. “Can’t have too many cooks in the kitchen.”

Marty chuckled, though concern filled his eyes. “My buddy told me to sit back and relax, that you’d handle everything. But it is my wedding too. And the only one I plan on having.”

“You better plan on having only one, mister!” Diana teased. She did sense his discomfort, so she jumped right in with the parts he hopefully would agree with. “We’re painting and repairing the gazebo. For the actual ceremony, we’ll add twinkle lights and such, flowers, blah blah.”

Marty nodded, watching her. Her blathering indicated her nervousness. “It is an eyesore. When we decide to sell in a couple of years, we won’t have to worry about that.”

“When we sell?” Diana asked, tilting her head to the side. “I like it here.”

“I do too, but we’ll probably want to move closer to the city,” Marty commented.

Diana pursed her lips, debating, then nodded and continued. “What we’ve decided to do is widen the area around the gazebo and do an amphitheater type wedding. The chairs will be in a circle around the gazebo rather than in aisles so the guests are closer and can hear and see the ceremony.”

“Widen the area? What does that mean?” Marty asked, sitting forward.

Rena explained. “We’ll hire people to properly cut the vines in a wide circle around the gazebo. The area is too jumbled for the guests to sit right now.”

“Properly cut the vines…” Marty mused, glancing over his shoulder at the area being discussed. “And how will these people know the proper way to cut the vines? I don’t want them to slash at them with machetes and ruin their ability to grow and produce grapes.”

Diana and Rena exchanged a glance. With a furrowed brow, Diana told him, “We’ll hire vineyard experts, Marty. I don’t want to ruin the vines either.”