A FATHER IN A MILLION

That whole day was a hazy affair, the crowd, the music, the hugging, the tugging, the laughing influenced by the steady supply of champagne. As opposed to the quiet private wedding i have always wanted, this was a gigantic affair, so i forced myself to go through with it as the most important thing for me was being with Julz. He was the one i was sure i wanted to spend the rest of my life with so i could endure even much more than this society affair.

"You may kiss your bride" i remember the Reverend saying and I gazed up into his beautiful brown eyes as he held me in a firm, yet loving hug and I couldn't believe he was mine. Not like I thought i didn't deserve someone good but because his beauty just takes my breath away everytime I look at him. My thought wonders to when we met exactly 11 months ago.

I was walking in the park on a bright saturday afternoon. It was a perfect day, the sun was up for the first time in many days following a spate of heavy rainfalls recently. I am not usually the park person, but i could not pass out on enjoying such a wonderful weather. So, i broke all my rules of spending my saturday afternoons cooped up in my room fiddeling with my computer, watching movies, or just being plain anti-social.

I had tossed on a pale pink and orange floral dress, thick dark glasses, flat shoes and tied my hair in a ponytail. I took my tote bag, in which i put in a novel, a bottle of chocolate wine, a wine glass, and a large veil. I hadn't bothered with my appearance much because i only needed a break from my norm and wasn't looking at socializing.

I got to the park and picked a choice location under a big shaded tree. I spread my veil using it as my mat, opened my bottle of wine, poured in a glass full and started reading my novel. It was a romantic novel by my favorite writer Sandra Brown, about two lovers who had been seperated by their families, but had jus re-united after ten years. They were trying to figure out how they were so naive to have believed the lies their parents cooked up while trying to re-connect and rediscover their passion.

I kept sipping my drink while i laid down to get more cozy and gobbled the entire romance of it (being a stickler for love stories). Unknowingly, i gradually drifted off to sleep. I had probably been dozing for 30minutes when i woke up abruptly. I was disoriented and confused until my eyes fell on the most beautiful little girl i had ever seen. She was an adorable baby girl of about 3-5 years old, and she looked like an angel in her pale blue dress. My gaze gradually recovered from thinking she was an angel into realizing how beautiful her eyes were. I managed a smile and she winked back! Now i was surprised, who taught her how to wink? It was then i realized she was standing there with someone and was saying something to him. Him??? oh my god! A guy had seen me so dishelved and confused, so i struggled to sit and try to reclaim my calm and poise (or atleast what was left of it).

I took off my glasses and looked at the man she was with. He is dark skinned, had a beautiful mischevious smile and looked very tall from where i was sitting. I immediately surmised that they must be related even though she was light skinned, as they had the same mischevious eyes and a wide grin. It was then i realized they were smiling about something the little angel had said. So i smiled and asked them what it was they were saying. The little girl responded "i said you are very pretty" i smiled and could feel myself blushing through my dark skin (lol) while i tried to finger brush my hair and straighten my dress that had gone awry from my nap.

I stand to my full 5ft 5"and i immediately wished i had worn high heeled shoes out instead of my flats. Mr. Mischevious was just as tall as i had guessed, i had to tilt my head back a bit to see his face. Upclose he was really beautiful and that;s not a word i use easily to describe a man. I noticed the girl had a spitting resemblance to his, the only different being that she was fair. While i drank in his physique and was really liking what i saw, i tried to peek at his ring finger to guess if he was married. The finger was ringless. As I sighed with relief, my victory was abrutly cut short when the girl said "daddy i think i wanna eat my lunch now" My heart stopped, damn! i was just open mouthedly admiring a married man.

I quickly recollect my confidence, and introduced myself. He said his name was Julz and his daughter's name's Jessica. I smile, and inwardly he struck me as a vain papito who had to name his daughter something close to his name. He asked if i minded them sharing the shade with me. I shook my head as i had lost my voice. He was just so damn hot! He spread their mat, opened up his picnic basket and offered me some food. I graciously declined and pointed towards my now almost empty bottle of wine. I realized i am now feeling light headed so i offered him the remainder and he accepted.

We chatted for a bit and i found out i liked them alot, especially Jess (as she liked to be called). She was full of activity and chattered easily, i found she reminded me of myself when i was that age. Suddenly my phone rings. Twas my boss, there was some kind of an emergency at a site where we were doing some construction and i had to go take care of the matter. I apologized for leaving and told them how much it was a pleasure meeting them.

While i packed up my things ready to go i notice Jess was pinching her father and smiling at me. I smiled back confused though and she said, "daddy ask her now!" As I wondered what that meant, Julz got up too and said in his very deep bass voice "i will love it if you gave me your phone number and we could go on a date sometime"

I tried to surpress my elation and asked him with a poker face "would your wife be okay with you asking me on a date?" Jessica quickly supplied, "daddy doesn't have a wife. my mother died when she gave birth to me. Daddy says she was very pretty and i look like her" she finishes with a smile. All of a sudden i am consumed with compassion for this little girl who never knew her mother and for the father who had had to raise her by himself.

I knelt down and gave her a hug instinctively and she hugged back. I fished into my bag for a pen, i reached for julz's hand and i scribbled my number on his palm and gave him a "call me" look. His palm felt so right in my hand so i held it a tad longer before releasing it. I bid them bye and walked away, but turned back once to wave at them.

On monday at my desk in the office, my phone rang and with my heart thudding in my chest with anticipation I quickly answered with much excitement. As soon as i did, i realized it wasn't him but some stalker i had been putting off for months now. I was immediately crest fallen, but had kept expecting his call.

Tuesday passed and wednesday morning came, still no call. Just before it was noon my phone rang. I answered and i heard a pause at the other end. while i tried to gauge if it was an error call, he spoke up and i recognized his voice. Damn, that sexy bass got me smiling sheepishly i had to pinch my cheek to contain my excitement. He apologized for not calling earlier, as he had traveled to go drop off Jess with her grandma. He asked if I would want to have dinner with him that evening. Usually i would fake a reason for a rain check with a guy so i don't come off as desperate for a date, but for Julz i couldn't dare. I would have ran out of the office at 12pm if he had said he wanted to see me then. Anyway, i accepted his invitation. He picked me up at 7pm sharp. He had chosen a lovely five star restaurant and i must commend his good taste in wine as well as appreciated his time consciousness.

We had a lovely evening and it seemed as if we had known each other forever. We had so much in common i could not believe my good fortune. At those few moments when our fingers brushed or our arms came in contact there was always that shivering electric spark that went off. We had a few drinks although it was a week night and he dropped me off at home at 10pm. Light headed cum the anticipation of the evening (i think) culminated into a lingering goodnight kiss at my gate (a first for me). The kiss was everything sweet and drugging. That was a type of kiss they referred to in mills and boons novels as jelly knee kiss.

Since then, we became inseperable, which came as a surprise to me, as i had always loved my indepenence. We were out together every other weekend and still stole few hours a week for lunch. And when he goes outta town i missed him so much it surprised me (a huge first for me again). He would send flowers, chocolate, cards when he was out of town to my office and that spiced things up alot. He was that sweet to me i could not help but fall head over heels in love with him. He was everything i had wanted and even more. I found his daughter to be every mothers delight and that endeared him to me even more. Four months ago while we were on a weekend trip to Ghana, he proposed to me and ofcourse i said yes. The rest is history and here i was in a white satin monostrap wedding dress with several layers of lace and net. I was his nubian queen and he was my knight in shining armor.

I had gotten my own brown eyed million dollar gift sent from heaven just for me..............