Love Is Not Enough

Chapter 5

Angela stared at her mother in disbelief. There was no way she was going to allow that at her wedding. She looked to Frank for support but as if sensing where this was leading to he quickly shrugged and made a lame excuse and left the room. How she wished Emma was here! She just knew how to deal with her mother. The 'that' in question was seven bridesmaids. Her mother wanted it to be grand as she was the only child and for that matter the only daughter. Angela had wanted only Emma as her maid of honour and no other bridesmaids but she had been willing to compromise to about four. And that had been no easy compromise.

'Angela? Angela?'

She turned to look at her mother who was looking at her expectantly.

'So should I go ahead with the orders? If you are worried about not getting people, I know a few of my nieces who would gladly do it.'

'Mama, no. The four is enough. You know I would gladly do anything for you but please let me have this okay. It's my wedding day!'

Her dad chose that moment to walk in and Angela rushed over to her father's side as he sat down. He looked at the two most beautiful and important women in his life and sighed.

'What is it this time around?' he asked, not really caring for the answer. He just knew it had to do with the wedding. It was all they spoke about these days. He just couldn't wait for the whole affair to be over. After hearing what the issue was about he gave a loud sigh and muttered 'Women!' under his breath.

His wife Olivia, looked at him and said, 'I heard that.'

He gave a sheepish grin and turned to his daughter who just smiled at him.

'Olivia let the girl do what she wants. Don't worry your too much about it. Besides the fewer the merrier.'

'That's what we say when a group of people are sharing food not when it comes to a wedding. The fewer the merrier indeed!'

Realizing his mistake, he got up from where he was sitting and went to sit next to his wife. 'Darling, I know how much effort you have put and are putting into this wedding all for our sakes'. I know I don't say it often but I really appreciate it. Let's just let this go okay. When it comes to the naming of our grandchildren she won't have a say in that.' With that he kissed his wife on the cheek and she smiled happily, the past moment but a forgotten memory.

Angela was inwardly crying out at that last bit but that was a battle meant to be fought another day. She would just take her wins as they came. Only her dad could smoothly sweet talk her mum like that. Her mum had always been immune to her charms. Thank goodness her dad wasn't, for that would have made life twice as hard. She went to hug both her parents and excused herself to look for Frank.

She found him sitting in the garden, his sunglasses and headphones on and a glass of juice beside him. He was taking things really cool. She wondered if he had dozed off or if he was still awake. She dropped herself onto his laps and put her arms around his neck and planted a huge kiss on his lips.

'My knight in wooden armor.' She said this mockingly and he took off the glasses to give her a sheepish smile.

'Hey, that's not fair. You know that's not my forte. My dad always said to flee whenever two females were arguing else I would be forced to take sides and that's when it becomes a win-lose situation. This way I get to win-win.'

Angela arched her right eyebrow at that. 'Oh really? I see. Well, that's all you are going to get. I am going to take a nap when you are done with whatever you are doing out here you can come and wake me up.'

'But....-'

'No buts. You need to enjoy your win.' With that she got up and left him to sit there alone.

Frank shook his head and smiled. She never ceased to amaze him and that was just one of the billion things he loved about her. He just could not wait till she became totally his. He remembered the first time he saw her. She was at a party and among a group of her friends laughing at something one of them had said. He had wanted to approach her right there and then but had been a little apprehensive so he had waited till she was alone before he bothered to go near her.

She turned to ice the minute he approached but he wasn't put off. Besides he knew he was easy on the eyes and could tell she was a little shy. Slowly she warmed up to him and at the end of the evening he had walked her to her hall. He didn't bother to ask her for her number and neither did he ask for her room number. He felt that if it was meant to be he would surely get to meet her at another event especially as they were in the same department.

And he had, thank goodness! Truth be told she had been no easy fish to reel in but he had always been charming. Over the course of the year they became close and he asked her to be his girlfriend on the anniversary of the day he had met her. Though by then he knew she liked him he had been afraid she would say no. That had been the happiest day in his life until the day she had yes to his marriage proposal. She had given him a lot of happy days so far. Their relationship had been an easy-going one. No hassles, no stress. That was not to say there had been no arguments or no occasion where he had to go and practically beg her for forgiveness or she him. All their arguments had brought them closer and now there was only room for love and nothing else. He just couldn't wait for this wedding to be over. It was putting a lot of stress on Angela. Thank God her best friend Emma had agreed to help. If not for her they would have had to hire an events planner and that would have meant more costs. Not that he cared anyway because he had enough to fund the wedding but since Angela was an only child her parents had decided to fund most of it. His parents had also pitched in to help, so all in all, everything was running smoothly.

Emma had declined payment for all her efforts. She told them that it was an early wedding present but they were both aware that as soon as they got married she was going to give them another gift and call it something else. That was Emma for you. That's why they had decided to set her up with one of his friends from senior high school. It was a bit under-handed but Emma was just not looking. She was all work and no relaxation. Angela said it will work and he always believed in her so he had just gone along with it.

He had a lot of single male friends in Ghana and he had made more in Australia. Angela had stressed it had to be a local search so they had limited it to only his friends in Ghana. It had been amazing to see Angela at work. She had put her whole heart in it to the extent that Frank felt jealous. He wondered if she would go the extra mile for him. When he had told her she laughed and said he was being silly and that she was going to spend the rest of her life putting up with his miserable self! The thought still made him smile. He really loved her that was for sure.

He decided to head to the room to go and check on her. She was probably lying awake thinking of him. He couldn't quite help the smile that escaped at this point, dimpling his cheeks. His phone started to ring and he picked it up from his pocket wondering who it may be. As soon as he saw the caller ID was none other than his best friend and best man for the wedding he quickly picked it up.

'Hello.I met her'. Those 4 words had Frank's heart racing in excitement. He didn'tknow whether to be elated or worried. He took in a deep breath and asked the next question, 'How did the meeting go?'