Saying I Do: Brides Series, #1

By Iris Deorre

After years of pressure, blind dates and other hook ups instigated by friends, Heather finally finds the one at the age of thirty six. One not to settle for less than the best and believing in her dreams of the perfect mate, Heather's dream is about to happen in three weeks time. But a knock at the door to their home one Saturday brings mind blowing news. News that could shatter all her dreams of the perfect man.

Will Heather loose faith in everything she believes in or will she rise to the occasion and believe that there is a silver lining in everything, and that the man might not have to be perfect but perfect for her.

'So,' Charlotte turned to me.
The heat of the spotlight on me unnerved me.
'Let's not even go there,' I interjected.
'Go where, I haven't even said anything yet.'
'Well we all know where this is going.'
'We need to address the fact.' Georgina chimed in her two pence worth of wisdom. 'Time is certainly moving at lighting speed.'
'You don't say,' I said. 'I thought it was moving at normal pace.'
'Back to what I wanted to talk about.' Charlotte fiddled for her mobile phone.
'Let me guess, you've found me another date!' I rolled my eyes.
'Well you didn't do well on the dating site we enrolled you onto.' She flicked through some pictures.
'I didn't ask you to put me on the dam dating site in the first place!'
That had been a shocker! My two best friends in the world had gone behind my back and signed me up to a dating site.
'We've got to get this ball rolling.' Charlotte didn't look up from the mobile.
'Yeah by going on a date with a bunch of men who want nothing but fun times! Or who only text you when they want to get into your freaking pants! Or jerk off! Gees thanks!'
'Oh sweetie they were just numbnuts! It happens in life you know… before you meet the right one.' Georgina piped. 'You have to meet a few frogs before meeting your prince.' 
'You think!'
'The problem with you Heaths is that you're too picky, you've got to lower the bar a little,' said Georgina.
'Is that so? Well as far as I'm concerned I've done my part, it's not my fault if the guy pulls a Houdini on me or an Irish goodbye.'
'A what now?' Georgina looked totally perplexed.
'The faders, they just stop texting, stop calling. I can't for the life of me understand that behaviour. Why don't they just say, not interested! Who needs that shit! I mean was that the way it was when you met your Larry?'
'Nope,' she giggled. 'We just bumped into each other at a festival and it was love at first sight.'
'Great!' I'm less than impressed.
Talking to Georgina sometimes was like talking to a penguin. How a woman with a PhD in economics could be so dim sometimes made me think my career choice in journalism had been the wrong choice. Psychology of the mind would've served mankind better.
'Here he is!' Charlotte stopped at a photograph. 'If I wasn't married I'd have gone with him myself.' She pushed the picture in front of my face. 'He just joined our company; he's young and hungry for ambition.'
I studied the hunk in the picture and had to admit that he was very good looking. Tall dark and handsome, just the way they're ordered. It sounded like a commercial for chocolate!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Iris Deorre
• Release date: Mar 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781497776791

Iris Deorre

Iris is a romance author and loves to read and write interracial romance... Iris loves to tackle things people rarely talk about. She loves to bring love where it seems the hardest place to find it. She sees love as the flower that grows in the desert or out of a rock. Her stories are about love that penetrates the hardest of places. In short, her stories are about hope and overcoming.  Iris resides in the United Kingdom, with her lovely daughter and a crazy eyed German Shepherd. When Iris is not writing or reading you'll find her taking walks in the countryside with her doggy or spending time with friends and family. To learn more about Iris visit her blog page at irisdeorre.blogspot.co.uk or follow her on twitter.

Book preview

This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations and incidents are products of author’s imagination, or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales or events is entirely coincidental.

Prologue

Getting married, it’s supposed to be the happiest time of your life right? A handsome man gets down on one knee and asks you to be his one and only. You flush, you feel hot all over, you smile and you cry! There is an avalanche of emotions running through your body. Well that was how I felt. The day Dean Reinhart proposed was the day I did the ugly cry! I just couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe that I would finally walk down the aisle in that beautiful dress and be the most beautiful woman on that day!

I’d said yes to him a hundred times over and then he had slipped the biggest diamond on my finger, my future as bright as the big sparkly on my finger, or was it.

Here’s the thing, it was three weeks before my wedding and I’m stood at our front door with my mouth wide opened. Two people are gazing up at me expectantly with mind blowing news! Three weeks! Three bloody weeks and this?! I wondered if Dean’s mother was behind this form of trickery, it wouldn’t be the first time she’s tried to dissolve our union. She doesn’t want a woman like me marrying into their money... to this day I’m still not clear what that was supposed to mean. But that was beside the point; there was something more important in front of me that needed immediate attention.

But first it would be a lot better if I started from the beginning and not at the end as I’ve just done.

Let me start with the introductions;

There’s mum a.k.a. Rosaline Greene – ‘You’re not getting any younger dear. The clock is ticking, tick tock, tick tock!’

Then there are the friends;

Georgina a.k.a. The ditzy one, five foot five, red hair and light brown eyes – ‘Oh look at Ben isn’t he gorgeous. He’ll be one soon...and oh I’m pregas again! You better get searching Heaths before it’s too late!’

Charlotte a.k.a. The smart one, five foot seven, beautiful hot chocolate skin and a fantastic curvy body– ‘What you need Heaths is a man who’s just like you. Forget the ‘one’ nonsense! Find someone who works for you. Look at Jon and I we work! He slots it in, babies! WALA! Back to being successful!

Then there’s me –Heather Greene a.k.a. Heaths or the one who believes in waiting for true love! Five foot ten, tall and thin and caramel skin. Yes I said it. I’m a thirty six year old woman who hasn’t walked down the aisle with glitter in her eyes to say I do. It’s not like I don’t want to, it’s just that I hadn’t found the right man. At thirty six I’d started to think about freezing my eggs or finding a sperm donor who delivers sperm on a scooter like the pizza guy! But it doesn’t matter what thoughts I possessed, the fact remains, I wanted a man who would make my stomach flutter, who would make me smile and all fuzzy inside. A man who got me; who didn’t have to ask but just knew what made me tick.

A tall order you might think? Perhaps; but there was a part of me that just couldn’t’ settle for okay just because I didn’t want to face loneliness.  Mum worries all the time, she thinks I’ll be this lonely spinster with no children to look after me in my golden years. My response was simple – I’d saved enough money to help pay for a care home in my old age, if it came to that. I might even find a golden oldie to share my life with – This response was not something she appreciated!

The truth was that ever since I was a little girl I dreamt of meeting prince charming. It’s every little girls dream to find the man who will whisk her off into the sunset. A bit OTT but a woman must dream, must believe that somewhere out there, there is a man who is simply perfect for her.

Ditzy Georgina recons it’s got something to do with my height. ‘You’re way too tall Heaths and you don’t help the situation wearing those six inch heels.’

Georgina’s right, I’m tall but that isn’t something I can help, I mean some things are beyond our control. The colour of our skin, our height, our gender our age, must I go on. These things can hardly be controlled and to think a man wouldn’t want me because he’s terrified of my height is ludicrous.  

I’ve courted many man, successful men, men living with their parents, men who haven’t grown up yet, men who someday believe they will make it big in music so never get a ‘Real job.’ Men who are short, men who are tall and I was yet to find the one.

Would there be any hope of finding that man? Out of a world of about seven billion there just has to be one, the man who would make me go all gaga on the inside and who I’ll never stop loving! That man came into my life very unexpectedly indeed!

Chapter One

Two years earlier

I stood in front of the mirror and decided whether or not I really wanted to go out in the dress that hugged against my hips so tight. It was a perfect sunny day outside and the girls and I were meeting up for our usual Saturday lunch. I was looking super duper tall in the heels and just couldn’t resist, there was just something in them that made me feel feminine. I turned and looked at my bum, as flat as an ironing board but it’s a bum nonetheless. Finally I decided ‘sod it’ and carried on with what I’d chosen.

By the time I arrived at Pizza Hut the girls were already waiting. A loud gasp departed Georgina’s mouth when she noticed the heels. I shook my head to warn her to pack it in; I just wasn’t in the mood.

‘Hey!’ Charlotte opened her arms and took me into a warm hug. ‘You look great!’ she beamed.

‘Thanks.’

‘Yeah stunning except for the shoes. What have I told you about the tall thing? Sweetie if you want a man you’ve got to stop being a giant.’

I laughed and let Georgina’s words fly over me like a flock of birds I didn’t care to notice. A skill I’d learnt throughout the years. I gazed down at them both and pasted a wide grin to try and prevent what was coming.

Ever since we started meeting up on every other Saturday afternoon it had become a meeting to discuss potential suitors for me.

‘You’re glowing!’ I said to Georgina. ‘Pregnancy suits you!’

Georgina had managed to squeeze herself into a very floral dress that looked as though it would split opened any second.

‘Thank you luv, she’s due anytime now.’

‘And you Charlotte always the elegant one,’ I said.

‘Thank you darl, I always promised myself that even after a husband and kids I wouldn’t become a frump.’

‘And you’ve done well. Have you decided on orders?’ I asked anything to keep the subject off me.

‘Should we go for our usual or are you tired of that?’ asked Charlotte.

‘I’m not fussed to be honest, how about you George?’

Georgina sighed a moment as her eyes wandered down the menu. Charlotte gazed at me a moment a