Chapter 14

Penny and Amanda sat in the living room talking while the men got dressed for their business meeting. "So, do you know what type of wedding dress you want?"

"Not yet. To be honest with you, I haven't thought about it much. It's my second wedding, but it's Lee's first. I want to do this right for him. If it were a second marriage for both of us, I'd probably just get a nice suit to wear. You know what I mean?"

Penny nodded while Amanda continued, "Mother and the boys are excited about the wedding. Lee has included them in everything from the very beginning. He even asked them for permission before proposing."

"Aww, that's so sweet. I bet the boys and your Mother appreciated it."

"The boys are always asking questions, and Lee is so patient with them. They are even picking up on some of Lee's habits. Oh, and Mother loves him."

"Who loves who?" Lee questioned as he strolled into the living room, looping the last button through the buttonhole of his well-tailored light gray suit.

Amanda glanced up and had to catch her breath. Her eyes slowly drifted down and back up to take in the full sight that stood before her. She knew Lee looked good in his suits, but this one in particular, seemed to accentuate all of his best features. It showcased his broad shoulders and wrapped around his waist perfectly. She could only imagine how it looked from behind.

Penny noticed Amanda couldn't form a coherent response, so she quickly came to the rescue. "Amanda was just telling me how much her mother and boys love you."

Lee caught Amanda's eyes and brought her out of the trance she was frozen in with a quick smirk. "And I love them as much as I love her." Lee leaned down to give Amanda a sweet kiss on the lips.

Penny just beamed. "You two are perfect for each other. Call it fate or the right place at the right time. Whatever you want, but you two are soul mates."

"We think so, too," Lee agreed as he reached for Amanda's hand to try and give her some kind of stability.

Amanda, still staring at Lee, needed anything to help her regain control of her body. As if on cue, Rheza walked in from the master bedroom and announced, "You all ready, Lee?"

"You bet."

Penny and Amanda rose from the sofa and stood by their men. As if on auto-pilot, Amanda's hands adjusted Lee's tie, whether it needed it or not. The silver-blue tie with a light blue pattern made his eyes pop, and Amanda had a hard time keeping her composure. Her fingers softly slid down the silky material until she reached his matching pocket square and straightened it.

"You two have fun looking at dresses, and we'll see you this evening." Lee pulled Amanda close and kissed her cheek.

Amanda whispered in Lee's ear, "I like your suit."

"I can tell," Lee softly answered.

Rheza kissed Penny goodbye, and the men turned to leave. Lee heard Amanda gasp behind him. He peered over his shoulder to give her his best-dimpled smile.

A few minutes later, Lee and Rheza were riding in the Towne car on their way to the U.N. "So, Lee. You have to tell me your secret."

"What secret is that, Rheza?"

"How do you and Amanda make your relationship seem so easy?"

Lee snickered, "It wasn't easy at first. It was downright nasty at times. But once we were both honest with one another about how we felt, everything just fell into place. Don't get me wrong, I know it's not always going to be like this, but you just have to make sure you show her how much you love her every single day."

"I think Penny and I got lost somewhere in the royalty status. And, I don't know if we'll be able to get out of it."

"From what I've seen in the last few days, I'd say you're on the right track. Just remember to make time for the two of you. You can't escape who you are or what you do, but you can't forget about why you both fell in love in the first place."

"That's good advice. Can I ask you one more question?"

"Sure."

"When did you know you loved her?"

Lee smiled at Rheza. "That's not a simple question to answer. I loved her a lot sooner than I wanted to admit. I was a bachelor through and through, and I told myself I would never fall in love because of my job. But I couldn't fight it anymore, and I'm sure glad I didn't."

"If you had to choose a moment, when would that be? I'm sorry if I'm getting too personal. I'm just extremely curious."

"It's okay. To be perfectly honest with you, I would say the moment my eyes locked with her beautiful brown eyes at the train station. That was the first day we met, and I've never been the same since."

"What a beautiful story. So, would you say it was love at first sight?" Lee nodded. "Thank you for sharing with me."

"You're welcome, Rheza. Now, unfortunately, back to business. Can you tell me anything about what my role is here?"

"Certainly. You're basically my security. You will accompany me at all times. Even if they ask you to leave, I will demand you stay." Lee acknowledged with a smile as Rheza continued.

"Everything you will hear is highly classified. You can't even tell Amanda. Penny knows nothing specific about what I'm doing either. She only knows I am trying to help your country."

"Okay, I understand. Can you give me any hints, so I'm not caught off guard?"

"Lee, I am working with your military to help with the Iran-Iraq War. Your country will be sending troops to the Arabian desert to assist. It's near the Gulf of Oman. I have a hidden base there. Your country's troops needed a place to be out of sight but still close enough."

"Wow, Rheza! That's huge! I know our government can't get too involved right now, but we also don't want things to get out of control. You've got to be getting something in return?"

"Your country has agreed to help assist me with any conflicts that come up with oil rights for my people. Penny was very adamant about this after the whole Bo Jackson incident."

Lee nodded. "Do you expect any trouble?"

"No, but I required security, and you were a much better option than armed guards."

They both silently acknowledged each other and got lost in their own thoughts for the rest of the ride.

Penny and Amanda were in the back of the limo, on their way to Kleinfeld's. "Penny, I want to thank you for setting this up. You didn't have to do this."

"You're welcome, Amanda. As soon as I found out you were getting married, I knew I needed to call in a favor because I really wanted to do this for you."

"Well, I appreciate it."

The limo pulled up in front of the store and came to a stop. Penny glanced at Amanda. "Are you ready to have some fun?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

The driver opened the door, they stepped out and entered the shop. "Good afternoon. Welcome to Kleinfeld's. My name is Zoey. How can I help you?"

"Hello, Zoey. I'm Amanda, and this is Penny. We have a one o'clock appointment."

Zoey studied the book in front of her and ran her finger across the page. "Yes, I show your assistant today is Madison. I'll let her know you're here. If you would like to take a seat, I'll send her right out."

"Thank you."

Amanda and Penny took a seat on the sofa. "So, Amanda. I'm dying to hear the story behind you and Lee."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to bore you."

"Come on, Amanda. With a guy like Lee, nothing could be boring."

Amanda blushed as a slight smile crept onto her face. "Well, let me try to make a long story short for you. Lee and I were assigned to go to Paris for three weeks for a work conference. There was a mix-up with the rooms, which I don't think was an accident at all. But that's a different story for another time."

Fidgeting with her engagement ring, she continued, "Lee and I got into a huge fight the first day there. After we both cooled down a little, Lee found me, and we agreed to talk it out. I decided I didn't want to fight my feelings anymore. If Lee didn't feel for me the same way I did for him, then at least I'd know and could move on."

Penny and Amanda shared a knowing look. "We walked around Paris, and I told him how I felt towards him and waited for his answer. He responded with a heart-dropping kiss. I thought my knees were going to give out any moment. And it kinda went from there."

"What a lovely story. When did you fall in love with him?"

Amanda kindly shook her head. "Oh, Penny, I don't know for sure."

"Come on, Amanda. You can't tell me you don't know. I know the exact moment I fell in love with Rheza."

"Well, I would say, the day at the train station. The first day we met, when he grabbed me out of the crowd, gazed into my eyes, and begged for my help. It was almost electric. I just knew I could trust him. I didn't know it at the time, but I was hooked."

"Wow! That's quite a story you'll be able to tell your grandchildren. Love at first sight. I'm so happy for you."

"Amanda! Amanda King?" They turned their heads at the sound of her name being called. "Hello, Amanda. I'm Madison. Are you ready to find your perfect dress?"

Penny and Amanda followed Madison back to the showroom while answering Madison's questions. "Do you know what kind of a style of dress you want?"

"No. The wedding is in December, so I would like some kind of sleeve. Nothing too extravagant. This is my second marriage but my fiance's first, so I want to be traditional for him."

"Simple but elegant."

"Exactly."

"Okay, let me pull some dresses for you, and we can get this party started. I'll be right back."

Later on, after several dresses and a bottle of champagne, Amanda was ready to give up. She tried on dresses that made the two of them shrug, dismiss, laugh, and cringe. However, none of them seemed to be the dress. Amanda had one more to try on.

Penny was leaning back in the chair she'd possessed for the last few hours. She heard Amanda step out of the dressing room, turned her head, and stared at her while her mouth dropped open. Amanda's eyes lit up the room like a mirror ball.

"Amanda, you're gorgeous."

"I think this might be the one, Penny." Amanda twirled around, so Penny could see the entire dress.

Madison stood in the background, carefully watching the two ladies. "What do you think, Amanda?"

Amanda twisted her head back to Madison and grinned. "It's perfect."

"So, are you telling me this is your wedding dress?"

"I don't know how I'm going to afford it, but, yes, this is my dress."

Unbeknownst to Amanda, Penny snuck over to Madison while she was changing back into her street clothes. Penny whispered her intentions to Madison as she quickly passed her credit card to the young lady.