EvaJael:
Yikes! Which kain nonsense be this na. Mhizgap suspense kills me o...oya come and continue.

update in the evening.... no die yet.

Coughs

Hello all



Thanks to You all reading this pieces.


This is to remind you that this novel Belongs to Debbie Macomber.


we've got series of title for it: The Manning Groom, Run away bride E. tc.



I type and post only the writers here would know the feeling.




keep reading or ask me to stop posting





Thanks

nkemdave:
Walks slowly to the thread.

*Asking myself, I hope this thread will be interesting?*

Turned to my right to see StephenGee12 Hailed him as I sit down

Calls my two body guards and cso(alamiendagash, hadampson and wisolzy) make way for nkem

beautiful story dear,keep it coming

You're doing a great job. Well done!

mhizgap:
Coughs


Hello all




Thanks to You all reading this pieces.



This is to remind you that this novel Belongs to Debbie Macomber.



we've got series of title for it: The Manning Groom, Run away bride E. tc.




I type and post only the writers here would know the feeling.





keep reading or ask me to stop posting






Thanks

I'm sorry to ask

But is your name Debbie Macomber?

Pls continue the story.

stephenGee12:


Calls my two body guards and cso(alamiendagash, hadampson and wisolzy) make way for nkem

Thanks Man.

Seated like the king of kuvuki land

Hi, Alamiendagash.
Hi, Hadampson
Hi Wisolzy

Darned if he knew what Gift was thinking. He had difficulty enough understanding women under normal circumstances. Still, he’d thought Gift was different. He’d thought—he’d assumed, erroneously it seemed—that Gift was as eager for their wedding as he was. He was shocked that he’d been so blind to her doubts. She must be terrified to have run away like this. Terrified and alone.
He should’ve known something like this would happen. He’d backed her into a corner, pushed her into this wedding. He’d allowed his own needs, his own desires, to overrule hers.
As dawn streaked the horizon with lavender and pink, he found himself growing ever more concerned.
Where could she be?






His driving became increasingly reckless, his speed gaining as he raced desperately from one possible location to the next. Checking the time, he was nearly swallowed by panic.
There wasn’t much time left. They were both supposed to be at the church in a couple of hours. The thought of hurrying back to his family and having to announce that Gift had run away filled him with a sick kind of dread. He wouldn’t return, he decided, until he’d found her. Until he’d done whatever he could to calm her fears, to reassure her, convince her how much he loved her.







Jason wasn’t sure what led him to the beach where he’d proposed to her.
When he saw her car parked haphazardly along the side of the road, he nearly collapsed in relief. A calmness took hold of him and his pulse slowed to an even, steady pace.
He parked behind her and rushed out of his car. The sound of the door closing must have been carried away with the wind, because she didn’t turn around or give any indication that she realized he was there.
He paused for a few seconds, looking at her, his heart swelling with gratitude at finding her safe.
Gift sat on a log, facing the water. The same log he’d knelt in front of to ask her to marry him. He felt a stab of pain as he remembered that night and how ecstatic he’d been when she accepted his proposal. He didn’t expect to feel that good again until they shared in the birth of a child.





Gift shoulders were slumped forward and she seemed mesmerized by the gentle lapping of the water. The wind whipped her hair, which flew wildly about, but she didn’t appear to notice. She wasn’t wearing a sweater. She must be half freezing, Jason thought, peeling off his jacket.
He watched her for another moment, wondering exactly what he’d say. He’d had hours to prepare for this, hours to come up with the words to tell her how much he loved her and how sorry he was for the way everything had gone. Now he found himself speechless.
She didn’t see him until he was almost upon her. When she happened to look up, he saw that her face, ravaged by tears, was as pale as moonlight. She blinked, then frowned as though she couldn’t quite believe he was really there.
“Jason?”
“Funny meeting you here,” he said, placing his jacket around her shoulders.
“I…How did you find me?”
“It took some effort. If you had any doubts, Gift, I wish you’d talked them over with me.”
She frowned again. “There wasn’t any time…I tried, honestly I did, but you were always so busy and the time went so fast, and now…” The rest of her words faded into nothingness, her gaze avoiding his.
“There’s time now,” he said, sitting down on the log beside her.
Her eyes widened. “I…can’t go through with it.”
“Why not?” he asked calmly.
She answered him with a wrenching sob. “Please…I can’t. I don’t love you…”
Jason tensed. “I don’t believe that, Gift. There’s something else.”
“There is…I realize now that it’s your family I love. I never had one of my own and it came to me that I was marrying you for all the wrong reasons. I…can’t go through with the wedding…I just can’t.”
Jason felt as if someone had punched him. Hard. “My…family?”
“Yes,” she cried. “They’re all so wonderful and I…got carried away, thinking that if I married you…Carrie and I would be part of a large, loving family. Then I saw how unfair I was being to you…marrying you when I didn’t love you.”
A cold anger took hold of Jason. An anger rooted in pain and disillusionment.
“It’s too bad you didn’t think of that sooner, because all this soul-searching is a little too late.” He grasped her arm and pulled her to her feet. She sagged against him, but he tugged at her and she straightened.

, so furiously angry. “Jason, please
“Shut up, Gift. Just shut up before I say something I’ll regret.” It was no comfort realizing she was the only woman who’d ever brought him willingly to his knees. He’d gone to her in love, a love so strong it had swept away his loneliness. Gift was throwing it all back at him now, rejecting his love, betraying him with her last-minute revelations.
Walking out on him at the eleventh hour like this couldn’t be considered anything less. Nothing she could’ve done would have humiliated him more than to leave him standing at the altar.
“I can’t be your wife…Don’t you understand?”








Her voice was so weak he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly. Not that it mattered; nothing she could have said would’ve had any effect on him after her confession. It didn’t matter if he could hear her or not. She was mumbling, pleading with him, but he closed off his heart the same way he had his ears.
When they reached his car, he opened the passenger door and deposited her inside. He ran around to the driver’s side, not knowing if he could trust her to stay put. He was mildly surprised that she didn’t try to escape.
He started the engine and turned on the heater. A blast of warm air filled the car. She didn’t seem to notice.
Neither spoke until they were close to the freeway entrance.
“Why are you doing this?” she demanded.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “But I do know you’re going through with this wedding, if it’s the last thing either of us ever does.”
“But how can you force me to marry you, knowing what you do?”






“It must have something to do with saving my entire family from humiliation,” he continued with the same chilly irony. “That family you claim to love so much. Maybe it’s because I don’t want my mother—who’s worked day and night on this wedding for the past three weeks, who’s looked forward to this day for years—to become an object of pity among her friends. Maybe it’s because I’d have trouble looking my two sisters and their husbands in the eye, knowing they rearranged their entire summer, gave up their vacations, to fly out here for our wedding. Just maybe it’s because I have an aversion to being ridiculed myself. I can’t really tell you what else would reduce a man to drag a woman who’s rejected him to the altar. But make no mistake, Gift, you will marry me.”
“It isn’t that I don’t care for you,” she whispered through her tears.
“Right. You care so deeply that you decided to go into hiding on our wedding day.”
“I know you’re angry…”
“You’re damn right I’m angry.”
“We can’t go through with the wedding, Jason! We just can’t.”
“Oh, but we are, Gift.”




“What will we do afterward? I mean, once we’re married and—”
“Somehow we’ll find a way to miss our flight to Hawaii, then, first thing Monday morning, I’ll file for an annulment.”
“But it doesn’t make sense to go through with the wedding—”
“Yes, my darling Gift, it does. It makes a whole lot of sense.”
Gift was determined to survive the day, although she wasn’t sure how she’d manage. She’d been a fool to run off the way she had. A fool and a coward. She was an even bigger fool to think she’d appease Jason’s anger by lying.





When she’d left, she hadn’t thought about what she was doing to Jason or his family. She hadn’t been thinking at all, overpowered instead by her own fears.
On the way back, she tried to tell Jason she was sorry, to apologize for the hurt and humiliation she’d caused, but each time he cut her off, saying he didn’t want to hear it.
The ride back to her apartment was like living through the worst nightmare of her life. Jason was so cold, so furiously angry.
He dropped her off at her apartment, took her arm, leveled his steely blue eyes on her and said, “I’ll be by to pick you up in forty minutes.”
“I can’t possibly be ready by then.”
“You can and you will. And, Gift, don’t even think about running away again. Do you understand me?”
Gift nodded and almost told him it was bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding. Then she remembered the whole wedding was a farce, anyway.







“Fine. I’ll be ready,” she assured him calmly.






She showered, brushed her hair and dressed, but she wasn’t conscious of doing any of those things. Carrie was with her, and Mandy, too, both silent and pale. Worried. What she’d done to them was terrible, Gift realized. They were both too young to carry this secret, too young to bear the burden of her foolishness.
Neither girl asked her any questions, and for that, Gift was grateful. She didn’t know what she would’ve told them if they had.
Leah and Jamie had arrived within minutes of Jason’s bringing her home. They were both happy and excited. If her complete lack of emotion bewildered them, they didn’t let it show. They chatted excitedly, recalling events at their own weddings, bubbling over with enthusiasm. Gift tried to smile, tried to pretend this was the happiest moment of her life. Leah and Jamie seemed to believe it, if the girls had their doubts.





Jason arrived to escort her to the church, and her future sisters-in-law shooed him away. She wore the beautiful off-white dress Elizabeth Manning had insisted on buying her, and Leah had woven flowers in her hair tried to smile, tried to pretend this was the happiest moment of her life. Leah and Jamie seemed to believe it, even if the girls had their doubts.
Jason arrived to escort her to the church, and her future sisters-in-law shooed him away. She wore the beautiful off-white dress Elizabeth Manning had insisted on buying her, and Leah had woven flowers in her hair

Before she knew it, Gift was at the church. The number of guests surprised her. Tears clogged her throat when she reminded herself that she was playing a role. Tomorrow morning she’d go back to what her life had been before she met Jason Manning. Back to the emptiness. The loneliness.
At the appropriate moment, with organ music swirling around her, she walked dutifully down the aisle, aware every second of Jason standing at the front of the church. His eyes held hers as effectively as a vise, as though he suspected she might try to run even now. And if she tried, she didn’t doubt for a second that he’d go after her.
With her morning little more than a vague memory, Gift found it ironic that the actual wedding ceremony was so clear to her.
Jason stood at her side, revealing no emotion, and calmly repeated his vows. Gift wondered why the minister didn’t stop him. It was all too evident from the clipped, angry tone of his voice that he didn’t mean what he was saying. He had no intention of loving her, of cherishing her, of allowing her ever to be important in his life. Not after what she’d done. Not after she’d led him to believe her motives were so deceitful. Not after she’d made him think she planned to ridicule him and his family. Whatever love he’d once felt for her was dead. He’d practically told her so himself.

When it was her turn to say her vows, Gift voice was surprisingly strong. She would always love Jason, and she’d always treasure the months they’d shared. The sincerity in her voice must have caught his attention, because he looked at her for the first time since they’d approached the altar. His eyes narrowed scornfully. For a moment she nearly faltered, but decided she wouldn’t let him intimidate her.
His eyes seemed to be laughing at her—a mocking laugh that told her she was the biggest hypocrite who’d ever lived. He could think what he wanted, but in her heart she knew the truth.
After the ceremony, they were whisked from the church to the reception at the yacht club.






For Gift, the lengthy reception was a thousand times worse than the ceremony. They stood, for what seemed like hours, with the members of their wedding party, while an endless line of guests paraded past.
Everyone was so thrilled for them, so happy, everyone except the two of them. From the moment they’d arrived at the reception, Gift was a heartbeat away from dissolving into tears. Heaven knew how she survived the ordeal.
Later they had to cut the cake. The photographer took picture after picture.
“Resist the urge to shove the cake in my face,” Jason whispered behind a smile, when she went to feed him a small piece for the camera, “and I’ll do the same.”
They ate, they danced, they opened gifts. Outwardly they were the perfect couple. Madly in love, solicitous of each other, eager to be alone. Eager to start their lives together.
Only Gift and Jason knew the reality beneath the pretense.
Despite herself, Gift was impressed by what a brilliant actor Jason was. He refrained from touching her, but when it was unavoidable, his arms were gentle, his look as tender as he could make it, although she knew that he seethed with outrage. She could feel his anger, hidden below the surface, out of everyone’s sight but hers. At times Gift felt as if that anger would devour her whole.
“Just a few minutes longer,” Jason whispered harshly while they were on the dance floor. “Then we can leave.”
She relaxed. “Where are we going?”
“Not the airport, so don’t worry about it.”
“We need to talk.”
“No, we don’t. Everything’s been said. I’ll drop you off at your apartment and you can forget this day ever happened.”






“But—”
“Like I said, don’t worry about it. I’ll arrange everything. Once this is over, we won’t ever have to see each other again. Needless to say, I’ll expect you to find a new place as soon as possible.”
She nodded, knowing she’d brought this on herself. But when it was time to go, there was a surprise awaiting both of them. Jason’s brothers and brothers-in-law had rented two limousines. The first to take them to the airport, Rich explained, grinning proudly. And the second limousine was so the entire wedding party could follow them and see them off with as much fanfare and enthusiasm as was allowed.
Jason’s eyes sought out Gift when she returned from changing her clothes. His gaze assured her not to worry. He wasn’t any more willing to spend two weeks in her company than she’d been about going through with the wedding. She was sure he’d find some way to miss the flight.
Except that he didn’t.


His mother waited with them at the airline counter, wiping the tears from her eyes as she hugged her son. Carrie was there, too, more relaxed now, excited that she and Higgins would be spending two weeks with Leah and Paul.
Gift hugged Jason’s mother farewell, tears brimming in her eyes. “No woman ever had a more beautiful wedding,” she whispered. “Thank you.”
Her father-in-law was waiting when she’d finished, holding out his arms to her as though she were a small child needing reassurance. Nothing could be closer to the truth.
“Eric, thank you,” she murmured, as she slipped into his embrace. This might well be the only opportunity she’d have to express her gratitude. Soon enough Jason’s parents would know. She wouldn’t be able to face them.
“You call me Dad,” Eric said, hugging her close. “We already love you like a daughter, Gift.”
Tears blurred her vision and when she turned, she nearly collided with Jason. He took her by the elbow, his fingers pinching her skin. “You’re laying it on a bit thick, aren’t you?”
She didn’t answer him, couldn’t have said a word if she’d tried. They got their boarding passes as everyone watched. They were going to Hawaii, like it or no. Gift realized there was no escape for them, unless they owned up to the truth immediately. Jason didn’t look any more pleased than she did, but obviously didn’t want to disillusion the family quite so soon.
As he led her into the security area, away from his family, he muttered, “I didn’t plan this.”
“I know,” she said with a helpless sigh. “Oh—my car. I left it at the beach.”
“Mandy’s getting it for you.”
His thoughtfulness surprised her. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” he said sarcastically. “I wanted it back in the apartment lot so you wouldn’t have any trouble leaving again. Next time you can go with my blessing.”
Their seats were in business class and they were quickly served glasses of champagne that neither of them drank.
As the plane taxied away from the jetway and toward the airstrip, he closed his eyes, heaved a massive sigh and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll get us out of this yet.”
Gift nodded and lowered her gaze. “I’ll do everything I can to stay out of your way.”
“That would be appreciated.”






The flight was five hours, but it seemed closer to fifty. Jason didn’t exchange one unnecessary word with Gift. At this rate, she didn’t know how they’d be able to spend two weeks in each other’s company.
Jason must have been thinking the same thing. “I’ll see what I can do about arranging a flight back to Seattle as soon as we land,” he told her briskly, without a shred of emotion. No regret, no disappointment, nothing.
Gift bit her lip. “I…I didn’t pack much of anything…since the suitcase was just for show.”
He didn’t respond. By the time they landed and collected their luggage, Gift was falling asleep on her feet. Apparently Jason suspected as much, since he made some excuse about contacting the airlines from the hotel instead of rushing her onto a return flight. But she wasn’t sure if this small kindness was for her benefit or his own, since he couldn’t have had much more sleep than she had.
She barely noticed the scenery as the taxi carried them through town. Their hotel was on Waikiki Beach, built on white sands and surrounded by swaying palms.
When they went to check in at the front desk, Gift stepped back, letting Jason take care of the necessary paperwork. He was obviously upset about something, but she couldn’t tell what.
“Is everything all right?” she asked, as they moved toward the elevator.







“I thought we could get a double room, but…” Jason rubbed a hand across his face, looking weary and defeated. “My parents booked us into the bridal suite.”
“Oh.” Gift didn’t fully realize the implications of that until the bellman ushered them, with much fanfare, into the corner suite. There was one bed. A king-size bed that loomed before her.
Gift startled gaze sought out Jason’s as he paid the attendant and closed the door. The fear she’d managed to bury for hours spilled over now, but before she could say a word, he turned to her.
“Don’t look so shocked. It isn’t as if I intend to make love to you.”
“But where will…we sleep?”
He laughed, the sound abrupt. “If you want to call down to the front desk and order a rollaway for the bridal suite, then by all means, be my guest. Frankly, I feel enough of a fool for one day, so I’ll leave that option to you.”
With no real alternative, she showered, put on an old T-shirt and crawled between the crisp sheets of the bed, making sure she was as far on her side as possible.
She was drifting off to sleep when Jason finished his shower and returned to the bedroom. He stood for several minutes looking down at her. Her heart roared like a crazed animal as she wondered about his intentions. He could force her. Tom had often enough, using her body, leaving her feeling sick and abused afterward. She’d curl up tightly while he shouted how incompetent she was, how unattractive, how lacking. She’d lie there silently as the ugly, demeaning words rained down on her. When he was done with his tirade he’d leave.
The memories made her shiver with revulsion and fear.
“Gift.”
She didn’t answer, pretending to be asleep. Jason was angry with her, angrier than she’d ever seen him. Eyes closed, she lay still, her heart pounding with dread.
She heard Jason dressing, heard him pause and then, after a moment, heard him turn off the light and leave the room.
Abruptly Gift sat up. He’d left her, walked away just like Tom had, as though he couldn’t bear to be in the same room with her. Like Tom, he couldn’t wait to be rid of her.
He’d left without a word.
Wasn’t that what she wanted? Then why did she feel so alone, so deserted and unloved, so empty inside?
The tears that had threatened most of the day broke free with a low, eerie wail. She tucked her knees against her chest as the sobs overtook her.






She wept for all she’d lost. Jason’s love. Any chance of sharing their lives. The dream of having another child. The family she’d never had. It was gone now, crushed by her own hand.
It was too late to try and get any of it back. Jason hated her. She could never recapture what she’d destroyed with her fear. Never rebuild the trust she’d demolished when she’d run away.
She sobbed until the well of grief was emptied. Even that wasn’t enough. She tore at the sheets, pulling the blankets from the bed and beating the pillows.
It didn’t take long to exhaust what little energy she had, and she fell across the bed sobbing, then fell into a deep, troubled sleep.
Jason came back to the room an hour later, moving as silently as possible, not wanting to wake Gift. He wished he could hate his wife, punish her for what she’d done. She deserved to suffer, didn’t she?

Luv dis story dr more updates pls

Marchborn123:
Luv dis story dr more updates pls

okay

He’d rushed into marriage with Gift because, deep down, he’d been afraid that if she’d had the chance to change her mind, she would. And he’d been right.
Jason didn’t know what lunacy had prompted him to make her go through with the ceremony. To avoid embarrassment?





Having their marriage annulled the following week would still embarrass him and his family. There was the problem, too, of returning all the wedding gifts. Eventually he’d have to face people. Make explanations.
He’d taken the easy way out, delaying the inevitable because of his pride.
Gift had wanted to cancel the wedding and he’d perversely refused to release her. So now they were stuck in Hawaii on a two-week honeymoon neither of them wanted. Stuck in each other’s company, in the bridal suite no less, until he could find a flight back to Seattle.





Once his eyes had adjusted to the dark, Jason made his way across the elegant room. Gift was still curled up on the bed, but the sheets and blankets were strewn about as though a storm had raged through.
He discovered a second and a third pillow hurled across the room. One was on the floor, the other dangling from a chair. It looked as if his bride had thrown a temper tantrum.
So she hadn’t liked it that he’d left. A smile played across his lips. It was the first time since he’d found her on the beach that she’d displayed any emotion.




The thought of Gift losing her temper pleased him, until he remembered she wasn’t given to bouts of anger. He felt a pang of concern but brushed it aside—it belonged to the past, to the old Gift, the one he’d loved.
Exhausted and depressed, he gazed about the room and noted that the bed was all she’d bothered to disarrange. Everything else in the room remained untouched.
Not knowing what to think, and too tired to care, he quietly stripped off his clothes and slipped beneath a rumpled sheet. It didn’t take him long to fall asleep, but his dreams were disturbing and he woke several times before morning.
Not once during the night did Gift move. She stayed on her side, facing away from him, never changing her position.
He woke in the morning, the bright sunshine slashing through the bedroom curtains. Gift was on her back, already awake. She shifted her head and stared at him with eyes so filled with pain that he hurt just looking at her.




“I lied when I said I didn’t love you, Jason,” she whispered and a tear rolled down the side of her face. “I do…so very much. I’m sorry…for everything I’ve done.”
He nodded, his throat thick. “I’m sorry, too, Gift.”

Chapter Thirteen






Gift closed her eyes because looking at Jason was so painful, knowing he hated her, knowing he’d never really forgive her for what she’d done.
“I lied when I said I wanted to marry you because of your family. I…ran away because I was afraid.”
“Of me?”



Her pulse scampered. She should’ve told him the truth weeks earlier. She’d agreed to be his wife; he had a right to know. But the truth was so easy to put off, so easy to deny. So hard to explain.
There’d been opportunities to tell him, plenty of them, although she’d tried to convince herself otherwise. She’d been too much of a coward to present Jason with the truth. And then, when time ran out, she’d panicked.

Gift closed her eyes because looking at Jason was so painful, knowing he hated her, knowing he’d never really forgive her for what she’d done.
“I lied when I said I wanted to marry you because of your family. I…ran away because I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
Her pulse scampered. She should’ve told him the truth weeks earlier. She’d agreed to be his wife; he had a right to know. But the truth was so easy to put off, so easy to deny. So hard to explain.
There’d been opportunities to tell him, plenty of them, although she’d tried to convince herself otherwise. She’d been too much of a coward to present Jason with the truth. And then, when time ran out, she’d panicked.
“Gift?” Jason said in a low voice. “What are you afraid of?”
She couldn’t explain that she was, to put it bluntly, afraid of sex. Of intimacy. That wasn’t what a man wanted to hear. Not just Jason, but any man.
He deserved so much more than she was capable of giving him. He deserved a woman who was emotionally whole and healthy. A woman who was physically responsive. Not someone scared and battle-weary and all but dead to her own sexuality.
“I owe you an explanation….”
“I’d say so,” he agreed, but his voice was devoid of the previous day’s sarcasm, without a trace of anger.
“I meant to tell you sooner. To give you the choice of going through with the wedding or not. But as time went on I—I couldn’t…and then it was too late.”
“Tell me now.”
Gift thought back to an age when she’d been innocent, vulnerable and naive. “My mother died while I was in high school. My father had abandoned us years earlier and I don’t think my mother ever recovered. If he contacted her at any point after he left, I didn’t know about it. She was different after he was gone. It was like she’d given up on life. She loved me, though—I know she did—and she’d been insightful enough to plan for my future.”
Jason’s hand reached across the bed for hers. Their fingers entwined and Gift was grateful for his touch.






“I met Tom my first year of college. He came from another state and was attending classes on a limited scholarship. He was intelligent and good-looking. When he asked me out, I was thrilled. He seemed to like me…. Later I realized it wasn’t me that attracted him, but the insurance money I’d received when my mother died. After a few months, we made love and…and he asked me to marry him. I didn’t have any family and…I desperately needed someone. I was too stupid to know why Tom really wanted to marry me. He saw marriage as a way of paying for his education without having to work for it.
“I dropped out of school after one semester and we got married. The money that was meant for my education went toward Tom’s while I got a full-time job to pay our living expenses.”
Jason’s hand flinched, tightening around hers.?” Jason said in a low voice. “What are you afraid of?”
She couldn’t explain that she was, to put it bluntly, afraid of sex. Of intimacy. That wasn’t what a man wanted to hear. Not just Jason, but any man.




He deserved so much more than she was capable of giving him. He deserved a woman who was emotionally whole and healthy. A woman who was physically responsive. Not someone scared and battle-weary and all but dead to her own sexuality.
“I owe you an explanation….”
“I’d say so,” he agreed, but his voice was devoid of the previous day’s sarcasm, without a trace of anger.
“I meant to tell you sooner. To give you the choice of going through with the wedding or not. But as time went on I—I couldn’t…and then it was too late.”
“Tell me now.”
Gift thought back to an age when she’d been innocent, vulnerable and naive. “My mother died while I was in high school. My father had abandoned us years earlier and I don’t think my mother ever recovered. If he contacted her at any point after he left, I didn’t know about it. She was different after he was gone. It was like she’d given up on life. She loved me, though—I know she did—and she’d been insightful enough to plan for my future.”
Jason’s hand reached across the bed for hers. Their fingers entwined and Gift was grateful for his touch.




“I met Tom my first year of college. He came from another state and was attending classes on a limited scholarship. He was intelligent and good-looking. When he asked me out, I was thrilled. He seemed to like me…. Later I realized it wasn’t me that attracted him, but the insurance money I’d received when my mother died. After a few months, we made love and…and he asked me to marry him. I didn’t have any family and…I desperately needed someone. I was too stupid to know why Tom really wanted to marry me. He saw marriage as a way of paying for his education without having to work for it.
“I dropped out of school after one semester and we got married. The money that was meant for my education went toward Tom’s while I got a full-time job to pay our living expenses.”
Jason’s hand flinched, tightening around hers.

“I should’ve gotten out of the marriage as soon as I figured out he was using me. Instead, I compounded my mistake. I thought if I got pregnant it would make everything better. If Tom didn’t love me, surely he’d love the baby.”
“You’ve been so hard on yourself.”





“I’ll never regret having Carrie. She’s been the best thing in my life…but Tom wasn’t happy.” She hesitated, reliving the terrible scene, so many years past, when she’d told Tom she was pregnant. He’d wanted her to have an abortion, even given her the money. She’d lied and told him she’d done it, hiding her pregnancy until it was too late. He’d been so furious that he’d hit her. The blow had been so hard, it had loosened three of her teeth.
“Go on,” Jason prompted.


“I had Carrie and for a while I thought the marriage might work. Tom liked his little girl and was proud of her.”
“You told me Tom was having an affair. When did this happen?”
“It started while I was pregnant. Tom enjoyed sex…and after a while he said I was too fat and ugly to make love to, and everything came to a stop.” Gift remembered how relieved she was, how grateful because she no longer had to give in to his rough physical demands. She was working a forty-hour week, waiting tables, and was too exhausted at night to satisfy him. He’d been telling her for months that a man needed enthusiasm from his wife during sex,





but

Gift had never seemed able to rouse any. It was like making love to a corpse, he told her.
“I…I never was very good at sex,” she continued in a tight voice. “And after Carrie was born, I lost all interest.” Actually any pleasure in the physical aspects of their marriage had died months earlier, when Tom had demanded she have an abortion. After Carrie was born, she found herself unwilling to make any effort to please him physically.






“That was when the really bad fights began,” she said as evenly as the remembered emotions would allow. “Tom claimed it was his right to make love to me whenever he wanted and…and…” Her throat closed up, forcing her to stop.
“Did he rape you, Gift?”
Biting her lower lip, she nodded. Only Tom hadn’t called it rape; he’d said it was his right. He’d married her, hadn’t he? That meant she’d given him the right to do whatever he wanted with her body the moment she’d signed the marriage document.
Jason moved closer and brought her into his arms, cradling her head against his shoulder, stroking her hair. His chest was heaving and Gift knew he was fighting his own anger.






Her eyes glazed over with tears as she struggled to hold back the fear, the memory of the violence, the feeling of powerlessness, the revulsion of those terror-filled episodes. Her breathing became labored.
“I…couldn’t satisfy Tom,” she admitted in a breathless whisper.
“That has everything to do with Tom—not with you.” He paused. “Are you afraid you won’t be able to satisfy me?”
She nodded through her tears.
“But, Gift,” he said, raising himself on one elbow and gazing down at her, “how can you think that? Everything between us has always been so good. Or am I wrong? Haven’t you enjoyed the times we kissed?”
She lowered her lashes. “Yes…but they’ve frightened me.”
“I never forced you.”
“I…I know that. You’ve been so patient and gentle. I almost convinced myself I could make love again…that I could erase those nightmare years with Tom and start all over…but I can’t. That’s why I ran away…that’s the real reason, not what I told you earlier.”
“Why couldn’t you tell me this before?”
She wiped the tears from her face, and swallowed the bittersweet agony of the moment. “Because I love you so much.”
Her words were met with a puzzled hesitation. “You wouldn’t tell me because you love me?”





She nodded, and hiccuped a sobbing laugh. “It sounds ludicrous, I know, but it’s true. Because I couldn’t stand to lose you—not that way. Because if we ever did make love, you’d see—you wouldn’t want me anymore.”
“How could you think that?” Jason asked.
This was the moment she’d dreaded. The moment of truth. She turned her head away, unwilling to look at him, unwilling to let him see her face. A tightness gripped her chest, crushing her, the pressure so intense she could hardly breathe.
“Gift?”
It would’ve been easier if he hadn’t been so gentle. She could deal with his anger and frustration, but not his tenderness. She didn’t know how to respond to that in a man.

Shoving aside the blanket and sheet, she sat on the edge of the bed. When he caressed her back, she stood, unable to deal with being touched just then. Her arms were locked around her middle and the aching pressure in her chest rose, settling in her throat. Tears burned her eyes.



“Tell me,” he demanded, not unkindly. “Just say it.”


“I can’t be your wife.”




“It’s too late for that,” he murmured. “You already are.”



“I’m not…not in the ways that matter to a man.”



“Oh?”
“Don’t you understand what I’m saying?” she cried. “Do I have to spell out every degrading detail? Is that what you want? Then fine, I’ll say it. I can’t be your wife because I can’t make love.” She gulped in a deep breath. “I’m frigid, Jason. The term might be out of fashion but it still applies.”

There was a brief, shocked silence. Then Jason started to laugh.
“Don’t you dare laugh at me! Don’t you dare laugh.” A fury rose inside Gift, one that had been years in the making, one so strong there was no holding back. She threw herself at him, arms swinging, feet kicking, fingers clawing, before he had a chance to react.
He caught her by the wrists. “Gift…I wasn’t laughing at you.”
She barely heard his words, not that it mattered. She twisted and bucked in his hold. He twisted, too, and with the momentum of his weight they fell together on the bed. He was sprawled over her upper body, his thigh across her legs, holding her down.
Her chest was heaving, her shoulders jerking upward in an effort to escape.





“Gift , for heaven’s sake, I wasn’t laughing at you,” he said again.
She gritted her teeth, refusing to answer him.
“Stop struggling, before you destroy any chance of my fathering our future child.”
She went still, although the fight hadn’t completely left her.
“Now let me explain.”
There were too many years of agony inside her, too many insecurities to be soothed away with a few simple words. “No. Just let me go.”
“In a minute. Then if you still want me to release you I will. You owe me this much. All right?”
She twisted her head away from him, still refusing to answer.
“I love you, Gift. I realized when we first started seeing each other that you’d been badly hurt by your ex-husband. I didn’t understand the extent of it until now, but in some ways I think not knowing was for the best. It would have intimidated me in the beginning.”
A sob tore through her throat.
“The first time we kissed…I wish I knew how to explain it, but I knew you were different. That moment was different than any I’d ever known before. Kissing you was so good.”
Gift didn’t respond, but she knew he was right. Their kisses had been good. Very good.
“It got even better, didn’t it?”
She nodded, although only slightly.
“You’re not frigid, or whatever term the psychologists prefer now. Not even close. What you are, my love, is afraid, and for a very legitimate reason. You’ve been sexually abused.”
“I’m sexually…damaged. Forever.”
“No, not forever. In time you’ll heal. We’ll heal together.” He said it with such conviction, as though they faced only a small problem, when to her it was bigger than both of them. Bigger than even their love.





“But it isn’t you who…can’t make love,” she sobbed. “It’s me. You’re not the one who has to heal…and I don’t know if I can.”
“We’re in this together, Gift. Whatever it takes.”
“There isn’t any reason you should—”
“We can’t heal,” he interrupted, “unless we try. We can’t sweep this under the carpet and ignore it. I’m not so stupid as to believe that all the pain and all the memories will go away simply because we make love and it’s as good as our kisses have been.”
“I…don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forget.”

Jason rolled away from her, freeing her arms and legs. He stood and raked his hand through his hair. “The decision is yours, and I’ll abide by whatever you want. I’m not going to force you to be my wife. I’ve made some mistakes in this relationship and just now was one of them. I’m sure I’ll make more. You should know that.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.” She sat up and wiped the tears from her burning cheeks, her hands trembling. Jason had moved away from her and was staring out the window.
“Like I said, the decision is yours. If you want me to file for an annulment, then I will. I’ll make the arrangements to get us off this island as quickly as possible. As soon as I can, I’ll take care of all the legalities. In a few days there won’t be anything to bind us together—if that’s what you want.”
“I see.” Her heart filled with mourning.
“But there’s something you should understand, Gift. If you decide you want to give this marriage a try, there’ll be no turning back.”
She did understand, and the thought filled her with panic.
“I’m willing to devote myself to you and the marriage, but I’ll need the same kind of commitment from you. In other words, you’re going to have to want to heal. It may mean counseling for you, for us both. We both have to be willing to do whatever it takes.”
“I don’t know if I could…ever tell anyone else about my marriage to Tom.”




“That’s your decision, too. If you want to stay my wife, you have to realize that the time will come when we will make love—but only when you’re ready. And when we do, it’ll be good, Gift…I promise you that.”
“How often?” It was probably a stupid question, but one she needed to know. She might be able to bear it if Jason wanted to make love occasionally. She might be able to overcome the terror if he wasn’t too demanding.
“I can’t answer that because I don’t know.”
“More than once a month?”
He turned away from her, but not before she saw his smile. “Yes, Gift, more than once a month.”
“I see.”
“It seems to me that you have some serious thinking to do. Perhaps it would be best if I left for a while. When I come back, you can tell me your thoughts. Does that sound fair?”
She waited until he turned to look at her before she nodded.
So this was what it meant to love someone, Jason thought as he left the hotel and headed for the beach. He felt as though a hole had been carved through the center of his life, and nothing—besides Gift—was capable of filling it. He wanted to believe she’d realize he wasn’t another Tom. That didn’t seem to be the case, however.
He’d felt a glimmer of hope when he’d first started talking, trying to get through to her, soothe her fears. The anger had drained from her eyes as she’d studied him, seeming to measure his words. He’d seen trust gradually replace that anger.



He hoped she’d be willing to give their marriage a chance. He loved her, but he wasn’t naive or arrogant enough to believe his feelings for her could, on their own, heal the horror of her experience. She was going to need more than his love, more than his gentleness. Being tender and patient with her wasn’t going to wipe out the trauma of having been raped by her own husband. No wonder she was so terrified.
Jason sensed that other things, maybe even worse than those he knew, had happened in her marriage. Things she hadn’t told him yet.
Her marriage had been so ugly, so abusive. He marveled that she’d even considered remarrying. Knowing what he did now, it didn’t surprise him that she’d run away at the eleventh hour. It wouldn’t surprise him if she decided to go through with the annulment, either.




He’d given her the option, laid everything out on the table for her to examine. His love, his commitment, his willingness to do whatever he could to help her overcome her fears. But in light of what he’d learned, it seemed so little….
A couple of hours later, Jason returned to the hotel to confront Gift again. Two hours didn’t seem like much time to come to such a monumental decision, but he wanted to be with her.
Perhaps it would be best if he waited for her to come to him, but he quickly rejected that idea as impractical. If he was going to waste precious time debating with himself, he should do it over something important, like how was he going to live without Gift. How was he going to let her go, the only woman he’d ever truly loved? Those were the questions he should be asking himself.
Gift sat in the darkened room, the drapes pulled against the brightness of the sun, waiting for Jason. Having carefully considered her husband’s words, she knew with a clarity that defied explanation what she was meant to do. She should remain his wife. Should share his bed. Should share his life.





The heavy ache in her chest intensified. Fresh tears moistened her eyes. Jason had offered her his love, his devotion, and his wholehearted commitment. He’d done so with a courage that left her humbled. He was willing to help her heal, but Gift didn’t know if it would be enough.
There was no guarantee the pain would ever end. No guarantee she’d ever feel whole again. Healing demanded courage. It meant reaching back into the past, into the pain, and reliving the nightmare. Wasn’t enduring it once enough? Healing meant risking whatever serenity she’d found in the years since her divorce. Healing meant trusting a man again, trusting him enough to freely share her body.

There was no guarantee the pain would ever end. No guarantee she’d ever feel whole again. Healing demanded courage. It meant reaching back into the past, into the pain, and reliving the nightmare. Wasn’t enduring it once enough? Healing meant risking whatever serenity she’d found in the years since her divorce. Healing meant trusting a man again, trusting him enough to freely share her body.
Gift closed her eyes, wanting to blot everything out. She was such a coward. A world-class wimp. She knew what she should do, but it was so frightening. She wanted to run away, bury her feelings. Hide, the way she’d been doing for years. There was something so comfortable in denial.
There had to be more to life than this choking anger. More than this grief and fear.
With Jason’s love there was more.
There was hope.
Gift must have fallen asleep. When she stirred she saw that the drapes were open and Jason was sitting on the lanai, sipping a glass of orange juice.



“Hello,” he said with a smile.
“Hi.” She felt a little shy as she slipped out of bed and rubbed her eyes. “What time is it?”



“Afternoon. I imagine you’re starved.”
Now that he mentioned it, she realized she was hungry. The last food she’d eaten had been at their wedding dinner, and that had been the day before.
“I took the liberty of ordering you lunch.”
She smiled and joined him on the lanai. “I slept for so long.”
“You needed the rest.” He looked so familiar and handsome, sitting there in the sunlight with his baseball cap shading his eyes. His skin was bronzed, and his eyes, as blue as the Hawaiian sky, roamed over her with undisguised love and tenderness. “Listen, Gift , I was wrong.”
“Wrong?”





“I shouldn’t have given you an ultimatum. You’re going to need more than a few hours to decide what you want. I made the same mistake earlier by rushing you into a marriage you didn’t want and…”
“But I did want this marriage, very badly.”
“Did,” he repeated in a husky, regretful voice.
“Do,” she corrected firmly.
For several minutes, he said nothing. “Even now, knowing what it’ll mean?”
“Even now,” she said, holding out her hand to him.
Jason held it fast. “I love you, Gift Manning.”






“I know.” Her voice broke, and she struggled not to break down and weep. Someday she’d tell him how close she’d come to walking away from the brightest promise of her life. She’d tell him how she’d finally decided that loving Jason, being his wife, sharing his life wasn’t just something she should do, but something she wanted to do. Ached to do, with all her heart. Someday she’d tell him all of this.
Prev

Hello, Marking of names start if you are here kindly reply present.

Adeyife

splendidiva

nkemdave

Bollie29


iohnfa466 , Johnfa466

alamiendagash

hadampson

wisolzy

Blissfuljeff

Jasmine2013

Kingphilip

Toyin223
Evageal

precious111

bummybummy

shakyroh320

Ebonyqueen001






To those that wasn't mentioned and the ghost readers you're all welcome.



I have updated o Aunty Evageal before you crucify me.



Enjoy!!

Luv luv dis jason of a man. My dr let's just say dis story is making me greedy cus i want more updates kip up d gud work dr

DIS Story Wonderfull

mhizgap:
Coughs


Hello all




Thanks to You all reading this pieces.



This is to remind you that this novel Belongs to Debbie Macomber.



we've got series of title for it: The Manning Groom, Run away bride E. tc.




I type and post only the writers here would know the feeling.





keep reading or ask me to stop posting






Thanks

Is this not plagiarism? it is obvious you only changed the characters name from Charlotte to Gift. Please take your time to write something and we will gladly follow.

Present! Great job, well done. Thanks for not splitting Jason and Gift

genius43:


Is this not plagiarism? it is obvious you only changed the characters name from Charlotte to Gift. Please take your time to write something and we will gladly follow.

With brains and high IQ you should be able to understand that this isn't plagiarism if it was I wouldn't be foolish enough to post the authors name or even change just a name.






Debbie Macomber is my favorite author so I decided to share her work here and about following my stories pls view my profile and search for other works that are plagiarized.



I actually wanted to dedicate all to Debbie and the end of the story pls kindly don't crucify me yet.







Oga bikonu recive sense at least to read understand and assimilate wella

“I don’t want to live without you.”
He reached for her, bringing her onto his lap, his mouth instinctively finding hers. Everything she’d planned to say was caught between two hungry mouths. Trapped between two pounding hearts.





ChapterFourteen
Several months later a storm, a Seattle cloudburst, woke Gift. Dawn was on the horizon, but very little light filtered through the gray clouds. The wind beat hard against the windows, rattling them until Gift feared they might break.
Gently setting aside the covers, she climbed out of bed and crept into the living room. Higgins was sleeping there, looking worried. She patted his head and offered him reassurances.





She opened the living-room drapes just in time to watch a bolt of lightning rip apart the night. For an hour or so afterward, smiling contentedly, she watched morning creep across the sky. Her life, inside and out, was everything she wanted it to be. Jason had moved into her apartment; they planned to buy a house in the spring. She was taking a break from work, enrolled in an advanced accounting course. Eventually she’d handle all of his bookkeeping and maybe look for a few other clients, too. Yes, life was full of new possibilities.






“Gift?” Jason murmured when she returned to bed. He reached for her and without a second’s hesitation she slipped into his embrace.
“There’s a storm,” she whispered.
His smile was lazy, sleepy. “So I hear. Are you frightened?”
“Not anymore.” There’d been a time when she would’ve been terrified, but that time was long past. She felt intensely alive, completely calm. The dangerous storms were gone from her life. She’d survived the raging wind, the drenching rain, the booming thunder. That was all in the past. Her future was holding her in his arms.
She sighed, cuddling close to her husband, suffused with a feeling of profound joy.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I know,” he said without opening his eyes. “Believe me, I know.”mop

mhizgap:





With brains and high IQ you should be able to understand that this isn't plagiarism if it was I wouldn't be foolish enough to post the authors name or even change just a name.






Debbie Macomber is my favorite author so I decided to share her work here and about following my stories pls view my profile and search for other works that are plagiarized.



I actually wanted to dedicate all to Debbie and the end of the story pls kindly don't crucify me yet.







Oga bikonu recive sense at least to read understand and assimilate wella

If you are not plagiarising, are you not commiting copyright infringement?

Miss High IQ