Can't Say No

  Bette Ford

  Can’t Say No

  This book is a special thank you for my close

  friends and loving family members who have

  prayed for me, and unfailingly helped in

  countless ways during the good and not so

  good days in the past year. Love you all.

  Remember the wonders He has done, His miracles

  and the judgements He pronounced.

  Psalm 105:5

  Contents

  Epigraph

  One

  It was a late-spring day, not a cloud in the…

  Two

  “What’s your problem, cuz?” Wesley Prescott asked as he stretched…

  Three

  Brynne and Devin shared the first car with Kelli and…

  Four

  “I can’t believe it,” Vanessa whispered to Ralph, then blushed.

  Five

  Church service, brunch, the plane ride, and even coming home…

  Six

  “You look surprised,” Vanessa blurted out nervously. “As if you…

  Seven

  She had a single thought that consisted of a solitary…

  Eight

  Ralph was livid! He couldn’t remember ever being so upset.

  Nine

  Ralph took a swallow of water before he forced a…

  Ten

  By the time the food was served, Ralph wanted out.

  Eleven

  Ralph frowned when he heard Vanessa’s laughter. “What’s funny about…

  Twelve

  Vanessa woke with a start. Her entire body tingled from…

  Thirteen

  Things were going well, yet Vanessa couldn’t help wondering if…

  Fourteen

  On the drive home, Ralph swore aloud. “Why did she…

  Fifteen

  Vanessa smiled, secretly wishing the same thing, but decided to…

  Sixteen

  Ralph didn’t say a word. He knew that there was…

  Seventeen

  “Doggone it!” Vanessa glared down at the pattern pieces that…

  Eighteen

  Laura Murdock’s exquisite, high-rise condominium in downtown Detroit overlooked the…

  Nineteen

  Ralph tried to kick back, relax, and enjoy the movie…

  Twenty

  Vanessa knew she was being selfish by putting off telling…

  Twenty-One

  After yet another restless night, Vanessa knew she did not…

  Twenty-Two

  Ralph was amazed that his outlook on life had changed…

  Twenty-Three

  Vanessa kissed his chest, lingering on a flat male nipple.

  Twenty-Four

  “Vanessa, come here quick!” Anna yelled from the kitchen. “Hurry!”…

  Twenty-Five

  They picked from a choice of five luxurious bedrooms with…

  Twenty-Six

  While Vanessa stared back at him, Ralph struggled for control.

  Twenty-Seven

  Vanessa worried her bottom lip. “I don’t have your confidence,…

  Twenty-Eight

  “I know. And I was wrong. I should have told…

  Epilogue

  Vanessa stepped out of the patio doors off Donna and

  Author’s Note

  About the Author

  Other Books by Bette Ford

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  One

  It was a late-spring day, not a cloud in the sky, despite the chill in the air. Vanessa Grant had been rushing around since she’d overslept that morning. Even though she was late, she fought the urge to pound on the steering wheel of her dated SUV. As usual, the Metropolitan Detroit traffic was hopelessly snarled due to freeway construction.

  She didn’t bother to glance at her reflection in the rearview mirror. She knew her small African-American features, her toffee brown skin and dark brown eyes, showed just how tired she was. She’d not intentionally neglected herself, but there was always someone or something that needed attention. And there was never enough time to kick back and relax. Not that she was complaining, for she dearly loved her family and never regretted becoming her younger brother and sisters’ legal guardian when they’d lost their mother, six years ago.

  This morning was no less hectic than most. By the time Vanessa had her family dressed, packed, fed, and in the car, she was indeed ready for the minivacation she would be sharing with her girlfriends. After dropping the kids off, she headed for the home of her best friend, Brynne Armstrong.

  Brynne had invited all six of her bridal attendants to fly down to spend four days and three nights, in Atlanta’s Buckhead district. They were all thrilled, looking forward to being pampered in the day spa at the luxurious hotel. The all-expenses-paid trip was Brynne’s way of thanking them for all they’d done to make her upcoming wedding perfect.

  Brynne would be marrying Devin Prescott, her longtime sweetheart and father of her three-year-old daughter, Shanna next weekend. Although Devin was the quarterback for the St. Louis Rams, he was from Detroit and part of a large, close-knit family.

  Vanessa, along with their good friends and fellow book club members, Laura Murdock, Trenna McAdams, and Maureen Hale Sheppard, were in the bridal party, as well as Brynne’s soon-to-be sisters-in-law, Anna Prescott Mathis and Kelli Warner-Prescott.

  “Finally.” Vanessa sighed as she stopped her SUV at the security gates outside Brynne’s gated community. After giving her name to the security guard on duty, she was waved through.

  “Oh, no,” she wailed as she pulled into the crowded driveway and parked behind Maureen’s car. Evidently, she was the last one to arrive. Slamming her car door, she hurried to the back to retrieve her garment bag and makeup case.

  Vanessa and Brynne had formed the book club in the hopes of sharing a beloved hobby by participating in lively book discussions and developing new friendships. The five single ladies decided early on they didn’t need to have a man in their lives to be happy or fulfilled. Maureen, Laura, and Brynne worked together at the Sheppard Women’s Crisis Center. Trenna owned the nursery school where Brynne’s daughter, Shanna, attended. Of the five, Vanessa knew that at six feet she was the painfully shy one. The others teased her good-naturedly because she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been out on a date.

  But Vanessa wasn’t like the other “Elegant Five” book club members, who were into fashion, shopping, and, for those still single, men. Although single, what little free time she had away from the children was spent designing glamorous evening gowns and wedding dresses, dresses she couldn’t imagine herself wearing. She kept to herself the fact that the closest she had come to being intimate with a man was the fantasy lover who filled her dreams.

  “It’s about time you got here!” Brynne complained as she hurried out to help Vanessa with her luggage. “I was worried, afraid one of the kids was sick.”

  Vanessa smiled as she hugged her petite, beautiful friend. “Nothing like that. Just took forever to get us all out of the house. The twins were so excited because they will be staying several nights with friends, I couldn’t get them to settle down last night. And Lana couldn’t decide what to take with her.” The twins were six and would be in first grade in the fall, while Lana, seventeen, would be starting her senior year in high school. “Where is your sweet baby girl?”

  Brynne smiled. “Shanna’s with Devin’s parents. She loves spending time with them. She won’t even miss me.”

  The foyer was crowded with luggage and people. Vanessa received hugs from her friends.

  Laura Murdock was the first to scold, “What took you so long?” as she kissed Vanessa’s cheek.

  “Leave her alone. S
he’s here now, and we’re going to Hot ’Lanta,” Maureen Hale Sheppard, said with a welcoming smile. She owned and ran the Sheppard Women’s Crisis Center.

  “Kelli and I would have been happy to pick you up, Vanessa,” Anna Prescott Mathis volunteered. She had recently married Vanessa’s boss, Gavin, and was Wesley and Devin’s baby sister.

  “I was fine. Just running a little late,” Vanessa said with a smile. She was surprised that the married ladies didn’t mind leaving their gorgeous husbands behind. “Kelli, I love that outfit.”

  “This old thing?” Kelli teased, referring to the designer pantsuit. “Got it last week on sale.” Before she married the Detroit Lions’ star quarterback, Wesley Prescott, the tall beauty had been a full-figured model. Now she spent her days caring for their toddler.

  “You missed the show, girlfriend.” Trenna McAdams laughed, clapping her hands excitedly. “We got an eyeful.”

  “Really?” Vanessa asked, looking from one to the other.

  “What happened?”

  “Laura has a new man,” Brynne teased.

  “New man? What about Ralph?” Vanessa blurted out, then immediately wanted to take back the name, afraid she had given herself away.

  Laura scoffed, “Ple-e-ase! Old news. Ralph has never been more than a friend.”

  Vanessa frowned. The last she’d heard, Laura had been interested in Ralph Prescott. She couldn’t help wondering what had gone wrong between Laura and Ralph.

  How had Laura overlooked the fact that the six-foot-seven-inch confirmed bachelor was not only gorgeous but very wealthy? Ralph, like his cousins, had been a professional athlete. He didn’t bother to hide what he was, a player. There was no shortage of adoring women in his life.

  There also was no doubt that Vanessa’s life would have been simpler if Ralph, her private fantasy lover, was someone like Denzel Washington. Then the odds of her ever meeting him would have been remote…no one could guess her secret. More often than not, she’d awakened trembling from the heat of Ralph’s beautifully shaped lips ravishing hers.

  To make matters worse, Vanessa had gotten to know the “real man” during the planning of Brynne and Devin’s combined wedding shower and engagement party. She had seen why so many women couldn’t turn the brother down. The combination of a ready sense of humor, smooth masculine charm, and dark African good looks proved to be irresistible. Ralph had it all. To make matters worse, they were frequently paired together because he was Devin’s best man and she was Brynne’s maid of honor.

  Since the engagement party, where she’d danced in his strong arms, Vanessa’s fantasies about him had intensified. At odd moments during the day, her thoughts would fill with daydreams of him. She often felt the need to reassure herself that everything would be fine as long as she didn’t act on her fantasies and kept them locked in her dreams, where they belonged.

  “Well?” Vanessa couldn’t stop herself from asking, “If not Ralph, then which one?”

  Weddings were generally hectic and exciting affairs, and this one would be no exception. Vanessa still hadn’t gotten over the fact that Devin’s groomsmen were all attractive pro athletes. Plus four of the seven men in the bridal party were eligible bachelors.

  Although Brynne continued to deny it, the ladies believed it was her doing. Not that the single women were about to complain. Vanessa had been the only one made uncomfortable by the news although she wisely kept that to herself.

  “None of the groomsmen,” Brynne said, laughing. “And just think how hard I would have had to work to get Devin to pick gorgeous, unattached men for you single ladies. Lucky for you, he made his own decision.”

  Maureen asked, “You call kissing your good-looking fiancé work?”

  “She did more than kiss him,” Laura teased.

  They all broke into giggles.

  “Good thing, I’m going to marry him…make an honest man out of him.” Brynne’s pale brown cheeks were flushed with color. “I assure you, I would have given it my all, if I had talked him into it, but I didn’t.”

  “You did, and are we ever glad.” Trenna laughed until tears streamed down her pretty brown cheeks.

  “You all are so wrong! We were talking about Laura. What did I miss?” Vanessa persisted.

  “How many times do I have to tell you, ladies, that Jeff isn’t my man,” Laura insisted. “My car wasn’t working, and he simply gave me a ride over here. We’re friends.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Trenna said, rolling her eyes. “I don’t kiss my male friends on the mouth. We shake hands!”

  That sent them off into more peals of laughter.

  “Grab your bags, ladies. The limo just drove up,” Brynne said excitedly.

  “Limo?” Trenna gasped. “Brynne, I could easily get used to this kinda luxury. You better hang on to that man.”

  She came back with, “I plan to.”

  Brynne was the last to leave the house, making sure the burglar alarm was set and the doors locked. The chauffeur had his hands full, trying to get all their luggage into the trunk, while the ladies climbed into the sleek gray car.

  “Champagne anyone?” Brynne offered, lifting the open bottle that had been chilling in an ice bucket.

  “Don’t mind if I do.” Laura flashed a grin, accepting one of the fluted crystal glasses being passed around.

  Vanessa was the only one who shook her head. “None for me.”

  “Oh, come on,” Trenna complained.

  “You know I don’t like the taste of alcohol.”

  “Loosen up, girlfriend. One sip to toast our trip won’t kill you,” Maureen urged.

  “Yeah, girl. Loosen up,” Laura joined in.

  Vanessa shrugged, reluctantly accepting a glass.

  “To a safe trip and a good time!” Brynne raised her glass.

  “Hear, hear,” the others echoed, clinking glasses.

  They laughed and teased each other all the way to the airport, where a private Learjet was waiting for them on the tarmac.

  The small jet was one of a fleet co-owned by business partners Devin and Ralph Prescott. The jet’s lavish interior was designed to appeal to their wealthy and celebrity clientele. Nothing had been overlooked. There were fresh bottles of chilled champagne and soft drinks, along with an array of tempting hors d’oeuvres and finger sandwiches waiting for them. Soon they were strapped into plush leather armchairs, ready for takeoff.

  Laura teased Brynne in a whisper loud enough for the others to hear, “Aren’t you worried about your man always being around such attractive women?” She referred to the pretty flight attendant.

  “Yes. But after more than four years apart, why should I be concerned?” Brynne shook her head. “Now that we’re finally going to be together, I’m not worried about a single thing.”

  “That’s right! She knows her man loves her,” Vanessa said from where she sat next to Brynne.

  “Vanessa is right,” Maureen said, seated next to Trenna.

  “Brynne has nothing to worry about. She’s survived worse and deserves happiness.” She lifted her glass. “To Brynne.”

  “Hear! Hear!” the friends cheered.

  “Thank you one and all.” Brynne smiled. “I’m so looking forward to a mud wrap.”

  “Honey, yes.” Trenna nodded. “Can I have a massage every day we’re there?”

  “Absolutely.” Brynne laughed.

  Then Trenna asked, “Devin’s not upset because you’re leaving him on his own, the weekend before your wedding?”

  “Nope. He’s been in St. Louis for business meetings. I just hope he finds his way back to Detroit before the wedding next Saturday.”

  “He’ll make it,” Vanessa assured her, sipping from a glass of sparking apple cider. “It was nice of him to let us use one of his planes.”

  “What a way to celebrate the holiday! I hope Hot ’Lanta is crawling with gorgeous men,” Laura added, “Poor Devin.”

  Brynne quipped, “You make it sound as if I’m going to give him a reason to worry.” />
  “Not at all.” Laura explained, “But you two haven’t seen each other in two whole weeks.”

  “I miss my honey,” Brynne said around a long sigh.

  “Get used to it. Once the football season starts in earnest, you’re going to spend a lot of time apart.” Anna sighed.

  “Look what poor Kelli and I have to put up with.”

  “There is nothing poor about either one of you lucky ladies, married to two pro-football players. Forget the time apart. Think of all the money. That should keep you warm,” Laura joked.

  “Shut up, Laura,” Vanessa, Maureen, and Trenna said at the same time.

  Brynne added smoothly, “To each his own. But I’d much rather have my man’s muscular arms around me.”

  “Me too,” Kelli and Anna said at the same time, then laughed.

  Vanessa silently agreed. Unfortunately, a special man and romance were nowhere on her horizon. Even if she were lucky enough to meet a man, the odds were, he wouldn’t be interested in a woman with a ready-made family.

  Vanessa had been twenty and her sister Lana only eleven when the twins, Curtis and Courtney were born, and they’d lost their mother from childbirth complications. Since then family had come first with Vanessa. She shouldered the responsibility as best she could. Her dreams of finishing college, designing elegant evening gowns, and owning her own bridal boutique had to wait. If she were lucky, she might be able to squeeze in a class once Lana was in college.

  Her friends believed she had let her personal life go when there was no need. That there were men who wouldn’t object to a ready-made family. Vanessa strongly disagreed. Besides, she didn’t have the inclination or free time to find out if she was wrong.