Get Me Married

Chapter 5: selling out

“yes…” my nerves allowed me to speak. “My son will be getting married soon” she repeated the first headline I read and my confusion grew. “Well, congratulations ma’am” my husband chipped in. She smiled and stared at us again, this time more intensely. “I picked a bride two days ago” she started. “ She is Indeed beautiful, she actually doesn’t know yet” she added and something in me snapped at the thought that started flooding in. “Genesis Connor is his bride” she said with all seriousness. At the mention of that name, it felt like I couldn’t breath anymore, the car became too hot for me and I started fanning myself with the news paper. I didn’t need a seer anymore, I could see through her statement, she helped a life in exchange of another. She helped us pay the pill in exchange for my daughter. My eyes burned with tears as they freely flooded my eyes. Being poor was a curse. “Ma’am, you can’t do this. She is our first child, she just graduated, we can’t just push her off to marry your son” Connor protested bitterly. “Oh but you can, you must infact. That’s the price you have to pay for your other daughter’s hospital bills” she grinned at us. He went quiet while I sobbed, my heart was heavy and there was so much burden in it, it sealed my lips. “There has to be something else we can do, we can’t sell her off like that” Connor said. “The marriage preparation has already started dear Connor. I want your daughter for my son and it has to be soon” she replied firmly and Connor went quiet again. “Why are you acting like it’s a bad thing. This is an opportunity any parent would grab with open arms” she said and my eyes shot up at her. “She is a graduate and a beautiful one at that. She doesn’t have to go looking for a job like the others, she doesn’t have to struggle anymore because a bed of roses has already been set up for her” she added and turned to me. “Getting her through college must have been hard, if not impossible. Your daughter must have gone through so much, do you still want her to be striving and fighting for a better life when one has been presented to her already” she said, a mother to a mother. And yes I didn’t want her fighting for everything she had to have, I wanted her to be happy and fulfilled. Any mother in my situation would want what was better for her child. “We are rich, filthy rich Mrs Connor. She will be getting married to the richest family in the state, she will have everything, money, fame, happiness and a handsome husband by her side, every girl’s dream. And you my dear would no longer be poor, Genesis your daughter is a gem and with her around, with her as my daughter in-law you will rewarded beyond your imagination” she added. I stopped crying and stole a glance at Connor who seemed to understand where my feelings were going to. “Abigail no…” he whispered to me. “Oh Connor. This is a place any girl would want to be, every body would jump at this opportunity” she said to my husband. “I am not selling her out” he said angrily. “Don’t see it that way. Genesis deserves better, Ava deserves a better life and you know it. With Genesis as my son’s wife, your lives will change for the better, Ava will have a better life and future, you both would no longer be poor and Genesis will be the envy of every other girl” she said and my husband’s shoulder slumped in defeat. He knew that part of what she said was true, no one in the city would pass up such an opportunity, he knew it was a life changing opportunity for us, for Ava and for Genesis as well. “Tick tock, I don’t have much time on my hands. This marriage needs to take place in less than two weeks, so think fast. It ain’t like you have got an option, this is the only way you can pay me back” she said wickedly and I sighed in defeat. “Genesis will never agree to this you know” Connor said in defeat and a smile spread around her face in victory. “She wouldn’t I guess” I mumbled. My daughter was hot headed, she was a girl that preferred to make her own part, she was strong and even with a background like hers, she fought to be different and to change our lives. Which she was supposed to do after graduation, I could already feel the fire she was going to get loose on us if she found out we sold her out. “But it’s for her good” I said to Connor, trying to convince myself that I wasn’t a bad mother who was about to make a grave mistake. “I guess so, who wouldn’t want to be a chase?” he asked me. “I guess that’s a yes then” she clapped her hands with excitement. “Yes ma’am” we accepted her offer. “It’s Leona, call me Leona” she said. At the hospital room, my heart was still filled with anxiety. “Did we make the right choice? Was I a bad mother? How could I sell my daughter out? Will she hate me? What will be her reaction?” thoughts like this and more kept running back to me. GENESIS “Can I leave now, I am so tired of being here” I nagged for the one hundred and one time. Tiana rolled her eyes at me. “Well yes…the doctor said you can leave” Nate replied and I immediately jumped up from the bed. I hated hospitals, they knew I hated hospitals and drugs and injection. I was surprised I didn’t die from being locked up in there for days. “Finally, this place reeks” I said and went to the bathroom to get changed “This is how a hospital is supposed to smell” Tiffany replied me. “Well I hate it” I came out of the bathroom with a change of shirt and a nose mask around my nose. It was supposed to help ward off the unpleasant hospital smell. The guys looked at me and rolled their eyes before packing up. They had all been by my side when I was sick, bringing in food and more food and clothes and magazines and anything that would make me to stop whining about leaving the hospital when I hadn’t been discharged. “Guys come on, let’s go” I nagged when I felt they were taking too long to pack up. “I swear I will punch your nose if I hear one more word from you” Tiana threatened and I immediately shut it, Tiffany and Nate smirked at me and I sat down while they did their thing. I didn’t want to push anyone’s button, they were my caretaker for days, it was the least I could do. Just when they finished and picked up our bags, Tiffany shrieked and my heart skipped, I literally went into panic mood. “What….what?” Tiana ran to her and so did I with my hands to my chest. “Jordan Chase….” She shrieked again making things worse for me. I pulled the news paper she held from her hands and slapped it on her face. “What?” I yelled and pulled the nose mask away from my nose so I could breath before I sat down on the bed in attempts to calm the way I was breathing. Nate immediately sat down close to me and rubbed my back in gentle strides so I could calm down. “Opps, sorry” she apologized to me. “Are you okay?” Tiana asked and I nodded my head. There was no way I wasn’t going to be okay, they would literally keep me in that hospital for another one week and I didn’t want that. After taking deep breaths, I felt better and then I turned to Tiffany with questioning eyes. Her eyes glowed and I could tell she would have shrieked again, but she couldn’t  so she clapped her hands and took the news paper away from me. She spread it apart and pointed to a particular place while we went through it. “WEDDING BELLS RINGS AS JORDAN CHASE, SON OF LIAM CHASE IS SOON TO BE MARRIED” was the headline. Nate rolled his eyes at Tiffany and walked away when he realized it was a girl’s thing. “Oh no…he is getting married” Tiana cried. She had a huge crush on Jordan and had hoped they would meet and get married. I smirked mockingly. “You both are nuts” I simply said and picked up my phone. “Uhmmmm, durrr……this is Jordan Chase we are talking about” Tiana fired at me. I rolled my eyes and headed to the door, it was time for me to go home to my parents “The girlfriend is so lucky” “ who knew he had a girl friend” I could hear them mumbling. They were such children, having crushes on a guy that would never see them or even know about their existence. I picked up my bag and thought of going home straight to my parents, I needed to see them and Ava. But My phone rang and interrupted my thoughts, I checked the caller ID, it was my father. Just the person I was thinking of. “Dad…”. I picked up the phone excitedly. “Pumpkin…your voice is what I need right now, it’s soothes my troubled soul so much” he said and my cheeks turned red. He was a poet and was always making one literally remark about me. “Oh…don’t start dad……”