Get Me Married

Chapter 5: selling out

once more. Those days she looked pale and dead were over and I was happy. What else could a mother like me have demanded for if not for this, what else could I have wanted if not for a happy family. Though we didn’t have the money, but we had life and peace and I could watch my children smile. That was the only thing I could demand of and nothing more. “Mom, you are crying” Ava’s voice pulled me out of my own thoughts, then I realized I had been crying openly and I quickly wiped my tears away. “Is something wrong?’ her sweet voice asked concerned. “No, sweet heart” I said and took her hands in mine. “I am just so happy that you can….” More tears came down my cheeks. “I am happy that you can smile and eat and laugh and be normal…you can be healthy again” I openly cried and kissed the back of her hands. “I’m sorry I had to be so…. Sick” I could see tears clouding her eyes as she spoke. “Shhh. Don’t ever say that, it wasn’t your fault” I cried more and hugged her tightly, unable to express my joy, my relief and happiness. Connor watched me and his daughter have our time before he got up and came to my side of the bed. “You should let her rest now…come on, stop crying now” Connor held my arms and pulled me away from Ava. “Come on, go to sleep now” he said to Ava with a smile on his face. Her eyes held defiant but she washed it immediately before she nodded her head and closed her eyes. Connor and I stood there and watched her like we had never seen her in our life. It was like giving birth all over again. “You both can’t have enough of her I see” a voice said behind us and we both turned to the door to see the lady who had paid the bills. My heart skipped and my husband held me tighter. When Ava was being operated on, our minds were too occupied with the fact that it was our daughter who was in there and we were too concerned for her welfare to even remember that we were indebted to the wife of the former head of state. “You both look like you have seen your deaths” she smiled warmly at us. “I have that effect on people, I won’t bite, I promise” she teased. She was clearly happy at the position she had kept us, not that I was unhappy that she had paid the bills, we had no way of paying those bills and if it wasn’t for her, my daughter would have been long dead or about to die because there was no way we could have raised such an amount. But her deed came with a price, a price we were yet to know. What ever she wanted us to do, scared me. Rich people in the city always took the poor ones like us as puppets and she wasn’t just some rich woman. They were the wealthiest family in the state, everyone, people like us, who were poor preferred to never come in contact with them because of the rumors of their brutality. I felt like I was standing in front of the devil, himself and she had gotten us trapped “Can we talk?” she asked when neither of us gave her a reply. “Yes…uhmmm, the waiting room” my husband suggested and she shook her head. “Let’s talk in my car. This is supposed to be confidential” she said and I looked at my husband nervously. He squeezed my arms tighter in a way of reassuring me that all was going to be fine. “Okay ma’am” he gave her a reply and her smile broadened. She turned around and started walking, her security stood at the side of the door and waited for us to move before they followed behind us. As we walked through the hospital, I could feel the eyes of everyone on us, they were watching, some were murmuring, some whispered, some cleared out of the way, others bowed in greeting and some brought our their various phones and took pictures. I was nervous enough as it seemed but the eyes on us made me feel like they all knew I was dining with the devil, I was more than frightened and tensed. We got to where her car was parked and the guard who was standing at the door opened it for her to step in. She did and urged us to do same. The car could contain her, myself and my husband without any sort of discomfort. We did the same and for a second I was amazed at the interior of the car, there was a t.v and two seat facing each other.  I and Connor sat at the seat facing hers and held each other hands. “Leave the car” she suddenly said and I looked at her confused. But not until I head the front door open then slam shut then I realized she was talking to her driver.  We were left alone with her and my nerves were playing all sorts of tricks on me. “Let’s go straight to the point, shall we?” she asked and we both nodded our head in agreement. She turned to her bag immediately and brought out a news paper, then she handed it to us. Connor took the paper and stared at her, then back to the paper and then her again. We didn’t understand what we were supposed to do with it. “Read” she commanded and my eyes immediately ran to the paper. “WEDDING BELLS RINGS AS JORDAN CHASE, SON OF LIAM CHASE IS SOON TO BE MARRIED” Was the first headline I saw but even as I read through the newspaper, I didn’t see anything that was beyond normal. Connor and I looked up at her with confusion, she still had that smile on her face, it was unwavering. “you still don’t understand?” she asked. “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