Becoming Mrs. Right

by Sherri L. Lewis

  “But what?”

  “He wants to spend the weekend. I think we’re finally gonna, you know, do it.” Candy let out a giggle.

  “You really gone over him, huh?”

  Candy smiled. “Yeah. I think I love him.”

  “Wow, that’s serious. And y’all ain’t never had sex?”

  “This weekend will be the first time. Which means . . . you think you can go back to Sherice’s this weekend? I ain’t trying to throw you out, but I don’t think it would be cool for you to be here if we . . .”

  “Yeah, no, that wouldn’t be cool at all.”

  “And we can’t go to his house because his two teenage sons live with him.”

  “Yeah, I feel you, girl. Okay. Let me see what I’m gon’ do.” Shauntae knew Sherice wasn’t letting her stay at her house as long as there was a warrant. There wasn’t nowhere else she could go. She started feeling that desperate, fifty-nine-dollar feeling again. The last couple of days at Candy’s had kinda made her forget her situation. There was plenty of food and she was happy hanging out with her girl, cooking, and being on the Internet.

  The reality of her situation was she didn’t have no money, she didn’t have no car, and she didn’t have no place to live. Maybe it was time to go back to Gary’s. But Sherice had told her to hold out until he broke.

  “Anyway, it’s not ’til tomorrow night. We get to cook all day today again. Bobby’s coming in a little while to take me to the grocery store. Anything special you want to cook?”

  Shauntae’s excitement was lower than it had been the last couple of days. “Whatever you want to cook is fine with me.”

  They ate in silence for a few minutes and then Candy asked, “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Sure. What?”

  Candy’s face turned red and she pushed the strawberries on her plate around.

  “What, Candy?”

  “How you learn how to have sex real good? Like is it something special you do to make them enjoy being with you? What if Bobby don’t like being with me?” Candy looked like she was about to cry. “What if I can’t do it right?”

  Shauntae put down her fork. “Girl, please. Don’t be worried about that. You gon’ be fine. Ain’t no sex tips I need to give you.”

  “But you and Sherice always talking about how the better you are in bed, the longer you can keep a man.”

  “That’s different. It’s one thing when you having sex just to be having sex. It’s another thing when you actually making love with somebody.” Shauntae thought of the look on Gary’s face the last time they had been together. “Bobby loves you. I can see it in his eyes. Y’all ain’t gon’ be having some sex for fun. Y’all gon’ be making love. And because he love you, it’s gonna be good no matter what.”

  “You think so?”

  “I know so.”

  “How you know about sex being different when you in love? You in love with Gary?”

  Shauntae shrugged. “I’m still trying to figure out this love stuff. I don’t think you can love somebody if you can’t really be real with them.”

  “So what you gon’ do?”

  “Girl, I don’t know.”

  Shauntae took a nap until Candy came back from the grocery store and then they spent the whole rest of the day cooking. In the evening, Shauntae helped Candy get dressed and made up for her date with Bobby.

  After Candy left, Shauntae settled onto the couch with the laptop and started watching videos. She watched mom videos for a few hours and then the mom videos led her to healthy relationship/good marriage videos. She watched for an hour and then switched back to cooking videos.

  She couldn’t stand watching, knowing that everything she was doing was wrong. All the secrets and lies, pretending to be something she wasn’t, acting a certain way to get Gary to do what she wanted was all wrong. She didn’t want that sicky feeling in her stomach to come back, so it was easier to watch “Ten Different Ways to Make Slammin’ Chicken.”

  She had ignored Gary’s phone calls the whole day, at first because she was cooking, then because she was watching videos. And now because she was afraid if she talked to him, she might tell him the truth about everything.

  The next morning, she woke up late after watching cooking videos all night. She had barely sat up when the phone rang.

  She answered the phone, “Good morning, Gary.”

  “You didn’t call me back like you said yesterday and you didn’t answer my calls.”

  “I was taking care of important things for me and the baby’s future.”

  “Shauntae, you don’t have to do that anymore.”

  “Why are we having the same conversation every day? I keep telling you—”

  “Wait, please listen. When I took the girls to Darla’s rehab yesterday, we all sat down and talked. I told them Darla and I wouldn’t be getting remarried and that I was going to marry you. I told them I knew they were upset about it, but it was my decision. The girls cried and Darla wasn’t happy, but I put my foot down.”

  Shauntae didn’t say anything.

  “Now will you come home, baby?”

  Shauntae felt bad. What if this man was supposed to get back with his family, but because of her games and lies, she had broken it all up? “I wish you hadn’t done that. What if God was answering your prayers by putting your family back together?”

  “You’re my family, Shauntae. You and the baby. Me and Darla tried. We failed. Even if you don’t come home, I’m not willing to try with her again.”

  “But what if we fail? What if I can’t be the wife and mother you want me to be?”

  “We can do this, baby. Let’s give it a chance. Come home.”

  Shauntae bit her bottom lip. “I’ll think about it and I’ll call you tonight. I promise.”

  “Shauntae, please.”

  “I’ll call you. I promise.” Shauntae hung up.

  She should have been real happy right now. He had broke like Sherice said he would. In time for her not to be homeless for the weekend.

  She picked up the phone again and dialed.

  Even though it was almost ten, Sherice sounded like she was still asleep. “What, heffa?”

  “Can you come get me today? I’m ready to go back home.”

  Twenty-nine

  Sherice got to Candy’s house almost three hours later. As soon as she got there, Shauntae rushed her and Candy to the car with her bags and then they all piled in to take her home. Shauntae wanted to be dropped off before Gary got home from work. She couldn’t chance him meeting the girls or seeing Sherice’s car.

  The whole way there, Sherice talked about how her brilliant plan had broke Gary down and how Shauntae needed to remember that when she got her credit card. Shauntae’s nerves was aggravated by the time they got to Sandy Springs.

  When they got to the house, Sherice and Candy took her bags inside and then Shauntae led them to the front door so they would go on home.

  Candy gave her a hug. “I’m glad you came and stayed with me. It was fun.”

  “Yeah, girl. Thanks for everything. Now I’ma be cooking for my man.”

  “Yeah, in that gourmet kitchen. I should come visit you so we can cook here.”

  “That would be cool. And I’ll come visit you too. Keep doing all the stuff you doing. I’m real proud of you.”

  Candy hugged her again. “You gon’ be all right?”

  “I’ma figure something out. If not, you gon’ keep my room ready, right?”

  Sherice stared at the both of them. “Wassup wit’ y’all? Acting like Celie and Nettie from The Color Purple.” She clapped her hands together and sang, “‘You and me, us never part, makidada.’”

  Shauntae and Candy laughed. “Shut up, Sherice. Why you gotta always be so crazy?” Candy said.

  Sherice had her own parting words. “You got this, Shauntae. Keep doing what you doing. You’ll be married with a car and a credit card in no time. Remember, I want to be the first one you take for a spin in the new Lex or Mercede
s.”

  “You know I’ll be there. First stop, Candler Road.”

  “A’ight den. We out.” Sherice marched herself to the car. Candy gave Shauntae one more hug and left.

  When she went into the house, Shauntae instantly felt the difference. She was back in the high life again. She left her suitcases in the foyer for Gary to take upstairs when he got home.

  She wandered around the house, trying to figure out what to do with herself. She wasn’t sleepy and didn’t feel like watching television. She ended up in the kitchen, looking in the refrigerator and pantry to see what she could cook.

  It looked like Gary had gone and gotten groceries while she was gone. She found some chicken breasts and fresh vegetables. She found some asparagus and decided she wanted to try to cook it. She went into Gary’s office and got on his computer. After browsing a couple of YouTube videos, she decided to roast it and the other vegetables with olive oil and herbs.

  For the next few hours, she went back and forth between the kitchen and the computer. She called Candy a few times when she didn’t have an ingredient and Candy helped her pick out a good substitute of something she did have.

  The whole time she was cooking, Shauntae was thinking about the stuff she had seen on the relationship videos. Thinking about how Gary wanted a good family and that they couldn’t have one if it was based on lies. Thinking about the way Bobby looked at Candy and how she wanted Gary to look at her like that because she was real and not a pretender.

  She decided she was gon’ tell him everything. She would feed him a gourmet meal and then they would sit on the couch in the family room and she would tell him the whole truth. She’d leave her bags packed in the foyer, and if he wanted her to leave, she’d call Sherice to come get her. She’d persuade Sherice to let her stay for the weekend and then she’d go back to Candy’s house. She’d figure out the rest from there.

  She tried to find a YouTube video to help her, but what was she gon’ put in the search engine? I lied to my baby daddy about not having children but I really have a child who I lost because I almost killed her and if I go near her I’ll get arrested? That was one thing YouTube wasn’t gon’ be able to tell her how to do.

  After the meal was ready, Shauntae picked up the phone to call Gary. When he answered, she said, “Baby, I wanted to let you know. I’m home.”

  Thirty

  It wasn’t even an hour before Shauntae heard the chime on the garage door. She had gone upstairs and changed out of her cooking clothes into a black knit dress. Most of her jeans didn’t fit anymore.

  “Shauntae, I’m home.” Gary’s thick bass boomed from downstairs.

  Shauntae hadn’t expected to feel that shivery feeling when she heard his voice. She smoothed her hair down and walked down the steps. Before she got to the bottom, she was in Gary’s arms. She had forgotten how it felt when he completely swallowed her up in manliness.

  “Baby, you’re home.” Gary kissed her until she had to make him stop. “What’s wrong?” He looked worried.

  “Nothing. Just—”

  He kissed her again. And again and again until next thing she knew, he had scooped her up and carried her upstairs to his bed. He kept telling her how much he loved her and how much he missed her and how happy he was she was home.

  He kept talking and kissing her until Shauntae felt like she was drinking strong wine too fast on a empty stomach. All her plans about telling him the truth got cloudier and cloudier, like her brain got when she drank too much wine. By the time they finished making love, the thoughts was completely gone.

  All she could think of was the look in Gary’s eyes when he looked at her. The sound of his voice when he said he loved her. The smells of his sweat and cologne mixed together in a sexy blend. How comfortable the bed was in this big, glorious house that could be hers, all hers, if she kept doing what she was doing.

  “Baby, I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself. I was so happy for you to be home. And besides, we’re getting married. First thing Monday morning. It would have been first thing tomorrow if it weren’t Saturday.” He leaned down to kiss her belly. “Is the baby okay? I wasn’t even thinking. You feel okay?”

  “I’m fine and the baby is fine.” First thing Monday morning they were getting married? She should feel excited. Instead she felt confused.

  Gary sat up in bed and sniffed. “What is that smell? Something smells really good.”

  “I made dinner.”

  “You cooked?”

  “Yeah, why you say it like that?”

  “I didn’t realize you could cook. You hadn’t since you been here so I figured . . .”

  “Like I said, there’s a lot you don’t know about me.” The sex afterglow was wearing off and Shauntae was ready to confess again. She wanted to have all her cards on the table before they said “I do.”

  She sat up on the side of the bed. “Gary, we should talk.”

  Gary kissed her on the neck. “I know. We will. But not now. For now, I want to enjoy you. And I’m hungry.” He got up from the bed and walked into his closet to change clothes. “What did you cook?” he called out.

  “Roasted chicken, roasted vegetables, and candied, smashed sweet potatoes. I made strawberry shortcake for dessert. There’s no whipped cream, though.”

  He came out of the closet looking surprised. “You cooked all that?”

  Shauntae smiled and nodded.

  “Well, let’s eat then.”

  Shauntae went into her bathroom to take a splash bath and put her dress back on. When she got to the kitchen, Gary had one plate in the microwave and the other steaming on the kitchen counter. She sat down at the table and he brought both plates over. “I had no idea you could cook like this.”

  He gave her a big smile. “I’m looking forward to getting to know everything about you. I finished my deal and I’m gonna take a few days off. We can get married on Monday and then go anywhere you want. We could drive down to the Sea Islands for a little honeymoon, except it might be too cold. We could go up to the mountains or head over to Asheville. Anywhere you want to go. Somewhere quiet and relaxed where we can talk.”

  “What about the girls?”

  “I’ve already talked to them. They know Daddy is gonna be out of town for a few days.”

  “We should talk before we go. Before we get married. That way you can be sure about us. About me.”

  “I’ve told you. I’m already sure. There’s nothing you can say that would make me stop loving you.”

  “That’s because you don’t know what I’m going to say. I’m trying to tell you—”

  Gary leaned over and stopped her words with a kiss. “Baby, please, not tonight. This has been a hard week. I haven’t slept the whole time, worrying about you and the baby. It was a push to get the business deal through, and then the talk at the hospital with Darla and the girls was hard. Please, honey. Can we just be together tonight? I promise tomorrow I’ll listen to whatever it is that you have to say that you think is so bad. Tonight, let’s just love each other.”

  Shauntae let out a deep breath. “Okay.”

  He kissed her on the nose and went back to eating. “This food is so good. I can’t believe my baby can cook like this. Beautiful, a good, loving, sweet, Christian woman, and can cook. I hit the jackpot.”

  It was more than Shauntae could take. She got up.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Gotta go to the bathroom. The baby is getting bigger and I’m going more often.”

  She sat on the toilet seat for a while with her head in her hands. Here she was, finally trying to do right, and he wouldn’t let her. And she was going back and forth between whether she wanted to. Maybe Gary was right. She should enjoy the evening, the whole weekend. She would have a good time until Monday morning before it was time to go to the justice of the peace.

  Then she would tell him everything.

  Thirty-one

  If Gary’s loving made Shauntae feel like she was drinking wine, then the next two
days was like smoking crack. When Gary said he planned to “make it up to her,” he meant it. He woke up late, so he took her out to brunch at a fancy restaurant not too far from the house. Shauntae looked at all the dishes on the menu and wrote some down so she could look them up on YouTube.

  When he saw how excited she was about cooking some of the dishes, he took her to the grocery store and told her to get whatever she wanted. She called Candy four times asking for advice on what to buy until Candy finally stayed on the phone with her until she finished shopping.

  After they brought the groceries home, Gary took her shopping for some new clothes. They went to a fancy maternity shop at the mall—Perimeter Mall, nothing like the ghettofabulous South Dekalb Mall. Shauntae tried on a whole bunch of outfits. They had so much cute stuff, she couldn’t decide what to get. Gary told her not to decide and pulled out his credit card and paid for all of it.

  After that, they browsed in a baby shop for more than an hour. They picked out some things, but decided to come back and buy them when they knew the baby’s sex.

  After all the shopping, he took her to another fancy restaurant for dinner. On the way home, he turned into a Toyota dealership. He leaned over and kissed her on the nose, “What’s your favorite color, baby?”

  Shauntae was so shocked, she could barely talk. “I don’t even know.”

  About an hour later, she was driving off the lot in her new vehicle. She could imagine the ragging she would get when she pulled up at Sherice’s house in a minivan. Gary had said it was best because to squeeze the girls and a car seat in the back of a regular car wouldn’t work. And, it would be great for when they had the next baby.

  Shauntae was too happy to care what Sherice would think. She had never had a new vehicle in her whole life. That new-car smell had her high as a kite.

  When they got home, Shauntae started to take her new clothes to the guest room, but Gary stopped her. “Why don’t you hang them in your closet in our bedroom, honey? Then you won’t have to move them later.”

  When she came out the closet, Gary said, “We’ll have to get you a new dresser, too. Want to go furniture shopping tomorrow? I’m thinking there might be other new stuff you want to get to make this your home. This is all stuff me and Darla bought together and I thought you might want to make some changes.”