Fatima has lived in her head since the night of Zac's bachelor party and after another talk with her mother on the way to his office, she knew she had given her mind too much power.
Zac closed his eyes, lifting the back of her hand to his lips. "I want to start by apologizing. Hurting you was the very last of my intentions. Jeopardizing you and Junree wouldn't be worth it anything in the earth..which is why I made the decision to put myself on the line. Should I have said something to you? Yes. I should have but I didn't and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you one thing and done another. I was out of line" he said, looking into her eyes. Fatima nodded, trying her best not to get caught up without talking first. "I'm sorry Fatima. From the bottom of my heart" He took her hand and placed it firmly on his chest.
"Zac, I appreciate your apology I truly do", she took a pause, mentally debating if she was ready for this conversation "I need to talk to you about something", she confessed
Zac sharply exhaled. Doing his best not to think the worse, he kept his composure. "Whatever is it we can talk about it because theres nothing we can't work through. You're still gonna be my wife. Whether we get married this weekend or we don't"
Fatima's eyes turned dreamy as held on to his every word. "All I want to do is marry you Zac. Was I upset? You damn right but was it enough to make the decision of not marrying you? Absolutely not" she attempted to look away but Zac caught her chin before she could settle
"Don't do that. I'm working on this communication thing and I think we both can benefit from it" he politely pointed out.
"Do you think I have abandonment issues?" Fatima abruptly asked him.
"What?" Zac questioned after feeling thrown off. "What do you mean?"
Fatima inhaled a deep breath, slowing exhaling as she relexed against Zac's body. His face frowned up a little, catching the vibe whatever she wanted to discussed been bothering her for a while.
"Mom and Dad aren't my biological parents"
Zac held the same concerned expression as he held her tighter. "What?"
"I found out I was adopted after we moved to Georgia. I overheard mom talking to my auntie on the phone one night but I went years without saying anything to anybody..you didn't even know" she regretted to say, "They put the pieces together after mom noticed the change in my behavior. I would act shut off and bottled up when at home but everywhere else I was fine. Truth was I hated being there with people I felt like lied to me my whole life...at the time. Eventually they told me but I wanted to know why they would lie and for so long and as for my actual mother and father, why wasn't I worth keeping and raising? If their lifestyle wasn't fit for a child, why not love me enough to want to change? For the first time in my life, I knew what I was to feel abandoned. Even though I never truly was"
Her eyes met Zac's and he softly caressed her face, "I started therapy the day after my 16th birthday..the same week you—
"Took your virginity", Zac eyed her, never forgetting a detail of that day. She broke into a half smile, knowing the reason he looked at her the way he did.
"That session was the first of the worse. That's when shit started to get rough at home but you never knew that"
"Nope. Never" Zac roughly said, becoming upset she never said anything but they were younger. They were dumber.
"I called you over after they left to see my grandma for the weekend. I had a new attitude
with the walk to match when they came back home. Mom knew immediately"
"She did and couldn't wait to call Diana Taylor" he shook his head, "I've never been cursed out so bad in my life" they shared a laugh.
"When we moved after Dad's job expansion, it got worse. I was in sessions twice a week before I was 18 and eventually I learned how to hide it enough to cope. It seemed like everything pissed me off. My mouth was slick, my attitude was awful..until I spent a Summer in Philly with my grandma..You have to meet her babe. She's gonna to love you"
