REDEMPTION

TWO

Why do I settle for women that
force me to pick up the pieces?
_______

Five Years Later

Baby never wanted to date a drug dealer. She never planned for that to be her life. But when she met Rihmeek Jones, something inside of her told her that he was the one for her. He said all the right things. Did the right things. He was someone she immediately fell for because he felt so familiar to her. And when Rihmeek asked her to be his wife, she said yes without a second thought. She spent her entire senior year of college, planning a wedding in between taking finals and preparing for her life as an elementary school teacher. Every girl daydreamed about the day they would marry the man of their dreams, and Baby was no different. She just hadn't thought that her moment would come so soon.

As she stood in front of the floor-length mirror in her bridal suite and looked at her reflection, tears came to her eyes. Never in life had she seen herself look so beautiful. On the outside, she appeared to be the perfect bride, the visual definition of a virtuous woman who was ready to marry her king, but on the inside, her gut was twisting up into knots.

"I can't get over how gorgeous you are," her mother said before planting a soft kiss on her cheek, careful not to mess up her makeup. "You're a dream."

Baby smiled bashfully before taking a deep breath. When she looked up, she met her mother's eyes and saw them flicker with concern.

"Are you okay?" she asked, and Baby swallowed the small lump that had formed in her throat before forcing herself to nod. She didn't want to tell her mother that she was beginning to have second thoughts about this day.

Am I making a mistake? she wondered. Even though she felt like it was love, there was so much they hadn't discussed about their life together. Did she really know enough about him to marry him?

"Just nervous jitters. And I wish daddy was here." She admitted the last part quietly and then regretted it when she saw tears in the corners of her mother's eyes.

"I wish he was, too."

She kissed Baby's cheek once more just as Lauren entered the room along with Baby's two older sisters.

"It's time!" Lauren chirped with a huge smile on her face. "Are you ready to marry the man of your dreams?"

"He looks really good out there," Baby's older sister Reign added. "And the décor is beautiful. I don't know how much you all spent on this, but it's perfect, and I'm so happy for you."

"So am I," Kiah, Baby's oldest sister and maid of honor, added. "You're ready to become a missus?"

Baby hesitated, and before she could respond to her sister's question, her wedding coordinator, Rachel, was the next person to burst in the room with an anxious expression on her face.

"Okay! It's time to get going or we are going to be late. Everyone ready?"

Nodding her head, Baby took another deep breath. Her mother grabbed her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. Though the embrace was appreciated, it did nothing to calm her nerves. Something wasn't right. She didn't know what, but she could feel it just as real as she felt the hand she was holding. There was no way she could go forth with this. She loved Rihmeek, but there was no way she could marry him.

God, please get me out of this.

"Lauren, can I speak to you for a second, alone?"

Rachel whipped her neck around so fast that it was a wonder she didn't get whiplash.