Who Gives this Bride? Page 7

  “Look, I know my showing up now is real presumptuous. I’ve been a sorry excuse for a human being. Back then it was nothing for a man to walk away from his family and not look back. Today, it’s different. More men are determined to be in their children’s lives even if they’re not with their baby’s mama, and that’s a good thing. I just hope that Marissa can find it in her heart to forgive me when she finds out the real truth about who I am.”

  Alma looked across at him. He didn’t know Marissa well enough to know that she had already forgiven him the minute he stepped foot in the church. Alma decided right then that if this really was Marissa’s father then she would make nice with him. There was no need for Marissa to have to choose who she wanted to spend a holiday with or have Alma make family gatherings awkward because Marissa had decided that her heart was big enough to love yet another person.

  Alma was the one that didn’t forgive. She had no problem cutting someone off if she felt they didn’t mean her any good or if they didn’t mean her loved ones any good. She had a small circle, but she was fiercely loyal and guarded about who she let in. It had probably started when she was a little girl. Having a father willfully abandon you was enough to test the parameters of anyone’s ability to trust someone.

  “Look, Josiah…I mean Leviticus, if Marissa loves you then I can’t help but accept you too. It’s the least I can do. There’s still the matter of the DNA test. It will take a couple of weeks to come back, but I’m sure it will confirm what you’re telling me.”

  Alma thought she noticed a streak of fear appear on his face, but it was quickly replaced with a coughing spell. The old man coughed until she thought he had literally dislodged a lung. He nodded at her as he excused himself from the table. The lingering coughs trailed him into the restroom.

  Alma waved Flo back over so she could settle up. She looked down at her phone while she waited for Leviticus to return. There were no texts from Marc. She had hoped that he would have cooled off and reached out to her, but nothing. It was apparent that the ball was squarely in her court. She decided that she would try to make contact with him before the day was out. She assumed he was at work today so she planned to wait for him in the parking lot of his office. She wasn’t sure how he would respond. No one liked drama at their workplace, but if he didn’t want to talk she wouldn’t press the issue and she would leave. She was determined not to do anything that could remotely give the appearance of a scene. Marc was on the partner track and she wasn’t going to jeopardize that for him.

  Leviticus came back from the bathroom. His eyes looked watery like he had coughed so hard he had agitated his tear ducts.

  “I’m sorry about that. I have those spells every so often. They’re no fun, but I guess that’s part of the curse of getting old.” He attempted a joke and she smiled politely.

  “Look, I’m sure you’re a delightful old man and my sister will look forward to getting to know you. I will have to excuse myself, but thank you for taking the time to give me some comfort around your surprise appearance at the wedding. Please enjoy the rest of your meal on me. I’ve already paid and included a tip.” Flo circled back around to pick up the envelope with the receipt almost on cue.

  “Well, I hate for you to run out so quickly. I was hoping to find out more about Marissa. I’m afraid I’ve only had snatches of time with her, what with the wedding and all.”

  “Marissa will be back from her honeymoon on Sunday. I know this is a topic of conversation that she would enjoy sharing with you. It was nice meeting you Leviticus.” Alma grabbed her purse and left the café.

  * * * * *

  Marc walked out to his office with a small group of his co-workers. They were especially talkative since there was talk that the company had decided upon their new manager. He tried to appear engaged, but he had been distracted all day by his fight with Alma. He had managed to talk to his father and despite his father’s normally spot on advice, his elder had been unable to come up with any suggestions. Instead he had suggested that the two of them pray about what Marc should do in this situation.

  If anyone knew Marc’s low tolerance for cheating it was his father. Not that either of them had ever expected Alma to be the one that would reach out and reconnect with her emotionally and verbally abusive ex. Even still, Marc’s high school sweetheart had waited until she went away to college to cheat on him. He had planned to propose when they graduated, but that had been when one of his frat brothers on the campus had given him the heads up that she was spending a lot of time with one of the nontraditional students that was taking classes on campus.

  He hadn’t loved anyone else and had been certain that the two of them would have a similar love story to his own parents that had also dated in high school. His ex-girlfriends indiscretions had devastated him. He hadn’t even imagined that she was capable of such a thing. Now he realized that everyone was capable of anything given the right circumstances.

  He had waved bye at the last of his co-workers as he made his way to the distant row his car sat in. He had gotten to work late that day. It was completely uncharacteristic for him, but he had had a long night tossing and turning even after he and his father had spoken.

  It was then that he noticed Alma sitting in the car next to his. She was looking at him and he could tell that she was trying to gauge his response. He honestly wasn’t sure what his response was. He was still upset and he was absolutely certain that he didn’t want to hear any more of her lame excuses.

  She rolled the window down.

  “I’m hoping that you’ll give me the opportunity to give you a proper apology.” She looked remorseful. He looked around the parking lot and saw that everyone else was peeling out of the lot. He nodded at her and she unlocked her car doors. He climbed into the front passenger seat next to her.

  “Look, I really don’t have anything to say,” he started. If nothing else he should be honest. Part of what he had wrestled with the night before was how he would ask for his ring back. He had hinted that their engagement was over, but he knew that asking for the ring would seal up any doubt that she may have had about his intentions.

  “Good, because I’m the one that made the mistake and I should be the one to do all of the talking. I just want you to hear me out.” She paused until he nodded that it was okay for her to continue.

  “So how about we start at the beginning,” she began. She noticed that she was wringing her hands which was something she only did when she was about to embark on an extremely difficult task. “I’m insecure. I know this, but I feel like I still need approval at times, specifically from men. I know you’ve had a challenge trying to understand why I was so bent on getting to the bottom of the Josiah mystery. He’s Leviticus by the way, but we can talk about that later.” She interrupted herself with that tidbit and he shrugged his shoulders. He couldn’t be any more disinterested in Josiah or Leviticus. When he left the relationship he was going to leave all of that drama behind as well.

  “I never told you this before, but I met my father before.” He was trying to appear disinterested, mainly so she wouldn’t get any false hope from the conversation, but this fact stunned him.

  “I thought you didn’t know who he was.”

  “I don’t, but one day when I was maybe five or six, my mom told me that I was going to meet my father. She dressed me up all cute and gave me two fresh ponytails like I was going to church for Easter. She fussed over me so that morning. She made the mistake of telling me that I was going to meet my father that day. Oh you would’ve thought I was a float in the Christmas day parade. I was on cloud nine and so excited. I couldn’t wait until we finally got in the car to go meet him.”

  She paused a second and he noticed that her eyes were tearing up.

  “It seemed like the drive took forever. I kept looking out the window expecting this father to miraculously appear, but my mom kept driving. When she finally stopped we were by this lot that was full of steel beams and construction workers either up top or drivi
ng a truck below or loitering. It was full of men. Here I was with my face all shiny from the cocoa butter my mom had rubbed all over me and my little eyes were darting back and forth at every face that stood out there. Was that him, or that one, or that one,” she wiped at the tear that fell.

  “My mom told me to wait in the car and she would be right back. I watched her go over and talk to some man and he pointed up in the air. My daddy must have been working on one of the higher floors. She looked up, but didn’t come back to the car. Maybe five minutes later and a bell went off. It was like everything shut down and the men all started filing down out of the building and out into the street. There were a couple of food trucks and most of the men were headed toward them. I looked at every dirty face. They all had on hardhats and were dusty. A few of the men smiled at me, a couple of them waved and I smiled back. Like I was a child on audition for her daddy’s love. Every time they gave me their attention it was like my heart would stop and I would wonder if that was the one.”

  He had never heard this story before and by the way the tears were now flowing he was fairly certain she hadn’t shared it with many people, maybe not anyone. She now had his full attention. Watching her cry made him want to reach out and embrace her, but he fought the urge.

  “That’s when I noticed that my mom was talking to a man. It wasn’t until later that I realized that she had dressed up too. She had on this really pretty bright floral dress and it stood out in the middle of all the dust. While she was talking the man just kept shaking his head. She pointed towards the car, towards me and I sat up as straight as I could. I knew that that man was my daddy. I was finally going to meet him. The man she was talking to looked over at the car and didn’t even smile. I remember him holding up both of his hands like he was under arrest and shaking his head no. He walked off from my mom and walked right past the car. He didn’t even glance down.” She began to weep out loud and he couldn’t resist placing a hand on her back and gently rubbing in a circular motion, in a feeble attempt to console her.

  “My face was pressed to the window and it was like I was trying to will him to look at me. I was all dressed up and shiny, didn’t my daddy want me?”

  Marc was silent as she sobbed. He felt his own eyes begin to burn and water up. What kind of jerk could do that? His emotion stemmed from anger that any little girl would have to deal with a horrible situation like that and especially not Alma.

  “Whether or not he wanted you doesn’t determine your worth,” Marc spoke softly.

  “I know this. In my head I know this, but in my heart, I can’t stand rejection. It’s like I cling to relationships, even horrible ones like I had with Luke. Once he broke up with me the last time it just made me so self-conscious. He’s not my kryptonite as in he makes me weak, he was my kryptonite because he left the relationship with all of the power. I guess subconsciously I was hoping that now that I had lost the weight, now that I had a fiancée, now that I felt good about myself again, that I could walk into his office and show him what he missed out on. I promise I didn’t want him, not even a little bit. I just wanted him to want me so I could reject him. It’s stupid I know. I just wanted the power back. To be the one that left him.”

  Marc pulled her into a warm hug. It was a bit awkward with the middle console, but he didn’t care. Her explanation made all the sense in the world and was everything he needed to hear. He had been so worried that she had gone into Luke’s office prancing around hoping he would take her back that his own insecurities about having his woman cheat on him had flared up.

  “I guess we both have our flaws. Thank you for telling me all this. I didn’t realize you had dealt with so much. It helps give some perspective on why you’ve been so insane with this Josia...I mean Leviticus thing. You’re just trying to protect your little sister from the same kind of hurt you suffered.”

  Alma laughed in such a way that the humor didn’t quite reach her eyes.

  “I wish I was so selfless. As long as I’m coming clean then you should know that I was just scared that she would have her father and then three would become a crowd. That I wouldn’t fit into that new family unit. To be perfectly honest, I was hoping that he wasn’t her father. After my dad walked away that day, my mom got back into the car and said that she never found him, but I knew she was lying to protect my feelings. I cried and I cried. My daddy didn't want me. My mom was my family and then my sister. I guess I feel a little threatened that Leviticus could walk in here and take it all away. I also feel a bit jealous because her dad loves her.”

  “Girl, you know Marissa would die for you. There is no way that she would allow some stranger to shut you out, even if he was her dad. Besides, your family is expanding. You have me, my parents and, you may not want them, but my siblings also come with the deal.”

  “Does that mean we’re still engaged?” Alma asked timidly and Marc gave her a reassuring smile.

  “Yes, I still want your crazy behind to be my wife. Let’s just get this straight, ex-boyfriends are a deal breaker for me. There is no room in our relationship for some other man.”

  “Or woman,” Alma added knowing that Marc had his share of ex-girlfriends.

  “Oh that’s not a problem at all. When I end my relationships, I end them. I don’t leave any gaps for people to get confused.” He leaned in to kiss Alma and she leaned in to meet him.

  “Let’s go get something to eat.”

  “I was hoping you were hungry too. You are my kind of woman. Let me drive. We can take my car.” Marc opened his door and climbed out before Alma could object. He was glad they had smoothed everything over. He had almost shared what Josiah told him the morning of Marissa’s wedding, but since he was now Leviticus Marc wasn’t sure whether what he had told him was even true or not. He and Alma had covered a lot of ground today so he decided that it would be better to let that reveal itself in due time. And it was bound to come out soon enough.

  * * * * *

  Alma climbed into Marc’s car grateful that he had given her an opportunity to explain. She knew getting Luke’s help on Leviticus’ background was no longer an option. She would just start to google his name and see if she got any hits. If he was telling the truth then she should find him in a criminal database of some kind. She would figure it out or she would just find another attorney. Attorneys were a dime a dozen these days. Besides, Alma was starting to think that if Marissa wasn’t interested in knowing every iota of information, then maybe she should just let it go.

  She decided that she would wait until their food arrived before she asked Marc to explain what he had meant last night about Justin rubbing pregnant bellies.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Alma had volunteered to pick Marissa and Justin up from the airport. It was Sunday afternoon and Alma had dreaded this day ever since she and Marc had discussed it over dinner Tuesday evening. She knew she had to tell her sister, but was determined not to call her on her honeymoon.

  Now that they were back she just needed to figure out a way to get her away from Justin for a couple of hours. She had decided to play the needy sister and begged Marissa for just a bit of time together. Justin had agreed to relinquish his bride and watching Justin and Marissa engage in a passionate kiss had turned her stomach at the thought of what she had to do.

  “So what on earth has you so anxious to talk to me?” Marissa didn’t waste any time cutting to the chase once they dropped Justin off at the apartment.

  “I just wanted to spend some time with you.” Alma lied wanting to stall until she could at least pull out of the complex.

  “Yeah right, girl I know you better than I know anyone and you’ve got something to say. So spit it out.”

  Alma looked over and caught Marissa’s face twisted in her no nonsense look.

  “Okay, at least let me find a place to pull over,” she drove a bit further. She had planned to drive to one of the city parks nearby since she didn’t expect a lot of foot traffic due to the light rain that was sprinkling across her w
indshield.

  “Alma, tell me,” Marissa stomped her foot on the floor board, clearly getting anxious.

  “Okay, okay,” Alma pulled into the empty parking lot of the gas station she saw knowing that Marissa was not going to wait another second.

  She parked the car and turned in her seat to see Marissa sitting crossed arm and staring at her.

  “Alright, this isn’t easy and I didn’t want this to be true, but after I spoke with Marc I knew that I had to tell you. Whatever you decide to do once you know is up to you and I will support you, but you should at least know.”

  “Know what Alma?”

  It was clear that Marissa didn’t want any small talk and Alma was pretty sure that there wasn’t a way to ease into this topic. She decided to just come clean.

  “Marc went out to eat at this restaurant and he saw Justin eating with some girl. Not a big issue since Justin is in sales and this could have been one of his clients.” Alma felt her stomach tighten as she watched Marissa’s expressions. Marissa’s eyes were wide in expectation of the worst.

  “But when they got up to leave Marc noticed that the girl was pregnant and Justin rubbed her belly and kissed her hand…” Alma let her voice trail off so Marissa could digest the information.

  Marissa threw her head back in and let out a deep sigh.

  “Wow,” she exclaimed. Alma found it difficult to read her expression. She had wanted a quiet location for privacy in case Marissa had cried or been angry and needed to vent.

  “Not at all what I expected,” Marissa stated.

  “Are you okay Mimi?” Alma asked, not certain that she was.

  “I am, oh yes, I am, I’m so sorry. I thought you were going to tell me something else and my heart stopped, but no, the baby, yes, I know about the baby.” Marissa reached her hand out and placed it on Alma’s as if to comfort her.

  “You know about the baby?” Now Alma was the confused one.