Page 7 of Pieces of Us

Morgan

T he Past

It had been three years since Nehemiah and I started dating, and every day, I fell more and more in love with him. He was such a gentleman and nothing like what my father said he was when I introduced him last year.

Going against my father was a first for me.

I had never been so bold as to disobey his orders, but Nehemiah made me feel as if my life should be celebrated.

Before, all I’d ever done was go to school, run track, go to church, and stay at home.

I didn’t have friends until I met Nehemiah’s sister Chelsea.

Other than that, it was just me and Drue.

Five minutes later, a clean, dark blue, 1976 Cordoba pulled up the block bumping Jodeci. I instantly knew who it was because Jodeci was my Hemi’s favorite group. I smiled as I stood and headed toward him. He got out, came around to the passenger side, and opened the door for me.

“What’s up, Mo Boogie?”

I smiled. “Hey, booby. This car is so clean. Where’d you get it?”

“Thank you, baby. Pops just bought it for me as an early grad gift. You like it?”

“I love it!” I replied, grinning as I hopped in the car.

Nehemiah leaned inside, kissing my lips as I blushed. He closed the door, got in the driver’s seat, and pulled off.

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“I like surprises.” I beamed.

“I know you do, and I love surprising you.”

He interlocked his fingers with mine and kissed my hand.

Any time he touched me, I felt my heart swell and saw my future with him.

My father would never understand what my young heart felt for Nehemiah because he didn’t want to get to know him.

He saw him with the fly gear, fresh kicks, hood swagger, and automatically deemed him unworthy.

What he didn’t know was that Nehemiah prayed with me every day.

He didn’t care if we were between classes, at lunch, or before a game.

He made sure to find me every time at the same time to pray with me, and I loved that about him. If only my father understood.

We ended up at the fair where we met up with his sisters, Lawrence, and Kevin, another one of his friends.

I smiled so much that my freaking cheeks hurt.

We played games, rode the rides, ate elephant ears, and cotton candy.

By the time we left, it was almost 8:30 p.m. I wanted to stay until at least 9:30, but Nehemiah wanted to spend our last hour and a half alone.

Since we were already Downtown, he drove us to the water, and we sat on the hood of his car with me between his legs with his arms wrapped securely around me.

“I never knew you liked old school cars,” I told him.

“I’m an old soul. I love old school cars, old school music, and old antiques. My moms used to love old things. She said old things could bring good fortune in the future.”

“I believe that too.”

“Yeah. I got something for you.”

“Babe, you do enough for me. All I care about is having you. You’re the best gift a girl can have.”

“Well, this is what having me is like. I’m going to keep spoiling you for the rest of our lives.”

I smiled as he helped me off the car, reached inside of his pocket, and presented a suede, square box. When he opened it, my eyes misted. The pink princess cut diamond ring sparkled under the moonlight.

“Hemi…it’s beautiful.”

“It is, but it doesn’t have nothing on what’s standing in front of me right now.”

He slipped it out of the box and placed it on my finger. It was a size too big, but it was still beautiful.

“It’s a promise ring…a promise that I’ll always be here for you, that I’ll always take care of you, and that one day this will be replaced with a wedding ring. I love you, Mo Boogie. You’ve made my life feel complete since losing my moms. You give me comfort and peace when I’m with you.

“And although I hate that you have to sneak around with me, I know you do it because you genuinely want to be with me too. That day is going to come when we can be exclusive, and I’m going to tell everybody who got ears that Morgan Prescott is mine for fucking ever, even your ugly ass daddy.”

I laughed through my tears as we shared a kiss.

“I love you so much, booby. There’s no one alive that can ever take your place. Not even my ugly ass daddy.”

We laughed as he leaned inside the car, turning the music up. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Jodeci. This time, it was L.T.D’s “Love Ballad,” and it was the perfect soundtrack to our love story.

Nehemiah held his palm out to me. “May I have this dance, future Mrs. Newson?”

I accepted it and smiled. “Yes, you may.”

Present

“Hey, Mommy. It smells good in here,” I said, walking into the kitchen where she stood over the stove.

“Good morning, baby girl. I didn’t expect to see you this morning,” she replied, turning her head to kiss my cheek once I made it to her.

“Yeah…I’m in need of some advice about some things. You’re the only one I know who can give it to me with some good feedback.”

“Is it serious?”

“Eh…mildly serious.”

“Well, let me turn this stove off and grab us some punch.” She giggled as she moved to the refrigerator, taking out some punch.

“Where’s your husband?” I asked.

“Down at the church to meet with the youth pastor.”

“Oh, good. Because this partially has something to do with him.”

“Oh, Lord.” My mother shook her head, poured us some punch, then sat down at the table across from me. “Go on, baby.”

“Okay…I think Justin is cheating on me. I can’t prove anything yet, but that’s only because I haven’t started my investigation yet.”

“Why do you think he’s cheating?”

“Because he’s been moving shaky these past few weeks.

I mean, I totally get that he’s a highly sought after sports attorney, but it’s like I rarely see him anymore.

Then there’s the late-night phone calls.

I get the whole being on call for your clients, but it just…

I don’t know, Mom. It’s little things he says that makes me question his loyalty. ”

“Things like what?”

“‘ It’s only you, Mo,’ ‘I’ll never do anything to hurt you,’ and so on and so forth. Why does he feel the need to affirm me when I never said anything about him cheating?”

“Well, maybe you’re giving off those vibes, baby. Could be a look you give him or your body language. You never could hide your feelings, Morgan.”

“Well, what am I supposed to think with him keeping late hours and being secretive?”

“Can I be honest with you?”

“Always.”

“You’re not in love with him.”

I frowned. “What?”

“You heard me. You’re not in love with your husband.

I have a pretty good discernment about people and things, and from the moment you brought him to dinner that one summer, I knew you didn’t like him like you swore you did.

I believe you were trying to move on from your first love, so you found solace with Justin. ”

I looked away from her and shook my head.

“You’re wrong, Mommy.”

Her brow hiked as she stared at me. “Am I?”

“I do love Justin.”

“But you’re not in love with him. You only married him and created a life with him because your father enforced it.

He didn’t want you giving birth to Megan out of wedlock, so he pressed you and Justin to get married.

Although you still gave birth before the marriage, you felt as if you were pressured into that marriage with him. Am I wrong?”

I didn’t speak right away. I couldn’t admit that she was right, because then it would make it real.

I did love Justin. He was there ready and willing to take on the task of being my husband and a father to Megan.

I didn’t want him to take on a responsibility that wasn’t his, but he and my father made it seem as if it would be effortless.

I struggled for years with this sitting on my mental.

I wanted Megan’s real father in her life. She deserved that. He deserved that.

Now, I felt his presence hovering over me since Drue told me she saw his sister. I could feel things turning from sugar to shit once we encountered one another. We never got closure , and I had his daughter.

“No, you’re not wrong. But I feel so bad for even still having these feelings…

They won’t go away no matter how hard I try.

Drue told me she saw Nehemiah’s sister at Walmart the other day…

I just feel as if he’s not too far behind.

We were together for three years. Those three years were the best years of my life.

You saw how bad I had it for him…then your husband ruined everything.

I never wanted to keep Megan from him. This is not going to end well. ”

“It has always been something I knew would come back around. Things that are done in the dark always comes to light. I even told your father that. Whatever happens, Morgan, you tell that man the truth. As far as Justin, don’t you go drumming up false accusations in your head.

You need to get proof before you start acting out.

I don’t think he’d cheat on you, but he’s a man, so get proof first, baby. ”

I sighed deeply and leaned back in the chair. My head started to hurt.

Would I even see Nehemiah again? Would he be upset with me about keeping this type of secret from him? I deserved it if he did. What about my baby? How would she feel about all of this? What about the threat my father made to have him and his family arrested if I told him?

“I don’t know if I could ever forgive Dad for what he made me do. I should have stood firm on my decisions when it came to how I wanted to live my life. But alas, he started throwing those bible verses at me about rebellion and honoring my mother and father.”

“You’re still holding on to things of the past.”

My head whipped over, seeing my father’s large frame taking up the entryway.

I rolled my eyes away. “I am. It seems as if the past you tried to bury is coming back for me. And I’m sure he’s coming to collect.”

“Mo, I was only trying to protect you—”

“From who or what, Dad? Please tell me.”