We had just gotten done with our Monday morning staffing meeting and I was heading back to my office when I saw something that made me duck behind a chair in the conference room.
“Girl, what’s wrong with you?” Jenna said and laughed. I guess I did look ridiculous trying to hide. What I really wanted to do was slide under the table.
“I think I just saw my mother go by,” I whispered.
“Why in the world would you be hiding from your mother?”
“It’s a long story.” My heart was pounding like crazy. I prayed to God I was just seeing things. “Can you please go tell her I’m not here?” I know I was being a coward but what choice did I have?
“Are you serious?” Jenna had this incredulous look of disbelief on her face.
“Yes!” I snapped then waved my hand. “Go—now—before she comes and find me.”
“Okay, I—” As soon as I heard her voice trail off I already knew even before I heard my mother’s voice that Mabeline had stepped into the room.
“Where’s Nyree?”
“Sorry, but I can’t lie to your mother.” Jenna whispered and before she scurried out the room I caught her pointing down at me.
Traitor.
“Nyree Gail Dawson, get from under that table.”
Oh my goodness. I peeked out over the edge of the table. “Hey Mama.”
“Don’t, hey Mama me! You have a lot of explaining to do.”
I guess I could pretend I had no idea what she was talking about but Lord know I’d been avoiding her calls all weekend, and for obvious reasons. I needed to figure out what I wanted to do about my wedding to Jeremy that was five days away.
I rose to my feet and watched as my mother closed the door to the room. I swallowed hard and hoped there were no meetings scheduled because Mabeline wasn’t going to tolerate any interruptions. Regardless of who it was.
“Sit down,” she ordered and I quickly dropped onto the nearest chair. “What’s going on with you?”
I counted to five, drew a deep breath then replied, “I’m not sure if I want to get married.” I leaned across the table and told her about the last few months. All the lies… Jeremy’s wives and children.
So imagine my surprise when she snorted rudely and said, “Is that all?”
Okay, so maybe she hadn’t heard me correctly. “Mama, he’s been lying to me!”
“So what? If anything you should feel flattered that a man wants to be with you so bad he pretends to be everything you are looking for in a man.”
I never thought of it that way.
Mama was smiling. “Chile, that man loves you. You’ll be a fool to let him go.”
The look she gave me told me she definitely didn’t understand where I was coming from and never would.
“Listen, Jeremy came to see me and he told me everything, but the only thing I heard was how much he loved you.”
I stared at her for a moment. “He came to see you?”
“Yes he did.” She nodded. “Nyree, see, what you don’t understand is you and Jeremy didn’t put this together. God did!”
God?
I felt myself sitting up straight on the chair.
“What you fail to realize is… this isn’t about what you want or what Jeremy wants, it’s what the Lord wants.”
I took a moment to let her words process and what she said made sense on so many levels, and yet all it did was make me feel even more confused than before.
“Mom I understand what you’re saying, but I just don’t know. Jeremy and I are so different. If he had been honest in the first place, he and I would have never gotten together.”
“Exactly! That’s how we know you didn’t put this together.” She smiled. “God has a plan for the both of you.”
I drew out a long breath. As much as I wanted to believe what my mother said was right, I just couldn’t help but think about the way Jeremy had gone off and embarrassed me in front of his family. Was that God’s plan as well?
“Mama, I just need some time to think about all this.”
What in the world did I say that for? The smile slipped away from her lips and she glared across the table as she sneered, “Then you should have thought about that before you announced your engagement at church.”
What? Was she serious? “Mama, people change their mind all the time.”
“Not my daughter.” She spat then pointed her finger over at me. “We told you to marry Charlie and you went off and married that fool Shane, and what he do? Dog you out and bring you down! Since then all you’ve done is make a mess of your life, and your father and I are tired of it. Jeremy is a good man and he loves you.”
“But love isn’t enough.” I was pleading for her to understand.
“Well, you should have thought about that.” She reached up and scratched her chin. You have no idea how many times I’ve been tempted to grab a pair of tweezers.
Mama shook her head. “Your father and I have shelled out thousands for this wedding on Saturday and I advise you to be there.”
I lost my composure. How dare she tell me what to do? “Mama, I’m not a child anymore! I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do.”
She gave this loud obnoxious laugh that sent chills down my spine. “Like I said God is in control, not you, not me.”
I swallowed and didn’t know what else to say.
Her expression softened as she reached over and patted my hand. “Marriage isn’t easy. But you’ll learn that soon enough. It takes hard work on both your parts but Jeremy is a good man… a God-fearing man.”
“If he feared God then he wouldn’t lie to me all the time.”
She waved her hand. “Like I said before, he loves you and people in love do stupid stuff. I’m sure you’ve done a few in your lifetime.”
Sure, like dating a married man even though I knew he had a wife.
“You have a lot to learn but there will be plenty of time for that later. Right now you need to get your head on right and whatever you’ve been doing, needs to stop, now!”
I tried not to flinch. How was it she always knew?
“Call your fiancé and apologize,” she ordered, then patted my hand again. “We’ll see you on Saturday.” She started for the door then swung around and narrowed her gaze at me. “And if you embarrass your father and I…, I swear you’ll live to regret it.”
With that she left the conference room with me sitting in the chair for the longest time trying to figure out how I got myself in such a mess.