Trouble in Paradise.

23. Dinner.

Chapter 23: Dinner.

Sabrina's POV.

"Don't you feel like you're too young to get married?" My mother asks me for the hundredth time.

"No, mother. I'm ready to be Zachary's wife." I tell her, also trying to convince myself that I am ready for a life long commitment with Zachary.

With anyone for that matter.

"I'm just checking because marriage is a different ball game from the dating scene." My mother says and I roll my eyes.

"I know mother." I retort.

"No, you don't know." She says, her thick accent shining through. "It's tricky. And these Americans don't know how to do it right." She tells me. "It's for better or worse." She adds.

"Like you and Dad?" I ask her and she glares at me.

My parents' marriage is so toxic. My father used to beat my mother everyday, now he has shifted to emotional abuse. There is currently another woman in my mother's matrimonial home, but she refuses to get a divorce. She says if she gets a divorce, that means they've won.
I keep trying to tell her that it's not about winning, it's about being happy, but she shuts me down each time.

"Marriage is pain. Marriage is also about being tolerant, because it will test you." She tells me.

"Are you going to make it to the ceremony?" I ask her.

"Of course, I would miss it for the world. My little girl's finally getting married." She says, caressing my cheek.

"Let's go get our hair and nails done." I tell my mother and she smiles.

***

"Sweet Caroline." My best friend, Shiela, sings into the microphone.

She's way way off-key.

I scroll through Instagram and I see a picture of Zachary's ex. It looks like she's on vacation with this guy. And she looks pregnant. It's good to see that she's finally moved on from Zach. At least that's one less person to worry about.

My wedding weekend is already off to a great start. I have my girls with me and we're currently at a karaoke bar in Zachary's hometown, Langston.

We arrived here yesterday.

Tomorrow is the rehearsal dinner and the day after that is my wedding. I still can't believe I'm getting married.

"Come on." Sheila says, grabbing my arm, pulling me to the stage.

The intro for "I Would Rather Go Blind" by Eartha Kitt plays and I smile at her.

"Something told me it was over. When I saw you and her talking." I start singing.

"Something deep down in my soul said, 'Cry, girl'. When I saw you and that girl walking around." Hannah sings beside me. Zachary introduced me to Hannah when we got here. He told me they've been friends since the tenth grade.

"Whoo, I would rather, I would rather go blind, boy. Than to see you walk away from me, child, no." I sing, belting out the words.

"Whoo, so you see, I love you so much. That I don't wanna watch you leave me, baby." We sing together.

"Most of all, I just don't, I just don't wanna be free, no." Courtney sings as she walks towards the stage. She's also a very good friend of the Henderson family.

"Whoo, whoo, I was just, I was just, I was just sitting here thinkin', of your kiss and your warm embrace, yeah." I sing as I stare at the lyrics on the big screen behind me.