ꨄThe Debutanteꨄ

98.

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Next Morning

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Cookie couldn't help but hide her smile while she spoke to the brown skinned woman on the laptop screen. She showed her the ring on her finger, and the woman couldn't help but smile in appreciation for her. "This is amazing, Cookie! Congratulations to the both of you! This is a great step in life for the both of you." Said Dr. Wick. It's been so long since the two women have talked to each other, She was worried that Cookie had completely given up and figured that what she had with Anika was a complete waste of time. But no, she was given a much better surprise, and it was worth the wait.

There was so much for the women to catch up on. "And it's so good seeing you again. I must admit I missed our talks together. And you look much happier, and you're glowing so much. I can tell that there are a lot of great things lined up for you." She said.

"I'm so sorry that I didn't talk to you much for awhile. There was just so much going on and I'm not sure if I could ever get into the details of it because it's just taken such a toll on me. But now, now I have much better things to talk about." Cookie said. The doctor smiled. "I didn't think that I'd ever be getting married again in my entire life. I thought that once I got married to Lucious, I'd be married forever. When I got divorced, I also thought I'd stay that way. And it took so long for things to turn around, but I can't believe that it did." Cookie said, smiling to herself.

"But...I gotta say that I am a little nervous. Okay, so damn nervous. I'm so happy, but, I don't know. It feels a little weird how we're the same gender, you know? Not the same kind of weird I felt before, but more like I have no idea how to actually be married to a woman." Cookie said, tilting her head.

"The way that you're smiling now is the way that I was when my wife and I became engaged. I couldn't believe it. Our marriage was my first ever marriage, so you could imagine how overwhelmed I was with all of these feelings of excitement from finally accomplishing something with the person I love, and the surprise that the person I loved was a woman, and then the anxiety started to set in when I came to terms that I really am marrying a woman. I felt like it was entirely different from straight relationships." Said the doctor.

"Well...is it?" Cookie asked, anticipation for the answer right on the tip of her tongue. Dr. Wick chuckled. "Well, not really, no. When you think about it, marriage is different for every couple. There may be some things that one couple is comfortable with that the other is not and so on. What matters is the happiness and communication between those individuals within that relationship. Do they make each other happy, is the love based off of compliance or off of understanding? That is the core of a marriage." She said.

Cookie pondered on this for a few moments, especially the moment where she talked about what the relationship is based off of. She couldn't help but think back to when she was married to Lucious. Sure, he made her happy, but she never felt like he truly understood her. He comforted her when she was down, but did he really get it? Did he understand how he held some sort of responsibility for it and allow her to communicate those feelings with the same respect? She really thought about this the night that she got kicked out of the house by her father, and she and Lucious stayed in a hotel for the night.

While Cookie bawled her eyes out to him, clearly expressing her pain from her father banning her from his life, Lucious comforted her, yes. But he didn't cry with her. He made it clear that she was going to be taken cared of, and that same night he also took her virginity. She consented to it, but thinking back on it now Cookie felt so stupid. How could she allow him to take things to that level as if she hadn't been having a hard night and crying so much already? Why couldn't he just comfort her and listen to her talk about her feelings? She couldn't just be taken cared of sexually, she needed mentally and emotionally as well.