Cruel Passions Of The Other Woman

|CH28|

•Keshay Lewis•
"Honey"

"Uhhh...why can't we just have a court room marriage? Simple and quick." I say hesitantly while sitting at the table in his Aunt Ruby's home. Currently I'm sitting here with Omri, Miro, Ruby, and Donna and they've handed me a book full of photos of the different Oliah weddings that have occurred. Dating back to even times of segregation. And somehow every wedding manages to look expensive and extravagant even for the time frame it was in.

"A court wedding?" Practically the entire table says in unison.

"We don't do court weddings in this family Honey." Ruby clarifies. "Especially since I never thought my nephew would marry. We have to go all out." She exclaims excitedly while reaching over squeezing his cheeks. He winces gently removing her hand though I notice him smile at her excitement.

I do the same though I'm nervous. I truly believe in karma. And though I'd like to believe all of this is my karma I know it's a result of my own actions. Will my karma come during this marriage? I realize that I've never had to be a wife. Never even seriously been a girlfriend. What would I say or do? How should I act? Will I have to be a housewife? I see in this moment that "the other woman" really just does things that the wife would do if she wasn't so tired from doing things the wife does. And let me tell you being the other woman is wayy easier.

"This will be your first and last wedding. Don't you want it to be perfect?" Omri asks me softly. I feel his eyes staring a hole into the side of my face but I don't look in his direction. As an independent strong minded woman it was hard to walk right back in there, apologize and accept his help last night. And it's even harder to sit here listening to him talk to me so gently as if he wasn't just yelling or threatening me yesterday.

"What I don't want is to be a burden." I admit lowly.

"Oh don't talk like that Honey," Donna says to me reaching over she grabs my hand giving it a supportive squeeze. "It's not a burden at all. It'll be fun, everyone is excited. Especially My Aunt Vanessa and Ruby, they haven't planned a wedding since Miro's."

I look over in Omiro's direction. "How come I haven't met Paris?"

Everyone around the table share a look. "My marriage was originally arranged," he admits. "It was set in stone since I'd turned sixteen."

"But I thought-"

"I do love Paris," he says seriously. "It just was a work in progress for many years since we'd married so young." He changes the subject back to my original question. "Her family is the largest and only Black Russian Mafia. She's with them majority of the time, when she's not she's at home."

I run a hand over my locs sighing deeply. "I'm sorry." I apologize to everyone. "This just feels like a lot. Yesterday I was just me, now today I have to adjust to one day being Mrs. Oliah." And to Omri at that. I think to myself. Just days ago I was pushing away the sexual feelings I'd felt for him and now today I am planning a wedding with him.

"Everyone is nervous when they're married into this family." Ruby says. "We love hard but it's not any easy task. The loyalty you have to uphold is serious."

Suddenly Omri is standing from his seat and unreadable expression on his face we all watch as he walks towards the kitchen. Standing with his back facing us and his palms on the counter I can only imagine he's in deep thought. Omiro excuses himself next walking over to his brother I watch as he places his hand on his shoulder speaking lowly to him. From what I can make out he's asking what's wrong. Ruby notices this too and rather than join in on their secret conversation she speaks to me. "Which wedding do you admire the most? I can try and do something similar but bigger. Or do you want to be original?" She naturally changes the subject though I know why she's doing it.