Political Gratification (Interracial-BWWM Novel)

Chapter 15: Bright Smiles, All Lies

Alright, guys! Voting is now officially closed for the wedding dresses. The most liked dresses will be announced soon and afterwards the final pick will be revealed, but only when the wedding day has arrived. If this chapter gets 250 likes, and lots of comments (I love them so much) we will speak again soon, otherwise... Anyways, have fun and read on!

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The flashing lights shone bright like burning magnesium, blinding Nelly with their luminescence. Cameras lit up with every picture that a desperate photographer took trying to make the moments that just as desperate celebrities were willing to give them last eternally.

"Neslande, what are you wearing this evening?"

"Nelly, how does it feel to be married to the hottest man in politics?"

"Senator, why a black woman? Getting tired of the lack of flavor in the white women? Need some spice?"

Nelly felt Preston's hand squeeze her hip lightly at the sound of that question that'd been shouted over the din of curiosity that seemed to fill the air. The pressure almost too light to have been recognized, but Nelly felt it all the same. The questions that had been asked ranged from inappropriate, innocent, and, in some cases, offensive.

Neslande opened her mouth to defend herself, tired of the muzzle that was the quiet that she'd been forced to wear for the past half hour. Samuel had threatened her father with a loss of work if she happened to "open her abrasive hemorrhoid of a mouth and spew mouth diarrhea." She felt the burning heat that overcame her: the need to be recalcitrant, but then she thought of the call she'd received from her parents last night.

"Kouman ou ye, Neslande? Epa'm pa jaime tande vwa'w? Pou kisa e koun ya wap rele nou?" She heard her mother say in her native tongue. (How are you, Neslande? You never call. How come you're just now calling?)

"Sorry, mom. I've been very busy lately and haven't gotten the opportunity to give you a call. How's dad?" Nelly asked, her chest tightening at the sound of her mother's voice. A voice she's been so used to hearing for so long, but now never seemed to get the opportunity to hear.

"Papa'w bien. Doktè a te di ke'l pa bon twop twop, me li bien," she heard her mother say. Her father's heart hadn't been doing well under the pressures of managing a household and family of three, previously four, on a Publix cashier salary. He was at risk for a heart attack if he didn't take it easy, which was one of the abundant reasons she was doing this for him.

"That's good. Listen, mom, did you receive citizenship papers in the mail at all? They should be coming for dad," Neslande asked, getting comfortable in her bed, sinking under the covers and into the lavish mattress.

"Oh... I almost forgot to tell you that. By the grace of God, after all these years, papa'w jwen citizenship la. Beni s'wa l'Eternel!!" Nelly heard her mother say in her thick and raspy Haitian accent. She could hear her clapping in celebration at the miracle that was her father's new assimilation into the nation that had been less than accommodating to any one of them.

Even with that thought in mind, Nelly smiled to herself, happy for her family. Her heart was overwhelmed with a relief that was almost too much.  The dearth of a burden heavy with fear lifted off her shoulders proverbially.

"Congratulations," Nelly said, not telling her that her father's citizenship was not a miracle, but because of her sacrifice.

"Oh, I saw you on CNN. You looked beautiful, baby...."

The conversation merged into talk of the impending wedding, Preston's asinine proposal, and her future as the mother of his children and a wife to him. She almost cringed at the thought of walking down the aisle to a man she knew she would never love knowing that the same was true in reverse. Her heart squeezed painfully at the thought.