Unintended Consequences (Act One) Completed

Chapter 18: I am not the one!

AS soon as the door was closed Zara's demeanor changed. In place of the grieving and estranged mother stood a feral cat, trying to protect her young. I couldn't really blame her, but I wasn't going to allow her to corner me either.

"Here," she threw a folded piece of paper onto the bed. "This is what you want anyway Take it and go. I'll make something up."

I looked at it and told myself that this was NOT a Korean drama so I was NOT seeing what I thought I saw. At first, my wounded ego spurred my tongue to form words that I knew, even before I opened my mouth, we would both regret. Instead, I held firmly to one thought. 

"I am not the one." 

She was trying me; testing my responses. She was insulting me and she knew it. This wasn't going to go her way. I wasn't going to let her turn this into a feud. This was a misunderstanding.

"I don't want to go," I said plainly, shrugging my shoulders and sitting on the far side of the bed. I was sure to cross my jersey-clad legs and smile. It pissed her off. It was supposed to.

"You don't know your place. You think because you tricked him into marrying you that you are special. You're not special. My son had had many like you."

"How many did he marry?" In my heart I can feel the fire burning, anger and indignation swirling like a cauldron, but I make sure to keep my face and my tone indifferent. After all, she isn't completely wrong. I didn't marry him for love. I didn't present myself to his family for inspection. The only reason why I stayed by his side was to hide from Smoochie.

She opened her mouth to counter but then shut it again and gave me another appraisal. I sat still, refusing to be intimidated by my situation. I had endured much worse than this. Night locked in a closet. Beatings. I'd faced down bullies and drug dealers, Id' survived my mother's addiction and Smoochie's insanity. One angry woman wasn't going to break me, even if I was a guest in her house, I wasn't powerless.

Only one person could truly disadvantage me and I had to trust that he wouldn't. I had to trust that for as long as we were here, he would treat me like his wife and fight for me.

"It's obvious that he likes you."

"He loves me. Although, I can't tell why. But, he does. And even if I didn't love him, I would never hurt him. That's not the kind of person I am. My grandmother didn't raise me to be that way." I cock an eyebrow at her and some of the tension drains from her face.

"I heard you hurt my husband's men."

"I thought they were going to hurt my husband." It wasn't an apology. I'd never apologized for doing what I knew was right.

"That was a misunderstanding."

"There have been a lot of those lately," I said, nodding gently towards the corner of the bed opposite of me. She hesitates, but sits gingerly on the corner, folding her hands in her lap.

"So why don't you tell me the truth, huh? Why is this craziness in my son's life."

"I don't know myself. I just think it's fate. What I can tell you is that I don't want his money. I don't want to see him hurt in any way. I married him, and I was raised by a Bible believing woman. She taught me that marriage was sacred. For as long as we are married, I'm going to protect him, care for him, and help him. That's my intention."

She looks skeptical and I can tell that there is more she wants to say but she's not in any position to press me. It was my insistence that got her son to agree to come home and one word from me would be all the excuse he would need to leave again. She knows it and I know it. Despite that, I still feel sorry for her.