Читать книгу Borrow Trouble - Mary Monroe - Страница 18

Leon was the one to break the news to Mama. I didn’t even know he had done it until she called the hotel the day before we checked out.

“I don’t care what that man do to you, you better stay with him. There ain’t never been a divorce in our family,” Mama told me. “And your baby sister is mad because she spent her last penny on one of them throwaway cameras, which she bought to take pictures of the wedding with. I hope you know what you doing, gal,” Mama said in a gruff voice. I never got mad at my mother when she stuck her nose in my business. I didn’t know too many women who didn’t go through some of the same things with their mothers that I went through with mine. I usually listened to Mama, with respect and patience. After all, she had made a lot of sacrifices for me. But I was my own woman, so I always did what I wanted to do, anyway.

“I love Leon, Mama,” I purred. I had just come out of the shower. One towel covered my body; another one covered my wet hair. Leon was stretched out on the bed, in just the bottom part of the silk pajamas I’d bought him. “I’m never going to let him go,” I vowed, giving my new husband a playful kick with my damp foot. “Mama, can I call you when we get home Monday? I am still on my honeymoon.”

“And that’s another thing. When you was a little girl, all you talked about was going to Niagara Falls for your honeymoon. It’s a crying shame you ended up on a honeymoon in Cleveland of all places. Right in your own backyard!” Mama paused and clicked her teeth. “And with all that money Leon makes working for the IRS, the least he could have done was take you off somewhere romantic.” After saying such a mouthful, Mama had to stop to catch her breath. And it didn’t take her long to do that. She had other things to say that I didn’t want to hear, which she whispered. “I heard Leon was stingy. I bet he’ll be shoving chicken gizzards down your throat for dinner three times a week. You better hope you don’t lose your job at that schoolhouse.”

“Mama, I have to go now.” I hung up before Mama could get another word in. Mama was the only person I knew who could turn a dream into a nightmare. I tossed a pillow at Leon’s head. “You could have waited until I got out of the shower. I wanted to be the one to tell her.”

“Well, I didn’t. Now get dressed so we can go out and get something to eat,” he ordered, rising.

“Baby, wouldn’t it be nicer if we stayed in and ordered room service? Don’t you just want to lie here and…uh…you know.” I winked.

“Come on. We’re going out to get something to eat,” Leon replied.

“What if I don’t want to go with you?” I said, folding my arms defiantly, my bottom lip poked out like a five-year-old’s. I couldn’t believe we were already having our first disagreement as a married couple.

“You’re going. Now get your lazy butt up and get dressed. Put on that lime green dress I like so much. Sisters with your bronze tone complexion look so damned good in green.”

I removed a pair of jeans and a beige silk blouse from the small suitcase that I had packed. Before I could get dressed, Leon snatched the clothes out of my hand and tossed them to the top of the dresser. With a mischievous grin on his face, he flipped open my suitcase and fished out the lime green dress he liked so much and tossed it on top of my head. I slid into the dress without saying a word. I was in too much of a romantic mood to argue any further.

I didn’t like the fact that Leon was already making decisions without any input from me. Robbie Dunbar would never have done that. As strange as it seemed, I really missed Robbie. I knew that I was going to spend the rest of my days wondering what my life would have been like if I had married him. Poor Robbie. I prayed that he would find a suitable mate.

By the time Leon and I got to the Full Moon restaurant three blocks from the hotel, I had calmed down. Right after our stiff-lipped waiter dropped menus on our table, I excused myself to go to the ladies’ room. By the time I got back to the table, Leon had ordered for me.

“I didn’t want an omelet,” I protested, pinching his arm. “I wanted pancakes.”

“Well, the next time we go out to eat, I advise you to order before you run off to the ladies’ room to primp,” he said, looking at his watch. “And hurry up. There’s a game coming on in a couple of hours.”

I took a sip of water and forced myself to smile. It dawned on me that Leon was showing me another side of himself, and it was already making me uncomfortable. He liked to be in control, and that was one of the things that had drawn me to him. However, that quality had been a lot more subtle before I’d become his wife.

A cramp shot through my stomach like a comet. All of a sudden, I was concerned about my future with Leon. As much as I had always wanted a man who had more of a backbone than Robbie, I didn’t want a man who made all my decisions for me.

Leon had made it clear that he was in no hurry to have another child. He had a nine-year-old daughter by a woman that he had lived with for several years. He loved his child, and he took good care of her, but even though she was only nine, Collette was a mess. Not only was she moody and materialistic, she had a hard time getting along with other kids. She had been kicked out of every elementary school in Butler. Leon had just enrolled her in a swank private school in Cleveland Heights. More than once he had told me that he was glad he had only one child to deal with.

But I wanted a child, and I wanted one soon. That’s why I flushed my birth control pills down the toilet as soon as we got back to our hotel room.