Wedding Vows Under Fire Series 1: Gold Bands in the Fire

Alicia sat down from cleaning to give more attention to her concept. She removed her eyeglasses in order to clean them with the bottom edge of her shirt. “No. But it’s been almost five years, Nat. And it’s time for her to move on because other people’s lives depend on it. I see what my mother is doing to your relationships. And it terrifies me to think of what will happen once I finally bring somebody home. I am really scared of relationships, Y’all. When my daddy was alive, she minded her business more.”
EmmaJean replied sympathetically, “Alicia, you don’t think money may have changed your mama, do you?”
Alicia nodded in silence for a moment until she spoke. “I heard my daddy say that to my uncle before. I believe it. And that makes me believe that she’s changeable. Most people change with circumstances. And I want to change her circumstances.”
“By bringing a man into her life…” Teresa interjected.
“Yeah.”
“What if it’s a man who’ll bring out the worst in her?” EmmaJean pointed out. “That was the case with my parents. My daddy would get drunk and come home acting crazy. It changed Mama.”
Alicia responded placing her eyeglasses back on. “Not to make light of what happened between your mother and father. But I am terrified that my mother is going to do to my life what she is doing to my brothers. I want a life. I want to experience love and all the difficulties without the added meddling from my mother.”
They all sat in silence. Alicia was serious. It was clear. Angelica’s laughter could be heard faintly from where they sat. Her sound drew all of their attention to her direction. It was always a pleasant change to see her laughing at something other than other people’s misfortunes.
How her mother could maintain a longtime friendship with such a contrary and vindictive person was a complete mystery to Natalie. Geraldine conversed with her mother-in-law like it was second-nature to her. Maybe, she thought, there would be a needle in a hay stack who could get to know Angelica, stick around, and see her with the same grace in which Geraldine saw her. She raised her point almost as soon as she thought on it, “Well, there is the question of what man is out there for your mother, Lisa. You want him to be in the faith of Jesus Christ like she says she’s in. Your father was a Christian. And how are you planning to introduce your mother to somebody?”
“Have you heard of those dating services?” Alicia suggested.
But EmmaJean insisted. “I wouldn’t take that route. Your mama is not going to go for something like that. You’ve got to bring a man on the scene. And the type of men that your mother would want – if you can convince her to meet somebody – is in a certain income bracket.”
“I believe it,” Teresa agreed. “Once you get past the search, then there’s the question of whether Angelica is going to go for it or not.”
“You’d practically have to make a man for your mother,” EmmaJean continued.
Again, they all silenced themselves. Each woman observed Angelica from afar under the park lights. EmmaJean finally offered more input. “I don’t know a man out there who could be grateful enough for having her in his life to the point where he’d still stick around – unless he was homeless at first or something.”
Teresa and Natalie laughed. But Alicia quickly looked at Emmajean. She wasn’t offended. Her mouth gradually opened wider as her eyes roamed the area in deep thought.
“EmmaJean, you crack me up!” Natalie laughed.
“I’m serious,” EmmaJean revealed without a hint of a smile.

It was Javier. Shasta hadn’t expected him to call since he had seemed so disinterested in her earlier at the park. She deliberately stayed silent as she held the phone.
“Are you okay?” He asked her.
“You wait until now to ask me?” She replied firmly. “You saw your mother lighting into me at the park, and you made not one move to see whether I was okay then.”
Now, Javier was quiet. If his loss for words caused him any discomfort, it simply wasn’t enough punishment, Shasta felt. She longed for some kind of assurance that he really loved and prioritized her. But from the beginning, there was never any evidence.
“I think if you had been a little more subtle in the way you left…” he began.
“When can I ever be relieved of blame for your mother’s actions that have long existed before I came into your life, Javier?”
“You’re right. It is her fault. It’s all her fault. Man, my mom ju-…”
“Sorry I made you feel like your mother was the one at fault for our problems overall. She was wrong. But she wasn’t the primary one at fault for the way I felt. For the rejection I felt when those women passed by us...She may encourage you to entertain your manly urges but you’re the one who gives in to them – despite me.”
“What women? Who are you talking about?”
Shasta wanted to hang up. “Are you going to pretend that you don’t know what I’m talking about? You certainly didn’t pretend when they walked by you and when you distanced yourself from me at the park so that they could pay more attention to you.”
“Shasta, no other woman means anything to me,” Javier told her with plea in his voice for her understanding. “No other woman can do anything for me. Only you!”
“Javier, look down on your left hand and tell me what you see.”
“Only my wedding ring, Mi Amor.”
“And what does that mean to you?” She tearfully demanded.
“It means you’re the only woman who has anything to offer me,” he replied with the sincerity he had always expressed when telling her his feelings. “No other woman.”
“I’m more than the only woman who can do anything for you. I am the woman. When you see that wedding ring, neither bad nor good thoughts of any other woman should come to mind. When I see my wedding ring, I don’t think, ‘Oh no other man can do anything for me.’ When I made my vows to you, there was no room for comparing you to somebody else, Javier. You became the only man in my life – period. Your good looks, your charisma, your charm, and even your money are all going to come to an end. And I vowed to still love you and commit to you with no other man in mind.”
“Yeah, I feel like that, too,” Javier answered desperately. “The way you just said it.”
Shasta shook her head and scoffed hopelessly. “But cheating is my grounds to move on…”