Page 80 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 3

“I am your elder. Your father. You do as I say, young lady.” He used a phrase my own father might have said to one of my little sisters during an argument. However, Naomi was a woman in her mid-twenties and knew her own worth. I didn’t see her as the ‘do as I say type’. I feared Abraham was about to see a side to his daughter he wouldn’t like.

“Nay…” I took her hand and squeezed, trying to deescalate the situation. “Let’s maybe let things cool down, yeah?”

Her gaze darted to mine, and she shook her head once before turning back to her father.

“I’m not a child, and I answer to no man. Now here’s what’s going to happen. Memphis and I are going to go to his parents’ house and apologize for your actions. Then I’m going to plan my wedding. It will be held in the backyard of my fiancé’s familyhome. The two of you”—she pointed to her mother and then her father—“are no longer invited. I want you to get back on your jet-fuel-hogging plane and go back home. We”—she pointed at me and then herself—“are going to get married, go on a lavish honeymoon paid for with my own damn money, and plan out the rest of our lives together. While I’m on a beach in Tahiti with my middle-class husband who makes me happier than any first-class Ivy League bozo ever could, I’ll think about whether or not I want either of you in my life or the lives of our future children.”

She leaned forward, picked up one of the uneaten appetizers, and tossed it to the center of the table. It made a loud clanging noise that rattled throughout the kitchen. “Don’t forget to eat your five-star meal. It looks delicious. Come on, baby, I’m starving. You think we can drive through McDonalds on the way to your parents?” she asked as if she hadn’t just gutted her parents like a fish.

I took her hand and nodded as I led her out of the kitchen area, through the throngs of patrons staring at us as we hoofed it past the tables, then through the hotel lobby out to the sidewalk.

“Holy Moses, woman!” I yanked Naomi against my chest, then swooped my arms around her, holding my wrists below her juicy ass as I lifted her up and spun us both in a circle.

She clung to my shoulders and squealed as I cheered.

I let her slide down my body and cupped her cheeks, staring into her pretty eyes with such pride I couldn’t even find the words right away to tell her how amazing she’d been when she stood up for herself.

She whooped, fist bumping the air. “That felt so damn good!”

“Baby, I’m so proud of you. You told them off! That was some Oscar-worthy shit!”

Her face split into an ear-to-ear grin. “I was so mad!”

“You were well within your rights to be angry. He was all kinds of wrong. I had no idea it was that bad. He really does see himself as being above others, doesn’t he?”

She nodded and then her smile shifted. “Not me, though.” She looped her arms around my neck. “My whole entire life I’ve been trying to escape the weight of his discontent. It started with me being born a girl and not a boy. Then, when my mother couldn’t have any more kids, it became worse. My whole life was him telling me what he wanted for me. What I was going to be because of him. I never wanted any of it.” Her bottom lip began to tremble, as though all of what she had done just sank in. “I’ve never been what he wanted. Never lived up to his high standards.”

I ran my hand over her long hair. “Baby, I don’t think anyone could. That man doesn’t yet realize that he lost the best thing he’d ever created. I can only hope one day he learns from this and figures out how to earn you back.”

She closed her eyes and let her forehead hit my chest.

“I’m sorry. I know you love him and your mom.”

“I do, but I can’t be anything other than me. And I wantyou, Memphis. I want a wedding where the smell of your mother’s roses tickles our noses. I want your dad grilling the best Atlanta barbecue any of us have ever tasted. I want all of your sisters there decorating and helping to make things just right for their brother and his bride. I want Granny telling us what to do and asking when we’re going to have her first great-grandchild. I want all of it, because I’m in love with you. And I’m in love with all of them, even after only one freaking night.”

My heart stopped at hearing those three little words. When I entered the marriage auction, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be in a marriage based on love.

“Naomi, you did not just admit you love me out here in the middle of the street in downtown Atlanta after blasting yourparents, with strangers all around?” I gestured to where we stood.

Her eyes widened as I suspected she didn’t realize what she’d said. Then, suddenly, my girl burst out laughing.

“Woman, if you’re about to give me everything I ever dreamed of, you best make sure you mean it. A man like me will get to thinking some things…” I warned, my heart leaping for joy as my mind wanted to be sure it was legit.

“As a matter of fact,” she cupped my cheeks, “I meant every last word. I love you, Memphis. And I can’t wait to marry you.”

“Hot damn,” I dipped my head and took her mouth in an obscenely wet and deep kiss.

The PDA was so off the charts, a few teens on skateboards made fun of us as they rode by, screaming “Get a room” and “Right on man, give her the tongue” until we broke apart, her giggling with pink cheeks and me chuckling, a shit-eating grin on my face. A smile that likely wouldn’t go away for quite a while. Maybe never when I had a woman like Naomi on my arm.

“Come on, Nay, let’s continue this back at my place.”

“Oh, hell no,” she clipped. “You’re driving me through Mickey D’s for a Big Mac, fries, and a chocolate shake, then we’re going straight to your parents. I wasn’t kidding about apologizing. I’m not starting my marriage with my new family hating me. Nuh-uh, no way, no how. Oh, and I hope you have your wallet on you, baby, because you’re buying,” she said and flounced—yes,flounced—her cute ass to my car.

“Yes, ma’am,” I stated instantly.

* * * *

As expected, my parents were incredibly gracious about what happened at the restaurant. Granny, not so much. Until, of course, Naomi asked Granny if she’d be willing to walk her down the aisle, since her father was no longer invited. Grannywas surprised by this revelation and pulled a three-sixty on her ire, claiming that she would be taking Naomi under her wing as her grandchild from here on out and that no man, including her father, would be allowed to say cross words to her granddaughter. Then, she and Naomi prayed about it.

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