Page 44 of Unexpectingly Happily Ever After

I watch in horror/admiration as Morgan grabs the second woman by the waist and yanks her off the stage. As she grabs the legs of the first woman, she’s surrounded by a mob of angry women before she can manhandle the woman off of the stage. I catch sight of Morgan’s blond hair once before she vanishes.

″Morgan!” Brit shouts.

I look at Brit, and Brit looks at me and without a word, we both jump into the melee caused by Morgan defending her new man.

Chapter Sixteen

Women need time to bond and should look for any opportunity to do so. It will only benefit the child to have a mother with a firm support system.

A Young Woman’s Guide to Raising Obedient Children

Dr. Francine Pascal Reid, (1943)

We are told later that women climbing onstage were a usual occurrence at one of thePower of the Towershows. Bron was the tallest tower, and therefore the focus of the women’s efforts.

No one had ever tried to stop them. It was like a rite of passage to get on stage, and only a few have ever succeeded. Security only concerns themselves if someone gets up, and when that happens, Bron gives them a hug and a kiss and sends them on their way. No one took kindly to Morgan’s endeavors to protect Bron from the crowd of lovesick women. And many saw her as a threat to their quest. A bit of pushingand pulling soon collapses into a seething, sprawling girl fight that took over the first five rows of the audience.

Security can’t contain the fight as it grows and the police are called.

What is ironic is that Morgan gets away scot-free, while Brit and I, as well as a dozen other women, are arrested.

Which is how I find myself in jail for the first time in my life.

“This is all Morgan’s fault!”

It’s the sixth time Brit has announced that. It’s getting more difficult to defend Morgan from behind bars, trapped in a holding cell with at least fifteen women. The smell is horrific–a mixture of sweat, rancid body odor, too much perfume, and alcohol fumes.

I hear the retching and turn away just in time. Can’t forget the smell of vomit.

″I’ve never even been in a police station before,” Brit mutters, grasping the bars like it’s a lifeline.

″First time for everything.”

Keeping positive is becoming as much of a chore as defending Morgan, but if I don’t, I’ll end up in a sodden heap of tears, badmouthing everyone and everything with Brit. At least I’ve sobered up.

The singing from the back corner begins again reminding me that not everyone has.

″I hope the kids are okay.”

″Well, they’re not in jail with us, so I don’t know why they wouldn’t be,” Brit says,picking at her nails.

Instinctively, I cover her hand with mine to stop it. “Stop picking.”

″I’m not.”

″You pick when you’re nervous.”

″I’m not nervous!”

I glance at her, scrutinizing her expression. Even if I hadn’t known her most of my life, I could still tell something was wrong. “Morgan will get us out,” I soothe. “We won’t be in here for long.”

″I’ll never be able to get the smell out of my clothes. I’ll have to burn them.”

″I think that’s a bit drastic.”

Brit turns to me, blue eyes furious. “Do you not understand what’s going on here, Casey? We’re injail.We’ve been arrested forfighting. At astrip club. How can you not think this is the most horrible night of your life?”

″Plus you hit like a girl,” a woman in the throng behind us says.

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