“Mom, are you breathing?”
“Don’t be silly. Of course, I’m breathing,” she answered, looking over my bags. She reached over and dusted off one of my shoes. “Do you think you will return before Christmas?.”
“I literally found out I was leaving five minutes ago. Is when I return really up to me?”
“No, I guess not. It is up to your ability to gain acceptance of this marriage,” she stated, counting my clothes.
“Mom—”
“Please!” she yelled but then held herself back. “I beg of you, Gale. Do not complain to me. I do not have the strength for it. Everyone’s shoulders are heavy. Everyone is uncomfortable. We are all looking for someone to save us, but no one will come because we are the people who must do the saving.”
I got quiet for a moment before pointing to the bed. “I was merely going to say there is a hole in that jacket.”
She frowned and then picked up the jacket, turning it from side to side. “Where? I don’t see it?”
I stepped around the frame to stand beside her and pointed to the front of the jacket. “Here, where your beauty burned into it,” I said, a slow grin spreading across my face.
She threw the jacket back down and smacked my chest. “You are ridiculous!” She giggled.
Putting my arm around her, I nodded. “Yes, this woman obviously has no idea what is coming her way.”
“A handsome prince.” She grinned, placing her hand on my cheek. “This is going to do us all good. We can solve this problem before the third one comes.”
“Mom, please do not say that.” I sighed. The one thing I hated about our people was how superstitious everyone was.
“Why? You know misfortunes come in threes for this family. First your father, then the money—”
“Mother,” I whispered, putting my hand on her shoulder. “You are the queen of this nation. You cannot think like that. I promise I will do my best not to let you down so long as you think positively.”
She inhaled, her shoulders relaxing just a bit. “Thank you, Gale.”
I nodded.
“Oh, I forgot to send word to the kitchen for dinner. We’ll have your favorite before you leave, all right?”
“Bless you.”
She giggled again. “I’ll go. Keep packing.”
“I will.”
She looked everything over once more before taking leave. Reaching for the bag I saw next to her earlier, I checked the zipper pocket and pulled out a small velvet box.
I didn’t have a choice.
They’d all decided already.
I was getting married. They would see to it by any means necessary. When the crown wanted something, it got it.
All my arguing was just a waste of air.
So I would stop arguing.
I’d go and pray to God Almighty she wasn’t unbearable.
Chapter 5
“In the dimmest light, at the height of freight, when nothing goes right, and all you feel is pain, I’ll be at your side—no. Let’s start from the top again. I messed up,” I said into the microphone.
“Maybe we should take a break?”
“No.” I lifted one of the headphones from my ear and glanced at the producer behind the glass. “We want to finish this song today.”
“Are you okay?” he asked me.
“Yeah. Why?”
“You seem...off. And...it’s not bad at all. You aren’t hitting the note the way you want, but with a little—”
“No auto-tune.”
“Okay, but at least give your voice a break because you apparently don’t like how you sound.”
“And you shouldn’t, either. You sound like someone is waterboarding you with vodka and salt,” my mother so eloquently—and loudly—said into the mic, causing me to flinch.
“Mom, I’m working here.”
“Keep working then. I’m not stopping you. Right, guys?” she said to everyone in the studio.
Taking off my headphones completely, I hung them on the stand before I marched around the wire, out of the booth, and into the studio. She sat like the Pink Panther herself, in a fitted, pink leather dress, eating popcorn from a bowl.
“Why did you come out, sweetheart? You aren’t finished,” she had the audacity to say.
My eyes narrowed at the sickly sweet tone of her voice. Ever since our little discussion last night, I felt on edge. No, more specifically, I felt stressed because I was sure she hadn’t given up. However, she didn’t bring it up and acted as if she hadn’t tried to secretly marry me off to some royal.
“Let’s take five, guys.” I shot a glance around the studio, and one by one, my producer, mixer, and my agent all quickly picked up their phones and walked out.
“I brought some snacks for you all. Please help yourselves.” Wilhelmina leaned over her chair to call out behind me. She focused on me, lifting the bowl toward me. “Try this. It is so good and—”
“Is your plan to destroy my career so that I have zero income? And I’m forced to accept?” I asked her, crossing my arms.
“That’s overly dramatic.” She laughed at me, tossing popcorn into her mouth.
“You are overly dramatic, so it fits,” I reminded her. “It’s way too soon for you to give up. I know you. But, Mom, let’s not do this now. We’re at the studio—”
“Look at you all tense. I’m not here for that. I wanted to remind you about the Halloween party.”
“Halloween party?”
“The Wyntor Foundation Halloween fundraiser for the Children’s Hospitals of America?”
“Oh, right! I completely forgot today was Halloween!” Crap! I checked my watch. Between the lawyers and work, I hadn’t had time to even buy anything. “I don’t have a costume, and the kids really like it when we dress up.”
“I knew you’d forget, so I got you one.” She nodded to the black bag and a box sitting on the couch, neither of which I’d noticed.
“Really? Thank you,” I said, moving around her to the couch. Unzipping the bag, the first thing I saw was a long, light-blue ball gown covered in sparkles at the bottom. “Mom—”
“The theme this year is Disney. What’s better than Cinderella? I managed to get the actual costume designer from the movie. Check the box. They made you a glass slipper, too. Not actual glass but close enough.” She sounded like a parent at Christmas.
Smirking, I lifted the lid of the box, and sure enough, there was a pair of glass slippers...well, faux-glass pumps. They were beautiful. That wasn’t just it, though. There was also a tiara, and it looked more expensive than everything put together in the room.
“You like it?”
“Yeah.” I smiled. “I do, but I could have gone as Tiana.”
“Ever since you saw Brandy as her, your favorite has always been Cinderella. God, do you know how many times you sang, ‘Impossible; It’s Possible.’ Oh, I can feel the headache coming.”
“I remember.” It was my generation’s Frozen. “I can’t believe you remembered.”
“See, I have my moments. Now, I’ll go and let you go back to your all-important work. I’ll come to get you later,” she said, rising from the chair and taking her popcorn with her. She really did have her moments.