Not I

As a child, my mother would tell me the story of The Little Red Hen. Over and over again she would teach me the lesson this story had to offer. "You harvest what you plant in the ground." Of course, I'm supplying the sugar-coated version, because my mother would have been slurring her words. That woman had her own language I swear because half the time no one could understand her, no one but me. My mother was never really the motherly kind of person in our so-called family, the roles were reversed. With me being the caretaker and my mother being the loose teenager on a rampage of men. Where's dad? You may ask, well like I said my mother was loose.

As soon as I turned 18 I decided to grab the necessities and I moved out. Life wasn't easy before and it wasn't easy then but I got out pretty well considering the circumstances. I worked three jobs and put myself through college. I came out at the top of my class and became a well-known book publisher. I guess my mother found a way to embed herself into my life.

I never thought I was capable of love, my mother never knew what it was so she could never teach me about the subject. I was a loveless soul so the fact that the way I met my fiance comes to a surprise to me and the very few friends I have. She was this bubbly, bouncy, and full of life kind of creature. I was the opposite, while she excelled in a social environment I crumbled. She had written a story that had captivated me, through her words she had made me feel love, heartache, and remorse all in one. Emotions I didn't think I had ever possessed. When I had come to terms with the fact that I could feel I knew I had to meet the man behind the story. The biggest surprise of all there was no man. Karter Prescot, a name that had brought so many fantasies to my heart, mind, and body. I imagined a tall, broad-shouldered man, with a six-pack carved by the gods. A name that carried so much power over me in the night. That was not the body standing before me. Karter was in fact was only 5’2 she had more curves than most roads did. Beautiful full pink lips that looked so soft I swear I thought I could feel them. Her eyes, blue like the ocean I could hear the waves crashing, even feel them at my feet. Her hair was brown and full of waves I imagined my hands running through it, feeling its softness its warmth. I wanted to reach out and grab her so bad and explore every inch of her seductive curves. I had never been with a woman before but that would all soon change but only with her. It was as though she could read my mind because she began to blush and a sweet sound escaped her mouth. A simple giggle was enough to send me through the roof I needed to have her. 

In the beginning, I knew that I had to keep away I need to complete with my job. It was forbidden to sleep with our writers and I wouldn’t allow her to go anywhere else to publish her book. They wouldn’t do her work justice. We signed onto a 1-year contract and at the end of that year, I would celebrate with a kiss. It was easy to say but not easy to accomplish, especially when she confronted me about my feelings for her. I made her aware of the situation and it was as if she were to be accepting a challenge. She was motivated to keep my attention as if anything else could pull it away from her. Wearing the smallest of clothes almost inappropriate for an office setting. Curve hugging clothing that would make my fingers itch with the need to feel the softness of her skin. She would make sure to always sit close and brush up against me. I wanted to have her in the beginning, but now I needed her. 

At the end of the year, I took her out to dinner to celebrate the end of our agreement. Needless to say we never even made it through the drinks at the office. As soon as we were the only left it was as if something had come over us we were in each other’s arms within seconds. Being with her was everything I had ever imagined and more. My greatest fantasies were nothing compared to what it felt like to feel her skin rubbing against mine, the feeling of her lips against mine, even the taste of her body was something that could be compared to nothing I had ever had. 

Our entire life story was replaying in my head over and over again at this moment. The night of our wedding today was going to be the first day of the rest of my life. Not ours but mine, I had forgotten about our love story a long time ago. 6 months ago to be exact when I had gotten home from a trip I had taken for work. I had walked into my home and found my fiance with none other than my mother. They were too busy to even notice that I had walked in on them so I decided to keep it that way. I grabbed my things and walked out. I didn’t know where I was going but I knew I needed to be far away from here. I started to investigate my soon to be wife and mother and it seems money was the culprit. It was all for the money. She thought she could get more out of me if she could get pregnant. We had been talking about starting a family recently and I was all for the idea. Apparently, my mother had found out about my success and thought it would be easy to leave me with our child to collect the hefty check that came taking care of that child. I didn’t need to know anything else. I decided it would be in our best interest to get married, and of course, that would come with a prenuptial agreement giving her almost everything in the case of a divorce so that our child could grow up with everything they need. Neither fool thought to read the fine print though, there it stated that if either one was to be caught being unfaithful they would get nothing. I had gone with her for the insemination I needed to make sure she was pregnant, I needed her to live with that decision for the rest of her life. 

Twenty minutes before we are about to get married, I see them my mother and my fiance kissing passionately. Keep going, enjoy your last minutes of happiness. As soon as my mother knows that her plan didn’t work she’s going to disappear faster than I did when I walked out on her. It was going to be perfect I was going to give her the wedding of her dreams. When the limo comes to get us I was going to show her all of the evidence I had. She would sign the divorce papers right then and there. I was going to get mine, tonight. It was time for the performance of a lifetime.

Who is going to be at my side, enjoying the fruits of my labor?

"Not I" my mother will say.

"Not I" my fiance will say.

But I will and only I will be able to enjoy this victory from now on.