Pred. & Preach. Daughter - Ch. 2

“What do you mean you’re pregnant?!” Marcos roared, feeling his plans to escape unraveling before his very eyes. “I took precaution every time.” He paced the hardwood floors of his living room area as nervous tension ate away at his gut. Now Marcos really did want to run, run to the high hills screaming like a lunatic because everything seemed to be going wrong in his life right now and he felt so out of control. And Marcos hated feeling out of control.

Chasity felt slapped in the face by his angry reaction and if she’d been standing, her knees would have surely buckled from the blow, sending her falling to the floor in a heap. She expected a lot different from the man who’d held her tenderly in his arms only hours ago and whispered words of love in her ear as they’d made love for the fifth time this week and it was only Saturday. The same man that had cried heartfelt tears in her arms after she’d given him her virginity six weeks ago.

No, this can’t be happening. He must be just scared, Chasity reasoned, immediately trying to explain away Marcos’ unexpected behavior and squelch the sudden torment his words had caused her. By nature she was a peacemaker, looking for and thriving on anything that promoted tranquility. She hoped to bring peace to this situation immediately.

Chasity took a deep breath and responded to her boyfriend’s previous comments in a calm manner. “Not every time, Marcos. Remember that second time?”

Marcos paused from his pacing, closed his eyes and exhaled out a reluctant sigh. He remembered only too well the second time he’d made love to Chasity. It started out with her suggesting that they take a detour on their way home from a Tuesday night movie. She wanted to look at the new landscaping that had recently been added to the park near his home. Chasity had a double major in architecture and horticulture and thus was highly interested in all things that pertained to nature or the changing thereof.

While touring the solitary park on that mild summer night, Marcos became romantically stimulated by his environment and by the woman holding his hand. The moonlight reflecting off of the tranquil pond water below and the smell of Chasity’s whimsical floral perfume, all proved to be too much for him. When Marcos pulled her into his arms for a kiss on the way back to his navy-blue jeep, he soon discovered that the romantic setting had obviously affected his shy girlfriend as well.

Chasity not only matched Marcos kiss for kiss and touch for touch, she also revealed that she had an adventurous side, too, by surrendering wholeheartedly to his passion in the backseat of the tinted windowed vehicle. Fortunately, they didn’t get caught. Unfortunately, that had to have been the night she’d gotten pregnant.

“But that was only one time,” Marcos finally replied, not even bothering to ask if the child was his. Not only was Chasity faithful as the sky was blue, he’d been barricading her free time for a whole year, keeping other interested guys at bay from the gorgeous woman, even going to every church service she attended in order to make sure that Larenz McBride didn’t try to rekindle what he’d lost with Chasity.

Incidentally, many of the guys that Marcos kept at bay deemed him a fool for trying to get an unattainable woman like Chasity with a playboy reputation like his. Others routed him on, hoping that he’d pave the way for them to have her next. Now even though the thought of another man being with Chasity was tormenting to him, it was even more tormenting for Marcos to know that he’d fallen victim to this thing called love. And from what he’d seen in the lives of others, no one could control love. It controlled you. Therefore, Marcos would flee from it just like the prophet Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord.

“All it takes is one time of unprotected sex to get someone pregnant,” Chasity inserted, finding it hard to believe that her highly intelligent, future architect of a boyfriend would overlook that fact.

“I know that, Chasity!” he snapped with offence, not in the mood to be corrected right now as he returned to his pacing. Then Marcos said something that would send them both into turmoil for years to come. “I might as well tell you now. I’m transferring back to Texas to finish out my education. My father’s getting worse and I need to be near him.”

Only Marcos knew that he’d told a half-truth just then. Yes, he was transferring to another college closer to home, but not because his father was drinking again. In fact, Pablo was currently in another treatment center getting help, which meant that the real reason Marcos was leaving was because of fear. More specifically, it was the fear of being controlled by his love for a preacher’s daughter.

“But…but what about the baby?” And what about me? Us? Chasity added silently, feeling despair clawing at her insides like a tiger to its prey as her eyes welled up with moisture. She got up from the full-sized bed and began to pace the large, rectangular-shaped pink area rug on her hardwood bedroom floor in an effort to uncoil the stiff tension that had settled in her body. Tears began to fall from her eyes.

“I’ll give you the money to have an abortion. After all, neither you nor I are ready to be anyone’s parent and we both have educations to complete,” was Marcos’ simple answer, spoken in an irritated tone of voice.

Speak for yourself, Chasity mused, thinking that if Marcos really knew anything about her, he’d know that she’d always wanted to be a mother. In fact, if he didn’t know that fundamental piece of information about her, who had he been getting to know this last year? Or rather how much inner substance had Marcos ignored about Chasity in lieu of trying to get to know her on a physical level?

“I can’t have an abortion. It goes against my principles,” Chasity protested, feeling her heart break into a million fragments of disappointment.

“From what I hear, fornication goes against your principles, too, but that didn’t stop you from doing it. Besides, I’ve been seeing other women during the whole course of our relationship. You should have known that a player like me couldn’t commit himself to any one woman,” Marcos said ruthlessly, trying to detangle himself from these intense emotions attacking his mind.

The potent mixture of guilt, love, and fear was doing a number on him and he couldn’t wait to hit the road tomorrow morning. He’d already called the dean of students and told him that he needed to make an emergency withdrawal due to a family crisis. Because Marcos’ wealthy father gave generously to the Colorado school, they immediately started his withdrawal process with very few questions asked.

So those girls weren’t just lying on him like he said. ‘He’ was the liar all along, Chasity mused, feeling slapped again. She also felt like a fool and a slow boil of anger began on the inside of her, steadying her body against any pain she might have felt from Marcos’ cruel words.

“Keep your money, Marcos! I’ll take care of this on my own!” Chasity shouted into the receiver. Then she walked over to the nightstand and slammed the phone down on its white base. I should have stayed with Larenz, she mused, suddenly mindful of the young man that Marcos had wooed her away from. The same young man whose heart she’d broken when she dissolved their relationship a year ago because she was secretly starting to feel something for the architectural student who had just now broken her heart.

I guess what goes around, really does come around, Chasity mused, believing that she was somehow reaping for an earlier offense. But I broke up with Larenz in a much nicer way than this, Lord, she complained.

Chasity had delicately let her first serious boyfriend down. As a matter of fact, she’d cried heartfelt tears of apology during the whole breakup conversation. Chasity hated telling Larenz that they could only be friends from that point on because she didn’t share the depth of his feelings anymore, even if it was true. And a part of her had wished that she could have felt as deeply for him as she did for Marcos. It would have certainly made her life much simpler, especially now.

Then whether she had Marcos by her side or not, a determined Chasity wiped her eyes and went into the living room to break the news to her father alone. At least I can still count on my daddy to stand by my side even if he is bound to be angry and disappointed with me, she mused, feeling more than a bit angry and disappointed with herself right now.

********

Marcos hung up the phone with desire instead of anger pulsating furiously throughout his body. He couldn’t believe how fiery Chasity had sounded on the phone just now. Where was the shy girl from earlier today? Or from the whole of last year for that matter? Then as Marcos thought about how passionately she always behaved in bed, he realized that that delicious fire had been inside of Chasity all along.

Now I ‘know’ I have to get out of town quick, Marcos thought, lest he change his mind and end up not only making love to that beautiful preacher’s daughter (with her wonderful contrasts) again, but also marrying her.

© 2006 Suprina Frazier

Comments

kris said…
the guy needs help, i really hope Chasity finds the support that she needs from her father.

Popular Posts