Pred. & Preach. Daughter - Ch. 3

Unfortunately, Chasity would soon find out that she did not have her father’s support at all. Boise not only told her that he was ashamed of and extremely disappointed in her, he agreed with Marcos that the baby should be gotten rid of. However, since he didn’t believe in abortion, either, Rev. Bradshaw insisted that his daughter give the child up for adoption. Then to add insult to injury, he got on the phone right in front of Chasity and called his sister down in South Carolina and made immediate arrangements for his daughter to stay with her aunt until she had the baby.

Feeling hopeless abandoned and confused, Chasity walked sadly back to her bedroom an hour later. Nothing had gone the way she’d hoped. Her heart was heavy and the smoldering anger she felt was quickly turning into bitterness towards her father, who couldn’t even look at her now, and towards the father of her unborn child, who obviously didn’t want anything else to do with her, either.

On top of that, Rev. Bradshaw even refused to confront Marcos about the situation because he feared that that would only propel the matter into the public eye. Boise wanted to keep this incident between family as much as possible. He especially didn’t want anyone from their church to know about this.

********

Some time early the next morning, Marcos called to talk to Chasity again. For some reason his conscious would not let him leave town without making sure that she was going to do the right thing by everyone involved. He was surprised to find her still in bed when she normally would be up cooking breakfast for her father before they left for church together. However, he had no idea that Chasity had told her father about the pregnancy. Nor that Rev. Bradshaw had left for church alone this morning and without breakfast because he couldn’t stand to be in the same house, much less eat at the same table with a daughter who’d fallen so far from grace in his sight.

“Before I tell you what you want to know, Marcos, tell me this. What was I to you all this time that you can just pack up and leave me so easily? Was I just another challenge to you? Was I just something that your conquistador heritage couldn’t allow you to see without conquering?”

As a pink pajama clad Chasity waited for his answer, her broken heart no longer craved the man. It now only craved the truth, no matter how much it might hurt. She’d stayed up half the night reviewing their relationship in her mind and had finally realized an important truth that she’d basically ignored before - Marcos had pursued her like a predator hunting a savory prey and Chasity had fallen for his trap hook, line, and sinker.

Chasity’s revelation was absolutely true. Marcos had behaved a lot like his Spanish ancestors who originally patterned themselves after Hernando Cortes, the famous Spanish explorer who conquered what is now central and southern Mexico. Like his Cortes inspired relatives, Marcos skillfully made associations with whom he wanted to conquer. The calculating college student appeared genuinely interested in Chasity as he befriended her in the classes they’d shared, seemed genuinely fascinated as he listened to her hopes and dreams, and acted genuinely patient about her godly principles. When all the while he was biding his time for the day when he could finally get her away from her steady boyfriend and eventually get her to surrender to his will.

Although Cortes had taken more than two years to conquer Mexico, it had taken Marcos only one to conquer Chasity with his feigned sincerity. It pained her that she hadn’t realized this sooner, before she gave her heart and her body to him. And as Chasity thought about how Cortes’ military triumphs led to three hundred years of Spanish domination of Mexico and Central America, she determined deep within that she would not allow herself to be dominated by Marcos’ will another day.

I bet those tears of his were fake, too, Chasity mused, still waiting for Marcos’ answer as she remembered their first night of intimacy with disdain now instead of with her usual jubilation. Then mindful of her current condition, Chasity rolled from her stomach to her back on the bed. Somebody had to kindly consider the child growing in her womb.

Marcos took a deep breath before answering. “Yes,” he finally said, feeling as if he’d been the one conquered instead as he sat in his favorite bean bag chair again with his back facing the window this time. Marcos felt conquered by Chasity’s soft lips, her warm honey-colored eyes, and the feel of her smooth bronze skin beneath his hands, beneath his lips as he’d tasted her time and time again. A part of him wanted to taste her floral-scented skin right now, but he knew that if he did that, he’d never leave town.

“I figured as much,” Chasity replied, accepting the truth for the painful reality that it was. “Well, as for the baby, I’m getting rid of it. My father is handling everything, so like I said before, you can keep your money.” Her tone was matter-of-fact now and lacked none of the warmth it used to have whenever she talked to anyone, especially him.

Marcos felt guilt weigh even heavier upon his shoulders for having hurt such a wonderful person like Chasity for his own selfish gain. And although he was surprised that Rev. Bradshaw would go along with his daughter having an abortion, it pained him that he’d put the good preacher in such an awkward position as well. Marcos had never met a more decent man in his life. He often wished that his own father had been more like Boise. The kind of father that gave his children all the attention they needed instead of always throwing money at them as a substitute for affection and quality time. Marcos would have even tolerated Rev. Bradshaw’s strict principles just to have all the other benefits of being the godly man’s son.

Now the spoiled rich kid from Texas was starting to have severe second thoughts about the decisions he’d made in the last twenty-four hours. Maybe we ‘should’ keep the baby. Maybe we should even get married, the blue jean and black t-shirt clad young man thought, feeling love like never before well up on the inside of him. His father had plenty of money and would gladly give Marcos what he needed to take care of Chasity and their Valdez offspring.

“Listen, Chasity…” Marcos began, ready to throw his fears to the wind and seize this chance at happiness with the woman he loved. The same woman he’d spent all last night thinking about and dreaming about as he craved her love in the night hours.

“No! You listen! I don’t ever want to see or hear from you again. You…you…predator!” Chasity yelled, searching for the right word to call Marcos since her strong Christian upbringing still would not allow her to curse even at a time like this.

Then she slammed the phone down in his ear for the second time in the last twenty-four hours and proceeded to throw the pink item across the room. Chasity was through with Marcos. And if her father insisted on forcing her out of his home and out of his life by sending her away to some hick town in rural South Carolina, she was going to be through with him, too.

Meanwhile, Marcos continued to clench the phone in his hand in a vice grip. He’d been this close to changing his whole life for a woman, so close to surrendering to this thing called love and look where that got him. Nowhere, just like when his father neglected his business for almost a whole year as he tried to locate his songstress of wife after she failed to return home from a European singing engagement.

Quantia Valdez was eventually found in a French villa bedroom with a naked French man. Unfortunately, she justified her infidelity due to the fact that her husband had always been so controlling and her new man treated her more like an equal.

Determined that that kind of thing would not happen with him, Marcos chided himself for that brief lapse in judgment and promptly proceeded out of town on that overcast day. Chasity didn’t have to worry about seeing him again for sure now. Marcos Valdez would never don the boundaries of the state of Colorado again.

© 2006 Suprina Frazier

Comments

kris said…
Issues, issues, ISSUES!!!
ol' dude needs help. i can't believe that Boris has just decided to get rid of Chasity. i mean NO ONE is there for her. but that's okay because she'll end up stronger for this. you know what they say, what don't kill you will only make you stronger.
Suprina said…
AMEN!

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