I wasn’t sure what words to say next, so I just started grinning and nodding. “I know I ain’t in your league, but I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And the sooner we get married the better.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Damn right, I’m sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I never expected you to . . .” Joyce stopped talking and cleared her throat. “Um . . . I’m not fresh and haven’t been since I was fourteen. I’ve been to bed with a bunch of other men.”
“You ain’t been with nobody but me since last year,” I reminded. “Or was your daddy exaggerating about that?”
“No, he wasn’t.”
“Then what’s your point?”
“I was surprised you didn’t ask me if I knew for sure you were the father.”
“Well, since I know you ain’t been with nobody else since last year, why would I think another man got you pregnant?” I stood up straighter and puffed out my chest. “Joyce, if you snuck out with another man and that’s his baby, I love you so much I’d even be willing to claim it as my own and help you raise it.”
Next thing I knew, she was crying like a baby. I held her even tighter. Her body was as stiff as a pine tree. “I . . . I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” she boo-hooed.
“Well, you better believe it because I meant everything I just said. The first time l laid eyes on you, I knew you was the only woman for me.”
“But you don’t even know me that well, and I don’t know much about you.”
“Look, I know enough about you. What do you not know about me that you want to know?”
“I need to know that if we get married, you won’t ever leave me.”
“Why would I leave? I just told you that you was the only woman for me and that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“You say that now, but some men do change after a while.”
“Joyce, I will change in some ways over time. That’s the law of nature, so I can’t do nothing about that. But one thing that won’t change is my love for you. If you marry me, I will never leave you. The main thing I’m worried about is you changing on me. For all I know, you might be the one to up and run off someday.”
“No, I won’t! I can’t think of anything bad enough you could do that would make me leave you.”
Chapter 11
Joyce
ODELL WANTED TO BE PRESENT WHEN I TOLD MAMA AND DADDY I was pregnant and that he wanted to marry me. But I insisted on telling them alone and not until they got home from the store in a few hours. I was not looking forward to dropping such a big bombshell on them.
I loved my parents, and I went out of my way not to do or say anything that would upset them. I’d only received a few whup-pings a year when I was growing up. They used to brag to their friends about how “perfect” I was and to this day they still thought I was a virgin. They had told me more than a few times that I’d better not spread my legs for any man except the one I married. Mama had told me when I was twelve, on the first day of my first period, that being with a man “in the flesh” was not going to be a bed of roses for me, and that men would “pester” me to do it until the day I died. She also told me that the only acceptable excuse to have sex was to have children. I cringed when I thought about how my parents were going to react when I told them about my condition. I was scared to death.
When I stopped crying, Odell asked, “You want me to drive you home?”
“I can walk or take the bus. And—”
He cut me off and wagged his finger in my face. “Uh-uh! That’s a long walk for a pregnant woman. I ain’t about to let you do nothing that might hurt you or our baby. And one of the first things I want you to do is take a break from drinking.”
“Drinking?”
“No alcohol. Not even elderberry wine.”
I was happy that Odell was so concerned about me and our baby. “I didn’t mean for this to happen,” I said with fresh hot tears flowing down my face again like a waterfall. I hadn’t shed so many tears since I was a baby. But I was not as “upset” as I appeared to be. Things were going just the way I’d hoped they would. I’d been trying to get pregnant for years so I wouldn’t have to grow old alone. Now that I’d reached part of my goal, I no longer cared if I had a husband or not. I was prepared to be a single mother in case Odell took off.
I was so busy thinking about my future and what I was going to name my baby, I didn’t hear Daddy, Mama, and Sadie approach us. “What’s going on here?” Daddy boomed. I was glad Odell still had his arms around me. “Joyce, what you crying about?”
I immediately stopped crying. I never had a handkerchief when I needed one, so I wiped snot and tears off my face with the back of my hand. “Daddy, Mama, we all need to talk,” I sniffled. I paused long enough to clear my throat, and when I spoke again, my tone was much stronger. “I have something to tell y’all, but it can wait until we get home.”
“We ain’t waiting for nothing! Whatever it is, you need to tell us now!” Daddy fired back.
After a stern look from Mama, Sadie skittered back out to her cash register.
“I don’t think this
