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| Forever by Timmothy McCann 
They were going on their honeymoon the next week. The wedding was planned in minute detail. Everything was rehearsed, from the order the attendees would march down the aisle to the best man’s toast. But Betty never counted on the rain. She never anticipated having to move the wedding inside the church. The thought that her day would feel like a nightmare had never crossed her mind. But most of all, she did not anticipate that she would feel alone. As a child, Betty dreamed of the day she would marry. He would be the one man she loved and they would say I do in a small chapel, on a hill, before God, family and friends. Doves would fly above the church and she and her groom would walk outside to be greeted by well wishers releasing butterflies into a Florida-blue sky. With the air sweetened with lilacs, they would pose for the perfect photograph and she would squeeze his hand just to remind herself that it was the moment she'd waited her entire life to enjoy. But she never imagined, as she stood before the church window on the rain-swept afternoon watching the Mercedes approach, that he’d be late, that her teeth would grind, and that she'd feel trapped between her head and her heart. Her stomach constricted like a boa as she watched the approaching black automobile from the pastor’s study. Although she could not walk away, she could not will herself to say, 'I don't.' And then the vehicle pulled into the vacant lot used for parking beside the church. As a lady opened the door and released her purple umbrella to shelter herself from the storm, Betty felt a hot, awful joy, because it was not Drew, and there was still a chance he wouldn't show at all. Pacing in her gown, she beckoned the voices in her head to be silent. Her foster-mother's voice shrilled, 'He's a good man and how many good colored men are there today?' Friends told her how lucky she was to find a man like Drew Staley, and warned her not to let him slip away. She'd asked herself so many nights before, "How do you leave the best man to have ever come into your life?" and never had an answer.
Forever: Part 1 | Forever: Part 2 | Forever: Part 3 | Order Forever |
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