I loved Samuel. He ate pussy so good he sucked the memory of seeing the white men from my brain and the memory cells in my eyes, if I had
memory cells in my eyes.

Shit, I didn’t know...

Samuel, my baby, then gave me fifty percent of the shares in the company to prove to me he loved me for me.

What black man you knew trusted his woman like that? Wasn’t any Waiting to Exhale shit popping off here?

That wasn’t good enough for Mama.

“I’m about to get married. Can you please leave and send in my matron of honor. I want to talk to her.”

She was quiet for a moment. “That’s
another thing. She didn’t show up.”
I stared at her through the reflection, hands rising to my hips.

“She didn’t what?”

“She called in sick. She said she found out she’s pregnant, that she couldn’t make it to the funeral.”

I was confused. “Funeral? This is supposed to be a wedding.”

I was offended.

“Funeral, wedding, whatever. This shit is crazy.”

There was something she wasn’t telling me. I felt it crawling along my spine but I said nothing.

I pivoted on my heel and looked at my watch. Three o’clock. Why hadn’t Chandra shown up? She never let me down. Never in my life!

“So I guess you got to stand in for me then Mama.” I said it cautiously, slowly. I eyed her.

“Right?” I covered my face with the veil. She looked delighted.

“You can’t talk. You were against Chandra standing up for me since the beginning. And you once told me you’d do whatever it took to stand
up for me. I didn’t believe you. I didn’t think you were that crazy.”

Mama was hiding something. She was smiling too big.

“So…are you calling me crazy?”

“No. Do you want to stand in for me,
Mama?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

I had to keep it together.

“Well go on out, Mama. I’ll be out on cue. I just want to spend a few moments alone with myself as a free woman.”

She got what she wanted. So as far as I was concerned I could die right now and she’d be happy, as long as she got to stand up for me.

“Ok.”

She toyed with my veil and kissed my lips. I averted my face a little too late.
I wouldn’t look at her, and I stared at the marble floor.

“Honey, like me or love me I am your
mother.”

“Mother. Leave, please.”

She laughed to herself, leaving me to my thoughts. When the coast was clear I whipped out my cell phone.

My best friend Chandra was married to a man who neglected her, a man who detested her, a man who used to be her universe until he got caught trying to take me to bed.

I pulled that bozo out the closet.

I took him to her face and told her what he did. And I had a mini recorded taped confessional to prove it.

She cried and attempted suicide...