Spontaneous. Brenda Jackson

      Then there was Albert Higgins, a maintenance man in the apartment complex her mother had moved into after her divorce from Boris. There was something about Albert that Kim hadn’t trusted and her suspicions were confirmed when he’d been arrested for his part in a car-theft ring.

      And last but not least was Phillip Gunter, the one who’d tried coming on to her. During all her mother’s marriages Kim had been away at college and was only around the men whenever she came home for spring break or the holidays.

      She’d known from the first moment she’d seen Phillip that he would be trouble, and when he tried cornering her in the laundry room, she had used the knee-jab-in-the-groin move that she’d seen on television. When her mother had rushed downstairs after hearing the man howling in pain, he’d had the audacity to tell her that Kim had been the one trying to come on to him. Of course her mother hadn’t believed it and had sent him packing.

      So after four failed marriages, Kim hoped her mother would eventually find someone to make her happy. But with Wynona’s track record, she wasn’t so sure of that happening.

      “Tell me all about nice Edward,” Kim said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

      “Edward and I met at the grocery store and things between us began getting serious pretty fast.”

      Kim rolled her eyes. “I bet.”

      “You’re going to like him.”

      I doubt it. That’s what you said about the others. “When can I meet him?”

      “Um, when you come to the wedding in three weeks.”

      “What!” Kim nearly jumped out of her seat.

      “Are you all right, Kim?” Duan asked, leaning close to her in concern. His heated breath against her cheek had sensations stirring within her.

      She nodded quickly and whispered, “Yes, I’m fine.”

      “Kim, who are you with? The man you’re engaged to?”

      Kim rolled her eyes and shook her head. It had been nearly two months since she’d told that lie and now everyone was still waiting to meet her fiancé.

      “Kim?”

      Instead of addressing the issue of her fabricated fiancé, she said, “Mom, you can’t get married in three weeks. What do you know about this guy?”

      “I know enough to believe Edward is a good man. He’s a divorcé like me and we enjoy each other’s company. He asked me to marry him and I accepted. Be happy for me. I’m happy for you. You don’t know how happy I was when you told me and Aunt Gert about your guy. For so long I’ve blamed myself for you not wanting to get married because I stayed with your father when he was so abusive to me. I know that’s what turned you off marriage. I should have left him sooner.”

      Yes, you should have left him sooner, Kim thought. Not for my sake but for your own. Although she would be the first to admit she’d never wanted to marry because of the abuse she’d witnessed by her father, she didn’t want her mother to feel guilty about that.

      Kim pushed frustrated air out of her lungs. “Mom, please promise you won’t do anything until I get there.”

      “And when do you plan to come? The family wants me to have another wedding, but Edward and I are tickled with the idea of just taking off and flying to Vegas and—”

      “No, Mom, please not Vegas again. Haven’t you learned anything?”

      “Kimani Cannon, I won’t allow you to take that tone with me. I didn’t call to get your permission to marry Edward. I’m just letting you know about him. But if you really want to meet him, then I suggest you make time to do so.”

      “I think that I will, Mom.”

      “Fine. And don’t you dare come without bringing your young man with you,” Wynona said in a stern voice. “I can’t wait to meet him, and like I said, the fact that you’re in love has lifted a load off my heart that I’ve been carrying around for a long time.”

      “Mom, I—”

      “No, sweetie, please let me finish. I know you don’t understand why I keep going from man to man. Maybe I’m trying to find something I missed out on all those years I was with your daddy, letting him hit me around. I’m fine now. I like Edward. He’ll be good for me. But to know that you’ve gotten beyond the abuse you saw in our household has been my prayer. I’ve been praying for a good man to come into your life and now he has. I can’t wait to meet him, so don’t you dare think of coming home to Shreveport without him. Goodbye, sweetie.”

      Her mother hung up and Kim realized she hadn’t told her the good news about being accepted into med school. She sighed deeply, knowing she’d gotten herself into a sticky situation with the lie about a fiancé. Sherri had warned her it was bound to catch up with her eventually.

      “Is everything all right, Kim?”

      Kim glanced over at Duan. For a moment she’d forgotten he was in the taxi with her as they cruised through the streets of Chicago on their way to the airport.

      She sighed deeply, and when he opened his arms she cuddled up closer to him. “Is your mother okay?” he asked, concern in his voice.h

      Kim chewed on her bottom lip and then said, “If you call planning wedding number five okay, then yes, she’s doing just fine.”