Becoming Mrs. Right

by Sherri L. Lewis

Genres: African American Christian

Synopsis

So, she' s made a career of it. She thought she had struck gold a few years back when she was lucky enough to get pregnant by Devon Wright. She knew they' d get married, he would take care of her and her baby, and she' d be set for life. What Shauntae didn' t know was that it' s much harder to keep a man than it is to catch him. Now she' s lost custody of the child and the child support check and has to go back to hustling. Shauntae is lucky enough to get herself pregnant by Gary Jackson. She knows she has to figure out how to be a good wife to Gary and a good mother to their child to keep herself in his big, fancy house and his big, fancy car. She has to learn to talk " proper" and say all the right things at the right time. The absolute worst thing is that Shauntae must learn how to be a " church girl." When issues with Gary' s ex-wife and kids threaten Shauntae' s " get married and stay married" plan, it' s actually God that helps her out. Shauntae decides that instead of hustling God, she might want to get to know Him. But can an ex-hustler really shed her old ways and become a true Christian, and a good wife and mother?

Release date: December 1, 2013

Publisher: Urban Books

Print pages: 288

Sample

Shauntae slammed down the phone. She hated, absolutely hated Devon Wright. He had ruined her life in so many ways and this was the worst yet. First, he had kicked her out of his house when the child they had together was only six months old. Then he hadn’t married her like he had promised. But putting out an arrest warrant on her so she had to leave Atlanta? That was too much.

She had called to beg him to lift the warrant, but he wouldn’t even listen. He just said no without giving her a chance.

Shauntae’s door creaked open and her mother slid into her room. “So that’s what you been keeping from me, huh?”

“Why you sneaking around listening to my phone calls?” Shauntae sat up on the bed and folded her arms. She stared straight in her mama’s face.

Mama folded her arms and stared back. Funny that she wasn’t a very big woman, but something about the way she talked to and treated people always made her seem a foot taller than she really was.

The bedroom felt too small for the both of them. It looked like the many rooms Shauntae had grown up in, moving from housing project to housing project with her mother, sister, and brother. How in the world did she end up back under her mother’s roof? She swore when she left that she would never, ever, come back. But here she was. Sleeping in a twin bed like she was a child.

Not only was she not a child, she was gonna have a child in about five months.

After a few minutes of staring each other down, Shauntae finally looked at the floor. Her mother sat in the chair opposite the bed. “You been here three months with a warrant out on you and ain’t said nothing?”

“It’s a Georgia warrant, Mama. Can’t nothing happen out here in California.”

“What you do?”

Shauntae knew she wasn’t showing no motherly concern. She was just nosy and liked drama.

“It ain’t important.”

“It is important. If I been harborin’ a fugitive, I got a right to know what she did. I needs to know if my life is in danger.” Mama chuckled. “And here I thought you was coming home because you missed me and wanted me to help you raise your child.”

“Whatever, Mama.”

They sat there in silence for a few moments. Shauntae knew her mother wouldn’t leave without knowing what happened. And the next thing out of her mouth would be how Shauntae had stayed there rent-free for three months and had been fed and provided for. She didn’t feel like having all that thrown up in her face, so she started trying to figure out how to tell the story.

“Me and Devon started having problems—”

“Started having problems? Y’all been having problems since before your child was born.”

Shauntae glared at her mother. “He got a girlfriend and things got worse.”

Mama laughed. “Ain’t that always the case? Another woman comes along and they get all tight in the pockets.”

“Yeah, and I lost any chance of ever making Devon marry me.”

“Shauntae, please. That man was never gon’ marry you. You shot too high with that one. Ain’t he a computer person or something like that? How you thank you was gon’ keep a educated man with that empty head of yours?”

Shauntae pressed her lips together. The last time she had cussed her mother out, things hadn’t ended well. She had found herself on the street at age seventeen, left to pick up the same habits she had grown up hating her mother for. Shauntae had sworn her life would never get so low that she had to hustle men to pay rent and eat. But she had ended up doing exactly that.

Her mother kept fussing. “I done told you don’t be looking for no smart, rich man to marry you. Give ’em some good sex that keeps their pockets loose for as long as you can. If you do get pregnant by one, let it be a married one you can blackmail for money because he don’t want his wife to know. That’s how you get set for life. But this dream you got of marrying somebody rich and smart to take care of you, you need to let that go. Like I been telling you for years . . .”

Shauntae zoned out from the sermon her mother had preached too many times. Mama was right, though. She should’ve never thought she could hold on to Devon Wright. When she first met him, she had planned to do him exactly like her mother had taught her.

She had seen Devon a few times in one of the many upscale bars where she went looking for sponsors. He was always drunk and she could tell he was dealing with some serious mess. Some woman had probably broken his heart and so he needed some sexual healing, which she was all too ready to give.

After the first time they hooked up, he was drunk every time she went to his house, half naked under a long trench coat. He invited her into his bed without much conversation. She didn’t have to fake being smart or having some culture like she usually did.

The day she realized she was pregnant, she knew she had struck gold. Devon was a good man. He wouldn’t be like the many other guys who slid her money for an abortion. Plus, she had waited to tell Devon she was pregnant when it was too late to get an abortion legally. She showed up after disappearing for a few months and gave him the news. She didn’t make the usual threats she made when she told a guy she was pregnant. Even though he had bent over sucking air like she had punched him in the stomach, she knew Devon would do the right thing.

And he did. She left that day victorious, making plans to move in his house and start counting the days to her wedding.

Her mother stopped her sermon and interrupted Shauntae’s thoughts. “Wait a minute. Devon got a girlfriend? So y’all wasn’t messin’ around anymore?”

Shauntae sucked her teeth. “Devon hadn’t messed with me since I told him I was pregnant.”

Mama frowned. “But you was living with him for a while. Y’all wasn’t . . .”

Shauntae shook her head. When she’d moved into Devon’s house, she figured they’d still have good sex on a regular, but he didn’t touch her. She hadn’t had the good sense to know that was a sign of how things would end up.

“How a man gon’ live in the house with a woman and not have sex?” Mama asked.

“Like you said, he was educated.” Shauntae never told her mother that she “caught” Devon while he was drunk. Things changed after he was sober. “When I moved in, he wanted to talk all the time. Always wanted to know what I was thinking, what I thought about stuff that happened on the news and in politics and all sorts of stuff. And he was smart. And it didn’t take him long to realize that I wasn’t.” Shauntae had known after their first conversation at the dinner table that she was in way over her head.

It wasn’t long before he would hardly speak to her. He would come home from work and watch TV or read or be on his computer. Which was fine with her. As long as she had a roof over her head and food to eat, it didn’t matter if he talked to her. In fact, it was easier not to have to try to sound intelligent or understand what in the world he was talking about.

He took her to her prenatal appointments and bought whatever she wanted for the baby. He bought some things for her, too, but she didn’t push him too far. When she asked for too much, he would get salty with her.

The only time he was really nice to her was when she went into labor with Brianna. So nice, it surprised her. The whole time she was in the hospital, Shauntae pretended in her mind that Devon was always nice to her, paid attention to her, and really cared about her.

“After a while, it got to the point where he couldn’t stand me, so he put me out.”

Shauntae didn’t tell the whole story. When they brought Brianna home from the hospital, Shauntae knew she wouldn’t make it. Brianna cried and wanted to eat every two hours. After a couple of weeks of having to get up and make bottles, Shauntae was mad she let her breasts dry up. It would have been easier to breastfeed in the middle of the night. But she didn’t want her titties all floppy. It was clear by then that Devon wasn’t going to marry her and she wouldn’t be able to catch a new man with saggy titties.

Brianna was always peeing and pooping and needing her diaper changed. Sometimes she cried and Shauntae couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. She couldn’t imagine why any woman would trap a man by having a baby because it was too much work. It woulda been easier to get a real job.

And then when Devon’s parents had come, she was completely busted. Devon was at work most of the day so he couldn’t see how bad she was messing up. But Devon’s mama watched everything she did. She never said nothing, but there was this look in her eye that said she knew Shauntae wasn’t no good mama.

Shauntae wasn’t surprised when Devon’s parents said they were moving to Atlanta. She wasn’t surprised when Devon told her she had to get her own place when Brianna was six months old.

She was surprised Mama was still sitting in the chair, waiting to hear more of the story. She never listened to or cared about Shauntae. The most she ever did was preach to her about how to catch a man.

“So even after you moved out and he was paying child support, he still wasn’t getting none?” Mama stared at her, perplexed. “But wait a minute, if you collecting child support, why you been acting all broke since you been out here? Where your check been going every month?”

Shauntae bit her lip. “I don’t get it no more.”

Her mother stood up, hands on her hips. “You lost your check? You carried a baby in your belly for nine months and raised it all those years and you ain’t got nothing to show for it?” Her mother paced around the tight room. “And you got a arrest warrant on you? Shauntae, what did you do?”

Shauntae sat there, swinging her legs and biting her lip like she was a little girl again. “Well, what had happened was, Brianna got sick—”

“Brianna?”

“My daughter.” Shauntae rolled her eyes. “Brianna got real bad sick with diabetes and I couldn’t take care of her by myself. The first time she stayed with me after she came home from the hospital, I messed things up and she had to go right back in the hospital. So Devon was scared for her to be with me. So I had to let her go live with him.”

“I can understand that,” Mama said. “You ain’t really mother material and a sick child ain’t easy to deal with. Especially with sugar. So that explains how you lost the child and the check, but what about the warrant?”

Shauntae wished she didn’t have to tell the rest. “My rent got behind so I needed money bad. Even though Devon said he was taking Brianna full time, the court papers still said I was supposed to get child support.”

“Wait a minute. You let the check go without going to court first? How you—”

“If you would stop interrupting me . . .” Shauntae stopped herself. She knew better than to raise her voice at her mama and wondered if, at thirty-two, she was finally too old to get slapped. She didn’t want to find out, so she lowered her voice. “That’s why I did what I did. I needed some money, so I picked Brianna up from school and told him to get me my check and I would give her back to him.”

The next part was so bad Shauntae didn’t want to say it out loud. “But I gave Brianna too much insulin and she got bad sick again and caught a seizure. The ambulance came, but right after that, the cops showed up to take me away.”

Her mother frowned her question instead of interrupting.

Shauntae explained, “The first time Brianna got sick staying with me, it was because . . . I sorta kinda left her in the house alone and Devon found out about it. So he got me in trouble with this social worker who got me in trouble with the police.”

Mama got up and started pacing again.

“It wasn’t my fault. I was about to get kicked outta my apartment. I needed a new sponsor. I had to go.”

Mama’s pace slowed down a little. “Keep going.”

“The police came to get me while the ambulance people was working on Brianna and I left. And came here.”

“That’s real low, Shauntae. Leaving your child sick like that.”

“What you expect me to do? Go to jail?”

“I never once lost none of y’all to the system and I never woulda done nothing low like that.”

“Oh yeah, you was a real good mama.” Shauntae rolled her eyes. “The best.”

Even though Mama was older, she still moved like she did when Shauntae was a little girl. Before she could blink, Mama was up in her face with her hand drawn back.

Shauntae stood up fast. “You gon’ slap your pregnant daughter?”

They stood facing each other for a few seconds until Mama finally put her arm down and went back to her chair. She gave Shauntae a look that said she was lower than dirt. “So whose baby is this?”

“His name is Gary. Gary Jackson.” Shauntae couldn’t help but smile thinking about him. Now that was a real man. He was a much better catch than Devon. Shauntae was disappointed the first time she had went to Devon’s house. He dressed like he was a serious baller, but his house was small and old and his furniture was cheap looking.

Gary had as much money as he looked like he had. Big, pretty house, fancy Lexus, expensive suits. He was a baller for real. With him, she wouldn’t have to worry about nothing for the rest of her life.

“So what’s his story?” Mama sat on the edge of her seat like she was watching the latest episode of Single Ladies.

Shauntae didn’t want to hear all the mean things Mama would say if she told her Gary was waiting for her to come back to Georgia so they could get married.

Her phone rang. She looked down at the caller ID. “It’s Gary. I need to take this.”

Mama didn’t move. “Why he calling you so late?”

“Mama, please get out. I need to take this call. And don’t be standing outside my door listening, either.”

Shauntae shook off her frustrations with Mama, Devon, and her whole situation so she could focus on her conversation with Gary Jackson. Even though her mama didn’t believe she could pull it off, she had to find a way to get this guy to marry her.

“Hey, baby, how you doin’?” Phone conversations with Gary wasn’t easy. Shauntae had to try to sound proper and educated. And if she messed up, she couldn’t distract him by licking her big, juicy lips or leaning forward to give him a better view of her cleavage like she could in person.

“I’m fine, love. How are you and my baby doing?” His deep voice made her stomach feel funny. Mama had taught her never to make the mistake of falling in love with a sponsor, but hearing Gary’s voice made her feel some kinda way.

“We’re fine.”

“How’s your mother? Good, I hope. I need her to hurry up and get better so you and my baby can come home.”

“She’s better, but I’m not sure I can leave her yet.” Shauntae had gone straight to the Greyhound station when the police had come to her apartment to pick her up.

She told Gary she had gotten a call in the middle of the night that her mother was sick and she had jumped on a plane to California. He was upset that she didn’t give him a quick call to let him know she was leaving. She’d said her mother was in critical condition and all she could think of was getting there as fast as she could so she could be there, holding her hand if she died. Some old Lifetime junk, but he had believed it.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come out there?”

“No!” she almost yelled. “I mean . . .” Shauntae calmed herself down. “I don’t want you to have to leave work and come all the way out here for Mama. She’ll pull through this.”

“Shauntae, I’m not trying to be selfish but I really want to see you and my baby. Business is good right now. I can take some time off if I need to.”

Panic rose up in her chest. She didn’t need Gary to fly out to California and find her living in the hood in L.A. rather than in Orange County where she had told him she lived. He would see her ghettofabulous mother smoking cigarettes, talking trash on the front porch, and doing just fine . . . other than being evil.

And then he wouldn’t marry her and take care of her and her baby. She couldn’t afford that. This might be her last chance. It had taken her a long time to get pregnant—longer than ever before. Maybe it was all the abortions. Or maybe it was payback for what she had done to Brianna.

“They said they needed to do a couple more tests and then maybe Mama could come home. Let me see what happens tomorrow and then I’ll let you know.” Shauntae knew she wouldn’t be able to hold Gary off much longer. Ever since she told him she was pregnant, all he talked about was her coming home.

She had met Gary pretty much the same way she met Devon. She was in desperate need of a new sponsor and so had gone to one of her favorite upscale restaurants in Buckhead.

She had studied all the men in the place. There was the man twisting his wedding ring, probably wanting to have a night in bed with a woman he didn’t have to worry about keeping happy. He looked like a man who would go back to his wife quickly, so the payout would be small.

There was the rich-looking player at the end of the bar, tossing back expensive drinks. Players were real tight with they money. Shauntae didn’t mind sleeping with somebody, but she had to know there would be some financial gain behind it.

Then there was Gary. He had been nursing the same drink for more than an hour. Not because he was too broke to buy another drink. His suit, shoes, and watch said he wasn’t broke at all. He looked like he felt guilty to be drinking. Like drinking wasn’t his usual thing, but he was nursing some pain that needed more than a Coke. Which made him a good man with a problem—her specialty. All she had to do was figure out the problem and make him realize that a night in bed with her was the answer.

“Okay, I’ll be waiting to hear from you. We have to get married soon, Shauntae. We have to make this thing right with God.”

“I know. God knows our hearts. He forgives us.” That was the only thing she hated about this whole thing with Gary. Pretending like she gave a crap about what God thought. She had hated God since she was a child. He had never done nothing good for her. In fact, for most of her life, He had proved that even though she was supposed to be His child, He didn’t care nothing about what happened to her.

“Let’s pray, honey.”

Shauntae rolled her eyes. “Of course, baby.” She didn’t bother to bow her head or close her eyes while Gary droned on about her mother’s health and their baby and their future together. She inserted a few “yes, Lord’s” and a “thank you, Jesus” every once in a while. She knew Gary being a Christian was her best chance of her and her child being taken care of, but that didn’t mean she had to like God. She just had to make Gary think she did.

“In Jesus’ name, amen,” Gary finally finished.

“Amen, baby. I love it when you pray. Oh, I feel God.” Shauntae wished she could fake speaking in tongues to let him know she really felt God, but she didn’t want to push it too far. He might be able to tell she was faking.

“Okay, sweetness. Call me tomorrow after you find out about the test results. I’m serious, if your mom isn’t out of the hospital in the next two days I’m getting on a plane.”

“After your prayer, I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

“I love you, Shauntae.”

“I love you, too, Gary.” She said those words easily now. At first it had been difficult for her to choke them out. She had practiced saying them in the mirror over and over until it was as easy as saying, “I want some chicken wings and a Coke.”

Shauntae hung up the phone, sat up on the bed, and waited. She knew it wouldn’t even be a full minute.

“So I’m sick, huh?” Her mother slid into the room again.

“Yeah, you had a heart attack.” Shauntae couldn’t hide the evil smirk on her face.

“Well, glad to hear I’m doing better.” Mama chuckled. “And you a church girl now?” She busted out laughing like it was too ridiculous to even think about.

“Why you always gotta be jokin’ somebody? I’m trying to make this thing work.”

“I heard you trying to talk all proper. So he’s smart and he’s a church man. Shauntae, do you really think you can—”

“Mama, I don’t want to hear it. Go away and leave me alone.” Shauntae got up off the bed and pulled her suitcase out the closet. She started shoving her clothes into it. She didn’t have many. Only the few she’d been able to grab when she saw the police lights outside her patio door.

Her mother stood there for a few minutes, watching her. “Where you going?”

“’Bout to catch the bus back to Atlanta.”

“You seriously think that man is gon’ marry you?”

“All I can do is try, Mama. When I met him, the first thing out his mouth was how his ex-wife had full custody of they children. He said his children was the most important thing to him and he would die without seeing them. Kids and family are everything to him.” Shauntae rubbed her barely noticeable baby bump. “So I got a chance.”

Her mother folded the jeans and shirts from Shauntae’s dresser and handed them to her to put in the suitcase. “Warrants ain’t actually that bad. As long as the cops don’t pull you over while you’re driving and you lay low and live easy, you shouldn’t have no problems. Still, you should see if you can get Devon to lift that warrant.” She picked up two pairs of shoes in the closet and put them in the suitcase.

“How am I s’posed to do that?” Shauntae picked up another pair of shoes and put them in the suitcase. “Devon’s girlfriend is the problem. Before she came along, I used to could get Devon to do whatever I wanted.”

If Shauntae could have figured out a way to get rid of that sassy heifer she would have. Even if she couldn’t get Devon back, he was easier to manage without a woman in his life.

Shauntae knew she was in trouble the first time she met Cassandra. She was supposed to be all holy and stuff, but when Shauntae had said something smart to her in Brianna’s hospital room, Cassandra had given her a look that let her know she would’ve cussed her out if Devon’s parents weren’t there. She was probably one of those Christian hypocrites who pretended to be all saved, but was as evil as Shauntae when she needed to be.

“When I was talking to Devon on the phone, I could tell he thinks I want to come back to Atlanta to get in his pockets. Even though I told him Gary would be taking care of me, he’s still scared of what I might do to Brianna.”

Mama gave her a look that let Shauntae know she agreed with Devon. “Well, don’t worry about it right now. Stay out of trouble and you should be all right. As for getting Gary to marry you, it’s gon’ take you some serious work to pull that off.”

Shauntae started to say something nasty, but then she saw the look on her mama’s face. The one she got when she was putting a plan together.
. . .