My Ward My Woman

Solomon took one look at me as I came in and whatever plans he’d had with that loose woman were forgotten as he took me up the stairs and took care of me himself. I’m ashamed to say that after that incident I tried the same stunt in different variations from time to time.

I’m not sure he ever caught on, but I started to feel guilty the older I got and the shame was more than I could stand so I stopped. It was the fact that he gave so much without question, and here I was sabotaging his life. I was smart enough to know there could never be anything between us. From all the talk I heard around the school yard, I knew that men and women did things that little girls had no business even knowing about.

So instead I held my dreams in my heart, looking forward to the day when I would be old enough for him to notice me. It wasn’t easy having to pretend that I liked his girlfriends, and I lived in constant fear of him marrying one of them. But one innocent question to grandma had put my fears to rest. I’d simply asked had she met the latest girlfriend, I think I was fourteen or fifteen at the time.

Her answer that he’d only introduce the girl he was going to marry to his family and that no she’d never officially met any of the women he’d dated since he became a man, had lightened my heart considerably.

Of course after that I kept a close eye on his affairs and until Jessica I never felt that fear in the pit of my gut again. I could tell that he was fond of her, if not that he was ready to start a family of his own. The old me reared her ugly head and I was willing to do anything to take him away from her.

I didn’t know the first thing about winning a man’s affections, and so one day I broke down and told grandma what had been in my heart forever. Of course she shot down the idea, but she didn’t dash all hope. She was right, I was too young, but I was afraid that if I waited much longer Jessica would get her hooks into him and I’d be left all alone again.

Had Jessica been a better person I maybe would’ve felt an ounce of remorse for going after her man, but I’d seen her true face once too often. Like the way she’d sneer and bully me when Solomon wasn’t in the room, but once he returned she’d be all smiles again and showing an interest in how I was doing in school.

She was forever treating me like a child in front of him, like any seventeen year old wanted to be patted on the head and spoken down to like she was an imbecile. I hid my hate of her well, but I’d followed grandma’s rules, I’d done as she asked and my year was almost up.

That’s when we came up with the plan to seduce him, starting with the night of my birthday party. Everything I’d done since then had led to this. We were happy, he loved me as more than just the orphan he’d taken in. He loved me as a woman, his woman. Being with him was ten times better than I’d ever imagined, and I had no doubt we would’ve gone on to have a happy life if not for her.

Now I was trapped in the house alone with her. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she’d been watching to see when Solomon left to make her move. He’d barely cleared the driveway when she showed up. The staff had already gone since we were having dinner with his mom, and he’d left on a last minute errand while I was supposed to be getting dressed for the night.

“I told you he’s not here, maybe you should call him.” Like you do every damn hour. You’d think she was the first woman to carry a child the way she carries on. She’s not even showing yet and already her demands are mounting.

“Actually, I’m here to see you.” She moved around the room running her hands over the expensive antiques like she was pricing them for auction.

“Me, why?” She hadn’t said anything as yet but I was pretty sure she had to know that we were now a couple. The whole town knew for crying out loud. Was she here to tell me to back off? I’d thought of that once, for all of two seconds.

I didn’t want to deprive his child of his love having experienced it myself first hand. But I had no doubt he could love the child well enough if he weren’t married to the mother which I’m sure is what she was after.