“Watch your mouth, Glimmer,” her father warned.
“How can you even defend her? Have you talked to her?” she asked again.
“Yeah,” he admitted. “She told me you didn’t want to talk to me.”
“She’s a fuckin’ liar. She was the main one pushing for me to marry Trick so he would take care of her financially. You know money is her only motivation.”
“That I do know,” he muttered. “Look, baby, this call ain’t about your mother. I’ll deal with her. I hear you’re gettin’ married today. Are you okay?”
She sighed loudly. “It’s a lot, Daddy.”
“If you don’t want to go through with this . . .” He let his sentence trail off. She knew what that meant. He would do everything in his power to find another way.
“No, Daddy. It’s okay. Really. Gideon seems like a good man. Haze vouches for him, which means a lot, and doing this will secure both of our safety.”
“You marrying that man needs to be for you and you alone. I’m gonna be aight no matter what.”
Glimmer shook her head as if he could see her. “That ain’t how this works, old man. I’m doing this for both of us.”
He stayed silent for a moment. “Gideon is a good man. He’s always been a gentle giant. I wouldn’t be okay with this if I didn’t trust him.”
“You vouch for him too. That solidifies it. Plus, I think I can tell that he’s a good man. He’s been really good to me since I got here.”
Silence stretched between them. Juke finally spoke, and there was a lot of emotion in his voice. “I wish like hell I was there.”
“I do too, Daddy,” she whispered.
“Look, I know you gotta go, but call me later, okay? Tell me how everything went. We can talk whenever you want. All you gotta do is call.”
That made her smile. Relief flooded her. She felt like she had a huge piece of her heart back in its place. That was irreplaceable to her.
“I will. I love you.”
“I love you, too, baby.”
She hung up the phone and took a moment to relish in the sound of her father’s voice before she moved to the mirror to check her face.
There was a knock on the door just as she finished touching up her makeup. Haze poked his head in and grinned. “Damn, sis. You look gorgeous.”
Glimmer had to swallow the lump in her throat. Everything about this day had her emotional. It was a mix of good and sademotions. If only her dad could be physically here, she would feel so much better. She was, however, thankful that she had Haze, Deja, and Kyomi.
And Gideon.
She ignored the small voice in her head and focused on Haze. “Thank you. This is all so crazy, isn’t it?”
Haze gave her an awkward smile. “I ain’t gon’ lie. If this was any other situation, I probably would beat G up for tryna marry someone I consider my little sister.”
Haze walked further into the room and wrapped Glimmer up in a hug. She sank into his embrace. Haze had always felt safe to her. She remembered in elementary school when he beat up a little boy who bullied her, and then again in junior high when she experienced her first heartbreak. He beat that little boy up so badly she found it hard to get another boyfriend until she went to high school with a whole new batch of students who didn’t know how crazy Haze was.
She giggled. “You’ve beat up boys on my behalf before, but I don’t know if you could take Gideon.”
Haze pulled back and looked down at her with a mean mug. “That nigga? Ah, whatever. He’s just big for no reason. I ain’t scared of his soft ass.”
Glimmer slapped his shoulder. “Hey, not too much on my husband.”
Haze’s brows lifted, and he stared at her in wonder. “You like him, don’t you?”
Glimmer blushed. “He’s nice, Haze, but this is still all so crazy. I mean, after you guys do whatever you’re going to do to Trick, then what? Do we get a divorce?”
