Chelsea nodded. She returned his brief kiss as he left out of the bedroom. When she was alone, she redressed herself. This time, she was going to be prepared. She settled on a powder blue dress that stopped above her knees. Since it was the weekend she wasn’t going to force herself into heels, so she settled on a pair of matching blue flats. She combed her hair back into a decent ponytail before she made her way downstairs.
Though she’d just received the grand tour, Chelsea quickly found herself lost again. She walked down the halls, before she heard Matthew and his mother, arguing. Some part of her told her to turn around, walk away, this wasn’t any of her business. She tried to reason with herself that they could be fighting over anything, it didn’t necessarily have to be about her. Still, she got that same awful twisting in the pit of her stomach. A feeling she knew meant something was up. She tiptoed closer, her feet making their way quietly across the floor.
As she approached the closed office door, she could hear their muffled voices getting louder and louder. She lightly pressed her ear against the warm wood. She closed her eyes so she could hear them better. After a moment or two, the voices began to make sense.
“I don’t know what you could possibly be thinking, Matthew. I mean really, a colored girl? This family hasn’t seen a drop of another race in generations, why must we start now?”
“Maybe because I love her. Why are you acting this way? You’ve never said stuff like this before.”
Chelsea could imagine Catherine turning up her nose as she replied. “I haven’t needed to. I thought you understood who we were and what we stand for. Whatever happened to that nice girl, Emily I think it was?”
“Oh Emily? You mean, the woman who cheated on me, with my brother and who are currently going out. Great parenting skills, mom.”
“I just don’t see why you need to marry her. You can just see the lack of proper upbringing. At least stick within your class. There’s nothing wrong with being traditional.”
“You mean racist,” Matthew said angrily.
“Oh honey, that’s such an ugly word. I don’t hate them, I just don’t want you marrying one.”
Chelsea felt anger overtake her so fast she didn’t think about what she was doing. She shoved the door open, tears of anger in her eyes. She looked from mother to son, scoffed and turned around. Chelsea wasn’t sure where she was going, but she suddenly had the urge to run.