Catherine wouldn’t look at her. Chelsea scoffed, shaking her head. Of course not, people like her never changed. Matthew laid a hand on her lap softly. If it had been any other man, Chelsea probably would have walked away from the whole situation. It wasn’t just any man though, it was Matthew. He’d been there for her, taken care of her, loved her like no one had ever done before. It was harder to walk away from him than she cared to admit. She thought she was being a little unfair. After all, it wasn’t as if he felt that way. In the end, it was all that mattered. She slumped her shoulders forward, stepped out of the car and slammed the door.
“I won’t leave Matthew, because of your ignorance,” she said pointedly at his mother. “If you really think you know who I am because of my race, you’ve got a lot of growing up to do lady.”
Chelsea turned and walked back towards the house. Faintly, she could hear Matthew’s mother trying to start in on him again, but he was in no mood. He ran up to her, put his arm around her waist and walked with her back inside. Despite her front, Chelsea was still very much hurt, but she would be damned if she showed it in front of Catherine.
*****
Sangi and Andrew came back through the front door laughing. When she saw Chelsea, she ran up giving her best friend a hug. Chelsea clung to her for a minute, but she could tell that Sangi was excited. The woman took her hand before leading her to the bedroom she was staying in. When the door was closed, she leaned against it.
“What’s going on?” Chelsea asked.
“I’m in love. I swear Andrew is the sweetest, most thoughtful, smartest man I’ve ever met. We even picked up some stuff for the wedding.” She saw the look on Chelsea’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“I wouldn’t get too in love if I were you. One brown skinned person seems to already be too much for this place.”
“What happened?”
Chelsea explained to her everything that had happened. She tried her hardest to choke back the tears, but they weren’t cooperating. Leaning on Sangi’s shoulder, she sobbed as her friend rubbed her back softly. When she was done, Sangi looked pissed enough for the both of them.
“Fuck her, you don’t need her approval. Matthew loves you, that’s all that matters.” She lifted Chelsea’s head up. “It’s going to be okay. You’ll have the wedding of the century and I’ll be right here to kick her ass if you need me to.”
Chelsea laughed at the thought of her small friend kicking anyone’s ass. Sangi’s general view of life was that peace was bliss. However, knowing her friend felt that protective of her gave her some comfort.
“So, Andrew huh?” Chelsea asked wiping her face off on her arm.
Sangi tried to hide her excitement, but it came bursting out of her. “He’s so sweet! We talked mostly then he held my hand on the way back. It was so romantic,” she said with a sigh.
“You’re so dramatic. Just don’t get too attached, he has a girlfriend you know?”
Sangi’s face fell a little. Chelsea instantly regretted that she had even said anything. As far as she knew it was true, but she hated to see her friend so sad. She laid a hand on Sangi’s softly.
“Why don’t you just ask him if he’s single or not? I don’t know the whole story,” Chelsea said softly.
“What is the story?”
Chelsea told her friend what she’d heard about Andrew. It wasn’t very much, but it still seemed to bother Sangi. She shrugged her shoulders when Chelsea was done.
“I guess I’ll just have to find out.”
Chelsea’s phone began to ring. She leaned over to look at the screen. Mom. She ran her finger over the screen.
“Hi, mom.”
“Hey baby. We’re on our way up there. It’ll be a few hours, but we’ll be seeing you soon.”
Chelsea could hear her father grumbling in the background. He could be kind of cranky, but he had a soft spot for his only child. They bickered for a minute before her mom’s voice came back to the phone.
“Sorry, honey. You know your daddy hates these cell phones. Okay, we’ll see you soon. Love you.”
“Love you too. Bye mama.”
Chelsea bit her lip as she ended the call. Matthew had met her mom, briefly, but he’d never met her dad. She wondered vaguely how the two were going to get along. Knowing her father’s seriousness matched against Matthew’s care free attitude could create problems. Still, Matthew wasn’t in too great of a mood after dealing with his mother so maybe her dad would be okay.
“They’ll be here soon?”
Chelsea nodded. “They should pull up in time for dinner.”
“What are you going to do about Matthew’s mom?”
Chelsea shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I can prove her wrong.”