Afrikan Goddess (AG) Online

Amerley stepped gingerly out her front door that morning, with the urging of her best friend, Adwoa. It was her first time venturing outside in nearly two weeks and she was scared of facing the world of piercing stares, curious minds and mocking tongues. She was supposed to be Mrs. Addo, and enjoying the first few weeks being a newlywed. Matter of fact, she was supposed to have gotten back in town for her honeymoon last night. Wow, how swiftly life can change! Within a span of four hours, her life had gone from splendid to awful.

Now here she was taking baby steps out the door trying to figure out if everyone on the streets had heard of her shame and humiliation. Adwoa had cajoled and prodded to the point where she had given in reluctantly – she felt it was time to at least give it a try. Now here they stood on the corner of Curiosity Boulevard and J Street and she was shivering at the sight of a couple approaching them hand-in-hand smiling at each other and obviously in love. Her heart skipped a beat as she watched them approach.

It was two weeks ago, on a beautiful autumn afternoon. The leaves fell from the trees to litter the grass of the well manicured lawn that stretched out in front of the countryside manor she and her soon-to-be hubby Selasie were set to have their elegant wedding. There was slight chaos outside as her wedding planner barked orders at vendors scrambling to get the place ready for the wedding of her dreams. She had always pictured a fall wedding with the leaves slowly falling in their brown, gold and red finery. The scene was picture perfect as she looked out the window of the dressing room where she had gathered with her six bridesmaids, her mother and her make-up staff. The atmosphere was serene and nothing could go wrong on this picture-perfect day. It was the day she had planned, envisioned, and lost lots of sleep over for the past year since that fateful evening when Selasie had popped the question.

He had been planning the big proposal for a month and Amerley was unsuspecting of that fact. Her family and friends, including Adwoa, were in on it and she was surprised to find out they had hid it from her so well. It was her birthday, and she and Selasie had planned a private dinner at her favorite restaurant, which also happened to be the place where they had their very first date. She loved the Italian restaurant for its romantic ambiance, great service and mouth watering appetizers and entrées. Amerley thought Selasie was only trying to spoil her on her 30^th birthday. Little did she know what she was in for. She had secretly wished for a surprise birthday party, but was content to be having a private dinner with the man she was crazy about. She and Selasie had been dating for a little over a year so she was not expecting a proposal anytime soon. At least in her mind, a proposal wouldn’t be forthcoming for another year or so.

Between appetizers and the arrival of their entrees, Selasie asked Amerley if she wanted to dance. She looked up at him in confusion as he left his seat. There was no music to dance to, and she pointed that out to him as he laughed aloud. As if the restaurant staff had heard her objection to dancing without music, immediately after the words escaped her lips she heard her favorite song by Luther Vandross come on the surround system. By this time other patrons had began to focus on the cute romantic young couple. Wives were nudging their husbands in the rib and girlfriends were giving their men the stare that said, “Why can’t you treat me like that?”  Amerley smiled, such love in her eyes, at the man who was amazing her minute by minute. She thought to herself, “this is only my 30^th birthday; I wonder what he will do when he proposes.”

No sooner had that thought crossed her mind, Amerley saw that Selasie had stretched out his hand to her in an offer to lead her to the dance floor – but his palm wasn’t empty. There was a delicate open black box lined with purple velvet, in the center of which sat the most beautiful princess cut diamond she had ever set her eyes upon. She was beaming from ear to ear trying not to let out the piercing scream she felt threatening to escape her lips. Her mind swirled and her heart was racing as her handsome prince took her hand in his, bent on one knee and looked up at her. She saw his lips moving but was too preoccupied with her own excitement to make out the words that escaped from his lips. It was all a blur and happening so fast. Before she knew it, the lights that were dimmed in one section of the restaurant had now been turned up a notch so that she could now see the faces of the people sitting in that particular area. Among them, her parents – her mother blotting her eyes and her father beaming with pride - her sisters, her brother, close friends from near and far, and her family. “SURPRISE!” they shouted in unison. At first, Amerley thought her mind was playing tricks on her. She began to cry – tears of joy and love and gratitude.

“So, will you?” It was then she noticed that Selasie had finished delivering his speech, had popped the question and was waiting for her response. All she could do was nod her head vigorously. She was too overwhelmed to speak.

“She said yes everybody! The response is yes,” Selasie shouted out to applause by all present. It was the best surprise birthday she had ever had – it was the best birthday ever. Period!

Now, a year later, Amerley was jittery with the anticipation of walking down the aisle to meet her future husband, to seal their love and devotion to each other. Except that it was an hour later and the groom was nowhere to be found. Two hours later, there was still no sign of the groom. At the fourth hour, the verdict had been reached: Amerley’s charming prince had backed out of the wedding at the last minute.

Amerley was jolted back to reality by Adwoa snapping her fingers in front of her face desperately trying to get her attention. Forcing a  smile, and  trying not to show the tears that had welled up in her eyes, Amerley looked at her friend and moved just as quickly to the right just in time to avoid a run in with the approaching couple. Adwoa had already seen the tears and quietly wrapped an arm around her friend’s waist as she gave her a gentle squeeze on the arm. She knew her friend was hurting and that it was going to take a long time for her to get back on her feet. At that very moment she had never hated Selasie more. How dare he do this to her dearest friend? Amerley had a good heart, she was beautiful, successful, and any man would be lucky to have her. She knew it was going to take a lot of distractions to get her friend back on track again and she vowed at that moment to be there for her better than before.

READ PART TWO»