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      Marriage Vows Under Fire

      Mega Series 1:

      Gold Bands In The Fire

      By Lanette Zavala

      © Copyright 2013, Lanette Zavala and Tonshea Carroll.

      All Rights Reserved

      First Edition

      Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com

       http://www.eBookIt.com

      ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-1796-7

      No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

      All scriptural reference is taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

      It was Javier. Shasta hadn’t expected him to call since he had seemed so disinterested in her earlier at the park. She deliberately stayed silent as she held the phone.

      “Are you okay?” He asked her.

      “You wait until now to ask me?” She replied firmly. “You saw your mother lighting into me at the park, and you made not one move to see whether I was okay then.”

      Now, Javier was quiet. If his loss for words caused him any discomfort, it simply wasn’t enough punishment, Shasta felt. She longed for some kind of assurance that he really loved and prioritized her. But from the beginning, there was never any evidence.

      “I think if you had been a little more subtle in the way you left…” he began.

      “When can I ever be relieved of blame for your mother’s actions that have long existed before I came into your life, Javier?”

      “You’re right. It is her fault. It’s all her fault. Man, my mom ju-…”

      “Sorry I made you feel like your mother was the one at fault for our problems overall. She was wrong. But she wasn’t the primary one at fault for the way I felt. For the rejection I felt when those women passed by us...She may encourage you to entertain your manly urges but you’re the one who gives in to them – despite me.”

      “What women? Who are you talking about?”

      Shasta wanted to hang up. “Are you going to pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about? You certainly didn’t pretend when they walked by you and when you distanced yourself from me at the park so they could pay more attention to you.”

      “Shasta, no other woman means anything to me,” Javier told her with plea in his voice for her understanding. “No other woman can do anything for me. Only you!”

      “Javier, look down on your left hand and tell me what you see.”

      “Only my wedding ring, Mi Amor.”

      “And what does that mean to you?” She tearfully demanded.

      “It means you’re the only woman who has anything to offer me,” he replied with the sincerity he had always expressed when telling her his feelings. “No other woman.”

      “I’m more than the only woman who can do anything for you. I am the woman. When you see that wedding ring, neither bad nor good thoughts of any other woman should come to mind. When I see my wedding ring, I don’t think, ‘Oh no other man can do anything for me.’ When I made my vows to you, there was no room for comparing you to somebody else, Javier. You became the only man in my life – period. Your good looks, your charisma, your charm, and even your money are all going to come to an end. And I vowed to still love you and commit to you with no other man in mind.”

      “Yeah, I feel like that, too,” Javier answered desperately. “The way you just said it.”

      Shasta shook her head and scoffed hopelessly. “But cheating is my grounds to move on, Javier…”

      “What is with you these days?”

      “I can ask you the same thing, Jimmy. Your attention is on everything else except me and the kids. You only come to me in private for intimacy. I need your time and your love.”

      “Baby, look around you. Do you see the size of this back yard, the swimming pool…that oversize garage apartment for Tori, the six bedrooms…the media room? To get it all, I had to work hard. There are sacrifices to make.”

      “But the sacrifice shouldn’t be me and the kids, Jimmy. Money will never love you like I do.” She pulled him closer in a hug as they continued to move perfectly to the beat of the ballad. For the calm in her heart, she needed to feel him in a promising embrace. His presence, which she so often desperately missed, was all she wanted to cling to that moment. Closing her eyes, she spoke softly into his ear, “Money will never commit to you like I will as your wife from the altar after we’re finally married.”

      He affectionately returned her squeeze with his own. For the first time all Sunday, Jimmy was quiet. The many guests surrounding them seemed invisible.

      “We just need more of you,” she added softly. “The kids are aching for their father. And as for me…”

      “I’m glad you’re here,” she replied, hoping they could bury their differences in the love they shared, as they were able to do during their courtship and engagement. “Can we talk?”

      “Oh, Tammy, there’s nothing to really talk about,” he practically whispered regretfully. “You know what pushes my buttons – calling me a foul name…”

      “Louis, I didn’t curse. I called you a jerk because I was so mad that you had cursed and…”

      He held up a firm finger only inches from her face. “I…don’t…ever…want to be disrespected. Do you understand that?”

      Her eyes, which had deeply searched his, lowered with the drop of her head. But Louis lifted it by her chin again – gently though not as she would have preferred. “Tammy, do you understand me?”

      “I understand.”

      “And do you understand that, under no circumstance, are you to shove religion down my throat again?”

      “Have I ever…”

      “Do you understand that?”

      “I do.”

      He finally removed his finger from her chin. She didn’t realize how free she felt when she was untouched. “Are you still mad at me, Louis?”

      He shrugged as he fixed his eyes on hers with a different attitude – a softer, more familiar one to her. She knew the look. His loving side was like a dream. At that moment, her heart was again like a warmed spring zephyr. Still stricken by his attractiveness, Tammy froze in place as she watched him step closer toward her – closing the space between them. And just before his lips could meet hers, the kitchen chime rang.

      “Maybe it’s the new housekeeper,” Tammy suggested.

      “At the backdoor?” Louis crossed the large kitchen and opened the door. There he found their new landscapers, Rodney and Fernando, standing side by side. “You guys finished? Tammy, did you leave the check on the counter?”

      “Here it is,” she offered retrieving the thirty-five dollar payment from the kitchen table.

      “I have to tell you guys we need more professional work done on our lawn,” Louis announced sternly. “I’m afraid this will be your last job with us.”

      Handing the check to her husband, Tammy frowned at his tone. “Louis!”

      At once, Louis turned his head toward his wife and grimaced. Tammy cringed at his response. Lately, every mere hint of opposition was perceived as disrespect by him.

      Rodney took an instant to notice the tension between the couple before he responded with a sneer that distracted the Goldsmiths and took them both by surprise. “Oh,

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