My mother’s voice answered on the second ring. “Nadine? Sweetheart? What is it?”
“Mom,” I said, my voice so calm it scared me. “About the marriage you were arranging for me before… the one I turned down because I said I loved Scott?”
“Yes…?”
“Arrange it again,” I whispered, my throat raw, my heart breaking wide open for the last time. “I’m coming home. Please. I’m done here.”
“Please… arrange it. I want it now. And I’m coming home, too.”
On the other end of the line, my mother went quiet. I could hear the faint clink of her bracelet, the rustle of her silk robe — it all felt so far away, like another world.
“What do you mean, Nadine? You chased Scott Jones for ten years,” she hissed, disbelief cracking through her calm tone. “You begged me to stop that arrangement back then because you said you loved him. And now what? You want me to fix this marriage you rejected so stubbornly?”
“I was mistaken,” I said, my throat raw. I sank onto the edge of my bed, knees shaking. “I want to leave, Mom. Please. Have that man you wanted me to marry come pick me up. One week. That’s all I’m asking for.”