CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The next day at Joan's house, she was crying bitterly. She felt bitter and so bad that she wanted to commit suicide but Jim restrained her.
"Sweetie it is not your fault... Please" Jim said.
"I am not a child Jim! I know how it feels to be in this condition! Your parents commanded you not to marry me and there is nothing you can do about it. You are confused and I can see it all over your face, the question now is why did I let myself into this? I can't stand between you and your parents because they are trying to protect you" Joan screamed and fell to the floor crying. Jim started crying also.
"See Joan, I may be angry, confused, disturbed and all that but I am certain that I won't leave you...never! I am not loving you out of pity, I am loving you with confidence and I am unapologetically happy to show you off. I care for you. I can do anything to make you happy. You are my smile Joan. Please ignore my parents and all the rest of the world and look onto God and I because we will never leave you" Jim said and Joan stood up and hugged him tight.
****
Back in Jim's howntown, Mrs Angela and her husband were fighting tooth and nail for a plan. Mr Bennett had taken to drinking and Angela cursing the day she gave birth to Jim.
"This boy wants to disgrace me" Mr Bennett said with anger in his voice.
"My enemies want to laugh at me... Jim will not marry that girl! He must not marry her! I mean who sees fire and stupidly runs into it? No!" Mrs Angela said in total disagreement and anger.
"I don't know if Jim is attracted to her because of her money but he should know that he is risking his life... No! No matter how tall a child can be, he can never be wiser than his father. I know what to do. I can handle him, don't worry yourself I can handle that boy" Mr Bennett said.
"That is the man I married. Of course I trust you" Mrs Angela said in support.
"You took her number from Jim's phone the day they came right?" Mr Bennett asked to be sure.
"Well No, she and I exchanged our phone contacts. What's that going to solve?" Mrs Angela asked and her husband smirked.