The Eternal Engagement Read Free Page A

understood why she’d started dating Steven after their breakup. They were both odd, but in different ways. Lincoln couldn’t lie, Mona’s spice and enthusiasm to explore the unknown excited him. If he could marry both Mona Lisa and Katherine, he would.
    Sliding the gold band on Katherine’s left ring finger, Lincoln said, “I need you to pray for me. Pray for me every day. Pray I don’t get killed. Pray I return home safe. I love you, Katherine. I really do. And when I get out, promise you’ll marry me.”
    He pressed his warm lips to hers. Gently dried her tears.
    â€œI promise, William Lincoln. No matter how long it takes, I’ll wait for you,” Katherine said, then hesitated. Her voice trembled. “I was going to tell you after we got our diplomas . . . I think I’m pregnant.”
    That was not what he wanted to hear. Instantly, her words made him regret having sexed Mona without protection. Lincoln held her tighter than he’d held Mona. Katherine made his leaving easier. Mona Lisa could keep the ring, but not answering his question gave him the answer he needed.
    Katherine could keep her ring too. I think I’m pregnant? He thought she was different. Wrong. Katherine was a manipulator. Mona Lisa too. As long as they got what they wanted, they didn’t care about him. Nobody cared about him.
    To his parents in Chicago—who had come to his graduation as though they were visitors—he’d always be the thug/drug dealer/dummy kid they wished they’d never had. He wasn’t any of those things. He was simply trying to fit in on the South Side of Chi-town. The dealers and thugs in middle school loved and protected him because he was a great athlete. Plus, with a 4.0 GPA, how could his parents call him a dummy? He never understood why they’d sent him to Selma to live with his grandparents. Maybe he was his parents’ insurance for them to remain his grandparents’ beneficiaries.
    To his grandparents in Selma, he’d given them a reason to get out of their house. They’d come to his football games. His grandfather would stand on his prosthetic legs and cheer each time he touched the ball. His grandmother’s shaking hands spilled more popcorn than she ate each time she stood. They instilled in him a sense of pride. But his pride was not his passion. Maybe he could change his mind and go to college.
    Neither his parents nor his grandparents cared about his scholarship offers or how he’d earned a slice of the American pie before it was done baking. If he stayed healthy, he could write his own ticket to the pros. That’s what Katherine wanted. Not him. She wanted his money.
    He stood, stared down at Katherine. “Let me know how that works out for you.”
    Lincoln trotted across the fifty-yard line, broke to the left, exited his high school stadium for the last time, and never looked back.

CHAPTER 2
    Katherine
    February 2001
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    â€œO wwww!I can’t pushagain, Mama. It hurts too much,” she cried.
    Sweat rolled from her eighteen-year-old forehead down her neck. The hospital gown, soaked throughout, stuck to her body like a wet rag. She collapsed onto the mattress that supported her back in an almost sitting position.
    Until now, losing her virginity to Lincoln was the worst vaginal pain she’d experienced. Eight hours of sporadic stomach cramping made her feel as though she were dying. How could any teenager survive childbirth?
    â€œI can’t do this anymore. Get it out of me! Cut it out! Pull it . . .” Her words faded into a sobbing cry.
    â€œYou’re doing great, Katherine,” the doctor said. “I can see the crown of your baby’s head. Don’t push until I tell you.”
    Three minutes later, Katherine snatched the sheet, balled it between her fingers, and hurled herself forward as far as her huge, round belly allowed.
    â€œOwwww! This is awful,” she said, flopping