Unconditionally Single (25 page)

I
thank the Creator for blessing me with you, the person who has chosen to read
Unconditionally Single.
I pray your life is filled with self-love, peace, and prosperity. FYI, Mary B. Morrison is the name my parents gave me at birth, HoneyB is my pseudonym. I write under both names.

I am grateful and appreciative for the independent booksellers, chain bookstore staffs, and library employees. I don’t know all of you by name but I want to say thanks for supporting me and my career.

My son, Jesse Bernard Byrd Jr., is my pride and joy and he’s the journalist for his basketball team at UC Santa Barbara. You can read Jesse’s Journal online at:
http://ucsbgauchos.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/ucsb-m-baskbl-body.html.
I have to admit, at twenty-two, Jesse writes better than his mom. I’m trying to convince him to write a novel. Somewhere between basketball, college, and his personal life. We’ll see.

I thank and dedicate this novel to Selena James, who’s young, perky, vibrant, wise, and just the best damn editor. My world of writing wouldn’t be the same without my scintillating editor, Karen R. Thomas. My wonderful agents, Andrew Stuart and Claudia Menza, I appreciate all you do.

Both of my parents have made their transitions into eternity, my mother when I was nine years old, and my father when I was twenty-four years old. They blessed me with the greatest siblings—Wayne Morrison, Andrea Morrison, Derrick Morrison, Regina Morrison, Margie Rickerson, and Debra Noel.

Much love to my friends Gloria Mallette, Victor McGlothin, E. Lynn Harris, Richard C. Montgomery, Felicia Polk, Marissa Monteilh, Kimberly Kaye Terry, Vera Warren-Williams, Michele Lewis, Kim Mason, Eve Lynne Robinson, Mother Bolton, and Sarah Brown aka Indie Jackson.

Feel free to hit me up with a piece of your world at www.MaryMorrison.com. Peace and prosperity.

1. What’s your definition of
   unconditionally single?
   I ask this question first because there are too many miserably married people and not nearly enough people who understand how to be happily single.
   
2. I believe couples are better off ending an unhealthy relationship. Have you stayed in a relationship too long? What characters in
   Unconditionally Single
   do you feel should stay together? Why? What characters should not be together? And which characters should have never developed a relationship?
   
3. Do you believe some marriages fail because the couple is incompatible? How important is compatibility? Do you believe opposites attract? Explain.
   
4. Should women bear arms? Do you think the federal government should permit adult citizens to legally carry weapons? Would our country be safer? Why or why not?
   
5. Who do you believe is involved in the disappearance of Luke and London Hill? Jada? Grant? Valentino? Sapphire? Child Protective Services? All of the them? None of them?
   
6. Under what circumstances do you believe it’s better to be married or single? I believe that marriage is overrated and undervalued. What do you think? Why?
   
7. After not caring for his son for years, Benito moved in with his baby’s mother, Tyra. Do you know women who allow men to come and go as they please? Why do you believe Tyra should have allowed Benito in her home and her son’s life?
   
8. Do you believe people can change their ways? Most of the characters changed during the series. Which ones are believable?
   
9. Is it possible for one person to satisfy all of your sexual needs and fantasies? Before answering, what are your sexual needs and fantasies? Do you believe Grant will remain faithful to Jada? Will they marry? Why or why not?
   
10. Do you think Honey should’ve given Valentino eighteen million dollars? Do you feel Honey should’ve allowed Valentino to help her with her business? Do you believe Valentino reformed?
    
11. Considering how Honey was observant of her surroundings, how important is it for a woman to pay attention to details? Do you feel Honey should’ve shot Ken Draper? Should she have killed Reynolds? Does Honey deserve to go to jail? Explain.
    
12. Would you marry a man like Grant? Like Hunter? Valentino? Benito? Why or why not?
    
13. Which book did you enjoy most in the Honey Diaries series? Do you feel there should be a book 4 in this series? E-mail me at [email protected] with your response.
    

Enjoy the following excerpt from HoneyB’s

Married on Mondays

Coming in March 2010 from Grand Central Publishing

WARNING!

Adult Fiction

Sexually Exquisite

If you are not 18 years or older, do not, seriously, do not read this book.

Never Marry for Love

A
ny man worthy of diamonds has paid for the pleasure of pearls. Not the kind embedded in oysters. The pearls of real women cost men time and money. If a man does not provide for a woman and cum bearing gifts that make her smile from the inside out, then no matter how much he loves her, he’s not ready to ask for her hand in marriage. Seriously, if a man does not impress a woman, he’s not the man for her.

Love and marriage, sad but true, you can have one without the other. Would you prefer love without marriage or a marriage without love? Can you have both? Yes, if you are honestly willing to give what you’d like to receive. I say this because once people marry their expectations far exceed their willingness to reciprocate.

Love is the pinnacle of marriage, not the foundation. It takes a lot of work to reach the highest heights of a relationship, marriage included. Most folk see love in the reverse. “If I love you, you won’t cheat on me.” Not true. Instead, before getting married one should say, “If you cheat on me, I will still love you,” and mean it.

Honesty is the foundation of marriage but most people aren’t truthful with their mates or themselves. You know that lil’ somethin’ somethin’ you keep on the side so you can hit, lick it, and stick every now and then. Or the ex-lover whom you secretly reserve a sacred place for in your heart wondering if you’ll ever see them again. Or those bad spending habits or addictions you try to hide from your mate fearing they won’t love you anymore if they knew…the truth about you. Sometimes the things you do would drive you insane if you found out your mate was doing the same yet you do them anyway ill prepared for your consequences.

Realistically, marriage should be viewed as a partnership, an exchange of goods for services. Most marriages are rooted in some form of religion that dictates marriage should be based on love. The origin of marriage vows are older than any existing marriage yet most folk recite them anyway, clueless about the true meaning or what the vows mean to them; they cheerfully oblige when the person presiding over them says, “Repeat after me.” Repeat what? What someone you don’t even know came up with thousands of years ago?

From religious based moral safeguards, to the biblical duty to procreate, to social necessities of right and wrong, to the ultimate belief that family is the fundamental unit of society and the guilt of fornication that states marriage is truly the only legitimate way to indulge in sex, couples stand at the altar craving to have sex. That’s what marriage comes down to you know. Partners are reduced to sex objects. They worry more about who their spouse is having or thinking about having sex with than they are concerned with the overall health of their mate.

I’ve said it before in another book and I’ll say it now, “We should have ‘World Orgy Day’ so we can all fuck and fuck up at the same time.” Is sex a husband’s duty? A wife’s obligation? Would you stop loving your spouse if you caught them cheating? Why? Should you treat your spouse like a child, place them on time-out for bad behavior, make them sit and wait until…you’re in the mood, not for love but for sex? That’s cool as long as you don’t mind them getting a lap dance in that corner or having their needs met elsewhere in the interim. Let’s explore a value that is dormant in today’s society, morals.

Morals. If most people upheld them, many more relationships would succeed. But hey, who needs morals when you have temptation and options? Shouldn’t adults have the right to be happy without feeling guilty? And if being happy means having extra, as in extramarital affairs, pleasantries are plentiful. Especially since most, if not all, married people merely have a license. A license that excludes any agreement or mention that they will not have sex outside of their marriage.

One can marry for love if they’d like (I wouldn’t) because most married folk do at some point in the marriage fall out of love with one another and in love or lust with someone else. I swear I didn’t make this up. The next time you encounter a married couple that’s not on their honeymoon, notice how their marriage has grown into what they should’ve had from the very beginning, a partnership.

If that woman would’ve known before becoming a wife that her husband of decades would leave her for a younger woman or in some cases for a man, she could’ve had a contract instead of a marriage license. Or if that man knew his wife his was going to gain weight to his dissatisfaction after she’d married him, he could’ve negotiated a weight gain limit or married someone else. Contracts allow one to sue for specific performance, breech, monetary recourse, etc. A contract is enforceable; a license is not.

A contract is executed and legally binding by both parties, a license is not. I hear you disagreeing with me on this one. A contract requires performance. A license grants privileges and permission but doesn’t require you to do anything. People stand before one another reciting vows while asking themselves, “What the hell am I doing?” So their, “I do,” really means, “I think so but what if this doesn’t work out? Am I going to have to start over in five, ten, twenty, thirty years?” If you had a contract, you could’ve included a ‘No Penalty Opt-Out’ clause.

Then why get married in the first place, right? Because people not only want, they need somebody to love. That’s natural. Well, in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we do marry for love or lust, but at some point the two overlap and eventually overwhelm people. Especially when the love or lust is redirected to someone outside of the marriage. So how can you control someone’s actions? You can’t.

The couples who marry for material gain, you know, for richer or richer, become stuck like glue to one another because neither can afford the lifestyle they’ve acquired on their own, or they are just too damn selfish to give up half. Especially if they’ve contributed more than half of the household income…” Aw, damn.” Should’ve gotten a prenuptial. Right? Wrong.

That’s why I believe marriage licenses should be abolished. There are no warranties or guarantees with any license. Married couples allow government to dictate their divorce. You don’t need a marriage license to grant Power of Attorney to your mate and you hold the right to terminate a Power of Attorney whenever you want without legal ramifications. If we are free thinking citizens, then we should have to tell the other person why we want to marry them. I don’t mean the things you think the other person wants to hear. Keep it real. Write it down. And draw up contracts that are reviewed by independent attorneys.

Here’s my suggestion. If you want to marry someone, don’t combine your assets. You’ll soon discover how much they really love you. Start off new. Like you didn’t have assets before you met them. Consciously grow your relationship. Each party should earn their keep. Being a housewife is cool but list housewife as your occupation in the contract and make sure you’re compensated, whatever that means to you.

Balance the money. Balance the power. If a man wants a trophy wife (you know the former Miss this or that or the super model) then her monetary compensation should be included in the contract. If a woman wants a boy-toy, he should be compensated too.

But in reality, if you don’t know your self worth before saying, “I do,” I can guarantee you one thing, your self-worth will diminish after executing a marriage agreement. “What the hell? Why would HoneyB say something like that? Marriage is a good thing. Right?”

It can be. But it’s not good for insecure people who are looking for a reason to be unhappy. I mean checking cell phones, pockets, cars, computers, etc. Go on, marry someone who starts tracking your every move like with a damn GPS device. What does that prove at the end of the day? You should’ve married for money because your answer to the Southwest commercial question, “Wanna get away?” won’t be, “I can’t afford to.”

Karma. What goes around comes around. True. But most folk prefer to live by, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Oh, hell with that mentality one might as well draw up the divorce decree before walking down the aisle.

Foxy, Déjà, and Victoria Montgomery are the leading characters in
Married on Mondays.
Every woman should be fortunate to have Mr. Mason Montgomery as their father, a man who not only tells but also teaches his daughters how to think like men saying, “Men are like jobs, accept the job with the best benefits—insurance, working conditions, living environment, severance package, and pension plan.”

In a perfect world, women would be free-thinking individuals whose opinions were valued by men. He’d listen to how her day went, and hear her. He’d touch her and feel her. He’d propose to her without being coaxed or given an ultimatum. He’d care about her overall well-being. He’d put her first. Respect her. He wouldn’t try to control her. He’d realize the children were not her main responsibility but their obligation. He’d close his eyes while kissing her. He’d open his heart and protect hers. In a perfect world, a man would show and tell his woman how much he loves her.

In return, she’d support her man no matter what. She’d believe in his dreams no matter how far fetched. Cook his meals. Wash his clothes. Stroke his ego. Warm his heart with her eyes. Rear their kids. She’d make their house his home. In a perfect world, marriage indeed would be satisfaction guaranteed or your love back.

On Saturday, March 14
^th
, I was driving home (to Oakland) from Anaheim from the Big West Conference after watching my son, Jesse, play in the Men’s Basketball Tournament, listening to a country western radio station. I heard a song that I instantly fell in love with. Toby Keith’s lyrics, “I wish I didn’t now what I didn’t know then,” resonated with me as I hope they will with you.

Some things are better left untold.