Page 1 of I Changed for You
SYNOPSIS
Throughout her life, Elianna Marshall has struggled to break free from the hold her family had on her. She was nothing like them and proved it every day. Her life is turned upside down when she finds herself in an unexpected situation. In her time of need, she turns to Melijah Hall, the man responsible for her current situation. With Melijah’s help, Elianna has learned to approach problems in a different way. She has also learned to let go of things that were not for her. As Elianna navigates her new life, she has come to accept that she wants Melijah to be a part of it.
This wasone of the reasons I hated coming around my family. They stayed down my back about something. It got tiresome every time they tried to be in my business. They acted as if I was incapable of handling things on my own. It irritated my soul every time they brought up my job and what I should or shouldn’t be doing. It was my life and not theirs, and I lived it the way I saw fit.
We were having breakfast at the kitchen table. The chef laid out a spread of food for us to eat. However, the sight of all the food made me queasy. The aroma of the bacon and eggs got to me, too. I tried to force the nausea down. Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to excuse myself to go to the bathroom.
“What’s this we hear about you being sick on the job?” my father, Elliot, voiced, looking at me. He picked up his favorite Steelers mug and took a sip of the coffee.
I shrugged, picking up my orange juice since that was the only thing I could tolerate at the moment. For the past two days, I had not been able to keep anything down, but I would never tell my parents or sisters that. They’d be ready to tell me to go to the doctor to find out what was wrong. That was their answer for everything when we had home remedies I could try first. Before I stepped foot in a doctor’s office or even the hospital, I wanted to make sure I could cure my illness at home first. I had hated doctors and hospitals since I was a little girl. I had nothing against them, but I would rather just avoid them.
“I don’t know who toting news back to y’all, but they need to mind their business,” I snapped.
Why did people feel the need to go back and tell my business like I wasn’t grown?
My sister Erika smacked her lips. “Girl, there’s no need for all that. He’s just concerned.”
I sent a glare her way. Erika and I didn’t get along all that well since she was the oldest. She could be worse than our parents at trying to tell me what to do. I wouldn’t allow that to happen. Like now, she opened her mouth when she had nothing to do with it. She always felt the need to dip her nose into something that had nothing to do with her.
“And you had nothing to do with this,” I fumed through clenched teeth.
She waved me off. “Okay, Elianna. Nobody’s about to go back and forth with you.”
“Good,” I shot back.
“What’s going on with you?” my mother, Joy, asked me.
Even if I knew what was wrong with me, I wouldn’t tell them. I never liked them all in my business. For one, they werejudgmental, and for another, whenever I did something, they’d try to correct it. In their minds, I was always doing something wrong. If it didn’t fit their needs or how they handled things, my way was wrong. It had always been that way, even when I was a child. I never acted like them and never wanted to. My family thought they were better than people and treated them as such. For me, I would never look down my nose at anyone or treat them that way. That was why I never felt like I fit in with my family. They did things their way, while I did mine my way.
I threw my hands in the air. “Gosh, why y’all always coming for me? There are more people in this house that you guys can focus on besides me. Nothing is going on in my life that’s exciting.” I huffed.
Since I had walked through the door, question after question had been thrown at me. They needed to give it a rest. They didn’t miss a day without asking me a question about my life, which got annoying really fast. This was why I could have gone an entire month without seeing my family if I had it my way. I’d be at so much peace when that happened.
“You know, at a job, you’re supposed to represent yourself better. If you knew you were sick, you should’ve taken off,” my father pointed out.
I scoffed with a roll of my hazel brown eyes. “And if I had to do that, that’ll be something else y’all would be down my back about. ‘Why didn’t you go to work? You have clients to see. Don’t let them down.’” I mimicked what they’d say.
It was almost laughable how they treated me, but I was on a roll this morning. I didn’t know where this ounce of confidence came from, but it was exactly what I needed.
They only stared at me like I had two heads. Most of our family didn’t like to come around my parents or sisters. I could see why now. I hated being grouped with them. The only person I talked to out of my cousins was Skylar. I had other first cousins,but they wanted nothing to do with my father and his family — their words.
My parents acted like they were all that since they were judges. It took them a while to get to where they were, but they had a big head for a while. They were strict parents who didn’t allow my sisters and me to do anything while growing up. My sisters and I couldn’t bring home anything below an A. If we did, they’d ground us for a month. My parents took education seriously. They should have, but they sometimes treated us like we were at boot camp. I was happy when I had to go to school.
When I left for college, I didn’t look back. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. At thirty-three, I still get treated like a seventeen-year-old child, which I hated so much.
“We’re just trying to figure out if you’re okay or not,” my other sister, Erin, gently stated.
I shrugged, picking up the orange juice to take another sip. “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
That was a complete lie. If I could get rid of this stomach bug, I’d be perfect. I was sick at work, but I still hated that someone went back to tell my parents. It wasn’t their law firm, yet they had people watching me.
“The way you’ve been acting around here says you’re not fine,” Erin pointed out.
I shook my head, denying it. “No. You’re just imagining things.”
Sometimes I could talk to Erin, but I wouldn’t share my business with her. She and Erika were close, having been a year apart. I was three years younger than she was. I would have liked to have a close relationship with my siblings, but they were too much like our mother — hard asses. I fussed and cussed at them every chance I got.
The maid, Sherry, came to clean off the kitchen table with a polite smile on her face. I didn’t know how she could put upwith my mother and her bossiness. Since I could remember, my parents had a maid and a chef in their house. My parents had owned the same house since my sisters and I were babies.
