“Yes.” Her eyes opened, and she looked at him for a long moment before she regained her composure. “But, that is all I will miss.” Standing up, she straightened her clothes. “I have to go, now. My cab is waiting on me.”
“Okay,” Emerald said standing up and hugging her. “Do you need anything? Money? Can I at least walk you out to the cab?”
“No. I want to go out alone.” Her eyes moved across his room once more before she grabbed her backpack and walked out. “Good bye, Mr. Winters. I’ll send you the uncontested divorce papers FedEx. Promise me that you’ll send them back immediately.” She looked at her watch.
“I promise.” He was shocked that she was leaving, but somehow he knew that it would be wise not to stop her.
Emerald watched from his upstairs window as his wife pulled away from the house in the yellow taxi and felt a pain in his stomach. It was amazing how overnight a person’s life could just change. Closing the curtain, he returned to bed unable to fight the sudden depression he felt. He was certain that it was just a bruised ego. Kakeline was the first person to ever break up with him. She had led him around by his nose the entire time they had dated. Even in their marriage, she ran the relationship behind closed doors. All she had to say was that she wanted something, and he was off to get it. As he drifted off under his comforter, Sadie walked in with a bottle of vitamins.
“Emerald, get up and run this over to Ivy’s.” Her voice was as usual demanding and dominating.
“Mom, I’m not in the mood.” He tried to wipe his tears on his pillow.
“I don’t care. Get up.” Leaving the vitamins on his nightstand, she walked out closing the door softly. Suddenly, Emerald could understand why Kakeline didn’t like her.
As he slipped on his jogging suit, he felt in his pocket for the keys and realized that they were in Kakeline’s purse. Shit! Kicking the garbage can over, he grunted. This Saturday was going to be one long day.
After a shower, Emerald went down to the kitchen. Sadie and Madison were sitting at the kitchen table serene and undisturbed. Suddenly his complacent attitude vanished. He wasn’t sure if they already knew that Kakeline had left or not so he decided to announce it over his coffee.
“Keylime Pie is gone,” he said mocking his mother. Leaning on the counter, he sipped the hot coffee quietly waiting for the questions to start rolling, but there was only a silence in the room. “She left me for good. Mom, I hope that you’re happy.” He had to say something to spark a conversation. So, he decided to pick a harmless little fight with his mother. She was always a sucker.
“Happy?” Sadie turned slightly in her seat to face Emerald.
“Yes, happy. You know that you didn’t like her.”
Madison sat silently with a grin on his face. Sadie was such a sucker.
“I didn’t know her, and as long as she was in my house, she never made an effort to get to know me.” She huffed. “When I first married your father, I had to make constant trips down to New Orleans just to visit with his mother to break the ice. Eventually she began to like me, but it didn’t happen overnight. Plus, if I’m the reason that your relationship didn’t work, then it wasn’t much of a relationship.”
“Mom liked you from the start.” Madison said defending his mother, God rest her soul. In silence, Sadie looked up against his head and rolled her eyes. Twenty some odd years later and Madison still took up for the wicked witch of New Orleans.
“Yeah, Grandma liked everyone.” Emerald instantly jumped on Madison’s side.
“You don’t know that,” Sadie said snapping at Emerald. “Speaking of which, did you even meet that girl’s parents?”
“No. It wasn’t like I was marrying them.” Emerald sat the coffee cup down.
“You were marrying them,” Sadie said looking at Madison for support.
“It doesn’t matter now. She’s gone,” Emerald said more than ready to end the conversation. “The point is my keys are in her purse, and she’s headed to the airport. So, I need to borrow your car to go to Ivy’s house and give her these vitamins and pick up my spare keys.”
“Why would you leave your spare keys with Ivy?” Sadie was tired of being the only one that was talking. She was ready for Madison to jump in at any time.
“I just did,” Emerald walked over and kissed her on the cheek. Taking her keys off the table, he opened the door. “Bye nosy. I’ll be back in a little while. And thanks for your sympathy.”
“You don’t need sympathy. You need a job,” Sadie said in a matter of fact tone.
**
Finishing the last of her work for Professor Emanuel, Ivy sat at her laptop computer biting down on her number two pencil thinking about all the horrible things that could have happened to Nicola. It had been a week since he had gotten back into town yet, he hadn’t called her once. She thought that he had seemed nicer during their last conversation, but still he had not called once since the first night that he had arrived in Miami.
“Look, you have enough time to meet me and give me my keys,” Emerald said walking in and pecking Ivy on the cheek while on his cell phone with Kakeline. “You’re being stupid right now, and I just want to be the first to tell you.”
Ivy closed the door and smirked. Men sure had a way with words. Taking the bottle of vitamins that he handed her to the kitchen, she brought Emerald back one of her cookies she baked for Trina to cheer him up.
“Thank you,” Emerald said putting his phone away.
“What’s wrong with you two?”
“She left me. She’s going back home.”
“Oh no.” She rubbed Emerald’s back. “Are you really that sad?” Ivy knew her brother. His ego was the only thing that was really hurting.
“I’m pissed.” Looking around, he didn’t see any signs of Trina. “Where’s your, girl?”
“At work. She just left about ten minutes ago.” An idea hit her and she threw up her hands. Grabbing the cordless phone, she turned to Emerald.
“Will you do me a favor?”
“What?” He was far from being in the mood for favors.
“Call the precinct and ask for Nicola. He won’t answer his cell phone or home phone, and they know my voice from me calling so much.”
“Why are you stalking him? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”
“It should.” Ivy whined like a schoolgirl. “But I’m really worried, and I don’t’ care how it looks. Now, will you call him or not?” She pleaded.
“All right. What’s the number?” Emerald sighed. At least someone was making an effort in their relationship. Kakeline sure wasn’t.
“5-5-5, um, 9-2-0-1.” She bit her lip anxiously.
“Yes, is Lieutenant Nicola Agosto available?” Emerald shook his head at Ivy as she clasped her hands together. “Oh.” Listening. “Well, this is Emerald Winters. I’m a friend.” Listening. “Alright, will do. Thanks.” Hanging up the phone, he touched Ivy’s shoulder. “They said that he doesn’t want to talk to anyone with the last name Winters or Henderson.”
Ivy’s eyes bucked and her mouth fell. “What?”
“I’m just kidding,” Emerald laughed. “I needed that. You should really see the look on your face for a woman who barely cares. They said that he was still on leave. He’s probably at home, Ivy. Just call him there.” Handing her the phone, he sat down the couch and grabbed the remote. “You don’t mind if I crash here for a while do you?”
“No, I don’t care.” Ivy said grabbing her keys. “I’m tired of calling. Something could be wrong.” She tapped her foot impatiently. “I’ll be back.”
“Where are you going?” He already knew.
“Don’t tell anyone.” Grabbing her cell phone and purse, Ivy dashed out the front door.
**
Ivy had only been to Nicola’s place once over eight months ago in the dark. So, she struggled through the luxury neighborhood looking for a black Cadillac Escalade in hopes of finding him. Nearly ready to give up, she turned down a somewhat familiar street
where she saw his truck. Pulling into his driveway, she turned off her car and sat contemplating what her next move would be. What if she knocked on the door and another woman opened it? What would she say? Hello. I’m his baby’s mother possibly. The thought nearly made her want to pull out of the driveway and hightail it back to Cordova, but it was too late now.
Opening the door to her car, Ivy took a deep breath and turned off her cell phone. There would be no interruptions if she could help it. As she walked up his driveway to his front door another thought came to mind. What if Caesar’s men had come back to finish the job? What if they were in there right now with a gun to his head? What if he had committed suicide and all that was left was a rotting carcass and a foul smelling house? No. She shook off her vivid imagination.
Ivy rang the doorbell and looked around the quiet cove as two children sat playing in their front yard several homes down. When there was no answer she rang the doorbell a second time and looked over at his Escalade again. God only knew why she tested the door to see if it was unlocked, but never the less it was, and she let herself inside hoping that Nicola wouldn’t mind too much.
Closing the door behind her, Ivy was met by a cluttered living room with newspapers and unopened mail on the couch. Beer bottles lined the floor and the television was blaring. She turned off the television and walked through the house past the dreadfully dirty kitchen, the otherwise undisturbed living room up the back stairwell to his bedroom where he lay on the bed unconscious. It was odd to Ivy that he was in his uniform for work complete with black work boots and guns. He was after all still on leave.
Cautiously, Ivy walked over to Nicola and checked his pulse. Oh, thank God. He was still alive. She looked around his huge bedroom admiring how nice it looked the night she visited him and how awful it looked now. All of the electronics that were ruined during his fight with Caesar had been replaced, shelves had been repaired and replace, there was new darker carpet to replace the blood stained white plush carpet. But the room also was extremely chaotic. Clothes were everywhere. Bottles of beer covered the room. At least five guns were on the bed. A phonebook of numbers had been torn apart and left on the floor. She shook her head. His mess confirmed that he was still having a hard time.
Ivy opened the newly replaced windows of his bedroom to let fresh air in, looked at how inviting the pool looked beneath them and set her purse down on the floor. She could just leave him uninterrupted now that she knew that he was mortally okay. But she wanted to stay. She wanted to help him. She thought for a moment about just how to help him, and finally decided that she should start with cleaning up his mess. A clean house always made her feel better. Then maybe, she could fix him a sobering dinner and get him cleaned up. Yes, that was enough. The rest would be up to him.
Clasping her hands together, she surveyed the room again. It would probably take her the entire day to do what was needed. Looking back over at Nicola, still lying motionless, she rolled back her sleeves and began to pick his clothes up off the floor.
Hours later while the sun was preparing to set on the horizon, Ivy took out the last load of Nicola’s clothes from the dryer and folded them perfectly. Setting them in the basket, she picked them up and carried them to Nicola’s room where he still lay in the same place sleeping heavily under the ceiling fan. Going to the restroom, she turned off his bath water and ran back to the kitchen where she was preparing a meal for the two of them to retrieve his bath towels that she left on the counter. Satisfied, she turned off the oven, sprayed the air freshener and turned down the stereo playing soft jazz.
Now, it was time for the big show. Prepared to wake him, she stood over him with a cold pitcher of water staring at his limp body. She nudged him first and then slapped him on the cheek. He still did not move. In her last resort, she splashed the ice-cold water on his face. Jumping up, he looked confused and upset just out of reach of his gun.
“It’s just me,” Ivy said trying to relieve the fire she saw in his eyes. But Nicola did not speak. He pulled his large tired body up as much as he could, dazed and aggravated.
Assisting him, Ivy grabbed his arm and made him sit up on. She stood in between his long legs perched on the rail of the bed. Pulling his shirt off, she rubbed his face softly and wiped the water from his eyes. Moving into him, she unbuckled his pants. He looked at her peculiarly, surprised that she was there. He laid back in the bed and allowed her to pull off his pants. Then, she grabbed his arm and led him to the bathtub.
“Take your underwear off when you get in tub,” she said leading him to the large garden style, oversized marble black tub.
Nicola stepped in the warm water and instantly awoke from his long sleep. Sitting down, he let out a moan. His body ached almost as bad as his head did. Covered in bubbles, he laid back in the tub while Ivy sat beside him on the bank of tub with her feet inside the tub. Snuggling in between her legs, he laid his head back on her large stomach and rubbed her bubbled soaked legs.
He closed his eyes as he felt one of the babies kick at the back of his head. “Why are you here, Ivy?” His voice was low and scratchy.
“Why are you so damned drunk, Nicola?” She rubbed his arms with a soft scrub.
“I don’t’ want you to see me like this.” Pulling his arm away he pulled off his underwear and threw them across the bathroom.
“Well, if you don’t want me to see you like this, then don’t get like this.” She pulled his arm back forcefully and washed his chest.
He frowned. “You just don’t know what I’m going through right now.” He was more than prepared to invite her to his pity party, but it seemed that she did not want to attend.
Ivy let out a sigh. “I have to say I am disappointed at you. I thought you were more of a man than this… getting piss poor drunk like some college kid. You know better. Besides, what does this help? What?”
He turned around to look at her, but she never looked up from scrubbing his chest.
“Believe me. I already know…I’m sorry,” he said in his most sincere tone. Normally, he would have told any other woman to go to hell, but with Ivy he only felt embarrassment. The feeling was quite like a mother scolding her young.
Ivy tried to continue on with her stern contempt, but as she looked at him sitting vulnerable in her care her heart warmed. “I know you’re sorry.” Her voice softened as she allowed her fingers to rub his tense shoulders. He looked up at her, and they made eye contact for a brief moment.
“Damn, I feel like shit,” Nicola said with his vision still blurry.
“The truth of the matter is that I was worried sick. I know how you must feel. Trina has been dragging around the house like you wouldn’t believe. The only thing is that she hasn’t gone to drinking yet.” She said softly. “Do you want me to wash your hair?”
“Yes,” Nicola said enjoying being pampered by the woman he loved.
Ivy continued. “This whole thing has been so sudden. So unreal. But you have to continue on, Nicola. You can’t just ball up and give up.”
“I haven’t given up. I just got drunk, Ivy,” Nicola said equally as soft.
“Well, this isn’t healthy.” Ivy paused. “Do you hear me?”
“Yeah, baby. I hear you.” Nicola said raising his head slightly before she drenched him with warm water.
“You’ll have to shave yourself. If I do it, I’ll probably kill you.”
“In that case, I’ll get to it.” He slouched down in the water. “Can we just sit here for a minute…just sit here?” He pulled her legs up over his shoulders and let them rest on his chest. Ivy pulled her long sundress up above her thighs. Comfortable, he rested between her legs feeling the heat from her womb.
“I’m having boys,” Ivy said softly as she rubbed through his curly locks. She knew that he was dying to find out and couldn’t wait any longer to tell me.
“Boys? Really?” His eyes opened and he looked up at the ceiling. “Can I ask you a question?” His massive arms lay across her legs.
�
��Yes,” Ivy said yawning and looking at the dark curly hair on his arm against the contrast of his wet skin.
“Do you think that they’re mine? The babies?”
“I have no idea,” Ivy said slowly.
“Do you want them to be mine?”
“I have no idea.” Ivy rubbed her stomach. “I’m seven and half months pregnant. My only want is for them to arrive on time and healthy.” She tried to avoid revealing too much of herself to a man who had repeatedly denied her the attention or explanations that she so desired. But she had to ask.
“Do you want them to be yours?” Her voice was laced with curiosity.
With a smile, Nicola rubbed her soft legs and kissed the inside of her knee. “Ivy…they are mine,” he said self-assured. Ivy didn’t argue with his statement for fear of exposing the way that she felt for him. Nicola didn’t push his feelings for her, because of his fear of being exposed by Grey. Instead that sat in silence and fear, thinking of all the things that they should have been saying at that time but weren’t.
After a while, when the water began to cool and their bodies began to wrinkle, Nicola awoke from his peaceful slumber and realized that Ivy had fallen asleep behind him leaning back against the marble wall. Standing up, he grabbed a towel and wrapped his waist. In the process, Ivy awoke and caught a glimpse of his all too familiar sculpted temple. She looked away before he could catch her. Smiling, he grabbed another towel and dried her legs.
“Feeling like your old self?” she asked stretching.
“A little bit,” Nicola said helping her out of the large garden tub.
“Well, I’ve got dinner downstairs. If you’re hungry…” Ivy tried to ignore how beautiful he looked with his huge black locks of hair wet and curly around the nape of his neck.
“I’m starving,” he said going to the sink to shave. “What’s for dinner?”
“I was actually shocked when I looked in your refrigerator. There were all the ingredients for Cold Duck and Mango Salad.” She smiled proud of herself.
Ivy's Twisted Vine Redux Page 33
