Jeremy didn’t say anything. He knew his father was right. If they truly wanted to see each other, they would. They attended the same church and the same high school. They were going to be together if that’s really what they wanted.
“All right, Pop. I guess you know best,” he conceded.
Jeremy left the den, went up to Jessica’s room, and knocked on the door.
“May I come in?” he asked, peeking in.
She was lying on the bed.
“Sure, Jeremy,” she said. “Are you mad at me because of Aaron?”
“Jess, I’m just confused. Why do you still want to be with him after the way he treated you?” Jeremy asked, sitting on the bed.
“Last Sunday when we went to church, he told me that he needed to talk to me. I didn’t tell him that I wasn’t pregnant. I wanted to see what he had to say. I had made up my mind that I was through with him, Jeremy.”
She looked at her brother, her eyes pleading for understanding.
“He told me that he was sorry for what he said. He said he was just scared but that he knew that the baby was his. He said he loved me and that he would quit school and get a job to help with the baby. I was still mad at him and wanted him to suffer a little longer, so I still didn’t tell him. I just told him that I hadn’t been to the doctor yet and not to say anything to anybody until I did.”
She sat up on the bed, looking at her hands.
“I felt bad for not telling him the truth. He kept calling me, asking me how I was feeling. He kept saying that he was sorry and that he loved me. Jeremy, I love him too. So then I told him. I told him that I had my cycle and there was no baby.”
“I guess he was relieved then,” Jeremy said dryly.
“I guess… he didn’t sound relieved. He just told me that he loved me and that he wanted me to be his wife one day.”
Jeremy didn’t know what to say.
“When you came in at church, we had exchanged promise rings. We both agreed that we would not have sex anymore until we both were ready. He told me that he knows you hate him and that you called him a disgusting maggot.”
“I did call him a maggot,” Jeremy said. “I won’t take it back.”
“I’ve forgiven him, Jeremy,” she said simply.
“I don’t have to forgive him, Jess.”
“Yes, you do, and you know it. He’s going to ask you to, you know. He told me to call and put you on the phone.”
“I don’t want to talk to him right now,” Jeremy said, standing up. “I mean, you can forgive him, and so can Pop, but I can’t just yet.”
She looked at him sadly. “That’s not right, and you know it, Jeremy. Everybody needs forgiveness.”
Jeremy didn’t respond but walked out of the room.
CHAPTER 11
FAMILY REJECTION
Aura tried to be patient as she returned to the store to have her dress altered. She had made the appointment when she purchased the dress. Her mother accompanied her, as well as her grandmother.
She felt her mother must be a saint for putting up with her grandmother’s bad attitude all these years. Most of the time, she took her comments in stride.
She was surprised when her mother invited her grandmother to come along.
It was what she called doing good to those who despitefully use you or overcoming evil with good. Her mother was like that. She had all kinds of sayings for all kinds of situations. Some she understood, and some she had told her that she would understand as she got older.
They sat out front while she put the dress on. She came out in it so that her grandmother could see her.
“You look beautiful, Aura,” her mother said, beaming.
“What size is that dress, Aura?” her grandmother asked.
“A size 16. Why do you ask?” she replied.
“Well, you know you could work on your figure a little bit, and I am sure that you could be down to a 14 or even a 12 by the wedding.”
“Grandma, I am not starving myself to drop a dress size. There’s not that much time anyway. I have other things to concentrate on,” Aura replied, rolling her eyes heavenward.
“It’s a beautiful dress,” her grandmother continued. “However, since it’s strapless, it pushes your bust up and shows too much of it. Maybe you should pick one that flares out instead of one that fits your body. I mean, your behind is a little big, and it shows.”
Aura tried to be patient. “I like the dress, Grandma. Besides,” she said, looking over her shoulder at her reflection in the mirror, “Jeremy likes my butt. I know he’ll love this dress.”
“I didn’t think white men liked big butts. I thought they were all about the breasts and being a size 4,” she quipped.
Aura rolled her eyes. “Well now you’ve been educated, Grandma. All white men don’t have the same taste.”
Her mother snickered when her grandmother didn’t reply.
“Who knows?” her mother said, playing devil’s advocate. “Maybe he’s not all white after all. Maybe with him being from ‘down South,’ way back in his genes somewhere there’s a speck of black blood, and that speck is what has him hooked on big butts. You know that’s a black man’s thing. No pure-blood white man likes big butts,” she mocked, looking innocently at her mother-in-law.
Gracie didn’t have a clue what was going on and agreed with Belynda. “Well now you’re talking sense, Belynda! Have you checked out the rest of his family, Aura? What do they look like?”
Aura rolled her eyes again, not believing her grandmother! Her mother was grinning broadly, and before she knew it, she found herself joining in the fun.
“They look like normal, everyday white folks,” she replied, trying to keep a straight face. “I didn’t see one pickup truck or gun rack in the bunch. Their daughter had her thirteenth birthday party, and I couldn’t find the moonshine anywhere.”
Gracie shook her head, still not catching on to their mocking. “They wouldn’t bring it out for a child’s party. Bet they met out back of the house somewhere and was sipping it there,” she replied.
Aura stood there as the seamstress pinned the dress, shaking as she tried to hold in the laughter.
“So where are you two going on your honeymoon?” her grandmother continued, still oblivious.
“We’re going to Hawaii,” Aura said, looking at her reflection in the mirror.
“Hawaii? Oh my. Who’s paying for that, I wonder. My Aubrey will go broke indulging you kids.”
“Aubrey’s not paying for the trip, Gracie. I am,” her mother said. “At least my family is helping. We are all contributing to the honeymoon as our wedding present to them.”
Gracie grunted and did not reply.
Aura changed back into her clothes, leaving the dress with the seamstress. She was glad that her mother was being patient with her grandmother, but she didn’t want to push it. They needed to move on.
“Are you sure that this is the dress?” her grandmother asked one final time before the seamstress walked off with it.
“I am positive, Grandma,” Aura said firmly. “This is the one I want.”
Gracie grunted her disapproval of Aura’s choice but held her peace, and they left the store.
“I need to stop in Macy’s and pay my bill,” her mother said. “I think it’s due today, and I don’t want to pay a late payment.”
Since it was only a couple of blocks from where they were, they walked down to the store. They went into Customer Service, and there was a huge picture of Jeremy that was suspended from the ceiling. He was in a very small pair of tight swimming trunks lounging on the beach as he eyed the camera seductively. Joan was lying beside him in a matching bikini.
“My, my, isn’t that cozy?” her grandmother said, looking from the picture back at Aura.
Aura didn’t respond but continued to look at her phone tha
t she was holding.
“Well, he is after all a model,” Belynda said defensively, walking up to the window.
“You don’t mind that your man is all up on another woman?” Gracie challenged, looking at Aura.
“It’s work, Grandma. He’ll come home to me,” she said, trying to sound unconcerned.
“Look at that one!” Gracie said, walking over to another large poster, not far from the first. This one was of Jeremy wearing a white Chaz shirt with Joan sitting between his legs.
“Look how he’s looking at her,” Gracie pointed out. “Ain’t that much pretending in the world. He looks like he’s ready to pounce on her at any moment.”
“I thought you told me that he looked gay to you,” Aura said. “Now all of a sudden you’re trying to tell me that you think he’s cheating? Make up your mind, Grandma.”
“I told you he could be bisexual,” she insisted, eying the poster.
“He told me that he thinks about my butt when he takes those pictures with her,” Aura said, not sure why she was trying to convince her grandmother, who apparently had already made up her mind.
“Good answer,” she replied. “He’s a slick one. I’ll give him that!”
“I love him, Grandma. Be happy for me, please!”
“Child, I just don’t see it. You two just don’t look like you belong together at all. When am I going to meet this Romeo of yours?”
Aura sighed. “He’ll be home tomorrow.”
“Good. I want you to bring him to your father’s house so I can meet him as soon as he gets back.”
Aura realized that she now knew how Jeremy felt that day when they pulled up in front of his house for Tara’s birthday party.
Jeremy enjoyed spending time with his mother. His father had appointments at the church, and his sisters were at school, so he hung around the house with his mom helping her clean.
“You have really outdone yourself, Jeremy,” she said as they lounged in the den. They had cleaned the entire house. Spring cleaning, his mother called it.
“Well I’ve gotten all the exercise I need for the day, that’s for sure,” he said.
“I’m going to shower and go shopping. Care to go with me?” she asked hopefully.
“Uh, no thanks, Mom. I hate shopping. It reminds me of work too much. I know you’ll be looking at clothes.”
“You know me all too well,” she admitted, laughing.
“I’ve got to look up a few people,” he said. “Got to get those groomsmen together for my wedding, you know.”
Jeremy showered and dressed after his mother had left the house. He looked at his watch and realized that Jessie would be home soon. Maybe he should just hang around in case Aaron showed up. He just didn’t trust that guy.
He heard a key in the door and looked up to see his father walk in.
“Hey, Pop.”
“You on your way out, Jeremy?”
“Yeah.”
“Do me a favor. Go by the church and pick up my cell phone. I forgot and left it on the desk. I’m not going back out any time soon. Phillips is there, so you should be able to get in.”
Mr. Phillips had been the sexton of the church for as long as Jeremy could remember. “Sure, Pop. That’s on my way anyhow.”
He left and soon pulled up to the church. Phillips was outside cutting the grass on a riding mower. Jeremy waved and walked in the church through the side door that was open. His father’s office was usually locked, so his father had given him the key. Sure enough, he found the cell phone on the desk.
Jeremy quickly put it in his pocket and was about to leave when he heard a knock on the door. He was surprised to see Aaron standing there. Aaron seemed just as surprised, and Jeremy concluded that it was his father Aaron was looking for.
“Uh, I was looking for Reverend Ferguson,” Aaron said nervously.
“He’s not here, obviously,” Jeremy snapped, still angry about Jessica.
“Look, I know you’re mad at me—” Aaron began.
“You’re very observant!” Jeremy said. “I know that everyone else is in a forgiving mode, but I don’t trust you. I don’t want you around my sister. Now I don’t have a say so about it. My father said you can have supervised visits, but the sight of you disgusts me.”
Aaron appeared wounded by his words. “I know. I guess I’d feel the same way if it was my sister. You were wrong though… I do love her. I made a stupid mistake, one that I can’t take back. I just plan to make it up to her as best I can.”
“There’s no way you can make up for what you did,” Jeremy insisted. He felt his conscience nagging, but he quickly pushed it aside.
“I am asking you to forgive me, Jeremy. I am only responsible for asking. I am not responsible for your decision to hold a grudge. That’s between you and God,” Aaron said, quietly facing him.
Jeremy felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. He knew that Aaron was right, but he wasn’t about to forgive him! How dare that little maggot preach to him!
“I don’t need your sermonizing, maggot!” he hissed. “Just know that I’ll be watching you. I’ll be checking on things even after I return to New York.”
Aaron looked him in the eye, his face grim. “That’s fine. I hope you will never be in the place of needing someone else’s forgiveness, Jeremy. You know when you don’t forgive, you are inviting a situation in your own life where you will need forgiveness. If you don’t give it, you won’t get it when you need it either.”
Before Jeremy could give a retort, Aaron turned and walked out of the office.
Jeremy pulled up in front of his Uncle Matt’s house after leaving the church. Jeremy and his cousin Matthew had always been close since they were born one year apart. He had decided to ask him to be his best man. Jeremy had called his aunt earlier, and she had told him that Matthew was coming over for a visit and that his timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
Jeremy saw several cars in the driveway and figured that Matthew must have arrived. He rang the doorbell.
His aunt answered the door. “Jeremy! Come in, honey!”
“Hi, Aunt Rachel,” he said, giving her a hug.
She reminded him so much of his mother, except that his aunt was shorter. Rachel wore her hair short, where his mother still wore hers in a long ponytail. Both sisters had married brothers who looked a lot alike. Jeremy was the only boy in his family with two sisters, while his aunt had three sons. People who didn’t know them well were always thinking that his cousins were his brothers.
“Where’s Matthew?” Jeremy asked, walking into the house.
“Right here,” a voice called from behind him.
Jeremy turned around and found Matthew leaning against the doorframe. People always mistook them for brothers because they looked a lot alike. Matthew too had blond hair, but his eyes were brown, and he was a couple of inches shorter than Jeremy.
“How’s the modeling business, Jeremy? I know you’ve got some stories to tell for sure!” he teased. “And of course all of the women you’ve had to fight off, right?”
“Not too many, Matthew,” Jeremy said, laughing. They walked out on the deck and sat down.
“Here’s some lemonade for my boys,” his aunt said, bringing each of them a glass.
“So how long are you going to be home?” Matt asked, sipping the lemonade.
“I have to go back tomorrow. That’s why I’m glad to catch you, Matt,” Jeremy said, smiling. Being at his aunt’s house reminded him of all the fun times they had together when they were younger.
“What’s up?” Matthew asked. “I have a little time before I have to check into the office. I just came by here to help Ma out with something.”
“Well I’m getting married. I want you to be my best man,” Jeremy said, grinning.
Jeremy watched as Matt’s face fell, and he suddenly
looked uncomfortable. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No, I’m serious,” Jeremy said.
“Dad told me that you had some black girl at Tara’s party. Don’t tell me that you’re marrying her?” Matthew said in disbelief.
Jeremy looked at his cousin, stunned by his response. “Yes, I am, Matt. What’s the problem?”
“No problem… whatever floats your boat, I guess. I’m just kinda shocked. I mean, come on, Jeremy. I hear that she’s not even all that fine. Why in the world would you choose her over that honey I saw you in the pictures with? I read somewhere that the two of you had a thing going on.”
Jeremy set down his glass. “That was a publicity stunt. Joan and I were never an item.”
“You mean to tell me that you didn’t hit that?”
“No. I was already with Aura when Joan came to Chaz.”
“I don’t get it!” Matt said, shaking his head.
Jeremy was clearly irritated. “I don’t see what’s there for you to get, Matthew. I love Aura, and I’m marrying her. We have been best friends as well as double cousins all our lives! I am asking you to be my best man.”
“You know the whole family is upset about this.” Matthew hedged. “No one else has married a black girl in our family. Hell, it’s usually the black men that go after our women. I never thought one of us would ever be attracted to one of them.”
“You sound like the Klan or something with this talk of us and them. Are you trying to tell me that my family will boycott my wedding?” Jeremy asked, leaning forward on the table.
“Well, maybe. Is your father even coming?” Matthew challenged. “From what I heard, he’s pretty pissed!”
“He’s so happy I’m not gay that yes, I am sure he is attending the wedding,” Jeremy responded dryly.
Matthew laughed. “You did have some of us worried there for a while.”
“Even you, Matthew?” Jeremy asked bitterly.
“Nah, I knew better. You were just slow, that’s all. Plus, I felt like your dad being a preacher had brainwashed you.” Matthew chuckled.
Jeremy looked at his cousin, and it felt as if he were talking to a stranger. They had never discussed race before, and he had no idea that Matthew felt this way.
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