A Family Reunion

by Jackson, Brenda

  Alexia, Rae’jean noticed, was still holding Cousin Marsher’s newborn baby. Even from a distance Rae’jean could see the deep longing in Alexia’s eyes for a child of her own to love.

  Rae’jean had decided to at least let Uncle Victor enjoy his meal before seeking him out. Like most people, she would be leaving to return home after dinner. She and Grady had already changed into more comfortable clothing and had checked out of the hotel. They would be driving to Atlanta to catch their flight back to Boston later that evening. She was just itching to know what information her uncle had for her and was satisfied in knowing she would be leaving the reunion with the information she had wanted to know for so many years.

  Alexia, who had changed into a pair of shorts and top, tried to be conservative with the amount of food she placed on her plate and found that she couldn’t. Everything looked too good, and she was too hungry.

  “’Bout time you put Marsher’s baby down and get you something to eat,” her grandfather said when he came up beside her. He glanced down at her plate. “And stop trying to eat like a bird. Put more food on that plate.”

  Alexia smiled at him. “You know me, Grampa; I have to watch my figure.” He snorted, shaking his head. “Food was meant to be eaten and not nibbled,” he said as he piled more of Aunt Julia’s candied yams on his plate as well as on Alexia’s. “Prentice and Ruth tells me you gonna stay in Macon one more day.”

  “Yes, sir. I’m not leaving until tomorrow evening.” She wouldn’t mention to him that the reason she was staying the additional day was so she could talk to her parents about her plans to have a baby out of wedlock. As Alexia was their only child, she and her parents always had a rather close relationship, and although she was old enough to make her own decisions, she always wanted to keep them abreast of what was going on with her. There was no doubt in her mind that they would try to talk her out of it, but her mind was set and she planned on going through with it.

  “Would you like to have breakfast with me in the morning?” Grampa Ethan asked.

  “I’d love to, Grampa. You name the time and I’ll be here.”

  “It has to be early. You know I don’t believe in sleeping late.”

  Alexia nodded, grinning, as she remembered how he would always get up at the crack of dawn each morning. “Yes, sir. I know.”

  Her grandfather’s eyes crinkled up in a well-worn smile. “You sounded downright pretty today at church, Alexia. Your gramma would have been downright proud of you. We always knew you would be somebody someday. I want you to keep right on singing. Your voice is a gift from the Almighty, and you should use it well.”

  Alexia thought of her plans to go solo. “Yes, Grampa, I plan to do just that.”

  “The girls told me that the two of you are taking them to Disney World,” Aunt Otha Mae was saying to Michael and Taye as they sat on benches eating. “I think that’s wonderful. There’s nothing like kinfolk spending time together whenever they can.”

  Taye tried to keep her face emotionless as she continued to eat her food. She wondered what her mother would think if she knew that at the moment what Taye was feeling toward Michael had nothing to do with kinship.

  “You’re a widower, Michael, and we know it ain’t easy raising a child alone. The family will do anything we can to help out,” Otha Mae continued. “Since you and Taye are living in the same city, the two of you should depend on each other. I’m always worrying about Taye and the girls living up there in Atlanta by themselves, but now I’ll rest easier knowing you’ll be there to look out for her, just like you’ve always done.”

  Michael smiled as he glanced over at Taye before returning his attention to Aunt Otha Mae. “Yes, ma’am. I think I did the right thing by moving closer to family. I know for a fact that Kennedy has enjoyed herself at this reunion.”

  Otha Mae nodded. “Yeah, that chile needed to meet her relatives. If anything were to happen to you, she’d belong to us, since your wife didn’t leave any family behind.”

  Michael nodded. That thought had been heavy on his mind for quite some time. He had discounted the possibility of his grandfather raising Kennedy since he would be celebrating his eighty-seventh birthday later that year.

  Michael glanced over at Taye, who was listening to what her mother was saying. Aunt Otha Mae had changed subjects and was now talking about Taye’s brother Bryan’s new job. Michael knew that if anything were to happen to him, Taye would be the one person he would want to raise Kennedy. Even as a single mother she was doing an outstanding job with her own girls, and in just three days Kennedy had taken to Taye in a way she had never taken to anyone else. But then, he thought, that was not surprising. Taye had always been down-to-earth, well liked, and approachable.

  After a few minutes Aunt Otha Mae finally ran out of conversation and decided to move on, leaving Michael and Taye alone.

  “I agree with Momma, Michael. I want you to know I’m available if you ever need me. I know with your job you travel a lot. Kennedy is welcome to stay at my place anytime you’re out of town. Since she and Sebrina will be attending the same school it won’t be any trouble to include her in our plans.”

  Michael smiled, appreciating Taye’s offer. “Thanks; I’ll keep that in mind. I hired an elderly lady to stay over on those nights I’ll be away, so hopefully things will work out. Kennedy has met Mrs. Frazier and seems to be OK with the arrangement, which is similar to what I had in place in Minnesota. Hopefully with this new job I won’t be away from home as much.”

  “Well, if you are and you need to put a backup plan in place, don’t forget me,” Taye said brightly.

  Michael grinned and inwardly thought Taye was not a person anyone could easily forget, especially if that person was a man. He shifted in his seat, wondering why he was beginning to notice her as a woman the more time he spent around her. Once again he was transported back in time to that night of the last family reunion when he’d almost kissed her. She’d had a crush on him then and he hadn’t known. He wondered if things would have been different if he had known.

  Before allowing his mind to answer that question, he picked up his glass of lemonade and took a huge swallow. He didn’t want to think about the answer to that question now.

  “Are you still sure you want to go to Orlando with me and Kennedy?” he asked to break the silence that had suddenly cropped up between them.

  Taye glanced over at him and smiled. “I couldn’t get out of going now if I wanted to. The girls are looking forward to it.”

  He nodded and tried to keep his face a mask of indifference when he asked, “Is there any reason you wouldn’t want to go, Taye?” His gaze locked on hers for a long moment, and he wondered if he was imagining things or if she could feel the sexual tension flowing between them like he did.

  Taye looked at Michael a long while before answering his question. No matter how attracted she was to him, she couldn’t think of just herself and her feelings. She had to think of her daughters, Michael’s daughter, and, most important, the family. She could never let anything develop between her and Michael. “No, Michael, there isn’t any reason I don’t want to go. Are you sure you want me to go?”

  “Yes, I’m sure.” As he said those words, he knew that although he was sure about wanting her to come to Orlando with him and Kennedy, there were a number of things he wasn’t sure about. He wasn’t sure about this strong attraction he felt for her, and he wasn’t sure just where it would lead.

  But most important, he wasn’t sure he wanted it to lead anywhere.

  “You might want to sit down, Rae’jean.”

  Rae’jean lifted a brow at her uncle’s suggestion. “I’m fine standing,” she said, wondering if Uncle Victor thought the name of her father would make her fall flat on her face. They had decided to hold their private discussion in an empty room in her grandparents’ home. Since everyone was still outside, it was the perfect time.

  “I think I’ll sit, then,” Uncle Victor said as he dropped down in the cloth-covered
chair. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a well-worn handkerchief. “Somehow I just knew I’d be the one to have to tell you this.”

  “How you figure that?”

  “Just did.”

  Rae’jean decided not to get her uncle off on a tangent to explain why. Time was of the essence. Michael, Taye, and Alexia could only keep Grady occupied for so long. “Who is he, Uncle Victor? Who’s my father?”

  A few tense, quiet moments passed. Uncle Victor cleared his throat and released a slow breath. “When Colleen turned sixteen, a young white fellow started coming around the neighborhood. I believe he was only twenty or so. He was clean-cut and well mannered. Ma and Pa really liked him. I guess Colleen liked him even better and let him come around a couple of times when Ma and Pa weren’t home.”

  Rae’jean raised a brow. “Who are you talking about, Uncle Victor? Who was this white guy who came around the neighborhood?”

  Uncle Victor looked at her like he had expected her to figure it out and was disappointed that she hadn’t. “The insurance man.”

  Rae’jean blinked. “The insurance man?” she repeated.

  “Yeah, the insurance man.”

  Rae’jean frowned in deep concentration. She remembered when she was a little girl an insurance man used to come around to her grandparents’ house every Monday to collect insurance premiums. In fact, he made his rounds to every house on their street. Poppa Ethan and Gramma Idella used to have a ton of policies on all their grandkids nailed to the wall by the front door and paid less than a dollar a week for each one. “The insurance man: Mr. Taylor?” she asked when a name suddenly popped out in her mind. “Mr. Taylor got my mother pregnant?”

  “No, Mr. Taylor became the insurance man later, after you were born, Rae’jean. Before then, there was a younger white man by the name of David Turner. He was only supposed to come around for about three months to get some experience working the neighborhood before going inside the office to work. Evidently, experience wasn’t all he got after meeting Colleen. The next thing we know is that your ma got pregnant and said the insurance man did it, and he admitted to doing it.”

  Rae’jean shook her head. “And?”

  “And it was decided the best way to handle the situation was to take what the insurance company offered to the family to keep the business out of the streets. They didn’t want anything blown out of proportion, no sort of scandal to deal with about one of their men messing around with any of the Negro girls in the neighborhood. Some even said Turner was the grandson of the owner of the company, so they offered to make things right with Pa.”

  Rae’jean’s head began spinning at what she was hearing. Her mother had gotten pregnant from a door-to-door insurance man? She wondered just how the insurance company thought they could make things right when an unborn child was involved. “What did they offer to do?”

  “For our word that we would never mention the details surrounding your ma’s pregnancy, they offered the entire family paid-up insurance policies and some cash on the side.”

  Rae’jean didn’t want to believe what she’d just heard. “Paid-up insurance policies and hush money?”

  “Yeah, can you believe that?” he asked smiling like what they’d been offered was something worth smiling about. “We got eight paid-up policies of ten thousand dollars each.”

  Rae’jean decided it was time for her to sit down, so she did. “And all of you kept quiet all these years because of those paid-up policies and the money you were given?”

  “Yeah.” Uncle Victor looked at her. “So now that you know the truth, what are you planning to do?”

  Rae’jean shook her head. “I don’t know. Nothing for now. I just want to go somewhere and absorb all this.”

  Uncle Victor nodded in understanding. “We looked out for you, Rae’jean. We didn’t forget you. You got a paid-up policy, too. That was part of the agreement. You were the only grandchild who got one.”

  Rae’jean wondered if he thought that was consoling news. “You said David Turner was the grandson of the man who owned the company?”

  Uncle Victor shrugged. “That’s what your mama claimed, but I can’t rightly say. Colleen used to exaggerate at times.”

  Rae’jean nodded.

  “You and you mama are a lot alike when it comes to that one particular thing.”

  “And what particular thing is that, Uncle Victor?”

  “Both of you seem to have a thing for white boys.”

  Rae’jean rolled her eyes heavenward. “The only thing I have for Grady is love.”

  “You sure of that?”

  “Of course I am.”

  “You know what I think?”

  “No, Uncle Victor, what do you think?”

  He lowered his voice to an almost-whisper. “I think you can’t help yourself. It’s in your genes passed down from Colleen. Your mom was afflicted with it; now you got it.”

  “Got what?”

  “That mess they call jungle fever.”

  Rae’jean knew better than to waste her time debating otherwise with her uncle. “Thanks for telling me everything, Uncle Victor.”

  “I wished I could have told you more.”

  In truth, Rae’jean was glad there hadn’t been more to tell. There was some truth in that old saying “beware of what you ask for.” She stood. “I’d better go back. Grady will began wondering where I’ve gone off to.” She turned to leave.

  “Rae’jean?”

  She turned back around. “Yes, Uncle Victor?”

  “Ma and Pa did what they thought was best for everyone, including you. There was no way that white man would have claimed you as his child. The insurance company did the right thing by making things right.”

  Rae’jean nodded and then walked out of the house.

  After Rae’jean left Uncle Victor, she had immediately rounded up Taye and Alexia and herded them inside the house and into Grampa Ethan’s bedroom and closed the door. Michael was still outdoors keeping Grady company.

  Sighing, Taye ran her hands over the quilt work of the beautiful spread that covered her grandfather’s bed. She remembered the time her grandmother had made it. “So, the identity of your father has been kept a secret all these years because of paid-up insurance policies and hush money?”

  Rae’jean nodded, still feeling numb from the impact of what she’d found out. “Knowing how things were back then for blacks, I guess I can understand how Gramma and Grampa thought they were getting justice by getting those policies and money on top of it.”

  Alexia nodded in agreement. “I wonder how much money they got.”

  Rae’jean sighed. “Who knows? I was too shocked to ask. But it had to have been enough for them to be willing to keep quiet for so long. Even Cuzin Sophie has kept her lips zipped.”

  Taye shook her head. “So what do you plan to do now?”

  Rae’jean moved one tired shoulder. “I don’t know. I’d like to hire a private detective to find my father.”

  “What for?” Alexia asked.

  “Just to meet him and to see if he had any feelings whatsoever for my mother.”

  “And if he didn’t?” Taye asked.

  “Then I’ll accept it. But a part of me has to know one way or the other.”

  Taye and Alexia nodded.

  Rae’jean looked at her watch. “It’s time for me and Grady to hit the road.” She looked at Taye and Alexia intently. “We’re all in agreement that we’ll do a better job of staying in touch?”

  Taye and Alexia smiled and nodded again.

  “And the three of us are going to try real hard to make it to Brandy’s wedding? Right?”

  Alexia frowned. “I never agreed to that, Rae’jean.”

  “Come on, Lex,” Rae’jean was saying. “No matter what a pain in the butt Brandy can be at times, she’s still family.”

  “Let me know when she starts acting like it; then I might reconsider,” Alexia responded curtly.

  “You know why she acts the way she does. She�
�s always felt like the cast-off because Uncle Victor never married Valerie.”

  “No one in the family ever treated her that way,” Alexia defended her kin. “She has the Bennett last name for Pete’s sake! It’s Valerie’s fault for pumping Brandy’s head with that garbage because of her own disappointment about Uncle Victor not marrying her. Brandy always wanted to take it out on us, and it wasn’t fair.”

  “No, it wasn’t fair, but at least we should try and understand why she acts the way she does.”

  “That’s no excuse.”

  “I’m not giving you an excuse. I’m giving you the reason, at least how I see it.” Rae’jean smiled. “Besides, Lorenzo asked you personally to sing at their wedding. Aren’t you going to do it?”

  “I don’t know, since I’m not so sure I like him, either.”

  Rae’jean rolled her eyes upward. “For crying out loud, Alexia, stop being so difficult. I thought he was nice.”

  Only because you weren’t the one he was eyeing like he would enjoy having you for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Alexia thought. She hadn’t said anything to the others, but a couple times during the banquet dinner she had caught him paying more attention to her than to Brandy. “I’m not sure I want to go to Brandy’s wedding,” she finally said.

  “Well, think about going. It will give us a chance to be together again before Christmas. The two of you will try to come to me and Grady’s wedding, won’t you?”

  “I’ll be there with bells on,” Taye said, smiling.

  “Good. What about you, Lex?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there.” Alexia smiled. “I can’t let you tie the knot without me. And I’m hoping to have some good news to share with the two of you. If things work out the way I plan, I’ll be pregnant way before then.”