by H. H. Fowler
As soon as the words left Dominic’s mouth, he regretted it. The glare in Tayah’s eyes had sliced through to his soul and left him feeling exposed.
“You just had to bring that up again, didn’t you?” she spat.
“I’m sorry, babe; I didn’t mean for that to come out negative.”
Tayah swatted Dominic’s apology aside with an icy comeback. “You’re still not man enough to admit that you hate Phillip; it must really pain you that I’ve forgiven him.”
“My God, Tayah. Are you listening to yourself? I can’t believe what I’m hearing right now.”
“Why is it so hard to believe? I was once married to the man.”
“You don’t need to remind me. That jerk never deserved you, the way he lied and schemed with his sister to destroy you and your family. On top of that, he physically and emotionally abused you. How could you leave my side to defend him?”
Those words stung Tayah, causing her to jump to her feet. “You’re so against me on this.”
“I’m not against you forgiving Phillip,” Dominic fired back. “I’m against you allowing your actions to be controlled by guilt. You’ve done enough – more than enough. Drop this silly idea of bringing that man into our home.”
“So now you’re calling my ideas silly?”
“You know I’m not doing that…”
“It sure sounds like it.”
“Come on, Tayah, give me a break. I’m sorry that Phillip is dying of cancer, I really am. And I pray that he has sincerely made peace with God, but I refuse to entertain this subject any further. I wish you would listen to me.”
Tayah folded her arms. “Are you finished?”
“What else do you want me to say? I’ve said my piece.” Dominic walked off, but suddenly paused in his stride. “Just in case you’re looking for me today, I’ll be at the gym with Sanchez, and then I’ll head over to the church from there.”
Tayah flicked her wrist in a dismissive manner. “Do whatever you want to do, Dominic. I’ll just stay here all day and take care of the twins by myself.”
“That’s not fair of you to say.”
“What did I say that was wrong?”
Dominic let out a sigh of exasperation. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be home by two in the afternoon.”
Because Tayah wanted to have the last say, she gave in to her impulse, not having any regard of how it would be received. “Really, Dominic. You could hang out with your friends as long as you want, because that’s what you wanted to do all along, anyway. Don’t bother calling me and checking in on us. We’ll be just fine without you.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Yes.”
“I know that you are upset, but you had better be careful what you ask for.”
Their conversation may have ended on a bitter note, but there was still enough compassion left in Dominic for him to want to walk over to his wife and pull her into a warm embrace. However, he decided against it for the simple fact of knowing it would annoy Tayah more than she already was. Her actions made it plain that she didn’t want to be touched.
Chapter Twenty-Three
7:33 a.m.
With her feet neatly curled beneath her, A’moree observed as her brother bent to tie the laces on his tennis shoes. How envious she was over his excitement that he would be spending the first part of the morning with Dominic. She’d been in Tampa for two days and not once had she been invited to go anywhere with the muscular duo. Hadn’t she been made to suffer long enough? A woman with as many curves as she had shouldn’t be locked up in a hotel room all day with nothing to do. Something must be done about this arrangement.
“I’m coming along,” she said to her brother. “And don’t waste your breath trying to talk me out of it.”
Sanchez straightened up without a hint of a smile. “Don’t deceive yourself. You know exactly how Dominic feels about you hanging around.”
“He has already forgiven me,” A’moree said.
“And thank God he did or else your butt would have been wasting away in jail for attempted murder. Lay low and behave yourself.”
“I am behaving. Having nothing to fill up the hours was what got me into trouble the last time. Remember?”
“How could I forget?” Sanchez couldn’t hide the aversion in his tone. “Because up to now, I still can’t believe you were that desperate for sex.”
A’moree giggled. “You make it sound so crude.”
“Because it was crude. You mixed Dominic’s drink with GHB. That comes pretty close to date rape.”
A’moree waved her brother off with a smirk, as she’d heard him preach this tired story in her ears a million times. “Oh please! Dominic and I had connected and we would have ended up together anyway had Tayah not been in the picture. I was simply helping things along…unfortunately, things got a little out of hand. Well, it’s all water under the bridge. I’m now ready to try again.”
Sanchez drew nearer to his sister. “You’re presently livin’ with a man twice your age and yet you choose to nurse this crazy idea of pursuing Dominic. What the heck is the matter with you?”
A’moree exploded in laughter. “Oh my God, Sanchez, you’re about to pop a vein with all that built up energy. Relax, I was only kidding.”
“You had better be, because Dominic and Tayah are happily married with twin boys who will be christened this Sunday. Don’t forget that’s the main reasons why we’re here.”
A’moree’s wicked smile remained in her eyes as her brother turned away to answer the door. It was Dominic, no doubt, who’d showed up to take Sanchez to the gym. His rich tone filled the small foyer and drew her off of the sofa to her feet.
“Hello, Dominic,” she greeted as naturally and as warm as she could, and hopefully without the sexual undertones. “It’s good to see you.”
Unfortunately, I don’t feel the same, Dominic wanted to say, but he was too nice of a guy to be malicious, even to a girl who’d almost taken his life by accident.
“I’m surprised you’re not hanging on to your brother’s heels, begging to come along,” he said.
“Of course I want to come along, but I’ve learned to hold my peace, especially when my presence is not wanted.”
Sanchez, who’d had his eyes shut in anticipation of A’moree’s response, opened them with a sigh of relief, “Good answer...now let’s get out of here, bruh, before my sister switches from Ms. Jekyll to Ms. Hyde.”
For some reason Dominic found Sanchez’s description quite funny, causing him to toss his head back and laugh. To him, it was the perfect assessment of how he’d always viewed A’moree. She was this nice and fragile girl one minute and in the blink of an eye she would yell obscenities and slam a door in your face. Dominic soon noticed A’moree’s prurient gaze appraising his every move. There was no question that she was still as obsessed with him. Yet, she was showing excellent restraint.
It actually felt strange to Dominic that A’moree was not pursuing him at every turn, trying to sneak in a kiss or twist his words to make them sound inappropriate. Maybe she was afraid of repeating the same mistake, which should have given Dominic great relief, but somehow, the deficiency of being wanted and desired by such a brazen beauty made Dominic rethink the harsh demands he’d placed on A’moree. He himself couldn’t explain what he was about to do.
“Let her come,” he said to Sanchez.
“What?” Sanchez felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He examined Dominic’s face like a doctor would do when a patient had a high fever. “Okay…please tell me who the heck you are and where you’ve hidden my best friend?”
“Your sister looks as if her dog has just died,” Dominic said. “What is she going to do all day while we’re gone?”
“Get on her knees and repent!” Sanchez quipped. “Don’t mind that sad puppy stare.”
“Shush it, boy,” A’moree told her brother. “You always trying to break a girl’s hustle.”
“You have five minutes to
get ready,” Dominic said. “Your brother and I will be downstairs in the lobby waiting on you.”
A’moree tried to hide her smirk, but it ended up turning into a full blown grin. “Oh my God, we are going to have so much fun! Thank you so much, Dominic. I promise you won’t regret it.”
“He had better not!” Sanchez called out after her.
Still in a daze over what had just transpired, Sanchez followed Dominic out of the room toward the elevator. He was anxious to get into Dominic’s head because there was no possible way the Dominic he knew would have given A’moree a free pass to invade his personal space.
“What are you doing, man?”
With his back still turned toward Sanchez, Dominic smiled and said, “I don’t have any idea what you are talking about.”
“Like hell you don’t,” Sanchez rejoined. “You have just invited A’moree to come along with us.”
“I know.”
“And that doesn’t strike you as strange?”
“Nope.”
The two men entered the elevator and pressed the button that would take them to the lobby. After several seconds of busting his brain, trying to come to an understanding of Dominic’s weird behavior, Sanchez suddenly pinned his friend with a knowing look.
“Is everythin’ on the level with you and Tayah?”
“Why’d you ask that crazy question?”
“Because you’ve barely talked about your wife since you picked us up from the airport. And that is not the Dom I know.”
Dominic grew quiet, hoping it would buy him some time to figure out how to get Sanchez off of his back. The boy had a built-in lie detector for sensing those nervous twitches and modulation of the voice, especially when it came down to the topics of women, lust and sex.
“Bruh,” Sanchez called, “please tell me you’re not thinking about cheating on your wife with my sister?”
Another awkward moment of silence passed before Dominic suddenly burst into laughter.
Sanchez was confused. “Why are you laughing?”
“Because it’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth. I would never jeopardize my marriage. You know that. I love Tayah and whatever problems we’re having at the moment will work themselves out. So you can relax and give your face a rest.”
“Okay, man. I was just making sure.”
Sanchez stepped ahead of Dominic out of the elevator, not fully swayed by Dominic’s response. But he dared not raise the issue again – at least not now, because the air between them had already become stiff with suspicion.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Brenda couldn’t get Michelle away from Sean’s bedside, not even for fifteen minutes to join her in the hospital’s cafeteria. So she took it upon herself to go downstairs and select a tray of food that looked like something that Michelle would eat. When she returned, Michelle was sitting with her head bowed over Sean’s body. Her lips moved silently, which made Brenda assume that Michelle was talking to God about Sean’s condition. And not wanting to disturb the divine moment, Brenda quietly rested the tray of food on the nearest flat surface and waited for an opportunity to speak.
It wasn’t long after that when Susan Boswick-Winder walked into the room, carrying a huge arrangement of white roses. Honey, as she was formally known on the streets, was the widow of the late Abraham Winder. Her tumultuous past as a low-priced prostitute hadn’t deterred Abraham from falling in love with her, and marrying her, which he had hoped would take her off the streets. But their relationship had been strained from day one, because Honey was not ready to commit to one man.
In fact, she was still deeply entrenched in that promiscuous lifestyle when Abraham was murdered by Tahoe, a ruthless thug of whose harem Honey had been a part. It’d taken a long time for Honey to get over the guilt of losing the only man who’d truly cared about her. Long story short, Honey eventually committed her life to the Lord and was now serving in the Women’s Ministry at Mount Moriah Baptist Church. Her noisy entrance into the room had stirred Michelle out of her praying position.
“I am so sorry, Lady Paxton,” Honey dragged. Her prominent nose and chin, which were of a rich Scandinavian heritage, had always been the first set of features people noticed about her. “I didn’t mean to be a disturbance. Such a klutz I am.”
Michelle rose to her feet, spotting Brenda, but decidedly kept her attention on Honey. “It’s okay. I am happy to see you’ve made the effort to visit my son.”
“Well, I don’t plan to stay long,” Honey said, offering the arrangement of flowers to Michelle. “I just came to bring these.”
Michelle stepped ahead to receive the flowers, but Brenda intercepted. “I will handle it for you, First Lady. Please proceed to talk with Susan.”
“I appreciate that, Brenda.”
Michelle stared at the subtle way that Honey wrung her hands together, which could only mean that Honey was nervous about something. “Are you okay?” she inquired of Abraham’s widow.
“You’re too kind to be concerned about me when your son is in a coma.”
“It is hard to see my son lying there unable to respond to my cries,” Michelle said, “But you are important to me and I am also concerned about your well-being. So feel free to tell me what’s on your mind.”
Honey opened her mouth and then closed it.
“It’s okay,” Michelle assured.
“Maybe another time,” Honey said and then made a pretense of looking at her wristwatch. “I have to be somewhere at eleven o’clock this morning. I pray God will have mercy on your son. He’s so handsome and so easy to talk to.”
Honey’s words caused Michelle’s eyes to water. “Thank you. We are all praying that he wakes up soon. But you take care of yourself. If there’s anything you need, please let me know and I will get it taken care of.”
“Thank you, but I’ll be fine…” Honey began stepping back as she gave a little wave. “Bye, ya’ll…I was happy to come.”
Michelle turned to Brenda and asked, “What do you think is bothering Susan?”
“Not sure. I heard a bit a chatter that she has agreed to testify against Tahoe in court.”
“If that’s the appointment she was referring to, that could explain why she was acting so nervous.”
Brenda shrugged noncommittally. “It could be.”
“Poor thing. It seems as if everyone is facing some trial or another…” Michelle’s gaze soon returned to her son, along with the mournful expression. “Look at my handsome boy, lying there without a clue to what has happened to him.”
“Sean will pull through this,” Brenda encouraged.
“So everyone keeps telling me, but sometimes my faith stumbles whenever the doctors tell me things like Sean’s condition is stagnant and that at any moment he could get progressively worse…”
“Or he could get progressively better,” Brenda said. “We have to cancel every negative word with positive affirmations. Of course you know the Bible is spot on when it says that death and life are in the power of our tongues. Speak life over your son and nothing else.”
Michelle looked at Brenda, stunned, but also appreciative for being empowered through the words of her personal adjutant. A blatant example that God will assign anyone to deliver a heavenly message. She dabbed the tears away from her eyes and warmly said, “Thank you, Brenda. I really needed to hear that.”
“That is what I’m here for,” Brenda said, as she reached for a small bowl half-filled with clam chowder. “I know this might be a bit lukewarm, but you need to eat something to keep up your strength.”
Michelle smiled. “Maybe, I will. Thanks again, Brenda. You are truly a Godsend.”
****
Same Time
Ellie had spent the first part of the morning trying to track down Leroy’s whereabouts. She assumed he was at the church, but when she got there, the secretary explained that Leroy was tending to personal family matters and would not be in the office that day. Though disappointed, Ellie wa
s not deterred. She then drove out to the Paxtons’ estate, only to discover the main gate had been locked and was now being manned by two newly hired security guards.
Somehow, Ellie knew that the men in uniform were Michelle’s crazy idea, which to Ellie was a poor attempt to keep her and her son away from Leroy. She was not going anywhere until she got what she wanted and it was time Michelle understood that. Ellie’s confidence was building stronger every day and so was her impatience with the way things were moving between her and Leroy. By now, Ellie thought, she and Leroy would have been together, taking care of their precious little boy.
But that uppity wife of his just kept shoving her nosey behind into her affairs. Ellie wished there was something she could do to get Michelle out of the picture. Murder, obviously would seem like the most probable solution. A shot to the head or a stab to the heart would take care of Michelle for good. The problem was: Ellie was not a murderer. Her sister, however, would jump at the opportunity without thinking twice about it. But did she dare go back to Shaniece and ask for help, considering how mean and disgruntled Shaniece had been to her the last time? Ellie smiled, despite her misgivings. Maybe she would, maybe she wouldn’t go to Shaniece. In any event, that miserable sister of hers knew tons of people who could get the job done.
Knowing she would be unable to convince the security guards to let her through the gates, Ellie put her car in reverse and began to roll back onto the asphalt. But then she noticed the gates opening in front of a white Escalade waiting to drive through. Thinking quickly, Ellie slammed the gear shift in park and hopped out of her vehicle. She then dragged her sleeping son from the backseat. Certainly Leroy wouldn’t knock down the mother of his child – moreover, their son, whom she was now cradling against her shoulders.
Ellie fearlessly planted her feet in a spot where she knew she would be risking her life. And as she’d anticipated, the Escalade stopped within five feet of her. The passenger side door swung open, which was followed by a thunderous bark that almost sent Ellie scurrying back to her own vehicle.
