“Sounds good,” he said.
Then, the phone rang.
“Hello?” I said.
“May I speak to Curtis?” a woman asked.
“Who’s calling, please?”
“That’s not important. You just put Curtis on the phone.”
“Who is this?” I said, lifting my body away from Curtis.
“Why?”
“Because I need to know, that’s why.”
“Look, is Curtis there or not?”
“He’s here, but unless you can tell me who you are, you won’t be speaking to him.”
“Well, if you must know, I’m the other Mrs. Black.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
“I don’t know who you are, but if you call here again—”
“You know who I am because by now I’m sure Curtis has told you.”
“Tabitha?”
“Bravo for Charlotte. Now, can I please speak to Curtis?”
“No, I think we need to get something straight first. I’m the only Mrs. Black married to Curtis.”
“Maybe you’re the only one the few days out of the month when he’s home, but I’m very much his wife when we’re on the road.”
“Those days are over, sweetie.”
Tabitha laughed out loud. “I’m carrying Curtis’s baby in my belly and you think things are over between us? Honey, our relationship will never be over. Not even once this child is eighteen.”
“Well, just so you know, you won’t be getting one cent until we see proof that you’re pregnant, and after that we’ll need proof that Curtis is the father.”
“That’s not a problem. I know whose baby this is because I haven’t been with another man since I met Curtis. So if you want, we can ride to the testing facility together. We can take all the tests you want, but the bottom line is that you’re about to be a stepmother.”
Her words were slicing me into small pieces but I would never let her know it.
“Like I said, not one cent.”
“Suit yourself, but in the meantime I expect Curtis to continue paying my living expenses the same as always.”
“We’ll see.”
“Either you will or you’ll be reading about the three of us—well, actually the four of us, counting the baby. Anyway, you’ll be reading about us in the tabloids, and before I’m finished, you’ll be watching me live on CNN telling the whole story.”
“You make me sick.”
“Likewise,” she said, and I threw the phone at Curtis and folded my arms.
He looked at me and then picked it up.
“Tabitha, why are you doing this?” he asked. “I told you we would work this out like two civil adults, so why are you calling here harassing Charlotte? I did tell her. The phone calls have to stop. I don’t care. If you need to contact me, call my cell phone, but under no circumstance are you to call our home number again. I don’t wanna hear that. I’m asking you politely. Okay, fine, I’m hanging up. Good-bye,” he said.
“I don’t believe she had the audacity to call here for you. And then brag about being your other wife. I can’t believe you’ve forced us into this stupid charade, Curtis.”
“She’s not going to stop calling until we agree to pay all her bills and set up some sort of monthly allowance.”
“No. No way. I told you and I told her, we’re not paying out any money until we have proof.”
“And I told you that we have to keep her quiet.”
“You should have thought about that when you decided to lay up with her. When you decided to choose a second wife without divorcing me.”
“That’s not even funny.”
“Which is why I’m not laughing.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“Nothing.”
“And let her go to the media? Let her ruin my career and my reputation?”
“I can’t even talk about this anymore,” I said, dismissing him and leaving the room.
“Charlotte?” he said.
But I kept walking. I left because I didn’t have anything else to say.
Nothing I wouldn’t regret later.
Chapter 29
CHARLOTTE
How dare that witch call our house making financial demands, I thought as I turned the key in the lock to Janine’s condo and stepped inside. Then I disarmed the security system, which was still set because, thanks to Antonio, Janine had never gotten any farther than the garage. Actually, I’d had to run by the hospital on my way over here to find out the new code because I’d remembered her telling me she’d changed it.
I moved from room to room, making sure everything was intact, and then I headed toward the door leading to the garage and braced myself. When I opened it and looked through, I suddenly felt nauseous. Blood was all over the cement floor and I couldn’t help imagining what Janine must have gone through.
As she’d figured, her purse was right near her car, so I picked it up and carried it back in with me. Then I sat down at the kitchen table, attempting to gather my composure. Being here and seeing the crime scene was a lot harder than I’d expected, and of course this whole Tabitha production was steadily eating away at me. So much so that my thought pattern was slipping into ungodly territory. I didn’t want to think what I was thinking, but I didn’t see how I could simply allow this woman to waltz into my life and take over. She’d been in Curtis’s life for a good while, but this had nothing to do with the children or me and it was my duty to protect what was rightfully ours.
Of course, if she’d been the type of woman who would leave town permanently, accept mutually agreed-upon child support, and refrain from contacting us again, then maybe I’d feel much better about the situation and possibly I’d be able to pretend this had never happened. But I knew from speaking with her that she wasn’t. I knew she wanted the fairy tale. She was the type of mistress that sleeps with a man year after year, knowing he has a wife and family, yet she still hopes, prays, believes, and counts on the fact that one day he is going to leave his wife and marry her. It was the stupidest thing a woman could fantasize about, but I knew Tabitha was all of the above. She wanted Curtis very badly and I could tell she’d go to any extremes she had to in order to make this happen—which is why she had to be stopped.
It was the reason I would wait until she was around six or seven months pregnant, invite her over to call a truce, and then she would somehow tumble down our winding staircase by accident.
“I didn’t want to bring this up in front of Marissa,” Curtis said once he and Marissa had come back from her appointment and he’d followed me up to our bedroom, “but about an hour ago one of the detectives who arrested Larry called me on my cell phone.”
“So?” I said, because I was still livid with Curtis for the problems he’d brought into our lives and for humiliating me the way he had.
“You’re lucky I’m even speaking to you right now,” he said, hurling me a dirty look.
“Why? They found the jewelry, didn’t they?”
“As a matter of fact, they confiscated it from the pawnshop and the owner already came in to identify Larry.”
“Well then, what’s the problem?”
“Well, the thing is, they’re having to extradite Larry back to Atlanta to face a warrant in De Kalb County.”
“Okay,” I said, still confused and basically uninterested in this whole dialogue we were having.
“He sexually molested his daughter when she was a child, Charlotte, and she’s now pressed charges against him. That’s why he left there and came up here.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, but what does that have to do with me?”
“Everything.”
“How?”
My patience was growing thinner every second.
“I called Alicia and thankfully she says that Larry never approached her. She said Jalen had told her way back then that her father was touching her in the wrong way, but both she and Jalen were afraid to tell anyone.�
��
“But I ask you again, Curtis, what does any of this have to do with me?”
“You brought that fool around Marissa and Matthew and he could have done the same thing to both of them. You allowed him to spend hours here even after I told you not to.”
“But there’s no way anything happened because I never left them alone with him.”
“You’d better be glad you didn’t, and Larry had better be thanking God he never laid a hand on Alicia, Matthew, or Marissa.”
“Now you’re just talking crazy, because Alicia wasn’t even here.”
“But she used to spend the night with Jalen all the time when she was a small girl. You heard him say that the first night he was over here, so what I’m saying is that he’d better be glad he didn’t touch her back then.”
I wanted to respond but I didn’t know what I should say because he was right for being angry. I had irresponsibly brought a stranger into our home and subjected our children to a very sick individual and there was no excuse for it. Still, I didn’t see where this compared even remotely to him getting another woman pregnant. I didn’t see how he could have the nerve to confront me about anything, let alone something that had worked out fine. Larry hadn’t harmed Matthew or Marissa, so Curtis needed to get over it.
“If it’ll make you feel any better, I’m sorry,” I said, but my tone was clearly sarcastic.
“You’re always sorry. With you, it seems like there’s always one thing after another, and that’s why I—” he said, and then cut his sentence.
“That’s why you what?” I yelled. “That’s why you’ve been sleeping around and that’s why you have a baby on the way?”
“You know what? I’m not doing this with you, because if I do, I’ll end up saying some things I won’t be able to take back.”
“No, you started it, Curtis, so let’s finish it. Let’s talk about that tramp you’ve been screwing for what, five years now? Or maybe we could talk about how you were stupid enough to get her pregnant. Or even better, let’s talk about the fact that you were too ignorant and selfish to even wear a condom. You hear me, Curtis, let’s talk about all of that,” I said, pressing my finger in his chest as hard as I could.
“You’d better stop while you’re ahead.” He grasped my arm and forced it away from him.
“No, I’m not stopping anything, because I’m tired of you playing Mr. Holier Than Thou when all along you’ve been committing one sin after another. You’ve done more dirt than anyone I can think of, but still you’re running around here claiming to be a minister.”
“Well, what about you? Huh? What about sleeping with your cousin’s husband? What about sleeping with Aaron behind my back?”
“Oh, please,” I said, tossing my hands in the air. “How many times are you going to keep throwing those same two ancient incidents in my face?”
“Well, if you’re sick of hearing about old news, then let’s talk about the fact that Marissa isn’t my daughter.”
Now, I knew. I’d been dreaming for two whole days. In reality, Antonio hadn’t attacked Janine and Curtis hadn’t just told me that he knew Marissa didn’t belong to him.
At least this was what I’d wanted to believe, but then Curtis yelled at me again, forcing me to realize that I wasn’t dreaming and that this was as real as real could be.
“You thought you were so smart, but after all this time you still don’t know what I’m capable of,” he said. “Remember a few years ago when I asked you how you thought you could con a con artist? Yet, you still tried to con me, anyway.”
“Why are you saying all this?”
“Because she’s not my daughter. Back then, I didn’t trust you for a minute, so I made an appointment with the doctor who owned that paternity facility and I pretty much told him that if I ever found out his staff had falsified our test results, I would sue him for everything he had and report it to every news outlet in the country. And the next thing I knew he was telling everything.”
My stomach turned viciously and while I tried to think of a quick alibi, I couldn’t. I tried and tried but my brain wouldn’t cooperate. So for the first time since I’d married Curtis, I had no choice but to admit what I’d done.
“I was afraid you would leave me,” I finally managed to say.
“Just stop, because I don’t wanna hear anything else you have to say. And you know why? Because even after I found out that you’d paid that facility to lie, I still decided to stay with you. Mainly for Matthew’s sake, but of course I ended up loving Marissa just like she was my own.”
“But she is yours. She’s been with you since the day she was born and she loves you so much. She loves you more than she loves me.”
“That’s beside the point, Charlotte, because she’s still not my daughter,” Curtis roared, and I dropped down on the bed when I saw Marissa standing in our doorway. She’d gone into her room and slammed her door, so the last thing I’d expected was for her to come back out of it.
“Baby girl, how long have you been standing there?” Curtis asked, moving toward her.
But she was already crying hysterically.
“I hate you,” she said, backing away.
“Marissa, please,” I said, now walking closer and reaching out to her myself.
“I hate both of you,” she shrieked, and backed farther down the hallway.
“Marissa, baby girl, Daddy can explain, now please come so I can talk to you.”
“You’re not my daddy!” she shouted, still backing away.
But then I rushed toward her, attempting to grab her into my arms.
And that’s when she tumbled down the stairway, the entire winding flight and slammed her head against the huge cement pot on the floor at the bottom.
“Marissa, oh my God,” I said, running after her.
“Oh Lord, no,” Curtis said, hurrying behind me.
“Marissa, baby, wake up,” I pleaded.
“Marissa,” Curtis hollered. “Marissa.”
“Baby, wake up,” I repeated.
“I’m calling 911,” he said, and I held her faint body in my arms. I held her and prayed that she was going to be okay. I prayed that God would have mercy on me. Mercy on our family. I prayed that He would spare my daughter’s precious life.
Chapter 30
CHARLOTTE
Marissa had been pronounced dead on arrival, but I refused to believe it. I refused to believe that my five-year-old daughter had fallen to her death so quickly and so easily. I’d heard the emergency room doctor explaining to Curtis and me that the damage to her skull and brain had been too severe for her to survive, but I still couldn’t comprehend that she was gone. I knew she’d gotten too close to the edge of the staircase and had accidentally lost her balance, but children fell down stairs all the time and rarely ever died from it. Not even when they hit their heads against planters.
So, to me, this just didn’t make any sense. Although if Curtis hadn’t started bellowing to the world that Marissa wasn’t his daughter, she’d still be alive now. But no, he just couldn’t shut up about it. He’d had to make his point the same as always, and now our little girl—well, my little girl—was gone and I’d never forgive him.
But then, as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t deny the fact that I’d played a major part in this, too. I couldn’t deny that the reason Curtis and I had been arguing in the first place was because I’d invited Larry over and one subject had led to another. But then the debate between us had become so heated we’d totally forgotten about Marissa and hadn’t counted on her easing over to our room and listening to what we were saying.
“Mr. and Mrs. Black, can we get you anything?” one of the hospital chaplains asked, and I burst into tears.
“Not right now,” Curtis told him. “But thank you.”
“If you need anything at all, please let us know.”
We’d been sitting in a small family room for at least a half hour, waiting to go in and see Marissa. The funeral home had already been n
otified, but we wanted to see her before they took her away.
When the chaplain left, Curtis placed his arm around me.
“Don’t…you…touch…me,” I said, moving from the love seat and over to one of the chairs. “Don’t you ever touch me again.”
“Charlotte, this isn’t the time for that. Right now we have to support each other and figure out how we’re going to tell Matthew about Marissa.”
“It’s your fault that she’s dead, so you’re the one who’s going to tell him,” I couldn’t help lashing out at him.
“How can you say that?” he said, his eyes filling with tears.
“Because it is your fault.”
“But how? Because you’re the one who rushed toward her and that’s when she fell back.”
“Just shut up, Curtis!” I said, picking up a magazine and throwing it at him. “Just shut up or get the hell out of here.”
“I can’t believe you’re actually trying to blame me for this,” he said, and neither of us spoke another word for ten minutes.
We sat staring anywhere except directly at each other, but then I finally looked at him.
“If you knew about that paternity test all these years, Curtis, why are you just bringing it up now?”
I asked this because I was beginning to feel more sadness and regret than I did anger.
“I’m sorry. But you kept pressing me about this Tabitha situation and I couldn’t help reminding you about what you’ve done to me. I told you the other day that we’ve both made a lot of mistakes, and now this is the result.”
“I can’t believe this has happened,” I said, breaking down again, and Curtis pulled me up from the chair and held me tightly.
This time I didn’t resist because I wanted and needed him to hold me. The road ahead would certainly be a rough one.
“Oh no,” I said. “I really need to check on Janine.”
“We’ll go up there before we leave.”
“I honestly feel like I’m losing my mind.”
“What we have to do is pray for strength and understanding.”
Love & Lies Page 22
