For a moment Ava and Hilton simply smiled at each other, then moved in closer and fell into step.
“It’s good to see you, Ava,” he said. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you. It’s good to see you, too. But I don’t understand. I thought you would be out of town for a couple of days yet.”
“I came back early. I enjoyed the holiday yesterday, but this morning it went downhill faster than an out-of-control boulder. I put my stuff in the truck and just came on home. I ran into Spencer and Kendall at Walgreens. Kendall insisted I come tonight. I hope it’s all right with you.”
“Of course it is. It’s a surprise, but definitely a pleasant one.”
When the music ended he took her hand and led her to the reception area of the club, where he pulled out a pack of Marlboros and lit one.
‘I didn’t know you smoked, Hilton.”
“I don’t anymore. I guess I’m regressing. The stress of the holidays.”
“I guess it’s hard on everyone,” she said thoughtfully. “I’ll bet your son was sorry to see you go.”
“I actually didn’t get to see him before I left, but he sounded disappointed when I called after I got back and told him I was home.” He took a deep drag on his cigarette. “That was the problem. I only got to see him on Christmas Day. After that his mother managed to have some pressing matter come up that required her to leave the house whenever I was supposed to pick him up.”
“You sound like you think it was done on purpose.”
“It happened three times, Ava. What would you think?”
“Oh, I didn’t know. I guess I would be a little suspicious.”
“You’d be a lot suspicious if you knew Janelle.” He stubbed what was left of the cigarette in the ashtray built into the top of a trash receptacle.
Ava knew he wouldn’t be saying anything else about it. She didn’t know Hilton well, but she knew he was a man of few words. Marcus would probably be like that…provided he even had the opportunity to grow into a man.
And he would, if she had anything to say about it.
As they returned to the festivities, it occurred to her that while Christmas had been easier for her this year because of Marcus, it was a very difficult time for Hilton.
Chapter 8
Hilton drove Ava home after the reception. He’d been quiet all evening, but despite that his manner transcended a gladness that she was there. After dinner she traded seats with the wife of the usher who escorted her, with the other woman sitting on the dais next to her husband and Ava sitting at the table next to Hilton. He stayed close all night, his hand draped across the back of her chair or resting lightly on her shoulder—bare except for the wispy sheer nylon covering—and when they danced to the slow, dreamy numbers she had felt weightless in his arms.
“Would you like to come in for a while?” she asked as she prepared to unlock the front door.
“No, not now.”
“Are you all right, Hilton?” He looked as if he was trying to mask great emotional pain, but the mask had started to slip, allowing her to glimpse the anguish beneath. It was a familiar sight to her; many times at the end of a day she’d seen the stress on her own face after having put on a happy face for her clientele.
“I’ll be all right. I hope I didn’t ruin your evening with my gloomy self.”
Ava reached out, her fingers closing around his forearm, feeling his strength through his suit coat. “Of course not. Your being at the wedding was the nicest surprise I’ve had all week.”
“I’m glad. I’ll call you in a day or two, okay? I’ve got to work this out.”
“Anything I can do to help?”
“I’m afraid not, but thanks for offering.” He bent and briefly kissed her lips before going down the walk to his truck.
Ava’s house suddenly seemed too quiet. It had been wonderful to wake up yesterday morning to find Marcus sitting at the kitchen table having a bowl of Apple Cinnamon Cheerios. For a few precious moments she allowed herself to imagine he was her own child, having breakfast before he left for school. When he left he gave her a hug and kiss and said, “One day I’m going to do something real nice for you, Aunt Ava.”
She smiled at the memory. Still, she wished she knew more about Marcus. As it was, she didn’t even know his last name. Between he and Hilton, the two new males in her life, she was practically overcome with curiosity.
Ava turned on the living room television as the late news was coming on. The lead story was that there had been a shooting on Main Street. The victim, identified only as a man in his late twenties or early thirties, was reported to be in critical condition in what police suspected was a drug-related skirmish.
Sounds like one more troublemaker is out of commission, Ava thought. Maybe recovering from a bullet wound will be enough to get him to change paths.
Then again, maybe not. She knew as well as anyone that a startling percentage of today’s youth were more prone to take the easy way out, whether it be doing a little dealing for extra money while in college or foregoing an education altogether to become full time pushers.
The Maxwell family had been far from wealthy, but guidance from Doris and Gordon Maxwell, good values, and assistance from scholarships and student loans had allowed all three of them to become college graduates, and Larry and Maria to go on to medical and dentistry schools, respectively. Doris had urged Ava to pursue a career in the health industry as well, but the squeamish Ava chose to major in marketing instead. Her father thought that was fine, but Doris had not hidden her disappointment. She had come around after Beginnings was a success, but the direction Ava’s personal life took caused a divide between them that had never been repaired.
Still, it was the work ethic and determination to be the best that had made Beginnings the leading bridal salon in the area. Ava knew she had been blessed to have had such encouragement from her earliest years, for it had saved her and her siblings from settling for a lifetime of mediocrity.
She’d initially had reservations about what she perceived as a lack of ambition in Hilton, but that was before she knew he’d already put in twenty years at a stressful job. He obviously found being self-employed satisfying after serving in the strict regimen of the police force for two decades. Surely Hilton would urge little Maxwell to follow his dreams and be the best he could be.
She wanted to do the same for Marcus.
*****
By Sunday she still hadn’t heard from Hilton. She considered calling the number on his business card, but decided to wait it out. She was sure he would call when he was feeling better. There had been times in her own life—usually immediately after she’d felt forced to end a relationship—when she refused to answer the telephone and did not venture beyond her front door unless it was to go to work. During the months following her separation in particular she was practically a hermit. It looked like Hilton also withdrew into himself when he was getting through a difficult period. They had a lot in common, she and Hilton, more than he would probably ever know.
They had a date for New Year’s Eve, two days from now, and she just might have to wait until then to see him. Knowing that he was almost certain to have regained some degree of cheerfulness by then prevented her from becoming too impatient.
She hadn’t seen Marcus either, not since he’d left her house after breakfast the morning after Christmas. Funny, but she’d never had this much contact with a child before, not even her own nieces and nephews. When Larry and Joy or Maria and Gregory wanted to go out they brought their offspring to Doris or to their in-laws, or even to each other, since all the kids were relatively close in age and played together reasonably well. Before Marcus she’d never been able to kiss a child goodnight or tuck them in bed. She had no idea how long this unusual friendship would last, but while it did, she was going to love every minute of it.
Marcus showed up at nightfall, alternately knocking on her front door urgently and repeatedly ringing the doorbell.
Ava rushed
to the door, opening it quickly when she recognized the small figure on the porch. “Hi, sweetie!” she said. “I’ve been wondering where you were.” She pulled the door back to let him inside.
“I’ve been playing ball.”
She was pleased. That meant he was staying away from Main Street and the inevitable trouble that awaited him there, which was worse now, with the recent shooting. While she knew there were lighted courts in town for night playing, at the same time she noticed he didn’t have his basketball with him, even though he was out of breath. He’d probably been playing with some kid who had his own ball.
“Would you like something to eat?” Confident of an affirmative reply, she turned and started down the hall toward the kitchen.
“No, thank you,” he said politely.
Ava turned, stunned. This was the first time she’d known Marcus to decline food. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” he replied, too quickly.
“Marcus,” she prodded. “You’re keeping something from me.”
Suddenly he ran to her and threw his arms around her waist, hugging her tightly. “T-Bone’s dead,” he said with a smothered sob. “I know who did it. I’m scared, Aunt Ava.”
She was baffled by his words, but instinctively she hugged him back. “I don’t follow you, Marcus; but you know I’ll do what I can to help you. Who is T-Bone?”
“He’s…somebody I know.”
His evasiveness exasperated her, and she took a few steps back so she could meet his gaze. “Obviously you know him if you know his name. Stop holding back, Marcus. Tell me what happened. You know you can trust me.” She took his hand and led him to a chair in the living room, then sat at an angle on the couch so she could lean toward him.
“T-Bone. He runs Palmdale and Nile Beach.”
She was beginning to understand. “You mean he directs the crime. He’s the one who had you snatching women’s purses downtown and at the mall, wasn’t he?”
Marcus’s shoe-button eyes grew wide. “What do you know about the mall?”
“I saw you pull a stunt out there. You’re lucky you weren’t caught and sent to reform school. And this T-Bone, he was the one who was going to move you up to the big time?”
He nodded.
“Are you saying you saw him murdered?”
“No, but I heard another man tell him he was going to get him. It was just a couple of days ago. They were arguing over some money T-Bone was supposed to pay him for a job. T-Bone only gave him half, and he got real mad. T-Bone had some of the guys throw him out. I’ll bet he’s the one who did it.”
Ava’s mind raced. “Do you know the man’s name?”
“Goodyear.”
“Goodyear!” she repeated. “Doesn’t anyone use their real names?”
“Not in the street.”
“Did Goodyear see you there?”
“I don’t think so. I listened to what they were saying, but I stayed in the other room. But what if he tries to get T-Bone’s men, the ones that heard him tell T-Bone he was going to get him? They might tell him I was there and heard what he said, too.”
Fear settled around Ava like a down quilt on a cold night. It was a frightening thought that this Goodyear might actually seek to eliminate everyone who had heard him threaten T-Bone. Could human life actually mean so little in these circles?
“You’ve been inside since it happened, haven’t you?” she asked. “You haven’t been playing ball.”
He nodded, looking like any eight-year-old who was terrified.
“Marcus, have you told your parents or anyone in your family about this?”
“No. My grandparents, they’re old. My mother…she don’t live with us. And my aunt’s not around much either. She hardly spends time with her own kids.”
He hadn’t mentioned a father, Ava noticed, but he did use a plural for his grandparents, which meant he had a grandfather. She felt a sense of relief that Marcus’s grandmother had some help in caring for him, although Grandpa didn’t seem to be able to handle him, either. “Do your cousins live with you, too?”
“Yeah.”
No wonder there hadn’t been room for a Christmas tree. Ava wondered how large their place was. “Marcus, do you think your grandparents would mind if you stayed with me for the rest of your Christmas vacation? By the time school starts this should blow over. If not… well, we’ll take it one step at a time.”
His eyes shone. “I want to show you something.” He jumped up and ran to the front door, opened it and reached for something.
It was a black nylon gym bag, small enough to fit under the seat of an airplane. “I packed a few things. I like to be prepared.”
Ava didn’t know whether to hug him or smack him. In the end she settled for a smile. “That’s all well and good, Marcus, but I still need to talk to your mo—I mean, to an adult responsible for you. Staying a week is a lot different from staying overnight.”
“But I already told Granny you invited me to stay with you.”
“That wasn’t true, Marcus.”
“Maybe not then, but now it is.”
She tried to look stern. “Marcus.”
“But you did invite me, Aunt Ava, just now.”
“I’m not giving in this time, Marcus. I can’t let you stay here without the consent of someone qualified to give it. It would be against the law for me to keep you here without an okay from your guardian. You don’t want me to go to jail, do you?”
“No.”
“Your grandparents need to know exactly where you are, not just that you might be staying with me. They don’t even know me.”
Marcus contorted his lower lip, and she knew he was thinking up a scheme. “I know the best place to see Granny and Granddaddy.”
“Someplace other than home, I have a feeling.”
“Every morning they go to the supermarket when it opens at eight o’clock. I’ll go with you and point them out, but I’ll stay in the back of the car so nobody sees me.”
Ava sucked her teeth in exasperation. It was clear Marcus didn’t want her to know where he lived, but she didn’t want to endanger him. “All right. Tomorrow morning we’ll look for them.”
*****
Ava and Marcus were watching TV in the living room when the phone rang.
“Ava, it’s Hilton. Can I come over? I’d like to see you.”
“Sure, come on over.”
She ran upstairs as soon as she hung up, moving with such haste Marcus called out, “You okay, Aunt Ava?” She hollered an affirmative response but did not slow down.
In the bathroom she brushed and fluffed her hair into place, splashed water on her face and swished mouthwash in preparation for his arrival, which she knew would be imminent, since he lived nearby. She applied a deep brownish-maroon lipstick for a natural enhancement, then straightened her clothing and returned downstairs.
She found herself looking forward to introducing Hilton to Marcus. It was time for the two “men” in her life to meet. Still, she didn’t feel Marcus needed to hear whatever Hilton was coming to talk to her about.
“Marcus, a friend of mine is coming by to see me. I want you to meet him, and then I want you to go upstairs to your room and watch TV there, okay?”
His lips turned upward, and she realized the smile originated at her unintentional reference to ‘his’ room. It took so little to make him happy, she thought with a twinge of her heartstrings.
When Hilton arrived she immediately took his hand and led him to where Marcus sat. “Hilton, this is Marcus. Marcus, this is Mr. White.”
The pair shook hands, and then Marcus asked, “Should I go upstairs now?”
She nodded, embarrassed.
“Cute kid,” Hilton said after Marcus was gone. “Are you baby sitting?”
“Sort of. I’m afraid Marcus is in some trouble.” They sat on the couch and she explained.
“So you’re saying a killer might be after that kid?” he asked, frown lines appearing on his forehead.
&n
bsp; “It’s a possibility—”
“And you’re keeping him here with you? Are you crazy?” His voice became louder with each word.
She cast a nervous glance at the stairs. “Hilton, please lower your voice.”
“All right. But I don’t like this, Ava. You’re not equipped to protect anyone. If anything you’re endangering your own safety. Why didn’t you just call the police?”
“Because I don’t want Marcus’s name in it.”
“Call them anonymously. Hell, I’ll call them if you want. Let them pick up this Goodyear person for questioning. Chances are he didn’t even do it. With these people you never know. It’s a dirty business, and they usually have a lot of enemies.”
“Would you really do that, Hilton?”
“Of course. I don’t want you in any danger.” He gestured toward the second floor with his chin. “What’s your connection with Marcus, anyway?”
Ava bit her lower lip before replying. She hoped Hilton wouldn’t think she was crazy for her interest in a child who was a stranger to her, a kid whom she’d intercepted during a purse-snatching. As she had with her sister, she explained that he’d been hanging around her salon, leaving out the part about the robbery attempt.
Upon hearing her story he shook his head and chuckled. “You couldn’t just sign up as a Big Sister if you wanted to help disadvantaged kids?”
“Hilton, he’s not a bad boy, really. He’s from a poor family—he won’t tell me where he lives, but I’m pretty sure it’s here in Palmdale somewhere and not in Nile Beach. His mother’s not around, and he never mentioned a father. He’s practically obsessed with money.”
Hilton frowned again. “Do you know who he lives with?”
“His grandparents, some cousins…maybe an aunt; I’m not sure. The household is apparently so crowded there wasn’t even room for a Christmas tree. He was so disappointed to see that I didn’t have one. He spent Christmas Day with me. I saw him out wandering, and I ended up bringing him over to my brother’s for Christmas dinner.”
A Love of Her Own Page 10
