by E. N. Joy
“My girls pretty much have the perfect dancer’s body, don’t they?” Lorain was just as smug as she could be, having decided to view Ivy’s words as a compliment instead of the dig the hussy was throwing her way. “Thank you, Ivy. That’s mighty big of you.” Lorain looked her up and down. “And speaking of big, have you lost weight?”
Okay, one point for God and two points for the devil. Obviously, Lorain was still a work in progress.
Chapter 5
“Where have you been? We’ve been waiting forever, and your cell is off. My calls kept going straight to voice mail,” Nicholas said to Lorain as she walked through the front door with two Neiman Marcus bags in tow. He looked down at the bags. “Well, I guess I don’t have to ask where you’ve been.” He kissed her on the forehead. “Put those bags down and come into the kitchen.” Nicholas removed the bags from Lorain’s hands and sat them on the foyer floor, by the fountain.
“What are you doing home?” Lorain was so surprised that Nicholas was greeting her at the door when she walked in.
Usually, the tables were turned, and she was the one doing the greeting. No matter how many errands were on Lorain’s to-do list, up until now she had always managed to beat Nicholas home. There was always one last patient to see, one last file to look over, or one last patient admitted to the hospital whom he needed to check in on. With such a hectic schedule, Nicholas was never afforded the pleasure of arriving home before seven o’clock, even though his office closed at five.
Lorain looked down at her watch. Her mouth dropped. “It’s after seven?” As it turned out, Nicholas was right on his usual schedule. Lorain was the one who had let time get away from her. “Gosh. I lost track of time,” she admitted. “They were doing the final clearance of all the Christmas leftovers and returns. You know me. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.”
It didn’t matter how much money was in Lorain’s bank account. A great deal was a great deal. And not only did the wives enjoy bragging about their expensive items, but they also loved bragging about a good bargain at the same time. It was never a good thing for one wife to have something identical to the next wife, unless she could rub it in her face that she’d gotten it way below retail. Oh, there was pleasure in making the next wife feel as though she’d been ripped off by paying double for something. Fashionistas and bargainistas had the same ranking in their clique.
“I’m so sorry I’m late.” Lorain kissed her husband on the cheek. “I have a nice, healthy light dinner planned for us that calls for chicken breasts. I need to marinade the chicken, though, so it will take a minute to prepare.” She looked at her watch again. “But since it’s so late, I guess I’ll have to whip something else up.”
It was at times like this when Lorain wished she had a kitchen staff on hand full-time. She hired a kitchen staff only when she was planning an event or wanted a special, intimate meal with Nicholas and didn’t have time to review an instructional culinary video on YouTube.
“No worries,” Nicholas told her. “I’ve already got something special for you waiting in the kitchen.”
“Oh, lovey-dovey, how sweet.” Lorain kissed him on the lips this time. She then pulled away, raising an eyebrow. “Wait a minute. Am I having dinner with you . . . ?” She wiggled both brows. “Or with Leon? And does this ‘something special’ involve chocolate syrup and whipped cream?” She grabbed him by his collar and looked over her shoulders. “Are the girls with my mom?” She lifted her leg and wrapped it around Nicholas’s waist.
“Woman, cut it out,” he said, spanking her on the behind.
“Ooh, so it is Leon.” She offered her husband a mischievous grin.
He shook his head, pushed Lorain’s leg down, and grabbed her by the hand. “Is that all you ever think about? Come on, gutter mind.” Nicholas led his wife through the dining room and into the kitchen.
Even before they entered the gourmet kitchen, one that every professional chef Lorain had invited to cook in salivated at, the smell of an all too familiar meal teased Lorain’s nose. She immediately knew that the “something special” waiting for her in the kitchen was not the doing of her husband.
“Just as I thought,” Lorain said when she followed Nicholas through the kitchen door and saw her mother at the six-burner, stainless-steel stove, stirring something in a pot. She made a beeline over to her mother. “Your famous neck bones, black-eyed peas, and corn bread.” She put her arm around her mother’s shoulders. “Ordinarily, I wouldn’t want such a high-sodium meal this late in the day and in the middle of the week.” The weekends were usually when Lorain was more lenient with meals and snacks. “But you are an absolute lifesaver, Mom.” She kissed Eleanor on her head of dark brown hair. It was her natural color, not dyed. Lorain always joked that Eleanor caused everyone else to have gray hair but didn’t have a single one on her own head. “Thank you. Sorry I’m late.”
“No problem,” Eleanor said. “I got the girls off the bus and did their little homework with them.” Putting the girls on the bus and getting them off the bus was something Eleanor did every day, so that was nothing new. She insisted on earning her keep in any way she could and devoted herself to caring for the girls, especially since Nicholas and Lorain refused to accept any rent money from her. When Eleanor sold her home to move in with them, she had tried to bless the couple with a few grand at least, but they wouldn’t hear of it. Eleanor hadn’t pressed the issue. That meant more bingo nights for her.
While Eleanor talked, Lorain stole a sliver of corn bread and stuffed it in her mouth. She could taste the hint of sugar and the real butter that had melted on the top and seeped into the sweet, cake-like delicacy.
“Where are the girls at now?” she asked with her mouth full.
A little smirk appeared on Eleanor’s face. She nodded over her shoulder. “Right there.”
Lorain turned around.
“Surprise!”
Lorain swallowed a hunk of corn bread practically whole and began choking. She tried to cough it up, but it was stuck in her throat. She hunched over in a ball, with her hands gripping her neck, like she was trying to squeeze the bread out of her throat. She couldn’t breathe.
“Oh, dear God!” she heard her mother cry out. “I’ll call nine-one-one!”
Lorain didn’t know how much time had passed, but it felt like forever and a day. The very air she breathed had been ripped from her in a matter of seconds. Just as she felt she was going to black out, she sensed a presence behind her. Then she felt arms around her. She felt fists gripping her under her breasts. Next, she felt the pressure on her chest from repeated pumping. The corn bread came back up, and she spit it out onto the floor. She felt the arms release her.
“Are you okay?” Nicholas asked after releasing Lorain.
“Yes, Mom, are you okay?” Unique asked as she ran over to Lorain. She had come into town unannounced.
Lorain was speechless. She hadn’t seen Unique in months. The few times that Unique had been in town since moving to West Virginia, she had tried to connect with Lorain, but Lorain had never seemed to have any openings in her schedule.
“Honey, talk to me. Are you all right?” Nicholas said, worried.
“She just better be,” Eleanor spat. “Because we can’t be having a repeat of the last time she choked, fell over, bumped her head, and didn’t remember a thang.” Eleanor reminded everybody in the room of an incident a few years ago, when Lorain had gotten a grape stuck in her throat. After choking, falling, and bumping her head, she woke up in the hospital, suffering from selective memory loss. Slowly but surely, her full memory returned and she was able to put the pieces of her life back together. But now it looked as though everything could possibly fall apart again.
“You gave us quite a scare back in the kitchen, honey,” Nicholas said to Lorain as he dug the meat out of a neck bone with his fork. They were all sitting at the dining table, eating dinner.
“It was like déjà vu,” Eleanor said, sucking the meat off of a bone. She lo
oked at Lorain. “Unique yelled, ‘Surprise! ’ and you lost your breath.”
“I’m okay.” Lorain smiled. “I was just . . . well . . . surprised.” She batted her eyes. She turned to Heaven, who was sitting next to her, and started brushing invisible crumbs from Heaven’s dress.
“I didn’t mean to cause all that drama,” Unique said. “I tried to call you once I got into town, but you didn’t answer, so after I finished handling my business, I decided to head over here on my way back out of town.”
Lorain’s phone had died during her shopping spree. No telling how many calls she’d missed.
“And when I saw my oldest grandbaby was in town,” Eleanor said, jumping in, “I wasn’t about to send her on her way without one of my home-cooked meals. No, sir. So I convinced her to stay for dinner.”
“And I appreciate it.” Unique smiled.
“West Virginia is a long drive,” Lorain said to Eleanor. “You shouldn’t have kept her from hitting the road, especially not for a meal. She’s a caterer, or have you forgotten? She’s always cooking and, I’m sure, eating.” Lorain looked over at Unique’s small frame. “Although it looks as though she’s not eating much. Still, I’m sure getting a meal is the least of her worries.”
“Yeah, but she has to follow the recipes of that Tamarra girl she works for. Ain’t nothing like her grandmother’s cooking. Ain’t that right, baby?” Eleanor turned to Unique, who sat next to her, for support.
“Indeed,” Unique confirmed. “And it feels good to have somebody else do the cooking for once.” She rested her hand on Eleanor’s and said softly, “Thank you, Great-grandmama Eleanor.” It melted Eleanor’s heart when Unique called her what her three grandsons used to call her before they passed.
Lorain cleared her throat. “So, uh, what brought you into town, anyway?”
“Actually, ‘that Tamarra girl’ needed to talk with me,” Unique said, mimicking Eleanor.
“Is everything good? Is everything okay with the catering contract with that nursing home in West Virginia?” Lorain quizzed.
“Yes, everything is good in West Virginia, but it looks like Tamarra might need me back here to run things.”
“That would be wonderful,” Nicholas said. He turned to his wife. “Wouldn’t it, honey?”
It took Lorain a moment to reply. “Yes, absolutely.” Lorain’s mouth said one thing, but her brain thought the total opposite. She looked at Unique. “But if you come back here to run things, then who will handle things in West Virginia?”
“You know that was only supposed to be a three-month contract, until the nursing home found a local company and signed a permanent local contract,” Unique reminded Lorain.
“It was a blessing that they found Tamarra’s company on the Internet and reached out to her, even though she wasn’t local,” Nicholas said.
“Yeah. Didn’t the nursing home have to get rid of the other company that was handling the kitchen because they found that the company was purchasing items on their dime and using the products for other gigs?” Lorain asked.
“Yes,” Unique confirmed.
Eleanor tsk-tsked. “Just ratchet.”
Unique and the twins chuckled at Eleanor’s use of slang.
“They thought that within three months they’d surely have another company, which is why I kept my place in Malvonia,” Unique said.
“So have they finally found someone?” Lorain asked. “Are they cutting you guys loose just like that? Seems kind of inconsiderate, considering that when they couldn’t find someone permanent after the initial three months, you guys didn’t pull out and instead agreed to extend the contract for . . . what? Has it been . . . six more months?”
“Just about,” Nicholas said, jumping into the conversation. He looked at Unique. “Because you’ve been down there now for what? Nine months or so?” he asked.
Unique nodded. “Just about.”
“I can’t imagine living in an extended-stay hotel and being in a city with no one to hang out with for that long.” He shook his head.
“Well, uh, you get used to it,” Unique said, losing eye contact, shoveling food into her mouth and then swallowing hard. She washed her food down with continuous gulps of lemonade. It appeared as though she was purposely trying to keep her mouth full. But all eyes were still on her as everyone waited to hear more, forcing her to continue. “But, uh, yeah, you know how before I ever temporarily relocated to West Virginia, I went down there those couple of weekends and interviewed staff?”
“Uh-huh,” Lorain said.
“I still work with that original staff,” Unique said. “Everyone worked out fine. My assistant, Patsy, knows the ropes. She can easily manage things without me when I come back to Malvonia. Tamarra will probably bump Patsy up to my position and hire Patsy as an assistant.”
“When?” Lorain said.
“I’m not sure. We’d have to set up interviews, of course, Unique said.
“But you said when you come back to Malvonia, not if,” Lorain said, trying not to sound so anxious. “So it’s a sure thing?”
“Um, pretty much, I think.” Unique nodded.
“Thank you, Jesus,” Eleanor said, lifting holy hands.
“Wow, I didn’t know you missed me so much,” Unique said to her grandmother.
“Things have been weird with your mama since you left,” Eleanor said. Then she put her hand to her mouth and whispered, “Although she won’t admit it.”
“I’ve been fine,” Lorain said, begging to differ.
“You’re worshipping Satan right about now with that lying tongue,” Eleanor scolded. She turned and looked at Unique. “You know, for a minute there, you and Lorain was tight like two greased-up pigtails in hair ballies. The ones that gave you Chinese eyes when you was little. You know what I’m talking about.”
Unique laughed. “Yes, Gran, I know what you’re talking about.”
“Well, a little after you left town, and after Dr. McHot-tie here started his own practice, your mama got to hanging around with all these bourgeois doctors’ wives and stuff. Now she act all funny and stuff.” Eleanor shook her hand. “At least with you back in town, things can go back to normal. She’ll have you to hang with, and she won’t have to use those mannequins to fill the void.”
“Mom, “I’m not using those women,” Lorain insisted. “They are my friends. I enjoy our monthly get-togethers.”
“Monthly get-togethers? Is that what y’all call it?” Eleanor sucked her teeth. “It’s more like a bunch of men standing around the urinal and dropping they drawers to see who got the biggest d—”
“Dessert!” Nicholas shouted to interrupt Eleanor. “Would you girls like dessert now?” Nicholas asked the twins, figuring he best get the little ones out of the room before Eleanor got started.
“Yay! Yes!” the twins yelled in unison.
“The rice pudding is in the oven, settling,” Eleanor told her son-in-law.
Nicholas rose from the table. “Come on, girls. Let’s go get some of Gran’s rice pudding.”
The girls jumped up from the table.
“Oh, you sit down and finish your food, Nick,” Unique said. “I’ll take them.” She stood.
“Oh, no. He’s finished,” Lorain quickly interrupted. “He can take them.”
Nick stood over his plate, which still had several bites on it. He definitely wouldn’t mind finishing off his meal. He looked down at his plate and then at his wife. He then repeated the act, hoping Lorain would get the hint.
“Let sissy Nique get it,” Heaven said. “She gives us the most bigger scoops than you, Daddy.”
“Bigger scoops,” Victoria said, correcting her sister. “She gives us bigger scoops. You can even say she gives us the biggest scoops, but ‘most bigger’ is not how you say it.”
Heaven heeded her sister’s advice. “Sissy Nique gives us the biggest scoops. Can she do it, please?” She put her hands together in a begging manner, and Victoria followed suit.
A smile spread
across Unique’s lips as she watched the girls interact. Victoria reminded her of her oldest boy, who had always corrected his younger siblings’ vocabulary. Even though Victoria was technically the youngest twin, born three minutes after Heaven, she was wise beyond her years, like Unique’s older son had been. Victoria was so mature and quiet, while Heaven could talk someone’s head off if given the chance. But both were nice, respectful, well-mannered little ladies. Typically, they spoke only when spoken to . . . which was totally the opposite of the women in their family tree.
“You heard Heaven,” Nicholas said, sitting back down. “Sissy Nique gives the most bigger scoops, so I’ll let her do it.”
“Here. I’ll come help.” Lorain went to get up.
Nicholas signaled her to remain sitting. “I’m sure with Unique being a caterer and all—and cooking and eating all the time—she knows how to scoop up rice pudding all by herself.”
“Come on, girls.” Unique took the girls by the hand and led them into the kitchen.
“Humph, guess he told you,” Eleanor said under her breath before eating a bite of corn bread.
Lorain slowly sat back down. Nicholas had gone back to finishing his meal, so he didn’t see the evil eye his wife was giving him. The three finished their meals in silence.
“Ma, that was delicious,” Nicholas said to Eleanor and then wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I think I’m going to go head into the kitchen and grab me a little bit of dessert myself.” He stood and went to join Unique and the girls in the kitchen.
Lorain wiped her mouth with her napkin. Feeling a set of eyes burning a hole through her, she looked up. “What?” she said to Eleanor, who was staring her down.
“I didn’t see you ’bout ready to do a somersault over the table to go fix your husband’s dessert, and he’s the main one whose plate you ought to be fixing.”
