by H. H. Fowler
“I love you, Mrs. Dallis Daxon,” Anwar whispered between kisses. “I’m never gonna let you forget that.”
Dallis grinned. “Good morning to you too. I was expecting breakfast in bed.”
“Why would you need breakfast when you have me to feast on? Wasn’t I satisfying?”
“Okay…you’ve just sent my temperature through the roof with those words.”
Anwar didn’t need to be coaxed to make love to his wife. Their kiss deepened and suddenly it was July fourth all over again. Fifteen minutes later they were out of breath, huge smiles plastered over their faces. The fireworks may have died down for the moment, but Anwar continued to show his affection in different ways – cuddling Dallis as if she were his favorite teddy bear. He could feel her heart beating against his chest.
“I love you, Dallis,” Anwar said to her again.
“I love you too, honey. More than you really know.”
Anwar grinned. “I believe you.”
The feeling of Anwar’s arms around her produced a sense of security in Dallis. They’d vowed to be open and transparent with each other, especially after Anwar’s secrets in the past had nearly destroyed their relationship. Secrets and lies were weapons of mass destruction in any relationship and even the slightest infraction could turn out to be ugly. That was why she felt so guilty over the call she’d made to Detective Shelby last evening. She knew she should tell Anwar about it before the situation came back and bit her in the butt.
Dallis was well aware that her husband was not comfortable about talking about her father and the way her father had deceived him into a staple diet of perversion. Although it had been three years since the operations of the House of gods had been dismantled in Bliss Haven, Anwar still carried a strong aversion for Gregory and for the ungodly mess that had almost became his reality. But Dallis could not pretend as if her father’s disappearance was not high on the list of her concerns. And she surely wasn’t going to keep quiet about seeing the man she believed to be her father.
She had to admit that talking to Detective Shelby had minimized her agitation, and had helped her to stay focused on enjoying making love to her husband, but now she was more curious than ever about what Detective Shelby had found. As a matter of fact, she’d been plotting to call Detective Shelby the minute she’d gotten out of bed, but it appeared as if Anwar wasn’t letting her go anytime soon.
“I need to tell you something,” she suddenly said into the silence. “Please promise me you won’t get upset.”
“Okay, I won’t.”
“You said that too quickly. Do you mean it?”
Anwar raised up and stared into his wife’s eyes, falling in love with them all over again. “Yes…I do mean it. What’s wrong?”
“I called Detective Shelby and told him about the man I saw in the Eldorado. I explained to him that that man resembles my father so much that I actually believe that he is my father.”
Anwar did not let Dallis hear him sighing. “When did you have the opportunity to talk to Detective Shelby? I was with you practically every waking moment.”
“I called last night before I took a shower.” Dallis sat up and tried to discern her husband’s expression, which was a cross between confusion and something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on. “Are you upset?”
Anwar pressed his lips against Dallis’ forehead. “No, I promised you I wouldn’t get upset. I am concerned about you, though. I don’t want you getting your hopes up, only to have them explode in your face.”
“I know…but I feel so strongly that that man is my father.”
“What did Detective Shelby say?” Anwar inquired, desiring to change the subject before his real emotions appeared.
“He’s checking into it. I described the car to him. He’s confident that the police will be able to track it down before the trail gets cold.”
Anwar managed a smile he thought was sincere enough. “I know you miss your father very much and I am not insensitive to that. But at the same time, I want you to remember that we are on our honeymoon and I don’t want this to cause you to slip into a bout of depression. Let Detective Shelby do his job and when we return to Bliss Haven, we will have a nice long chat with him.”
Detective Shelby had told Dallis the very same thing, but she wasn’t certain if she had the capacity to wait without giving in to apprehension. She offered Anwar a smile and then attempted to get into a lighter mood. This was Anwar’s first time travelling abroad to the United States and she wanted to make it a fun-filled experience for him. Moving out of his embrace, she swung her feet to the floor and stood.
“Where are you going?” Anwar teased. “I’m not through with you yet.”
Dallis pointed to the clock. “It’s almost noon. We have already missed the first bus tour. The next one leaves at one. I hope we didn’t come all the way to Orlando to stay in bed and make love.”
Anwar grinned mischievously. “Well, I had given the idea some serious thought. But I do love how expressive you are becoming with me. Look at you – standing there with hardly any clothes on.”
Dallis blushed, suddenly feeling awkward in her lacy red and black lingerie.
“When I first met you,” Anwar continued, “you didn’t even want me to give you compliments on your appearance. You always thought I was acting out of lust.”
“Well, most men do,” Dallis said in her defense, injecting a little vivacity into her tone. “Besides, I love being reserved. It got your juices flowing, didn’t it?”
Anwar fell back on the bed and laughed. He exclaimed, “Wow, I never thought I would hear you mess with me like this. You are something else, woman; you are something else.”
“You have much to learn about me, mister.”
Dallis sashayed off toward the bathroom, swaying her hips in a way the Beaufort women were genetically known for.
“Keep the water warm,” he called after her. “I’m coming to join you in a minute.”
Right after those words left Anwar’s mouth, his cell phone vibrated on the dresser with a text message. His huge smile gradually turned into a grim line. He knew what the text was about, but he refused to read it. He was not going to let some anonymous fool ruin his honeymoon. About two months before Anwar had married Dallis, he received the first text. Then a threat that warned him to keep quiet or one of his loved ones would pay the price of murder. It explained why Anwar hadn’t mentioned any of this Dallis. He was afraid that whoever this person was would come after her if he decided to go against their instructions. But he had never responded to any of the texts, for the simple reason of keeping the person confused over whether he received the text or not.
Anwar’s intuition told him that it was someone from the House of gods, but he couldn’t see how it could be possible – considering the police had destroyed everything the House of gods possessed in Bliss Haven. Or had they? It was a question that always tied Anwar’s stomach in knots each time he thought about it. He may have left his bad boy image at the altar, but that didn’t make him feel any less annoyed. He’d found out the hard way how ruthless these people could be and because of that, he wanted nothing to do with them.
He would never forget the “Mustafa” incident – where he’d almost been raped of his manhood by another man. It was only through God’s divine intervention that he escaped with his life intact. Sighing deeply, Anwar turned the phone off completely and then jammed it in his carry-on bag. He vowed to leave it off until he returned to Bliss Haven. The roaming charges would be outrageous if he did leave it on. It was an excellent excuse to forget about the phone and simply enjoy his new wife.
The jovial way in which Anwar entered the shower, Dallis would have never picked up that his heart was beating mightily against his chest. And he couldn’t determine if it was because he was angry or scared out of his wits.
If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is.
– William Blake
Chapter Se
ven
For lunch, it was a custom for the Beaufort’s maid to serve soup and salad every Tuesday along with the main course. But today was a different order of business. The spread now consisted of a freshly baked pan of Shepherd’s pie, ham hocks, black-eyed peas and collard greens. On Sunday when Montgomery had spoken to Dana about taking his daughter “under her wing”, he had emailed Dana a list of his daughter’s likes and dislikes that very night. But Dana wasn’t expecting Montgomery to put his plan into action so quickly. Two days later, Della Black was standing on Dana’s front porch with an overnight bag thrown over her shoulder.
Montgomery gave some evasive explanation that he was going to be out of town on business for the night and wanted his daughter to be cared for until he returned the following day. Dana started to object, because she couldn’t understand why a fifteen-year-old girl couldn’t take care of herself for a couple of hours. Della was practically an adult, who obviously appeared disinterested in the arrangements her father had forced her into. However, Dana remembered the promise she’d made to Montgomery. With polite gestures, Dana welcomed Della into her home and settled her into one of the guest bedrooms.
That was three hours ago. Now, everyone sat around the table, preparing to dig into the scrumptious meal that Miss Rose had cooked to perfection. The dining room was spacious enough to seat twelve persons comfortably. Dana sat at the head of the table, seating Della to her right. Asia and Izaiah sat to Dana’s left, while Candi sat adjacent to them, pretending not to be bothered by the chemistry she saw between her sister and the man who’d taken over her father’s church. Candi had not gotten past her feelings for Izaiah. She simply suppressed them, because she was tired of her advances being rejected. But Asia had managed to swipe Izaiah’s heart with little effort. Candi could not look at her sister without feeling some measure of envy.
Miss Rose rested a dish of warm rolls on the table and then scuffled away to allow the family to enjoy her most tasty creation yet. Dana bowed her head and offered up a quick prayer of thanksgiving. She placed a plate in front of Della and gave her a spoon to begin taking what she wanted from the spread. Della’s purple Mohawk was shocking against her pale white skin. Dana wanted to ask if Della’s mother was Caucasian, because she had no traceable features from her father, who obviously was not Caucasian. However, Dana did not want to make Della uncomfortable with such a personal question.
“One thing you will see around here, Della,” Dana beamed, “is an endless supply of food and entertainment. I’ve lived here in this part of Bliss Haven for almost twenty-five years and I have yet to experience an inactive day. Every day you can find something productive to do.”
Della acknowledged Dana with a smirk before turning her attention back to the food before her. At the side of her neck, was a very noticeable tattoo of a red rose. A piercing in her left brow and one in her tongue. Della could feel eyes staring at her as if she were a gargoyle from the 1972 movie. She scrunched up her nose and spat for everyone to hear, “What the hell is this mess? Dog food?”
Candi, who’d been disengaged the entire time, came alive with a burst of laughter. She received disapproving looks from the others, but Candi didn’t care one iota about their prissiness and their need to appear like the perfect family. As far as she was concerned, the perfect family completely disappeared from her view when all the lies and the deception had been revealed about her father, who’d just about ruined the family name. She could hardly go out in public without being recognized as one of the daughters of the man who’d been involved in one of the most scandalous organizations on the planet. One couldn’t get any more dysfunctional than that.
“I like you,” she told Della. “You are all about speaking your little mind, aren’t you?”
“I am not in support of that,” Asia said.
“Those words coming from you make you look like a hypocrite. You speak your mind all of the time.”
“You know what I meant, Candi.”
“Who asked for your opinion anyway?” Candi shot back. “Our guest thinks that the food looks like dog food. Why does it bother you that she says it rather than internalizing it?”
“There are proper ways of handling things,” Asia replied.
“And this is coming from someone who secretly meets with boys behind our parents’ back. Take the log out of your own eye first before trying to take one out of others’ eyes.”
Dana cut in before Asia could respond, “That’s enough, Candi. This is not the time, nor the place for you two to be airing your dirty laundry. I am actually embarrassed that this outburst has happened.”
“You know how obnoxious Candi can be,” Asia complained. “I simply don’t agree with it and I will let her know. Did you hear what she said about me?”
“Two wrongs don’t make a right, darling. In order to keep the peace, you must learn to hold your peace.”
“But what did I say wrong to Candi?”
In spite of her mother trying to calm the situation, Asia pushed to her feet. She looked at Della and offered an apology. “It was nice meeting you. Please excuse me from lunch today, because it won’t be fair to you if I sit here with a sulky attitude.”
Izaiah, who’d silently been assessing the scene, rose to his feet as well, intending to follow Asia. “I will be back shortly,” he said. “I’m gonna have a talk with Asia.”
When the moment of awkwardness passed, Della relaxed her expression into a smile and said in a more inviting tone, “By the way, I was only kidding about the food. I said it to kind of break the ice.”
“Well, that was a strange way of doing it,” Dana scolded. “Because I took you seriously. I was about to tell Rose to prepare a different meal for you.”
“Wow,” Della giggled, “my little pranks won’t work around here, will they?”
Dana responded with a frown. Why would you say such a thing, Della? Looks as if I’ll have to keep my eye on you. With a strained smile, Dana put a piece of meat into her mouth and chewed slowly. She did not like the way Della was being so chipper all of a sudden.
****
Izaiah caught up with Asia in the hallway. He knew her well enough to know not to push her beyond her irritation, but Izaiah could tell by Asia’s wilted visage that Candi’s words had wounded her deeply.
“I don’t know why I let her get to me like this,” Asia said to Izaiah’s concerned expression. “Candi stretches the truth for her own pleasure. Why does she have to be so evil?”
“I think your sister is battling with a deeper issue on the inside,” Izaiah suggested.
Asia folded her arms and cut her eyes at Izaiah. “Why are you defending her?”
“I know you’re hurt over what she said back there, but try to look at it from my perspective. I sincerely think Candi needs help. She’s not happy about anything in her life and that is not normal for a well-to-do twenty-seven-year-old woman.”
“Candi wants you for herself, that’s why she’s acting the way she’s acting. And until she gets what she wants, she is always going to treat me like I’m Cinderella.”
Izaiah laughed. “Cinderella? Come on, Asia. I don’t see you as no Cinderella.”
“Don’t change the subject,” Asia spat. “You know my sister wants you.”
“My heart belongs to you – you know that. There’s no way that that is ever going to change.” Izaiah gently took Asia’s hands into his, letting her see how deeply her presence affected him. “Don’t be intimidated by Candi. I can’t do anything about the way Candi feels about me except pray that she finds someone. But I love you and someday I hope you will accept my proposal to make you my wife. You are my only focus, Asia. I would be a fool to jeopardize what’s developing between us.”
Asia grew silent as the tenderness of Izaiah’s words began to soothe her insecurities. “I am not worried about you,” she said resignedly. “You don’t know Candi as well as I do. She’s really bothered over the fact that we’ve made our relationship official. I don’t know if I have
the energy to fight with her over this.”
“You won’t have to – if you marry me next Saturday and have my children right away. What better way to send a message that I am no longer on the market?”
That line generated a smile out of Asia. “Stop teasing. I am being serious about this. Candi is more than a handful.”
“And I repeat,” Izaiah reassured. “You need not be intimidated. I love you and I will make certain that no one comes between us. Whatever the storm, we will ride it out together.”
“Part of the reason I am drawn to you is because somehow, you always know how to make me feel better. Thank you, Izaiah. I’m sure my father would have been proud of you – the way you are looking after his family.”
Izaiah was suddenly choked in his emotions. Asia had implicitly reminded Izaiah of some of Gregory’s … last words before he’d disappeared into thin air. “I trust you to take good care of my wife…and my daughters. I’ve trusted you from the beginning; don’t fail me now.” Such words were imprinted behind everything that Izaiah did for the Beaufort family. He stared at Asia to get a feel for her disposition. Her expression seemed more relaxed than it had been several minutes ago, even with the mention of her father.
“As long as the Lord lends me breath, I will be here for you and your family,” Izaiah told Asia. He then offered his arm to her. “Now…shall we return to the dining table and show Candi that we have forgiven her for her little tiff.”
Asia rolled her eyes. “I doubt that would matter, but yes, I will go, if you will. Besides, I don’t want Della thinking the worst of me.”
