Love After War

by Cheris Hodges

“I’m not perfect, but you all have to understand, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. No matter what decision I made, someone was going to be hurt.”

  “So to hell with doing the right thing, huh?” Solomon said quietly. “You just shipped one family to Los Angeles and stayed in New York pretending to be father of the year?”

  Elliot nervously tugged at his pant leg and looked away from his sons. Moments passed as a stifling silence enveloped them. Adrian broke the silence. “You didn’t answer the question, Dad.”

  “I never had any intentions to ship Pamela anywhere. Obviously, I wasn’t honest with Pamela or Cynthia. I couldn’t get a divorce and Cynthia wanted another child. Then she heard rumblings about what was going on with me and Pam. At the same time, Pam found out she was pregnant and so did Cynthia.”

  Richmond gasped and looked from Adrian to Solomon. “What kind of ghetto—”

  Elliot held up his hand. “Cynthia, I learned later, confronted Pamela. She told her that I was never going to leave her and if she was smart, she’d leave New York.”

  “My mother wasn’t the kind of woman to run away because someone told her to,” Adrian exclaimed. “Don’t keep the details secret. What role did you play in all of this?”

  Elliot nervously cleared his throat. “Cynthia fired Pamela on the spot. She also told her that I’d have nothing to do with the child.”

  “She was right,” Adrian snorted.

  “That was Pamela’s choice,” Elliot replied defensively, and Adrian clenched his fists. He was so tempted to lean across the table and sock him in the face. “When Pamela left the company, she left her forwarding address, and after Cynthia and I had a big fight about her firing Pam, I came to California.”

  Richmond nodded. “It makes sense now. No wonder Mom never wanted us to build out here.”

  “She forbade it,” Elliot said. “But it didn’t matter because Pamela didn’t want me to come back anyway. I’d messed up my relationship with her when I told her that if she got rid of the baby, she could come back to New York and things could go back to the way they were.”

  Adrian leaped from his seat. “You heartless son of a bitch!”

  Solomon stood and touched his brother’s shoulder. “I’m not going to tell you to calm down,” he said. “But just think about this—at least your mother was smart enough not to listen to the bastard. Dad, I can’t believe you hid this from us all of these years and still tried to hide your lies. I’m done with you and this company. I quit.”

  “Solomon!” Elliot said.

  “No,” he barked, rubbing his face. “All of those years you judged me for being a ‘womanizer’ and told me how I was ruining the family reputation. Shit, I was playing the game you created. At least I was smart enough not to make babies and hide them.”

  Adrian was torn between giving his brother a high five and punching him in the stomach. Instead, he decided it was time for him to leave. “I’ve had enough too.”

  Richmond stood as well, glaring at his father. “So have I.”

  “So, I tell y’all the truth that you wanted and now you’re turning your back on me?”

  Adrian glanced at him. “Why did you come to Los Angeles after all these years? Did you think you were going to come back here and right nearly forty years’ worth of wrongs? Thought my mama would still be here and give you a second chance to hurt her? Or did you think I’d be so happy to meet you—you know, the son you never wanted—that we’d be best friends?”

  Solomon nodded. “I’d like to know the answer to that as well.”

  Elliot rose to his feet, anger distorting his face. “You know what, the three of you are an ungrateful lot of bastards. Did any of you lack for anything? You grew up in the lap of luxury. I slept on a dirt floor. Am I sorry I let your bitch of a mother keep me in line with her money? No. I’m not. The only thing I regret is not being able to be with the woman I loved. So, walk out. I don’t need any of you!”

  The older man stormed out of the restaurant as his sons watched. When Solomon saw that Richmond was about to go after him, he grabbed his brother’s arm. “Let him go.”

  “He’s still our father,” Richmond said as he snatched his arm away. “And you know Dad isn’t well.”

  “Karma,” Solomon said with a shrug. Adrian silently agreed. Once he and Solomon were alone, they looked at each other for a few moments.

  “You knew all along, huh?” he asked Adrian.

  “My mother told me on her deathbed. And honestly, I was going to do everything in my power to make you all suffer while you were here.”

  Solomon pursed his lips. “You’re a Crawford all right,” he said with a sardonic laugh. “What stopped you?”

  Dana flashed through his mind. Her smile. Her taste. Her touch. “A woman who means more to me than revenge.”

  “Must be a hell of a woman because I don’t think I would’ve stopped. Listen,” Solomon said. “I don’t expect us to be best friends overnight—hell, Richmond and I grew up together and I can barely stand him—but I’d like to get to know you.”

  “Hell, we’re practically twins,” Adrian retorted.

  Solomon released a loud guffaw. “What do they call us? Irish twins.”

  “Something like that.”

  Solomon reached into his pocket and handed Adrian his business card. “If you’re ever in New York, look me up and bring that phenomenal woman with you.”

  Adrian took the card and nodded. “I just might do that.”

  Solomon nodded, then left the restaurant. Adrian jogged to catch up with him. “Hey,” he called after his brother.

  “What’s up?”

  “What did Richmond mean when he said D—Elliot—isn’t well?”

  Solomon shrugged. “Dad has been battling a cough for a while, but when I asked him about it, he said he was fine. I don’t know and right now I don’t give a damn about that man.”

  “How can you say that? I’m supposed to feel like that. At least you grew up with him.”

  Solomon shook his head. “Knowing what else was going on, I have to wonder if he was so hard on me because he couldn’t be a part of your life. Dad and I weren’t close and if you ask me, you were probably lucky that he wasn’t a part of your life.”

  Adrian was taken aback. He’d envisioned Solomon and Richmond growing up with a doting mother and father. He thought that Elliot did all the things he assumed fathers did, attending basketball games, helping with science fair projects, and giving Bill Cosby–like advice.

  “It was like that for real?”

  “Let me just say that everything I’ve learned about being a father, I learned from my wife.”

  Solomon stalked away and Adrian felt like a fool for so many reasons. He rushed back to his car. He needed to see Dana right now.

  Chapter 14

  Dana sat on the phone with the airline ready to punch a hole through the wall. Why was it so difficult to use her airline miles to get home?

  “Listen,” she snapped, “forget the miles. I just need a flight to New York and I’m not trying to take the damned red-eye.”

  “Ma’am, I’m trying to accommodate your request but—”

  “How about I just call another airline?!” She pressed END on the phone, fell backward on the bed, and groaned. “This sucks.” When the phone rang again, Dana expected it to be the airline calling back, but it was Imani.

  “What’s up?”

  “You tell me. Did you and that guy—”

  “His name is Adrian.”

  “Did you and Adrian work things out? And if you did, please tell me why?”

  Dana sighed. “I really don’t have time to deal with you right now. Don’t you have a movie to film?”

  “Yeah, but I’m on a break.”

  “Well, I’m trying to get a flight back to New York and between you and the airlines, I have a throbbing headache.”

  “I can get you back to New York. Just take my ticket.”

  “Imani, you are a lifesaver.”
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  “Think of it as payment for all of those hot dogs you paid for in the lean years. So, does this return to New York mean that you’ve come to your senses about that—Adrian?”

  “There you go making my headache come back.”

  “Then I guess I shouldn’t tell you that Ian has been asking about you.”

  “No, you shouldn’t. And I thought he was gone to rehab?”

  “But I am anyway. He said something about riding the PCH with you on those horribly dangerous motorcycles before he goes to the center.”

  “It sounds like he is stalling getting the help that he needs. Right now, I want to see the Brooklyn Bridge and the inside of my house,” Dana replied. “I can’t thank you enough for this ticket.”

  “Just promise me that you’re not going to be tooling around New York on a motorcycle.”

  “I’d tell you that I’m not going to do that, but I don’t want to lie to you. As a matter of fact, I need to call someone to handle shipping my bike to the city.”

  “You need to leave that and a number of other things right here in Los Angeles,” she retorted.

  “For your information, Adrian is coming to New York as well.”

  “Oh God! Why are you taking the additional baggage with you? I can only imagine how this story is playing in New York. And if you think the Los Angeles media is bad, just imagine how the reporters in New York are going to stalk you and the newest member of the Crawford family. You think Raymond and I had it bad after we came back from Hawaii, imagine how you and Adrian are going to be treated when you show up at JFK?”

  “It’s really not Adrian’s fault that his father lied to the world and presented this image of being father of the year. I’m sure no one is going to alert the press that we’re coming, right?”

  “Dana Singleton, I’d hang up on you and never speak to you again if I didn’t already know you’d lost your mind.”

  “I know you, Mani, and sometimes you will act before you think.”

  “You know I wouldn’t do that to you. Now, if he was coming into town alone, then I might call someone. However, you don’t deserve that. But seriously, you don’t think he could’ve handled it a bit better? Talking to his dad before hitting the airwaves ?”

  “Imani, you don’t know the whole story and you need to stop being so damned judgmental when it comes to Adrian.”

  “Let me just say this—I don’t like him because he hurt you. I’m not convinced he won’t do it again, but it’s your life.”

  “Thank you,” Dana said.

  “But if he hurts you again and it happens to happen in New York, he’s going to have to deal with me! And remember I live in Harlem. I know people.”

  Dana broke out into laughter. “Yes, those old ladies who come to Raymond’s clinic.”

  “Those ladies are tough. Don’t sleep on them. Adrian wouldn’t know what hit him.”

  “Well, it’s not going down like that. The fact that he’s willing to come to New York proves that he’s changing.”

  “Really? A trip to New York proves that? How?”

  Sighing, Dana really didn’t want to get into Adrian’s New York baggage. She made an excuse to get off the phone with her friend and started searching for a shipper.

  Moments after she had secured shipping for her bike, Dana’s phone rang again. “Imani,” she snapped.

  “Sorry, wrong person,” Adrian said.

  “Oh, hi.”

  “Come to the lobby,” he said.

  “What if I’m doing something important?”

  “I’m going to ask you to put it on hold because I want to wrap my arms around your waist and have you take me down the PCH on that motorcycle of yours so that we can go somewhere private and talk.”

  “Wait a minute, who are you and what have you done with Adrian Bryant?”

  “Listen, I just want to get away with you,” he said. “Before we head to New York where there’s wall-to-wall people.”

  “All right, let me change.”

  “How about I come upstairs and help you do that?” he quipped.

  “Ah, you got me all excited about riding now.”

  “We can do that upstairs too.”

  “I’m grabbing my helmet and I’ll see you in a few.” Dana hung up the phone, changed into her motorcycle boots, and grabbed both of her helmets. When she arrived in the lobby, Adrian was leaning against the wall by the elevator, dressed in a pair of jeans, Timberland boots, and a white tank top. He took one of the helmets from Dana’s hands and kissed her cheek gently while giving her a slow once-over, drinking in her image clad in liquid leggings, black motorcycle boots, and a formfitting T-shirt.

  “Wow,” he whispered. “I don’t know if I want to share this view with the world.”

  “Put your helmet on. There’s no way I’m going to let you weasel your way out of this. You do realize that you said you would never ever get on a motorcycle again?”

  “I’m learning to never say never these days.” He slipped the helmet on his head and flipped the visor up.

  “Did you talk to your family?”

  “Let’s talk about that when we get to our secret location.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “I’ll give you directions,” he said.

  Dana raised her eyebrow at him as she put her gloves and helmet on. “From behind?”

  A slow smile spread across his lips. “It’s not as if I haven’t done it before.” She gave him a playful smack on the shoulder.

  “Whatever. Let’s go before you change your mind.”

  The couple headed to the hotel’s parking garage where Dana had parked her bike. Adrian couldn’t help but notice her excitement as she mounted the bike. Watching her as he slid on behind her, he smiled thinking about how good it felt when she rode him the way she handled this machine. She revved the engine and took off down the narrow pathway. Adrian fought the urge to scream as she leaned left to avoid an extended cab of a pickup truck that was parked in a spot too small for its width. Once they made it onto the street, Adrian could’ve sworn she sped up and was pretending she was Batman from The Dark Knight. Finally, she slowed a bit and called out, “Where to?”

  “Hang a left,” he said into the helmet’s built-in microphone.

  She nodded and took the turn. They glided down the road, and much to Adrian’s glee, she slowed down a lot. Finally, they arrived at Will Rogers Park. When Dana stopped the bike, Adrian released a sigh of relief and said a quiet prayer of thanks. He and Dana climbed off the bike and she smiled as she removed her helmet. “That was a rush, right?” The excitement in her voice nearly made him double over in laughter.

  “It was something.”

  “Says the man who drives a hundred miles an hour in a sports car.”

  “Yes,” he said as he took off his helmet and set it on the back of the bike. “A car, closed in, surrounded by metal and glass with four tires.”

  She held her hand up and shook her head. “We’ve been down this road before.”

  “Yeah, we have and here we are on your motorcycle.” Adrian held his hand out to her and pulled her against his chest. “But I did enjoy holding you.”

  “And you were holding me very tightly,” she quipped. “I wasn’t going to let you fall.”

  “There were a few moments when I wasn’t too sure about that.” He slid his hands down her sides and cupped her bottom. “So, I had a conversation with my family and I use that term very loosely.”

  “What happened?” she asked, wondering if he was going to tell her the trip to New York was off.

  “That man is an asshole. He didn’t just hurt my mother. The way he treated the woman he was married to . . . Solomon quit his job.”

  “What? He is Crawford Hotels.”

  Adrian dropped his hands and shrugged. “He’s also my Irish twin. There’s a four-month age difference and when that man found out my mother was pregnant, he tried to talk her into getting an abortion. Hearing that he never wanted me, it hurt.”
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  Dana stroked his cheek, unable to think of something to say. “Are you all right?”

  “No and yes. All of those years I thought he’d been dad of the year, and I hated his other sons because they had the luxury of growing up with him in their lives. We all experienced our own sort of hell, them with him and me without him.”

  “I feel bad that I encouraged you to talk to him now,” Dana said, her voice filled with guilt.

  Adrian shook his head. “It’s not your fault that he used women in his life like chess pieces. One woman gave him money but treated him like the hired help. My mother stroked his ego and made him feel like a real man. He dropped sperm in them both and had sons he didn’t give a fuck about.” The pain in his voice was palpable.

  Dana melted and wanted to comfort him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  Adrian shook his head. “No need to be sorry. At the end of the day, it looks as if I got the better deal.”

  Dana stroked his cheek again. “What happens now?”

  Adrian released a snort. “Not a damned thing. I know my mother wanted me to have a relationship with that man, but there’s no way in hell that I’m going to do that.”

  “What about your brothers?”

  He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Solomon seems cool and all, but I don’t know about Richmond. He has misguided loyalties. Said something about that man being sick or something.”

  “Adrian, you can’t be this cold and unfeeling. He’s still your fa—”

  “He is not my father. He’s a sperm donor. My mother would’ve been better off going to a sperm bank and having the very first test tube baby for all the good it did having Elliot Crawford as my father.”

  “You’re angry and you have every right to be,” Dana said. “But I thought you weren’t going to allow it to consume you.”

  “I tell you what, when one of your parents tells you that they wanted to get rid of you before you were born, talk to me about anger then.”

  Dana sighed, feeling that he was right but not appreciating his tone with her. “I understand that. Look, let’s just walk awhile.”

  Adrian squeezed the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to take this out on you, but this was not what I expected today.”