The Ramseys Boxed Set

by Altonya Washington

  Mel cupped his cheek. “Not the way you mean.”

  “He used Johari and Zara to keep you quiet.”

  Mel could only nod.

  Yohan’s magnificent dark features were drawn tight with the anger roiling inside him. His murderous emotions quelled when he heard Melina sobbing. He rocked her slow and assured her everything would be alright.

  “I’m sorry Yohan, I’m so very sorry,” she cried into his chest. “I ruined us, I ruined us…”

  “Shh…stop Mel. Stop. Forget this, you hear?” he ordered, tightening his hold about her. “It’s done. It’s over.”

  “I ruined us because I was a coward.”

  Yohan closed his eyes. He felt her pain as though they were one and realized what he had to do. Somehow he would convince her that she’d handled this as best she could. He had to be there for her-to love her and give her the security she thought she never had from him. He would focus on Melina and only Melina. As for his father, Yohan knew the next time he saw Marcus Ramsey, he would kill him.

  ***

  The following week flew by in a blur. During that time, Melina dove into the gallery show with a renewed sense of purpose. Having told Yohan about Marc’s role in Sera Black’s death, lifted such a weight she’d never felt more at peace. Of course, the fact that she tried not to think of that one last secret she harbored, made things far easier as well. Additionally, Yohan had promised a long weekend and Mel couldn’t wait for the chance to enjoy more ‘alone time’.

  “Lisa! I want these press releases out by Thursday!” Mel called as she issued orders to her staff that were scattered across the conference room. “Let’s start to whet their appetites with just a little info and see if that generates a buzz. Casey, don’t leave today before you get Faith Merel on the phone. I want Josh on her show ASAP!” she said, referring to the new artist they were featuring at the opening.

  “Mel?”

  “Yeah Kate?” Melina spoke to her assistant in the general direction she recalled seeing the speaker phone.

  “You have a guest waiting in your office.”

  Mel cursed and glanced at her watch. “Did I miss an appointment?”

  Kate giggled. “No, no she’s an old friend. Tykira Ramsey?”

  Shrieking, Melina dropped the folder she held and raced out of the conference room and into her office. Ty’s full laughter filled the room when Mel wrenched her into a hug. They embraced for the longest time-happy tears mingling with their laughter. The two hadn’t seen each other since they’d both graduated college.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?!” Mel cried, kissing Ty’s cheek again.

  Ty’s eyes were filled with happy tears as Melina kept her bent low in the hug. “I wanted to surprise you.”

  “It’s so good to see you.” Mel whispered, pulling away to search her friend’s face. “It’s been so long.”

  “Too long,” Ty emphasized, folding her arms across the front of the lavender button down sweater she wore with a matching duster. “You’re heading up a gallery and”-

  “You’re married. To Quaysar Ramsey no less!” Mel blurted, more laughter filling her voice. “You finally got that fool to wise up.”

  Ty shake her head. “It wasn’t easy, but he’s shaped up nicely,” she sighed, joining in when Mel laughed aloud.

  Arm in arm, the two friends took seats next to one another on the butter cream suede sofa in the office.

  “Quest and Quay married…” Mel closed her eyes. “I can imagine the hearts that broke all over Seattle at that upset,” she teased.

  Ty playfully flicked a lock of hair across her shoulder. “Somebody had to settle down those two.”

  Mel’s brows rose naughtily. “Mmm…I hear you. So what’s Quest’s wife like?”

  “Mick? Oh, she’s great. It’s amazing how incredible they are together. They’re about to have a baby. Due the end of July.” Ty shared.

  “That’s wonderful.” Mel sighed and shook her head. “The first Ramsey grandchild-lots of pressure.”

  Ty’s brown eyes narrowed secretively. “Well, hopefully Quay and I can help take off some of that pressure.”

  Mel’s mouth fell open as her eyes fell to Tykira’s almost nonexistent waistline. “No,” she breathed.

  More laughter erupted when Ty realized how Melina had misunderstood. “We’re adopting! Twins!”

  “Ty…” Melina whispered, pulling her friend into a rocking embrace. “I’m so happy for you…you guys are gonna be great parents.” The happiness in her ebony gaze misted over with something more solemn. “Yohan and I would probably have a little one of our own if…”

  Ty eased back, tugging on a lock of Mel’s coarse hair. “How are things going with you being back and all?”

  Mel looked up and blinked as though trying to keep tears at bay. “Oh Ty…things are incredible, beautiful, passionate, messy and scary. Does that sum it up pretty good?”

  “Mel, do you need someone to talk to?” Ty asked concern evident on her dark, pretty face.

  “How much time do you have?” Mel asked, with a lopsided grin.

  “As long as you need.”

  “Okay…” Mel groaned, reclining on the sofa to fix her friend with a challenging stare. “How about we start with my telling you that Marcus isn’t Yohan’s father.”

  Tykira knew she would’ve dropped to the floor had the sofa not been supporting her.

  ***

  “Did you tell Fernando? County?”

  “No, not-“

  “No?! What the hell are you waiting on?!”

  “Calm down, just calm down,” County urged, switching her receiver to the other ear as she rolled her eyes over Mick’s outburst. “Please, I don’t need you going into labor over the phone. I just had to tell someone about Stefan and Fernando was definitely not the best choice.”

  “I’d have to disagree with you there,” Mick retorted.

  County huffed. “Please, telling Fernando could’ve only resulted in him heading off to jail and Stefan heading off the morgue. I’m sure the jackass was just testing me. You know how they do-trying to see how loyal I am to his boy.”

  “Oh my goodness,” Mick groaned, holding her forehead against her palm. “What the hell happened to all your common sense? How could you think something so stupid when he did so much scheming to have you find out Fernando owned half of Dark Squires?”

  County was silent.

  “You shouldn’t underestimate him.” Mick warned as though she hadn’t noticed. “Quest told me how he always got a bad vibe from Stef. He sounds like a dangerous man.”

  “He said he stopped by to deliver an invite to some business party out in Seattle.”

  “Yeah Quest got one of those but he said he didn’t have a clue to what it was about. Are you coming?” Mick asked.

  County shrugged while reclining in her desk chair. “Fernando asked me to and since it’s so close to your Fourth of July bash, it’ll give us longer to visit.”

  “Yaaay!” Mick cried, the flaring sleeve of her powder blue swing blouse flying when she waved her hand in the air. “County seriously though keep your guard up around Stef,” she warned, becoming serious again. “If he tries another thing I’ll go to Fernando,” she threatened.

  County bumped the toe of her petal pink pumps against the edge of her desk and smiled at friend’s concern. “Thanks girl,” she whispered, reluctantly moving to a less relaxing position in her chair. “I guess I’ll talk to you-“

  “Wait, wait,” Mick said, whispering the second time. “What news of the book?”

  “Jeez Mick,” County hissed, massaging her neck beneath the collar of her cream blouse. “Can we have one conversation without you bringing that up?”

  Michaela rolled her eyes. “Can you at least tell me if you’ve settled on another author?”

  “No. We haven’t.”

  “Why?”

  “Dammit, you know why.” County snapped, standing behind her desk. “No one has your flare. No one
writes like you. It takes a special writer to bring true excitement to those biographies.”

  Since little prevented Mick from tearing up those days, her emotions elevated over County’s praise. “Thanks girl.”

  “Oh hush, it’s true,” County said and then shrugged. “But there’s no sense in crying over it now. Quest won’t allow you to touch the story and I can’t say that I blame him.”

  “Well, what if-?” Mick silenced the question when her husband walked into the den. “Um listen County, I’ll talk to you later alright?”

  “Sounds good. Love you.”

  “Love you too,” Mick said, kissing into the phone before she hung up.

  “How’s County doin’?” Quest asked, while standing at the message desk and shuffling through mail.

  “Great.”

  “You called?”

  “She did.”

  “Why?”

  “To discuss the barbeque.”

  Quest nodded, still focused on the mail. “You sure you’ll be up for that? The baby comes in July, remember?”

  Mick’s amber gaze widened as she clapped both hands to her face. “Nooo,” she wailed. “You’re kidding. I forgot all about the baby.”

  Quest shook his head and chose not to respond.

  “I’ll be fine.” Mick said, setting the cordless to its cradle before folding her arms atop her belly. “I can’t write. Hell, the least I can do is have a party in my own damn house.”

  This time, Quest tossed aside the mail. His gorgeous gray black stare was narrowed and probing as he watched his wife.

  “Forget it,” Mick ordered, not allowing the haunting intensity of his eyes to rile her. “Just because you’ve issued these rules doesn’t mean I have to like ‘em.”

  Quest leaned against the message desk and eased his hands inside his slate green trousers. “Can’t you at least-in the smallest way possible-see my point?”

  “I see your point, but my point is that it’s unfair of you to ask me to give up something I did years before I ever met you.”

  “Did I ever ask you to stop writing?”

  “No.”

  Quest’s broad shoulders rose in a lazy shrug. “Well then, feel free to write. Write ‘til your heart’s content,” he stood and grabbed his mail from the desk. “Just stay away from anything that has to do with this family,” he tacked on in a soft voice.

  “Ugggh!” Mick raged, clutching fistfuls of the glossy curls that framed her lovely round face. “Do I have to remind you that long ago you promised you were over this thing about me writing the book?”

  “I remember,” he said, now making sure the battery was charged on his cellular, “but that was before I found out how low and ruthless my uncles really were,” he eased the phone into his pocket. “And it was before you were pregnant with my child.” He looked up and winked. “Our child,” he rephrased. “Now get over this Michaela, because there’s no way in hell that I’ll be changing my mind.”

  Mick rolled her eyes, but didn’t think of resisting when Quest pulled her close. She shuddered as much from desire as anger at herself when she responded to his kiss. A lilting cry escaped her lips when he deepened the slow thrusting of his tongue.

  “I’ll be home early,” he promised, making no move to go as he continued to kiss her. When Mick’s cries gained volume and she began to participate more eagerly, he pulled away; tugging on her curls before he left the room.

  Mick grabbed a pillow from an armchair and threw it against the door.

  ***

  Tykira still sat in a stunned stupor once Mel was done baring every secret she had. “I can’t believe you survived the last eight years carrying all this on your own,” she marveled.

  Mel pushed her thick hair back from her face and smiled wearily. “I’m sure you can understand why I had to keep it?”

  “How could Josephine just leave you to deal with this?”

  “Aw Ty,” Mel sighed, “Josephine’s always been terrified and now she’s just too far gone to even think rationally.”

  Ty leaned back on the sofa and crossed her legs. “You know Yohan has to be told.”

  “I’m too scared of what he might do,” Mel confessed, rubbing her hands along the sleeves of her black linen blouse. “I feel like a fool for saying that, but I just don’t know if I can tell him on my own.”

  Ty nodded, tapping a nail to her chin as she concentrated. “What about Fern and Moses-they should be there anyway,” she suggested.

  Mel nodded. “I thought about that and then I remembered that they’ve always hated Marc-probably more than Yohan. They’d back him in whatever he decided to do to Marc. Especially Moses.”

  Ty expelled a deep breath. “When Moses finds out about Zara…Do you think he ever suspected? Maybe that’s why he broke up with Johari?”

  Melina focused on her view from the windows. “I don’t know, but I’d feel much better with a cooler head in the room.”

  “Well we definitely can’t go to Quay.”

  “I was thinking of Quest.”

  Ty nodded at the idea. “I don’t know anyone cooler,” she winced. “I don’t know Mel-this is a tense situation. I mean, Quest stood right there and watched Quay almost beat Marc to death at Mick’s shower.”

  Melina groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Someone else needs to be there Ty. Yohan is going to go crazy when he finds out. Marc being his dad is the only thing restraining him.”

  “Maybe we need another opinion.”

  Confused, Mel shrugged. “Who?”

  Ty grabbed her purse and stood. “Come with me.”

  ***

  Moses and Fernando met at their younger brother’s house to discuss their father. This time, it was Yohan who came with the answers. Moses and Fernando listened quietly. Then Yohan and Fernando watched Moses to judge how he would react to the news about Zara.

  “She’s alive?” Moses breathed, as though he couldn’t believe it. He stood, pressing his hand against the gray skull cap covering his bald head. He was frowning as though struggling to absorb what he’d learned.

  “According to the letter Mel got, it seems we were wrong to think she was dead.” Yohan said.

  Still frowning, Moses went to stand at the short brick wall that lined the patio where they talked.

  “Johari has to be told,” Fernando decided, before his translucent brown gaze slanted toward his brother. “Unless Mel already did?”

  Yohan shook his head. “No.”

  “Moses?” Fernando called. He had to speak his brother’s name several times before the man tuned in.

  “Maybe it should come from you,” Yohan suggested.

  Moses looked as though he didn’t recognize either of his brothers. “She’d never listen to a thing I have to say.”

  “This is her sister we’re talkin’ about,” Fernando argued.

  Yohan nodded. “She’d listen to anyone who had word about her.”

  Moses grimaced. “Not me.”

  “Mo-“

  “I said no!” He thundered, his fist smashing into a ceramic planter set atop the wall. “Dammit,” he hissed, shooting Yohan a smile. “Sorry man.”

  “That’s why I don’t have company, too destructive.” Yohan teased, clapping a hand to his brother’s shoulder and urging him to take a seat.

  “I never told y’all why I broke up with Johari, did I?”

  Yohan and Fernando exchanged glances and shrugged.

  “We always thought she was the one who dumped you?” Yohan said.

  Moses nodded. “That’s because I made sure she would. I knew I had to the day I turned twenty one and Pop gave me my…present,” he stood and shoved both hands into the pockets of his sagging jeans. “A trip to that very boat you were so lucky to find, brotha,” he shared.

  Fernando stood. “You knew?”

  Moses closed his eyes. “I didn’t know what it really was-with the underage girls and all. I knew there was prostitution, drugs…and that Pop was right in the thick of it and re
aping all the benefits while Ma was home dyin’ a little every day because of him and growing to hate me more in the process.”

  “Man, she never meant-“

  “No Fern,” Moses said, waving his hand for silence. “I’m the splitting image of that fool and she treated me like I was him every day of my life.” The expression on his dark handsome face was sinister with hate. “I didn’t want Johari involved with a family like ours. I was starting to believe everything Ma said when I fouled up-which seemed like every day. Perhaps I was more like Marc than I realized…I didn’t know and I’ll be damned if I wanted Johari to find out. You know what I mean,” he said to Yohan-who nodded. “I would’ve done anything to keep her away from this.” Moses added.

  Fernando smoothed his hand across his beard for several moments before he spoke. “She still has the right to know her sister’s alive.”

  “’Course she does,” Moses agreed, his voice holding a strange quality. “She not only has the right to know, but she has the right to see her.”

  Fernando looked over at Yohan; who stood from the lounge chair he occupied.

  “What are you sayin’ man?” Yohan asked.

  Moses leaned against the patio wall once more. “I’m going to do everything in my power to make that happen.”

  ***

  Michaela couldn’t have been more surprised when she fluffed her curls and whipped open the front door to find Tykira on the porch. She was thrilled to finally meet Melina. After Ty made the introductions, the two hit it off like they’d been friends for ages. For a while, the three women sat chatting about this and that. Much of the conversation revolved around Mick’s mother-to-be-status and Ty and Quay’s adoption of Wake Robinson’s twin sons. At last, Ty came to the real point of her visit.

  Needless to say, Mick was as shocked as Ty had been once the secrets were shared. Of course, Mick’s highly inquisitive nature wouldn’t allow her to sit in a stupor for long. Eventually, her mind flooded with questions. Her only regret was she didn’t have a recorder handy to capture the entire conversation.

  “Has Josephine always known that Yohan belonged to another man?” Mick asked her eyes wide as they fixed on Mel who nodded.

  “She’s always known.”