by Londyn Skye
Lily placed a finger over his lips to quiet him after seeing how incredibly upset he had become. She could feel his deep guilt from their past nightmare threatening to steal their current joyous moment; that was the last thing she had intended when she started the conversation. “We’re s’pposed to focus on the here and the now and our future, rememba’?” she said, reminding him of their conversation from the previous night. “We can tackle the past and our problems some otha’ time. For now, can we just be in the moment and enjoy bein’ happy for a change … at least for a little while? Please?”
James’s emotions immediately came sprinting out of the darkness and into the light. He said nothing at first. He just gazed at Lily with adoration, then suddenly stood, and offered a hand to help her stand too. When she was on her feet, he took one of her hands and kissed it. “My Lily,” he began as he embraced her, “is definitely back.” He lifted her up off her feet and spun her around one time. He put her back on her feet, placed his hands alongside her face, and let a loving kiss linger on her lips.
“Back and here to stay,” she whispered, their foreheads resting against one another. “I know things ain’t nearly perfect, but I feel so happy for a change,” she smiled.
“And when you’re happy, I’m happy. I can’t seem to bring myself to feel that way unda’ any otha’ circumstances, Miss Lily.” He kissed her more passionately this time but forced himself to stop after a few seconds. “Mmm,” he moaned, reluctantly pulling back from tasting her. “I swear I could go anotha’ round, but I gotta get to work. I’m runnin’ so late.”
With all her might, Lily suddenly pushed James down on the couch. She climbed onto his lap and straddled him. Every drop of blood in James’s body shot straight to his groin the second Lily mounted him. While grinding her heated abyss against his pelvis, she descended on his lips. She kissed him lightly, and then ran her tongue down the side of his face all the way to his ear. Feeling that he had instantly hardened again, she bit his earlobe and slid just the very tip of his manhood inside of her.
“Good God,” James growled.
“I think…” Lily lowered herself down onto him just a little more. “You’re just gonna have to be even lata’ to work…”
James’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as he slowly moaned Lily’s name.
“Any objections to that?” she asked just before she lowered herself all the way down.
“Heeell nooo,” he replied, inhaling sharply as his head fell backward onto the couch.
“I didn’t think so.”
****
After being extremely late to work, James sat at the front desk of Gideon’s office, unwrapping one of two sandwiches that Lily had made for him. He froze, though, when thoughts of his glorious intimate morning encounter with her replayed in his mind. It sent a flurry of butterflies surging through his stomach and suddenly made him hungry for something else. All day those magnificent visions had been erupting in his mind, making it nearly impossible for him to concentrate at work. Even hours later, he was still suspended in a jovial state of euphoria over the fact that the rift between him and Lily had finally closed.
The fact that he was back in sync with Lily had an immediate effect on James that was noticeable before he even left the house. The desire to bathe, comb his hair, and touch-up his beard had quickly come roaring back to life. It all no longer felt like an insurmountable task as he prepared for work. He emerged from the bathroom looking like a new man and then sat down at the kitchen table and scarfed down every morsel of the biscuits and gravy Lily had prepared for him. She looked over at him from time to time while preparing his lunch and laughed at the way he rarely took a breath in between bites. It was the first full meal he had easily consumed in months. When he was finished eating, Lily handed James his lunch and escorted him to the front door. She kissed him goodbye on the porch, told him that she loved him, and then gave him the sort of hug that expressed how badly she would miss him while he was gone. It was the last little boost James needed to keep him floating on the clouds of euphoria.
The entire scenario from his wonderful morning was the sort of simplicity that James had always envisioned with Lily. It made him ache for a future in which the world was a more tolerable place. He wanted to not have to steal moments like that with Lily in secret. He desperately wanted to display his affections for her openly across his entire lifetime. But despite the world’s hatred, nothing had the power to shut down the happiness James was currently feeling … not even Mary Jo Parker.
James finished off his first sandwich as he watched Mary Jo emerge from her carriage in front of Gideon’s office window. Shockingly, for the first time ever, James did not mumble an automatic curse word at the sight of her. Mary Jo had trumped his father as the person James hated more than anybody on planet earth. But on this glorious morning, the visions of himself smiling at Mary Jo’s dead body in a casket did not roll into James’s head for a change. Instead, he simply sat his other sandwich aside, dusted his hands free of breadcrumbs, and stood up from his desk with a smile on his face as his nemesis entered Gideon’s medical practice. The delight James still managed to exude while Mary Jo was in his presence was truly proof that absolutely nothing had the power to ruin his day.
“Hello sweetheart!” Mary Jo jovially announced as she approached her “fiancé.”
“Afta’noon MJ,” James nodded with his smile still firmly in place, giving her the false idea that he was happy to see her.
“Hello James!” Julia said, after entering the door seconds later.
“Well, hello Julia! So nice to see you again,” James replied, genuinely meaning it. “What’re you two lovely ladies up to this afta’noon?”
“We’re headed to the train station. I’m ridin’ with Julia back to Ohio,” Mary Jo replied. “I’m gonna spend a day with ’er there, and then I’ll be back the day afta’ that. She’ll be back for our weddin’ in a few months.”
“Sure will,” Julia smiled.
“Until then, I figured she’d wanna come tell you goodbye since the two ‘a you seem to have become such good friends,” Mary Jo explained.
Julia stepped forward and James welcomed her in for a brief hug. “It’s been a pleasure gettin’ to know you Julia,” he said, looking at her in a way that expressed how thankful he was for her help.
“The pleasure was all mine. You have a truly great woman,” Julia smiled, knowing that he was well aware she was not speaking about her cousin. “I know how much you truly love her, so I have no doubt in my mind that you’ll take great care ‘a her in my absence.”
“I sure do love her. She means the world to me. I can assure you I’ll always treat ’er like a queen.”
“I’m sure you will. Best wishes to both ‘a you,” Julia said, giving a telling smile.
“To you too.”
“Julia, you can go on to the carriage. I’ll be there momentarily,” Mary Jo informed her.
“Okay.” Julia waved at James. “Goodbye for now.”
“Bye now. Have a safe trip.”
Mary Jo turned to James the moment the door closed. “Your daddy was at my house this mornin’ to speak to my fatha’.”
“Was he?” James replied, taking his seat behind the desk again. It was common for their fathers to conduct business with each other throughout any given week, so he did not think much of her comment.
“He apologized to me,” Mary Jo continued.
“About what?”
“About the misunda’standin’ with Leela.”
“Oh,” James replied, only half paying attention as he tended to some paperwork.
“Oh?” Mary Jo mimicked with annoyance in her tone, suddenly throwing her hands on her hips. “He caught me completely off guard. Do you know how humiliated I was standin’ there pretendin’ like my fiancé had already made me aware of the fact that Leela was back? As far as I still knew, she was at the breeda’ where I left ’er. But yo’ daddy went on and on tellin’ me that he didn’t know she
was already with child before he agreed for me to take ’er!”
“Oh,” James replied again, still barely paying attention.
Mary Jo walked over and slammed her hand down on the desk. “Your little whore is pregnant?!”
James finally looked up.
Mary Jo cocked her head to the side. “Does yo’ daddy know he’s about to have his first little nigga’ grandbaby?!” she asked rhetorically, squinting her eyes at James.
James did not bother with a reply.
“Jesse Adams, leada’ of the Ghost Rida’s, with his very own caramel-colored, nappy-headed grandchild!” Mary Jo said, bursting into a sudden fit of maniacal laughter.
“You have no proof ‘a that, MJ,” James replied calmly, knowing that his letters could no longer be used to substantiate her claims, thanks to Julia. “Julia’s waitin’. She’ll be late to her train if you don’t hurry. Go on now. I have work to do,” he said, directing his eyes back to the papers on his desk.
His nonchalant attitude infuriated Mary Jo. “Who says I need proof?! I have yo’ daddy wrapped around my finga’! Don’t think I won’t utilize that powa’ when I need to!”
“MJ,” James replied, taking hold of her hand and kissing it. “We’re gettin’ married soon like you wanted,” he lied, faking a smile. “What more do you want from me?”
Mary Jo snatched her hand away, thoroughly agitated by the fact that her threats had not impacted James at all. “One more wrong move from you or your whore and your illegitimate little nigga’ won’t live to see the light ‘a day!” she threatened before storming out.
James heard the threat, but absolutely nothing was going to ruin his day … not even Mary Jo Parker.
****
While Mary Jo walked alongside Julia to the back of the half-empty luxury train, Lily was strolling into the parlor to take her seat at the piano bench. Thoughts of her morning lovemaking session with James in that very spot immediately caused a smile to illuminate on Lily’s face. Mary Jo and Julia were smiling and giggling too as they stepped onto the observation platform deck on the outside of the train’s caboose. The wind hit them and blew their hair in every direction. They paused a moment to appreciate the beauty of the land whipping by them while Lily, in turn, was lifting the key cover to the piano, appreciating the simple beauty of the instrument in front of her.
There had rarely been music in Lily’s head up until the wonderful morning she had just experienced with James. A new slow ballad had erupted in her mind not long after her eruptions in the very same spot she was now sitting. Her reconciliation with James and her visit with her mother had brought her creativity back with a vengeance. It led her to resume her old tradition on her beloved instrument, in much the same way that Julia and Mary Jo now stood on the tail end of the train resuming one of theirs.
“Rememba’ our daddies used to hold us in their arms out here when we were little girls?” Mary Jo asked, pulling the old memory from her mind at the exact same moment that Lily was pulling her new song from hers, ready to interpret it through her fingertips.
“How could I forget? Seems like it was only yesta’day,” Julia said with excitement, just as Lily’s melody began to take flight. The notes floated slowly and beautifully into the atmosphere, in much the same way that Julia’s beautiful blonde hair seemed to float and dance in the wind in time with the music.
“Now look at us … all grown up and ridin’ by ourselves,” Mary Jo pointed out.
“Felt like the days when our fatha’s would be willin’ to let us outta their arms would neva’ come,” Julia replied, ironically speaking the words as a song now played that partly represented the closing of a chapter in Lily’s life.
“So true. It used to make me think my daddy was strict, but now I realize that he just didn’t wanna let me go because he loves me so much.” Mary Jo put a hand on Julia’s shoulder. “Your daddy loves you that way too,” she said, just when Lily had reached a portion of the song inspired by feeling her mother’s love again after so many years.
“Yeah, I certainly can’t deny that,” Julia smiled, just as Lily closed her eyes and smiled too while continuing to think of her mother.
“That’s what families do, don’t they?”
“What?”
“Love one anotha’, protect one anotha’, and be loyal to one anotha’.” Mary Jo turned to face Julia. “They ain’t eva’ s’pposed to turn their back on each otha’, no matta’ what the circumstances … Ain’t that right?”
Julia did not like the sudden look in Mary Jo’s eyes. “A-absolutely.”
“You sure about that, cousin?” Mary Jo asked, staring intensely at Julia through lowered eyelids.
“O-of course,” Julia replied, feeling more and more uncomfortable with the way Mary Jo was looking at her. While the tides of their simple conversation seemed to transition into something dark, Lily’s melody transitioned into something somber, yet lovely.
“Actually, you were always more than a cousin to me, Julia. You were like my sista’,” Mary Jo confessed.
“You’re like mine too,” Julia replied, forcing a smile.
“Oh really?” Mary Jo questioned with doubtful eyes.
“O-of course,” Julia stammered nervously.
“Of course,” Mary Jo mocked. “Why would I eva’ have any reason to doubt such a thing?”
“I-I don’t know.” Julia dropped her head to escape Mary Jo’s harsh glare.
“Oh, I think you do know.”
“No, I swear I don’t.”
“Well, let me remind you. Do you rememba’ how perturbed I was by somethin’ this mornin’?” Mary Jo asked.
“Yes, I rememba’ askin’ what was botherin’ you. B-but you neva’ told me.”
“That’s because I wasn’t quite ready to tell you. But go ahead … ask me again. I’m more than ready now.”
“Wh-what was botherin’ you, Mary Jo?”
“Ya’ see, all mornin’ long, I been wrackin’ my brain tryna figure out how it was that James was able to find out where Leela was. And worse yet, how in the world he retrieved her owna’ship documents from my desk drawer since he hadn’t been in my room in weeks.”
Julia’s heart suddenly began beating triple time.
Mary Jo turned toward the opposite side of the train and stared out at the northern terrain. She suddenly began speaking with an unusual calm in her voice, just as calm and serene as the song that Lily continued to play. “All mornin’ since hearin’ little old Leela was back, I just been beatin’ my head against the wall tryna solve that mystery, because I’s certain that I neva’ mentioned to Jesse exactly where I was takin’ ’er. I neva’ told a single solitary soul.” She turned back around and glared at Julia again. “Except for my dear, sweet, cousin. The cousin that’s always been like a sista’ to me. The sista’ that I neva’ believed for a moment was capable of bein’ disloyal to me. In fact, even knowin’ that you were the only soul I eva’ spoke to about Leela’s whereabouts, I still refused to believe you would eva’ utta’ a word about it to anyone. I considered perhaps my carriage driva’ had sold me out at first. But then I thought back to those missin’ papers in my desk drawer. It wasn’t until then that I recalled a faint memory of you comin’ into my room to get … what was it you said? A book! Yes! That’s it! A book to read because you just … couldn’t … sleep. But still! Even afta’ all ‘a that, I just couldn’t fathom that my beautiful cousin was capable of stealin’ my belongin’s right out from unda’ my sleepin’ nose. I figured there just had to be some otha’ explanation.”
Tears began to brim in Julia’s eyes after Mary Jo took a step toward her. Simultaneously, tears began to make an appearance in Lily’s as well, during a part of her melody that made her feel just as overcome with emotion as Julia.
“I just absolutely refused to believe any of it, Julia, because you’re my family and families stick togetha’, and we believe in one anotha’. I just wasn’t gonna accept it unless I saw it with my own eyes,” Mary Jo fu
rther explained. “It’s why I insisted on takin’ you to bid James farewell. I just had to wait and see the way you two looked at each otha’. I needed to see the subtle gaze between two people who had bonded ova’ somethin’ devious. I wanted to hear the intonation of your voices, and the words you chose when you said your goodbyes.” Mary Jo stepped even closer to her cousin. “And there it all was … so blatant, so bold. Right there in front ‘a my very eyes, I saw that stomach-turning gaze between the two ‘a you. I heard that ear-grating tone as you had the audacity to cryptically wish James and his whore well, and praise ’em for the way that he loves ’er.” Mary Jo took another step closer and was now right on top of Julia. “It wasn’t until then that I finally accepted that my very own cousin had indeed stabbed me in the back.”
Mary Jo suddenly took a small step back and turned toward the passing scenery, easing up on Julia just as Lily eased up on the speed of her racing notes. While Lily was exhaling from exhilaration, Julia exhaled a sigh of great relief once Mary Jo put some space in between them.
“I guess I neva’ should’ve doubted your disloyalty from the start, though,” Mary Jo continued. “You were always boastin’ and braggin’ and cheerin’ on that honey-colored whore. You even had the audacity to use your own money to bet on her behalf,” Mary Jo huffed. “Oh well, it doesn’t matta’ now, though.” She turned once again to stare at her cousin in disgust. “’Cause in my eyes, you’re no longa’ like a sista’ to me. You’re no longa’ any family to me at all, Julia. You ain’t nothin’ but a filthy, backstabbin’, nigga’ lova’. I honestly didn’t think there was anything worse on this earth than a nigga’ lova’, but now I realize there is…” Mary Jo lowered her eyelids. “A nigga’ lova’ who betrays me,” she stated coldly, seeping venom into her words the way that Lily was seeping love into her notes.
