by Yvette Hines
Jason couldn’t believe how much he had changed in the months he had been with Yasmine and the kids. He still enjoyed his work, but they had become his world.
He turned his head and viewed the vacant pillow beside him. He knew it would remain that way all night, Yasmine wasn’t somewhere else in the house and wouldn’t come in and smile at him. He couldn’t roll over and feel her body snuggle against his.
Closing his eyes he could still feel the warmth of her skin as she lay next to him. He could still smell her scent that was uniquely hers, still hear her whisper his name softly as he made love to her and she reached her peak.
Jason knew that he loved the kids, but he couldn’t fool himself, he was in love with Yasmine and she had kicked him out. Out of her house and her life.
His anger began to rise again with just the thought that Yasmine hadn’t believed he had not violated their marriage vows. Jason could sense plainly that she didn’t have faith in their marriage.
“What marriage?” He questioned to himself out loud.
Yasmine had been right, this marriage had started on pretense, and the pretense had to end.
Over the months he had gotten to know Yasmine. The pain and anguish her first husband had caused her made her hide behind the mask she had put on for the world. He would have to figure out some way for Yasmine to realize that they could have something real. That he would never hurt her like Blake. That he loved her.
That admission shook Jason to the core, but it settled in his heart like a lost treasure.
Getting up from the bed he got undressed and got into bed, removed his socks and T-shirt, telling himself it was time for some changes in his life.
~ML~
The next morning Yasmine got up, dressed and fed the kids alone and carted them off to daycare. When they asked for Jason, she told them that he was at work and that he had a big project he had to work on and would be working long hours, but that he missed them a lot. She hoped that in time they would learn to accept his absence from their lives. She had given him his freedom last night. There wasn’t any reason he needed to come back.
She knew she still had to up hold her part of the deal, and the final appearance in court he would have to be there. She was a big girl and she could handle seeing him, but she couldn’t risk the children getting excited that he was going to remain their father forever.
This way is best, she told herself.
Twenty-one
“This is Allison Henry, how may I help you?” Yasmine heard a slightly familiar voice say through the phone, when the lawyer’s secretary connected her through the line.
“My name is Yasmine Richardson and my husband and I are trying to adopt a set of twins.”
“Can I assume that you’ve already completed all of the necessary paperwork?”
“We’ve not only completed that, we’ve done everything, including the home-study with the social worker,” Yasmine informed her.
“So, the children are already in you and your husband’s care?”
Not exactly, she said to herself, but not to complicate matters she replied, “Yes” to the lawyer.
“Has the social worker also concluded her evaluation report?”
“Yes, with her approval of the adoption.”
“Good, otherwise it would have been a very difficult road ahead of us if she had not consented. There is a lot of weight put on the state social workers opinion. So, I’m taking it you are in need of a hound dog?”
Yasmine didn’t know how to take the lawyer’s opinion of why she was calling. “That’s correct, Ms. Henry, at the recommendation of the social worker.”
“Seems you all had an excellent social worker on your case,” Allison responded jovially through the phone.
“We did.” Yasmine was relieved she hadn’t offended the other woman.
“Then what I will do is connect you back to my secretary and she can set up an appointment for us to meet and discuss the process I will take and also my fee.”
“Is it okay if I come alone?”
“I assumed that if you got rave reviews from the social worker, your husband was an active participant in the proceeding.”
“Oh, he was and is. It’s just that it’s hard for him to get away from work, so if I can handle a meeting or two by myself then it’s less time he has to spend after hours at work for time missed.” Well, that was partly true anyway.
“I understand, fully. In my line of work I pull a lot of overtime.” Allison laughed compassionately.
She connected Yasmine to the secretary to make her appointment.
When she hung up the phone, Leigh came into her office. “Did I hear you correctly? You got the approval from the social worker?”
“Yes,” she shouted. “I was going to tell you, but things have been hectic with the new hospital contract and the training at the gym. Then I was going to say something this morning when I came in, but you were already with a client.”
“I squeezed one in before I have to go and do the course at the hospital.”
“That’s right…that is today.” She felt as if she were losing track of time. It was only Wednesday, barely a week since Jason had been gone. He had called the kids on Saturday and talked to them briefly on the phone. She had gotten a jolt when she had heard his voice.
“You seem a bit distracted, is that because of the good lovin’ your husband has been giving you since the wonderful news?” Leigh smiled cheekily at her.
Shuffling through her files on her desk, she tried not looking at her friend. “Jason moved out.”
“What?” Leigh’s voice was filled with concern as she entered the room and stood on the other side of Yasmine’s desk. “Are you okay?”
She pasted on a fake smile. “I’m fine, and it was my idea.”
“Why?” Leigh had a perplexed look on her face.
Yasmine got up and walked over to her filing cabinet, then put the files back in there. She would have to pull them back out later, but she felt anxious with the conversation and needed to move around.
“He only moved in for the home evaluation, so there was no need for him to stay any longer once it was over.”
Yasmine noted the suspicious look on Leigh’s face. “How does Jason feel about it?”
“It’s what was best.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Because it’s irrelevant.” A nervous laugh bubbled out of her.
“No, it’s not.” Placing one hand on her hip, Leigh stared at her. “You see, Yasmine, I think Jason didn’t want to leave as much as you wanted him to stay.”
“What do you think I was doing, playing reverse psychology with myself?” Yasmine eyed her friend.
“That’s exactly what you were doing.”
“Why? What sense would it have made for me to tell him to leave if I really wanted him to stay? Do you think I’m clueless, too?”
“Whoa, what did I miss here?”
Pulling the files back out, Yasmine retook her seat and replied in Portuguese, “O nada.”
“Yasmine, be straight with me.”
“Fine, one night last week I called Jason to tell him about Joshua being sick, it was late at night, and Raquel was in his office.”
“They’re co-workers.”
“And lovers.”
“You got all that from her being in his office?”
“She practically keeps telling me every time I talk to her and if you could’ve heard her when she answered the phone.”
“I’m assuming you talked to Jason about it.”
“Yeah, and he denied that anything was going on right now, Leigh.”
“So, what else do you need, Yasmine?”
“I don’t need anything else. I have the kids and that’s all I wanted from the beginning.”
Leigh leaned on the desk toward her. “Yasmine, I’m your friend and I’m going to tell you something that may shock you. You’re running scared.”
When Yasmine began to deny it, Leigh
held her hand up to stop her.
“Yasmine, I’ve never seen you as happy as you’ve been since Jason and the kids have entered your life. Before you get all spun up, you know this is not about you being able to be a good single mother. But, you need to realize that you owe it to yourself to be happy and until then Blake will have won.”
Leigh rose from the desk and walked out of the office and Yasmine allowed herself a moment to cry. She knew on some level Leigh was right, but how could she allow herself to give another man that type of control over her and not end up hurt?
~ML~
“Hello, Mrs. Richardson?” The male voice called from the hallway.
“Have a seat. I’ll be right with you in one moment.” Yasmine called out as she quickly wiped off her face, blew her nose and drank liberally from her water bottle. She opened up her purse compact and looked at the red swollen eyes and added a little make-up to cover them up, and then she added lipstick to her mouth. Hoping if she smiled a lot the man would never notice she’d been crying for things in her life she couldn’t change.
Getting up she walked out of her door and seeing a man in his middle twenties she walked over and introduced herself. “Hello, sir, I’m Yasmine Richardson. Do you have an appointment with Healthy Fit?”
Yasmine noticed a look that appeared to be shock or amazement cross the man’s features when he saw her, but it instantly went away and was replaced by a smile.
“No, not really. I’m Carlos Branch, I work for your husband.”
“Oh, that’s right, he told me someone from his team would be coming by. It’s nice to meet you.” Yasmine shook the man’s hand. She was happy she had fixed her face before he had seen her. The last thing she needed was someone from her husband’s staff seeing her looking pitiful and it getting back to him.
“This isn’t a bad time, is it?”
When Yasmine gave him a peculiar look, he quickly added, “You’re not with a client are you?”
Smiling her understanding, she answered, “No, I was just putting some things together and I didn’t want to lose track when I stopped.” It’s a lie, but it worked.
“I understand. Can I have a moment of your time to ask you some questions for our current project?”
“I’d be honored to help. Why don’t you come into my office and I’ll give you all the information I can.”
Yasmine lead the way and her husband’s employee followed.
~ML~
“Come in, Carlos.” Jason finished typing notes for the staff meeting tomorrow night. “What’s up? I wasn’t expecting to see you again today.”
“I know, sir, but there’s something I need to talk to you about.” Carlos appeared troubled.
Jason directed him to a chair across from his desk. “Shoot.” Smiling Jason asked, “What is it, women troubles?”
“Sort of, sir.” Carlos sat down in the chair and stared down at his hands.
Leaning forward on his desk balancing on his forearms and commented, “Wow, that serious, huh?”
“I’m not sure.”
Jason lifted an eyebrow in his direction.
“You know, Mr. Richardson. I probably shouldn’t have even come to you.”
“Well, you’re here, why don’t you give it a try and talk to me. I may be able to help.”
“You’re the only one who can.”
Jason could see the young man was struggling seriously with something and he wanted to help him. “Why don’t you start at the beginning?”
“You remember I told you I was going to go to Healthy Fit today and see your wife about advice for the project?”
Jason was taken aback, but he kept himself calm and schooled his features for whatever may come. “Yes.”
“Well, sir, when I first got to the office I guess your wife didn’t hear me come in...”
“And?” Jason prompted.
Carlos viewed his hands again briefly, then glanced up again. “She was crying, sir.”
“Who was crying?” When the young man only stared at him, Jason asked, “Why was my wife crying?” Jason’s voice seemed to get caught in his throat.
“I don’t know, Mr. Richardson. I wasn’t privy to that information.”
“Was anyone else there at the time, her partner Leigh, maybe?”
Carlos shook his head. “No, sir. I didn’t see or hear anyone else.”
“Could she have been on the phone, maybe it was bad news from her parents?”
“I don’t know, sir. It could have been, she seemed fairly upset about something.”
“What did she say to you when you walked in?” Jason inquired.
“Nothing. She doesn’t even know I saw her. When I realized she was crying I stepped back out of the doorway quietly, went back outside and came in more loudly, calling her name from the lobby.”
Jason leaned back in his seat with his hands across his abdomen. “Then what?” He needed every detail in order to have any chance at figuring out what was going on with Yasmine. Ideas flowed through his mind of what could possibly have upset her to the point of tears. She was a woman who didn’t like to cry. Jason knew that first hand.
“She told me to have a seat and she would be out in a second. She came out a few minutes later with only a hint of any signs that she had been crying. I must say I was impressed.”
“She’s an impressive woman.” Jason spoke more to himself than his team member. “Anything else?”
“No, sir,” his employee rose.
“Thank you, Carlos, I’ll give her a call and check on her.” Jason gave Carlos what he hoped was a reassuring confident smile of a devoted husband. “I’m assuming you took some good notes during the meeting?”
“I sure did and you’ll get all of them written in the report tomorrow.”
“I can’t wait to see them.” He commented, watching his staff member exit the office.
After his door was closed, Jason reached over to his phone to dial Yasmine’s work number. His hand hovered over the top for a few moments then he removed it. What reason could he give for calling her? He could ask about the children, but that wouldn’t give him the information he needed to know about her and Yasmine was such a private person that she wouldn’t willingly volunteer the information either.
It was Wednesday night, his visitation day with the kids. He had already blocked out his schedule so the evening would be free. He had missed Saturday’s time and he had hated having to cancel with them.
Opening a file on his desk he began to input data and stats into his computer about each of the last quarter projects. If he worked through them diligently, he could be finished with all of them before the children had gone to bed.
Buzzing Jeannie’s desk, he informed his secretary that he didn’t want to be disturbed by anyone. Then he began working.
~ML~
Jason had barely made it through the first chart when his intercom buzzed.
Jason pressed the speaker phone button. “Yes, Jeannie.”
“Mr. Richardson, I know you didn’t want to be disturbed, but Mr. Coleman would like to see you in his office...he said it was very important.”
Jason felt like stomping his foot, just like his son Joshua did when he wanted something and couldn’t have it, but he did the adult thing instead. “Tell him I’m on my way.”
Jason looked at the pile of work on his desk, locked his computer terminal, then left the office. “Jeannie, if I’m not back before you leave can you put away the files on my desk, I’ll just get them back out after this meeting. I have a feeling I’m not going to get out of here tonight anytime soon.”
“You got it, sir.” Jeannie bestowed one of her sweet sympathetic smiles on him.
Jason walked briskly to Mr. Coleman’s office, not wanting to waste any time. When he reached Pricilla, Mr. Coleman’s secretary, she told him to go right in.
When he entered he saw that Raquel was already seated in one of the chairs opposite of Mr. Coleman’s desk. Her presence threw Jason for a loop, not th
at they didn’t have meetings together, but because normally they were scheduled. The last time he called an impromptu meeting it was when Mr. Weary had gone into the hospital with a stroke.
“Jason, have a seat.” Mr. Coleman gestured cheerfully towards a vacant chair.
Jason took his jovial attitude as a good sign.
“Well, I’m sure both of you are surprised and curious that I called you together into my office,” Mr. Coleman began when Jason had taken his seat and the pleasantries were out of the way.
“You’ve got me stumped, sir,” Jason admitted.
“I’m with Jason, Mr. Coleman. What’s up?” Raquel agreed.
“You both are very much aware that Mr. Weary is retiring shortly and I’m going to need to fill his position.”
Jason’s heart began to race.
From the corner of his eye he could see Raquel sit up a little straighter in her chair.
“It’s been a while since we all talked about it, sir,” Jason commented.
“Nonetheless, it was something that I’ve kept in the forefront of my mind. But, of course, it’s my job to worry about those matters. It’s you two’s job to concentrate on bringing in good sales for our clients.”
“Hopefully, you have been pleased, Mr. Coleman?” The pseudo question seemed to roll off Raquel’s tongue.
“Yes, I have.” He smiled fondly at both of them. “If I hadn’t, then you two would not be sitting here.” Leaning toward them, Mr. Coleman continued, “Which brings me to the reason for the presence of the two of you.”
Twenty-two
“What are you doing here?” Yasmine questioned the person standing at her door.
Charmagne, with the twins in tow, had just come into the kitchen and told her that a man was at her door, claiming to be her brother.
“My brother?” Yasmine had asked her.
“Yes, Ma’am, he even showed me a picture of the two of you.” Charmagne told her.
Yasmine didn’t want to make Charmagne or the kids nervous so she didn’t tell her that she only had an older sister.
Yasmine had walked to the doorway, to see Blake standing there with a broad smile on his face.
