With a sure expression on his face, Victor knew a reply was not required, his only need was to keep moving with her until the song came to an end. Once it did, they walked off the floor together back to the bar. The guy that had spoken to him earlier, sitting at a table with a few other guys, were laughing and slapping each other's hands in high fives. They knew Victor as well, and they knew what was soon to follow.
A little bit down the bar from where they had been standing, Victor bought them another round of drinks as Omiyah expressed her thoughts, "That was nice, you still got them moves."
He smiled placing his money on the bar.
"So tell me, what's next? What's the rest of your evening going to be like?"
He shrugged.
"You and Crystal over for good? Divorcing?"
"I don't know, half the time, I don't know what the hell I want to be honest with you. Or what the hell I'm doing." He commented honestly.
"You still love her?"
"Yeah - I do - I love her, she's the mother of my boys."
"Em, I see." That threw Omiyah, she hadn't expected him to admit that, especially after moving on the dance floor with her the way he had. Still, she was there with him, right there and then, Crystal was not, and she wanted this, she wanted him. "Well, until you figure out what you want, wanna go somewhere, fuck a while? Would that make you feel better?"
"Let's go."
* * *
L.A....
Shawn, Sylvia and Mama JoJo were sitting out on the patio, enjoying the evening, clear skies, stars out, lovely breeze. Mundo volunteered to do clean up, allowing the adults an easy night of relaxation. Shawn sat silent thinking after Sylvia brought up Corliss' revisit - asking Mama JoJo to tell him about it - she was reluctant but told him everything except Corliss' wanting her to ask him for money. He finally turned to her, leaning past Sylvia who was sitting between them, "Once the house is done, I'm coming to get you. But until then, why don't you move in here?" He suggested.
Mama JoJo's head and eyes rolled to look at him as if he was crazy, "What I'm gone do here? Chile, all these whites folks ain't gone want to be seein' me here every day."
"Do you think I care about all these white folks around here? As for what you can do, you can do the same thing here, that you do where you live now. Which you can leave for Corliss, or make her pay you rent."
"Who you talkin' 'bout gone pay some rent?" Mama JoJo rolled forward and back as if posturing ready for a battle, "Corliss don't pay no rent, ain't gone pay me rent, ain't gone pay no bills in that house, ain't gone pay no taxes, she be done loss that house fo'the year over."
"Then that's her loss, you'll have someplace to live, here. When the house is done in Wisconsin, you'll have there!"
Since Sylvia sat in the middle, it was as if she watched a tennis game, turning her head from one to the other listening, it was Mama JoJo's serve.
"I ain't work all this time, to get me no house, just to let her move in and lose it. I'mo keep my house, long as I can, I ain't ready to leave it yet. When I do, it's going up for sale!"
Sylvia turned to Shawn, it was his turn.
"Godalmighty Josephine Daniels! Okay fine, sell the house, but it don't make a bit of sense to be so stubborn! I don't know what the heck I've done to be surrounded by so many stubborn women, never thought any would be worse than this one next to me, you got her beat!" He grumbled.
Sylvia smiled with the lift of a brow, trying not to laugh at him and turned back to Mama JoJo.
"This one here between'us is yo'wife! She need to be a bit stubborn to deal wit'you. You just like Jesse, ya'll wants everythang yo'way!" She fussed right back.
Smirking, grinning, Sylvia turned back to him, resisting temptation to roll a fist into the air with a loud, 'Woo woo!' Biting into her bottom lip at the look on his face.
"We want everything the right way! And when Jesse was alive, he took care of you, now that he's gone, my turn!"
Sylvia turned to hear Mama JoJo's argument.
"Listen here lil'ol'white boy! Don' get Mama JoJo started! You jus'a chile t'me! I been grown, taken care'o'myself fo' your own mama been born! Em hm, she wasn't even thought about yet! So ha' own chile ain't gone be tellin' me what I'm gone do! I can take care'o'myself!"
Unable to keep the chuckles to herself, Sylvia turned to Shawn, "Your turn."
"I'm glad you think this is so funny! You should be trying to help me here, instead of watching me struggle!" He growled sitting back in his chair.
Taking a deep breath, Sylvia stated, "Okay." She turned from him to Mama JoJo, "How about this, before we leave here, we notify security about you, we notify the front office, and we give you a key to this place. If your staying with Corliss becomes too much, and you need to get away from her, you have here to come to. How's that?"
Shawn leaned forward to get his wife's attention, he was about to say something, she held up an index finger, coupled with an expression on her face for him to be quiet, turning back to Mama JoJo.
"Hmmm, now - that ain't no bad idea, I suppose that way, thangs get to be too much ... yeah, I like that idea." She agreed.
"Good, Shawn will take you around the office to security, let them take your picture, and the office to show it, and he'll make out a key just for you, and he'll also show you how to use this alarm system," She turned to Shawn, "Won't you?"
"Yes, definitely! Even though I'd rather you-..."
"Ack! Leave it." Sylvia warned him, he didn't know when to leave well enough alone.
"Thank you sugga' - Mama JoJo don't mind that now."
Sylvia turned back to Shawn, "See, done."
"I want her to stay here, not there!" He growled really low, out the side of his mouth, supposedly for her ears only.
"Just 'cause I'm old, don' mean I'm deaf yet, I can hear. Now I like her idea, when that house where you at done, you have me all the time then, right now - I'm stayin' put, lessin' I need to come here."
He made a face of exasperation, sending Sylvia into giggles, she reach over grabbing his face, squishing his cheeks and forcing his lips into a big pucker, "Aaah my poo-poo honey don't be like that." She leaned into him and kissed those lips, making him chuckle and blush. "Careful..." He warned distortedly, his lips still pursued, her hand holding his jaw.
"Ah lawd, ya'll fixin'ta' get all kissy face, poo-pooin' and boo-booin' - I can't take it! I'm going t'bed." Mama JoJo grumbled making Sylvia and Shawn burst into laughter.
"Ah come on Mama JoJo, don't be like that." Sylvia simpered.
"You want some sugga too Mama JoJo, you stay I give you some sugga' too!" Shawn teased.
"Boy don' you come near me!" Mama JoJo warned getting up fast, looking back at him with warning in her eyes. Shawn laughed, "Mama JoJo, that hurts! I thought you loved me!"
"Gon'way from here talkin' crazy now! Goodnight!"
"Goodnight Mama JoJo." Sylvia and Shawn simultaneous called.
They watched her enter the house, sliding the door closed and then, they could hear her talking to Mundo, who burst into laughter at what she said. They both smiled looking at each other. The night was so nice, they had the windows open in the house.
Shawn pat his lap, "Come up here."
"Gladly." Sylvia responded, rising from her seat to sit cosily on her husband's lap. He pulled her legs up so that she was reclined against him, her arm wrapped around his shoulders. "I really enjoyed tonight, meeting Ezekiel, or, King Louie, nice man, and so funny, oh my goodness."
"Not as funny as Jesse was, now him - you would have loved."
Sylvia combed the straying front locks of her husband's hair back, caressing his brow.
He laid his head back, "Mmm, that's nice." He murmured gently, his eyes closed.
"You happy now? At least, finding a bit of peace, to relax?" She asked soft and low.
Shawn's head rolled facing her, opening his eyes to gaze up at her. "With you like this, no matter where we are is where I find my peace." He informed her.
Sylv
ia leaned down, kissed him, for just a nice lingering moment, and pulled away before she stirred him beyond that. He pulled her closer to him, his hand going to her rounded tummy. "You feeling okay? You have been busy the last two days, really busy."
"I've been eating all day. Little bit here, little bit there. I have not allowed myself to get hungry not even once."
"Good girl."
"Think Angela's okay? Maybe we should call her, check on her?"
"She's fine, she would have called if she weren't, so not to worry."
"We really are lucky aren't we? My kids love you, and Angela, I think - loves me."
"What the hell do you mean, you think? Of course she loves you."
"I know, I'm just saying, what we have, doesn't happen all the time. Ben is now in our life, and I think he's really nice. And we're adding Mama JoJo to our little bunch, I'd say it's growing rather nicely."
"You don't mind that?"
"Not at all, there's nothing more important, than family and nothing more precious than true and good friends, we have that."
"Yeah, we do, and I just wish I could talk Mama JoJo into being here, instead of staying there in that house."
"We have to respect what she wants - do whatever we can take care of her as far as she will let us. Wanna hear something interesting?"
"Coming from you, always." He returned, stroking her hair.
"When I was there earlier, I was looking at her pictures on the wall - you know the ones, of her little brother's."
"Yeah."
"You know that the one she came here with is named Jacob too?"
"Yep - I knew that, it's a common name isn't it."
"I suppose, but it just struck me funny that's all, because your brother is Jacob, your dad's middle name is Jacob."
"Em hm, and my grandfather's name is Jacob as well."
"Really? Who's father is he, Gert's or Bart's?"
"My dad, Bartholomew, his father's name was Jacob Paul Mc-..."
"What?! You're kidding me, his middle name was Paul?"
"Yeah."
"Shawn, Mama JoJo's younger brother, who died really young, his name was Paul. And Derrick's middle name is Paul, and Jake's son's name is Paul. What are the odds of that?"
"Em, well - again, common biblical names - obviously popular."
"Did you know her younger brother's name was Paul?"
"No, I didn't, we really didn't talk much about stuff like that, with so much going on, it never came up."
"All that time you spent with her, and you didn't know?"
"I told you, it just - never seem to come up."
"Well, she told me."
"Darlin', two women get together, you know, that's what you do - you talk, and talk and then talk some more, women dig for details. Men just want the preliminaries - we don't ask for intricate details like that."
"Shawn, you're being chauvinistic!"
"Sorry, heaven forbid - I shall keep those certain truths to myself."
Sylvia gasped, her turn to be exasperated as she glared into his eyes. He was un-fazed, ginning and winking at her.
"Anywa-a-ay, as I was saying, I find these instances of naming just too close to be coincidental."
Shawn groaned, his head fell back rolling it back and forth, exposing his Adam's apple, "Syl-vi-a-a-a - honey don't - sta-a-art."
"Don't start what? I'm not starting anything, I'm just saying, there's something mysterious about it all. What are the odds, that you have a grandfather whose name is Jacob Paul and Mama JoJo's half brother's, have a father named Jacob Paul? What are the odds of that? Also -..."
He whimpered cutting into her line of thought.
"...wait, I'm not done yet."
"No never that, not you be done."
"Shawn! Listen to me now. Your parents come from South Carolina! Mama JoJo comes from South Carolina too! I know it's a small world, but is it that small? I don't think so, what we have here, is one of those discoveries that make you go, hmmm?"
"Here you go, here you go again, last time we had this it was about Ben."
"And I was right too, wasn't I? Umm hmm, yeah - you know it and I know it. Who the chile daddy? Huh, who? Yeah - that's right, so don't gimme that. You know what, I think you are all connected."
"Syl-vi-ah!"
"You can Syl-vi-ah - all you want, but there's something going on here. I just cannot believe, that in South Carolina, there are two white men - oh, did I happen to share that bit?"
"What bit?"
"Mama JoJo's brother's - their father, Jacob Paul - was white. So, now, South Carolina, there were two white males, both Jacob Paul - now, the final drop - their white father, named Jacob Paul, was a Baptist preacher. Word got around about it, and they, Mama JoJo, her siblings, their mother, had to relocate. You still think it's just a coincidence?"
Shawn could only stare at her.
"Yeah, exactly - small world huh."
* * *
Meanwhile...
"You nervous?"
"Yes I am, nervous as can be." Crystal truthfully admitted, "You nervous?"
"A bit, I think it's because we're going there and we don't really know anyone."
"We know each other."
"Ah, yes, we do, as long as we stick together, we'll be fine. Wanna have a bit of champagne before we get there?" Ben asked. They were riding in the limo, which had a fully stocked bar, including chilled champagne.
"I think I do, just a small glass of it, help me to relax a bit."
"You need only ask it of me, and I will deliver. Coming right up." He moved over to the bar, took a bottle of the champagne undoing the foiled wrap around the top.
Starting to giggle already, Crystal's imagination was going as she asked, "You ever open a bottle of champagne in a limo before?"
Ben, grinning, "Nope! So maybe it would be wise of you to hit the floor and cover your head."
"Ben! I'll mess up my hair!"
"I'll fix it back for you." He was all teeth, laughing at the expression on her face, "Okay, I'll pop the cork out the window!" He suggested.
"Hey, I know, the sun roof! Open the sun roof, stand up in it and open it." She suggested.
"Good idea! Beauty and a brain, unlike myself!" He kidded, looking for the switch to open the sunroof.
"Yeah, who'dah eva'thunk it!" She joked, making him laugh as he stood in the middle of the limo, half of his body outside of it, she heard the cork pop.
"Success! Madam, champagne glasses please, come out here with me." He asked.
She reached for two glasses and stood as well, having to fit into the opening of the roof square, standing almost against him. His arms were out resting on the roof sides when she came up before him, bringing two glasses up in her hands.
"Oh Ben, look at the view from up here, this is incredible!" She gushed as they road along the palm tree lined lane of lights, landscaping and ornate homes with a clear night sky with the stars sparkling around a crescent moon.
"Yeah, it is." He murmured gently.
Crystal took her eyes from gazing at the constellations to looking into his eyes. "You really shouldn't look at me like that, with those eyes, that way." She cautioned him softly.
"Why? This is the only pair I have, sorry. What's wrong with them? What do you see, in my eyes? Do they bother you, looking at you this way? Do they scare you, my eyes?"
"I see things in them, that I really shouldn't. They say things, that they really shouldn't."
"I'm not the only one, whose eyes are saying things, that - maybe they shouldn't, but - I see something, in your eyes too."
Crystal looked away from him to the champagne bottle in his hand, "You waitin' on somebody to drop a tip in that thing, pour up the champagne, Mr. McPherson." She changed her tone, trying to steer them away from what they were feeling, lightening the mood, even if she had to force it to be.
"Sure, anything you say Crystal." He returned softly, disappointed. She held one glass for him to fill it half way, and then the other.
>
He took his in hand saying, "Shall we toast?" He was trying to follow her lead.
She was determined to keep things platonic between them.
For Ben, as long as he got to be with her alone, he would accept platonic.
"Sure, what would you like to toast to?" She asked, smiling, finally able to look up at him again, it wasn't easy to do so, they kept getting stuck in moments of trapped silence, mesmerized by gazing into each other's eyes.
"I would like to toast to you and I; that no matter what the future brings, if you call for me, I'll be there, and - if I call you..." He let it trail off, watching her; the expression on her face, the widening of her eyes, the un-sureness of what such a promise and toast would mean. But as he knew her to be, brave, bold, courageous, she smiled, a smile that reached her eyes, as well his heart, he saw the moment where she gave in, a little.
"Okay, so if you, Benjamin Caesar McPherson, should ever, really need me - and I mean, me - I will be there, I will come to you."
"Promise, do I have your word? Because I think, if you, give your word - nothing would stop you from following through, I know that about you."
"You're right, if I live, and I know that you need me, I'll be there." She lifted her glass waiting for him. Ben lifted his, looking into her eyes, they clinked their glasses, and without realizing what the other might do, they entwined their arms and sipped from the champagne glass. Both of them surprised and yet, not surprised. After sipping, they stood there in the moving limo, accepting that something was there between them. Accepting that as they exchanged glances they would always share a connection. Crystal took in the soft sincerity of his eyes and knew, that while he'd never said it to her, she was sure that he loved her; this was no act, of this she was certain. She felt it in every fibre of her being, and it hurt and saddened her, because maybe, if she had known him first, she could give into this new and different kind of feeling, once more, she felt herself reflecting back.
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