"I know, you're right, I will - I'll let the dust settle for tonight, and then, give her a call in the morning to explain things, I just hope you're right."
Terra walked up to their table from the kitchen, wearing her white chef top and black pants, smiling at them, "Hey you two, becoming regulars here I see, have you ordered yet?"
Deidre looked up, "Nooo, not yet - you have a minute?"
"Sure I do." She took a seat adjacent to Deidre.
"If you ladies don't mind, I'm gonna step outside, check my messages, give you two a minute." He made his excuses because he knew what Deidre wanted to ask her about, and to give them privacy, he'd check his messages and on Samuel.
Deidre turned to Terra, "Well, it's done, we did it, I have her back now."
Terra sat back in her chair and sighed from deep within, "Oh Deidre, and so, come on, tell me, what happened."
"Just like you said, just as I knew - he's absolutely furious and - broken hearted. I can pretty much tell you, that as of tonight, if he never hated me before, he's close to it now."
"He'll never hate you Deidre, he's just as you said, furious and hurt. I so wish you could have thought of another way to work this out."
"Well, it's done now." She sipped from her wine, then glanced up at her friend again, "Why did you tell him Terra?" She asked softly.
Terra sat forward, not sure of what she meant, "Tell who what?"
Deidre took a deep breath, "You told Shawn about the baby. The one that I lost, that I believe my mother had aborted."
Her hands went to her face, covering it, smoothing her brows in a guilty gesture, "I kno-o-ow I know, I just - at the time, I wanted him to know what you'd been through, the things they'd done to you. I'm sorry, afterwards, I wished I'd kept it to myself. So he mentioned that I told him?"
"Yes, he threw that in my face! He used it against me - he was so out of control, him knowing about that, only made things worse."
"I'm sorry Deidre, I didn't tell him for him to use it against you like that."
"I guess it really doesn't matter now, he knows, it's out. He's just so - emotional, he gets livid and - out of control when he can't control a situation - like this one with Angela. I just hope that he went straight home and calmed down."
"Maybe you should call and check on him." Terra suggested.
"Are you kidding me, I'm the last person he wants to hear from today."
* * *
Chicago...
"I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! Can't no shit like that get passed me! What I tell you, didn't I tell you! So he by there now?"
"Yes, Sheila you told me, and you were right."
"Hell, I knew that! Gone tell me the child ain't like that! Hell with that, the minute they ass born and you see that lil'pee-pee - you know right then, there gone be some shit as soon as they figure that lil'son'va'bitch out! And he done figured it out and you done took him back for more!"
"Hello-o-o, he asked me would I take him there, what was I gonna say? No!" Vivian defended.
"So how he ask you, what he say?" Sheila dug for details.
"He showed up at the L, on time as always, and when I got in, he already had his lil'overnight bag in there-..."
"Damn!" She grinned, "It must be good to'em!" She crinkled her nose, talking raunchy.
"Do you mind if I finish?"
"I wish you would! So he had his lil'bag, then what?"
"Basically he said, you asked me to be honest and let you know my plans, well - since we're leaving Friday, can you take me by Jackie's, I'm uh, staying the night."
"Just like that! He said it like that?!"
"Pretty much, he hemmed and hummed a bit, but he got it out, that that is what he wanted to do."
"Chile, chile, chile, I bet he over there ridin' ha ass now!"
"Sheila why you got to be all nasty about it!?"
"How I'm bein' nasty? How you figure that? That's what he went back there for, some more of that dark stuff! Shi-i-it, you know damn well, once them white boys get a'hol' of that dark chocolate, they can't be right no more! Heh heh!" She jumped up grinning and shimmying, making Vivian shake her head, laughing as well. "I shouldn't be tellin' your butt nothin'! Know how you are!"
"Why not? You supposed to tell me thangs! Who else you gone talk to about it, but Sheila, baby! You gone tell his daddy?"
"No I am not!"
"You not gone tell'em?" She asked from the sink, running herself a glass of water.
"Nope."
"Girl, what if he find out?"
"What is he gone do? That boy is 18 years old! And I am not his mama, ain't no sense in me trying to be, I ain't running and tellin' his daddy nothin'! If he want Jake to know, he'll tell'em hisself, I'm staying out of it!"
"Well I can tell you now, that boy gone be down here every time you turn around, just like his daddy was after you!"
"I don't see how, he doesn't have a car."
"He gone be borrowing that truck!"
"Jake is not gone be letting that boy take that truck on the road, no way!"
"Where there's a will, there's a way."
"Either way, it's got nothing to do with me, where Dennis at?"
"Awwwh gurl! Wait until you hear this!" Sheila rushed back to the table sitting down, leaning towards Vivian, "He got a call today from Lydia and Lucas-..."
"Sylvia mama and daddy?"
"Yep, and - guess what they ask him to do?"
"You don't like nobody to ask you to guess, why you making me?"
Sheila sat back making a face, looking down her nose with narrowed eyes, "Don't get on my nerve! Ain't you a trip!"
Vivian grinned, "See, see, see how it feel, now go on, what was you sayin'?"
Getting instantly over it, Sheila went on to say, "They called, to ask Dennis, to go downtown with Lucas, to look through photo albums at the police station."
"For what?!" Vivian asked with stunned wide eyes.
"The photo albums, are for dead, John Does."
"Dead John Does?! They know a dead John Doe?!"
"Listen fu-ool! Give me a minute and I will tell you. They have filed, a missing persons report for David."
"For David? David, David?" Vivian repeated the name trying to figure it out.
"Sylvia's brother David, gurl! You know David!" Sheila snapped.
"Wha-a-at?!"
"Yes! His ass been missing, all this time, ain't nobody even know it!"
"How do they know he's missing?"
"Ohhh yeah, part two, comin' up goddammit! Listen up, guess who done moseyed his ass back on the scene after all this time?"
"There you go again, there you go, doin' them guessin' games!" Vivian admonished sassily.
"Damn! I hate it when people use my own shit against me!"
"Spit it out, quit messin' around!"
"Lucas Henry Martin - Jun-ior!"
"Get out'o'here! Where the hell he been?!"
"He done call himself got a Jazz band, gurl. Call - I'on know, Take somethin', somebody, somewhere, some shit like that! He wasn't here for 30 minutes before I had to show his ass the door!"
"What? And you used to have a crush on him too!"
"Gurl, don't remind me! Anyway, he's the one that told Lydia this morning, before she threw his ass out of there too!-..."
"Damn, what is he doin'?"
"Talkin' shit! Talkin' shit to his mama, mad 'cause of shit in the past! Now don't get me wrong, I can understand being mad and hurt, feeling like you don't wanna hear it, but you don't go to your mama's house talkin' no mess and refusing to hear them out, you'd think he'd want to hear from them why!"
"Everybody's different Sheila, just because you would be one way about something, doesn't mean everyone will feel the same. That aside, how do they know David is missing?"
"Yeah, anyway - he told Ms Martin, that David was definitely going to stay with Sylvia the last he talked to him. And because he didn't have any money and no where else to stay, he said he definitely would have gone there. Now,
Ms Martin thinks something may have happened to him."
"Man, that's messed up. I wonder do Sylvia know?"
"I doubt it, she still over there in California, which I believe, soon as she returns, she gone find Mr. Lucas Henry Jr. on her doorstep, that's gone be some shit!"
"Why is that?"
"Why - is the same reason I showed his ass the door. For one, he looking for her to see if she would sing in his band, and I told him, I don't see that happening, because her husband, ain't no way or how, gone let her be running up and down the road singing in no damn band, she pregnant too, and they just got married - ah hell naw!"
"That's for real, I don't see that one either." Vivian agreed.
"And second, his ass talkin' shit because I told him Shawn was white."
"What?"
"Yep, talkin' about the best thing for black women is a black man and all some other kind of shit about Sylvia and Armundo, pissed me off, I showed his ass the door! So if he run into you, and find out about Jake, get ready!"
"I'm not even tryin' to hear no shit like that! If my own mama can't tell me who I can see, Sylvia's brother sho' ain't gone be steppin' to me with that shit!"
"He gone try, you better believe it."
"I ain't worried about it, and I can tell you this, he go up in Shawn face with that shit, he gone get his ass told off, I can tell you that now. Because his ass, do not, play! I done seen his ass in action, and I can tell you now sista', that shit ain't gone float there! His ass can be scary as hell!" Vivian assured her.
"You ain't never seen him pissed off, I have seen him pissed off!"
"Oh, you don't know about, what happened after you all left, do you?"
"After the barbecue?"
"Yes."
"Why, something happen?"
Vivian smiled, "Emmm, so you don't know. That means I know something you don't."
"Don't play with me Vivian Cooke! Do not - play with me, there bet not be shit you know, that I don't. Spill it! What happened?"
"I'm just saying, Shawn ain't one to be messed with. The deal is, Shanna's ex had been abusing her. Picking up stuff said here and there, she was abused really bad, in the hospital kind of shit, I'm talkin' broken bones, miscarriages, that kind of deal."
"You lyin'!"
"For real, and she had a restraining order out on him. Gurl, and he actually came there looking for her, Mundo saw him there. Shanna flipped out, and then Shawn flipped out. You didn't see him that night. He must have told Sylvia to stay inside, she came out anyway - and he was tripping on her big time, let me tell you! He scared me, he and Jake almost got into it. He just went into this, high octane of adrenaline that you just don't wanna mess with."
"He hit Sylvia?"
"Nooo girl! I don't think he would ever hit Sylvia, but she scared him, because she came outside where he thought Shanna's husband was. Anyway, to make a long story short, the next day, we went and stayed by his moms, and when we got back, everything was back to normal. Weird."
"I called there not long after we left there, and when I spoke to Sylvia, she was so upset, she was actually crying. You know what she ask me?"
"What?"
"Would I still feel the same about Dennis if he killed someone to protect me."
Vivian could only stare at her after a moment of them exchanging implicating looks, she was the first to speak, "What are you saying?"
"What happened to him, they ever catch him? He ever find her? What happened?" She asked.
Vivian could only stare at her, then shrugged, "I don't know - it's none of my business, I don't know. Maybe he went back and left her alone when he realized he would have to deal with her brothers."
"Yeah, sure, maybe so."
"Sheila ... leave it alone."
"I ain't sayin' nothing else. Tonight's our last night together, let's just enjoy that."
Vivian's lip rolled out, "Oh, I'm gone miss you so bad! I'm comin' down here every two weeks, that's a promise!"
"We gone come and see you too! We not gone be that far apart, just a four hour drive!"
"Am I crazy for going there Sheila?"
"No, you not. You gone be all right baby girl, you gone be just fine."
* * *
Chapter 264
Racine, Wisconsin...
"Damn road construction! What the hell man! How much fuckin' road are they reconstructing!?" Jake blasted, he had been pretty much on time with his delivers and the pick-ups, he had one more in the morning. But he had to get through Racine, Wisconsin first. And unfortunately for him, the city was full of detours. He'd stopped a couple of times to look over his road map, trying to figure the best route to take that wouldn't take him too far off course, unfortunately, he was getting further and further off track. He sat on the side of the road, looking up at the various lights ahead of him. It was getting late, he needed to be as near to his next destination as possible by midnight. He checked the time, it was close to ten now. He laid the map aside and thought about how he'd gotten where he was. He was going to have to turn around to get back on track, or close to it. Wrestling with the big Mack truck was no easy feet when wedged into one of the smaller roads he'd gotten himself into. But he was used to handling it, and in no time, he had it turned around. Even so, the area he was in, was questionable at best, he wasn't bothered by the location - but at this time of night, any kind of situations could arise.
Driving slowly due to the speed limit of where he was, he hoped to see the road he came off of that would get him back to one of the main roads. "Detouring always screws you up." He mumbled the complaint to himself. He came to a block that was a bit wider than the one he traveled and decided to take it. On his way down it, he approached an alley way that cut in, and caught out of the side of his eye, some strange movement. It took him so by surprise that he put on breaks and checked his large side mirror to view back. What he'd seen was further into the alley, he slowly backed up, and as he did, he heard a piercing terrified scream. As a reflex, he reached down for his Remington, never left home on these kinds of drives without it. Still backing up, because it was dark, he could barely make out what was happening, but he saw definite struggling. For what he could see, there were two men to one woman who was giving them hell.
The Remington went out of the window pointing their way, another scream pierced the air followed by his voice. "TURN HER - THE FUCK LOOSE, NO-O-O-OW!" He bellowed, using his most intimidating voice, deep, strong, resonating so, they couldn't help but hear him. "I'VE GOT NIGHT SIGHT ON IT, AND I - WILL - SHOOT!!!"
He could hear the woman breathing hard intermixed with her crying, all struggle had ceased. He still could not make out exact faces, but he knew there were three people, one of them a woman. Deciding not to take chances, the two men turned her loose and ran off down the alley, leaving her standing there, gasping and sobbing. She slowly walked from the alley back onto the street, looking towards the truck.
Jake wanted to get out and check on her, but didn't trust the area, instead he called, "You okay? Come here ... you need some help?"
She was sniffing, and slowly moving towards the truck, not too close, but just enough to hear him, when she moved beneath the street light, Jake could finally see her. She looked like she'd been in one hell of a struggle. She was black, a nice size woman, maybe a bit larger than Sheila in weight. Brown skin, her hair, that might have reached below her chin was a mess, looking as if one of her attackers had had her by it. She reached up and was trying to smooth it back down, while the other hand wiped at her tears. She must have been wearing dark maroon lipstick because it was smeared across her face, obviously from one of them trying to hold her mouth.
"I need to know, if you're okay?" He asked again, more firmly this time.
She nodded her head yes, too overcome to speak.
"Look, it's not a good idea to be out here right now, come get in my truck, I'll take you where you were going."
"No..." She cried out, afraid of him as well. After all, he had a rifle, stil
l aimed out of the cab window.
"I understand you're afraid, but you can't stay on this street, please - I'm asking you to trust me, I'll take you wherever you wish. Do you have a phone on you or anything?"
She started crying again, looking around her. "They - they took my stuff, my - my purse and my - my books. I was, I'm going home..."
"Going home where? How far? What's your name?"
"Zonobe, my name is Zonobe ... I live three blocks - that way."
"Let me take you the rest of the way." Jake pleaded gently.
She shook her head backing away from him, onto the sidewalk and started walking fast in the direction of home.
"Jesus Christ!" He muttered, pulling the automatic in, he started slowly following her at a snails pace, "Come on Zonobe, I promise not to hurt you! I just stopped them didn't I?"
She kept walking.
Jake moved along the block within the Mack truck keeping an eye on her. "You know Zonobe, I could have you home by now! Where were you coming from this time of night? Clearly it's not safe."
She continued to ignore him, moving pretty quick, no doubt still unable to trust him. "Fine Zonobe, fine... you just keep walking! I promise not to leave you - not until you're home, safe and sound." He hung partway out of the window, watching where he was going, and keeping an eye on her, talking to her as he did so. "My name's Jake, Zonobe - I got detoured because of all the damn road construction! And it's a good thing too - while you were certainly givin'em a fight - I don't think you would have won against two, Zonobe. Red light! We have to wait. And you still don't trust me, huh?" He asked, leaning out the window to look at her. He could see her from the side. While she was certainly a plus size, she still had the shape of a woman. Smaller up top, than down below; all hips and ass - and a big ass at that. Big legs as well. She was wearing a modest skirt to her knees. Nice pair of heels, not overly high, just right for a woman her weight. She was very neatly dressed, and she was still fooling with her hair. "Your hair is okay Zonobe, it's all right." He told her gently, even so, she could hear him.
She looked at him then. Standing at the corner of a busy intersection, lights were everywhere now, which meant he could see her, make out her features. She had stunning dark eyes, a nice nose, very full lips and brown skin that was aglow. Jake found himself wolf calling nice and low, she was a beauty. Then she smiled and spoke again, "Thank you .... Jake. I'll be all right from here."
BOMAW 10-12 Page 95
