Heavenly Match

by Niobia Bryant

Devon nodded. “Seems they’ve been hooking up since you two broke up.”

  Deshawn couldn’t care less about who Poochie chose to share her wares with. He wasn’t even mad at Tank, because he knew his friend well and Tank didn’t turn down any offers. He was just sad that a silly childish prank had led to Anika fleeing from him and running straight into the arms of danger.

  ∞

  “See your family?” Hakeem taunted Anika, as he dragged her out of the closet by her feet. He left her at a heap in front of the nineteen-inch television sitting on the floor. “Thought you might want to check out their little press conference.”

  Anika’s left eye was nearly swollen shut from his slaps, but as she lay with her face pressed to the cold wooden floor she tried to focus her sight on the TV. The flickering lights reflected in her pain filled eyes. She was beginning to lose her will to live after hours of his verbal and physical assaults.

  “Please . . . whoever you are . . . return Anika home to the family that loves her.”

  “Your mother’s still looking good, I see,” he taunted her from behind.

  Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at her mother’s distraught face. The camera swung back and she was able to see everyone gathered together behind the podium in front of her parents’ home. Her brothers, her parents, Tara, Granny Bert, Chloe, Devon, and Deshawn!

  They were in Jersey too?

  Her tears increased as she looked at Deshawn and saw the emotional and physical affects her kidnapping was having on him.

  “Who the hell are those damn twins?” Hakeem asked, nudging her back with his booted foot. He didn’t remember he’d seen Deshawn with Anika outside The Haven.

  Anika ignored him.

  “We are offering a reward for Anika’s safe and expedient return. Anyone who has any information—”

  Anika felt hope spring alive in her chest. Maybe he would release her for the money and she could go home.

  Hakeem took a deep gulp of the bottle of Crown Royal he held in his hand, some of it dripping onto his chest. “This ain’t about money,” he snapped, as his eyes focused on the television. “Ain’t enough money in the world to make me let this bitch go.”

  Anika’s hope melted like a block of ice set in the sun.

  Chapter 26

  I Never Wanna Live Without You

  Deshawn couldn’t sleep. As the clock struck midnight he realized that Anika had been in the presence of her captor for a full day. Anything could happen in the course of twenty-four hours. Anything. He pulled on a T-shirt and pajama bottoms to cover his nakedness before he ventured out of the guest bedroom to the kitchen. He was surprised to see Granny Bert sitting at the table. “Hey, Gran.”

  She turned in surprise and looked up at him with a faint smile that was more sadness than anything. “Couldn’t sleep either, huh?” she asked, as her wrinkled hands turned a page of the photo album she was leafing through.

  He shook his head as he sat down to the table with her.

  “Anika was—is—such a good grandchild,” she said softly. “Ever since she was little she always had respect and manners. She listened to her Granny Bert.”

  Deshawn reached over and clasped her hand.

  “I don’t know what I’ll do if she’s . . . she’s—”

  “Don’t even say it, Granny. Let’s not even think it,” he told her fiercely.

  She nodded and smiled softly at him with tear-filled eyes. “She’s such a pretty girl,” she said, flipping another page filled with photos of all her grandchildren. “Always loved cute clothes and getting her hair done.”

  Deshawn moved closer to enjoy the memories with her. “I hope our daughter looks just like her,” he said with sincerity.

  Granny Bert smiled and raised her hands to touch his face. “You’re a good boy,” she told him warmly.

  Deshawn turned his head and kissed her palm.

  “Now this is Anika at her sixth birthday party with Chloe. Those two have always been close,” she said, pointing to a photograph.

  Deshawn actually smiled at the two slender girls in the photo with their arms thrown around each other’s neck. Even though the older woman had already shown him the pictures when he enjoyed Sunday dinner with the family, Deshawn didn’t interrupt her. He listened carefully as Granny Bert recalled some funny story from her amazing memory with each photo. Anika’s and her brothers’ lives were chronicled from birth to high school.

  “I still remember her prom night. She was so nervous. It was her first formal and—Is something wrong, Deshawn?” Gran asked, as she looked at the strained look on his face.

  His eyes were locked on the young man in the faded prom photo. His face looked familiar to him. He knew he had seen it before and the face was pulling at him, teasing him. Deshawn closed his eyes and thought hard, sitting up on the edge of his seat.

  “What, Deshawn?”

  “That’s it,” he said suddenly, jumping up out of his chair. “Maybe a little thinner in the face. A lot older and harder. But if you take off the glasses, that’s him. I saw him yesterday.”

  “What are you talking about, Deshawn?”

  He spotted Chloe’s keys on the hook by the telephone. He snatched them up. “Wake everyone up. Tell them to meet me at the third-floor studio apartment in the building across from Anika’s. Hakeem’s got her.”

  ∞

  Anika was thirsty and hungry. Her body ached from being beaten upon. She had no more tears left in her to release. Her body was shutting down. She was losing her will to live. The darkness was driving her insane. She didn’t know if it was night or day. She was lost as to how many hours had passed. She had lost all hope of being rescued.

  Anika had underestimated Hakeem again and now her life was in his hands. She tried to think of good things: her mother’s smile; her father calling her Sugarplum; her grandmother’s sweet potato pie and made-from-scratch biscuits; Nia’s scent, Chloe’s friendship; Deshawn’s kisses.

  Things I would never see, touch, taste, smell, or hear again, she thought.

  ∞

  Deshawn parked the SUV down the street from Anika’s house. Dressed only in his pajamas and slippers, he climbed out and began to search the back cargo area for a makeshift weapon. The only thing that was heavy and could give a good blow was the jack. He gripped it securely and lowered the rear door.

  Deshawn didn’t have time to wait for everyone else to wake up. Every second Anika was in this wacko’s presence she was in danger. Any nutcase that waited fifteen years for revenge was obviously crazy.

  He climbed the stairs to the building and tried to open the front door, but it was locked. Impatient, he stepped back and then kicked it open, breaking the lock.

  The worst that could happen was that they called the police. That suited him just fine.

  ∞

  Hakeem was startled out of his sleep by the loud noise. He rolled off of the air mattress and stumbled to his feet in the darkness. His breathing came in rapid puffs as he whirled in his boxers. He flipped the switch to bask the room with light. Piercing eyes shot to the closet door because he assumed Anika was making the noise.

  Angry that she would awaken him, he stalked toward the closet. He was just about to turn the skeleton key in the lock, when his own front door flew open and slammed back against the wall. Fear filled his eyes as a large muscular man came charging at him.

  Deshawn barreled into Hakeem’s waist, knocking him to the floor. He moved quickly to shove his knee into the man’s throat. “Where’s Anika?” he roared, his patience gone as he stared down at the monster who once beat and humiliated the woman he loved. A man who he knew was involved in her disappearance.

  Hakeem looked up at him and laughed. “Man, you’re crazy. I don’t know what the hell you’re talk­ing—”

  Deshawn slammed his fist into his jaw. “Where is she?”

  Anika was awakened by the commotion and struggled for clarity as the sound of something crashing penetrated her sleep. Grunting with pain, she
tried to lift up her heard from where she rested it against the closet door.

  “Where’s Anika?” echoed into the confined space.

  Her eyes widened in the darkness at the sound of that voice. Deshawn’s voice. She clearly heard it. Could it be or was she just dreaming?

  “Where is she?”

  Her heart raced and she felt relief fill her body in floods. Deshawn was here to rescue her! She had to let him know she was alive in her prison. With all the strength she could muster, Anika began to knock her knees against the wood of the door. Please hear me!

  Deshawn heard the sirens in the distance as he increased the pressure on Hakeem’s neck. “There’s nobody but me and you,” he told him, with unveiled anger in his eyes.

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  Hakeem gasped for air, as he felt his windpipe closing. He’d rather die than admit that he had Anika. “Get off me,” he struggled to say, his voice strangled.

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  Deshawn froze, his body tensing.

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  He turned to look behind him, trying to find the origin of the noise.

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  His eyes locked on the closet.

  Hakeem used the opportunity to reach under his air mattress for his gun.

  ∞

  Anika’s tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she continued to bang her knees against the door. She wanted out of her isolation. She wanted to be free and safe. She wanted nothing more than to be in Deshawn’s arms.

  Pow!

  Her eyes widened in horror at the sound of the single gunshot. What happened? Who got shot? Her world became a kaleidoscope of pain and despair as she imagined Hakeem killing Deshawn.

  The closet door opened and Anika felt her body floating toward the floor as if in slow motion. She closed her eyes as she envisioned the same gun ending her own life. She welcomed the death.

  “I got you, baby. I got you.”

  Her heart soared as she opened her one good eye and looked into Deshawn’s beautiful face as he worked to remove her bounds and free her mouth. She found the strength to wrap her quivering arms around his neck as he lifted her body into his arms. “I thought you were dead and ... I thought he was going to kill me,” she whispered into his neck, using her voice for the first time in twenty-four hours.

  “I’m okay, baby. We’re both just fine. I got you and I’m never letting you go,” he told her fiercely, as he carried her out of the apartment.

  Anika raised her head and looked over his shoulder at Hakeem’s body sprawled on the floor, crimson red oozing from the hole in his chest. Wincing, she buried her face back into Deshawn’s neck.

  ∞

  The next evening Deshawn and Anika finally returned to her house after spending most of the day at her parents’. Only knowing that she was safe with Deshawn gave her the strength to return to the scene of the crime. “I realized something today, Deshawn,” she told him softly, as she lay quietly in his arms on her bed.

  “What’s that?”

  “I don’t want to live without you. I can’t do it.”

  Deshawn felt his heart surge with love as he pulled her on top of him. He looked up into her face and held her close around her thick waist. “You don’t have to, baby. Never again.”

  “But Poochie—”

  Deshawn’s eyes turned cold. “Is a liar,” he finished. “She’s pregnant for Tank.”

  Anika’s eyes widened in surprise. “Your friend Tank?”

  He nodded, lifting his head to place delicate kisses on her chin.

  “Deshawn?” Anika called out to him softly, suddenly feeling inspired. “Will you marry me?”

  He froze. That hadn’t been a part of his prophetic dream. But Deshawn didn’t mind one bit. He let out an excited yell and rolled her under him on the bed. “Hell yeah,” he shouted, before planting a kiss on her that she would never forget.

  Epilogue

  Let No Man Put Asunder

  Holtsville, South Carolina

  Anika’s eyes met Deshawn’s from across the crowded front yard of their home. She immediately smiled and mouthed the words she meant with all her heart: “I love you.”

  When he returned the favor, her smiled widened and her heart flip-flopped. She reminisced on their rather heated lovemaking earlier that morning. It was just too bad that their twin sons interrupted the passion. As her eyes caressed him, they clouded with want and she desired to enjoy some stolen moments with her husband.

  Anika was just about to head toward him to pull him away from their fifth anniversary party when a hand touched her arm. Turning, her frown turned to a smile. “Cyrus, hey, thanks for coming. Are you having fun?”

  Cyrus looked adorable in the suit he wore, his customary handkerchief already clutched his hand.

  “I’m having a good time, dat’s for sure,” he told her with a grin. “I wanted to finally admit I was wrong ’bout Deshawn—”

  Anika bent over to kiss his cheek. “Cyrus, don’t you worry about that. We got five years under our belt. Back then, you were just looking out for me and I love you for it,” she told him softly, using her thumb to remove her lip gloss from his face. “Why don’t you go and ask my Granny Bert for a dance?”

  Cyrus focused his gray eyes in Bert’s direction and then smiled fully, showing almost all of his white false teeth. “I don’t reckon my Mabel would mind one little dance.”

  “No, she sure wouldn’t,” Anika said, her voice distracted as she looked for her husband with eager eyes. She finally saw him deep in conversation with her two youngest brothers. When the men began to move their hands in an animated fashion, she knew they were discussing sports.

  Anika was glad her entire family drove down for their anniversary celebration. And she loved that Deshawn got along so well with her overbearing brothers, but at that moment, as her eyes devoured the sight of him, she wanted some alone time with her man. She immediately began to move in that direction, until another hand on her elbow halted her steps.

  Swallowing back her impatience, Anika turned to find Tara looking quite lovely in a lavender strap­less sundress. She immediately hugged the younger woman, who was now her sister-in-law, to her side. “If you’re looking for that husband of yours, Malcolm’s over there running his mouth,” Anika told her, pointing in the direction of the men. Her eyes immediately focused on Deshawn’s profile.

  “Actually I wanted to talk to ask your advice on a new admission to the New Jersey Haven.”

  Anika’s eyes never left Deshawn. “Huh, Tara? Girl, you know I love you, right?”

  Tara’s face was immediately confused as she eyed Anika. “Yes.”

  “And I promise, before you all leave you can ask me anything at all. But right now I have got to . . . uh, speak to my husband.”

  Tara definitely understood the look she saw in her mentor’s eyes and waved her hand in Deshawn’s direction. “Don’t let me stop you. Go for what you know.”

  “Girl, I’m trying,” Anika mumbled to herself as she walked away quickly.

  Visions of Deshawn’s hands working their magic on her body accelerated her pace.

  “Anika! Come over here.”

  Anika was so tempted to ignore her aunt, but she just couldn’t do it. She quickly looked up to the heavens, before she turned. Her mother, Auntie Luv, and Chloe were all seated around a picnic table. “Ladies, having a good time?” she asked, forcing a smile to her face.

  “Sure is, sure is,” Auntie Luv answered, her voice almost as loud as the yellow and orange caftan she wore. “Sit on down and spend some time. Where you rushing to so?”

  To sneak away and make love to my husband, thank you very much.

  “Chloe was telling us how well things are going at the Charleston Haven,” Tasha told her daughter, as she swatted away a mosquito. “I can’t wait for the tour Monday.”

  Anika handed her mother one of the cans of mosquito repellent sitting on opposite end of the table. “It’s larger than the one in J
ersey, but unfortunately the statistics show that the need is greater down here.”

  Luv made a face. “This is a happy occasion, Tasha. Let’s keep things light. Our baby girl is celebrating five years of marriage to a good man. That deserves a toast.”

  Anika turned to look over her shoulder for her good man, but he was nowhere in sight.

  “Pick up your drink, Anika,” her mother prompted, and Anika turned to do just that.

  “Here’s to love and happiness,” Chloe offered with a soft smile.

  “Here’s to marriage that lasts forever,” Tasha said, letting her eyes caress her husband where he worked the grill.

  “And here’s to great sex. Thank you, Jesus, for Viagra!”

  The women all laughed and pretended to be shocked by Luv’s bawdy offering.

  Tasha shook her head. “Luv, you are a mess.”

  “The truth is the light, Tasha, and I ain’t never liked the dark.”

  Anika sipped her fruit punch, her eyes continuing to seek out Deshawn over the rim of her cup. She smiled when she caught sight of Granny Bert and Cyrus attempting to do the Electric Slide with the other partygoers. She watched as Tank—sans Poochie—swung his and Poochie’s four-year-old son up into his arms. She saw Tara and Malcolm huddled together by the driveway and was filled with happiness when they shared a passionate and loving kiss. Glad somebody’s getting some, she thought.

  She was halfway listening to Auntie Luv filling the ladies in on her new boyfriend when Anika spotted Deshawn’s head over the crowd of men standing around the table where a whist game was going on. Setting her cup down on the table, Anika rose. “Will you all excuse me for a second?” she said, not even waiting for an answer to her question as she strode toward her husband.

  “Auntie Nika. Auntie Nika.”

  Anika paused. She looked down to see Nia walking beside her, already a beauty at five, with her hands on her narrow hips. She had both Chloe’s and Devon’s good looks and spunk. Stooping beside her, Anika took her godchild’s slender hand. “Yes, baby?”

  “Tyson and Tyree are teasing me.” She pouted, pointing in the direction where all of the children played.