by Jessie Cooke
Christo held Bella’s gaze, but she was not willing to put her business hat on. “Not tonight,” she finally said. “Tonight—“she kicked back her flute of champagne and downed it in one swallow. “We dance!”
39
The doorbell at the villa rang early the next morning, and Bella finished signing the papers clipped together before rising from the desk and answering the door.
It was Evens.
“Hi there,” Bella greeted him. It had been three days since he’d brought Luke from the airport to the island, and Bella felt awkward in his presence already.
“Your trip is coming to an end soon?” he asked.
“Yes. We’ll be leaving on Saturday,” Bella said sadly, and she felt the gloom at having to return to her “normal” life back in Fort Worth. She had gotten to know several people, Evens included, and she had grown to love so much about the Haitian culture and lifestyle not to mention living in a resort and being spoiled for days on end.
“My auntie wants you to come back,” Evens informed her.
“Phara?”
“She wants to cook you a proper send-off. I told her Mr. Hamilton had to leave already, but she insisted you, the two married men, and your beau come for a farewell dinner.”
“Your aunt is too kind,” Bella said, hoping that maybe she could find out finally what all the whispering was about the night they first met Phara.
“Tomorrow is good?” Evens asked.
“Tomorrow would be lovely,” Bella agreed. “What time should we be ready?”
“I’ll meet you at the docks at seven,” he said, and then he turned and walked away. When he’d gotten a few feet away he turned around as if he’d forgotten something and approached her. “Did the baby come?”
Bella was taken aback. She hadn’t known how much Evens knew about his employer’s personal life, but surely Reece had told him the good news.
“Yes. It’s a little girl. Very healthy. Mr. Hamilton is smitten, of course.”
“She will live a wonderful life, and her father will protect her like a father owl, and any threat he senses, he will terminate.”
Bella laughed at the image of Reece as an owl, spreading his wings wide and offering a variety of hoots towards other animals as he protected a nest with a sleeping baby girl in it. “I am sure you are correct,” she said. “I would hate to be the boy to take that girl on her first date.”
Evens shook his head. “Won’t happen until she is thirty,” he said and then he waved and headed off again.
When Bella approached the desk with the papers she’d been signing, she picked up her phone and scrolled through the messages. There it was: a picture of Reece holding a newly-born bundle of wrinkly flesh and smiling like she’d never seen him smile before, the grin spreading across his entire face up into his eyes and even down into his chin and shoulders. She slid her finger across the screen and a close-up of the little princess took over the screen. Her face still had that smushed new-born look to it, but she was sucking on her middle two fingers contentedly. The caption read, “Say hello to Hayley Jo Martin-Hamilton.”
She sighed, put down the phone, and thumbed through the pages one last time before putting them in the manila envelope. All of their work was finished, complete, and everything was signed and sealed. It just had to be delivered.
A vocal yawn grabbed her attention, and she turned to see Christo emerge from his bedroom still clad in his bathrobe, stretching.
“Please tell me you made coffee,” he groaned.
“I did,” she said.
He stumbled into the kitchen, found the pot, poured himself a cup, and headed toward the common room where Bella was.
“Is that everything?” he asked.
“All paperwork, done and done,” she smiled. “It’s all over but the delivery; then we’re free.”
“Free to cash our checks,” Christo said. “I am stoked! I’m thinking of trading in my car and getting one of those hybrids. You know, be good to the environment and all.”
“Look at you,” Bella said. “I figured your next car would be a Porsche.”
“Psshh,” Christo spat before taking a sip of coffee. “I don’t have any need for such ostentatious vehicles . . . not anymore at least. As you like to remind me: I’m a married man.”
“Maybe you need a minivan,” Bella said.
“Let’s not get crazy,” Christo said narrowing his eyes and sending harmless daggers her way.
“Phara has invited us for a send-off meal,” Bella informed Christo.
“That’s sweet,” he responded. “Does she know her favorite will not be among us?”
“Evens told her, but she wants us all to come anyway.”
“What’s she going to think of your beau, Luke? I got the distinct impression that she was trying to do some matchmaking between you and Reece.”
Bella merely shrugged and offered no comment.
“Uh-oh,” Christo began. “Did I hit a nerve?”
Another shrug.
“What is it?” he whispered for fear that Luke might overhear their conversation. “Are you unhappy with Luke?”
“I don’t know that ‘unhappy’ is the word,” Bella finally conceded. “Just . . . well . . . I don’t know how to describe it.”
“Still no stars in the bedroom?”
“No, that’s worked itself out, actually,” Bella whispered. “It’s just . . . . well, it’s lackluster.”
“His performance?”
“No, the whole thing—our relationship, the way I feel around him. Don’t get me wrong; I do love being with him. I genuinely care for him, and I know he cares for me; it’s just . . .”
“Not Reece,” Christo finished for her, his brown eyes searching hers out to see if he’d hit his mark.
Bella slammed the large envelope with the papers down on the desk. “I don’t want it to be like this.”
Christo ran his hands the length of Bella’s hair consolingly. “Like what, exactly? You know you can tell me, Bella.”
She inhaled deeply before the words finally spilled from her mouth. “Take this for example: Luke wanted to go parasailing, and so I complied. We get there, get up in the air, and the whole time I’m just not experiencing the same exhilaration that I did the time before. Instead, I am thinking about being in the middle of this huge kite that wants to break free and pull me into the sky traveling on the wind but being tethered to the boat by a huge rope so that I don’t go too far. The thrill was gone. The water was blue but not the magical shades of blue. The sky was sunny but not that euphoric sunny. It just wasn’t the same.”
Christo nodded his blondish-brown head. She knew that he knew exactly what she meant. “It never would be the same,” he finally said. “It’s like eating two ice creams. The first one is the sweetest, and the delight makes you want more. The second is never as sweet as the first.”
Bella eyeballed him. “How did you get so wise?” she asked him.
“Lots of living and lots of mistake-making,” was his answer. “But Bella, seriously, you have to make some decisions here. Either you decide you’re going to be with Luke and devote yourself to him, or you decide to get over yourself and be with Reece.”
“How can I be with Reece when he’s had a baby with my best friend?”
“Look, no offense, but this song and dance is getting really old. Is she really your best friend? She’s practically fallen off the face of the earth. Who was it that sent you the pictures of the baby? Was it Nicky? No; it was Reece. That alone should let you know where his heart is. He may have procreated with her, but his heart is obviously with you, and you, my dear, have got to get this self-righteous ideal out of your head and stop denying yourself the opportunity for happiness.”
Bella looked at him, her face as blank as she could possibly keep it. She knew Christo was right, but the choice seemed too much for her to consider.
“That,” he continued, “or you do what you can to become the kind of person who can stomach two ice c
reams.”
40
Luke was very excited about having an authentic Haitian meal, and Bella couldn’t help but grin at his enthusiasm as they drove to Phara’s house the next evening.
“This is the stuff I love,” he kept saying. “Getting to know the culture and the people. You know, the resort is wonderful, but it doesn’t allow you the true experience of Haiti.”
“Tonight you’ll get the true Haiti,” Evens promised. “Just don’t believe every little story my aunt tries to tell you.”
Bella laughed. “That’s because most of the stories are about you,” she teased.
“She is an old woman and her memory is bad,” Evens said. “She remembers things that didn’t happen.”
“Oh, so which didn’t happen: the time the mule kicked you in the face but you told her you fought a whole gang of evil boys, or the time you visited the vodou priest and became convinced you were possessed by the spirits of bad children on whom you blamed every bad thing you did?”
The car was filled with laughter at Evens’ innocent antics, and Bella saw his shoulders shaking with his own laughter.
“I just knew that priest was correct,” he said. “He’d persuaded me there was something wrong with me. And when Phara caught me making a vodou altar in her house, she told me she would beat the evil out of me, and she almost did.”
“That Phara is one lady I would not want to cross,” Simon concurred.
Evens nodded in agreement. “She was a force, my auntie. Still is. If you live in Phara’s house, you walk the straight and narrow.”
“Well, it looks to have paid off,” Bella commented.
“I owe her my life,” Evens remarked as he unstrapped the seat belt to open up the gate as he’d done before.
When they arrived, Evens called out the typical greeting, and Phara responded by coming out onto the porch and throwing her arms around the broad shoulders of her nephew. He picked her up easily and commented on how small she was getting, to which she assured him she was not small enough to make him mind. She hobbled over to Bella, pinched her cheeks, and then enveloped her in a warm hug as if they’d known each other for years.
“This is my boyfriend, Luke,” Bella introduced, and Luke offered his hand as he bowed towards Phara. Then they were all ushered in to the house and the table once again was laden with platters and dishes to rival Phara’s first meal.
Once the food was consumed, Luke suggested that the guys take care of the dishes.
“No,” Phara remarked. “I cannot have that disgrace.”
“What disgrace?”
“To invite guests to my home and then put them to work.”
“What if Evens does it, and we just help?” Christo suggested.
Phara laughed. “Evens used to try to avoid the chores by heading to the toilet, but I caught on to that one. Do you need the toilet now, gason (boy)?”
Evens rose and kissed his auntie on her small head wrapped in a kerchief. “I do not,” he said, “and I think you are getting old enough that you should take help when it is offered, even by the guests. It is no disgrace, this offer. It would be disgrace to turn it down.”
Bella nodded. “Think of it this way: it’s the least we can do to repay your kindness,” she said.
Phara patted Bella’s hand and poured her more coffee. “I will allow the men to do the cleaning. You and I will stay here and chat, eh?”
Bella nodded even though she felt a bit awkward, but she would also be able to find out more about Phara’s relationship to Reece.
“So, how did you meet Mr. Hamilton?” Bella asked as she slowly sipped the strong coffee from her cup.
“He bought some of my dolls from the market. I used to sell to tourists when I could still work the needle and thread.” She raised her gnarled hands that were twisted with arthritis. “Now, I only wish I could still make them. He said he wanted to take them home to his mother and send some to his sister for gifts. He was very complimentary of my work. Asked me many questions like a student. Evens thought he was bothering me and tried to run him off, but there was something about him that drew me to him.”
Bella laughed. “I know what you mean,” she muttered.
“We continued to talk. He asked if Evens was educated and was he working. One thing led to another and before we knew it, he had hired Evens. We needed the money. We were living in town, still recovering from the hurricane that destroyed our house. We had nothing. A plastic tarp was our roof, and we slept on the ground where we had swept away gravel and destruction from the storm. There were many mornings I woke up to pick little stones out of my side. Reece, he saved our lives, he did. My hands were already beginning to cripple; I knew I wouldn’t be making dolls for tourists much longer. When Evens began working for him, we were able to put this roof over our heads, get Evens more education, and I could stop the sewing that was so painful to me.” Phara looked at Bella. “He is a good man.”
Bella nodded in agreement. “Yes, I think so.”
“No thinking. He is. Listen to me,” Phara said. She had grabbed Bella’s hand and was leaning towards her. “This one you brought, the one you say is your man, he is not for you.”
Bella looked through the doorway into the kitchen. Luke, like the other guys, had rolled up his sleeves and was busy scrubbing a hand-painted serving platter. He laughed at something Christo said that Bella couldn’t quite make out.
“He’s not for me?” Bella asked. “How do you know?”
Phara pointed at the kitchen towards Christo and the others. “He is Masisis.”
“Masis?” Bella looked at Christo who had stopped drying the dish long enough to plant a kiss on Simon’s lips.
“They are accepted by vodou culture, but not by Catholics. They like each other.” Bella followed Phara’s finger as it waggled in the direction of the kitchen where the guys were working.
“Ohhhhhh,” she said suddenly. “Masis is gay? Yes. I understand,” she said looking at Christo and Simon. “It’s taboo?” she asked Phara.
“Very. Not like in America, more here.”
“Have we put you in danger?”
Phara waved her hand. “Phara isn’t in danger of anything. Phara loves everyone and welcomes everyone, but my neighbors do talk. I tell them not to worry about crazy Americans who don’t worry about them.”
Bella laughed. “You are what we crazy Americans call ‘one tough cookie’, Phara.”
“Reece calls me that,” she said. “He—“ she put her twisted finger close to Bella’s nose. “He is the one who is your destiny.”
Bella felt her eyebrows raise six inches on her forehead. “He is my destiny? Really?”
Phara nodded vigorously. “You need a one-woman-man. That is Reece. He cannot share his heart; he is not capable. His heart is already with you. You need to open yours to him now, not this Luke. He is a nice boy but not your kind of man.”
Bella’s lips tightened across her teeth making a flat line of her mouth. She nodded in gentle acquiescence knowing that Phara most likely didn’t know that now, a little girl merely a week old had captured Reece’s heart, and Bella just wasn’t sure if he’d have any room left. A part of her wanted to tell Phara that Reece had welcomed a daughter into the world with another woman, but why shatter the sterling image Phara had of this adopted nephew of hers? Plus, it just wasn’t her news to share.
At that moment Evens came in and clapped his large hands on his auntie’s small shoulders.
“Is she trying to tell you how to live your life?” he asked.
Bella smiled. “She is a very wise woman, your auntie. Very astute.”
“What is ‘astute’?” Phara asked.
“It means you are able to see and understand things deeper than most people,” Bella said.
Phara raised her gnarled finger to her temple and tapped it a few times as she nodded. “I see and I know,” she said. “And then I tell you what I know.” She smiled at Bella. “The rest is up to you.”
“I guess so
,” Bella agreed.
41
Once home in Texas, it took Bella forever to adjust back into her regular routine. By the time midday rolled around, she was stretching and yawning, entertaining the idea of crawling under her desk for a quick nap while around her everything seemed to be speeding up in a rush to get everything accomplished by five o’clock. Thankfully, the time zone difference wasn’t that much, and so she didn’t have much trouble sleeping. In fact, since she wasn’t getting her usual naps in the afternoon, by the time she got home, ate dinner, and watched a few minutes of television, she was zonked. Many an evening she had walked herself into her bedroom zombie-like, pulled the covers down, crawled in, and been asleep before her head even hit the pillow.
Rita had been extremely pleased with Bella’s work and the good PR for the firm that she’d offered her a raise and hinted that the future looked very bright for her if she chose to stay at Dreamscapes, but Bella couldn’t help entertaining the thought of opening up a business with Christo since they’d had so much success. Luke’s toast and reference to their divine designs kept ringing in her head. From the looks of her desk, however, those dreams would have to wait. It seemed her clientele had multiplied and the requests had spread like wildfire from the spread that Travel and Leisure magazine had done of the new resort with a special feature on Christo and Bella.
As she sat sucked in by the cold blue screen of her computer, mousing through virtual file after virtual file, reading up on her new clients and all their wishes, her cellphone vibrated. She took her hand off the mouse and reached for the phone while she was still reading through a file on a wealthy but young businessmen who was looking for an interior designer for his new office building in downtown Fort Worth. She read, her eyes still on her computer screen, as she slid her finger across the screen of her cellphone to take her to her message screen. When she averted her eyes to her phone, the name in bold blue letters sent a rush of electricity down her spine to the depths between her legs.
