Valerie’s blood ran cold and her throat went dry, even though she had prepared herself for just that revelation. “Lo…Logan Sumner?” she stammered. “Isn’t he a congressman or senator?”
A long silence ensued. “Yes,” her aunt finally said. “Yes, he is a senator now.”
“Was he arrested?” Valerie asked, knowing exactly what the answer would be.
“No. He was never even formally accused of the crime. There was no justice for a black woman then, and Ruth Ann knew it. She didn’t tell anyone the day it happened, but she quit the job, stopped talking completely, and refused to leave the cottage. The truth probably would have never gotten out if she hadn’t become pregnant. When our mother found out, she said it was Ruth’s fault. She accused her of being promiscuous and leading Logan on. She defended that rapist even though she knew her daughter had never flirted in her life. She kicked Ruth Ann out of the house and said she never wanted to see her again.”
“Oh, my God.” Valerie stood still, hands balled into fists. “No wonder you hated her. I can’t stand her, either, and I’m glad we never met. How could she treat her own daughter that way?” The question was rhetorical, and, even if Marilyn had replied, the information wouldn’t have registered. “What did my mother do?”
“She called me,” Marilyn said. “I went down to get her and she came to live with me in Newburgh. By that time I was on my own, renting an apartment and working in a sewing factory.”
“And what happened to the baby? Did she…?”
“He was born. The baby was Greg.”
Valerie gasped. “Then my…my father wasn’t Greg’s biological—”
“Your father adopted him as his own,” Marilyn interrupted. “Joel was like an angel. He came into your mother’s life at the right time. She was living with me and refusing to leave the house because she was so traumatized. After the baby was born, I had to take care of him, since Ruth Ann was so removed from reality that she was incapable of doing it. Joel was the one who was able to bring her out of her depression. Sort of.”
Valerie returned to the couch and sat down heavily. She didn’t want to believe what she’d heard, but it was too dreadfully detailed to be a fabrication and it also explained a lot of things. No wonder she and Greg looked nothing alike—why he looked Caucasian.
“Does Greg know this?”
“Yes. Joel believed he had a right to know the truth and he told him when he was eighteen.”
That explained another thing—the reason for Greg’s anger, why he’d cut himself off from the family for five years. She shook her head as if to clear it.
“Greg knows about the circumstances of his birth, but Joel couldn’t bring himself to tell him exactly who his biological father was,” Marilyn said slowly. “I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to tell him, either.”
“Tell him? I’m speechless. What an awful story. And…and to think Logan Sumner got away with violating my mother and now is a state senator.”
Marilyn sighed. “Life can be cruel, as I’m sure you already know, but that happened over forty years ago, and you have to let it go. I’ve managed to put my anger aside because I know, even when crimes seemingly go unpunished, God is watching and He will repay. Logan Sumner may be a respected state senator now, but he’s had some tragic family issues over the years, including a son who died from a drug overdose and a daughter who died from leukemia.”
Let it go. Let it go. The words echoed in Valerie’s head. Obviously her emotionally fragile mother never had, but despite everything she’d managed to eke out some semblance of a life. “Since my mother was so…so traumatized, how did she ever get together with my father?”
“Joel’s family owned the apartment building where I was renting,” Marilyn said. “When he came home from the war he worked with his father for a while, maintaining the building, and that’s how he got to meet your mother. It was love at first sight. He didn’t care what her issues were, and he simply refused to give up on her. You should have seen them. He was so kind and gentle. He brought her flowers every day and talked to her, even though she didn’t always respond. He took time with Greg and treated him like his own son. I’m sure your father’s told you some of those family stories.”
“Yes.” Valerie still felt numb, but she now realized fully how her father had come to be her mother’s knight and protector.
“After they were married, Ruth Ann was terrified of having more children,” Marilyn continued. “But Joel wanted at least one biological child, and somehow he convinced her to have you. He took on all the responsibility for both you and Greg because my sister couldn’t. It was an agreement they had. She loved you, but she was afraid if she got involved, she’d contaminate you in some way, that you’d end up as emotionally crippled as she was.”
“That’s ridiculous. I mean, I do understand how she came to feel that way, but I doubt very much that I would have been contaminated.” Valerie made direct eye contact. “Didn’t it ever occur to anyone that my mother should have been seeing a therapist?”
“Therapy wasn’t the first thing people—especially black people—availed themselves of back then. In the later years, your father did discuss the idea with her, but she never cooperated, and by then they had adjusted to using a higher power to help. They relied on God. Their lives were far from perfect, but they managed okay. And both of their children turned out well.”
“I…I wish I had known,” Valerie murmured, feeling emotionally drained. She still couldn’t completely expel her resentment over the lack of relationship with her mother, but now the resentment could be blamed on circumstances and not the person.
Marilyn reached out and pulled her into a tight embrace. “That was so difficult. I hated telling you this, but we can’t just abandon my sister. We’re family.”
Valerie found a degree of solace in her aunt’s embrace. “I was angry, and I suppose somewhat hormonal when I ran out of the nursing home, but I doubt I’d ever completely abandon her.”
Marilyn sighed. “I didn’t want to think that you would, either, but since my sister hasn’t really been much of a mother to you, I was afraid at some point that you might retaliate.”
“Can’t say that I haven’t been tempted, but good families don’t just abandon each other,” Valerie said sadly, thinking about Aaron. Why couldn’t he include that in his code of honor?
As if picking up on her unspoken vibe, Marilyn said, “It’s very strange, but I think your mother sees some of the qualities in Aaron that she saw in Joel. I can’t offer any marital advice because you won’t discuss him with me, but there is something you need to consider.”
“What?”
“When your mother told you to ask your father, maybe she wasn’t talking about Joel.”
Valerie looked at her with a dazed, puzzled expression. “Then who?”
“Maybe she was talking about your Heavenly Father.”
Chapter 31
Five months later…
Downstairs in the large game room of his home, Noah, brandishing a cue stick, paced the floor while waiting for Aaron to make his shot. “If you accept that assignment, you’re deliberately signing your death warrant,” he said curtly, struggling against the mounting urge to splinter the stick on his friend’s hard head.
“Eight ball, bank shot. Number two in left pocket,” Aaron said, leaning forward, expertly positioning his cue stick. As he made the shot, the billiard balls clanked, scattered and dashed across the green felt table bed, all too eager to do their master’s bidding.
Noah’s eyes narrowed when the selected balls thudded into the targeted pockets.
“Very nice,” he said dryly.
“Figured you’d appreciate it.”
“I’d appreciate it even more if you’d start making sense. Tell your contact they need to find another way. Don’t take that assignment, man.”
Aaron stroked the cue stick, his eyes still surveying the billiard table. “You don’t even know what the assignment i
s.”
“I don’t have to. Yemen sums it up in one word. Weren’t three months in Nigeria enough for you? After you almost bought the ranch last January, I was under the impression that you were retiring from active duty. What are you trying to prove?”
“Prove?” Aaron smirked, glaring at Noah “I’m only doing what I’ve always done for years. This—”
“Is all about your wife,” Noah finished bluntly. He knew he’d struck a nerve when Aaron’s direct gaze wavered. “That’s right…Valerie, your pregnant wife.”
“You’re wrong.” Aaron made a quick recovery. “First, I haven’t even officially committed to the assignment, but should I accept, it will have very little to do with my estranged wife.”
“Very little to do? I heard that perfectly clear, man. What you didn’t say was that she would have nothing to do with it. Ever since you two separated, you’ve been miserable…and worse…all this misery is totally unnecessary. You both still love each other. I mean, so what if you didn’t want children? It happened. Get over it. Make some adjustments. I mean, I could understand if the baby wasn’t yours.”
Aaron let the cue stick drop to the floor. “Noah, we run a business together, but my personal life is not open for discussion and it never has been.”
“In the past I’ve always respected your privacy, but right now your personal life is my business because it’s affecting our business,” Noah snapped. “You’re completely insane if you think your death will not impact Avian International adversely.”
Aaron chuckled sardonically. “You can find another partner and you know it. At this point, the company has taken on a life of its own and even its founders are expendable. There are several capable men who could carry on. Jake Marshall, Bill Hutchens, Craig Lawrence…shall I continue?”
“You’re missing the point.” Noah reached out and gripped Aaron’s shoulder. “They are good men, yes, but they’re not you. This is, and was, our dream…the fruit of our collective labor, not theirs. You’re family, man…my big brother. Why can’t you understand that?”
Aaron backed away, pulled a cigarette pack from his pants pocket, and sank into a nearby chair. He’d hoped that distancing himself physically and emotionally from his wife would have the effect he wanted—that the separation would allow him to disconnect and accept that there would eventually be a termination of their relationship. But oddly enough, just the opposite was happening. He missed her even more. Never mind that she was openly defying him and, even worse, risking her own life. He wondered chillingly if a similar situation might have occurred in his father’s life, culminating with his own birth and his mother’s death. There was nothing more agonizing or frustrating than having foreknowledge of an event and being blocked in your effort to prevent history from repeating itself. He wished he could tell Noah the truth about his overblown childhood fears, but of the several languages he could speak, the language of emotion eluded him; the words did not exist in his vocabulary and he had no clue where to find them. Yet he was touched by Noah’s open admission of their brotherly bond.
“Thought you quit smoking,” Noah said.
“I thought so, too.” He stared mockingly at the cigarette he’d extracted, remembering clearly the day in Belize when he’d promised Valerie he’d quit—the same day she’d agreed they’d have no children. His promise had been broken on his last week in Nigeria and he hadn’t even realized the significance of it until this moment. Was he retaliating? If so, he knew he was only hurting himself, just like he was hurting from leaving her. Tempted to ignore the ramifications, he reached for a lighter but instead frowned in disgust, crammed the cigarette back into the pack, and tossed everything into the nearby trash container.
Noah leaned against the pool table, arms folded. “Can’t imagine why you think being a parent is such an awful thing. In most cultures, children are considered a blessing. Hey, Jasmine and I have three kids now. They’re all different, and, yeah, they’re challenging sometimes, but I love them each as individuals, and they haven’t cramped my lifestyle or changed who I am.”
“There’s no comparison between us,” Aaron said. “I’m older than you, and I already have a grown son. By the time this one, Valerie’s kid, reaches twenty, I’ll be more like its grandfather.”
“That can’t possibly be what you’re really worried about,” Noah said suspiciously. “Guys much older than you have kids all the time.”
“Valerie’s a fool for putting her life at risk to have this baby,” Aaron said.
“But she’s doing fine. From what I’ve heard, she hasn’t even had one major problem. In fact, Jasmine had more issues when she was expecting Jonathan. Don’t tell me you haven’t even spoken to her in all this time?”
Aaron studied the Tiffany lighting above the pool table. With literally oceans between them, he had spoken to his wife via phone exactly three times since they’d agreed to separate. Each time she’d told him, without bitterness, that she was doing okay, and then she’d wanted to know how he was. During their last conversation, she’d revealed that the baby was a girl, but other than that, their conversations had been perfunctory and succinct. But he was still surprised that she hadn’t even alluded to divorce.
“We’ve spoken,” he said. “Not often, though. There isn’t a lot to say at this point.”
“Aaron, get over it. You’re the most determined, stand-up guy I’ve ever known. You’ve done things…risen to every challenge and made sacrifices that would leave most men quivering in the dust. It’s bordering on lunacy that you’re going to allow fear of a baby to—”
“I’m not afraid of a baby,” Aaron interrupted, unable to resist a smirk at the ludicrousness of the remark.
Noah chuckled, lightening the tension in the room. “Tell me about it. You won’t even hold Jonathan.”
Aaron squinted. “And the reason for that is he’ll start screaming. They all scream.”
“You’re passing the buck. It’s something you learn, like anything else. Valerie’s going to have your baby soon. She needs you to be with her, not somewhere in Yemen getting your fool head blown off.”
Aaron stood up and reclaimed his cue stick. “You’ve made your point. Now shut up and let’s get on with this game so I can finish beating the crap out of you.”
***
Valerie had known all along that she would be having a caesarean delivery because sonograms revealed that scar tissue was narrowing the birth canal. To try for a natural birth would endanger the baby. She knew all this, but she was thrown for a loop when her aunt accompanied her on her routine checkup and she was told that her blood pressure was spiking too high and they wanted to deliver the baby earlier than originally scheduled. They wanted to do it in five days. She was a little over eight months pregnant, and the early birth would make her daughter premature.
“I’m not sure I agree with them,” Valerie said on the ride back home. “My blood pressure tends to fluctuate anyway. It’ll probably go back down.”
“You need to take their advice,” Marilyn said, focusing on the highway as she drove. “The baby is almost full term and she shouldn’t have difficulties that can’t be managed.”
“But nothing in my life is as it should be right now,” Valerie said, frustration welling. “I’d at least like for my daughter to have as perfect a start as possible.”
“Her perfect start will be entering the world and knowing she has a mother to love her,” Marilyn responded tersely.
Valerie glanced sideways at her aunt, catching the edge in her voice and realizing that she was worried. For the first time in months Aunt Marilyn was acknowledging the possibility that something could go wrong.
“Well, I’m certainly no pregnancy expert, so I guess I have no choice except to take the advice of those who are,” she said slowly.
Her aunt was worrying for nothing. Valerie didn’t—couldn’t even—imagine anything going wrong at this point. It was miraculous and traumatic enough that she’d conceived in the first place. Perha
ps she was being irrational, maybe even a bit presumptuous, but she was sure that God wouldn’t allow her to reach this point only to take away her and Aaron’s daughter. And she was talking about her daughter. She’d long since stopped viewing the little girl growing inside her as a fetus, instead recognizing her as a full human being, whom she already adored. She pictured dark, wavy hair and maybe…who knows, maybe even indigo eyes like Aaron’s. But it didn’t really matter what their daughter looked like; she just knew that she’d be beautiful, and every time she felt the baby move, she thanked God for His unexpected gift.
The holiday season had come and gone. Denise and Tony were temporarily living at the Long Island estate while hunting for a house of their own. Valerie had been surprised that her cousin hadn’t gloated over the current state of her and Aaron’s relationship. She had, to the contrary, expressed hope that they would get back together. Of course Denise being Denise, she had also stated that if she were in the situation, she would not have sabotaged her own health and happiness by going ahead with the pregnancy. Valerie had shrugged the comment off, but she couldn’t help thinking about how uncomplicated Denise’s self-gratifying world and its absence of accountability was.
Valerie’s last few awkwardly pregnant months had been spent trying to be more understanding of her mother, working sporadically, attending church regularly, and praying to God that things would work out—that Aaron wouldn’t go off somewhere and get killed—that he’d live long enough to have a change of heart. But at the same time, she had resigned herself to the fact that she probably was going to be Valerie Redmond, single mom. She had accepted this and would go on accordingly even though the feeble hope burned within her that her wayward husband would change his mind once he actually saw their daughter.
“I do hope you’re planning to contact Aaron soon,” Marilyn said. “He needs to know when you go to the hospital.”
The Sea of Aaron Page 23
