by D. Camille
Millie nodded. “He’s says he’s going to break up the S.T.R.E.S.S. Unit if he’s elected. You think they’ll let him do that?”
Henry sighed. “I just don’t want to see another black man killed trying to make a change.”
Millie gave him a look. “Coleman Young is no wilting flower.”
Henry agreed. “No, that’s for sure. He used to work for Ford Motor Company a while ago. From my understanding they fired him because he was involved with the Union and civil rights issues, now he’s into politics and he doesn’t take any foolishness.”
“Well, I think he’ll be good for the city and I’ll be proud to have a black man as Mayor,” Millie said happily.
“I’m sure he’ll do better than his opponent. Detroit has had sixty-five of those,” Henry said moving forward in the line.
Millie glanced down at Victoria playing in the stroller. “I want our daughter to see black people doing everything imaginable. I want her to exceed all limitations that come from the color of her skin.”
“Look at her Momma. One of the top nurses at a major hospital. Not only colored nurses,” Henry complimented her.
Millie smiled at him. “And her Daddy is the top foreman at Ford Motor Company, one of two black men in the entire plant.”
Henry pulled her to his side. “Hopefully, this is just the beginning of what our kids and grandkids will witness and accomplish in their lifetimes.”
They reached the door and the couple stepped inside. “Let’s do our part,” Millie told him.
Henry stepped into the voting booth and remembered the reason he’d left Mississippi years ago. The lynching of men working to register black voters had been the final straw for him, but now because of those men and the diligence of others, he could stand here and cast his vote for another black man.
His hands shook involuntarily as the magnitude of the moment hit him. This was the first time he’d ever voted in his life and it was the most important political race he’d been a part of. He hoped that this black man could create the change needed to move the community forward in the city.
When he finished, Henry met Millie at the door and she hooked her arm in his, also feeling the importance of this moment in time. Together, they returned home to await the results.
On November 6, 1973, Coleman A. Young became Detroit’s first black Mayor by a slim margin, much to the delight of Henry, Millie and the black residents who witnessed history.
Chapter 19
The eighties…
Victoria Patterson grew into a very smart, very stubborn and beautiful girl. When it was time for her to start high school, Henry and Millie realized that they wouldn’t have any more children. After trying for years after Victoria’s birth, they’d resigned themselves with the fact that she would be their only child.
Throughout the years, Victoria’s parents had doted on her. She was accepted into Cass Technical High School, one of the top schools in the city for academics and had plans to attend college in Atlanta at Spelman after graduation. Her parents still recalled their first trip to the city back in ’68. They were proud that their daughter had chosen a historically black college.
Henry and Millie had been diligent in saving for their daughter’s education so that she would be able to choose any college that she desired to attend. They had provided a home for her in the house that her father had purchased for her mother’s graduation and kept it in pristine condition both inside and out.
Millie was so happy preparing for Victoria’s graduation from high school. Both she and Henry were so proud of their only child. Victoria had been a handful growing up at times, and Millie had flashbacks of her sister Maggie on more than a few occasions.
Henry was very protective of his daughter and kept strict tabs on her. As a family, they spent a lot of time together going on trips and educational outings. Lately though, Victoria had wanted to spend more time with her friends and away from her parents which worried Henry and Millie. A few years ago the city had suffered a crack epidemic, where the drugs had nearly taken over. Families and neighborhoods had been destroyed and drug dealing became the ‘job’ of opportunity.
Millie was now a nurse trainer at the Detroit Medical Center and Henry was in his twentieth year with the Ford Motor Company. The couple was well off and prominent in the city, involved in both politics and reforming the educational system.
One Saturday morning in April, Millie was doing her regular house cleaning while Henry was outside tending to the yard. Victoria had gone to the library to meet with an early study group for one of her classes.
Millie entered Victoria’s room looking for any trash to add to her garbage bag when she spotted a paper bag sitting in the corner. Millie shook her head; she didn’t know how many times they’d told Victoria not to leave food in her room.
Walking over to the bag, she picked it up and looked inside. Millie’s heart stopped as she stared inside and she closed her eyes to prevent the tears from falling. Putting a hand to her mouth, she took a breath. Lowering her head, she took the bag and went to find Henry.
Henry was coming in the door when Millie reached the bottom of the stairs. Seeing her expression, he ran over to her.
“Millie? What’s wrong?”
Quietly, she handed him the bag. Cautiously, Henry looked inside and pulled out the box inside along with a positive pregnancy test.
He looked confused. “Are you pregnant?” he asked hopefully.
A tear fell from Millie’s eye. “It’s not mine Henry.”
He lifted a brow. “Then who’s is it?”
“I found it in Victoria’s room,” she whispered through her tears.
“Victoria!” he roared.
Millie nodded slowly.
“Where the hell is she?” Henry demanded.
Millie took another breath. “At the library downtown.”
Henry grabbed his keys and headed to the door. “I’ll be back!”
At the library, Henry searched the rooms until he found his daughter on a sofa…not alone…and not studying. The boy had his arm around Victoria and they were talking quietly. He leaned over and kissed her cheek right before
Henry snatched him off the couch.
“Hey!” the boy screamed.
“You touched my daughter!” Henry yelled holding the boy by the collar of his shirt.
Victoria jumped from the sofa. “Daddy!”
“Tori, get your Daddy!” the boy hollered.
By this time, Library personnel arrived. They tried to separate the boy from an angry Henry. “Stay the hell away from my daughter. Do you hear me?” Henry shook the boy hard.
“Daddy, please stop!” Victoria screamed.
Henry released the boy and he dropped to the floor. He then turned to his crying daughter. “Get your ass to the car. Now!”
Holding her face for a moment, Victoria grabbed her bag and followed her father’s instructions. She glanced sadly at the boy still on the floor then at the crowd of people who had gathered around them. Quickly, she headed outside followed by her father. At the car, he held the door open for her.
“Daddy…I-” she began tearfully.
He shook his head. “No ma’am. Get in the car.”
Victoria put her head down and climbed inside. She’d never seen her Daddy this angry and rarely if ever, heard him use curse words. She assumed he knew her secret, but couldn’t figure out how’d he’d found out.
The ride was made in silence and Victoria looked at the hard set of her father’s profile. Whenever she’d gotten in trouble, her mother had been the one with the harsh punishments although her Daddy was no pushover, it was just harder for him to stay angry with her.
Victoria had known that she’d have to tell her parents eventually but Troy had talked her out of it. He’d wanted her to terminate the pregnancy to keep their futures intact, but Victoria knew that she couldn’t do that. Compounding her mistake wouldn’t make it better.
Back at their house, Victoria made the
long walk to the porch then inside to where she knew her mother was waiting. She dropped her bag at the door and headed to the living room.
Millie sat on the sofa and watched her daughter and husband enter. She could tell that Victoria had been crying and wondered what kind of scene had occurred at the library because Henry looked like he was ready to get his hands real dirty.
“Why didn’t you tell us Victoria?” Millie questioned.
Victoria looked between her angry parents. “I was scared.”
“How long you been seeing this boy?” Henry demanded.
She rang her hands. “I met Troy last year. He was in one of my classes.”
Millie stood. “What did I tell you about letting boys get in your panties?”
Victoria hung her head. “I know,” she mumbled.
“So you’re ready to get married?” Henry asked.
Victoria looked at her father. “I don’t want to marry him Daddy! I want to go away to college.”
“But you had sex with him?” Millie questioned. “Were you thinking about college then?”
“It just happened!” Victoria cried. “It was one time!”
Millie thought yet again of her sister. “This is your responsibility Victoria. This is the choice you made.”
“I don’t want a baby!”
Henry’s eyes narrowed. “So what do you think you’re about to do?”
She put her face in her hands. “I don’t know!”
“You’re seventeen Victoria. You’re the smartest girl in your graduating class and your mother is a nurse. You know better than this!” Millie chastised.
Victoria wiped her face. “I’m sorry. I know I’ve disappointed you.”
Millie took a deep breath then went to her daughter taking her in her arms. “I’m sorry too.”
“We’re here for you but this is your baby; and you and this Troy will be the parents.”
Victoria stepped back shaking her head. “Troy doesn’t want anything to do with a baby. He’s leaving and going into the service after graduation.”
Henry looked at the ceiling wondering how they’d gotten here. He and Millie had done everything for their only child to set her up for the life she chose. Now his teenage daughter was pregnant with no plans for marriage or even a father for her child.
Victoria turned to him. “Daddy?”
Henry did the only thing a father could do. He opened his arms to her and she rushed to him crying. His eyes met Millie’s troubled ones as he held his sobbing daughter close to his heart.
“Like your Momma said, we’re here for you but we’re not raising your baby. You have to grow up now,” Henry told her.
Victoria looked up at him with her brown eyes shimmering. “Do I have to leave?”
Millie came over to them. “This is your home Victoria.”
“We’ll work it out,” Henry told her. “We love you.”
She hugged them both. “I know and I love you too.”
******
When Henry and Millie retired for bed that night, Henry felt his wife’s pain.
“Come here pretty woman,” he said gathering her into his arms on the bed.
Millie let her tears flow freely. “What did we do wrong?”
Henry stroked her back. “She’s always made her own choices regardless of the consequences. Now, she’s made one that changes her life. We did everything we could.”
“I feel like I failed her,” Millie cried. “I talked to her, repeatedly about boys and babies.”
“You couldn’t be with her twenty-four hours a day Millie.”
Millie laid her head on his chest. “I don’t know what to do. It’s like Maggie all over again.”
“Victoria is not Maggie.”
Millie’s sister Maggie, had never returned from Chicago and had ended up with five kids and living on public assistance. She’d also chosen not to keep in touch with her mother and sister.
Millie looked up at him. “We have to look out for this baby, Henry. Victoria doesn’t have a clue what she’s getting into.”
Henry held her close. “This is our grandbaby Millie. We aren’t going to let anything happen to this child.”
Millie shook her head. “This isn’t what we wanted for her….and who is this boy?”
Henry frowned. “Some little scrawny punk. I almost broke him in half.”
“Should we try to make him take care of the baby?” Millie asked.
Henry shook his head. “The last thing this child needs is a father who doesn’t want to be a part of his life. If he changes his mind, then that’s a different story.”
“I don’t know how Victoria is going to handle this,” Millie began. “Her hardest decision right now is deciding what outfit to wear to school.”
Henry sighed. “Our baby has to grow up…real fast.”
******
Victoria was able to graduate with her class as planned since she was still early in her pregnancy. Two weeks after graduation, Troy shipped off to boot camp with no plans to keep in touch with her. He hadn’t even told his single mother about Victoria and the baby.
To their credit, Victoria’s parents had been her rock. Her mother made sure she got the best medical attention and her father was right there driving her to doctor’s appointments and making sure that she had everything she needed.
Going off to Spelman in the fall was now a no go and of all the things Victoria regretted, missing the opportunity to leave Detroit and go to college was the main one. Ever since she could remember, she’d dreamed about leaving this place. Her parents believed that things would improve, but Victoria couldn’t wait that long to see it happen. In her mind, there was nothing here for her.
Victoria became depressed as she watched her friends leaving for school, even though her parents had told her that she could begin taking classes locally after the baby was born. Looking down at her extended belly, she cried. Maybe she should have done as Troy suggested. That way, they both would have been able to go on with their lives. He’d continued with his plans, while her entire life had been turned upside down.
Walking downstairs, she found her mother in the kitchen. Millie looked up and saw her daughter, rounded belly and all.
“You hungry?” Millie asked.
Victoria shook her head and took a seat at the counter. She looked around the house she’d spent her life in and smiled sadly.
“What’s that matter?” Millie came over and placed an arm around her shoulder.
“I thought I’d be leaving here,” Victoria told her.
Millie looked confused. “You don’t like it here?”
She shook her head. “Detroit isn’t for me. I want to live somewhere exciting like New York or Los Angeles.”
Millie smiled. “How do you know those places aren’t just like Detroit?”
“Because they’re not the murder capital…”
Millie nodded in agreement. “There is work to be done in the city but we need smart young people here to do it.”
“You and Daddy have been dedicated to this city my whole life and nothing’s changed,” Victoria told her.
Millie lifted a brow. “Oh, there’s been change and there will be more. Your Daddy and I saw the first black Mayor and a majority black City Council. We’ve seen new construction and business in the city. Progress takes time and effort.”
“I just want a different life,” Victoria said looking at her mother.
Millie nodded at her belly. “That’s your different life right there.”
Victoria patted her stomach. “Yeah, I know. I wish I could go back to that day and change the whole thing.”
Millie lifted her face until matching eyes connected. “There’s no need in looking back. You have your future ahead of you.”
Millie moved back to duties in the kitchen. “Momma?” She turned back.
“Did you like it?”
“Like what?” Millie asked.
Victoria shrugged. “When you and Daddy…”
; Millie came back and took a seat across from her daughter. “Your Daddy courted me and I fell completely in love with Henry Patterson…and when he made love to me, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever known…and still is.”
Victoria frowned. “I don’t think Troy knew what he was doing because it wasn’t like that.”
“Well next time, that’s what you should wait for.”
“There’s nobody like my Daddy,” Victoria boasted.
Millie smiled. “I know.”
The object of both of their affections entered the kitchen and looked at them before he smiled. “You must be talking about me.”
Millie looked at her handsome husband. Even at forty, he was still something to behold. “Who else would I be talking about?”
He smiled at her. “I’m a lucky man to have such a pretty woman thinking about me.” He took her into his arms and kissed her making her blush.
Victoria laughed at her parents. One thing she’d known all her life was that Henry Patterson loved one Millie Patterson to death and there was nothing he wouldn’t do to make her happy.
“Do you want some lunch Henry Patterson?” Millie asked happily.
“Yes ma’am.”
Henry released her to make his food and took a seat next to Victoria. “And how are you today, my pretty daughter?”
Victoria flushed like her mother. “I’m good Daddy.”
He looked down at her stomach. “And my future grandbaby?”
“Fine. We’re both fine.”
He nodded. “Good.”
Victoria studied him. “Daddy did you really fall in love with Momma when you first saw her?”
“Yes ma’am. This pretty little ballplayer looked up at me and smiled…and I was done for.”
Millie turned to him smiling.
“You wanted to marry her?” Victoria asked.
Henry shook his head. “No, I had to marry her.”
Victoria looked confused. She knew her parents had been married two years before she was born. “Why?”
Henry stared at his wife. “Look at her. Of course I had to marry her.”
Millie turned back to the stove. “You’re still charming, country boy.”
