Lawrence swallowed hard; she saw it as his Adam’s apple rose and fell several times. “And what if I’m not a match? Then what?”
Gabrielle stood up to leave. “Then what? Well, from all I’ve been told, the best matches are usually a sibling. I don’t have any more children; you do. So if it turns out that you don’t match, I pray you come up with a way to see if any of your other children might be. Because as I just told you: I’m not going to merely sit back and allow this child to die. Not if there’s anything I can do to help her.” Gabrielle started for the door, then turned back to a now standing Lawrence. “I promise: I’m not trying to hurt you or mess things up for you. I’m not. And if we can come up with a way for all of us to accomplish our goals on this, I’ll be happy to do what I can from my end.”
Mattie opened the door, stepped inside, and stared at Gabrielle. “I thought I heard voices in here,” she said. She then turned to Lawrence. “I’m sorry, Representative Simmons. I thought you were at lunch.”
Gabrielle smiled as she walked back over to Lawrence. “Oh, I almost forgot.” She pulled a blank square piece of paper off a pad on his desk and picked up the pen stuck in what appeared to be an inkwell. She wrote something and handed him the paper. “Here are my phone numbers so you can easily get in touch with me. I look forward to hearing from you, sooner, rather than later. Thanks.” She then turned and walked toward the door. “Bye-bye, Ms. Stevens,” she said as she passed by her. “And do have a nice day!”
Chapter 6
When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.
—Habakkuk 3:16
William walked into Lawrence’s office as Mattie merely stood with a befuddled look on her face.
“What’s going on?” William asked Lawrence.
“Mattie, you can go,” Lawrence said.
Mattie nodded, then promptly exited, closing the door behind her.
“Why are both you and Mattie looking like that?” William sat down in the chair Gabrielle had just vacated. “Both of you look like you just saw a ghost or like somebody just died or something.”
Lawrence slowly took his seat behind his desk. “I don’t know what’s with Mattie except her possibly hating that Gabrielle managed to get in here despite her valiant efforts to keep her out.”
“And you?”
“Me?” Lawrence said, shaking his head slowly. “I might possibly be in better shape had I seen or heard a ghost instead of what just transpired here.”
William leaned in. “Okay. Spill it.”
Lawrence dropped his head, then sheepishly looked up. “That woman that was here?”
“Yeah?”
“Gabrielle . . . Well, I think she’s possibly going to be the source of some major problems for me.”
William nodded. “Exactly what I thought was going to happen. That’s why I didn’t want to leave you in here with her by yourself. So what kind of possible damage control are we talking about here?”
Lawrence stood up and walked over to the window behind him. He gazed out, then turned back to William. “This one is going to be pretty substantial. Especially if what she says is even partly true.”
“Well, whatever it is, I’m sure we can make it go away. Between the two of us, we’re pretty resourceful.” William leaned back. “And with her knockout looks, no matter what she tries to accuse you of, we can always turn it back on her. I’ll have her looking like a gold digger before the night is over good. And you know how people, especially women, hate a good-looking woman like her trying to get something out of a man. All we have to do is use that stacked body of hers and her beautiful face against her.”
Lawrence shook his head. “She tells me she’s a Christian now.”
“Aren’t they all?” William snickered. “Then the horns and the fork show up, and bam! You’re done. The devil made me do it.”
Lawrence sat back down. “She claims there’s a child.”
William sat back against his chair seemingly unfazed. “A baby, huh? You and her?” He laughed. “And she really believes she can make something like that work? I thought we had a real problem. What’s for lunch?”
“Not a baby, a child—an eight-, almost nine-year-old child.”
“Almost nine, huh?” Lawrence laughed again. “You’re talking about that woman that just left here? Gabrielle Mercedes Booker? Oh, I know what the Mercedes stands for—homegirl is trying to get paid!”
Lawrence nodded, but not because he agreed with everything William had just said.
William continued. “We’re talking about the woman who says she was once friends with your daughter Paris?” William grunted. “The one that looks like she’s barely twenty-five?”
“Well, she’s twenty-seven, same age as Paris.”
“And she really thought she could just come up in here and threaten you with something like a child? A child she’s claiming is almost nine?” William shook his head as he chuckled. “Well, sir, I suppose I’ve heard just about everything now.”
“William, I’m telling you: She’s going to be a problem.”
“Not with that lie she’s not. We’ll bust her before she can get started good with something like that,” William said. “Although I will admit that it does have some possible political fallout woven in there. Her putting something like that out in the public is damaging, even if it’s not true. She would have done better though to have a younger baby she was trying to blame on you. But it’s not like I’ve not had something like this to have to squash before. You remember that woman, about three years ago, who claimed you were the father of her child and threatened to go public if you didn’t pay her to keep quiet?”
“I remember her.”
“You remember that she was lying through her teeth. But she thought you would pay her hush money just to not have a scandal on your hands to deal with. When I finished digging up stuff on her and presenting her with those facts, she was giving money to you and your campaign to keep her business under wraps.” William nodded. “I’ll just put my folks on this little lady, and we’ll shut down this noise right now. Gabrielle Mercedes Booker picked the wrong money tree to try and shake.”
Lawrence leaned in. Placing a hand over his fist held up by his elbows, he set his chin on it. “William, this situation is a tad bit more complicated than the past situations have been. And this woman has let me know that she’s willing to fight if she has to.”
“So she’s willing to fight. I’m trembling in my boots. Well, tell her to bring it! Apparently, she’s never come against anyone like me and you. Let the games begin!”
“She says this eight-year-old child is in need of a bone marrow transplant. She’s merely trying to find a matching donor for the child. That’s it.”
“Well,” William said. “There are ways to go about accomplishing something like that without trying to blackmail a government official for help. I hope you let her know you weren’t falling for this type of extortion, no matter how noble the cause.”
Lawrence sat back against the chair and stared up at the ceiling.
William leaned in. “Hold up.” He held his hand up in the air. “Is there some remote possibility this child really could be yours?”
Lawrence swiveled his chair away from his desk slightly. “It’s possible. I don’t believe it’s true though. But I’m not going to sit here and tell you there’s no possible way.” He turned back and faced his friend.
William cocked his head to the side. “You were with her? Some nine years ago? You slept with a girl who is young enough to be your daughter? A girl who was your daughter’s friend? What was she . . . eighteen years old at the time? And you slept with her?”
“Can you keep it down,” Lawrence said, glancing at the closed door.
“Mattie’s not out there trying to listen in on you. Mattie worships the ground y
ou walk on. She thinks you can do no wrong.”
“But still, I don’t want any of this to get out,” Lawrence said.
“Okay, so do you want to tell me everything so I’ll know how to proceed in cleaning this mess up?”
“Do I want to tell you everything?” Lawrence chuckled a little. “Not really. Needless to say, looking back on it, it wasn’t one of my finer moments in life.”
“Would you rather we go someplace where we can talk more freely? Because I need to know what we’re up against if I’m going to make this go away,” William said.
“Yeah. I’d feel better talking about this someplace other than here.” Lawrence stood up. “So you haven’t had lunch yet?”
“No,” William said. “You know good and well I wasn’t leaving here until I knew that woman was gone and that you hadn’t messed up somehow.”
“Then let’s go get a bite to eat and we can talk on the way.”
Lawrence and William were in the car. Lawrence told William how his daughter had opened up her apartment to this young eighteen-year-old named Gabrielle Booker when she had nowhere else to stay. He’d met her when he was over there checking up on Paris. He’d been immediately struck by her innocence and beauty. The next time he stopped by, Paris wasn’t home and Gabrielle was there alone cooking dinner. She’d politely asked if he cared for anything to eat and he’d accepted.
The two of them talked while they ate. He learned about her mother having been killed by her father and her having witnessed the whole thing when she was almost four years old. Her father was still serving time for the murder. Gabrielle had then been sent to her aunt’s house where it was apparent she was mistreated. He’d picked up in their conversation that something had happened with her uncle trying to molest her, if he hadn’t molested her. But she’d quickly gotten off that topic when she’d veered in that direction.
Lawrence had felt somewhat sorry for the young woman. It was obvious she was talented; and she didn’t have a shortage of dreams and goals. He’d started out trying to see what he could do to help her get into a college. He’d known of certain programs available and felt she could get into a college with someone championing her cause.
He ended up sleeping with her the third time he saw her. Sure, he’d felt bad about it after it was over. But there was just something about this young vibrant woman who was not only beautiful outside but inside as well. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t allow that line to be crossed again. But being with her that one time was like having been introduced to a drug he thought he was strong enough not to get hooked on, but soon found out just how wrong he was. He couldn’t think of anything else but her. And he wanted to be around her . . . to be with her.
He’d taken precautions after that first time they were together. But she must have gotten pregnant on that first time. She’d told him as soon as she suspected she might be pregnant, some three weeks after the first time. He’d insisted she go to the doctor to be positive. He quickly learned she was indeed going to have a baby.
His first instinct had been to deny the baby was his. After all, here was this young eighteen-year-old beauty that turned heads merely by inhaling and exhaling. Surely, she had to have some young stud she was also being romanced by. She had to. He figured she’d merely pinned the baby on him because he was stable and could provide not only for the baby but her if she needed him to.
But Paris (unaware that he was fishing for information about her roommate) had confirmed that Gabrielle wasn’t talking to anyone, at least not anyone Paris was aware of. But then, Paris was into only herself, so she likely wouldn’t notice if Gabrielle was talking to anyone or not.
Following that, his strategy had been simple. Be supportive of Gabrielle and give her whatever money she would need to make this go away. He would then help get her into a college so she could go on with her budding new life. What he hadn’t counted on was her not wanting to have an abortion. She’d been firm about that in the beginning. But he was a new person in politics. He was a deacon at his church. So he knew how to get people to do things they didn’t always want to do while making them think it was their idea.
But Gabrielle was not having it. She wanted the baby and she was planning on keeping it. Lawrence hadn’t wanted to do it, but he pointed out the obvious: She didn’t have anywhere to live, so how on earth could she take care of a helpless little baby that would be depending solely on her? She’d made the comment that he could help her. That’s when he decided it was time to get tough with her.
“I’m not going to be around to help you take care of a baby,” he’d said. “I have a wife and a family. I love my wife dearly. I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize my marriage.”
“But you already have done something,” Gabrielle said with tears in her eyes. “I’m pregnant! And it’s your baby.”
“Yes, I know you’re pregnant. But that was an accident. Neither you nor I meant for that to happen.” Lawrence could see how much his words had hurt her. But he felt if he stayed strong, she would get it and agree to have the abortion.
“Do you really want to bring a child into this world that’s not completely wanted? Do you? Is that fair to the child? And if you can’t financially do for that child, isn’t it being selfish to do something that cruel to him or her?” Lawrence said. “Sometimes you have to deny yourself and do what’s right for another. Don’t you think?” he said.
He’d come at her from every angle he knew how. He’d been nice, offering to pay for everything. He’d even given her some extra money. Sure, he’d been mean by telling her he didn’t want the baby, going as far as letting her know that he didn’t truly believe the baby was really his. And that if she pursued trying to pin this baby on him, he would fight her until it was proven one way or the other. And should she take it all the way to a paternity test, he would let everyone know how she had thrown herself on him. Dropping hints that he may have been intoxicated at the time it happened and he didn’t really know what he was doing.
He’d said things to Paris about Gabrielle, trying to set things up just in case he and Gabrielle ended up going the distance with the baby situation. A week into all of this, Paris put Gabrielle out. He never found out what happened between the two of them that caused the blowup; Paris said she didn’t want to talk about it. He wondered if she’d found out about him and Gabrielle. He was able to breathe a slight sigh of relief when it became more certain that Paris’s putting Gabrielle out had nothing to do with him and their little secret.
He was just glad that, before Gabrielle left Paris’s apartment for good, she’d pretty much acquiesced. He’d given her money for the abortion and extra to make up for any work time she would lose. She had to have the abortion, now that she was without a place to live. After Gabrielle left Paris’s place, he didn’t hear anything more from her following the three calls she made to him that day for help. He had hoped she would call after she was settled somewhere else and let him know she was okay.
But until this very day, when she’d shown up at his office and he discovered it was her and not some crazy woman determined to talk with him, as Mattie and William had portrayed her to be, he hadn’t known even that she was still alive.
He’d been overjoyed to see her again, even more beautiful than some nine years ago. He wasn’t quite sure what he thought as he gazed upon her. Was he hoping to pick up where they’d left off, minus the baby, of course? Was he just glad to know that she was all right after not knowing what had happened to her after she left Paris’s apartment and rid herself of the baby she was carrying?
But there she was, sitting in front of him telling him that she hadn’t aborted the baby. Instead, she’d given the baby up for adoption. She was saying that their baby was still alive. Gabrielle was telling him that he had a child out there he hadn’t even known existed, and that this child . . . a little girl named Jasmine, was now dying . . . that she needed a bone marrow transplant. And Gabrielle wasn’t asking him to acknowledge the child, only to do
what he could to help save her life. That was all.
Lawrence had tried, in the beginning, to have this child’s life aborted. The question now: Would he sit back and allow her to die now?
Chapter 7
Thou hast consulted shame to thy house
by cutting off many people, and hast
sinned against thy soul.
—Habakkuk 2:10
“Okay,” William said after Lawrence filled him in on everything. “So what do you want to do?”
Lawrence looked over at William, then played with his hands. “I don’t know. Gabrielle says all she wants is for me to be tested to see if I’m a match as a donor.”
William nodded. “That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“She’s not trying to get more out of you than that?” William asked. “Maybe a little something for her troubles?”
“I didn’t get that at all from her,” Lawrence said. “She genuinely seems to care about this child.”
“Do you really think the child is yours? That’s, of course, if there really is a child?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know if she’s telling the truth about there being a child. But honestly, what she said to me registered as being true. Although, for whatever reason, she says she’s willing to fight me all the way if she has to, to help save that child’s life.”
“But you said she gave the baby up for adoption,” William said as he pulled into the lane for valet parking.
“That’s what she told me.”
The Other Side of Goodness Page 5
