by E. N. Joy
Tears dripped from Paige’s eyes as she nodded.
“Dear God,” Mr. Vanderdale said under his breath. He could absolutely understand why Paige had had such a reaction upon being introduced to their housekeeper’s long-lost son.
Paige could see complete empathy in Mr. Vanderdale’s eyes. “See? Now do you see why I have to get my girls out of here? He’s going to hurt us. He’s going to take Adele from me.” Paige began shaking.
“No, he’s not,” Mr. Vanderdale assured her. “I won’t allow him.” He thought for a moment.
“What are you going to do?” Paige interrupted his pondering.
Mr. Vanderdale knew that he had to go in there and ask Miss Nettie’s son a couple questions. It was possible that he was not Blake but simply reminded Paige of Blake. If it turned out that he was, in fact, Adele’s biological father, then Mr. Vanderdale would have to ask him to leave their home. It was a given. They loved Miss Nettie like family. They also loved Paige, and they loved their grandchildren. Those four people were their first priority. They didn’t know Miss Nettie’s son from a bum on the street—no pun intended—so that was not where their dilemma lay. It was with Miss Nettie, the woman who had worked for them for almost twenty-five years. She was family, just as much as Paige was. But the girls, the grandkids, they were blood. Blood was thicker than water. So Mr. Vanderdale would have to figure out how to tell Miss Nettie that her son could never step foot in their home again. He knew that might mean losing Miss Nettie. Losing their grandchildren wasn’t an option, though.
Mr. Vanderdale told Paige exactly what he’d been thinking. “I’m going to go talk to Miss Nettie, and if need be, I’ll have to ask that her son leaves, and I’ll express that he is never welcome in our home again.”
Her eyes softened. Her fear began to subside. “Really? But Miss Nettie is family. She’s been your family far longer than we have. She has been here for Naomi and is so loyal to you all.”
“Paige, time has nothing to do with this. Loyalty has nothing to do with this. You are the mother of our grandchildren.” He squeezed her hand. “You all mean more to us than anything in this world. If we have to close off the entire rest of the world to protect this family, by God, that is what we’ll do. We love you, Paige. You’ve been hurt enough in life, and you won’t be hurt ever again, not under my watch.”
Mr. Vanderdale’s words filled Paige’s heart. She couldn’t even come up with any words to express how the ones he’d just spoken made her feel. “You really mean that?” she asked him.
“Yes, Paige. I’m here for you as long as I have breath. Not only are your words safe with me, but you are safe with me.”
Paige looked down at her hand as Mr. Vanderdale caressed it. She closed her eyes and took in the feeling of love, support, and security he had just displayed. It was just what she needed to override the feeling she was overcome with just moments ago.
“Thank you so much,” Paige said. “I love you too.”
Mr. Vanderdale pulled Paige in for a hug and was surprised when he felt Paige’s lips press against his.
Chapter 21
“Paige!”
Mr. Vanderdale and Paige pulled away from each other when they heard Paige’s name being yelled out. They turned to look at the dining room doorway, where Ryan stood. His face displayed different emotions. Shock. Hurt. Confusion. Anger.
“What the h…? What is going on here?” Ryan said, walking toward them.
“Ryan, I’m sorry.... I . . .” Paige stood and held her hand up. When Ryan kept charging toward them, she began walking toward him to stop him in his tracks. He was like a raging bull.
“Move out of my way, Paige!” Ryan said, raising his hands, glaring at Mr. Vanderdale with rage.
“No, Ryan.” Paige threw her arms around him and hugged him. “It’s not what it looks like. Please let me explain.”
Ryan kept his hands up, not touching Paige. “Paige, move. Get out of my way,” he said in the calmest tone he could muster.
Paige stood still, pressing her weight against Ryan so that he couldn’t take another step toward Mr. Vanderdale.
Mr. Vanderdale wanted to explain. “Ryan—”
“Old man, don’t you say ish to me!” Ryan spat. “You’re supposed to be helping her in here. You got your wife in there, telling me you’re a doctor, you’re a professional, you know what you are doing, and you’ll be able to calm Paige down. All the while you’re in here, taking advantage of her. Man, white folks. Y’all some freaks.”
In Mr. Vanderdale’s past line of work in the prison system, he had been called worse and had heard more racist comments than he could remember, so Ryan’s comment raised an eyebrow slightly but didn’t get him all up in arms. Ryan was speaking from an emotional point right now. Mr. Vanderdale understood that.
Ryan looked at Paige. “He’s the one you need to get your daughters away from.” Ryan pointed at Mr. Vanderdale.
“No, Ryan. He didn’t do anything. It was all me,” Paige admitted. “Mr. Vanderdale . . . white people in general. . . is not a freak. He’s not the one who abused me, who raped me, who cheated on me, who contracted HIV, and who then tried to take my daughter from me. That black man in there did all that.” She pointed to the dining room door.
“What . . . what do you mean?” Ryan was utterly confused now.
“Where’s Miss Nettie’s son?” Mr. Vanderdale asked.
“Man, don’t you talk to me,” Ryan snapped. Mr. Vanderdale was the enemy until he got to the bottom of what all was going on here.
“Ryan, baby, calm down,” Paige said. The roles had somehow been reversed. Now it was Paige who was trying to calm down an erratic Ryan. Paige asked Ryan the same question. “Where is Miss Nettie’s son?”
“I don’t know. He left right after you did. Miss Nettie and Stuart went chasing after him. I’ve been in the kitchen with Mrs. Vanderdale, giving her water, trying to keep her from having a heart attack.” It was no surprise that Mrs. Vanderdale was having one of her episodes. “I finally got her calmed down and decided I’d come out here and check to see what was going on with you,” Ryan said to Paige. “And boy, oh, boy, did I see what was going on.” He shook his head and began biting his lower lip, like it was killing him to keep from going over there and putting Mr. Vanderdale in his place.
“Ryan, there is so much you don’t understand right now,” Paige told him.
“Then somebody help a brotha understand before I go all ham up in here,” he said. “Because from what I could tell, when I walked into this room, your tongue was down Mr. Vanderdale’s throat.”
“Oh, Jesus Christ, mother of God!”
Everyone looked at the dining room doorway and saw Mrs. Vanderdale putting her hand across her forehead and falling against the wall.
Mr. Vanderdale rushed over to catch his wife before she hit the floor. He put his arms around his wife and held her steady. He managed to balance her so that she did not hit the floor. But after what she’d just heard, mess was about to hit the fan.
“Stuart, can you fetch Naomi some water please?” Mr. Vanderdale yelled out as he helped his wife over to the couch in the parlor.
“He’s off with Miss Nettie,” Ryan said. “I’ll go grab some.” For a minute, Ryan’s concern about Mrs. Vanderdale’s condition overrode the anger he was feeling toward her husband.
“Oh, Jesus,” Paige said as she stood there, biting her nails. She paced the floor a few times before Ryan returned with a bottle of water.
“I grabbed this out of the fridge,” Ryan said, reentering the parlor. He carried the water bottle over to Mr. Vanderdale.
“Thank you,” Mr. Vanderdale replied. He fed his wife several sips of the water, until she seemed to regain her composure.
Mrs. Vanderdale sat up on the couch. “Whew,” she said, shaking off her feeling of being dazed and confused. “I had the craziest dream. I dreamt that I was in the kitchen and I heard all this arguing. I came out here to see what was going on, and Ryan here was f
ussing at you. . . .” She looked at her husband. “Something about kissing Paige. I tell ya, it was more like a nightmare. I have to stop eating so late in the evening.” Mrs. Vanderdale looked up at everyone’s faces. The only one making eye contact with her was Ryan. Paige was looking downward, was pacing, and was still biting her nails. Mr. Vanderdale had simply buried his face in his hands. “Dear God, it wasn’t a dream, was it!” Mrs. Vanderdale exclaimed. “It was a real live nightmare.”
Ryan crossed his arms, with a scowl on his face. “Trust me, Mrs. Vanderdale, you and me both are owed some answers here.”
Mrs. Vanderdale stood. She stumbled slightly before she was able to balance herself. Mr. Vanderdale went to help her, but she swatted his hand away and rolled her eyes at him. She then went stomping over to Paige. “You, you . . . jezebel!” she spat.
Mr. Vanderdale was able to catch up with his wife and hold her back.
“I’m sorry, Naomi,” Paige said. “Truly I am. You know I would never disrespect you or do anything to hurt you.” She looked at Mr. Vanderdale. “I’m sorry, so sorry I kissed you. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Wait. You kissed him?” Ryan said, jumping in.
“Yes,” Paige answered.
At the same time Mr. Vanderdale answered, “No.”
Both Ryan and Mrs. Vanderdale looked back and forth from Paige to Mr. Vanderdale, confused.
“Somebody better tell me what the h-e double hockey sticks is going on before I go reality show up in here,” Mrs. Vanderdale warned.
Mr. Vanderdale made an attempt to explain. “Yes, it was Paige who kissed me, but she wasn’t herself. I could use all kind of fancy terminology to help explain what happened, but I’ll just try to make it plain and simple.” When Mr. Vanderdale saw that everyone was open to hearing him out, he continued. “Seeing Miss Nettie’s son triggered a traumatic reaction in Paige. She reverted to a helpless state. In my trying to show her compassion and understanding, the . . . let’s just say, the little girl in her . . . didn’t see me as Mr. Vanderdale, the therapist or her former father-in-law.”
“And clearly she didn’t see you as another woman’s husband, either,” Mrs. Vanderdale added.
“Honey, please.” Mr. Vanderdale held his hand up to his wife. “Let me finish.”
Mrs. Vanderdale crossed her arms and looked away.
“Anyway, she wasn’t in her right mind,” Mr. Vanderdale concluded. “It’s the truth, and it’s not unusual at all. Our Paige, in her right mind, would have never behaved that way.”
All eyes went to Paige.
She nodded in agreement. “I am so sorry.” She looked from Ryan to Mrs. Vanderdale. “I truly have no idea what I was thinking.” She put her hand on her forehead. “Seeing Blake again just—”
“Blake?” Mrs. Vanderdale interrupted. “As in your ex-husband, Blake?”
“Yes,” Mr. Vanderdale answered on Paige’s behalf.
“Dear God!” Mrs. Vanderdale turned pale.
Ryan stood there, speechless.
Mrs. Vanderdale began, “That man was . . .”
“Our granddaughters’ father,” Mr. Vanderdale said.
Mrs. Vanderdale, feeling way more sympathetic, said, “Paige, sweetheart. I’m so sorry. We didn’t know.” Mrs. Vanderdale hugged Paige.
“I know. I know,” Paige said, hugging Mrs. Vanderdale back. Paige pulled from the hug and turned her back to everyone. “And to just think, I’m the one who helped her find his sorry a—” Paige cut off her own words. She wasn’t about to disrespect the Vanderdales’ home by resorting to expletives.
Just then Paige noticed that Ryan was being pretty quiet. She looked over at him. He was staring down at the floor. “Ryan, you okay?” Paige asked him.
He lifted his head to look at her. Words escaped him. He had never imagined in a million years that he’d find himself caught up in this type of soap opera drama. Was this what he was signing up for when he asked Paige to be his wife? Was this what came with it?
“I don’t know what I am right now,” Ryan managed to answer. “This entire scenario feels surreal.” He rubbed his head. “Talk about six degrees of separation. I can’t believe the connection here.”
“I know, right?” Paige agreed. She slowly walked over to Ryan and put her hand on his shoulder. He eventually looked into her eyes. “I don’t know what’s about to happen now. This changes the game, I’m sure.”
Ryan took Paige’s hands in his. “I’m not playing a game,” he told Paige. “This is real life. I said I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, and that’s what I meant.” He paused. “No matter what all comes along with it, I guess. I know I’m not about to leave you to fend for yourself. We haven’t exchanged vows yet, but we are one. This might not be a game, but it might turn into a fight, the fight of your life. A fight for Adele’s life. And I’m going to be right here by your side, with ammunition on my back.” He kissed Paige on the lips. “And for the record, those lips better not touch another man’s ever again. That’s your one pass.”
“Pass?” Paige said. “Does that mean I have to give you a pass? Do I have to worry about you eventually paying me back?”
Ryan thought for a moment, twisting his lips. He then walked away from Paige and over toward Mrs. Vanderdale. He stopped in front of Mrs. Vanderdale and looked at Paige with a mischievous expression on his face. He then surprised everyone by walking over to Mr. Vanderdale and kissing him . . . on the cheek. “There,” Ryan said. “We’ve both kissed Mr. Vanderdale. Now we’re even.”
Chuckles filled the room.
The way Ryan had just turned this whole kissing situation around was such a relief. Paige couldn’t have asked for a better fiancé.
“Well, that takes care of the whole kissing game,” Ryan said. He then looked at Paige. “Now what are we going to do about Blake?”
Chapter 22
About an hour after Miss Nettie brought her long-lost son into the Vanderdales’ dining room to introduce him to the people she called her family, she returned to the house, entering through the front door. Stuart followed behind her.
Paige, Ryan, and the girls had already left the house, and so had Samantha and Katie. Mr. and Mrs. Vanderdale were seated in the parlor, watching television.
Mrs. Vanderdale stood when the couple walked in. “Nettie,” she said, looking past Miss Nettie and Stuart.
“My son is not with us, if that’s what you’re looking for,” Miss Nettie said.
“Speaking of your son,” Mr. Vanderdale began. “Paige seems to believe that he is—”
“Blake,” Miss Nettie said, finishing his sentence. “My son’s name is Blake. He is exactly who Paige thinks he’s is.”
There was a brief moment of silence. No one really knew what to say.
“How are you, Nettie?” Mr. Vanderdale asked. He decided it was best to show concern for Miss Nettie, versus jumping right in and banning her son from their home.
She shrugged her shoulders. “A little shook up, I guess, about everything that happened today.”
“I imagine,” Mr. Vanderdale replied. He then looked behind Miss Nettie. “How about you, Stuart?”
Stuart stepped forth. “This is my fiancée. I feel what she feels.” He put his arm around Miss Nettie. “And I’m going to be there to see her through it, no matter what.”
Stuart and Miss Nettie stood there, looking like an older version of Ryan and Paige. Those men were going to stand by their women and surmount everything that came along in the bags they were carrying.
“That’s good, Stuart,” Mr. Vanderdale said. “Because I’m sure Nettie is going to need all the support she can get.”
Miss Nettie raised an eyebrow. “And hopefully that includes the support of both of you as well.”
Mr. and Mrs. Vanderdale exchanged looks.
“Nettie, you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this family loves you,” Mrs. Vanderdale said, stepping up to her. “And though we understand that your son is a part of you, I’
m sure you understand why he can never step foot in our house again.”
Miss Nettie remained silent for a moment while she processed what her employer was saying to her. She then looked at Mr. Vanderdale. “My son has a past. I have a past. I’ve paid for my crimes. He’s paid for his crimes. I’ve been rehabilitated. He’s been rehabilitated. And you do believe in rehabilitation, don’t you, Mr. Vanderdale?”
Mrs. Vanderdale jumped to her husband’s defense. “Nettie, that’s not fair, and you know it.”
“And you?” Miss Nettie turned to Mrs. Vanderdale. “You believe in forgiveness, right?”
“I know where you are going with this, Nettie, and it’s not fair,” Mr. Vanderdale said. “You know that we have special and unusual circumstances here.” Mr. Vanderdale took a step toward Miss Nettie. “Nettie, I’m going to ask you something, and I hope you aren’t offended by it.” When Nettie didn’t object, he continued. “When you brought your son into this house, did you have any idea who he was?”
Miss Nettie put her head down.
“Nettie, how could you?” Mrs. Vanderdale’s voice was laced with disappointment.
“Hold on now.” Stuart raised his hand for Mrs. Vanderdale to back off. “Blake told us a little bit of his story, but not all of it.”
“But I did know it wasn’t a coincidence . . . his story matching closely to Paige’s story,” Miss Nettie confessed. “I honestly thought this was the best way to go about things. I felt that if we all just got together in the same room, we could work it out. Had I mentioned it to you all beforehand, you would have never allowed him to step foot in this house.” She looked at the Vanderdales accusingly. “Just like you’re doing now.”
“He tried to take our grandchild from Paige,” Mrs. Vanderdale said.
“That was years ago,” Miss Nettie proclaimed.
“Yes, but who is to say he won’t try to take her again, and right from underneath our noses?” Mrs. Vanderdale reasoned.
“And just where is he going to take her? Back under the bridge where he’s now living?” Miss Nettie asked. “My son lost everything, including his will to live. Everything he had, every dime he had, he gave it to Paige and Adele, not to mention all the legal fees he had. He has no interest in Paige or anything she has. My boy doesn’t even have an interest in living. His days were numbered before I found him. If I hadn’t stepped in, Lord only knows if he’d even be alive today. He needs me. The same way I needed you all after I thought my world was coming to an end, he needs me. Mentally, he’s drained, and I know how that feels.”
