"I am going - to kill her!"
Chapter 162
Shanna and Sylvia pulled up to the mobile home first, with the loaded-down truck. The last thing either was in a mood for was putting away the groceries they bought. Shanna alone had spent over two hundred some odd dollars in food and other things for her place. In addition to that, there was a sale on the large Weber Kettle grills, Shanna bought one, Sylvia bought two; one for each side of the road. However, for that weekend, both would be used at her house. Shanna also bought brand new deck furniture, that one of the men would have to go back for, there had been no room left in the truck with the groceries, grills, and charcoal galore.
Since Sylvia hadn't been the one driving, she was able to spot Sheila and Dennis' van parked down at her house. Sheila had been outside with Crystal, Angela and the boys when Angela saw her uncle's truck and lit out after it, running full force. Sheila and Crystal weren't far behind. Sylvia was stepping out of the truck, feeling a bit tired, not to mention the fact that her head hurt with her injury throbbing. They'd picked up a light snack, while out shopping but the heat was getting to her. The first to approach her had been Angela.
"Oh, Sylvia, something came from the UPS truck, a delivery - for you! Dad - is - mega - mad!"
It took Sylvia a moment to get her bearings, not yet focusing on what Angela said, she asked, "Mad about what? Where's Mundo? Tell him to get his butt over here and help unload this truck! Tell your dad, too, we need some help."
Angela stood with wide eyes, looked back to see Sheila and Crystal walking up, and decided to go get Mundo as she said and let them tell her. She turned and went after Mundo hoping that he'd recuperated from the shock of his life.
With a bright smile lighting up her face, Sylvia waited for Sheila to get close enough to speak, "Hey, Girl! What time ya'll get here?!"
"Chil', just in time to watch the shit hit the fan! Lord - girl! I need to get up here more often!" Sheila was grinning, sashaying her way to Sylvia and Shanna. She waved at her, "Hey, girlfriend - what's up?"
Shanna smiled, was grabbing bags that she knew were hers, "All these groceries that have to be put away! This is the worse part of it!"
"That ain't no lie!" Sheila agreed and then turned her attention to Sylvia.
"What is going on? What do you mean, here just in time to watch the shit hit the fan?" Sylvia asked, leaning against the truck. Crystal was helping Shanna, deciding she'd let Sheila tell her, since she'd been reminded eight times not to say anything, to let her tell it, this of course by, Sheila.
"Girl, you don't do nothin' halfway, do you?"
"Sheila - what are you talkin' about?"
"The fact that your husband - is mad - as hell! You hea' me? I mean, mad! Dennis talkin' to him, to calm him down."
"About what? What happened?"
"One of them things on that - to do list? Was delivered today, baby!"
"My to do list? What are you talking about?" Sylvia hadn't a clue.
"What am I talkin' about? Yo' nekkid ass, out for the whole goddamn world to see! And I mean, we all seen it!"
"OH, MY GOD!! My - my nude portrait?" Sylvia first shouted, then whispered.
"Guh - don't make no sense to whisper. Just say it out loud! Put it all out there! Like that portrait, for instance! Yo' po' son! That chil' gone need therapy, guh, that boy had me crackin' up! The boy was so traumatized, he was - he was - sittin' and rockin' - chil' suckin' his thumb - talkin' 'bout -..." Sheila started laughing again, "... he don't wanna see his mama nekkid - boy had me dyin'."
Sylvia stood with her face covered, and asked with dread, "Who all saw it?"
"Every - goddamn - body! Jake! His three friends - that come about that house ya'll building. Dennis seen it! I seen it! My chillin's don' seen it. Yo' chillin's done seen it! And last, yo' husband seen it - and I can tell you now - he ain't happy - that we all done seen it!"
"Girl, I forgot all about that doggone portrait! It would come when I'm not here! Damn! Is he real mad?" Sylvia asked with her nerves shaken. She had planned to be the one to get it when it was delivered, and then hide it and give it to him as a gift when the time had been right. She sure hadn't planned on it happening like this.
"Girl, the man got a cloud'ah smoke driftin' up off 'em! I ain't lyin'. You okay?" Sheila asked.
"Yeah - I'm okay." Sylvia sighed and shifted her eyes to Shanna, who was in the truck, passing her bags out to Crystal to take inside the house. She'd been listening and could tell by the look on Sylvia's face, she was guilty as charged of whatever it was Sheila was talking about. Suddenly Shanna looked up, her eyes got wide. "Prepare yourself, here he comes." Shanna warned. Beside him, was Jake and Mundo. Dennis' was in their van, reversing from Sylvia's driveway, he flicked it into drive, and drove up the road to pick up Sheila. Nervous, Sylvia avoided looking at her angry husband as he made his way there, and asked Sheila. "You guys not going yet, are you?"
"Girl, we got to get checked in. Besides, I done seen enough today." Sheila grinned, just as the van pulled up to the curb. Sheila turned calling out over her shoulder, "We'll be back later on. Bye, Shanna! Crystal!"
"By-eee!" They both shouted together.
Dennis was grinning at Sylvia, winking, "I don't care what nobody say, gul - you know you pose fo' that picture!" And laughing, he pulled off with this wife and kids.
Sylvia stood with her heart pounding, not sure what to do with her husband glowering at her. She chewed her bottom lip, trying to think of how to get out of this. Oh, what she would give, to be able to faint right then, but it was not to be.
When the three men reached them, Jake smiled at her and winked, trying to fight back his laughter. He looked up at Shanna, "How much more in there is yours?" he asked.
"Almost done, I bought deck furniture, too. After we empty the truck, can you go get it for me?"
"I go get it for you. Where's it at?" Mundo asked, trying to avoid looking at his mother. Now that he'd gotten over it, he could see the humor in it. Even so, the last thing he wanted to remember, was his mother posing with no clothes on. It just wasn't something a son wanted to see. "Oh, would you? Thank you so much, Mundo, it's at Wal-Mart, here - let me give you my receipt. Just go to the garden center and show it, they'll load it in for you."
"No probs." He finished.
While the others saw to the emptying of the truck, Sylvia stood with her husband's eyes burning through her. She kept trying to come up with something to say to him, but nothing would come out, just scattered words with no sound. She gulped.
Shawn stared down at her, and all he could see, for the moment, was that she was tired. Her eyes looked a bit sunken and her breathing was deep. He reached up to caress her cheek, and she flinched - very slightly - nothing dramatic, but enough for him to take a deep breath. He wasn't sure what it was about her, but nothing she did could rile him enough to be angry or overly impatient with her. As mad as he was, with varying degrees of what he would say, all went out the window, looking at her now. Only thing he was feeling, was a need to grab her and squeeze her. She wasn't completely well as far as he was concerned, he wasn't about to upset her more. He could tell, if he went too far with her, she'd be in tears; something about the look in her eyes told him that. He couldn't do it.
"You tired? You look it." He asked softly, reaching to caress her a second time, this time, she let him.
"Yeah, and my head hurts... a bit." She admitted.
Jake had jumped in the truck to drive it down to the house, with Mundo helping, everything of Shanna's was out of it, he started it. Shawn gave it a few hard raps, calling out to him, "Jake!" getting his attention. Jake leaned out his window looking back at them. "We're gonna hop on the back."
Jake nodded that he understood, Shawn opened the tailgate, turned to his wife, "Come on." He invited, she stepped closer and he lifted her onto the back, then jumped on himself. They both turned their legs inward, Shawn pulled the tailgate closed and gave the bed a few raps again, "OKA-A-AY!" Driving car
efully, Jake backed out, corrected it and drove them back to the house. With it being such a short trip, neither of them spoke. When Jake pulled into the driveway there, Shawn opened it and jumped down. Sylvia noticed that the men were still there about the house, on the front porch sipping beer. Glancing their way, they all waved at her and smiled. Sheepishly, Sylvia gave a small smile and a little wave back. Shawn was reaching for her, she held onto her husband's arms as he helped her down.
"For right now, do me a favor? Go lie down, take a little nap, rest for me, okay? We'll take care of this, will you do that for me?"
Silent, Sylvia nodded and did as she was told. She wasn't fooled by his calm approach, he was angry, but of course - she was carrying his child. One thing she came to understand about her husband, no matter how mad he might be, his child came before all else. She walked slowly into her home, tired, and yes, needing a nap. However, crazy as it was, she wished he'd just gotten it over with and yelled at her, asked her why, or made some kind of effort to confront her. Because he hadn't, it would nag her. Worry her, drive her crazy to just have it out already. By the time she made it into their room, her lip was poked out, she felt as if he were treating her like a child. Sent to her room until he figured out how best to punish her. Closing their bedroom door behind her, Sylvia walked to the bed, seeing the portrait lying there face down. She lifted the generic frame that held it and made a face. At the time, it had seemed like something she had really wanted to do. Now - looking at it, she wasn't so keen on it. Moving it from the bed, she walked to their closet and placed it in there for the time being. Went into the bathroom, washed her face, and looked at herself in the mirror. Without warning, or knowing where it came from, she burst into tears.
Realizing suddenly, that she positively hated her husband being mad at her. Hated it! She wanted him to come in their room, yell at her - kick up a right nasty argument, so she could feel better already. Splashing her face again over the sink, she felt the gash on her head really throbbing. She reached up to touch the area, it was tender. She reached under the scarf and felt the stitches. Leaving it alone, she turned and entered their bedroom, kicked her shoes off and climbed into bed. It was warm. Sitting up again, she went to the windows and opened both of them, and back into the bathroom and opened that one as well so the air could circulate through, then climbed back into bed. Laying on her side, she felt tears well up again, sliding over the bridge of her nose to land in her hand. With a few deep breaths, she felt herself slipping towards sleep, at the same time, wishing he would just come in so they could talk. She was dozing off and turned to her back, hands on her stomach, then down lower where she carried their son. She smiled, she was indeed carrying Jesse James, and Shawn was over the moon, he was so happy. Smiling, sleep soon claimed her.
Instantly, it seemed, she was in a big field of daisies and buttercups, kneeling, she gathered the heartiest ones for an arrangement, "There, those are nice, I'll pick those." Shawn said above her, looking up, she smiled at him and nodded. "I just love these, they're going to look so nice in the baby's room." She said, turning to look at Shawn as he picked, moving further and further away from her. She stood, looked around the field for others that were as nice as what she held, she saw more, turned back to Shawn, "Shawn..." She called his name, but he was moving away from her, really far in the distance.
"Wait, Shawn..." She called out to him, and moved in his direction to close the distance between them. "Shawn... wait... wait for me..." She called out, not sure why, she was beginning to panic. Her heart was pounding so hard, she could hear the thump-thump sound of it in her ears. No matter how fast she moved to catch him, he seemed to always be the same distance away. "Shawn! SHAWN!!! WAIT!" She started running to close the gap. He finally stopped, turned and looked back at her, "Hurry ... or I'll be leaving." He warned. "Why? Don't leave... why, Shawn?!" She called out, trying to catch him, but couldn't quite close the distance. Shaking his head, he turned from her and started walking away again.
"SHAWN, WAIT! PLEASE WAIT!"
"HURRY!" He yelled back at her.
She whimpered, started crying. "I'M TRYING - I'M TRYING TO HURRY! WAIT, SHAWN!"
Suddenly she was there, right beside him, in relief she exhaled, so happy she caught up with him. He reached back, grabbed her arm, and taking her completely by surprise, he yanked it - hard, so hard, it almost brought her to her knees.
"SHAWN!" She cried, and he yanked her again, trying to bring her to her knees. "YOU'RE HURTING ME, SHAWN!" She shouted at him.
Shawn turned to look at her, and what she saw sent a scream through her body; a throat-burning scream that went on and on.
"Who the fuck is, Shawn? Hm? You my fuckin' wife! I get you home, I'm beatin' the fuck outta you!" Armundo blazed down at her.
"NOOOOOO, NOOOOO - SHA-A-A-AWN!!! NOOOOOO - SHA-A-A-AWN!" Sylvia screamed, turning away from Armundo, she couldn't get her arm loose from him, he kept yanking her back. She looked for Shawn, he was there - a distance away. He was holding Jesse James by the hand, who stood beside him, a child of two or three, and in Shawn's arm, another child, crying, a toddler, small hands reaching out for her, the little fingers pumping as it cried for her. Her babies - their babies.
"NOOOOOO, SHA-A-A-WN!!" She screamed, trying to break loose from Armundo. She tugged with all her might, crying and reaching out for Shawn to come to her. To save her. He only shook his head, he had what he wanted, standing there, watching, pity in his expression.
"Shet up that screaming, you hea' me! Shet it up!" Armundo grabbed her, shook her.
"NOOOOOO!!!"
"You my fuckin' wife, bitch! Don't forget that shit! Don't forget that shit! Nah shet the fuck up! Shet the fuck up!" He grit out, and grabbed her by the throat, and started squeezing, shaking her. Sylvia struggled to get his hands from around her throat, the veins in her forehead standing out. Her eyes watering, the whites filling with red as he squeezed and shook her, looking down into her face, smiling. "That's right... teach yo' ass - what you gone do now? Hm? What the fuck you gone do? Fuck wit' me - you don't fuck wit' me. You know that shit! You know me - you know me - you know me - you know me..."
Sylvia bolted up gasping for air, reaching for her throat.
"Hey! What's wrong?" Shawn asked, having been in the bathroom washing his hands, when he heard her crying out. Moments earlier, he'd come in to check on her, right before using the bathroom. Now, she was wide awake, covered in sweat. She turned to look up at him, and suddenly crumbled into the most heart-breaking, keening, weeping, he'd ever heard.
"Sylvia! Sweetheart? Jesus, what's wrong? Aaah, honey, please - ohhh, come here. Come here... please, sweetheart, why are you crying like this? You have a nightmare? That it, baby? Hmm? I gotcha' - shhh - shhh - shhh - I gotcha, I'm here. Calm down, sweetheart, I'm here. That it? You have a nightmare?" Shawn asked gently, now on the bed with her, his back to the headboard as he held her across his lap, kissing her brow, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
Sylvia's head nodded at first, and then, "You - you - left me - with - with him." She hiccupped, crying.
"With who? Who'd I leave you with?"
"Mun - Mun - Armundo ... you left me - you wouldn't come get me - you left me - with him."
"He's dead, Sylvia. It was just a bad dream, baby. That's all. Just a nightmare. I'm here. I would never leave you, you hear me? Not ever. Especially in the hands of that... he's dead - forgotten - okay?"
She nodded, trying to calm down and then started crying again, "You're mad at me."
Shawn expelled a long pent up sigh. "I was."
"I'm sorry. I don't want you mad at me, I can't stand it."
"Well, truth is, I can't stand being mad at you. My beautiful lass. I'm jealous. I wanted to be the one who captured you that way. Not some guy-..."
"It was a woman! I swear to you! I would have never done it if it were a man. And I covered - myself - first. Got into the pose - one that she showed me - then, when I was ready, she removed the cover. I - I just - I do
n't know - at the time -..."
"Shhh - it's okay. It's okay. It's over."
"I wanted to give it to you - when I - got the nerve." She admitted sheepishly. "Instead, I've embarrassed you."
"Emmm, at first, I was. I don't want anyone looking at you. Even though, were I to be totally honest with you - after a bit - I was struttin' my stuff - thinking, yeah that's my woman - I know she's hot. I could see it on all of their faces ... they were thinking,"Lucky Dog!" And of course, I agree." He grinned. Sylvia smiled up him, then reached up wiping her eyes, such a child-like gesture. "I love you so much, Shawn, I can't stand the thought of you being disappointed in me, thinking less of me, for something I've done."
"I don't. I've always been proud to have you as my wife, and that will never change and besides, you know I can't stay mad at you for long; love you too much." He squeezed her to him. Sylvia reached up and wrapped her arms around him, holding onto him with all her might, "Please, never - never - leave me, Shawn."
"Hey - as if. This, what we got - is forever. Nothing - and no one - dead - or alive - will ever stand between us. Not ever. I won't let them. God knows, I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I would kill for you. Without hesitation, I would kill for you." He declared with an intensity that made Sylvia shiver in his arms.
"As for that portrait of you, from now on... I do all the photographing... capiche?" He announced, sounding ever bit of an Italian.
Sylvia nodded her head, nestled in his neck, "Capiche." She repeated.
"Besides, having looked it over, the lighting's all wrong anyway, and the background could have been better used, whoever she was - she's an amateur. She failed to capture your absolute best. Let that be a lesson to you."
"Emmm." Sylvia agreed, with a moan and nod.
"How much did she charge for that, anyway?"
"You don't wanna know."
"You're right, I don't. You better rested now?"
Again, Sylvia only nodded. She could stay right there in his arms like that for the rest of the day, but knew she couldn't. Sheila said that they would be back and she'd purchased twice as much groceries as Shanna and now could only dread at how they may have been put away.
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