"Sinful? Oh, shit... not one of them, is he?" Sheila sat back asking.
"Sheila, their father, Bart - is a very religious man. He has ideas about the way men should be. He's insisted that his sons be that way."
"I can vouch for that a tiny bit from staying with them." Vivian pointed out, "Do you know, he does not trust Jake."
"Girl, don't nobody trust Jake! And with good reason!" Sylvia started.
"Don't go there! Do not - go there! Just back up off of him." Vivian did not want to hear any Jake-bashing.
"Well, I will spare you, then, because you will be taken there soon enough." Sylvia went on.
"For your information, Jake had never been in love before. We have an understanding." Vivian defended.
"Emm-hm." Sylvia murmured.
"You know, that is the reason he is the way he is, because everyone expects the worse out of him, so that's what he's delivered." Vivian went on.
Sheila was thinking about the day he was there at her place and she'd just told him about Vivian being attacked, he'd almost said those very things. She knew that he didn't want to be the way he was, it was a battle for him, a vicious cycle that scared him.
"Sylvia, I thought you and he had mended your fences?" Meribel asked.
"We have. He's my husband's brother. My husband loves him, and - there are times, when Jake loves him in return. However, I'm not ready to be, 'Yay Jake!', so soon. Time will tell what he truly is, and anyway, down the road, it's not me that has to deal with what he really is, but you." Sylvia stated, pointing at Vivian at the end of it, finishing with, "All I care about, is that you're happy, and you never regret being with him."
"I love him, Sylvia, I love him." Vivian declared passionately.
"You don't even know him, Vivian! Not really know him!" Sylvia appealed.
"No! You're the one who doesn't know him, Sylvia! What happened to all the singing earlier? Going to the Chapel?! Huh? What was that?!" Vivian was getting riled.
"We were just messing around then, Vivian, this is different; this is a session of just telling it like it is." Sylvia reasoned with her.
"Well, you don't know him!" Vivian snapped. "His own family barely knows him!" Vivian was getting emotional. "For once in my life, I have someone that I really love! Whom I'm prepared to go the distance with! He may not be perfect - but he's perfect for me!" Vivian turned from Sylvia and looked at Meribel, "You've known him longer than either of us, what do you think, Meribel?"
"Ach!" Meribel gasped, wilted, not sure of what to say. All three of them were looking at her. She was concerned about her own man, her own husband, Jake was not her problem. But Vivian was looking at her with such a look of pleading need, for some kind of validation for what she was fighting for, that she sighed and looked at Sylvia and then Sheila, "I can say this. In all the time I've been in this family, and observed them all, Jake included, I can tell you now - he's not the same with her, as he's been with the others. Jake does not fake his feelings. He's always been a player. All the others knew that he didn't love them." She turned back to Vivian, and covered her hand, holding it.
"No matter what, love is a gamble. No one can be 100% sure of what they're getting. What you have to be sure of, is that if you choose him, that you can live with what you get. To hell with everyone else and what they think, you take your man and deal with him, one day - at a time."
"And if he is unfaithful to her? Then what?" Sylvia asked.
Again Meribel sighed. She was quiet a moment, all three were looking at her waiting for the answer. She looked into Vivian's eyes. "I wanna tell you, that he will be faithful and true. But - with Jake ... I honestly don't know. I do know that if he says he loves you, that he must. But - Jake's a rebel. He's impulsive. Spontaneous. If he should cheat, I want to tell you to just leave him then. But - I have a sister, that swore up and down, that if her man ever cheated on her, she would leave him like that!" Meribel snapped her fingers. "He's cheated on her. And she's still with him. Because when you're in love, heart and soul, you'd be surprised at the shit - you will take. You will be shocked at how your heart will cause you to humiliate yourself, and find a reason to take him back. You will be shocked at how weak you are because they plead and beg. I never thought my sister would stay with something like that going on, but - they're still together. Something in her life, has forced her to swallow her declaration and stay with that man."
They were all silent, now the three looking at Vivian.
"Are you prepared to do the same - IF - Jake should ever cheat?" Meribel asked.
Sheila shook her head, "Don't answer that! I don't wanna know! Don't say something you may have to eat up later. All I'm gone say for now is, every goddamn woman on this earth, eventually - gets to know her man... what he really is. Even them goddamn, bull-shittn' ass women who cry and swear up and down that they didn't know that, whatever it is, about they man, BULLSHIT!!! All I got to say to you, baby girl, is this - know what the fuck you gettin' yourself into! Don't come yo'ass to me cryin' later on, "I didn't kno-o-ow ... how could he hurt me this waa-a-ay!" Cause you know what I'm gone say to you - don't you?! You want you some goddamn Jake!? Then leave all the bull-shit by the wayside! And deal with his goddamn ass! Be prepared for a battle! Cause wit' him, baby girl, I think you gone be in a few!"
Sylvia's look was tender, compassionate, but Vivian could see, that she agreed with Sheila in her estimation. Vivian sat back with a sigh, choosing to remain silent. Sylvia felt awful, she reached over and took her hand and squeezed it. "We just want you to be happy."
"I was... up until a few minutes ago." Vivian admitted softly.
Sheila waved it off and turned back to Meribel, "We'll worry about them later, after all - they ain't at the altar yet. This all started, for you - and the other brother. Only thing for you to do with him, is to talk to him and tell him that you love him - BUT, you don't need to be handled with kid gloves! You wanna be handled like a woman. One with needs - and if he loves you, he will pay attention."
"Can I ask you something?" Meribel tossed out there.
"Ask away."
"It's about sex, with a very well-endowed man."
She had all of their attention now, "Go on?" Sheila coaxed her.
"Is Dennis like the rumored black male, well-endowed?"
"Yeah - he is! That ain't no lie!"
"Does he please you in bed? Can you take all of him?"
"I can tell you this, we don't have it like we use to. And even though I can take all of him-..."
"YOU CAN?! How big is he?" Sylvia blurted and then lowered her voice to ask.
"Man - you all in my business!" Sheila bantered.
"You be all in ours!" Vivian recovered enough to remind her. She wanted to know. She had to know. This would be vital to her in preparation for Jake.
"Okay! Let's hear it!" Sylvia was now on Vivian's side.
"I measured him one day, just to see, and he is exactly 11 and a quarter inches long."
Sylvia covered her mouth, horrified. Shawn could hurt like crazy, now - she couldn't imagine measurements like that, going into her body.
"My Derrick is almost 10." Meribel confessed, and then looked at Sylvia.
"Don't look at me! I'm not telling you all how long my man's thing is!" Sylvia informed them, sitting back.
"I already know how long your man's thing is, suga' dumplin'!" Sheila looked at her, shaking her head, "Ah, uh-huh!" She smiled. "Remember?"
"How you know!?" Vivian asked Sheila.
Sylvia knew, and she glanced at Meribel, who cleared her throat, trying to look everywhere but at her, Sylvia remembered that she knew already as well.
"Girl, your memory ain't worth a fart on a windy day!" Sheila criticized Vivian.
"Oh, I see how this is! You all got secrets and shit between you, and I'm not in on it! I see how you gone be!" Vivian complained, and turned to Meribel, "Do you know?"
"Vivian, you know too... remember? The Edwina incident?"
"Oh! Shit, that'
s right!" It finally came back to her how they would have known, although she had never seen the tapes, so she wouldn't know his measurements as they did. "Oh, I see, and you told Sheila, let her see and didn't show me!" She accused sitting back, making a face, her lip rolled out.
"Sylvia didn't tell me nothing about his shit! Edwina crazy ass told me! She come to my house with his dick in her hand!"
"WHAT!?" Vivian blasted.
"WHAT?!" Sylvia seconded it.
"I told you!" Sheila reminded her.
"You didn't tell me that!" Sylvia denied.
"I sure did!" Sheila returned.
"Ai - dios mio." Meribel shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"She had Shawn's dick? How could she have his dick?" Vivian needed to know.
"Not his dick! A dildo of his dick - fu-ool! That's what made her come by here. Her ass wanted the real thing! He wasn't having it - and so she fooled around and got a hold of Jake. He put a hurtin' on her ass! Went back home, lied and said he raped her silly ass - ho!"
"That's why - I kicked - her - ass!" Vivian bit out between tight lips.
"You all gettin' off the subject again; I wanna know, how you can lay back and take all that man in you?" Sylvia reminded her.
"Yeah, that's what I wanna know, too." Vivian sat forward.
"Me, too, because you know what, I can take him - all the way in, but I can't come with him all the way inside of me. For one, it's too uncomfortable. Sometimes, it hurts."
"Sometimes!? Sometimes?!" Sylvia couldn't believe it.
"He's so gentle, Sylvia, I can take it from him. But - because he's so big, he doesn't get going hard enough to - you know - rub me there. And soon, he's coming, and it's over."
"Girl, I tell Dennis about his-self! I tell him, I know you got to be kiddin' me! What the hell you call that!? I sure will tell'em! Hell with that! One time we was going at it, and girl, I was so close, and he was about to come, wasn't waitin' for me! I said, 'oh, hell naw'! I tossed his ass off and onto the floor!"
Vivian and Sylvia exploded laughing, Meribel had her mouth covered, laughing.
"He gone tell me, WOMAN! What the hell wrong with you?! I said, 'Nigga, lemme tell you somethin', right now! If I got to have sex with yo' ass, I'mo get somethin' outta this shit, too! When I say wait - goddammit! I mean hold yo'ass up! If I don't get to cum - ain't no goddamn body cumin'! You can believe that shit! Now get yo' ass up off that floor and start again, and this time, yo' ass better wait'!"
Sylvia was laughing so hard, she had to get up from the table.
"Ya'll ass laughing! I don't play that shit, though! They ass be up there, ridin' and havin' a good ass time! Talkin' 'bout, "Oh, goddamn, baby! Yeah! I'm all up in that shit, ain't I? Who yo'man? That shit good, ain't it?! Damn right - 'cause you know I'm hittin' it..." - and I say, "Em-hm, we'll see in a minute - goddammit! Quit talkin' - breakin' my concentration!"
Vivian was wiping tears from her eyes, "Sheila - you gone give me a headache! I laugh like this, I get a headache." Vivian was trying to keep it under control. Sheila turned to Meribel, "That's how you need to talk to his ass! When he get close, tho his ass off! Gettin' up from that floor a couple of times will get his ass right."
Sylvia was sitting on the stairs, laughing with tears rolling down her face. Just then, Dennis walked into the basement. All the women stopped, holding their breath, and looking at him. He could see they'd been laughing about something, Sylvia was trying to stop, but couldn't, holding it back, wasn't working, tears were still rolling.
"What the hell all ya'll lookin' at? What you in here talkin' about?" He asked, coming in to use the bathroom. Sylvia stood from the stairs, trying her hardest not to look at him, or else she would explode again. Dennis wasn't stupid.
"What you tellin' them!? What you talkin' about, now?" He asked his wife accusingly.
"I ain't tellin' nobody nothing! That's Sylvia tellin' jokes and shit! Wasn't you tellin' a joke, Sylvia?"
Sylvia nodded rapidly, trying not to speak.
"Yeah, uh-huh! Tell me a joke, too, goddammit, so I can laugh! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! I ain't crazy! I know ya'll ass! Ah'ight, Sheila, don't get to actin' crazy now!"
"Man, go on to the bathroom and leave us alone! We ain't messin' with nobody!"
Dennis stared at her a moment and then looked at the others, giving them the evil eye. Of course, none of them were fazed, because all they could see was him flying through the air, to land on the floor with a shocked look on his face. Vivian was making noises of trying not to laugh out. Dennis' eyes squinted as he slowly made his way to the bathroom, making them explode again.
"Ya'll hush, for you get me in trouble! Can't tell you nothin'! That's the last time I'm tellin' ya'll anything!" Sheila hissed, laughing herself.
"Where's everybody?!" Kathy Ann called out, coming into the basement, "Sylvia?!"
Wiping at her tears, Sylvia walked over where she could see her, smiling, "Hey, come on in. They got all your stuff loaded up?" She asked.
"Yeah, they loading the last of it now. All the biggest is on there. Just wanted to come in and say, 'thank you'."
"No problem, glad that you can use it." Sylvia returned, "Sheila, this is Kathy Ann, Shawn's sister. Kathy Ann, my girlfriend from Chicago, Sheila."
"Hey, how you doing - I remember you from the reception." Kathy Ann greeted her, shaking hands.
"Nice meetin' you." Sheila returned the greeting with a smile.
"Met your husband outside, you all staying for the whole weekend?"
"Till Monday, then we got to get on back home."
"Hope you enjoy your visit." Kathy Ann politely replied.
"You coming tomorrow, Kathy Ann? You and the kids?" Sylvia asked.
"Yeah, I be here. Otherwise, I'll never hear the end of it from my mom. Hear there's gonna be plenty of food."
"We been cooking all day, and your dad gave us a pig."
"I heard. I'll be bringing the beer and some chips. I'm not much of a cook."
"No need to, we have plenty." Sylvia smiled.
"Hey, uh, I asked Shawn, but he said that I should ask you. That other refrigerator there, I know you're using it now, with all the food and stuff for tomorrow, but, uh, afterwards, you wanna sell it to me?"
"Kathy Ann, Shawn gave you the living room, bedroom and the stove, why would we sell you the refrigerator? You might as well take it, too. Once we get through this weekend, you can take it. We just need it for now."
"Thanks, that's cool. I'm letting my daughter get most of my stuff. You hear what's going on with her?"
"No, I hadn't heard anything." Sylvia replied.
"Well, she went and got herself pregnant. Sixteen goddamn years old! Her life's fucked! Excuse my expression."
"You're kidding?!" Meribel exclaimed from her seat.
"Nope, I'm not - knocked up and due in August."
"She's six months already?" Sylvia asked.
"Yep! Was hiding it from us, until I walked in and caught her undressed in the bathroom. Pissed me the hell off!" She growled. Dennis was out of the bathroom, and walked back through the room, nodding at Kathy Ann. She cracked him a slight smile as he made his way out to leave them talking.
"So, she's getting her own place? She's just sixteen, Kathy Ann." Meribel stated.
"She's moving in with the father of her baby. Son-of-a-bitch is 28 years old! What a fuckin' waste! A shit-for-brains loser, works at Fantastic Sams, cuttin' hair. I think he's fuckin' gay and using my daughter for cover! Prick!"
Sylvia gasped.
Sheila and Vivian looked at each other, and then back at Kathy Ann, Meribel shook her head. She was used to Kathy Ann. "I guess my mom didn't tell anyone because I've embarrassed her enough. Sucks for her to admit that there's trailer trash related to her, especially one of her own kids." Kathy Ann smiled. "Now that I've shared my bit of shit-shine, I'll be departing. See you guys tomorrow. Thanks again, Sylvia."
"Sure, Kathy Ann, no problem."
When she was g
one, Sylvia turned back to look at her friends, then at Meribel. "Is she always like that?"
"As long as I've known her." Meribel answered.
"Why?"
"I have an idea why, but I'm not sure. Every time I think I've figured her out, I end up lost and confused again. I know one thing, she and Gert don't get along that well. She gets on mama Gert's nerves and the next thing you know, Gert is telling her to go home."
"Wow. Just goes to show, doesn't matter who or what you are. Everybody under the sun, has something about their lives to bring them down." Vivian noted in observation.
Sylvia nodded her head, "So, so true."
Chapter 170
Derrick stood once again in observation, deep in thought. Taking a deep breath, he figured it was tonight, or never. He would talk to them, to both of them. In order to do so, took more nerve than he could muster. In preparation, he decided for once, he would have a beer or two. His mother had just left with Lucas and Lydia, who was following her home. Vivian would be staying the night, sleeping at Shanna's, in Jake's bed, because Jake would be outside watching the pig with Dennis. Derrick's sons, along with Dennis' boys and Mundo, would be pitching tents and laying out in their sleeping bags outside, watching the pig for them, while they headed indoors for a few drinks.
It was getting late, not much after 9pm, so the boys weren't all bedded down yet, in fact, they were out running around laughing with a bit of horse play, having a ball. Sylvia and Meribel had taken the girls to the video store and picked them up movies to watch through the evening. Sasha and Angela would be staying the night at Shanna's, sleeping on the floor and watching the rented movies until they dropped off to sleep. When the men came in, they'd chased the women off upstairs, laying claim to the basement and the bar. Derrick took one last look at himself in the bathroom mirror, washing his hands. They had music on upstairs. Crystal, Shanna, Sylvia, Meribel, Sheila and Vivian - all up there, drinking wine and coolers. Even Sylvia had a light wine, slowly sipping it as they laughed and talked.
BOMAW 7-9 Page 33
