BREATHLESS 3
By Shani Greene-Dowdell
Prologue
Jacob
Recap
After seeing Destiny and Ms. Clara onto their flight to Atlanta, I felt the need to do something that would take my mind off the shocking events that occurred at dinner. I dressed in a pair of shorts, tee and running shoes and went for a run on the trail surrounding my parents’ property. My feet hit the pavement in earnest as I thought about Mom inviting Justine to have dinner with us. It was a spit in the face to both me and the woman I loved. I had never felt so disrespected by my mother in all my life. All hope of the two most important women in my life having an amicable relationship was squashed after that stunt.
But as it turned out, being spiteful towards Destiny was the least of Mom’s worries. After Ms. Clara’s spirited slap to my father’s jaw and him rushing off behind her for a hug, we found out Ms. Clara had been the long, lost love of my father’s life. And their past relationship wasn’t nearly as potent as the way they peered into each other’s eyes upon reconnecting. Dad looked at her as if all the years they were apart simply vanished.
When Ms. Clara rounded the dining room table and stood in front of Dad, I could see him transport back to 1975. He looked like a young chap who’d just spotted his first love. It was remarkable to watch and a train wreck at the same time.
As I finished off my third mile and headed toward the house, I felt a little better, but I still had so much tension in my body. The last thing Destiny and I needed was another layer of stress added to our relationship. My father admitting to loving her mother all the years he was supposed to be loving my mother was definitely an added stress.
Everything I considered the norm for my family had been shattered in a matter of seconds. Don’t get me wrong, I always wanted more out of a relationship than what my parents shared. I desired a deeper connection with the woman I loved. As I thought back to when I was a young boy, I remembered that Mom and Dad never displayed a great level of passion for one another.
After observing my parent’s lackluster bond, I knew Justine and I would be passing lovers. She and I had met at a crossroad, when we both needed someone. However, the initial protective feelings soon passed for me and I was bound and determined not to spend my life tied to a woman I didn’t love. I had just hoped my parents, in their own way, had a stronger bond that couldn’t be broken.
I entered the kitchen and got a bottle of Aquadeco out the fridge. I tossed back the cool liquid as I thought about how passionately in love I was with Destiny. I smiled as I thought of how I was consumed with fire, whenever I was with her. We had the type of love I always wanted. The ember that ignited when I met her outside of Tazi’s eatery in Atlanta was now an all-consuming flame. No amount of water would ever be able to put it out. No weapons formed against us would ever be able to change my love for the woman my heart belonged to for all of eternity.
The big smile on my face was replaced with a frown as I looked at the stairwell leading to Mom’s bedroom. I had to address Mom sooner rather than later. It was past time we had yet another talk about the bullshit she kept pulling with Justine. I couldn’t understand why she kept pulling for Justine when that was not who I wanted. Either way, I needed to get her to understand this was her final chance to pick a side.
I tossed the empty bottle in the trash and took the winding stairs to Mom’s room. I creaked open her door and peeked in. Normally, at this hour, she would be up writing out her list of things to do the next day, but she was lying in the dark with her head buried underneath her covers when I entered the room.
“Mom, are you awake?”
She didn’t answer, but her quivers let me know she was awake. Her covers rose and fell in rapid motion showing her distress over the evening.
“Mom, we need to talk.” Upon hearing my voice, her cry filled the room with solemnness. “Mom, I’m pissed that you would invite Destiny to dinner and then have Justine there. I told Destiny you were ready to accept her and then you pull this? Were you trying to make me look like a fool this whole time?”
Again, she didn’t say anything. She just pulled the covers tighter and sobbed her pain. It was obvious she needed some time to sort out her feelings, but after the way she treated Destiny I didn’t care. It was mighty convenient for her to be in her feelings after causing my fiancé grief.
The only thing stopping me from digging in deeper was that she was dealing with Dad’s reunion with Ms. Clara. But she needed to spend an equal amount of time contemplating what she’d done to our relationship. We were on the verge of a very strained relationship as mother and son.
“It’s pretty damn convenient for you to lay here and act like a victim, Mom. What you put out in this world is what you get back,” I said as her sobs became louder. “You know what, fuck this! I’m going to drop it for tonight, but we are going to talk tomorrow,” I assured her, as I closed the door behind me. I hoped by morning the woman who was brave enough to stand by Justine’s side in the courtroom in Atlanta and was conniving enough to invite her to dinner last night would show up. I didn’t want to talk to the weak and feeble woman lying in that bed tonight.
Next, I headed to Dad’s study. When I entered, he too was sitting in darkness, except for a small lamp burning on his desk.
“Hi Son,” he said, as I sat in the plush burgundy chaise in front of his desk.
“Do you care to explain what just happened?” I asked.
There was weariness in his eyes as he looked up at me. He picked up a crystal glass filled with brown liquor and took a healthy gulp before replying to my question. “You’re a smart man, trusted to head a billion-dollar company. Do you really need an explanation of what happened, Jacob?”
“No, I understand what happened. The fact that you and Ms. Clara had a thing for each other is clear. I just want you to tell me where your mind is right now. I want to hear from the horse’s mouth why our family is about to go belly up.”
“How do you feel about Destiny?” he asked, dropping his pen on his desk.
“You’re answering my question with a question.”
“Yes.”
“Alright, I love her,” I answered.
“Is that all you can say about the woman you’re about to marry? ‘Alright, I love her?’” he asked.
“I can say a lot about her.”
“Well, let’s hear it.”
“Hell, I breathe her in when I wake up in the morning. Her essence fills the air wherever I am, whether she is near or far. Being with her has made me come alive. She’s on my mind all the time, morning, noon, and night. My body rages for her today the same way it did when we first met. I could say more, but that’s the gist of how I feel.”
“And you’re marrying her because she does all these things to and for you?”
“That and the fact that I couldn’t imagine going back to life without her. In truth Dad, I couldn’t live without her even if I tried.”
“That’s very good, Son. Now let me ask you one more question. The way you feel about Destiny, do you think forty years will change that?”
“I’m confident no amount of time will change the way I feel about her, even a week without her drives me up the wall,” I said remembering the time after the attack, when I couldn’t see her. To imagine forty years without her was torture to my soul. I looked my Dad square in the eyes and asked, “Are you saying you feel the same way about Ms. Clara?”
“You’re damned right that’s what I’m saying.” Dad ran his fingers through his hair. “Does it make me feel good to know I’m a married man whose heart has been owned by another woman for al
l these years? No. But it’s the way I feel and I can’t deny the way I feel.”
“This is deep, Dad. You admitting this is going to change everything for our family.”
“I know and I’m sorry, but what you feel for Destiny multiplied by forty is how long and hard I’ve loved Clara Baker.”
I couldn’t believe Dad was talking about the same woman who’d been evil enough to conspire with Destiny’s ex-husband, Montie, to keep me away from Destiny when she was in the hospital. The woman who’d been a thorn in my side during a tough time. Then it hit me. Clara didn’t want Destiny with me because of her relationship with my father. She had known who I was before I met her at the hospital.
“Back in the seventies, she was my heart,” Dad said, interrupting my thoughts. “I thought those feelings had wasted away, until I laid eyes on her again. Clara was a feisty little thing, but she was as sweet as they came when she was with me. I think I feel even stronger for her now.”
“But how can you be sure? Forty years is a lot of time. People change over the years. I think you need to take some time to get to know her and her quirks, before you jump ship.”
Start here “Son, had I had enough heart years ago, I’m one hundred percent sure you and Destiny would be siblings. I would have been with Clara, exactly the woman she is today. I’m just glad you had the courage to follow your heart, which strangely enough led you to where I left mine.”
“Mom’s heart is breaking right now,” I said, knowing some of the heartache she brought upon herself.
“I assure you that if your mother’s heart is breaking, it’s not for the reasons you think.”
“You have to do something to make this right, Dad. She may be hard around the edges, but she loves you. She’s still my mother and, no matter what she does, I don’t want to see her hurt,” I said realizing my parents may be at the end of their marital rope.
Dad pressed the button on the lamp twice to bring extra light into the room. There was a haggard look on his face. “I know you love her. I love her too. But we can’t keep excusing the hurtful things she does. Your mother is a hurt person who hurts others, and I think that hurt stems from feeling trapped in a loveless marriage for almost forty years. She has hopes and dreams that she didn’t follow, too. I think they’ve caught up with her and made her bitter.”
“Well, I never heard Mom talk about anything but proper etiquette, dinner parties and galas. I imagined her dream was to be Queen Elizabeth or something,” I said on a slight laugh, as I remembered Mom’s elegant tendencies. “What dreams did she have other than being elegant?”
“Much like my parents, Tammy’s parents had two things they wanted most. They wanted her to marry someone of the opposite sex and of the white race. So, when Papa Turner hired her father as an engineer for Turner Enterprises back in 1965, I think he started planning my future family then. It didn’t help that Tammy’s father went on to create ground-breaking construction tools and methods that made Turner Enterprises lots of money. Since my mother and Tammy’s mother were good friends and our fathers were in the same business, it was just natural to pair us together.”
“Well, did you want to date Mom?” I asked.
“She was fun to date, but I wanted a full life experience. I couldn’t see myself being tied down to a handpicked wife, at the time. I wanted to see what the world had to offer. So, I talked my parents into letting me go to college at Wellmington, where I could find my own identity.”
“Wellmington, the community college? I thought you went to Yale.”
“I did, but your old man went to Wellmington first. It was back in the days when Wellmington was a university. It didn’t become a community college until it reopened in 1996.”
“I can’t believe Papa Turner was fine with you going to Wellmington.” I said in disbelief. I remembered my grandfather being adamant about me going to Yale, when I graduated high school. And just the thought of the rundown Wellmington buildings probably made Papa Turner cringe.
“Yeah, Papa didn’t think the college was up to the par for his son. Nonetheless, it was where I wanted to go and I was adamant, so eventually he agreed. I had to promise I would keep a 4.0 GPA and take my graduate classes at a school of his choosing though.”
“I assume you met Clara at Wellmington?”
“And fell so crazy in love with her,” Dad said as he thought back to the day he fell for Ms. Clara. I watched my father stare longingly at the ceiling, as if he were remembering every moment exactly as it was. “We were inseparable,” he finally added.
“I see,” I said before pausing. “But what were Mom’s hopes and dreams? What is it that she left unfulfilled?” I asked, in attempt to bring him back to the reality that he had a wounded wife sleeping under this same roof.
“Your Mom wanted to dance.”
“Dance?”
“She wanted to go to Broadway and dance on the grandest stages alongside the greatest dancers.”
“Did she ever make it to Broadway, at least for an audition?”
“No, her father thought her dancing around the country was the silliest thing he’d ever heard. He told her story after story about women who left the south headed north or out west looking for fame. He discouraged her from pursuing her dancing dream, told her to find a good man who could afford to take care of her, and to put her energy toward being the best housewife, and that’s what she did.”
It was disheartening to hear the pain in my father’s voice as he spoke about Mom’s unfulfilled dreams. “So, your heart was with another woman and Mom’s heart was on Broadway?” I asked, with the full understanding that my golden-aged parents had yet to live the lives they truly desired.
“Yes.”
Upon hearing his admission, I was glad I was a man who went after what he wanted and grabbed it by the horns. I couldn’t imagine suppressing the overwhelming feeling that came over me when I first saw Destiny walking out of Tazi’s in Atlanta. I very well could have walked on by and minded my own business. I could’ve ignored the insatiable draw that pulled me to her, but I went after what I wanted and I didn’t give a damn who knew it. If I’d walked on by, I wouldn’t have experienced some of my best moments of my life.
“How did you make it so many years with neither of you fulfilling your dreams? I don’t get it.”
“Your mother and I, we had some happy years. We adjusted our dreams and created a new norm, which included making a fortune for our family business and, of course, creating you,” Dad said with a smile. “You have always been a bright spot in my life. I’ve always loved you, Son.”
“I love you too, Dad. But I don’t want to see Mom hurt. She has given her life to this marriage. It’s all she knows.”
“I’ve considered that, just as I’ve considered many other things. Just because we spent our lives making unfulfilled investments doesn’t obligate us to continue making deposits in that same account for the rest of our lives. It’s never too late to truly live, and that’s what seeing Clara made me realize.”
“I wish I had a comeback for that, but that is a good point,” I said on a sigh. “I support you in whatever you decide.”
“Thanks, Son, because how I feel is final. Things may seem weird at first, it may hurt even, but it’s for the best,” Dad said standing up. “Now, come on, let’s go get some rest. Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our lives.”
Weariness shadowed his face as we walked out of his study, but there was also a glow of relief starting to shine through. I felt a little better after talking to him. I still didn’t want to see my parents split over Dad being in love with my soon to be mother-in-law.
Chapter 1
Jacob
After the Love is Gone
When I walked into the setting room the next morning after that horrible dinner debacle, the air of bitterness was all around Mom. One by one, she snapped at the maid, hollered at the cook, and was about to tell the gardener to redo the entire flower garden before I stepped in. Mom was taking n
o prisoners as she popped off one order after the next.
“Mickey, I don’t know what you were thinking when you planted my rose bushes so close to the road. I want you to go out there and take every last one of them up and make sure you redo the grass surrounding them too. And do not make my lawn look like a mess! Do you hear me?” Mom said.
“But Ma’am, you’re the one who told me…” Mickey started to say in his defense.
“Do you hear me?” Mom screamed at the top of her lungs, shutting him up before turning her fury to Greta. “And Greta, you know I have allergies!”
“Greta, Mickey, it’s been a rough morning for Mom. You two can go back to your regular duties and we’ll let you know if we need any other special duties done today,” I said nodding in their direction.
“Yes, Sir,” Greta and Mickey said in unison as they eased out of the room.
“Thanks for all you do,” I said with a forced smile, before turning my attention to Mom.
“You have no right to interrupt me! I am the lady of this house and I know how I want things done,” Mom ranted.
“Yeah, but there is no reason for you to talk to Mickey like that and Greta has been nothing but kind to you all these years. She doesn’t deserve your wrath either.”
“If they want to keep their stinky little jobs, they will do what I say and when the hell I say it, Jacob.” Mom stormed toward the doorway and screamed Greta’s name. “Greta, get back in here now!”
Greta hadn’t made it completely out of sight, so she stopped in her tracks and looked back at me. I waved her on and she sped off toward the kitchen and dashed around the corner.
“Greta! I know you heard me. If you don’t get back in here this instance.”
“Stop it, Mom. You are taking your anger out on the wrong people.”
“No, I’m not. You should see the dust I found on the baseboard behind the sofa, and she knows I have bad allergies! Get back in here, Greta,” she said before turning her nose up in the air with distaste.
Breathless 3: In Love With An Alpha Billionaire Page 1
