They were seated in a booth at the Rainforest Café in downtown Chicago. The lights in the dining room were dim and candles were lit on all of the tables in the restaurant.
Starr had cut Ginger’s hair in a short feather style. It was tapered at the neck. It gave Ginger a more seductive yet sleek look. She smiled. “Thank you. And you are exceptionally handsome.”
He looked at Ginger’s half-eaten meal. “Did you enjoy your dinner?” On Ginger’s plate was the remainder of chicken Alfredo with tomatoes and broccoli.
“It was delicious. Any type of pasta with Alfredo sauce is my favorite.” She saw that Joseph’s plate was bare of any morsels. “I see you really liked your barbecue ribs.”
Joseph leaned back against the seat. “You’re making me fat. You know I sit behind a camera every day. Some folks say the camera adds ten pounds.”
Ginger laughed out loud. “I’m making you fat? Who is the one always wanting to go out to eat?”
“You never turn down my invitations. I have yet to hear you say, ‘Joseph, instead of us going out to dinner, how about we stay in. I could make you a bologna sandwich.’”
Ginger laughed out loud. “First of all bologna is for suckas. And second, I ain’t nobody’s fool. If a man is willing to woo me, you best believe that I’m gonna take full advantage.” Being with Joseph was the closest Ginger had ever come to feeling as though she was in a meaningful relationship.
Ginger rubbed her hand across the back of her new haircut. “Besides this girl is getting used to being treated like a queen.”
For months Joseph had charmed Ginger. Because she had shared with him the troubled relationship she had with Ronald, Joseph was determined to make Ginger feel special, safe, and secure.
He cocked his head to the side and looked across the table at her. “Is that how I treat you, Ginger? Like a queen?”
“Yes.” Ginger paused for a moment. “Can I tell you something, Joseph?”
“You can always tell me anything. What’s on your mind?”
“I just wanna say that—”
Ginger’s words were interrupted when a gang of waiters and waitresses started to sing the happy birthday song to a man seated in a booth behind her. Ginger looked over her shoulder and smiled when the man had blown out candles on a small cake the gang had brought to his table.
“Aw, that’s so nice,” Ginger mumbled.
“What were you going to say?” Joseph was very interested in what Ginger had started to say to him. He didn’t want her to forget her thoughts.
Ginger connected her eyes with Joseph’s. “I just wanted to say that these past five months have been wonderful for me.”
“For me as well,” Joseph admitted. “I love every moment that we spend together. You are a breath of fresh air.”
As usual Joseph was blowing Ginger’s mind with his compliments. His words were the complete opposite of “You’re pathetic,” or “You disgust me,” or “I’m sick of you,” which had been spoken in her ears for years.
“You talk so good,” she said dreamily.
“I mean what I say and I say what I mean. You’re easy to love, Ginger. And I do love you. Very much.”
Ginger was stunned at what Joseph had just said. No man had ever uttered those three words to her. There were a few times in the past five months when Ginger felt that Joseph was on the verge of saying them but he never did. It never crossed Ginger’s mind that she was worthy of receiving a man’s love. For so long the enemy had convinced Ginger that she was useless and incapable of being treated the way a woman should. The three words were overwhelming and Ginger’s emotions crept up on her. She placed her face in her hands and cried.
Ginger’s reaction wasn’t what Joseph had expected. He imagined Ginger shouting out and throwing her arms around his neck when he revealed his true feelings for her. He rose from his seat and joined Ginger on her side of the booth. He put his arms around her shoulder. “Hey, hey, hey. Why the tears? Was it something I said?” he asked half jokingly.
Ginger wiped her eyes and looked at him. The way she behaved must have proved to Joseph that she was the biggest nutcase on the earth. “I’m so sorry, Joseph. I’m behaving like a total idiot.”
“The last thing I want to do is see you cry.”
“It’s just that what you and I have is foreign to me. And I love you too, Joseph. I really do. But coming from an abusive relationship causes me to always doubt your feelings. I feel like my life is a maze of emotions and I can’t seem to find my way out. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”
“Of course I do. I understand that you’ve never been loved by a man. Is that a fair statement?”
More tears fell onto Ginger’s cheeks. “It’s an absolutely fair statement. And it’s sad because, having not been loved before, I don’t know how to receive it from you.”
It wasn’t until that moment, when Joseph sat next to Ginger, and heard those words, that he fully understood how deeply she was scorned. “What did that creep do to you?”
He understood why Ginger never wanted him to walk directly behind her. Often times Ronald would strike Ginger from behind when she wasn’t expecting it. Ginger made sure that Joseph was ahead of her at all times.
“Ronald was the devil. He was evil,” she said. “I’m so glad that I had the courage to press charges against him for what he did to me. He won’t be getting out of prison anytime soon.”
Joseph was angry at Ronald for placing Ginger in that state of mind. He wanted to pay Ronald a visit and show him what it felt like to be punched, kicked, and battered. He took Ginger’s hand inside his. “I have a mother and three sisters. And I wouldn’t think twice about killing a man if he put his hands on any of them. My father raised me the old-school way. He taught me to be a man. A man who protects his woman, his family. It’s my duty, Ginger, to love you like you deserved to be loved.”
Ginger looked into Joseph’s eyes. “I wish I could’ve met your father. It sounds like he was a great man.”
“He was. May God rest his soul. My mother and sisters were the apples of his eye. And that’s what you are to me, Ginger. My apple.”
Ginger smiled so much that evening her cheekbones were becoming sore. It felt so wonderful to be in the presence of a man who truly cherished her. At that moment Ginger knew that Joseph had been sent from God. And she was no longer going to allow the enemy to keep her from accepting her blessing. Ronald was in her past and Ginger was going to leave him there. From that moment on Ginger would embrace her future. She was open and ready to receive Joseph and all of the love he had to offer her. She wrapped her arms around Joseph’s neck and kissed him.
The manager of the restaurant approached their table. “Evening, folks.”
Joseph struggled with himself to pull his lips away from Ginger’s. “Evening.”
“The restaurant is closing in fifteen minutes.” He saw Ginger’s plate was half full and pointed to it. “Would you like a takeout container for that?”
“Yes. And a slice of your key lime pie to go, please.” Ginger was in a good mood. She felt dessert was in order.
The manager smiled. “You got it.” He walked away.
Ginger yawned then laid her head on Joseph’s shoulder.
“You’re not tired, are you?”
Ginger looked at her wristwatch. “It’s nearly midnight. I had an early start this morning.”
“But the night is still young.” He wasn’t ready to part from Ginger’s company.
The waiter was back at their table with Ginger’s dessert and a small Styrofoam container. He set them both on the table along with the bill. “Thanks for choosing the Rainforest Café to dine this evening. Please don’t make this visit your last.”
“Everything was wonderful,” Ginger said.
* * *
Thirty minutes after Joseph had paid their dinner bill he and Ginger were walking, arm in arm, along the Magnificent Mile in downtown Chicago. They window-shopped and looked at all of the latest fash
ions in the showcase windows of Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, and the many other stores that donned overdressed mannequins.
Ginger exhaled then said, “This is the best night of my life.” So this is what being in love feels like, she thought. It was wonderful and finally she was happy. Ginger closed her eyes and silently thanked God for sending Joseph to her. And she was especially thankful that Joseph’s late model Mercedes-Benz coupe wouldn’t turn into a pumpkin at midnight. Her fairy tale was real.
* * *
Joseph drove his car into Ginger’s driveway, then got out and walked around to the passenger side and opened the door for her. He grabbed her hand to help her stand. Immediately Joseph pulled Ginger into his arms, held her tight, and spoke the words, “I love you, Ginger. For better or worse, for richer or poorer, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, ’til death do us part.”
Ginger’s knees buckled. She pulled away from Joseph and looked into his eyes. “Joseph, I—”
He silenced Ginger by placing a finger on her lips. “Shhh, don’t say anything. Just go inside.”
Ginger obediently walked to her front door and inserted her key into the lock. Before she turned the knob, she looked around and saw Joseph still standing by the passenger door looking at her. She started to say something to him but he stopped her.
“Just go inside, Ginger.”
Ginger turned the knob and went inside. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it. “Oh, my God,” she said. “What just happened?” She hurried to the telephone on the cocktail table and dialed Portia’s number. When Portia answered Ginger told her to hold on and then dialed Celeste’s number.
Anthony answered on the first ring. “Celeste is asleep, Ginger.”
“I don’t care, wake her up. Trust me, Tony, she doesn’t wanna miss this.”
In the next ten seconds Ginger and Portia heard Celeste’s groggy voice. “Hello?”
“Y’all ain’t gonna believe what just happened,” Ginger said excitedly.
“What?” Portia asked.
Ginger screamed into the telephone. “He married me in my driveway!”
“What color are we wearing?” Celeste and Portia asked at the same time.
Chapter 13
In the Home Stretch
Friday, Celeste’s last day at work before she took her maternity leave, was an emotional one. When she arrived at her assigned teller station, she was surprised to see pink and blue paper-cut booties decorating the counter top. The word CONGRATULATIONS in mint green and yellow letters was spelled out across the wall behind her desktop computer.
For most of the morning, Celeste’s fellow coworkers rubbed and patted her large belly every chance they got. Everyone wished her, her husband, and her new baby well. Early on in Celeste’s pregnancy the senior mother of her church had instilled a belly-rubbing phobia in her. She told Celeste to be careful of whom she allowed to touch her pregnant belly. That not everyone would be happy for her. She convinced Celeste that some folks could possibly rub her belly and whisper horrible things under their breath to try to put a root on her unborn child.
Ever since Celeste heard that advice she flinched each time someone, especially a stranger, touched her belly. Anthony told Celeste that roots were mythical and the mothers of the church needed to get saved.
It was almost 2:00 p.m. Friday and not only were Celeste’s ankles swollen to the size of tree stumps, the top portion of her back was aching due to the heaviness of her enlarged breasts. She had just come from a fifteen-minute break when an elderly Caucasian man approached her window.
“Can I have change for two hundred dollars?”
“Absolutely,” Celeste responded with a forced smile. She looked forward to the next three hours passing by; then she could go home and wait for her baby’s arrival. Celeste made sure the two hundred-dollar bills the man had given her weren’t counterfeit before giving the man six twenty dollar bills, four ten dollar bills, six five dollar bills, and ten one dollar bills.
After the man patiently waited for Celeste to count the money and lay it on the counter in front of him, he spoke. “I want it all in coins.”
Although it wasn’t likely, Celeste thought she hadn’t heard him correctly. She looked the man directly in his eyes. “Excuse me?”
“I need fifty-six dollars in quarters, sixty-four dollars in nickels, thirty-one dollars in dimes, and the rest I want in pennies.”
The pain in Celeste’s back kicked in overdrive. She shifted her weight from one tree stump to the other. “Sir, I don’t have that much change in my drawer. Can I give you all singles?”
“No, I gotta have coins,” he stated firmly.
Celeste massaged the back of her neck and exhaled. Lord, you better check me right now ’cause I’m getting ready to snap. She forced herself to stay calm. Up to that moment Celeste was proud of herself that she had gotten through the day without incident. “Sir, as I’ve stated before, I don’t have that much change in my drawer.” Celeste could have gone to the vault and gotten the change to fulfill the man’s request but she was being lazy. She just didn’t want to.
“Isn’t this a bank?” the man asked loudly.
The teller on the left side of Celeste stopped what she was doing and looked at them. She watched as Celeste stretched her arm across the counter to point her finger in the man’s face. The teller pressed the alarm button to alert the manager.
“Yes, it is a bank. But who do you think got the time that it takes to count out two hundred dollars in coins?” Celeste asked the man.
The man raised his voice an octave higher. “Get your finger out of my face. It’s your job to give me what I ask for. I pay your salary.”
Apparently the man thought by raising his voice, he could intimidate Celeste. But she wasn’t the least bit fazed. Celeste sang first soprano and could hang with the big dogs.
Just as she was ready to go beyond the highest key the most expensive piano had, her immediate supervisor was at her side. “Is there a problem here?” he asked Celeste.
“Look, Maurice, you serve this ignorant, illiterate fool because I’m not doing it.” Celeste slammed her cash drawer shut and walked away. She went into the employees’ lounge and lay on a chaise chair. Ten minutes later, Maurice came and sat at her feet.
“How many times do I have to tell you that the customers are always right?”
Celeste exhaled. “Maurice, I was not about to stand there and count out two hundred dollars in change. The man was ignorant and illiterate.”
“Do you know who that ignorant, illiterate man was?”
“Nope, and I don’t wanna know.”
“Well, I’ll tell you anyway. He’s the rabbi at our CEO’s synagogue .”
Was that supposed to mean something to Celeste? “I don’t care if he was the pope. He was ignorant and I didn’t want to deal with him.”
Maurice massaged his temples. He didn’t feel like dealing with Celeste and her constant mood swings. Ever since she announced her pregnancy Celeste had become unbearable to work with. In the past eight months not a week had gone by without a customer complaint to Maurice about Celeste’s attitude. If she wasn’t yelling at the customers, she was behaving in a hostile manner to her fellow coworkers.
A customer had filed a complaint one morning that, only twenty minutes after the bank had opened for business, Celeste placed the NEXT WINDOW placard on her work station as soon as the customer stepped to up to Celeste. Celeste had spoken extremely nasty toward the customer and stated that she was taking a break.
And Maurice would never forget the day when, at five months pregnant, Celeste had threatened to do bodily harm to a customer. The customer had asked for two cashier’s checks in the amount of one hundred dollars each. To save herself some time Celeste presented the woman with a single cashier’s check for $200. After going back and forth with the woman on why it was unnecessary to waste a cashier’s check, Maurice came to Celeste’s station and ordered her to void the
checks and give the customer exactly what she wanted. Fit to be tied that her lunch hour would be delayed, Celeste looked at the woman and said, “Don’t let me catch you on the street.” Maurice sent Celeste home, without pay, for the remainder of the day and she was forced to endure a five-day suspension.
Maurice knew that Celeste’s pregnancy was nothing short of a miracle. Over the years she had shared with her fellow coworkers that she longed to become a mother, and how she prayed daily that God would bless her womb. Maurice had authorized Celeste’s days off so that she could attend countless doctors visits. According to the bank’s rules and regulations, Celeste should have been terminated from her duties long ago for poor work performance and for conduct unbecoming of an employee. Maurice had shown pity on Celeste and gave her chance after chance to correct her attitude.
But pointing her finger and disrespecting a rabbi, Maurice couldn’t overlook. And because it was the chief executive officer’s rabbi, Maurice knew he had no choice but do what needed to be done. “This is your last day before you take your maternity leave, right?”
“Yep, and I can’t wait ’til five o’clock.”
“Why don’t you go ahead and call it a day? We’ll see you in eight weeks.”
Maurice didn’t have to tell Celeste twice. She immediately called a taxicab. Forty-five minutes later she was at home lying across her bed in a comatose-like sleep.
* * *
The next morning Anthony woke Celeste at seven o’clock with a soft kiss on her cheek. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”
Celeste lazily turned from her side to lie on her back. She yawned and stretched. “Morning.”
“What’s on your agenda today?” Anthony asked.
“Portia and Ginger are finally taking me to register at Baby World for the shower. What are you doing today?”
“Pastor Ricky Harris is speaking at a men’s prayer breakfast this morning. I’m going to pick him up and head over to Alpha Omega Baptist Church on the west side. Can I trust you to take your pills at one o’clock?”
Celeste watched Anthony slip into a shirt and tie. “If I remember,” she said nonchalantly.
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