“What are you doing here? Where are my clothes?” Charisse demanded.
“You don’t need your clothes, sister,” Cheyenne said. “You don’t need anything and once you give Parker the baby we don’t need you.”
“Chyna!” Charisse screamed terrified. “She knows! She knows!”
Warm hands clutched her ankle holding them down. Charisse saw Parker naked at the end of the bed smiling wickedly, with that twinkle in his eyes.
‘He’s helping her?! Oh Gawd, Oh Gawd! He’s helping her!’
“D-Don’t touch me!” Charisse panicked, feeling like she couldn’t take in enough air to help her breathe correctly. Bucking her body, her skin started to burn from where he touched and moved like lava all the way up her to her thighs, but inside of covering her like it used to, the feeling stopped there and pulsed throughout her pelvic. The room turned red as Charisse closed her eyes wanting the burning to stop.
Parker’s large body rose up to cover her and fear kept her from screaming anymore as she felt mesmerized at what he was going to do next.
Reaching up the push her hair from her face, he whispered in that sensuous voice, “You already gave me what I wanted, Charisse.” His eyes were dancing with that look of extreme happiness. The one that made her innards turn inside out like she had Mexican jumping beans instead of blood cells.
She found her voice and begged, “Don’t touch me! Please don’t touch me!”
Suddenly his voice became demanding, “Charisse, stop fighting me! I’m trying not to touch you!” Parker ordered.
“Noooooo!” she cried. “No, please.”
“Charisse! Wake up!”
***
Rochelle was over her with cloth gloves on and using the comforter to hold her down securely.
Charisse released a traumatized sob and frantically looked around the room. No one else was in there and she forced herself to relax.
“What was your dream?” Rochelle asked, slowly moving away.
“Nothing,” Charisse got up from the bed and went into the bathroom.
The nurse followed her with concern heavily on her face. “I can’t help you if you don’t let me.”
Angrily, facing her, Charisse snapped, “Who says I want to be helped? I never said I wanted to be saved.”
“I heard what your sister asked you to do,” Rochelle said calmly. “And I don’t think that you should go along with it.”
“You were eavesdropping in on our conversation?”
“I couldn’t help it because I was in the area, plus your welfare is my concern, mentally or physically.”
“What I choose to do is my business. You’re only my nurse, not my doctor or my psychologist.”
“Have you thought about what this could do for you? Or to you?”
Worried, Charisse asked, “How much did you hear?”
“Up to the point when your sister told you about her egg viability and told you that you’re their only hope. When she informed me she was taking you to see her doctor this morning, I came to the conclusion that you agreed to having the egg implanted.”
“So you didn’t hear me agree?” Or the fact that I get to kill myself when this is all over with?
Rochelle shook her head. “I felt I was being nosey and to be honest, I assumed you’d refuse knowing your instability.”
“Are you worried I’ll hurt the child?”
“Shouldn’t I, when you care so little about your own life?” Rochelle retaliated. “Or did your sister strike some sick deal to allow you to take your life?”
“I’m not a murderer,” she griped and then said evasively. “I’m their only hope. You heard her.” If she allowed Rochelle to believe that she had something to live for then the nurse’s guard would be down enough for Charisse to slip through the cracks. The nurse would approve the probation and leave Charisse alone.
“You’re sure about this, Charisse? This is what you want? You’ll be responsible for another life.”
“At least it’ll be a life other than my own,” Charisse said honestly.
This was enough to quell the nurse’s curiosity and apprehension. “Fine, Charisse. But at any point you don’t feel right, please let me know. Don’t allow your sister to use you without your permission.”
“I won’t,” she assured the nurse. “Not anymore.”
Rochelle walked away and Charisse sighed with relief.
***
Moving away from the doorway, Parker quietly went back to the library. Now that Chyna had no obligation to procreate, her “headaches” suddenly returned.
Parker had chosen to work rather than lie there, arguing with his wife over his husbandly rights.
Charisse’s screams had startled him. He rushed up to the third floor, but by then it was to see Charisse getting out of bed and going to her bathroom.
Neither woman noticed he was pressed against the wall by the stairs and could clearly hear their conversation. As he returned to his desk, he pondered Charisse’s declaration.
“At least it’ll be a life other than my own.”
Neither twin had ever shown self-sacrifice and he was really starting to believe Charisse had been cut from a totally different cloth.
He decided to find out a little more about Charisse’s past. She was starting to intrigue him.
***
“Why do you want to know?” Joanie asked suspiciously. Her mousey voice was always a source of annoyance for him, but this was information that he wanted to know.
Chyna nor Cheyenne had ever been forthcoming about information about Charisse.
“She’s staying with us and I guess she’s a little odd to me,” he said evasively.
Obviously the word “odd” must have sparked something in Joanie because her mouth opened like a floodgate. “Oh Charisse has always been odd. Blunt and odd and she was always laughing. No matter what her sisters did, or how her mother treated her. She’d laugh. Well, that was up until the accident. Her daddy dying kind of changed her, but before all that, she was always laughing.”
“Silly or just being a girl?” he questioned.
“She’d tell jokes or never took anything serious and I thought she’d get over what happened, but Cheyenne… I mean, well, she didn’t.”
“Cheyenne what?”
“Nothing, Parker. Charisse is just too serious now, but I guess seeing your Daddy dead like that at ten can be pretty dramatic for one person.”
“I guess so,” he agreed, wondering why she didn’t finish off with what she had been about to say regarding Cheyenne. “Did she have any friends?”
“No. Her father was real protective over her and she was sent to private school and he made sure she got dropped off and picked up. I’ve been around a long time and he was always ranting and raving ‘bout his little girl was gonna be president one day. Now Charisse was smart. Hell, smarter than the other two and they were five years older than her, but the twins weren’t book smart. Guess Charisse ain’t that smart though, with her trying to kill herself all the time.” Joanie snorted.
Parker did deign to answer her because he knew she was just trying to make an attempt at levity, but he found nothing funny.
She spoke quickly to fill in the dead air. “Their father was a character and he used to say he ain’t gonna let no monster touch her. If you ask me, he was trying to get away from his wife all the time.”
“Why?”
Chyna or Cheyenne rarely spoke of their mother and even more rarely spoke of their father - as if it was even taboo to say the man’s name.
“Don’t know, Parker. Just know he wasn’t right in the head. Guess that’s why he tried to kill himself.” Joanie sighed meekly. “Chyna used to say her Daddy wasn’t around cause he had another family, but I think she was joking cause none of them liked to be where they were. We all grew up in squalor. And their Daddy’s checks were used up on paying for the private school and bills.”
“Why’d you spend so much time over there with them?”
&nb
sp; “My life wasn’t any better, Parker. They was living in the laps of luxury compared to living with my family of eight brothers and me in a two bedroom apartment.” She snorted, but this meant her sinuses were kicking in and she was not being her usual negative self.
“Your parents didn’t care where you were?”
“My ma was glad she didn’t have another mouth to feed and I just fit right in with all the girls the Sheridan’s had.”
He’d known Chyna’s family had been poor, which was why she’d so easily succumbed to marrying him despite his looks. A man with a plant job was like gold to a woman living in squalor back in the day in Detroit. They would call them a man with benefits or a sponsor. He was just lucky enough to get Chyna to marry him.
“Thanks Joanie,” he said.
“Heard you broke it off with Cheyenne? Working your wiles through all the sisters?” she snarled.
Her negativity and stupidity was coming back to the surface.
“I broke it off with Cheyenne to save my marriage and I’m genuinely concerned about my sister-in-law. Have a good morning, Joanie.” He disconnected the call before she could ask more questions. More than likely, big mouth would tell Chyna and Cheyenne he’d asked questions about Charisse.
Chyna wouldn’t be suspicious about it. She probably wouldn’t care.
But Cheyenne would be. It was a good thing he had broke it off with her.
It had taken him two days to get up the nerve to call Joanie since Charisse’s bad dream and tomorrow night, Chyna had planned “the event.” Every time Parker thought about it, his gut seemed to lock up and his head hurt.
But even as he now thought about the conversation with Joanie that morning, while waiting on Jaelen to come back to the office, he was bothered over the information that the friend had revealed to him.
Could Cheyenne and Chyna have been so jealous of their sister they tried to hurt her or even drive her crazy? It would make sense as to why they disregarded her as such. And why did the father love Charisse so much he left his entire estate to her? And if the mother had treated Charisse so bad, why did she leave all her money to her and not a dime to Cheyenne or Chyna?
It was frustrating to know the only persons who could give him answers were the sisters and none of them seemed like they wanted to speak.
“You’re thinking too hard about something,” Jaelen said.
Parker checked the time and saw it was near lunch. “Was Thaddeus going to meet us over there?”
“Thad said he couldn’t make it, but Ethan confirmed.”
Parker smiled. He hadn’t caught up with Ethan in a long while.
“Are you ready?” Jaelen grumbled.
Following Jaelen to his car, Parker tried to push away the annoyance of everything that concerned his sister-in-law out of his head, but it was very difficult. They arrived in downtown Detroit near the New Center Area at the St. Royal Hotel. Jaelen paid a valet and they met Ethan in the dining room. A private setting was out just for them.
Ethan was a white man, same age as Parker at thirty-five. He owned a construction and home improvement company that had formed a niche market in Detroit servicing landlords with single women. Since this was a growing niche, Ethan’s business had boomed and he often attributed his success to his second wife, which was his ex-wife’s daughter. That scandal foreshadowed the fact that he was white and Nicole was black, plus he was almost fifteen years older than his new wife.
Ethan asked immediately after greeting Parker, “When’d you stop wearing glasses?”
“How’s Nicole?” Parker asked at the same time.
With dancing green intense eyes and a handsome face, Ethan chuckled, “My wife’s well and loves the fact that you give her so much control over the laundromat.”
Without Chyna knowing, Parker had been buying laundromats all over the city. Nicole’s uncle had lied about the ownership, but had come to agreeable terms with Nicole in order to obtain the business.
Her laundromat was one of the few he had to monitor to make sure it was running well and this year, Parker was planning to expand upon his business by opening offices on land Nicole had sold him next to her Laundromat, then lease space to other business to create a lucrative shopping center in that area.
“I stopped wearing them about a while ago when I discovered lasik. Damn bifocals were a pain in the ass,” Parker snipped.
“He probably got tired of me talking about his blind ass,” Jaelen grumbled.
Ethan chuckled and Parker only cut Jaelen an annoyed look.
The biannual lunch was for these friends to catch up with one another. Thaddeus Newman, who was missing, was one of the first African American construction companies to get a large casino contract in the City of Detroit and he was also happily married with children.
“You’re going to tell us why you looked so bothered?” Jaelen questioned after they all placed an order for something light to eat.
“Don’t we have other things to talk about?” Parker asked uneasily.
“Well, unless you want to know how my son has waged mental war upon his teachers by tormenting them then there’s nothing else to speak about in my life. Kim feels this is something I need to handle with him,” Jaelen said, but there was this wicked gleam of amusement on his face. “I find it funny.”
“Of course you would,” Ethan said. “He acts just like you. I still don’t see why you didn’t change his name to junior once you found out he was yours.”
“Kimberly would have let me, but the boy had some initial resentment. It didn’t matter though to me,” Jaelen responded with a shrug. “Most times we call him that as a nickname anyway now or just to annoy the hell out of him.”
“As for me,” Ethan spoke up. “Nic’s expecting and she’s just adorable. But knowing your situation, Parker, I don’t think it’s fair to wipe your nose in it.”
“Well, things have changed slightly,” Parker said hopefully. “My sister-in-law agreed to carry our fertilized egg.” Of course he wasn’t going to tell the real details, all the while he spoke of it, he could feel heat from Jaelen’s eyes.
When he was done explaining, both men were quiet for a moment until Ethan announced, “Aphephobia or something like that. I believe there’s another spelling or saying for it, but both words mean the same.”
“What?” Jaelen and Parker asked together.
Ethan explained, “She has a phobia of touch. It’s all mental, you know.”
“I figured something like that already,” Parker said.
Jaelen’s look stayed skeptical. “How did Chyna get her sister to agree?”
“She said Charisse understands our desire.“
Cutting him off, Jaelen growled, “Bullshit.”
He said it loud enough for others around them to stop what they were doing to look at their table. Jaelen could care less and continued to talk. “She cares nothing about her life. Why should she care for your feelings or the life of another?”
“She could be changing,” Ethan said. “Her stint at the facility was longer than the other ones, right, Parker?”
“Selfish people never change,” Jaelen said. “I should know, I’m the king of it.”
He ignored Jaelen’s remark and responded to Ethan. “Yes, Ethan and I spoke with her doctor and he said we needed to handle her with care, but he seemed hopeful that they had gotten through.” Parker reminded Jaelen by saying, “Joanie said that since the incident Charisse had become a different person.”
“I heard you when you said that,” Jaelen responded. “She was just a selfish happy person. Now she’s just a depressed selfish person, which makes her more lethal. I really don’t think this is a good idea. You’re jeopardizing the life of a child, Parker - an innocent life, which she cares nothing about.”
“What do you suppose I do?” Parker asked in frustration. “Tie her down for nine months?”
“That’s one idea, but if you want to be humanitarian about it, then make her wear mittens and lock her in a padd
ed room.”
“You’re cruel, Jae,” Ethan said. “Why can’t you just ever think there’s good inside of any woman?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Parker said not giving Jaelen a chance to steal his joy with his acidity. “We’re doing it.”
“And when I say I told you so, don’t come looking for a sympathetic ear,” Jaelen snarled.
“As if you’ve ever had one,” Parker rebutted.
Ethan chuckled.
Chapter 10
“There’s been a change of plan,” Chyna said that afternoon when Rochelle had left to do some errands.
Chyna had brought lunch up to Charisse’s room, because under the rules Charisse couldn’t be in the kitchen, while anyone was cooking.
“You’re not going to use me?” Charisse asked hopefully.
Chyna ignored her sarcasm. “Rochelle has to attend a meeting tomorrow morning and not this evening as we’d planned to initiate the process.”
“To procreate? We’re moving up the schedule?” Charisse asked for clarification.
“You’re being sarcastic.”
“I just like to be reminded that I sold my soul to one of Lucifer’s daughters.”
Chyna stiffened. “Haven’t heard that term in a while.” She whistled. “Daddy’s ghost been talking to you?”
Charisse picked at the food in front of her.
“I’m trying to be nice.”
“I know,” Charisse said. “To get what you want.”
“I didn’t force you, Charisse. I just asked and you agreed to help.”
“I never said I was going to make this easy on you, Chyna.”
Chyna picked up the plate and plastic eating utensils. “You weren’t hungry to begin with.” She started to storm out the room.
“That’s the ticket, Chyna. Starve me to death.”
Her sister’s shoulder slump in defeat as her steps faltered at the doorway. Turning back to Charisse, Chyna said, “I don’t know how to be nice. None of us do, but I don’t want to lose him.”
“You don’t want to lose him or you just don’t want her to win?”
“How could you say something like that, Charisse?”
His Substitute Wife... My Sister Book One Page 8
