“Hi darling. I was just getting ready to call you,” she said in a tone that was less than enthusiastic.
“Oh yeah? What’s up?”
“I’m sorry Cab, but I’m afraid that I have to back out tonight,” she said woefully.
“Why? Is there something wrong?”
“Oh, it’s no big deal really. It’s just that I didn’t bring anything to wear for a dinner party, because I didn’t expect to be in LA this long.”
“Honey, you’d look good in a burlap sack,” he said.
Cassandra chuckled. “Oh Cab, you know how I feel about my appearance. I can’t meet your family looking a hot mess. Let’s just get together for breakfast.”
“No, I have an idea. Tell me, what’s the name of your favorite boutique?” He asked.
“Dior, why?” She grinned.
“You go there and get what you need. They will be expecting you. I’ll be around to pick you and Raini up at seven sharp, so be ready.”
“Cab, Raini is really shy and not used to being around strangers. I’m sure she would prefer…”
“Okay fine, just be ready when I come for you then,” he said before disconnecting.
“Raini, come in here girl!” Cassandra shouted.
Raini came to her bedroom and stood in the doorway expecting a big argument.
“Cab just opened me an account at Dior, and when I return I want my bath drawn,” she ordered. “I also want you to make yourself scarce when we come back later tonight, understand?”
Raini stood there and scratched her head, watching as Cassandra flew out the door giddy as a teenager.
Dana arrived a little early to the Bel Air mansion, and while sitting in the car, she checked her face once more, hoping that no one noticed her puffy swollen eyes. She was just starting her sixth month, and she rejoiced whenever her baby fluttered about inside of her. On her next visit, she would learn the sex of the baby, and she was very excited about that. She slid out of the car and walked up to the door, and when she rang the doorbell, an excited Cat opened it.
“Oh Dana, I’m so glad you made it. Come on in here,” she greeted.
Cat took her wrap, and then after gathering Dana into her arms, took her by the hand and led her into the parlor. Not everyone had arrived yet. Satch and Jelly were on the way, and Cab, as usual, was MIA. Diz was there however, and when he saw her approaching, he met her half way and enfolded her in his arms. He then held her at arm’s length and looked in her face, concerned about the puffiness around her eyes. He could tell that she had been crying, but he elected not to make mention of it unless she brought it up herself.
“Hey you,” he greeted with a warm smile.
Dana gave him a tight smile of her own. “Hey you,” she said in return.
“Here, come on and sit,” he invited. She greeted everyone and sat between Cat and Zoey on the large sofa.
“I can’t wait to see the all the babies,” Dana commented.
“Well, if they are still up after dinner, we will definitely bring them down,” Zoey smiled. She reached over and rubbed Dana’s belly. “How many months now?” She asked curiously.
“Just turned six months last week,” she answered.
“And do you know what the baby is yet?” Cat asked.
“No not yet, but I’ll find that out next week,” she answered happily.
“She looks like she’s carrying a boy to me,” Diz commented.
“Oh hush up Diz. How would you know what she looks like,” Cat laughed.
“Because she looks just like Zo did when she carried Zair, and it looked like she had a basketball under her shirt,” he chuckled.
Chapter Six
Satch and Jelly had arrived, and for the most part the conversation flowed rather easily. As expected, Cab and his guest were now the only ones holding up dinner. Duke regaled everyone with antics of Zoey when she was young, and he even had a few about Dana, which she defended as teenage growing pains.
Thoroughly enjoying herself, Dana chuckled, but when she placed her hand on her belly and slowly caressed it, Diz watched her with concern. He knew when he first saw her that she was more upset than she put on.
With everyone now getting hungry, Duke looked at his watch. It was almost eight o’clock and he was growing impatient.
“If Cab isn’t here in the next fifteen minutes, we’re going to start dinner without him,” he announced.
Just then, the doorbell rang and Cat rose to greet Cab and his guest.
“It’s about time Cabel, we were about to start without you,” Cat said with mock severity.
“Sorry about that,” Cab apologized.
He led his guest into the parlor, and as was the Howard custom, the men rose to their feet. Diz and Duke however, had a hard time keeping their mouths shut as they exchanged glances. Where did Cab find Cassandra? Diz and Duke were the only ones in the family who had met Cassandra when Cab was still playing ball, but the other brothers knew the story of Cassandra Kendall well.
“Hello everyone. This is Cassandra, and she’s in town for the convention. They’re doing a tribute to Sonny Kendall and she was invited to attend. Cassandra you remember my brothers Diz and Duke, but that’s my brother Satch, my brother Jelly, and my brother Yaz, Zoey’s husband. Over here are my sisters Zoey and Cat, Duke’s wife. That’s Dana Whalen, a business associate,” he introduced, saying her name as if she were nothing more than an afterthought.
“So you’re the Cassandra who is responsible for making our brother the man is today, huh?” Satch asked wittily with that charming smile of his.
Many discreet coughs suddenly sounded off throughout the room, and hearing them, a curious frown touched Cassandra’s sculptured brow, but instantly disappeared. She wasn’t quite sure, but for a second there it sounded like he was mocking her. Even so, she was on a mission and nothing anyone in the room could say would stop her from reaching her objective.
“I would like to think I am,” she said, glancing over at Cab who was giving the evil eye to Satch. “Cab is a wonderful man, and it is my hope that we can become as close now as we once were in the past.”
In less than one minute, the jury had deliberated and the verdict was in on Cassandra Kendall. It was official; Cat and Zoey didn’t like her. From the very first moment she stepped her big feet into the room her eyes scanned the house with what they thought was an open and shut case of greedy appreciation. The chick had gold digger branded on her forehead like a tattoo, and wore it proudly for all to see. What they didn’t seem to understand however, was that Cassandra didn’t care what they or anyone else thought. Her toned, well-formed figure looked exquisite in her vibrant designer ensemble and she knew it. More importantly, Cab knew it. She was just a few inches shorter than he was, and he was over six feet tall. Her honey colored complexion and heart shaped face was immaculately made up, and her dark hair with blonde tint fell past her shoulder in graceful waves. In other words, she was slammin’.
“Well good luck with that,” Jelly chimed in.
The tension in the room was so thick you needed a machete to cut it. “Well, since everyone is here now, I guess we can have dinner,” Cat said looking to break the silence.
As everyone adjourned to the dining room, Duke and Diz fell back and whispered amongst themselves.
“What the hell is he doing?” Duke muttered.
“Did he know Dana would be here tonight?” Diz asked.
Duke nodded. “I don’t want to think he did this on purpose, but…”
Dinner was strained at best, and everyone was forced to listen as Cassandra took over the spotlight and put on a one-woman show. She talked about the good ole days in baseball as if she were a player out there on the field, all the while making sure to emphasize her loving relationship with Cab. Whenever someone else tried to inject a new topic of conversation, mainly just to shut her up for a while, she always pushed her way into the conversation and had an “I remember when” story that starred her. It didn’t take long before
everyone in the room got tired of hearing about the tales of her travels, or her extravagant lifestyle, or her nonstop name dropping about all the famous people she knows.
She stopped speaking long enough to take a sip of wine before she really got into her ‘it’s all about me’ speech, and when she looked over at Cat, something that was lingering in the back of her mind clicked, and caused her to nearly drop the glass to the floor. “I knew you looked familiar!” She blurted out.
She looked at Cab with a pout on her overly rouged lips. “Darlin’, why didn’t you tell me that your sister Cat was that long lost billionaire heiress?” She asked, hitting him lightly on his arm.
Cat’s eyes widened. For as second there, she could have sworn that she saw dollar signs in Cassandra’s dark brown eyes.
Quickly turning from Cab, Cassandra set her sights on Cat. Hey, if Plan A fails, it never hurts to have a Plan B for back-up. “Oh my goodness, you are her!” She gushed. “You were all the talk of my elite circle in Atlanta. I told all my friends that I would probably meet you since Cab and I were so close at one time, and you just should have seen the looks of envy on their faces.”
“Well I don’t go around advertising that I am a lost billionaire heiress, Cassandra. I like my life quiet and uneventful,” Cat said matter-of-factly.
“Oh girl please,” Cassandra pshawed with a fan of her hand. “When I get done with you, you will be the talk of the town. We should start with your wardrobe though, and then maybe go to the best spas, oh, and you should consider going to a fat farm to lose a little weight. Other than that, girl we would have a ball.”
A loud gasp sounded off all around the table.
“Cassandra, Cat has recently given birth to triplets and I think she looks beautiful,” Duke said, coming to his wife’s defense.
Cat leaned over towards Zoey who was sitting at her right and whispered. She wasn’t quite sure she heard Cassandra right and needed a second set of ears to confirm what she thought she’d heard. “Girl, did she just call me fat?”
“Yeah girl, I believe she did,” Zoey whispered back.
“Oh,” Cat replied.
She calmly put her utensils down and looked over at Duke. She could see the warning in his eyes, and she raised a haughty brow right back at him. Knowing exactly what she was thinking, he frowned and shook his head no. He said that he didn’t want no trouble tonight and that included trouble coming from his wife. Seeing that he was adamant about it, Cat picked up her fork and continued to eat… but she was far from happy about it.
Cassandra fanned her hand dismissively at Duke. “Yeah, that’s what all men say. So, you had three babies at one time, huh?” Cassandra scoffed, apparently appalled by the concept. “No wonder you have all that excess weight. Girl I suggest we get started right away with the spa. They have a wonderful spa in Beverly Hills that I hear is the best in the country. I’ve read that they have this technique that will melt the fat right off a body. You just want and see. We are going to become closer than sisters, I just know it.” She finished her statement with a saccharine grin and immediately began to mull over her future.
Yes! Befriending a billionaire heiress is exactly what she needed. She could mold that unadorned fat wifey into her image, become her best friend, and live a charmed life of leisure and luxury while riding on her fat coattails. Oh, and have Cab too.
Cat glared at her husband, and he quickly shook his head no again.
“So Cassandra, what do you do?” Zoey asked before taking a sip of her wine. Other than try to use people.
“Oh, I’ve never worked. Sonny wouldn’t hear of it.”
“Ohhh,” Cat and Zoey said at the same time.
“Dana what do you do,” Cassandra asked the quiet, pregnant woman. Being fast on her feet and very astute, she didn’t miss the way Cab kept looking over at her with a look of longing in his eyes when he thought no one else was watching. He never had that look for her when they were together. “I’m sure that your husband will want you to stay home with the baby.”
“I am the CFO at Howard and Whalen Consultants based in LA, and I’m not married,” she responded, placing her fork on her plate.
“Oh, your baby’s daddy couldn’t man up huh? That’s too bad.”
“First of all Constance, I don’t have a baby’s daddy. My baby has a father, not a baby’s daddy as you so ignorantly put it. He has chosen not be in his child’s life right now, and that is just fine. It will be his loss, believe me,” Dana stated firmly.
Cassandra didn’t appreciate Dana’s attitude, nor the fact that she called her Constance. Bitch! Looking to get in a shot of her own, Cassandra shrugged nonchalantly. “Couldn’t hold on to him huh? Oh, and my name is not Constance,” she said through clenched teeth.
“That’s enough Cassandra,” Cab whispered.
Dana smiled. “Unlike you, I don’t need a man to take care of me or my child, not that it’s any of your business, but the feelings between the father of my child and myself are mutual.”
What was his purpose for bringing this over made Bratz doll to dinner? If it was to tell her something, it was wasted effort. Cab had officially killed any feelings that she may have had for him last night.
Her eyes met Dizzy’s. “You okay?” He mouthed.
“Fine,” she mouthed back. Cab watched the exchange and dropped his fork on the table.
“Let’s have dessert in the parlor everyone,” Cat said rising to her feet. “Ellington, could you help me in the kitchen please?”
Excusing himself, Duke followed his wife to the kitchen, and once they were out of the hearing of their guests, she turned to him in anger.
“I don’t want to think that Cab bought that fake Barbie doll here just to upset Dana,” she hissed, pulling down a tray and placing the cake in the middle. “But if it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it’s a duck! And Duke, so help me if she insults me one more time…”
Duke shook his head. “For his sake it had better be a coincidence because I told him that Dana would be here.”
“If that is the woman who is responsible for Cab being the man he is today, why is he with her?” Cat asked. The door swung open and Zoey walked in.
“So that’s the Cassandra that broke Cab’s heart? I swear, if that Barbie doll doesn’t shut up I’m going to throw her ass out, and if she insults Dana one more time…”
Duke nodded. “Yes that’s her.”
“What wrong with him?” Zoey moaned, shaking her head.
Duke pushed the dessert tray as Cat and Zoey followed. “Come on. Let’s get this dinner party done and over with,” he groaned.
When they came into the parlor, Diz was sitting beside Dana talking quietly while Satch, Jelly, Yaz, and Cab were having a heated conversation about sports. Cassandra, judging by the look on her face, was not happy. No one was paying attention to her.
“Okay everyone. I have a raspberry cheese cake layered coffee cake, and a strawberry cheesecake,” Cat said, smiling at her guests.
“I’ll have a slice of both,” Satch said greedily.
Cat looked over at Dana. “Dana, would you care for some cake?” She asked politely.
“Yes, thanks.”
“I’ll get it,” Diz offered. Cat took a slice and sat down.
“Now Cat… if we are going to help with your figure maybe you should pass up the cake,” Cassandra chuckled.
Everyone’s eyes turned to Cassandra as both Zoey and Cat came to their feet. Seeing their quick reaction, both Duke and Yaz moved over to their wives. Neither of them was sure what would come out of their mouths, or if the two of them were going to tag-team the unsuspecting Cassandra, or if Cassandra would be wearing her cake to go since Cat had a fondness for throwing her food.
Looking to dispel any animosity that Cat held, Duke whispered something into her ear that caused her to change her tune. “So how’s the convention going?” Cat asked instead, while a fuming Zoey sat with Yaz hovering over her.
“I’ve picked
up a lot on sports contracts and bi-laws,” Jelly commented, breaking the tense silence.
Cab stood at the mantel in his usual mood, as the conversation turned to the events at the convention. He watched as Dana and Diz’s heads were always together talking softly, and it was pissing him off so bad that he couldn’t keep his eyes off them.
Suddenly Dana gasped. “Dee, are you alright?” Diz asked with concern. He knew that she was under a lot of stress, and hoped that her back and forth with that gold digging Cassandra didn’t also stress the baby.
“I’m fine,” she said, taking Diz’s hand and putting it on her belly. “She’s the one that’s restless, she’s moving.”
“Wow! She’s moving up a storm in there!” Diz dropped to his knees, held Dana’s belly in his hands, and spoke to it. “Hey little one! This is Uncle Diz, and it’s time for you to get some sleep!”
Diz rose and returned to Dana’s side.
“Hey, she stopped!” Dana laughed.
“Duke used to talk to my three all the time,” Cat commented with a smile.
“Yaz did too,” Zoey added.
Duke cut his eyes in Cab’s direction and could have sworn that he saw steam coming out of his ears. “I think it’s important for the father to be involved from conception to delivery, it an experience a man should never miss out on.” He said with Yaz’s agreement.
“Yeah, all that may be true if you are the father of the child, but little brother you need to back off and let the real father step up… if she can find him!”
“Damn it Cab!” Duke barked, shaking his head in disgust.
Dana smiled. “It’s okay Duke,” she said, rising slowly from the chair and looking at Cab for the first time that evening. “I told you that the next time you insulted me you would be singing soprano, but since I don’t want to embarrass you in front of your Bratz doll, I will ignore the comment. I know who my child’s father is; you better hope I don’t tell Conchita over there.”
Dana waved a dismissive hand at his guest and turned her back to him.
Cynical Heart (Heart Series) Page 8
