“How did you know, Gran?”
“Child, look at you. When was the last time you took a good look at yourself in the mirror? You’re as ripe and full as a mango hanging on that tree outside. I just have to look at your face and I could tell.”
What was it about these old women? They could always just look at someone and know they’re with child.
“Besides the last time I saw you, your stomach was as flat as Rihanna’s,” her grandmother went on.
“Gran and what do you know about Rihanna?”
“I watch B.E.T. sometimes, sugar.”
Actually, Cory wasn’t that much surprised by her grandmother’s admission. What else was there for her to do? Since Albert died, her time was now consumed with growing vegetables in her kitchen garden, crocheting, and going to church on a Sunday morning.
Cory really wanted to laugh but the tears continued to flow instead. “Oh, Gran.” She started crying uncontrollably now. Her entire body rocking from the violent sobs overtaking it. “What am I going to do?”
“Well, the first thing you have to do is tell your husband he’s going to be a daddy, Cory. He deserves to know that much.”
“But what if he doesn’t want this baby, Gran?” she sobbed. “We never spoke about having any babies before. I don’t know if he even likes them.”
“Don’t you worry about that. He’ll want this baby more than anything else in the world. You know why?” she asked. “Because you’re the mother.”
Cory sighed heavily. “How am I ever going to get myself out of this mess this time?”
“This is not a mess that can’t be fixed, sweetie. You have a gorgeous husband who loves you. You’re going to be having his son or daughter in a few months’ time. Hmm, this sure makes me wish I was twenty-six again. You know your mother had you when she was twenty-six, too.”
“I know. I miss her so much, Gran. I wish she was here now.”
“I know. I miss her too, baby. She was my only child. I always wished I was taken instead of her. So that she could have experienced these things. To have seen all of you get married. And see her first grandbaby. Then her second. And third.”
“Hold up there, Grandma! Now I don’t know about all that.”
“Are you crazy child? Take me as a good example. I had only one and look what happened.”
“That’s because you couldn’t have any more children, Gran. You can’t beat yourself up over that.”
“I know that. And that’s why you and that healthy-looking husband of yours can stop around five or so. That’ll make me very happy.”
“Not in this world recession, Gran. I’m lucky to even have a job right now.”
“The recession will pass eventually. You know we can talk and plan how much we want. But only He has the master plan. He’s the only one that knows how many babies will pop out of you.”
“Gran!”
“Jesus, Cory. You’re a married woman now. You need to chill.”
“That’s it. I’m blocking B.E.T. from your cable lineup.”
Chapter 33
As Adrian disembarked from the small Caribbean Airlines plane that brought him over to Tobago, one thing was on his mind. He had to find his wife and get her forgiveness. Somehow or the other. He wasn’t banking much on anything else but he had to explain everything to Cory.
Adrian finally figured out his true purpose for returning to his homeland. It was to find the woman of his dreams. Cory was the love of his life and he was about to lose her. He had made a terrible mistake. But he wasn’t going down without a fight. Hell, he was born to be a soldier. He was a U.S. Marine. He fought a war in Afghanistan in a combat unit. He fought against Taliban insurgents and their IEDs. He faced sand storms and the cold. So not without one final battle. One last fight. The fight of his life. No, the fight for his life. And this was the single most important thing he ever had to do in his entire life and the hardest. Adrian prayed he wasn’t too late.
He was here on the tiny island for a few hours only. He had no clothes or a hotel room booked. He was even lucky to get a ticket at the airport for today. Then he would be leaving the island. He had no idea if he would be taking his wife back with him. That would have to be her decision. He came here for one reason. To explain everything to Cory and beg her forgiveness. If he got that, he would have to move on from there. Somehow.
He drove to her grandmother’s house in a champagne-colored Corolla he rented at the airport, and the closer he got to his target, the more anxious he became. Funny, the feeling reminded him of the last couple of days he had spent preparing to be deployed to Afghanistan. The anxiety, the nervousness. The feeling of knowing what you had to do but worrying over if you had enough guts to do it.
He pulled up to the sage green flats that belonged to Miss Millie. She lived here all alone since her second husband passed Adrian had learned from Cory. He got out the car and opened the small gate and headed up the narrow walkway. This was his second time here. The first was for his wedding.
The house was quiet as usual, but the smell divine. The deep, rich aroma of curried crab was tickling his nostrils, tantalizing his taste buds as he approached. His stomach grumbled in reaction to the pungent smell of food wafting through the air. It had been a couple days now since he last had a decent home-cooked meal for that matter. Adrian knew he didn’t want to see anything like mac ‘n’ cheese on a plate right now.
Cory’s grandmother was in her kitchen garden to the side of the house tending to her vegetables. Adrian called out to her when he spotted her. Miss Millie waved and motioned for him to join her. She was busy picking tomatoes and hot peppers and throwing them into a straw basket on the ground.
Her purple hair gleamed in the late Sunday afternoon sun. It looked like an at-home hair color experiment gone all wrong to Adrian. He had to smile, though. Apparently, his wife wasn’t the only one in her family with the crazy hair. When he first saw Miss Millie at their wedding, it had been blazing red then.
Seeing her again was bringing back a flood of memories for Adrian. A few weeks ago he was here on this very island getting married and enjoying his honeymoon. And what a honeymoon it was. He and Cory practically made love on every square inch of that villa. The bed, the floor, the shower, the hammock, the pool. Adrian missed her so much now. Seeing her, listening to her crazy ideals, touching her. Hearing her moans of pleasure. Hearing her scream his name. Hearing her rattle off her crazy Spanish when she climaxed. Adrian didn’t see any signs of Cory around here now.
He had to bend really low to greet Miss Millie with a hug and a kiss. Surprisingly, she looked happy to see him. Relieved even, if he judged her facial expression correctly. He had become quite good at deconstructing facial expressions, a trick he had to master on the job for detecting suspicious criminal behavior.
“I knew I would see you here again before too long,” Miss Millie greeted him in a friendly voice.
Adrian didn’t expect her to be this happy to see him at all. He knew Tobagonians were known for their Caribbean charm and warm hospitality, but this? He was half expecting Cory’s Granny going all gangsta on him, greeting him with a shotgun by the gate, yelling at him to step off her property or else she’d pump some slugs in his ass or something like that.
“It’s so nice to see you again, Miss Millie.”
“Oh, forget me. I know who you really came here to see,” she said, laughing. When she saw the confused look on Adrian’s face she explained to him that Cory’s father had called her and told her to expect him.
“He did that?” a shocked Adrian asked.
“Well, it’s about time you figured that crazy wife of yours was hiding out here with me anyway.”
Adrian wasted no time. “Miss Millie, is Cory inside?”
“No, love. She isn’t here right now.”
So where the hell
is she, then? As if reading his frantic mind, she told Adrian where he could find her. On the beach. He should have guessed. Luckily the beach she went to was a short walk down the street from Miss Millie’s house in Black Rock.
“Come inside and have a nice cold glass of mauby first, Adrian. The place is so hot today.”
But Adrian politely declined. “I’ll have to pass on that, Miss Millie. I really need to talk to Cory now,” he said, already hurriedly walking back from where he had come. That and mauby was one local drink he hated. The taste was way too bitter for his liking. He wouldn’t mind some of that crab and dumplings though, the signature dish here and Tobagonians had the right kind of sweet hand for it. But he wasn’t here for his stomach, either.
Adrian could tell from the sounds of the waves crashing onto the shoreline that they were huge. The sea was rough today and by the sound of them, he knew it wasn’t good for Cory to be swimming in. He hoped she knew better and stayed as far from the water as possible. It didn’t matter for him, he have had to swim in water worse than this before. He sighed. How was he ever going to get accustomed to her not being there? Who was going to protect her now?
He briskly jogged down the steps leading to the beach. This wasn’t one of the more popular tourist ones on the island, so there weren’t many people around. It should be pretty easy for him to spot Cory. His sneakers sank into the soft sand as he walked closer to the water’s edge. His eyes combed the long beach and the waters like the trained soldier that he was. His light blue short-sleeved shirt fluttered in the strong wind. He also noticed the work of the sea, slowly eroding away the soil of the banks from where he stood.
Some young boys were busy playing a game of beach football further down the beach. Or as his American side of him would say, a game of soccer. This didn’t surprise him. Football was the most popular sport here and school was out for the summer vacation. He imagined Dwight Yorke growing up on this his native island doing the same thing, before making it big time in England playing for the likes of Manchester alongside players like David Beckham.
The boys used pieces of twigs stuck into the wet sand as their goal posts. They were shouting and laughing. They were happy. Adrian remembered back in the day when he and his cousins used to do the same thing. Back then, he didn’t have a care in the world. Now, he never dreamed he would be combing an entire beach, searching for the woman he loved.
It wasn’t long before Adrian spotted her. He wondered if she made him out yet. If he had to chase her down this long stretch of beach today, he was prepared to do that, since she had developed a tendency of running away from him. Cory was walking toward him, her crazy hair blowing wildly in the coastal breeze. He was relieved. To find her. To see her after so long — two days that seemed like two years. To discover that her hair wasn’t purple!
An artist’s impression would paint an incredible picture of her. Cory never looked more beautiful. He watched as she walked down the beach, her body taking its sweet time to reach him. That was okay, he wasn’t planning on going anywhere. She was draped in a deep red shawl to her knees, her feet being occasionally washed by the sand churning waves breaking onto the shore. She looked truly a sun-kissed island goddess now.
• • •
It was another scorcher of a day. Since she’d arrived in Tobago, this was the third time Cory had come to the beach to cool off and think. She had been to the beach earlier in the morning but after having breakfast and her grandmother leaving for church, she was all alone. That was when she had switched on her cell phone again. She had forgotten all about it. There were fifty-nine missed calls on the screen and all of them were from Adrian.
When she did listen to the one voice message he left, she was only left in tears again. They were both hurting so much. That was why she was here again. She needed another round of beach therapy. The wind and the sounds of the waves soothed her soul. Albeit, it defeated the whole purpose entirely. All she could think of was Adrian. She was immersed in his world after all. He loved the sea so much.
This afternoon, she just sat on the beach again thinking. Cory never ventured into the water at all since she was here. She wasn’t a first-class swimmer like Adrian was and besides, the water was too rough for her to even try to swim. As she looked up from the white foamy sea caressing her bare feet, her heart did a double leap in her. Adrian. He came. He actually came after her.
It felt the very same way. The very first time she looked up into his eyes at the police station. The first time she went to see him at the military base. What seemed like ages ago. But this was all less than six months. Cory was incredibly happy to see him. The butterflies still danced and fluttered about her stomach. Or was that his baby, sensing his father was close by? Her hand instinctively went to her smooth belly and caressed it. She smiled inwardly.
He was standing there, watching her every movement as she neared. Cory instinctively clutched the shawl tighter around her body.
“Are you cold, baby?” the voice she loved to hear asked her. There was genuine concern etched in it.
Oh, God. She could do this. She had to do this. Cory never questioned that Adrian would go to the ends of the earth to protect her if he had to. The funny thing was, it had been him she needed protection from all the while. She didn’t answer him, not trusting herself to speak. She wanted to say something but words failed her this time. For the first time in her life, words actually failed her.
She wanted to keep walking. It was too painful to look at him. She must stop walking. Her two feet kept on walking right past him. As she brushed past, Adrian held on to her arm, forcing her to finally stop. Then she looked at him. He was a man apart. His handsome face troubled. She could see the sadness in his eyes. She knew it was sadness instantly. It was the same reflection she saw everyday since she was here whenever she looked in the mirror, too.
“For a man with all your resources, you sure took a long time to find me,” her words came out sounding bitter and cold.
Adrian completely ignored her comments.
“So who told you I was here?” she went on.
“That doesn’t matter, Cory.” His voice was low, he was sounding even softer than usual.
“It does to me. I want to know who sold me out,” she snapped.
Adrian hesitated. “Your father told me, okay,” he sighed.
“My father?” Cory asked incredulously. “But I didn’t tell him about this.”
“Well, your grandmother told him everything apparently.”
“So that’s why she asked me to take that walk,” Cory whispered to herself. “Oh great. Now I’ll never hear the end of this from him.”
“I need to talk to you, Cory.” Adrian was still holding on to her arm. It was a firm but gentle grasp. “There are some things I need to explain to you. Then I promise, I’ll be gone, okay.”
“Fine. So explain then.” Her tone came across as surprisingly harsh to even her.
He led her over to the sandy steps he just came down from. She sat down.
He remained standing, shoving his hands into his pockets.
“Cory … I’m so sorry I put you through all this,” he began. “I know I should’ve told you everything from the beginning but I was so insecure about losing you.”
Cory could feel his agony resonating through his voice. It was so painful to listen to him speak.
“I need to tell you exactly what happened that night. Everything. I know how much your brother’s death hurt you and I’m willing to take full responsibility for that. But there are just so many things that go on everyday that the average population doesn’t know of.” Adrian sighed out aloud again. “I know there’s nothing I can do or say to bring Collin back. But you must know this, if I could, I’d bring him back for you, Cory.”
They were already welling in her eyes since he started speaking. There wasn’t anymore room for her ey
es to hold them in any longer. They were all fighting to get out all at once. When Adrian said this to her, they started rolling quickly, all the way down. Passing her tanned cheeks, passing her quivering lips along the way as they traveled.
Finally, they dropped on her hands. They were hot. They were coming fast and furious now. She had to close her eyes, to force them back up somehow. These were the tears of anguish. She saw Collin in her mind smiling then. He was tugging her hair. Then he waved and ran away.
Cory felt her tears being wiped away. Her eyes instantly flew open. Adrian was sitting next to her now. There were some glistening in his eyes, too.
“You must believe this was also hard for me to deal with. I probably never told you this before, Cory. But to take somebody’s life is never easy. And I hope to God you don’t think that I enjoy doing that, even if they’re really bad people. But it’s even worse when they’re good and completely innocent people. You go over and over in your mind if using lethal force is your only option. If you could have done something differently?”
He let out a little laugh. “But I’ll be honest with you, when the barrel of a gun is pointing in your direction, it’s either you or them. You see, baby, I know for me. I don’t know about the others. Collin was the victim of a crime. But it really was an accident, Cory. I was there. Believe me, this is the truth. We had no prior knowledge that he wasn’t a part of that gang, only after the investigations were carried out. He was proven to be completely innocent in all of this. In fact, he was the only innocent one in all of this.”
Cory took her grandmother’s advice and really listened to him this time. His story was different from what she had heard on the news, from what was reported in the newspapers. From what the police told her family. Yet, she believed his every word. She knew the truth finally. For the first time she knew what really happened to her brother that night. All her questions were finally answered. She could finally put her brother to rest in peace now.
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