Can I Get a Witness?

by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

  “I’m sorry for everything. I never meant for it to happen like this.” He took two steps toward her, then stopped as if he was too scared to come any closer.

  “You never meant for this to happen?” Vanessa replied. “Obviously when you had sex with her with no protection, you meant for something to happen!”

  Thomas hung his head. “Vanessa, please. You’re not making this any easier.”

  Vanessa looked down at the hall table, where a pair of African statues sat. It was a good thing they were originals from Gambia, or else she would’ve taken one of them and smashed it upside Thomas’s head.

  “Am I supposed to make this easy for you?” She cocked her head. “I’m sorry, I missed that chapter in the wives-whose-husbands-cheat manual. Tell me, Thomas, what can I do to make this easier for you?”

  Vanessa’s pain had been replaced with pure anger now. Granted, she hadn’t been the perfect wife, but that didn’t give him the right to break her heart.

  Thomas shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

  Vanessa said tensely, “Yeah, I know. You said that. Next.”

  He started to get annoyed. “I told you, it’s not as bad as it seems.”

  “Is that so? Because it seems pretty bad to me,” she spat as tears started flowing down her cheeks. She was angry with herself because she didn’t want him to see her shed another tear.

  “What do you want me to say?” Thomas finally asked.

  Vanessa could no longer stand it. How could he be so rational about this? She stepped up to him and pounded his chest. “Say something!” She pushed him forcefully. “Tell me why you forgot you were married and went to another woman.”

  Thomas took his blows, keeping a hand up to protect his face. He finally stepped back as she paused to catch her breath. “Vanessa, you’re the one who forgot we were married. A long time ago,” he said flatly.

  She looked up at him through tear-filled eyes. “Oh, so now this is my fault? I didn’t give you the child you wanted, so you went and found a woman who would?”

  At last Thomas looked just as emotionally drained as she was.

  “It’s not like that at all. Me and Alana…it just sort of happened.”

  Vanessa slumped to the floor and suddenly burst into laughter. “It just happened.” She laughed nonstop for a long time. Thomas stared at her like she was losing her mind. She actually felt like she was.

  “You bastard,” she said, finally calming down. “You think you can get another woman pregnant, then waltz back in here and I’m supposed to pretend everything is all right?”

  “I know everything isn’t all right,” he stoically said.

  “You damn right,” she snapped, pulling herself up to her feet. As she stood, she eyed the closet floor and saw what Thomas had been trying to get. The rest of his suitcases.

  “Oh, so you’re leaving for good?” she said, slowly nodding her head.

  “Would I have been able to stay?”

  Vanessa shot him a “you know the answer to that” look. He sighed heavily, then went back to pulling out the suitcase.

  Vanessa watched uncertainly. She couldn’t believe it: a small part of her didn’t want to see him go.

  “How do you even know the baby is yours?” She didn’t know why she was asking the questions, but she desperately needed answers.

  Thomas shrugged slightly like he really didn’t want to respond.

  “Answer me. You owe me that much!”

  “I just know.” He found the last of his suitcases, then pulled it out. He didn’t say anything as he rolled them upstairs to the bedroom.

  Vanessa followed him, not saying anything until they were in the bedroom.

  “Why, Thomas?” she sternly asked.

  “I don’t know, Vanessa.”

  “So, you don’t know why you messed with her?” she huffed.

  He shook his head as he opened his closet and removed some clothing.

  “Where’d you meet her?” Vanessa asked.

  Thomas pulled up short and stared at her. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Where. Did. You. Meet. Her?”

  He lowered his head. “At one of your political receptions. The one for Senator Johnson.”

  Vanessa’s mouth dropped open.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t want to lie to you.”

  She glared at him as the tears threatened to build up again. “You don’t want to lie to me anymore?”

  “Vanessa—”

  She cut him off, outraged by how sneaky he’d been. “So, while you’re at a function with me, you’re off picking up other women?”

  “If you recall,” Thomas said slowly, “you left me sitting at a table by myself for well over an hour and a half. Alana was there with a friend and she sat down. We just started talking.”

  Vanessa was stunned. He’d done this right under her nose. “I don’t believe this.” She paced back and forth before spinning around. “So let me get this straight. While I’m working the room, trying to solidify our future, you’re picking up women?”

  He snorted as he tossed the stack of clothes into his suitcase. “First of all, you were working on your future, not ours. And I didn’t pick her up. I bumped into her at the grocery store about a week later and that’s when we exchanged numbers.” Thomas paused in his packing. The words came harder now. “We started out as just friends, occasionally talking on the phone. Pretty soon I found myself confiding in her. And she listened.”

  “I bet she did,” Vanessa said, upset.

  “She listened. You never listen to me,” he said, flaring with anger. “If we’re not talking about you or what you want, or your future in politics, you never listen.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “So we’re back to this is my fault?”

  He shook his head. “No, it’s mine. I’m responsible for my own actions.”

  “So you’ve been sleeping with her all this time?” She watched him intently, trying to see if he was going to lie to her.

  “I know you won’t believe this, but it was only one time.”

  “Yeah, right,” Vanessa scoffed. “Did you forget I saw her naked in your room?”

  “She was just taking a shower. We weren’t doing anything.”

  Thomas seemed to have turned into a different person overnight. Where had this lying dog come from?

  “You expect me to believe that bull?”

  Thomas shrugged bitterly. “I can’t control what you believe. I love you, Vanessa. I really do. But we have some major issues. And Alana, she’s…she’s more like my best friend.”

  That cut Vanessa deep, but she was determined not to let it show.

  “A best friend that you’re screwing.” She plastered on a fake smile. “How sweet, a new best friend and a new baby. Who cares if that baby wasn’t with your wife!”

  Thomas started toward her with a pleading look on his face. Vanessa stepped back in disgust. “Vanessa, you’ve got to know that I wanted a child with you more than anything in the world. I never intended for anything like this to happen. I just…after a while, I started to tell myself God does everything for a reason. And maybe this was His way—”

  Vanessa cut him off. “Don’t you dare bring God into this, you sick son of a—ughhh! I can’t believe you!” She walked to the window and looked out into the backyard, a yard she really and truly had hoped to one day run around in with her husband and kids. “Get out! Just get out of my house. Get out of my life! I hate you!”

  Thomas knew it was best that he leave and come back later for his things; he retreated out the door. Vanessa followed behind him down the stairs. “I’m sorry again. I hope that one day you can find it in your heart to forgive me,” he said, stopping to turn and face her.

  “You must be out of your mind. If anything, Mr. Kirk, I’m going to make you regret the day you ever met me!”

  Thomas stood in the door, a pitiful look on his face. “As much as I love you, Vanessa, I already regret it.” He let the door slam before Vane
ssa could utter another word.

  Screw Gambia, Vanessa thought as she picked up one of the statues and hurled it at the door with all her might before she collapsed to the floor in tears.

  Chapter 8

  The sounds of thunder boomed through Dionne’s small two-bedroom apartment just as she slammed the phone down on its cradle. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying her best not to get worked up. She had been trying unsuccessfully to get in touch with Roland for the past week. She’d given him a year of her life and the least he could do was give her some type of explanation for what he’d done. But so far he hadn’t bothered. Shoot, he hadn’t even bothered to call.

  “Ugggh!” she screamed as she picked up a throw pillow off her bed and flung it across her bedroom. So much for trying not to get worked up. Dionne still couldn’t believe that Roland had cheated on her, then been so low as to not even call and apologize.

  She reached for the phone again, thinking she’d call him back, only she would block her number this time. She was just about to pick it up when it rang.

  “Hello,” she said, her voice full of anticipation.

  “Are you still in a funk?” her friend Melanie asked. Dionne had filled Melanie in on what had happened with Roland the same day it had happened. But right about now, she wished she hadn’t said anything to anybody.

  Melanie, her former college roommate at Prairie View A & M University, had been calling every day, trying to get Dionne to go out, get her mind off Roland. Dionne wasn’t the least bit interested in the club scene. She preferred to stay home and mope. She’d all but cursed Melanie out the last time they’d talked.

  “Nah, girl. I’m sorry about going off the other day,” Dionne said, flopping back on her bed. “I’m a little stressed.”

  “That’s why I keep tellin’ you, we need to go out,” Melanie said. “I’m headed out now to Maxwell’s.”

  Dionne could picture Melanie clear as day, in the mirror, music blaring, as she put the finishing touches on her makeup. She lived with her boyfriend, but Dionne knew he was out of town on business. That meant her friend would be in rare form tonight.

  “Trust me, the club scene is not the answer to my problems.” Dionne groaned. In school, they’d both been party animals, but that was seven years ago. Dionne had grown up. Unfortunately, Melanie had not.

  Melanie smacked her lips. “Well, goin’ clubbin’ beats sitting up there all depressed over some dude.”

  “Roland is not just ‘some dude,’” Dionne said defensively. “He was going to be my husband.”

  “Oh, here we go with this mess,” Melanie huffed. “Last time I checked, he already had a wife and a girlfriend, and he hadn’t made any moves toward putting a ring on your finger.”

  Dionne moved the phone away from her ear as she contemplated hanging up. Then she said, “Look, can we just change the subject, okay?” She knew there was no sense debating with Melanie. Even though she lived with Marcus, her boyfriend, neither of them wanted to get married. Dionne had decided long ago that Melanie was one of those women who was destined to be single forever, so it wasn’t like she could even understand anyway.

  “Fine, mope all you want.” Melanie’s tone immediately changed. “Let’s talk about your sister Vanessa,” she said excitedly. “I read on the Houston Buzz that your sister was divorcing her husband.”

  For Dionne, this new subject wasn’t any better. Granted, Vanessa was always trashing her boyfriends and Thomas had turned out to be no better than them. Still, she didn’t want to see her sister getting hurt. “Why do you insist on reading that trashy tabloid blog?”

  “You read the Insite blog, by that reporter from Fox.”

  “That’s because it has legitimate information, not gossip like The Buzz.”

  “Whatever, The Buzz is the only way I can find stuff out. And since I don’t hear you denying it, it must be true.”

  Dionne sighed, but remained silent.

  “Come on, tell me the scoop. The Buzz said she’s getting a divorce because her husband got a woman pregnant with triplets.”

  Dionne shook her head vigorously, as if Melanie could see her. “That’s a lie.”

  “Well, is she getting a divorce? I mean, that’s a trip if she is, since she’s this big-shot divorce court judge and all.” Melanie laughed. “What, is she going to preside over her own divorce?”

  Dionne sat up in her bed. Melanie was her girl and all, but Vanessa was her blood. She wasn’t going to have Melanie going around spreading a bunch of gossip.

  “Look, Mel,” Dionne said, “my sister is getting a divorce, but her husband did not get somebody pregnant with triplets.” It was just one kid, she wanted to say, but why give Melanie anything to run with? “So I would appreciate it if you didn’t go around spreading her business.”

  “Girl, it’s on The Buzz. I ain’t gotta spread it.” She laughed again. “Nah, Dionne, you know I got love for your sister. I’m not going to spread anything. But this does prove my point that marriage should be outlawed. Shoot, if a dang divorce court judge can’t stay married, who can?”

  Dionne bit back her immediate reply. This was all Melanie needed—something to bolster her belief that marriage was for the birds.

  “Seriously, Melanie, I’m really bummed about my sister. Her and Thomas made a really cute couple. I thought they’d be married forever.” Dionne had always been a little jealous of her sister’s marriage, mainly because she thought it was perfect. Rosolyn and Henry had a great marriage, too, but since he was a preacher, they were supposed to have a good marriage. Vanessa’s was different, though. Thomas doted on Vanessa all the time. It was something Dionne had longed for herself.

  Dionne’s mind shifted back to Roland and how her dreams had been shattered. “Do you know anyone who is happily married?”

  Melanie was quiet a minute like she was thinking. “Nope,” she finally replied. “And the people who tell you they are happily married are lying.”

  Dionne shuddered and pushed down the lump in her throat. That was not the answer she wanted to hear.

  After declining Melanie’s request to go out one more time, Dionne said her good-byes. She hung up the phone, then said a silent prayer that her friend couldn’t possibly be right. But between what happened with her and Roland and with Thomas and Vanessa, Dionne was starting to wonder if maybe Melanie was right. Maybe marriage was really for the birds.

  Chapter 9

  Love wasn’t no joke. Dionne closed her eyes and tossed her Eric Jerome Dickey novel to the side. As lonely as she was, she didn’t need to be reading any steamy love scenes, even if he was her favorite author. But she had tried watching television and that didn’t work. No matter what she did, she couldn’t stop thinking about Roland, or the news she’d received this morning, which still had her stomach in knots.

  Dionne took a deep breath, dialed *67 to block out her phone number, and called Roland yet again. She was expecting to get his answering machine, as she had gotten the last fifteen times she’d called him over the past two days. She was surprised, however, when he picked up.

  “Hello?” he said.

  Dionne didn’t respond. She’d rehearsed the one hundred and one ways she was going to curse him out when she finally got in touch with him. But the sound of his voice had rendered her speechless.

  “Hello?” Roland repeated.

  She kept her voice even. That was what Vanessa would do in this situation. “You know it’s really sad that you’re the one who cheats on me, yet I’m the one who has to track you down for an explanation.”

  Roland was silent for a minute. Then he replied, “Dionne, I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say.”

  She could feel the heaviness in his voice. He really did sound sorry he had hurt her.

  “I just need you to help me understand. I thought we had something special,” Dionne said, her eyes misting up. People thought she was crazy, but she saw a side of Roland that no one else did. Her family didn’t care for him because he only
had time for her at night. They wouldn’t accept that Roland worked so much, that his job as an insurance claims adjuster kept him on the road a lot. Her friends didn’t like him for that same reason. But she’d known all along that he was the man for her. That was why his betrayal had cut her so deep.

  “We did have something special, D,” he replied. “I just…I don’t even know how to explain it.”

  “Try,” she said with a little more of an edge.

  He let out a groan. “That’s why I haven’t called. I really didn’t know what to say. I never meant to hurt you.”

  “That’s what they all say.” Dionne rolled her eyes, recalling her last boyfriend, Greg, whom she’d also caught cheating. But she’d known all along that Greg was no good. Roland, on the other hand, had her completely fooled. Sure, he wouldn’t fully commit, but he’d never given her any indication that he was seeing someone else—or that he even wanted to, for that matter. He was passionate in bed with her. He was happy when they went out. Why the hell did he need this Tasha?

  Dionne was getting frustrated. She didn’t know what she wanted Roland to say, but she expected more.

  “I just can’t believe you played me like this,” she said. “And what’s with the whole wuss routine? Jumping out a window? The Roland I know would never punk out like that.”

  He let out a small chuckle. “That was pretty jacked up, wasn’t it?” he replied. “Look, Tasha is crazy and I just wanted to get away. I didn’t want to deal with her drama.”

  She wanted to ask him why he would even mess with someone like her. Instead, she asked the question that had been eating away at her. “So I guess this means things are over for us?”

  “I guess so,” he softly replied.

  Dionne bit down on her lip as tears began trickling down her cheeks. That was not what she wanted to hear. “Just like that. It’s that easy for you to just let us go?”