Bad Blood

by Mary Monroe

  “That’s nice, baby,” I said, finally moving to the couch and flopping down with a groan. Rachel sat down next to me, and I draped my arm around her shoulder. “Getting back to the subject of your family, since they can’t come to us, we’ll go to them. I’m dying to meet them. Let’s go to Alabama as soon as possible.”

  Chapter 42

  Rachel

  “GIRL, I CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR INTRODUCING ME TO Seth,” I told Lucy over lunch in the employee lunchroom on Monday afternoon, right after our routine fire drill. She sat staring at my engagement ring as if she wanted to snatch it off my finger and run. Seth and I had been engaged for two months. “I hope I can do something as nice for you someday.”

  “If you ever run into that parole officer you let get away, and if he’s still on the loose, you can introduce me to him.” Lucy chuckled. “Matthew Bruner. I’ll never forget that man.”

  I would never forget Matthew Bruner, either. Just hearing his name caused my heart to skip a beat. I had not thought about him in a while, and I wondered what had become of him. Had I not met Seth, I probably would have gone to Matthew’s office just to get one last look at him, without him seeing me, of course. Getting dumped was certainly nothing new to me, but having a man just not show up for an important date was. Matthew was the first man who had ever stood me up.

  “I hope Matthew didn’t get attacked by one of his disgruntled parolees or wasn’t in a serious accident and hasn’t been lying in a hospital, in a coma, all this time. Maybe I should call his office to make sure he’s all right,” I said.

  “You read the newspaper every day. If some thug had kicked Matthew’s ass, or if he’d been in an accident and was in a coma, you would know it.”

  “I don’t care what you say. Matthew was a nice dude, and I really liked him. I don’t see anything wrong with me calling him just to say hello and . . . to let him know I’m getting married.”

  “And let him know how desperate you are? What’s wrong with you, girl? What the hell would you getting married mean to him? If anything, he’ll be even less interested in you, if that’s possible. The man doesn’t want anything else to do with you, and you need to accept that. There is nothing more pathetic than a woman harassing a man once he’s dumped her. I know that from experience,” Lucy said. A sad look suddenly appeared on her face. “After my husband took off, I tried my best to get him to talk to me and tell me what I had done wrong. When he finally told me, I was more hurt by that than him just leaving me and filing for divorce.”

  “Why did he leave you?”

  “He fell in love with someone else. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that with Seth.”

  “I sure hope I don’t. After losing Matthew so mysteriously, I’d probably never get over it if Seth changed his mind about me, too.”

  After lunch I returned to my workstation and dialed Mama’s telephone number. My heart skipped a beat when my sister, Janet, answered. She was so unpredictable, I never knew what to expect from her.

  “Is Mama home?” I asked.

  “She’s taking a bath,” Janet told me, sounding more normal than she had in months.

  “Tell Mama I called and I’ll call again later this evening. I have something to tell her, and I—” Janet had hung up on me.

  I called home again a few hours later, when I got to my apartment. I breathed a sigh of relief when Mama answered the telephone.

  “Hi, baby. Janet told me you called,” Mama told me.

  “She didn’t sound too good,” I remarked.

  “Your sister is doing as well as always.” Mama snorted. “And she’ll continue to do so as long as she takes her medication.”

  “How’s Ernest been acting?”

  “About the same,” she told me in a tired voice.

  “Mama, do you still believe that he and Janet don’t need to be in a facility?”

  “They ain’t going into no facility as long as there’s a breath in my body. I love them just as much as I love you. How would you like it if you was in one of them asylums?”

  I closed my eyes and shook my head. It was time to change the subject. “Um, Mama, I know you don’t like to travel, but I thought I’d ask you, anyway. How would you like a trip to California for my wedding? Seth and I will cover all your expenses.”

  “Child, you know I ain’t getting on no airplane. It’s just a matter of time before them Russians or some other foreign maniacs blow up another one.”

  “You can come on the train.”

  “Do you think I’m crazy? When was the last time I got on a train? Just last year, some folks from my church got all broken up when the train they was on derailed in them mountains when they took that trip to Nevada.”

  I didn’t even bother to suggest that we hire a car and have somebody whom Mama trusted drive her and my siblings to California. “Well, since you won’t come to us, I guess we’ll have to come to you.”

  “You guessed right.”

  “Seth is anxious to meet you and everybody else. We’re going to come to Alabama real soon. Isn’t that wonderful?”

  “That’s Jesus. And didn’t you tell me you met Seth in church?”

  “Yes, ma’am. His whole family is in the church. As soon as I check with him about his schedule, I’ll call you back to let you know our travel plans.”

  “Baby, I’m so happy! I can’t wait to see you again!” Mama hollered. “I can’t wait to rub this in Velma Carson’s face! Her kids are married already and have started families. She told me I should forget about being a grandmother, because Janet and Ernest will never marry, and you probably wouldn’t, either. I’ll get the last laugh on her, after all!”

  “Mama, don’t tell anybody but family yet. We haven’t even set a date, and you know things do change. . . .”

  “Change? What do you mean by that? I thought Seth was a done deal.”

  “Well, Seth asked me to marry him, and I said yes, but something could happen that would prevent us from getting married.”

  “You mean like him dropping dead?”

  “Nothing that extreme, I hope.” Somehow I managed to laugh. “People do change their minds when it comes to things like marriage.”

  “Yeah, I know. As long as you treat him good, you shouldn’t have to worry about that. Any man would be lucky to get a girl like you.”

  I smiled. “Thank you, Mama. I think so, too.” I looked around my neatly organized living room. “Now, I don’t like to rush, but I just got in from work and I need to get dinner started. Seth likes his dinner on time.”

  “Well, you do whatever it takes to keep Seth happy long enough to get him to the preacher, you hear?”

  “I will, Mama. Tell everybody I said hello and that I’ll be home soon.”

  Chapter 43

  Seth

  MY LIFE HAD CHANGED IN SO MANY WAYS. I WAS DOING THINGS I had never given much thought to before. Rachel had me reading books by authors I’d never heard of, watching documentaries that taught me things I needed to know, and she was still making a positive impact on my son.

  When Darnell called, he usually spent more time chatting with Rachel than with me. Sometimes he would call and would talk only to her, whether I was home or not.

  I was in a damn good mood most of the time now, but despite the change in my everyday demeanor, I had begun to dread having Sunday dinner with my parents. I joined them only every once in a while now. I had gotten so tired of the endless questions about my personal life, my business, and everything else that I could barely stand to be around my loved ones too much anymore. It seemed like no matter what I did, they still scrutinized my movements. I was glad it was only me, Josh, his wife, Faith, and their two-year-old daughter, Chrissie, at my parents’ latest dinner gathering. Damon had recently moved to Sacramento and was still getting settled in, so I knew it would be a while before I saw him again.

  We had just seated ourselves at the table. Less than one minute after Mother got comfortable, she poured herself a glass of merlot,
took a few sips, and then got on my case. “I have a thing or two to say to you, boy.”

  I held my breath and filled my wineglass. I gulped down a few sips before I responded. “Such as?”

  “Seth, are you sure Rachel is the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with?” she asked, shaking her fork in my direction.

  “Of course I am. That’s why I asked her to marry me,” I said. I was stunned that Mother would ask me such a question this late in the game.

  Mother gave me a pitiful look. “Son, you’ve made so many mistakes in your life, and I’d hate for you to make another one. Especially one as serious as marrying the wrong woman. Divorce can have a negative impact on a person’s life for years. Some folks never recover from it.”

  I couldn’t believe my ears! Rachel and I had not even exchanged vows yet, and Mother was talking about us getting a divorce! “What are you getting at, Mother?” I rarely raised my voice to my mother, and I didn’t like doing it now.

  “I’ve been having some strange feelings about Rachel lately, and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s my intuition trying to get my attention or my gut telling me everything is not what it appears to be. The thing is, I think you should find out more about Rachel’s family and their background before you marry her.”

  “Lord knows you should, Seth. She might not be what you think she is.” Sticking her meatball nose into my business was my sister-in-law Faith.

  “Aw, come on, people! Leave the boy alone,” Josh yelled, coming to my rescue as usual when I found myself in the middle of a dinner table controversy. “Rachel is a wonderful woman! I’m surprised that another man hadn’t already claimed her before Seth met her.”

  “Rachel and I will be going to Alabama so I can meet her family this coming Thursday,” I announced. Except for Josh’s and the baby’s, every other face at the table had a horrified expression on it. The blood had drained from Mother’s face so rapidly, it looked like she had turned two shades lighter.

  “Alabama?” she gasped, fanning her face with her napkin. “Where they lynch black men for sport? How come you haven’t said anything about that before now?”

  “We finalized our travel arrangements the day before yesterday,” I answered.

  “I won’t sleep a wink until you get back home,” Mother wailed. “I never thought I’d live to see the day when one of my sons would even think about going to a place as savage as Alabama.”

  “We’re not talking about Iraq or Rwanda, Mother,” Josh said, rolling his eyes. “Alabama is no worse than California.”

  I could tell from all the shifting in seats and throat clearing that there was a lot of discomfort at the table now. I was the most uncomfortable one of all.

  “How long will you and Rachel be in Alabama?” Josh asked, giving me a sympathetic look.

  “Aren’t they in the middle of tornado season?” Faith asked before I could respond.

  “This is March. Other than a little rain, the weather down there is just fine this time of year,” I said, looking around the table some more. “We’re going to be down there only a few days, just long enough for me to get somewhat acquainted with Rachel’s family.”

  “I hope the rest of Rachel’s family is not as mysterious as that uncle of hers,” Josh said with a shudder. “Faith and I ran into him while we were having dinner a couple of months ago, and he seemed very nervous.”

  “Well, big brother, you are one of the most feared prosecutors in the state. You make me nervous, too,” I joked.

  “Isn’t the uncle homosexual?” Father asked with a raised eyebrow. The subject of homosexuality rarely came up in my parents’ house. One of the reasons was that people had once suspected that I was gay, and my family knew how much that had bothered me. Father’s question surprised me.

  “Yes, Rachel’s uncle Albert is gay,” I said firmly. “He doesn’t try to hide it.”

  “He couldn’t hide it if he tried. I knew he was gay the first time I met him!” Faith exclaimed. “He makes me nervous, but I do like Rachel. She wouldn’t fit in with me and my friends, but I’d like to get to know her better.”

  Mother cleared her throat again and took another sip from her wineglass. I was glad to see that the color had returned to her face. “How come Rachel didn’t come to dinner with you today?” she asked.

  “She’s been busy all day. She had an appointment to get her nails done at four, then she needed to run a few errands for one of our elderly neighbors, and she wanted to spend the evening having dinner and drinks with her girlfriends. Today is her girl Lucy’s birthday, and you know how sisters can get when they hit thirty,” I explained with a chuckle. The situation was still fairly tense, so I tried to lighten things up with another chuckle, but nobody else was amused.

  “Tell me about it. Turning thirty was traumatic for me,” Mother said with a mock groan.

  “Rachel sends her regrets,” I offered. “She wanted to be here.”

  “Tell her we all missed her, and when you two get back from Alabama, you’d better bring her to the house as soon as you can. She promised to share her Southern-style grits recipe with me!” Mother yelled. “Bless her heart. I really like that little country girl, and I can’t wait to spend more time with her. It’s been three years since we met her, and I still don’t know her as well as I’d like to. Maybe once she gets pregnant, she’ll have more time to spend with me.”

  “Is she . . . uh . . . expecting a little person already?” Father asked with a stiff look on his face. I would never forget how much I had disappointed him when I got Caroline pregnant.

  “Not that I know of,” I said. Father immediately relaxed. “But we do plan to start our family right after we get married. Rachel wants only two or three children, but I wouldn’t mind having a houseful with a woman like her.”

  “When is the big day?” Faith asked.

  “We’re still working on that. I don’t want to set a date until I meet her family,” I said, clearing my throat. “But I’m sure I’ll love them, too. . . .”

  “Let’s just hope they are not hiding a bunch of deep dark secrets,” Father threw in. “A lot of those people in the South are caught up in voodoo and other odd behavior.”

  I gasped so hard, I had to cough to catch my breath. First divorce had come up, and now voodoo. “Oh, this conversation is getting way off track,” I yelled, coughing some more. Josh clapped me on the back and handed me my glass of water, but I ignored it and reached for my wineglass again. I took a big gulp and looked around the table. Every eye was on me again. “Rachel tells me everything. If her family has some deep dark secrets, I’m sure she would have said something about it by now,” I insisted.

  “Not necessarily,” Mother said gently. “Then they wouldn’t be secrets.”

  For the second time in less than a few minutes, I raised my voice at my mother. “This conversation is over!” I snapped.

  Chapter 44

  Rachel

  AFTER I LEFT LUCY, PAULETTE, AND PATRICE AT DINO’S, I DROVE to Uncle Albert’s new apartment. He and his boyfriend had recently moved a couple of miles from me.

  Uncle Albert greeted me wearing a very expensive-looking black and gold bathrobe. There was a tall glass of wine in his hand. Despite the large amounts of marijuana that he and Kingston and their friends smoked, they managed to hide the odor with strongly scented room deodorizers. It smelled like I’d just entered a rose garden. Their new apartment was in a building that stood on a hill that offered a spectacular panoramic view of Berkeley. You could even see the bay and downtown San Francisco from the large living room window.

  “Where’s your honey?” I asked.

  “Which one?”

  “Uh, the one you just moved into this cool place with.” I laughed. “I see you haven’t changed.”

  “No, and I probably won’t. I don’t like to eat the same thing every day, and I’m sure you don’t, either,” he said as he lifted a bottle of wine off the counter and filled another wineglass and offered it to me. />
  I shook my head. “I’ve had my limit for today. I just came from Dino’s, where Lucy made me drink so much wine, my eyeballs are swimming. I just came by to see your new place and to give you a big hug in case I don’t see you before Seth and I leave for Alabama this coming Thursday. This place is very posh. It looks like you and Kingston are going to be together for a while.”

  Uncle Albert set both glasses on the counter and stood in the middle of the floor, with his arms folded. “My baby and I are still going strong, but I have a few spares to keep me company when Kingston is not around. He went out of town today, which is why I’m having company later on tonight, and why I’m decked out in this new frock. His name is Stefan, and he’s perfect. He’s young, dumb, full of cum, has blond hair, blue eyes, and is a real feast for a greedy, slightly old queen like me. He’s a sailor to boot, and you know how much I love seafood,” Uncle Albert said, swooning.

  I shook my head. “Do you think you’ll ever be happy with just one partner?”

  “You mean like you?”

  “Well, yeah, I guess. I’m totally happy with just Seth. I don’t need anybody else.”

  “You know me. I can’t stand being alone for more than a few hours at a time. Kingston just left for Tokyo a few hours ago, and I’m already climbing the walls. Apparently, his papa-san has been flaunting his young mistress all over the place, and it’s been upsetting Mama-san. He had the nerve to bring the mistress with him to the airport when he came to pick us up when we visited last year! The man is a natural-born cock hound.” Uncle Albert shivered and poured himself another drink.

  “Listen to the kettle calling the pot black!” I exclaimed.

  “Now, you behave yourself, little girl. You ain’t too big for me to lay a whupping on. Kingston will be gone two whole weeks, girl. I would ball up and die in this place if I had to go that long all by myself. My pecker is itching so bad, I’m scared it might fall off if it don’t get some attention.”

  “Oh, you are so bad,” I scolded. “Anyway, like I said, I just came by to see your new place and give you a hug.” I went from room to room, with Uncle Albert right next to me. When we got back to the living room, we stopped in front of the front window and stared out at the area below. There was a kidney-shaped pool, several lounge chairs, and several barbecue grills. I hoped to live in a place this opulent someday. I imagined myself kicking back with Seth and our children, and other family and friends, on our patio.