Nikki drove home, saddened by the story Danielle had told her, and wondering just what else she didn’t know about her best friend. “How well do we really know the people we claim to be closest to?” she asked herself. That must be the same thing William wondered about her. The thought of William quickened her heart. The election results should be coming in soon!
She gunned the engine and made it to the house in record time. She raced into the house and clicked on the news.
“. . . newcomer to the political scene William Broussard handed incumbent Lo Dark a startling upset, despite personal chaos and scandal.”
“Yes!” Nikki screamed and jumped up and down. “Whoohoo!” Nikki was glad Psalm was at Keedra’s. Nikki’s exuberance would have awakened the child, she felt certain.
She paused to listen to the rest of the story. “LSUS political science professor, Kimberly Merritt, said young voters responded to Broussard’s youthful enthusiasm and older voters were turned off by recent news reports that the incumbent was devising sweetheart deals to benefit his political friends at taxpayers’ expense. This startling upset could not have been guessed even a week ago.”
Nikki smiled broadly, knowing William had finally realized his dream. She danced around the living room and picked up the telephone, punching in his cell number. It went straight to voice mail. “Hi, Will, I just saw the news. Congrats on your win! You deserve it.”
She hung up and turned back to face the television and stopped in mid-step. A live shot of William’s celebration party flashed on the screen just as Olivia leaned into his arms and he picked her up and whirled her around.
Nikki slumped into the nearest chair.
The hotel was a dizzying array of well-wishers and hungry political power seekers, each clamoring for William’s attention. Already, he had fielded four job requests, two entreaties to get somebody out of jail, and a zoning change question. Somebody even asked him for Dallas Cowboys football game tickets, though he had no connection to the football team, and someone else asked for Independence Bowl tickets, though William didn’t know much about that operation, either. He committed to no one, merely smiled, slapping everyone on the back as he savored the victory.
His wife’s absence tugged at him, but Olivia made sure he didn’t dwell on that. She was glued to his side most of the evening, watching his conversations, discouraging anyone from taking up too much of his time.
“Congratulations!”
“Thanks, sir,” William turned to face someone he didn’t know. But he smiled anyway.
“I was wondering if you could help my nephew get a job at City Hall,” the unfamiliar man asked, leaning in confidentially.
“Thanks for stopping by the celebratory party.” Olivia deftly slid between William and the man, twisting sideways to avoid bumping against the table. She turned to the man. “If you’ve not had a chance, please sign the registry so we know you stopped by, and be sure to drop your business card into the jar.”
She put her hand on the man’s back, firmly steering him away. “Now enjoy the party,” she flashed a smile, “and have some cake.”
Olivia stepped back to William. “You need to make sure you speak to the governor’s aide, who just walked into the room; and make sure you shake hands with the black chamber’s president. And—”
“I don’t care anything about the black chamber president,” William whispered in a tone only she could hear.
“You’ll have to,” she shot back. “Go over there and make nice.”
“For what? They never endorsed me. Even up to the last minute, they kept jerking me around,” he said. “I don’t need them now.”
“Well, still,” Olivia said. “Go over there. You’ll want them on your side.”
“We’ll see,” he said, though he had no intention of going out of his way to greet the chamber president.
The black chamber had been not-so-quietly looking for a replacement candidate after the first story about his wife broke, but it never took off. And at every turn, the chamber had criticized him. He wouldn’t be vindictive, but he wouldn’t go out of his way to be super-nice, either. And to think, I won without them. He smiled broadly.
He was celebrating without his wife. His smile dimmed.
Chapter 116
Nikki fell asleep on the couch, an afghan covering her. She had watched the coverage, as the news station seemed to replay the same scene over and over—that of William whirling Olivia around in the air.
She kept waking up as she alternated between seeing Danielle’s solemn face and the image of William and Olivia. Both dreams left a tight feeling in her chest.
The ringing of the phone shook Nikki awake. She frowned and wiped her hand over her eyes. She held up her wrist to look at her watch. It was barely 6:00 A.M. Who was calling so early? She stretched her left arm and reached for the phone on the floor. “Hello?” her voice was thick and she wiped her tongue across her front teeth, tasting sleep.
“Nikki?” an unfamiliar voice asked. “Nikki Broussard?”
“Yeah?”
“Hi, this is Skye Scott from USA Today.”
“Look, I’m not going to do some crazy interview with you about my past.”
“What about an interview for a job?”
Nikki bounced up straight, sleep forgotten. “A what?”
“I believe you know Joe, the photo editor at The Times?”
“Yes, I know Joe.”
“Well, he and I go way back,” Skye said. “He’s always spoken quite highly of you and your work, ever since your internship. I believe he said he wanted to hire you some time back but you weren’t interested.”
“Uhm. . . .” It was more like Joe wasn’t interested in hiring her.
“Well, we have a position available and I was wondering if you’d be interested in it.”
Nikki automatically shook her head. “My hus—” She caught herself. What was she saying? “Yes, I’d be very interested!”
“Excellent. When can you fly out for an interview?”
When she got off the phone, Nikki sat cross-legged on the couch. She felt her heart tattooing its nervous excitement on her ribcage. Suddenly, it hit her. She had finally broken free of all the restrictions of the past seven years. Her worst fear had stared her in the face and she hadn’t died. And now she was about to chase her photography dream—at a national newspaper! The thought amazed her.
She quickly ran through the shower, towel-dried her hair, zipped the toothbrush around her mouth and pulled on jeans and a sweater. She had to share her news. She stopped short. But with whom? Her husband was gone and her best friend was locked up.
Nikki decided to visit Danielle at the parish jail. She glanced at the clock on her cell phone. Visiting hours for the morning would be over shortly. She would have to hurry.
Thirty minutes later, after what seemed like a long wait, but was only a few moments, she sat across from Danielle. “We’re going to get you out of this,” Nikki said, but the words sounded hollow, even to her own ears. Nikki had no money, and Danielle had nowhere else to turn.
Suddenly, her good news seemed so inappropriate. Now, who was being selfish? Danielle was staring at a life behind bars and Nikki wanted to come and brag about a job interview. Nikki felt a bit guilty.
“So, how was your night?”
“It was all right,” Danielle shrugged.
They sat in awkward silence for a moment. Nikki tried to find a delicate way to ask her question.
“You remember when we talked about Reverend Chance?”
“Yeah.” Danielle’s reply was flat.
Nikki felt like a heel for still doubting that Danielle had told her the truth, but she had come too far in the past few months to begin living in a dream world again. Now, she would face reality, whatever it was. And that meant searching for answers.
“I was wondering if you told me the whole truth about what happened,” Nikki said. Sure, kick her when she’s down, Nikki chided herself. But she was determined to
know the truth.
“I was lying.” Danielle admitted.
“So you knew him before?” Nikki’s heart sank. Had Danielle been a part of his murder?
Danielle’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Yes. Reverend Chance was my father.”
Chapter 117
Olivia had convinced William to stay at her home last night, following the election victory party. His original plan was to stay in the room he had rented at the hotel after she walked in on him in the shower, but there was too much activity and he knew he wouldn’t get any rest, regardless of where he slept. His phone was ringing constantly. Things had been a little awkward between them since the shower incident. He had barged out of the bathroom, and she had rushed behind him, apologizing for what she called a “misunderstanding.” She hadn’t meant to offend him, she claimed. He had accepted her apology, and with so much election activity, they had been forced to work in close quarters. He had to admit, she had been a great buffer at the party, as she kept him away from people who wanted to hog his time. Olivia seemed to always be there just when he needed her.
So, he had agreed to stay at her house last night.
William walked out of his bedroom this morning, eager to open the day’s newspaper. Olivia already had it spread to the front page story of his upset victory. Next to the paper was a cup of coffee, a glass of orange juice, and a plate of grits, eggs and ham.
Good morning,” Olivia smiled at him, ushering him to his seat. He shook loose of her grasp and sat down.
“Thanks,” he said, “but you didn’t have to do all this.”
“Well, I just wanted to help you get your day started right.”
“Okay, well, thanks,” William said, his eyes already devouring the headline above his smiling face. CITY ELECTS YOUNGEST MAYOR
“Well, don’t you think we make a great team?” Olivia prodded.
“We do work well together,” William said, not taking his eyes off the paper. “We had a good group of people. Winston, Cal . . .”
“I don’t mean them. I mean you and me,” she said, standing behind him, rubbing his shoulders. William shrugged her hands off and twisted around.
“Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?” she asked, placing her hands on his shoulders again.
Again, he shrugged them off. “That.” Then he waved his hand across the table at the food. “And this.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Olivia said with feigned innocence.
“Yes, you do,” William said. “I appreciate your work, I do. But you’ve got to stop all this extra. We can’t do this.”
“I wanted to show you exactly what we could do, in the shower,” Olivia said. “You should stop resisting. This is what we both want.”
William’s mind flashed back to the day in the shower and he stood. “Look, this . . . you . . . me . . . We just need to keep it professional.”
“Professional?”
“Yes.”
“No, no,” Olivia said, stepping around to face him. “I believe you’ve misunderstood this whole thing.”
“What are you talking about?”
“This was never just professional between us.”
“It was for me,” William said.
She shook her head. “That’s a lie. What about the other day when I saw you naked in the shower? What about all those weeks you stayed here? All those conversations we had? What about all the late nights? What about . . . It’s too late to go back on the plan now.”
“There was no plan.”
“Oh, yes, William, there has always been a plan.” Her voice took on a hard tone.
“Olivia, the plan was to win the election, which we weren’t even sure would happen until the very end.”
“The plan was to win, and then once that was accomplished, the next step was—is—for you to divorce your wife. And make me the first lady of this city.”
William guffawed in her face, but Olivia didn’t crack a smile. He sobered. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, yes, William; I am very serious.”
William took a step away and looked around for his keys. She stood in front of him. She grabbed his arm. “Everything I do is according to a plan. And I don’t let anything get in the way of what I want. And I want you. And when you said you wanted to be mayor, I gave that to you. Now, what will you give me?”
“You’re crazy. You didn’t give me anything.”
“Oh, yeah? Who do you think convinced Reverend Hicks to back you? Who do you think got you into that fancy house, gave you and that country bumpkin wife of yours a decent vehicle to ride around in? Gave you a bank balance of more than a couple of dollars. Better than that, who do you think even gave you the opportunity to run in the first place?” By now, she was standing within inches of William. He moved to step around her, but again, she blocked his way. “Olivia, you’re going to need to move,” William warned.
“Not before I get what I want.”
Chapter 118
Nikki was stunned. Her mouth fell open and her palms instantly grew wet. She wiped her hands on her jeans and blinked. “Reverend Chance was your father? How?” Danielle gave her a tiny smile at that last part. Nikki shook her head. “Well, I don’t mean how, but you know—”
“Yeah, I know,” Danielle said. “Remember when I told you the man I knew as my father left? Well, for the longest, I thought that was my real father. But when I was a teen, I found a stack of receipts and letters in my mom’s closet. I know, I shouldn’t have been going through her things, but I did. Good thing, too, or she would have never told me.
“Anyway, come to find out Reverend Chance had been paying these huge sums of child support—actually, way more than child support—to her for my sister and me. She had been keeping a little journal of each transaction and had been writing letters, always threatening to reveal his secret. I guess he was giving her child support and hush money.”
“Wow.”
“Well, one of those times when I was just so desperate to get out of my situation, you know, with my uncle . . . I was so fed up and mad and scared and everything, that I just got on a bus with a backpack of my favorite outfit and shoes and headed to my dad’s city, looking for him. This was right before he moved to Shreveport. I had memorized the address off one of those envelopes. So when I got off the bus, I asked around and somehow found his house.
“So I just showed up.”
“You showed up on his doorstep?”
“Yeah,” Danielle said.
“Okay, go on, what happened?”
“The second he opened the door, it was like he immediately knew who I was,” Danielle said. “He tried to step outside quickly, but this really beautiful woman came to the door. It was his wife. She asked what was going on and I just blurted, ‘I came to live with my daddy.’ ”
Nikki hung on to Danielle’s every word. She let out a laugh. “I’m sure that went over well.”
“Well, it was the weirdest thing,” Danielle said. “He tried to say something, to stammer some lame excuse, but the woman just took me by the arm, lifted the backpack off my shoulders and walked me into the kitchen. She asked me if I wanted yellow cake or white cake.”
“You are lying.” Nikki marveled.
“No, I kid you not,” Danielle said. “She was so gracious. She just took it all in stride. I really believe she knew about me way before then. They made their children go to their rooms and then sat down with me at the kitchen table.”
“Just like it was the most natural thing for this man’s secret child to turn up out the blue?” Nikki asked.
“Yeah,” Danielle said. “Anyway, I told them I had decided I wanted to live with my dad. I didn’t say anything about my uncle because I was embarrassed. I mean, I didn’t want them to think I was a bad person.”
“So what did they say?” Nikki was entranced by the story.
“Well, his wife told me I was such a pretty girl and that my mom would miss me if I left her,” Danielle sa
id. “And she said we would go and call my mom so my mom would know I was safe; and they would see if I could stay the night and go back home the next day.”
“What was your dad saying as all this was going on?”
“Nothing, really,” Danielle said. “I think he was too shocked. I don’t think he knew his wife knew, so it was like his secret was coming out and he was just trying to take it all in.”
Nikki knew what it was like to have a carefully guarded secret spill out.
“Well, anyway, we called my mom and she was so hysterical and cursing and made them drive me back home that day,” Danielle said. “It was awful. She told my dad she was going to tell everybody about me if he didn’t bring me back that instant. Even though his wife may have known about me, he didn’t want his church members to know. So we all piled into the car.
“My brother seemed cool with finding out about me. But my sister wouldn’t even speak to me. It was years before she would even speak my name. I think she resented me. But we finally started talking. She’s actually the one who got me out of the hospital the last time I was there. She’s gotten me out of lots of things over the years. But I know if I don’t do exactly as she wants, she’ll make them come get me and I’ll be back at the hospital.”
Nikki held up her hand. “Your sister . . . Reverend Chance . . . .” her eyes widened. “You mean Olivia is your sister?”
“Yes.”
“My sister is very possessive about what she feels is hers,” Danielle said. “She felt that I came in and took her dad. And so she blamed me for the longest, maybe still does. But I tried so hard to make it up, to fit in. I wanted so much for them to like me. Her, especially, because it was like suddenly, I had a big sister. But her love came at a high price.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, throughout the years, she would always tell me that I owed things to her,” Danielle said. “If she wanted me to do something, she would say, ‘It’s because of you that I couldn’t go to Europe on my senior trip.’ Or she would say, ‘It’s because of you my dad had to travel so much, so he could earn extra money preaching to take care of you.’ Anyway, these last few months, she began doing that again. Only this time. . . .”
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