Color Me Grey

by Michelle Janine Robinson

  “Baby, please open your eyes,” David implored her. “I want to see all of you and I don’t want you to miss a thing. I want you to see the sweet joy and agony I feel as you capture me within you. So, please, Bridget, open your eyes.”

  And as Bridget’s eyes slowly opened to look into David’s, he entered her slowly. He had waited for this for so long; the moment when she gave herself to him— willingly. He would make sure to savor each and every tantalizing moment... Unfortunately, for Bridget and David, however, they were so oblivious to anything but their lovemaking, that they didn’t hear the sounds on the baby monitor of what was happening upstairs in the nursery.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  BRIDGET AND DAVID

  While Bridget and David lay sleeping on the living room floor, Jade had slipped into the house through an open window, along with a crackhead she had met on Hunts Point.

  “What the fuck?” Divine said. “They got black and white parents or something? This one’s white and blond and the other one’s as black as can be. That’s the craziest set of twins I ever saw. You did say they was twins, right?”

  “Divine, would you shut the fuck up! I ain’t never in my entire life seen a ho flap her gums as much as you.”

  “It’s kinda crazy; that’s all. Why you gotta’ be so mean, Jade?”

  “Shut up. No talking until we get on up out of here. Okay?” Jade would have had harsher words for Divine if she didn’t need her. “Just take the little girl.”

  “Which one is the girl? The white one or the black one?” Divine asked.

  “Geez. The black one is the girl. Take her and I’ll take the boy.”

  Jade took Jacob and Divine took Jasmine. Jade found a baby carrier and strapped it on and handed one to Divine as well.

  Divine looked at Jade like she had two heads.

  “What do I look like? Mary Fuckin’ Poppins? I don’t know how to put that thing on,” Divine said.

  Jade exhaled loudly and, after attaching the baby carrier she was wearing and depositing baby Jacob inside, she attached Divine’s and put Jasmine in that one. The pair then laboriously exited through the same window they had come through, but not before Jade left a note for David and Bridget. It had taken her hours to put that note together and she couldn’t wait until they both read it.

  Bridget was the first to awaken. She hadn’t slept much since Jasmine and Jacob had been born, but she had gotten accustomed to waking to feed them both. Yet, somehow she hadn’t heard a peep out of them since she had gotten here. David was sleeping so soundly and she didn’t have the heart to wake him, so she got up from the floor quietly and went upstairs to check on Jasmine and Jacob. Nagging at Bridget was the eerie quiet of the entire house. Taking the steps two by two, her mother’s intuition was working overtime and, although shocked when she walked over to Jasmine’s crib, she wasn’t completely surprised. Her crib was empty and so was Jacob’s. Someone had taken her babies. For a split second, it occurred to her that maybe this was some sort of scheme on David’s part to get his son. Bridget quickly trashed that idea. That was love she had felt and she knew David well enough, both before and now, to know that he would never have done this. No, this was someone else. Then it dawned on her. Jade!

  Before Bridget could scream out to David, he was standing in the doorway of Jasmine and Jacob’s room, as white as a ghost.

  “David,” Bridget cried. “She’s taken the babies. She’s taken them.”

  David’s astonishment didn’t last long before he recovered and sprung into action. Picking up the telephone, he dialed a number and spoke.

  “It’s too late, I think she knows, and she’s taken Jasmine and Jacob. We may have had our differences, but we need to do something and do something now. You don’t know Jade the way that we do. She will not hesitate to hurt both Jasmine and Jacob, if she feels as though she’s backed up against a corner. And given what I know, I don’t think it will even take that. Up ’til now this has been little more than a game for her. An entertaining way to shuffle people around as though they were pieces on a chess board. Now, it’s about more than that. In her own sick little mind, this is about justifiable vengeance. And, if you don’t want Jasmine to end up on the receiving end of that vengeance, I would suggest you put your feelings for Bridget and I aside and we all work together. I’m not sure what she has in mind, but as I see it, Jacob and I are more of a focal point for her anger than any of you, but we all know Jade. She doesn’t care who gets caught in the crossfire. So, are you with us or not?”

  On the other end of the line, Stephen was explaining to David that he wasn’t for anyone but Jasmine, but that he would do whatever it took to keep her safe, even if it meant joining forces with David and Bridget.

  Bridget stared on, dazed and confused, unsure of the meaning of the conversation David had just had and afraid of what David was sure to tell her next.

  “David, who was that and what did you mean about Jade wanting vengeance. Vengeance for what?”

  “One of the reasons I brought you here was to tell you the rest of what my investigator learned when he was trying to find out about you and Jade. How much did Jade’s mom tell you about Jade’s father?”

  “Nothing really. Jade never knew her father. Oh, except, Chantal did tell me once that he was a good, decent man. I remember being surprised because Jade and everyone else who knew Chantal assumed Jade’s father was one of many johns she had known through the years and that even she didn’t know who Jade’s father was. But once, right before she died, she told me how much she loved Jade’s dad. I’ll never forget that night because it was one of the best talks I had ever had with Chantal. It was the only time I had gotten to see the soft side of her, and just as quickly as I saw that part of her, she was dead. In fact, she died that next morning, I think.”

  “I hope what I’m about to tell you doesn’t change what we’ve just shared. But, you need to know everything. The fact that I only recently learned of this doesn’t excuse my part in it. But I must mention, that I didn’t know anything about this until I hired that investigator. When I was a teenager, my father, in his infinite wisdom, decided to take me to a prostitute, hoping it would keep me from getting my girlfriend pregnant, or being too preoccupied with sex to concentrate on my studies, or for whatever reason his warped mind came up with. Anyway, he took me to Hunts Point. I was terrified. I felt like I was trapped in some bad vampire movie or something. There were girls everywhere, some of them half naked and walking the streets as if it were commonplace. Well, my father set me up with this prostitute who was about my age. Her name was Marie. She was eighteen or so, black, pretty, and I later found out, very nice. At first, I wouldn’t touch her and I really thought she hated me and what I represented, but after a few visits we became friends and eventually, as would be the case with any healthy teens, she and I had sex; in fact, she was my first, but our encounter was fleeting. As soon as my father learned that I considered Marie more than just a prostitute, he made sure that she and I never saw one another again. Remember, when we first met and I mentioned that you reminded me of someone I once loved very much; that was Marie. And although I’ve never considered myself a religious man, now that I know something of what happened to Marie, I believe wholeheartedly that she brought the two of us together. I believe that she loved us both and she wanted us to be happy. And somewhere from beyond, or whatever you want to call it, she made sure that our destinies were intertwined.”

  “David, what are you talking about? I don’t understand any of this. And, what does it have to do with Jasmine and Jacob, and what you were talking to Stephen about on the phone?”

  “Bridget, Jade’s mom, Chantal; her middle name was Marie.”

  “So. What does that have to do with...?”

  Then it dawned on her, but not before David explained.

  “Bridget, Chantal Marie Smith, was the woman I knew as Marie. I loved her, Bridget, and she loved me, and that is why I believe she decided to have our child. She was a good,
loving, kind person, who got the dirty end of the stick in life and in death—and she loved both of us. Bridget, I am that man that Chantal talked about, the one that she told you she loved. Bridget, Jade is my daughter.”

  Bridget was dumbfounded, she didn’t know what to say or think. Her first thought, however, was that her children were in unbelievable danger. For whatever reason, Jade envied her beyond reason. She was an evil, calculating human being. If Jade were aware that she and Jacob were indeed brother and sister, it would not sit well with her. She would be harboring enormous jealousy for Jacob, and it wouldn’t matter that he was just a baby. David was right—it was bad, and even though Jasmine probably didn’t matter in the least to Jade, it was not improbable that Jasmine would get caught in Jade’s crossfire.

  “David, I’ve got to speak to Stephen.”

  At first David was hurt, but he quickly realized this wasn’t about him and Bridget, or Stephen and Bridget. This was about their children, and Stephen and Bridget shared the same bond that he and Bridget shared; they had a child together. And, obviously, Stephen loved his daughter no less than he loved his son. Clearly, Stephen had made his choice when he chose to be with Jade.

  David handed Bridget the phone, but Bridget hesitated.

  “David, do you think it’s a mistake trusting him? After all, he was just with Jade only weeks earlier. What has changed?”

  “Don’t worry, Bridget. Before we came here, I made sure that Stephen got a copy of the investigator’s report. I figured we would need him and I knew he wouldn’t believe a thing I said unless it was in black and white. I even gave the investigator permission to speak with Stephen about his findings, in case Stephen decided to call him. He knows everything.”

  “But, Jade can be very manipulative. She has a way of twisting a person’s thoughts, making them believe what she wants them to believe.”

  “Believe me, I understand what you’re saying. I’ve been on the receiving end of Jade’s manipulations more times than I care to mention. But I have enough faith in Stephen to know that this time out, he won’t be so easily maneuvered. He has so much more at stake.”

  “Where do you think she is?” Bridget asked.

  “I know it sounds cliché, but she’s probably done what every criminal does. She’s returned to the scene of the crime.”

  “Hunts Point,” they both said in unison.

  All of their questions were answered as they read the note Jade left behind:

  Daddy Dearest,

  As you probably already know, you’re the piece of shit that knocked up my mother and left us both to the wolves. I can’t wait to sit down and tell you all about what my life has been like since you left us. But, I’m sure you can already figure all that out. I bet you’re so happy you decided not to fuck me when you were cruising Hunts Point looking for pussy, huh? Well, anyway, I’m sure it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what it is I want. I want money, and lots of it. In fact, I want $100,000 for every single year that you should have taken care of me + $200,000 thrown in for good measure (you know, college, incidentals and the like) and I want it today. You see I’m thinking of starting a new life, far away from the hustle and bustle of New York. Now, I can make this change, with or without my baby brother. That’s your decision. I can leave the black baby (you know, the one you don’t care two shits about) here to be picked apart by the degenerates or they both can come home with you and your clueless Lady Love. You hold the key to their fate, Daddy Dearest. For their sake, you better not fuck up!

  Leaving Long Beach, Bridget didn’t know what she was more afraid of; Jade or her two angels being exposed to the very same Hunts Point element she had sworn they would never be exposed to.

  “David, we have to find them. We just have to!”

  “We will. I promise you, we will—if I have to move heaven and earth in the process.”

  Driving through Hunts Point was like a none-too-pleasant walk through memory lane for both Bridget and David. Not much had changed and they both felt as though their lives were flashing before their eyes. He went over and over it in his mind, thinking about both Marie and Jade and how things had turned out. He wished he had it to do all over again. Things probably wouldn’t have turned out the way that they had. Bridget couldn’t help but think about the relationship she thought she had with Jade. Once upon a time, she considered her a sister, but she now knew that had all been a lie. How could she have been so blind? Then, Bridget’s thoughts shifted to Chantal. She and Jade had buried Chantal’s body in a grave in the park like an old piece of garbage. She now understood Jade’s mindset, but why had she done it? Didn’t that make her no better than Jade? She pacified her guilt with the thought that she was young and afraid and promised herself that somehow, someway, she would make it up to Chantal.

  “David, did that report mention where Chantal’s body is now? I would really like to ensure that she finally has a proper burial.”

  “Yes, of course. The strange thing is Marie’s body was somehow unearthed maybe a year or so after you and Jade buried her. It could have been an animal, the rain, any number of things. But, once her body was discovered, she was so decomposed and with so little to go on, she was classified as yet another Jane Doe. She was buried in a gravesite the State designates for unclaimed bodies, usually for the indigent, or unloved. Fortunately, between what Michael and the investigator were able to learn about you and Jade and your connection with Marie, they were able to canvass the area of the apartment where you all lived, ask questions and connect the timeline of Marie’s disappearance with several Jane Does. Don’t worry, Bridget, I know exactly what you’re thinking. We found her.”

  “She wasn’t indigent or unloved. Chantal was greatly loved by me. She was the closest thing to a mother I ever had. When all of this is over, can we make sure she has a proper funeral? At the very least, she deserves that.”

  “I agree. She deserves that and so much more. I wish there was something I could do for Jade. I can’t help thinking that there’s got to be some part of Jade that is good. Her mother was a kind and giving person, and I know I’m not perfect, and I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way, but I’ve never intentionally hurt anyone. I can’t believe that the two of us could have made a daughter with absolutely no redeeming qualities. I have to believe that I can get through to her in some way.”

  “I understand what you’re saying, David, but our first priority should be Jasmine and Jacob, and I have to be honest with you. I have every intention of doing everything and anything I need to do to save them. I know that’s your daughter and all, but if saving Jasmine and Jacob means having to hurt Jade in the process, that is exactly what I will have to do.”

  “I know.”

  “I wish it didn’t have to be this way. My father left me well-fixed and despite Jade’s attempts to rob me blind, McDonnell has consistently made money since its inception. There has always been enough of everything; enough money, enough of everything, to go around. She really doesn’t have to do this. I actually believe her. She is entitled to everything she wants, with the exception of hurting Jasmine and Jacob. I would have no reservations about giving her all of my money, if that’s what it takes. But, I don’t think that is really what she wants. I think she wants to make all of us pay for the life she had or didn’t have. I just don’t understand why she wants you to pay. I mean, weren’t you right there living the identical life?”

  “That’s something I’ve never been able to understand either. Jade has always behaved as though my life was somehow better than hers. When in reality, in some respects, she had so much more than I had. Even as damaged as Chantal was, I often envied the fact that Jade had a mother because I never did.”

  By the time they arrived at their rundown former Westchester Avenue apartment, Stephen was outside waiting for them and eager to see both David and Bridget. In all his life, Stephen had never seen such squalor. He felt such empathy for Bridget, now more than ever before. He didn’t know if they woul
d ever be able to put this behind them and be friends, but he no longer felt any measure of hate for her. In some respects, he believed Bridget was to be commended for surviving and triumphing over this life.

  He wondered if he would have been able to do the same under similar circumstances. He suddenly saw her for the courageous woman that she was.

  “Have you been here long, Stephen?” Bridget asked.

  “No. I only got here ten or fifteen minutes ago. I haven’t even gone in the building yet.”

  “That’s probably a good idea. There’s safety in numbers,” David chimed in.

  “Our apartment was on the third floor. The one furthest to the back.”

  “Okay, Bridget. Why don’t you wait here in the car and Stephen and I will go up.”

  “I’m not waiting here. My babies are up there. I’m not going to just sit in the car. I’ve played the victim long enough. It’s about time I took control over my life.”

  Stephen looked at Bridget with great sincerity and warmth; a gesture which immediately got Bridget’s attention, since she believed he felt nothing for her but contempt.

  “Bridget, you have done nothing but take control of your life from the very beginning. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you—here—and with Jade as your only friend. It makes me so angry with her and even angrier with myself for not being able to open up my eyes and see what was directly in front of me. I still can’t believe that I actually allowed myself to be taken in by her. You are one of the most courageous people I have ever known and you have nothing to prove. Let someone protect you for a change. I believe David, and I know I, will feel much better, if we know you’re safely out of reach from Jade’s clutches.”