The Broken Canvas

by Tai Barnett

  “Ohh, I couldn’t wait to see mi grandson. We barely got a chance to see him last night as you guys came in so late. He looks just like his father when he was a baby…” she said staring at him and smiling.

  I had to smile myself because she was gleaming with love and pride.

  “Oh, I have to check on Rose, she hates sleeping by herself, even at nine years old. But that room you prepared for her was just divine.”

  “Oh, Rose is just fine, dear.” She said while standing. “She’s been up from 6 am and out with Brody and Harry. They went to the market to collect a cheese platter for brunch later.”

  I was uncomfortable with that. But I tried to hide it. I never allowed my daughter to go out with strangers. He was the father of my youngest. Nonetheless, I have just always been very protective of her, except with Andrew. Yet, he still had to prove himself without my help.

  I took up my cell phone and started dialing.

  “Well, they’ll be back soon, dearie. No need to be worried.” Mrs. Banister explained with one hand folded over the other on top of her stomach.

  “Oh, of course not, I am not worried at all. I just want to say good morning to her.”

  Alright, I knew I was lying but this was my firstborn, my little girl.

  “Oh, good morning, Brody. Yes, been up since 5 …hardly slept at all. Jetlagged…yes, perhaps. Your mother told me. Could I say morning to her please? OK… Oh, good morning, my darling! Yes, I heard! So, you slept well? Slow down hun, well…OK, later then!” I had a surprised look on my face. Rose was so very anxious to hang up and get back to whatever it was that she was doing.

  Mrs. Banister looked at me and smiled. Her smile suggested that I was worried over nothing.

  “No! I am not worried, Brody, but she can be a handful. Oh, OK. See you soon then.”

  Mrs. Banister walked to the side of the bed and started looking at Charles again.

  “My son may be notorious for being a playboy, dear, but believe me, he is wonderful with children. I know you’re concerned about your little Rose. As a mother, I would be too I suppose. But we consider her as much family as we do Charles. So, don’t you worry about a thing!”

  “Ahh, look who’s awake! Is that my little Charles?” Mrs. Banister said leaning over the bed and looking at Charles tossing and turning in the bed.

  My Charles was a sweetheart with rosy cheeks, pink lips and light brown hair with big curls at the ends. He was a pleasant baby just like his big sister.

  Charles sat up in bed and smiled while creeping towards me on the opposite side of the bed, away from where his grandma was standing. I held him and took him over to her.

  “Look, Charles, this is your grandma…”

  Mrs. Banister held out her hands. I was shocked to see Charles quickly creeping towards her and jumping into her arms. I think it’s because she was just so sweet spirited and gentle like my mother with similar features.

  “You continue your writing. Little Charles and I are going for a walk in the garden,” Mrs. Banister said. “OK…!”

  Thirty minutes had passed, and I couldn’t write any further. I have always felt that as a guest in someone’s house, there are certain responsibilities and ethics to observe.

  I showered, threw on my red yoga pants, white tank top and sandals. I brushed my hair a few times and put on a bit of lip gloss. But who cares! I was not about to walk the Milan Fashion Week runway, was I?

  I loved being and feeling comfortable and I loved to help around the house and to cook. That is exactly what I decided to do as I went downstairs to help out in the kitchen.

  The kitchen was busy with several chefs and caterers. I proceeded toward the granite island countertop where Mrs. Banister sat with her warm and conspiracy theorist husband, Harry. Seated right across from them were their youngest son, Martin, and their only daughter and youngest, Rachel, who was seven months pregnant. Her husband Liam sat right in front of her as he massaged her swollen legs that were rested comfortably on his lap.

  I must admit I hated crowds and strangers but being in Hollywood slowly shoved me out of that awkward phase.

  “Good morning!”

  “Good morning!” everyone shouted. That loud jubilee kind of response was a bit of a shocker, but I remembered that Brody’s family were morning people.

  “She is gorgeous. Still a bit chunky but gorgeous,” Harry whispered to his wife. I pretended not to hear.

  I was just 15 pounds overweight but that was morbidly obese in Hollywood.

  “We heard the creative juices were flowing. Never expected to see you until brunch, dear,” Harry said while taking a bottle of white wine from one of the crates that were on the counter-top.

  Harry was extremely tall and thin with shoulder length grey hair. He had a surprising allure in his voice like a politician’s that made you want to listen to him speak for hours. Like his wife, he was always sprucely dressed in a neatly tailored suit.

  “Well, I decided to help out with the cooking. If I may?”

  “Still love cooking ehh? I remembered the last time that you were here. You made the juiciest Jerked Chicken and delectable breakfast. Ahh…where are my manners! Natasha this is my youngest, Rachel. You never met her on your last trip because she was away at college. And this is her husband, Liam, and you met Martin on your last visit.” exclaimed Mrs. Banister while handing the cheese platter to one of the caterers.

  “Hello, so lovely to meet you…finally,” said Rachel.

  I don’t know but for some reason, Rachel seemed to have a very suspicious, slightly nefarious look on her face while she was staring at me.

  Rachel was the spitting image of her mother, only with a lot more weight and seemingly not so pleasant. Her husband, Liam, was bi-racial and looked like the younger version of a Harry Belafonte.

  “Yes, my wife and I have seen all of your work,” said Liam his face was glowing with excitement.

  “Well, thank you very much! It’s hard work but I really enjoy it!”

  Martin walked over, gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek.

  “Natasha, my dear! It’s so wonderful having you here… come and have a seat. May I offer you something to drink? Orange juice, perhaps. I remember it’s your favorite breakfast drink,” Martin said.

  “Oh, no thank you, Martin. But some tea would be nice—no sugar please.” I walked over and sat beside Rachel and her husband.

  A minute or two later, I noticed Rose and Charles were not around.

  “Where are the children?” I said while sipping my sugarless mint tea.

  “They are in the front garden with Brody. Why don’t you go get them? They must be starving by now!” Mrs. Banister said. She sounded like she had something up her sleeve. But I was too caught up with Rachel’s off-putting stare, which felt exactly like looking straight into the ‘evil eye’ and wondering if I was about to be inflicted with some unknown disease or bodily harm.

  By this time, the chefs and caterers were in the back yard.

  “OK. See you guys in a bit,” I said while heading towards the front door.

  I had a hunch there was going to be a discussion behind my back. And I am sure Rachel’s view was rather colorful and disparaging.

  Deciding that I was going to listen, I stood in the corridor toward the front door where no one would notice.

  “I don’t know why you’re all so accommodating to her. She hid Brody’s child from him for almost three years. She hid it from the entire family! What kinda woman does that?” Rachel said.

  “Honey, I don’t think it’s our place to judge…” said Mrs. Banister.

  “Well, besides that I really like Natasha. She is down to earth and very kind, everyone makes mistakes. I am sure she had her reasons…” said Martin.

  “Well, I can’t agree with that, Martin. I think it was just selfish and arrogant!” Rachel said. Liam by now looked a bit uncomfortable about his wife’s opinions.

  “Oh…hush! Hush now, all of you. Natasha is a lovely girl. As a
matter of fact, I have always said that she is the ideal type that I always wanted for your brother. She is strong, a nurturer and caring, filled with love and tolerance, just what Brody needs to calm him right back down…” Mrs. Banister said while taking an apple from the three-tier decorative fruit rack.

  Rachel looked snobbishly at her mother.

  “Well, how could you possibly know these things, Maw? You met the woman one time for three weeks! How can you really know a person in that amount of time?” Rachel said while trying to open the jar of peanut butter that she had placed on the counter earlier along with a box of graham crackers.

  Liam took the jar from her and opened it effortlessly. He handed it back to her. “Miss Rachel, you had better just calm down. A mother knows these things as you will one day. It’s just a pity the girl is not his type! He loves those tall model types for some reason…” Mrs. Banister exclaimed.

  Mrs. Banister cut the apple in two.

  “Your mother is right, Rachel!” said Harry

  “Do you know that in some parts of Africa, the girls are sent into fattening rooms to become desirable to men? To them, a full-figured woman denotes good health, wealth and fertility?” Mr. Banister said while sitting in a corner with his legs and arms folded and looking at his daughter.

  “There you go again, father, with your controversial theories. It doesn’t matter, she is just not his type and who is to say she even wants to be with Brody anyway,” exclaimed Martin.

  Mrs. Brody placed the knife and the apple onto the counter and looked at Martin strongly. “Well, I have no idea why not Martin! Brody is charming, successful and wealthy. I can’t see why any woman wouldn’t,” said Mrs. Banister.

  “And you forgot intermittently self-absorbed, arrogant, he has a really bad temper and we all know he changes woman so often he forgets their names. Besides, I want to believe that Natasha is more brains than beauty. Brody is not her type. He is a temperamental brute. She desires someone less complicated, calm, a free spirit, and thinker. We discussed this,” said Martin.

  “What I can’t understand is why you’re all defending her. I have seen him grow with Mariska and I rather like her,” Rachel exclaimed with a pack of graham cracker on top of her gigantic belly.

  “Darling, if I recalled the other day, you said that you didn’t trust Mariska and that you found her uninspiring and shallow…” exclaimed Liam looking at his wife, bemused as she started eating chunky peanut butter from the jar with a graham cracker as the spoon.

  Martin was laughing now.

  “Well, Rachel, that was rude…” said Mrs. Banister.

  I couldn’t listen anymore, so I walked outside.

  I would be lying if I said all of what I heard didn’t affect me. As a matter of fact, it messed up my entire morning and now I just wanted to take my kids and leave.

  Then I saw Brody playing catch with Rose and Charles. It was the first time that I had seen him with his father.

  For one moment of insanity, we being a family began dancing inside of my thoughts. Of course, I quickly woke up from that likened to ‘cannabis induced’ state of delusions.

  I looked at the children laughing and playing. They were both happy and having fun with him which was a relief for me. Then I looked at Brody. His white, sleeveless muscle shirt triggered the memory that I had a huge crush on him, back when I was what some would call a ‘nobody’.

  I loved all his movies. I loved his arms, his raspy voice, rugged unshaven face and just generally manly demeanor.

  “Mummy! Mummy! Come play with us!” Rose said while running eagerly towards me.

  She gave me a quick hug and kiss.

  “Mummy, Brody is so much fun! He brought me chocolates and a brand-new handbag this morning! Come …come play with us now!” Rose exclaimed with a huge smile on her face and her big dark-brown bright eyes sparkling.

  My little Rose ran back and started playing again. She had always loved handbags. All kinds and she brought them everywhere. They were always packed with lotions and perfumes, and lipsticks. Only, by the end of our trips, I would always end up having a second bag when we reached our destination.

  “Not now, honey! Gonna sit this one out…” I yelled.

  “Give me a second, hun. I have something to say to your mother!” Brody said to Rose.

  “OK! Hurry back!” Rose yelled.

  She ran back into the garden and started playing by herself with the football while Brody picked up Charles into his robust arms and walked towards me. I must say, he looked rather sexy with the baby in his arms, undeniably confirming the saying that something is so alluring about a man carrying a baby.

  “Mama!” said Charles.

  I kissed him and rubbed his hair as he suddenly jumped out of Brody’s hands and ran towards his sister.

  “Be careful, you two. Keep practicing. Remember to be careful with him, Rose!” Brody shouted.

  “OK. I remember!” Rose shouted.

  Hmm how interesting. I was seeing a paternal side to Mr. Banister…the nurturing father was emerging, it seemed. He was laughing as he looked at the children. His appearance was different. He was more relaxed, and his energy was lighter and happier like when he and Martin were together.

  “Chocolate at 7 am? Really, Brody?”

  “Oh, you must understand that one. I couldn’t resist her. She is such a lovely little princess,” he said while laughing.

  “OK, I will this time, but…” I looked at him with reprimanding stare, nonetheless.

  He looked at me with his lips slightly parted and sighed. “So, I ahh…just wanted to say thank you for coming. And I was also wondering that perhaps later on you and I could maybe go into town for a drink at Isla and the Dutchman’s—you know, to discuss how this is all going to work out?” Brody asked.

  “Hmm, Isla and the Dutchman’s, interesting choice but a bad one. If I can recall, my last visit at the Dutchman’s left me with a horrible hang over, poor memory the following day and nine months later with a brand new baby…sooo!”

  “Well, I just wanted to thank you properly for giving me this gift and believe me, he is a gift Natasha. And we do need to discuss it. OK, how about I take you to dinner instead then? How about that?” Brody said while keeping eye contact with me.

  Although I was still upset about hearing the previous discussion, I stayed for two reasons. First, for Mrs. Banister. And last, I was feeling guilty about keeping this a secret from Brody and his family for so long.

  “Hmmm…OK. But absolutely no drinking for me though!”

  “OK! Great…” He started running back toward the children and unexpectedly looked back at me.

  “By the way, you look lovely!” He yelled.

  Giving me compliments and being nice, huh? Such typical playboy moves. My spanx were packed comfortably back inside the suitcase. Hell! I wasn’t even wearing makeup. What was Brody Banister up to?

  That Old Feeling

  That evening, I decided to go all out with dressing up for dinner with Brody. I wanted a little boost of confidence and to show Brody’s family that I did have what it takes for any man to desire me as how women desired him.

  Of course, I didn’t care if I was probably giving him the wrong impression. I wanted to see if I was really not his type.

  So, I decided to do something I swore I would never ever do; wear the very elegant, sexy beige laced cocktail romper that Michael bought for my birthday.

  Sure enough, he and Lauren eventually influenced me to also model my four-inch high, beige laced pumps with Smokey eye make-up, bright blood red lipstick and my hair parted in the middle hanging down my shoulders. I loved jewelry and Indian bangles, so I fully accessorized with those as well.

  A few hours later, Brody and I sat down to a seafood dinner and to my surprise a bottle of wine.

  He rubbed his hands together then popped the cap from the bottle of chardonnay while making sure to make eye contact. I looked down and away from him at first. I asserted myself quickly—with my
elbows on the table—I rested my chin on my palm and stared him straight into the eyes.

  It was one of those days where your confidence was off the charts and you just knew that you were looking stimulating; all the compliments just seemed to confirm it.

  “Uhm…I thought we agreed on no alcohol—and chardonnay…you know that’s my favorite,” I said.

  His face transformed into a mischievous smirk as his lips became crooked.

  “Ooh…so you think this is for the both of us? I promised…I wouldn’t give you alcohol! Never said a thing about me,” Brody declared, being sure not to lose eye contact.

  Brody loved to drink, especially whiskey and beer. Wines left him only slightly light headed. He was Scottish after all.

  He poured himself a glass, took a big gulp and smiled. While I pressed my lips together and feeling sensual more than usual, I was considering where his silly games were headed.

  His army green polar shirt was opened two buttons down, allowing a see-through glimpse of his hairy chest. It was obvious that he had shaven and gotten a haircut as he was looking very polished unlike his usual scruffy look. His floral scented cologne was subtle but not too overpowering to collide with my Dior fragrance.

  I decided to patronize him and to flirt with the brawny actor. A nostalgic feeling overcame me, I was transported back in time and feeling like I was once again that infatuated teenage girl.

  “OK, I will have one glass, I am sure that won’t hurt,” I said. Still, in the back of my mind I knew that I had to remain cautious.

  Little did I realize that one bottle would lead to another and a third. We were so caught up in conversation about the children and family, I forgot about what could potentially happen if I had too much to drink with Brody Banister sitting across the table.

  I forgot that I had the perfect man for me, Andrew, in my life and that I was finally happy and that I knew that Andrew would give his life for me without a second thought and more so, he was faithful to a fault.

  But tonight, was turning out to be an alluring one. The elegant live Scottish folk music with fingerstyle guitar and violin played faintly in the background, perfectly cooked grilled salmon trout with leek and butterscotch bread pudding for dessert was ideal for a perfect evening.