by Honey
“That doesn’t mean she wants to be a nanny to Gem and Treasure after working for me all day long, J. I won’t take advantage of her like that. Gypsie’s a really sweet girl.”
“I know. That’s why she agreed to help her boss out. All you’ll have to do is cut back on her evening hours. Let her do office work only. Conner or I will run around and make appearances with you. Sometimes we’ll both be there.”
“How did you talk Gypsie into it? What did you promise her, J? Please don’t tell me you’ve been messing around with my assistant behind my back.”
“Nope. But I’ve been tempted to, though, because she’s fine as hell. Have you ever seen her ass jiggle when—”
“Stop it, J. She’s a baby.”
“I know, and that’s why I didn’t put the moves on her. It would’ve been too easy. Then she would be hooked on me. We don’t need that in our close-knit work environment. But anyway, Gypsie will babysit my nieces any evening you need her, and she’s cheap. Plus, Gem and Treasure already know her, and they like her, so everything will run smoothly.”
“Okay. Adjust Gypsie’s work schedule at the office and give her my itinerary for the next thirty days.”
“She already has her new work schedule and your calendar. What else?”
Josiah stroked his goatee. “I guess nothing. You seemed to have handled everything.”
“That’s right. Your brother’s got you, man.”
“Because it’s Friday night, they may stay up until ten o’clock, but not a minute longer, Gypsie.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Expect me back around one or two. But I’m sure you’ll be asleep by then. I hope you’ll find the guest room comfortable.”
“It’s a very beautiful room, and the bed is huge. I’m going to sleep like a baby, sir.”
“Great. I’ll see you in the morning.” Josiah walked over to the sofa where the girls were sitting watching a movie in their pajamas. He knelt down to stare into their angelic faces. “Daddy is about to leave for a fundraising party. I want you two to be on your best behavior for Miss Gypsie, okay?”
“Yes, Daddy, we’ll be good. Won’t we, Treasure?”
“Yes.”
Josiah kissed both girls and hugged them tightly. “I love you, my princesses.”
“We love you too, Daddy,” they returned in unison.
Chapter Six
Josiah tiptoed toward the bedroom door, careful not to wake the girls, and left the room. He closed the door quietly behind him. The fundraiser had been a big success. The Black Belles and Beaus had raised over $75,000 for his reelection campaign. Josiah felt like dancing even though he was tired. It had been a long night, and all he had the energy to do now was take a quick shower and hit the sack.
He entered the master suite and removed his shoes and suit coat before he sat down on the bed. Seconds after he slipped off his tie, shirt, and wife beater, the doorbell rang. Josiah frowned and glanced down at his watch. Who the hell would ring his doorbell minutes after two in the morning? As soon as the question formed in his head, he thought about Mink. He jumped up and ran swiftly down the stairs. After deactivating the security system, he snatched the door open. Lo and behold, it was Mink, but she wasn’t alone. She was standing on wobbly legs, looking like hot ratchet shit between a pair of Atlanta’s finest. The two officers were holding her body upright as it jerked and flopped. Her curly hair was matted to her head, and she smelled like a nasty farm animal. The white minidress with spaghetti straps she had on was filthy, and she was barefoot.
“We’re sorry to ring your bell this time of the morning, Mr. Mayor, but—”
“I understand. Come in,” Josiah said, stepping aside to give them a clear path into the house. He closed the front door before he headed toward the den.
The officers dragged Mink down the hall behind Josiah. She was rambling and shaking like a certified junkie. When they reached the den, the officers placed Mink on the sofa, and she toppled over on her side like a rag doll. Josiah looked at her, disgusted. He faced the two men and folded his arms across his bare chest.
“Where did you find her?”
“We got a call about a disturbance at a house on Spike Circle in Ridgewood. When we arrived on the scene, she and two other women were outside in the front yard fighting like Crips and Bloods. We separated them and tried to make sense of the situation. All we could make out was that Mrs. Bishop was trying to get a watch back from the women she believed had stolen from her.”
“How did you know she was my wife?”
The younger officer smiled. “That was the first thing she told us when we put her in the back of the cruiser. Of course, we didn’t believe her at first. But as she kept talking, it became clear that she knew you pretty well, especially when she gave us your private number at city hall. We dialed it, and sure enough, we heard your distinguished voice on the out-going message.”
Josiah rubbed both hands down his face. “Look, I know you’re supposed to file an incident report, but . . . um . . . I . . . um—”
The officers shook their heads, cutting him off.
“I got the biggest raise of my career when you became mayor,” the older officer was quick to say. “I wouldn’t dare file a report. As far as I’m concerned, there was no incident. We just gave Mrs. Bishop a safe ride home.”
“That’s right, Mr. Mayor,” the other officer agreed.
“Thank you both so much. I’ll walk you to the door.” He led the way from the den.
At the door, Josiah thanked the officers again for bringing Mink home and for their discretion. They waved him off and wished him well. When he returned to the den, Mink was still slouched on the sofa trembling terribly. As he walked closer to her, he noticed a large puddle of liquid on the brown leather sofa. His belly rolled when he smelled the distinct odor of urine. Josiah frowned and shook his head. He was pissed! He was exhausted and wanted to go to bed, but he had to deal with Mink and her bullshit first. He considered leaving her ass right there in her own pee, but he couldn’t risk having the girls find her in this condition in the morning. So, he turned to leave the den to get a towel and cleaning supplies. Imagine his shame when he found Gypsie standing at the entrance of the den looking at Mink like she was the monster from a horror movie.
* * *
By the time Josiah finished giving Mink a thorough shower, shampooing her hair, and putting her to bed, he was dog-tired. Her tremors and abrupt trips to the bathroom to vomit had made it almost impossible to blow-dry her hair, but he’d completed the job eventually. Now he had one more task to tackle before he could finally crash. He needed to disinfect the sofa in the den and air out the room. Gypsie had volunteered to do it for him, but he’d refused to let her. It was embarrassing enough that she had seen Mink high out of her mind and with such deplorable personal hygiene. He didn’t want her to clean up behind her, so he’d insisted that she go back to bed.
Josiah trudged down the steps and entered the den. His body was so weary that he could hardly keep his eyes open. He forced himself to get to work, thoroughly disinfecting the entire sofa and spraying air freshener throughout the room. Something’s got to give, an inner voice told him. Mink needed to go into rehab, and he was going to insist that she check herself into one in the morning—or else. Josiah was prepared for a tough fight with her, but he wasn’t going to back down this time. It was past time for her to stop this madness. Couldn’t she see that she was destroying herself and their family? If she was too blind to see the reality of the situation, Josiah had no problem pointing it out to her. He was fed up with Mink’s bullshit. It was going to end in the morning.
* * *
“Mommy!” Treasure screamed with excitement and burst into the master suite. In a flash, her mother’s two-week long disappearing act was forgotten. In Treasure’s eyes, Mink could do no wrong.
“Hey, there, honey bunny!” She sat up in the bed and opened her arms to her baby girl.
Treasure ran and jumped into her mother
’s arms and rained kisses all over her face. Just a few hours ago, Josiah wouldn’t have allowed Mink to touch either one of their daughters out fear that she would contaminate them with filth and body odor. And they would’ve been horrified by the very sight of her for sure.
“Where were you, Mommy? I missed you. Why did you leave us again?”
Each time Mink returned home after one of her drug binges, she was hit with that million-dollar question. And Josiah had to give her credit because she never failed to come up with an explanation that seemed to satisfy the girls. She was quite the creative liar. Josiah folded his arms across his chest and waited for her to come up with a new colorful tale. But sudden movement at the entrance of the room grabbed everyone’s attention before Mink could speak. It was Gem, and she did not look happy to see her mother at all.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” Mink whispered, extending a hand toward Gem. “I’ve missed you. Come hug me.”
Gem twirled around fast like a destructive tornado and ran down the hall toward her bedroom. The sound of her door slamming shut boomed throughout the house. Josiah hurried out of the master suite and made his way down the hall. He turned the doorknob slowly to enter the room, but it didn’t budge because Gem had locked the door.
“Gem, this is Daddy, sweetie. Please let me in so we can talk. I want to make sure you’re okay.”
He waited patiently, praying that she would let him in. She was just a little girl, but she had genuine feelings just like any adult. Mink’s actions had caused the child so much pain and anger recently, and she was dealing with those emotions the only way a 6-year-old little girl knew how.
Josiah relaxed when he saw the doorknob turning. The door eased open slowly, and his firstborn appeared with a tearstained face. He immediately picked Gem up and squeezed her in a hug. Then he entered the room and threw a back kick to close the door. With his sweet daughter in his arms, he walked across the room and sat in the rocking chair.
“Why does she run away all the time, Daddy? Doesn’t she love us?”
“Yes, she loves us, but Mommy is sick, baby. She has a disease that she has no control over. It’s called addiction.”
“Why can’t the doctor give her medicine to make it go away forever?”
Josiah shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he went into deep thought, trying to choose his next words carefully. “The doctor can help make your mommy better, but she has to go to a special hospital and stay for a long time. There, she’ll receive the treatment and medicine that she needs to control the disease. How will you and your sister feel about her going away? Won’t you miss her?”
“If she goes, will she get better?”
“Yes, she’ll get better if she stays and does everything the doctors tell her to do. They’ll give her medicine that will help her.”
“Then take her to the special hospital, Daddy. You’ve got to make her go and stay so she can get well. Treasure and I will go with you. I’m going to get dressed so we can leave soon. I’ll help Treasure get dressed too.” Gem got up from her father’s lap and headed toward the walk-in closet.
“Mommy doesn’t want to leave you and your sister,” he told the child honestly. “I’ve been talking to her all morning about it. She told me she’s not going to the special hospital, Gem. I’m sorry.”
She turned around to face her father with tears streaming down her face. “I’ll talk to her, and so will Treasure. She’ll go to the special hospital if we beg her.”
Chapter Seven
Mink sat up and snatched the bedsheets and extra blankets away from her sweaty body. She wasn’t freezing anymore. A sneaky hot flash had hit her all of a sudden, and with it came another round of nausea. She bolted from the small bed with her head spinning. Weak and more nauseated than she’d ever been before in her life, she stumbled into the bathroom and fell to her knees.
“Dear God, help me!” she yelled at her blurry reflection in the water at the bottom of the commode. Her stomach rumbled and twisted before she heaved and huffed. Nothing came up except foul air from deep down in her gut. The stench caused her to gag and retch again, but her belly was empty and sore from vomiting and a terrible case of diarrhea she’d had all afternoon. She couldn’t even hold water down, so food was definitely out of the question. And the quivering wouldn’t stop no matter how tight she wrapped her arms around her body and prayed.
Mink wanted to fall asleep and never wake up again. A headache, queasiness, and convulsing had become unbearable. She needed relief in the worst way. Where was that fucking, mean nurse when she needed her? She was finally ready for the methadone injection that the woman had been trying to force on her since the moment she’d arrived. Mink crawled over to the wall with her bare ass peeping through the back slit of her blue hospital gown. She yanked on the string attached to the red emergency intercom on the wall.
“This is Laura. How may I help you, Mrs. Bishop?”
“I’m ready for the methadone injection. I can’t take this shit anymore. I feel like I’m about to die in here. Please send somebody right away.”
“Donna, your nurse, will be there as soon as she can. Hang in there, honey.”
Mink couldn’t help but cry. What the hell else could she do? She was a pathetic, worthless addict, and she hated herself. Her husband and children had persuaded her to sign into a drug treatment facility just across the Alabama state line. She didn’t know a soul in Birmingham. Jeremiah had found the place online and made the arrangements for her admission. He hated Mink’s guts, and he would do anything to get rid of her. She knew it was him who had hired Josiah’s cute little assistant, Gypsie, to watch Gem and Treasure last night too. Jeremiah thought Mink was a damn fool, but he was wrong, and she would soon prove it.
“Mrs. Bishop, where are you, ma’am?”
Mink leaned on the commode and pushed to her feet. She was dizzy, and her stomach was still churning. She washed her hands and left the bathroom, walking slowly toward the voice in her room.
The nurse smirked. “So you decided to relieve your body of its misery, huh?”
Mink nodded, swallowing some choice words she had for the obnoxious woman. She had a personality better suited for dealing with animals rather than humans.
“Most heroin users prefer methadone therapy. It makes life a hell of a lot easier for them in detox. If you want to keep those shivers, the mood swings, and that nasty nausea away, you’ll learn to get used to the injections.”
Mink nodded but kept quiet as she offered the rude cow her shoulder for the injection. She was at the woman’s mercy, so she didn’t want to say anything that would piss her off while she had a needle in her hand. She closed her eyes as the nurse gently injected her with the methadone. The cool sensation of the healing potion trickling slowly into her bloodstream followed the sting of the sharp needle piercing her flesh.
“Thank you,” Mink mumbled.
The nurse placed a Band-Aid over the injection site. “It wasn’t a problem at all. Should I write a note in your chart for my replacement to give you a follow-up dose in eight hours if needed?”
“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”
“I’ll take care of that right away.”
Mink watched Donna take soft, measured steps out of the room. She was a tiny, young woman with a blond, pixie hairstyle and bright blue eyes. Although she was attractive, Mink didn’t care for her razor-sharp tongue and snooty attitude that she’d unleashed on her when she’d first arrived. Thank God she had mellowed out some since then. Otherwise, they would’ve had major problems.
Mink took a seat on the edge of her bed as the methadone began to take effect on her body. She felt relaxed and less nauseated. And her mind seemed to have been expelling all of the jumbled thoughts that were swimming around earlier. The bad thing about that was it made room for fresh memories of some of the awful and unimaginable things she had done during her most recent disappearance act. Mink closed her eyes and covered her mouth with both hands when a vision of the fig
ht she’d had with two other junkies floated through her psyche. And then she remembered the shameful ride in the back of the police cruiser. Oh my God! she screamed inwardly. The officers knew her true identity. Their respect for Josiah had surely flown out the window after that revelation. How could she have been so stupid? She was married to the mayor of Atlanta.
The salty taste of tears surprised Mink. She hadn’t realized she was crying. She felt so numb. The trap of addiction was no joke. She didn’t wish it on her worst enemy. She hugged herself and rocked back and forth as the face of the unknown thug that dangled the tiny vial of heroin in her face appeared in her memory. She could see his menacing glare and his tattooed body as he teased her with the drugs, but she couldn’t remember his name. And what’s worse is she had no recollection of what she’d done in that filthy house those few days to earn the multiple fixes that had kept her away from her husband and daughters. She wondered how long she’d been gone. It was hard even to determine what day it was.
Depressed and humiliated to her core, Mink got in bed and wrapped her body in the covers as tears continued to spill from her eyes. She wanted to die. After all, Gem and Treasure would be so much better off without her, and so would Josiah. Maybe if she were to end her life, he would be free to find the kind of woman he deserved. And because of her love for him, his new love interest would be a good mother to the girls. They needed a positive female influence in their lives because she was in no condition to be their role model. A devoted wife and a loving, drug-free stepmother would make them forget all about her, as if she’d never existed.
“Let me die, God. Please just let me die,” Mink pleaded through loud sobs. “I can’t be fixed, and I’m not fit to live. I’ve done too many terrible things. JoJo and the girls don’t deserve the bullshit I continuously put them through. I’m no good for them, and I just can’t do right anymore. So please strike me dead right now for their sake, God. Let me die.”
* * *
Josiah didn’t understand why he was nervous, but he was. He tightened his grip on Treasure’s hand as they made their way down the hall. The linoleum floors were waxed to perfection, and the white walls were pristine. His nostrils detected the distinct smell of a pine-scented cleaner and bleach the moment they entered Lifeline Rehabilitation Center. He’d received his very first phone call from Mink two days ago, requesting that he and the girls come for a visit. She had described her three weeks at the facility as difficult but successful. According to her doctor, therapist, and sponsor, she had made great strides on her road to recovery, and Josiah couldn’t have been happier.
