Ivy's Twisted Vine Redux

by Latrivia S. Nelson

  “Why is that?” Emerald’s curiosity was exposed.

  “You have no idea what type of situation this has been. I know that you want to side with your dear sister, but nine months ago she was doing the same thing. So, fuck the threats. I’ll tell her, but I can guarantee that she won’t leave me. She’ll understand. She always does. This is my first offense. You always get a second chance on a second offense.”

  “You may think that you’re a good businessman Grey. And there is no doubt in my mind that you’re a great politician. But you don’t know shit about being a real man.” Refusing to get too emotional, Emerald left Grey standing in the hallway alone and took the stairs up to his room. He needed the time to think through this and to get rid of his growing frustration.

  Closing the door to his room, Emerald groaned as he heard Trina on the phone screaming into the receiver. He was too late. Trina apparently threw everything on the bed and got straight on the phone with her sister-in-law, who was now on the other end of the receiver crying in disbelief and preparing to end Grey’s existence, as he knew it.

  “Here is Emerald now, girl,” Trina said handing Emerald the phone. She looked at him wide-eyed wondering what had happened downstairs.

  “Hello,” he said giving Trina one of his looks. He wasn’t ready to talk to his sister just yet.

  “Emerald, what did he say to you?” Wiping her eyes, she picked up the glass she had broken when she first heard the news.

  “Some bullshit.” Silence. “Ivy, he believes that your relationship with Nicola justifies what he’s doing.”

  “What?” Ivy was appalled. “What would ever give him the….” Her sobs chocked her. “…the idea that I would defend him acting a damned fool.” She wiped the tears from her eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Ivy. But you don’t’ have to go through this. End it now.” He sat on the bed. “You would do find by yourself."

  “I will be fine by myself.”

  So, she wouldn’t stand by him on a first offense. Oddly enough, the thought comforted him. She still had a backbone.

  “Ivy, I’m telling you that this guy is no good for you. I never wanted to say it before…I guess, because I wanted you to see it for your self. This guy has something up his sleeve.”

  “I’m starting to see it, Emerald. I am.” Tears ran down Ivy’s cheek. She tried hard to control the pain in her stomach. “I’ve got to go okay.”

  “Just call me later. Call me if you need to talk.”

  “Are you kidding? It’s your freaking honeymoon. Just have fun with Trina and try to forget that this ever happened.”

  “No. I won’t. And you shouldn’t forget either. This guy is bad news.”

  “I’ve gotta go.”

  “Okay.” Emerald’s heat sank. “I love you, Ivy.”

  “I love you, too,” Ivy said hanging up the phone.

  Erupting after she put the phone down, Ivy screamed and snatched the cord out of the wall. “Bastard!” she screamed as she pictured Grey and the Asian woman Trina had described. How could she be so stupid?

  Knowing that Grey would act fast, Ivy ran to her car with her purse in one hand and an extra pair of keys in the other. She took a quick look in her rearview mirror and belted out of the parking lot at top speed blasting her revenge music and contemplating her next move. In only a few minutes, she was on the expressway headed for his house with nothing in mind but to call off the wedding. What was normally a thirty-minute drive was a short seven minute drive, and unprepared, she found herself at his doorstep. Good. She had beaten him home. Bad. She didn’t know what she was doing to do next.

  Unlocking the door, Ivy looked around curiously at the all too familiar surroundings of Grey’s home and began to feel anger building up inside of her like a volcano preparing to erupt. Suddenly, the room began to close in or her and small sweat beads appeared on her forehead. A refreshing gust of air blew from the central air unit, cooling her body and calming her nerves, and she was finally able to see what she thought was the bigger picture.

  Grey was with another woman when he was supposed to be at work. He had looked her in her face and lied to her with a smile so big, bright and innocent one would have easily mistaken it with one of an angel. Her body temperature began to rise again. As usual, if that type of behavior were something new, she would have been able to detect something different…something wrong. But he acted as if it was just another regular day. That had to mean that this wasn’t the first time and possibly that Asian woman he was caught with wasn’t the first one. With her hands clasped and her body doubled over on the couch, she tried to think. Then it hit her. Possibly if he had done something wrong, there would be signs of it in his condo, if not concrete proof. So, she had to do something that she had never done. Snoop. Getting up and kneeling over his couch, she pulled his pillows out and threw them on the floor. She would start in his living room and search every room in the house until she found answer.

  Ivy searched and searched. Hours later, she sat on Grey’s bed over stacks of clothes and paper empty-handed and tired with sweat running down her forehead and an empty stomach growling to be fed. Guilt visited her in the darkness of the room and slowly self-pity overtook her. With not a light on to shine on her face, she cried softly, confused and embarrassed. In all her searching, the only thing that she was able to find was that he had kept even the smallest things that she had given him down through the years like the red rose she gave to him seven years ago for Valentine’s Day, the get well soon card she gave him when he had his tonsils taken out over five years ago and pictures of her being crowned as Ms. Bryton-Ritz.

  Hearing his front door close, she stood up and wiped her face. The last thing that she wanted to do was give him the perception that she was unable to hold her own ground. Hearing her moving around in his bedroom, Grey walked up the stairs slowly. Quietly. He was sure that Trina or Emerald had already called Ivy and told her exactly what they had seen and what they thought, which is why he had spent the last two hours at his office trying to think of a way to explain the situation to her without loosing her in the process.

  As he walked through the doorway of the bedroom, he seemed unsurprised at the junky room. Not bothering to move his clothes, he sat in a chair across the room and took off his jacket.

  “Hello,” he said in a scratchy low voice, quietly watching her carefully.

  “Don’t you dare try to be civil with me! What in the hell is going on?” Ivy asked with her lips twisted and fists balled up tightly into two small knots.

  “What have you already heard?” He looked up at her and saw that she had been crying. Great. He had already lost the argument.

  “I’ve already heard everything about you and your little whore.”

  “So why are you asking me what’s going on?” He wished instantly that he could have taken his words back. He was messing everything up for himself. He had to stick to being humble. It was his best bet out of this.

  “Don’t you dare try to be smug with me!” Her voice screeched as she launched the photo album sitting beside her on the table. “Why are you cheating on me?” Her voice cracked and solemn bitter tears ran down her cheeks again.

  “I’m sorry.” He kept his voice calm. “It was the most stupid thing that I could have ever done and if Emerald hadn’t caught me, maybe I would have gone through with it.” He tried to avoid her eyes. “In nearly eight months, haven’t you missed my touch at all, the intimacy that we used to share?” There was no reply. “Well I did. I missed you, but I was too damned afraid to touch you regardless as to what the doctors said.”

  “Don’t give me that bullshit,” she said enraged by his excuse. “I’ve begged for you to come to me, but you always flinch away…like I’m a leper.” She backtracked. “Wait. Are you saying you didn’t actually have sex with that woman?”

  “No, ” he said playing on her naivety. “Don’t tell me they told you that I had already touched her?”

  “They didn’t say one way or the othe
r. They did make it know that whatever you were doing was totally inappropriate.” She could feel herself breaking. Hold! Hold! She pleaded with herself.

  “I just felt rejected,” Grey said deciding that the best course of action would be to try to make her feel as though it was her fault.

  “Rejected! I’ve never once rejected you, even when I should have! I’ve given you one hundred percent when you deserved nothing. Now, you sit here wanting to blame me for your mistakes. You bastard! ”

  Stunned by her anger, he looked up at her as she stood trembling with fear and anger. Wrong move. He retraced his steps. “There is no excuse. I know that now,” he said letting his headrest in his hands. He dare not look at her again. “And you’re right, it’s my fault.”

  There was a long silence before either of the two could continue. “So every time that I’m not there you’re just going to cheat on me?” Ivy said feeling the blood rushing straight to her head making her dizzy and nauseated.

  Ivy had an epiphany. “How many times have you cheated on me?” She breathed heavily and stared at him confounded. Even though he tried hard to deny his infidelity, Ivy was sure that it had been there a while.

  “Once.” He looked down at the ground hiding his lying eyes.

  “You fucking liar!” She walked up to him pulled up his chin up digging her nails into his skin and made him look at her. “How many times?”

  “It’s irrelevant.” He pulled away. “The point is that I will not do it anymore. It’s not

  worth losing you.”

  “You can’t even count how many times!” She paced the room enraged. “Oh my God! I have been in hell since the day I let that man touch me, and you and I weren’t even together when it happened.” She gathered her thoughts. “All these months, I’ve been stricken with grief and plagued with depression, because I thought I had wronged you. And by accident it finally comes out that you’ve been wronging me for God only knows how long.” Her tears dried. For some reason, she no longer felt pity for herself or for him.

  “What do you want me to say?” Grey finally stood up and tried to calm her down. As she pulled away from him, he grabbed her firmly nearly crossing the lines of abuse. “Listen to me.” He looked in her eyes. “I have been very lonely. It’s not easy going from making love every night to one woman to months without any physical contact, regardless of why.” He prepared himself to lie. “This was the only time, and it will not happen again. You must believe me. Give me that much credit.” He felt guilt in his stomach but knew that it was best to just keep the past in the past. Not to mention, he was treading in new water with Ivy. He had never seen her so damned uncontrollable and inconsolable.

  Pulling away again, Ivy looked at the disheveled man in his wrinkled gray suit and tired eyes. Suddenly, he didn’t appear to be the man of her dreams. He was just a man, if that. His promises carried no weight and his tongue carried no truth. She could see in his eyes and hear in his voice that who ever that woman was, she was not the only one that he had been with during their relationship. Yet, she couldn’t tell whether he was being honest about her being the last. She had torn up his house and snooped through his things only to fine that all the evidence that she needed lie in his face and his heart.

  “If this ever happens again, there won’t be any room for excuses or excusing you. It will be over,” she said turning to walk away.

  “Wait,” he said seeing a worried sickness all over her tired, perplexed face.

  “Don’t pacify me,” she said without turning around. “I’ve had my share of you for tonight. I don’t even want to look at you..” Grabbing her keys off the table by the door, she headed slowly down the steps trying to repress her tears. “Regardless of what was done in the past, this makes us even, Grey. Square.” She turned and left him standing in the middle of the floor.

  A first offense always deserves a second chance. Emerald wouldn’t believe it when he showed up for Sunday dinner next week. Grey smiled at the thought when he heard his front door slam.

  Book Three

  “So what if you look like a fool to the world, the person you’re in love with sees the genius in your good intentions.”

  -Anonymous

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Arrival

  Chapter 27

  THE ARRIVAL

  “God, help me!” Ivy screamed, as she lay on her bed holding her stomach. She had never experienced such a flesh tearing, agonizing, heart-stopping pain, as she was experiencing at that very moment.

  Even amidst the pain, Ivy was astonished at how sudden it had come and how marvelously unbearable it was becoming. She wasn’t even supposed to be at her apartment alone. She had come to pick up a pair of curlers only two hours before but stopped to watch some stupid talk show. Then all of sudden her water broke, flooding her bed and drenching her jumpsuit. She dialed her mother quickly, hoping someone was home.

  “Hello,” Sadie said taking off her garden gloves.

  “Mom! Thank God!” Ivy took a deep breath. “I’m in labor. My water just broke…”

  “What!” Sadie grabbed her keys off the kitchen island. “Where are you?”

  “At my apartment. Could you please…”. She clenched her teeth.

  “I’m on my way, baby. I’m going to call you on my cell phone when I get in the car, okay.” Sadie looked over at Madison urgently.

  “Hurry!” Ivy gasped for air.

  “Okay,” Sadie said hurrying off the phone.

  “Is it time?” Madison asked wrinkling his forehead as he frowned.

  “Yes! Grab Ivy’s overnight bag, and I’ll grab my purse,” Sade said scurrying through the house. “She’s having the baby!”

  ***

  An hour later at the Baptist Memorial Women’s Hospital, Ivy lay in stirrups in small delivery room breathing, sweating and panting the way she had only seen in movies. Holding her mother’s hand, she thought about Grey and Nicola for the first time. This was what everyone was waiting for. Contraction! She rolled her eyes and grinded her teeth together to block the pain.

  “Okay, we can see the head. So take a deep breath and push hard for ten seconds. The first one’s almost here.”

  “Okay,” Ivy said grinding her teeth.

  “Okay, and ten, nine, eight, seven...”

  The doctor counted and Ivy pushed. The doctor counted again and Ivy pushed harder. Knees in the air, held by tired sweaty hands, feeling wet cleanser down below as the doctor prepared for the crown of the head to reveal a full body, Ivy finally felt the pressure release and sterilized stirrups pulled a little baby from her womb. Ivy gasped unable to look up or down, she closed her eyes. Deep breaths. She could hear her mother exclaiming loudly. Declaring the newborn was perfect. Beautiful! But she couldn’t look. Her heart wouldn’t let her. And then, she felt that feeling again. Another one in place, ready to meet the world literally head on. She took a deep breath, felt her mother wipe her face, and she pushed again. The doctor was already at the base of the bed coaching her again. She knew that she only had a little strength. Just a little more. And then, she would have nothing else to give. She heard him count. And she pushed. Count. Push. Count, but she had to push then, breaking their rhythmic method. She grunted and pushed hard, felt a rip and pain. And then the second and last child was out. She collapsed. Exhausted, she finally opened her eyes and looked over as they cleaned the children. Her eyes watered. They were beautiful.

  ***

  Trina sat down on the couch watching Emerald fix a sandwich in the kitchenette of the hotel and started to feel guilty. Everything in her told her that marrying him was the right thing to do. She didn’t need to trick him or lie to him. She didn’t have to worry about him being trapped or fooled. He had chosen to be with her voluntarily. He had asked her out of the blue. He had made the first move and helped her to see that there was still life after death for the living. But somehow she still felt as though she had possibly married him because she was more scared than in love. However, there were moments like rig
ht then watching him prepare his sandwich ever so carefully, humming happily and occasional looking over at her with his killer eyes that that assured her that she was truly in love. Emerald was attentive, creative and passionate. Something she had only experienced with Brooks in ration.

  In only his basketball shorts, Emerald strolled across the room to her and laid his head across her lap. “You sure that you’re not hungry?” he asked taking a massive bite out of his sandwich.

  “No, baby. I’m fine.” Rubbing through his curly black hair, she flipped through the channels looking for something to watch. “What are we going to do today?”

  “I don’t know.” He yawned as he nuzzled his head in her lap. “What do you want to do?” The phone rang and Emerald sat up. “Hold on a minute. Hello.” He said gulping down his sandwich, the lump stuck in his throat.

  “Ivy’s having the baby,” Madison said quickly forgetting to speak at all.

  “Get out. You know, I knew it was going to happen before the week was out,”

  “Good for you. Now, haul your ass down to Baptist Memorial Women’s Hospital. How’s Trina?”

  “Fine.” He smiled over at her. “We’re on our way.”

  ***

  Nicola’s heart fluttered and stomach tightened as he drove down the interstate whizzing past other cars like they were sitting still. The last nine months felt like at least five years. Now, it was actually happening. Either today he would get his walking papers, or he would find out that he was bound to Ivy for the rest of his natural life. Nearly a year ago, such a thought would have resulted in heavy drinking and a binge of reckless sex, but today he was sober and totally in control.