War.

by Shannon Dianne

  “Already,” I say with a shake of my head before kissing Ginger smack on the lips.

  “Adorable, really. Congratulations Attorney and Mrs. Blair.”

  “Thank you, Natalie,” Red says. Nurse Natalie opens the door to the suite, steps out and it gradually closes…almost…there.

  “I don’t give a damn about Marlon and Jon!” Rena screams out. I watch Ginger give me ‘the look’. I give her another smack of a kiss. She kicks her legs. Cut it out already.

  “Red, look,” I say as I hold Ginger up, a smile on my face. “She’s giving me a ‘look’.”

  “I’m not talking to her,” Red says as she stretches out her arms for me to bring Ginger to her. “Because she gave me ‘the look’.”

  “Adorable,” Winnie says with a smile. Rena gives a big huff, combs her hand through her hair and walks to a window.

  “I’m sorry,” Rena says. “We should be celebrating Sunday, not talking about Matt being in prison.”

  “He’s in jail, first of all,” Red says as I ease Ginger into her arms. “And second, I agree with Winnie, it’s a strategic move on Jacob and his part.”

  “And his record?” She turns to look at us. “When the firm finds out-”

  “His record will not only be thrown out but his arrest will be sealed,” I tell Rena as I start to walk over to her. “No one will even know what happened. His files were handled by undercovers and the reason he’s in the chief’s office is so the inmates won’t start talking.”

  “Yeah,” Winnie says, also walking over to Rena. “Malcolm’s right. Trust me, I know firsthand.”

  “Can I at least visit him?” Rena asks, her eyes starting to fill with tears.

  “We can’t risk a lot of movement, Rena. Jake will be able to go in and out because he’s Matt’s lawyer.”

  “Oh God,” she turns towards the window and wipes at her face.

  “Well, don’t cry, Rena,” Winnie says as she stands behind her and wraps her arms around her. “He’ll be out in two days.”

  “You all don’t understand,” Rena says, her voice shaky.

  “I get it, Rena,” Red says. “You and Matt are from Roxbury. You both went to college, became investors, and avoided things like arrests and jail. So this is bothering you.” Rena nods her head but says nothing. “But Matt is no hooligan. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “This won’t go against his record,” I remind Rena. “I swear.”

  “Rena,” Winnie says in her most soothing voice. “If it makes you feel any better, we can go to my place and take a look at my jail folder. The chief gave me my own copy as a keepsake.” Rena closes her eyes and tries not to laugh.

  “Yes, Winnie. That seems like fun,” Rena says.

  “’Kay.” Winnie leans over Rena’s shoulders and gives her a big kiss on the cheek.

  And there you go. Crisis averted. A chapter closed. After weeks of war, it’s finally ov-

  “I would like to talk to you, Danielle,” Rena says. She turns her head to look at Red before bringing her eyes over to me. “Malcolm, if you don’t mind leaving the room for a moment.” What the hell is this about? Rena has information that she doesn’t want to share with me?

  “Sure.” I say. I head over to Red and slide Ginger out of her arms. We both give each other a look. What’s this about? No idea.

  “I’ll come and get you when we’re done,” Rena says to me.

  “No problem.” Ginger and I head towards the door in silence, the sound of my steps echo in the suite. Now I’m beyond intrigued. Is there something else going on? Is there more? I open the door, step out and allow it to close on its own behind me.

  “Hi, Love!” A nurse from behind a counter says as she sees Ginger entering the hallway. “Oh, she has this look that…” The nurse goes on about Ginger’s look. But I’m trying to strain my ear to at least hear the beginning of the conversation the women are about to have. And before the door shuts firmly, with a small click, I can hear Rena beginning to talk.

  “So, Jon-”

  MARLON

  I had the movers in my condo all day.

  Jon, Demetrius and I left the jail at around one this afternoon. Demetrius didn’t say goodbye. Not even when I asked for him to get Matt out of jail. He ignored me when I tried to apologize, just raised his arm and hailed a cab. He was getting the hell out of dodge. Don’t blame him. I have to think of something to smooth things over with him. Jon and I hopped in a cab together without even saying a word. I called a lawyer friend of mine that I do business with. Told him that I needed him to help Matt out. I called a moving company that I’ve done business with and told them that I needed an emergency move. I called a locksmith and told him that I needed him at my place ASAP. I called a cleaning company and told them I needed their services immediately. I called my admin and told her that I needed her to head into the office and grab sales papers. I called my head of marketing and told him to be on call within the next hour. My lawyer friend called back and said that he called up to the jail, talked to a contact of his and discovered that there’s no record of Matt’s arrest. The Blairs are holding Matt by the balls. What I wonder now is what do they have on Matt? He’s still in jail, what are they blackmailing him with? Whatever it is, Matt must be playing hardball because, well, he’s still in jail. I tried to think of what I could do to get him out of the clutches of the Blairs. But in that cab, I knew there was nothing I could do at the moment. I ended the call with my lawyer friend. There was nothing I could do at the moment.

  I went home.

  Jon and I still didn’t say a word to each other. He waited out in the cab until the movers pulled up in front of my townhouse.

  “The furniture, the beds…both mine and my children’s, the tables, the appliances, the clothes…just throw them in boxes. Make sure to leave my wife’s clothes. But the area rugs, the dinnerware, the refrigerator, the oven, everything, pack it up and send it to this address.” I gave the movers the address to a condo building I own in Beacon Hill, Whitby Condominiums, a building across the street from Jon’s condo building.

  “Be careful of the walls, I don’t want them scratched.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I’ve been keeping a private condo in the building for weeks now, trying to catch Jasmine and Jacob walking out of his building together. Trying to catch them in the action. I must have been looking out at the wrong time.

  I asked the locksmith to change every lock in the house, including the front, bedrooms and bathroom doors. “But when you leave, leave the front door unlocked. Come back at midnight and then lock it.” I gave him an extra tip.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Jasmine needs to get her clothes.

  I told the cleaning crew to scrub the place spotless. “And make sure you get the windows.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  My admin soon arrived. I signed sale forms. “Go to the office and file them”

  “Call you when I’m done.”

  I called my head of marketing, gave him the sale price and a description of the place.

  “List my townhome for sale.”

  “Will do.”

  Took a full hour to give the orders while Jon stayed in the cab. He went ahead and rented it for the night and paid the cabbie up front. We hadn’t said a word to each other since leaving jail but I knew that move was his way of supporting me. When I left my townhome, there was a string of guys walking in and out with sofas and bed, power drills and stainless steel appliances, women and men sliding mops back and forth. When I got back in the cab, Jon and I headed to Roxbury. We needed a dive. It wasn’t until we sat at the table, The Friends of Distinction telling us that ‘everybody needs loves’, and had ten shots lined up in a perfect row on the table, that he opened his mouth.

  “Everyone says I don’t have a heart,” he said before taking a shot, “and maybe I don’t,” he let out a wince from the bitter aftertaste, “but I couldn’t tell you about your wife.” He sat back in his chair. “I tried to
get at Jacob that night, just a warning to back off of Jasmine, by getting his wife involved.” He reached out and grabbed another shot off the table. I took one myself. “I never told the 911 operator that Jasmine was there because I didn’t want her name released. I hoped that Jacob would get chewed out by his wife and leave Jasmine alone.”

  “It worked.” I took another shot. Jon shrugged and took another shot with me. He wanted to get Jacob in trouble with Winnie; he succeeded in that. He wanted Jacob to leave Jasmine alone after that night and from what it sounds like, he did. But Jon couldn’t control Jasmine.

  Jasmine.

  Jasmine.

  Jasmine.

  This war is Jasmine’s fault.

  I took another shot.

  War.

  This is Jasmine’s fault.

  This is Jasmine’s fault. I took another shot.

  This is all Jasmine’s fault.

  Two plates of catfish, a jar of peanuts, three rounds of fried oysters, a pitcher of water, fourteen shots of bourbon, a basket of chili fries and five glasses of beer later, we crawled out the dive. The owner and two of his security guards had to help us in to a cab . Jon’s phone had been blowing up all night: Marla. My phone had been blowing up all night: Jasmine. Oh, and my daughter, Tiffany, left a message on my voicemail: “Dad, Pearl and I have made a decision…what kind of decision is it called , Gramps?…Yes, an executive decision. We will be staying at Gram and Gramp ’ s house for the weekend. Where there is no bed time. Goodbye and goodnight.”

  I called my in-laws back.

  “Marlon, Jasmine is worried sick,” my mother-in-law said. “Where are you?”

  “A cab,” I mumbled as I leaned against the left door in the backseat. Jon leaned against the right. “And I’m leaving her.”

  “What?”

  “Zara, she’s cheating,” I slurred out , “ w ith a Blair.”

  “Oh, Marlon. You sound silly. It’s Danielle who’s married to a Blair. Are you headed home? As a matter of fact, head home right now before I call your mother. You’re drunk.”

  “Okay.”

  “Now, Marlon.”

  “I am.”

  “Call me once you arrive.”

  I ended the call with Zara. Within seconds, Jasmine started to blow me up again. Either she was on her way home or she had already been home and saw the place cleaned out. Good. I’m done. We’re over. Sue me. That’s fine. I can build my empire back up. I can always make more money. I’m sure the c hief will have a heart for a black man who’s been cheated on by his wife. I’m sure he’ll give me the evidence I need—the video footage, the 911 tape, the non-stop text messages to Jacob, the lies that she told to Dena that will destroy her credibility—to fight for sole custody of my kids. Jasmine’s cuckoo. So fuck it. I won’t even fight Jasmine for my money. Let her get what the law will allow and then let her be gone.

  Now, the cab has dropped me off at my new place in Beacon Hill. The doorman has said hello. The valet has nodded his head at me. And I’m on my way to punch my security code into the building…if I can make it there. One foot in front of the other. I look back at the cab and see Jon still in it, leaning against his door, his eyes closed. He’s just waiting for the cab to swing around to the other side of the street to let him out. He’s too drunk to try to cross it alone.

  And that’s when I see them.

  Or…is it them? I squint my eyes. Is it them? No. Can’t be. Are they walking into Jon’s condo building? Are they grabbing something from that nosy old security guy? What’s his name? Russell, or something. I squint my eyes more. What is he handing them? No, wait. It can’t be them.

  “Mr. Kyles?” my doorman says. “Everything alright?”

  “Uh…yeah,” I say to him. I continue to squint. Is that them? No. I’m drunk. That’s not them. That’s not Danielle, Winnie and Rena.

  JACOB

  “Thank you, Father, for meeting me. I know it’s late.”

  “Yes, well when Sister Claire told me there was a Blair here wanting to confess his sins, I couldn’t resist.” I can’t see Father Harper’s face but I can tell he’s smiling.

  After I left Matt in Chief’s office, I felt this overwhelming need to declare to myself, Winnie and our Higher Power, that I feel like shit. I may be a Blair, but I’m also Catholic, which means that come rain or shine, no matter who I was with or who I drank under the bar the night before, I’ll be in Sunday Mass with the rest of the Blairs at St. Bernadette Catholic Church. But for some reason, though I know Confession is confidential, I didn’t want to talk to my priest about Winnie and my marriage. I like my priest, don’t get me wrong, but I wanted to talk to someone that doesn’t feed me from the palm of his hand on Communion Sunday. Father Harper is Jasmine and Danielle’s priest. I come into contact with him whenever Nicky has a play or during summers when I pick Nicky and Ralphie up from B ible camp. Danielle, of course, goes to Mass on Sunday with the Blairs now at St. Bernadette, but the good thing about being Catholic is that Mass happens all week long, not just on Sundays. So she still attends Mass here, at her childhood church, on Thursdays. So Father Harper knows me. But I’m hoping he can be unbiased with what I have to confess.

  “Thank you for meeting me in the Confession Box. I know people normally don’t do that these days,” I say to him as I lean back in the leather seat and close my eyes.

  “Oh, we do it often here, for my older parishioners.”

  “Yeah, the same with my church.”

  Silence.

  “Attorney Blair?”

  “Jacob.”

  “Take your time, Jacob.”

  “Thank you.” I open my eyes and look around the small compartment I’m in. It’s dark with just a small faint glow of a light on the ceiling. Looks like something that would be inside of a car. Deep purple curtains are used to seal off the Confession Box, instead of doors. I can barely see the profile of Father Harper through the cutout opening that looks like a decorative iron gate. But both of us are staring straight ahead. I take a deep breath. Here goes. “I’ve slept with four different women since I’ve been married to my wife.” I take another deep breath.

  “Alright…”

  “The first time was three years into the marriage and it happened after I started thinking about my ex, the woman I broke up with for my wife. The first affair happened in Hilton Head and it lasted only for the duration of the trip. About a week. I gave the girl a wrong name and number and haven’t seen her since. I’m sure she knows who I am by now but she has no proof so she hasn’t said anything.”

  “Go on.”

  “I met the second woman at a military ball in DC. Both her father and my wife’s father are in the army. My wife’s father is a rank above that woman’s father. Anyway, she caught my attention because she reminded me of my ex.”

  “The woman you had an affair with.”

  “Yes. Prissy, always smiling…long black hair. At the dinner, she mentioned that she had friends in Boston. I told her the next time she came up to Boston, she should let me know. The next week she met me at a bar.”

  “Here in Boston.”

  “Right.”

  “Did she know you were married?”

  “She did.”

  “Did she know your wife?”

  “Yes.”

  “Go on.”

  I take another deep breath. “I, uh, slept with her for a few months. But it was nothing.”

  “Nothing.”

  “Just sex.”

  “Then why do it? Was your wife not having sex with you?”

  “I’ve never had an issue in that department with my wife.”

  “Then why?”

  “Because she reminded me of my first girlfriend. The girl I left for my wife.”

  “Go on.”

  “One day, this woman found my address and popped up at my place. I got her to leave before my wife noticed anything but it shook me up.”

  “What did she want?”

  “For me to leave my wife. By the
time she came to my condo, she was starting to get obsessive. Calling me all day. Popping up at my office every week. So, I was trying to cut things off with her.”

  “And she wasn’t happy with that.”

  “No.”

  “What did you do to make her believe that you would possibly leave your wife for her?”

  “Nothing, Father. I would never leave my wife. I made no such promises to this girl. She and I never talked about a future together, it was just sex.”

  “For you.”

  Silence.

  “Jacob?”

  “Yes Father, for me.”

  “Go on.”

  “I called my father after this girl showed up at my place. My father called her father and next thing I know, I get a call telling me that she committed suicide.”

  “Hmm. That must have been devastating.”

  “It wasn’t.” There, I finally admitted it. I wasn’t sad when Jocelyn died.

  “No?”

  “I was nervous…but relieved. Don’t get me wrong, I never want to go through that again. The mental anguish was enough to drive me over the deep end. But I wasn’t devastated. I was…relieved. And nervous.”

  “Why?”

  “If my wife had found out, she would have left me and we had just had our son.”

  “So , why were you nervous?”

  “The woman left a suicide note and I was always nervous that I was mentioned in it.”

  “Were you?”

  “I don’t know. Her parents hid it before the police arrived but they did tell my father that she wrote one. They all just wanted the matter closed. Winnie’s father is the ranking officer of this girl’s father. So her father just wanted this to disappear.”

  “Go on.”

  “After that, I told myself that I’d never cheat on my wife again.”

  “But you did.”

  “I did.”

  “Go on.”

  “I met a girl at the bar and I slept with her the same night. She had long black hair and these dimples…she reminded me of my ex.”

  “The one you left for your wife.”

  “Right.”

  “But afterwards she tried to blackmail me.”