Daisy opened the door and the overwhelming stench of old piss stung her nostrils. Deep moans and a smacking noise assaulted her ears. She peeked around the banister to the back of the hall. A woman was bent over with her palms pressed against the disgusting wall. She was being screwed doggy style. Great! First urine and now nasty ass in the air. She held her breath and blinked quickly, eyes stinging, then headed up the stairwell with Adonis on her heels.
She glanced at the slip of paper again. She was right in front of Peaches’ apartment. “We’re here,” she said nervously to Adonis, and knocked on the door.
“Who the fuck is it?” a voice bellowed from inside.
Daisy didn’t answer.
Adonis moved her to one side and pounded his fist on the door.
“Goddamnit! I said, who the fuck is it? Don’t be banging on my door like the motherfuckin’ po-lice.” The door flew open.
The woman was a mess. An ugly mess. Her brown skin was blotchy, with light spots and terrible acne. Her shriveled hair lay flat on her head, and her breasts drooped braless, her nipples peeking out through her shabby robe. She looked directly at Adonis and licked her lips. “Goddamn, it must be Christmas, and you must be my gift. Mmm, mmm, mmm. You must be the new delivery boy. ’Bout time Ray Lee got someone that looks good. After all the rock I buy from him. Come on in here with your fine ass and let me unwrap you. I ain’t got a tree, but, baby, I got a bed.”
Daisy pushed Adonis aside and stepped forward. “Are you Peaches?”
The woman narrowed her eyes. “Who the fuck wants to know?”
“A friend of your nephew’s.”
“Oh, bitch, you got the wrong place. I ain’t got a nephew—”
“So you’re not Desiree’s sister?”
“You knew Des? Come on in.” Peaches stepped to the side, allowing Daisy access. “Ain’t you coming?” Peaches asked Adonis.
Adonis shook his head.
“What’s the matter, you scared of good pussy? Mine purrs, it don’t bite. But you can nibble it. Just don’t chew.” She laughed.
It took everything Daisy had not to grab the woman by her hair and wrestle her to the floor. “Take it down a notch or two. He’s with me.”
“Well, if he ain’t coming, I ain’t talking. That’s what you’re here for, right? To pick my brain?”
Daisy waved Adonis in. She didn’t want him to know Jay’s business; it wasn’t hers to share. But apparently, she had no choice.
“Y’all come on in and have a seat.” Peaches plopped down on the sofa.
Daisy and Adonis remained standing. The apartment was filthy with clutter and old plates covered in mold. Empty forty-ounce beer bottles lined the table and the windowsill. A pint of Wild Irish Rose stood on the floor in front of the broken-down plaid sofa.
“What the fuck you expect, Buckingham Palace? Sit down.” Peaches gestured in the direction of a scuffed folding chair and a pleather one sitting opposite it.
Daisy sat on the edge of one chair. Adonis refused.
“Well, I guess you can do what you want. I don’t give a damn if you sit, stand, or crawl. I just want to look at you. What are you, ’bout six-two, six-three? ’Bout two forty, two fifty?”
“Are you Peaches or not?” Daisy snapped impatiently.
“Yep, dat be me. And you are?”
“Daisy.”
“That figures. A flower, huh? That man right there know how to pluck, or what?” Peaches laughed again. “So, you here ’bout Des? What about her?”
“I need to know about her son.”
Peaches nodded slowly and removed a small packet from her pocket. She opened it and poured its white contents on the back of her hand. She held it to her nose and snorted it into one nostril, then the other. She held her head back and closed her eyes in rapture. “I’m sorry, y’all wanted some?” she asked, rubbed the rest on her gums, then sat back with eyes closed, obviously waiting for her hit to hit her.
“No, thanks,” Daisy said.
Adonis said nothing.
“Well, whatcha wanna know ’bout Jay?” Peaches was calm now, her whole demeanor changed.
“I want to know about his father.”
Peaches giggled. “Shit, I wanna know too. Which one?”
Daisy sat up. “You don’t know who his father is?”
Peaches looked at Daisy as if she were crazy. “Oh, so you didn’t know Des, hunh? Des was a hot bitch. Couldn’t tell that wench nothin’. She thought she was the cutest thing that God gave breath to. Thought she was better than everybody—the whole family. Just ’cause she went to college. Well, if you ask me, the only thing she learned at college was how to fuck. Everybody. They could’ve gave her a Ph.D. in fuckology. Know what I’m saying?”
“I guess,” Daisy said. “But what about Jay’s father?”
“Who the fuck you rushin’? Damn, give a bitch a minute to think. You got somewhere to be or somethin’? ’Cause I don’t go by the clock, ’less I’m gettin’ paid.”
Daisy didn’t like Peaches’ tone and looked at Adonis, who nodded. They both realized that they’d have to put up with Peaches’ nasty mouth and matching attitude.
“Well, Daisy, all that fuckin’ caught up to Des. You know she died from AIDS, right? Anyway, before she caught the monster, she got caught up with them Stevens twins. Them was some fine muthafuckas for your ass too, I’m tellin’ you. Des ain’t know if she was coming or going. See, one of them had her body, but the other one had her heart. One of them loved the shit outta my sister, because he didn’t know that his brother had fucked her. Fucked her good too. That’s what Des told me. That Jasper had whipped it on her and dicked her down like never before. She ended up with Jonathan, though. He was the one she loved—the one that believed he was the father of her child. But truth be told, Des didn’t know which one she was pregnant by because she fucked ’em both in one week. She met Jasper first and fucked him just ’bout every day that week. Then she met Jonathan, fucked him the same day, and he fell head over heels for her. I guess Jasper saw how much his brother liked Des and didn’t tell him that he’d had her. He stepped off.” Peaches sat back. “So there you go. Now you know.”
Daisy was stunned. “So you don’t know.”
Peaches laughed. “You a little slow, hunh? That’s what I just said. Think about it. Why do you think the boy’s named the way he is—Jonathan Jasper Stevens? She gave him both of his daddies’ names.”
Daisy awoke the next morning to a fresh start. After her conversation with Peaches the night before, she felt a new sense of freedom; liberty from ignorance. She finally knew the truth about Jasper. About the past. More importantly, about Jay. She hoped that Peaches’ revelation would give her the sharp edge she needed to cut through the red tape and the Stevenses’ suit for custody.
Daisy watched the clock, mentally urging time to pass faster. She needed to talk to Kenneth. Tapping her foot, she dialed his number. As soon as her watch’s minute hand struck twelve, she pressed the talk button.
“Kenneth, good news!” she said, excitement pouring from her mouth.
“Peaches Pleasant?”
“Yes. Thank God for Peaches!”
Daisy related the events of the night before, interrupted by an occasional laugh from Kenneth.
“Unbelievable,” Kenneth said, sounding as human and friendly as Daisy remembered him being when Jasper was alive. “Well, looks like wa have just about all we need.”
Daisy crumpled her brow. “About all? Peaches isn’t enough?”
“Oh, Peaches was more than enough, I’m sure. But we still need someone that the court—the state—will take seriously. While Peaches gave us the information that we need regarding paternity, we can’t allow her in the courtroom. Not on our behalf. But all the other information that you’ve gathered will certainly help us. It’s a good start—”
Daisy held her smile behind a smirk. “So we need someone upstanding? A good citizen who pays taxes and doesn’t have a record?”
“E
xactly. That’d be great.”
“Kenneth, I know exactly who we need.”
Daisy unbuttoned her coat and strutted down the hospital corridor feeling brand-new. The night she’d told Calvin off had brought new meaning to her life and had sparked a fire that hadn’t been lit since her teens. She was no longer the weak, needy woman-child she had once been; she was a woman with a mission. She’d get Jay back, and Ming Li was going to help whether she wanted to or not. According to Kenneth, Ming Li was the key to the case, the only living person who could speak for Jonathan.
Daisy paused outside Ming Li’s door. Please, God, don’t let me have to snatch this mixed-up bitch out of the bed and beat her. Then she walked in as if she owned the place.
Ming Li sat up and looked at her, then her eyes dropped. Guilt was written all over her face. Daisy had never wanted to hurt someone so badly.
“I’m glad you came,” Ming Li said.
“Uh-huh.” Daisy nodded skeptically and sat down. “Look, Ming Li, straight to the point. I need something from you, and after what you’ve done, I don’t see how you can refuse.”
“You want me to testify?”
Daisy nodded.
“Sure. I have no problem doing that.”
“Good. My lawyer will be in touch.” Daisy stood to leave.
“Daisy…wait.”
Daisy began to walk away.
“Daisy, if you don’t listen, then I won’t go to court.”
Daisy turned, glowering. “I know you’re not trying to hold anything over my head. You owe me. I don’t owe you.”
Ming Li’s eyes dropped to the floor again. “You’re right…in a way.” She grabbed a box from the bedside table, opened it, and began shuffling through it. “Here, read this.” She handed Daisy a letter.
It was the stationery that Daisy had had designed. “What—you want to rub it in?” She snatched the envelope out of Ming Li’s hand.
“Read it, and look at the postmark,” Ming Li urged.
Daisy held it to the light. It was postmarked just a month before Jasper died. She shot Ming Li a look, then opened it.
“Can you read it out loud?” Ming Li asked. “I want to be sure that you read it correctly.”
Ming Li,
Why do you keep doing this to me? How many years must I chase you? Why won’t you take my calls? I’m confused. I offer you the world and you give me nothing. I book trips and dinners and you stand me up. I buy you gifts, and you return them unopened. What more can I do? Tell me what I need to do to get you back because I have to have you. I’ll give up everything and everybody for you. I love you, don’t you understand that? I’ve loved you since the first time we slept together. And after the last time we made love, I was sure that you felt the same. It’s hard to believe that that was over thirteen years ago. To me, it feels like only yesterday.
Do you realize that you’ve been avoiding me for almost a decade? It kills me to receive half-hellos and happy good-byes from you. I guess you don’t know a good man when you see one.
“So, now you know the real truth,” Ming Li said. “I wasn’t sleeping with your man. I do my thing, but not with my best friends’ men.”
Daisy shook her head, confused. “But—”
“There are no buts. I slept with Jasper on a very drunk night a long, long time ago. Back when my body wasn’t conditioned to alcohol.”
Daisy pointed at the paper. “It says here that you slept with him more than once.”
“I did. I slept with him twice. I thought he was cool. I even went out in public with him. You know I don’t do that. After I slept with him the second time, he instantly turned into an asshole. He wanted me to stay in the house, quit my job—you know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? We were friends.”
“If I’d told you, if you’d known about me and him when you first met me, would you have been my friend?”
“No,” Daisy admitted. “I don’t mingle with exes.”
“Exactly. And I don’t mingle with women. But when Jasper brought you back into my shop that day to get your pedicure fixed, despite the fact that I couldn’t stand him, I genuinely liked you and Gigi. I’d never had many female friends, and we three hit it off. I didn’t want to risk losing you as a friend. That’s why I didn’t tell you. That’s why you conducted all of my business with Jasper.”
“If you didn’t care about him, why did you keep the letters?”
Ming Li laughed. “Because the bastard threatened to blackmail me a few times. He said if I didn’t give him what he wanted, he’d tell you that I went after him. I had to protect myself.”
Daisy didn’t know what to think. The letter in her hands backed up Ming Li’s story, but she was still hurt. “How did you OD?”
Ming Li smiled sadly. “Well, I guess some of us aren’t as strong as we pretend to be. I had my secrets, just like anybody else. I’ve been on Prozac and medication for my hyper disorder for years, and after a while, I guess, they didn’t mix too well with alcohol. I overdosed by mistake, but I needed to. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have realized that I’m an alcoholic—among other things.”
“What other things?”
“I’ll tell you more when they let me out of here.”
Daisy took off her coat and sat down. The tension in the air and in her bones withered away. She was glad that she’d decided to confront Ming Li. Otherwise, she would never have believed that she hadn’t betrayed her. They chatted for hours, about everything and nothing at all. It didn’t matter what they discussed, as long as they were talking.
“So, you’re really not going to celebrate Christmas?”
“There is no Christmas without Jay. Maybe New Year’s.”
Ming Li shook her head. “Count me out. The drinks will be too tempting.”
“There’ll always be next year. You’ll be stronger, and Jay will be back. I know he will.”
18
Spring
“Someone’s asking for you outside,” one of Daisy’s helpers informed her.
Daisy turned the sprayer off and laid it down on the marble planter. “Did you get a name?”
“No. He wouldn’t give one.”
Daisy sighed, took off her gardening gloves, and headed toward the bathroom. Whoever it was would have to wait until she’d washed her hands. She’d been working with pesticides all day and prayed that her unexpected visitor wouldn’t prove to be another one. I work in almost twenty different locations. Whoever it is must’ve needed to see me pretty badly to track me down. This better be good. All day, she’d had a positive feeling about Jay and their upcoming court date, and it irritated her that someone was disrupting her mood.
As soon as she walked through the double doors, she ran into Marcus, who was standing with a blank expression on his face.
“Hey, Marcus.” She smiled.
Marcus half-smiled, half-smirked. “I need to talk to you.”
“Are you okay?” Daisy genuinely hoped so, even though she had urged Gigi to move on. But his absent look told her that he was still hurting.
“I’m straight.”
“Well, I don’t know if I can leave just yet.” She checked the time. “I’ve got about forty-five minutes.”
“Can’t you make an exception for an old friend? You don’t have a boss watching over you. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t very important.”
“Let me see…” She paused as if thinking it over carefully, then finally went on, “They should be able to finish up without me.” She called over her assistant, who told her that she’d be happy to finish up.
“I’m ready, Marcus. Where do you want to go?” she asked as they stepped outside.
“Central Park’s not far. It’s nice out.”
“Fine. The park it is. Should we walk or take a cab?”
Marcus walked out into the street and held up his arm. For a second, she thought about declining his invitation to talk. She’d never seen him so standoffish before, and it was beginning to make her nervo
us. When the cab pulled to the curb, he held the car door open for her, and she got in. She scooted over to make room for him and decided that his behavior was just a symptom of his painful breakup with Gigi.
“Aren’t you going to tell me what’s bothering you?” she asked as they rode.
He held up his hand to silence her. “When we get to the park. It’s private.”
As soon as they pulled up to the park, Daisy jumped out. She had started to feel as if she were suffocating in the cab, sitting next to Marcus, who’d consumed the cab’s space with labored breathing. An eerie feeling rushed through her. She was beginning to worry. She knew Marcus would never hurt her. Hoped he wouldn’t. He had no reason to—unless he knew that she had supported Gigi’s decision.
He grabbed her by the arm and led the way to an unoccupied bench. She was thankful that they weren’t too far away from other park goers.
“Have a seat,” he commanded.
Daisy sat, but not because he had told her to. She was tired.
“Marcus, what is it? What’s the matter?”
Marcus looked away and began to pace, his steps sounding more like a march than a walk. He finally turned, glaring at her. “You should know what my problem is.”
“Gigi?”
“Yep. That bitch of a friend of yours.”
Daisy had never heard him speak that way before. “Oh, Marcus. She just needs time, that’s all.”
“Bullshit, Daisy,” he spat. “You know that’s bullshit. All three of you bitches are just alike—”
“Whoa!” Daisy stood up, indignant. “Don’t disrespect me like that. I didn’t do a thing to you. I wasn’t the one sleeping with you—I didn’t hurt you, or leave you.”
“But you would’ve slept with me.”
“I would’ve what? I know you didn’t just say that I would’ve slept with you. You know that’s not true. Are you crazy?”
Pushing Up Daisies Page 19