Arizona sighed. “Bernadette, I know you pride yourself on being diplomatic and impartial, but you still haven’t answered my question, and I really need your help.” Arizona held her breath in anticipation of what Bernadette might say.
Bernadette spoke without hesitation. “If you love him, marry him. If you don’t, give him the ring back, call your coordinators, and have them send out your cancellation notices.”
“You didn’t tell her what you would do,” Tess said. “Answer her question, cuz.”
“No, I didn’t, and I’m not going to,” Bernadette said in a serious voice. “I can’t say what I would do because I’m not in Arizona’s situation. And honestly, Tess, you don’t know what you would do if you were put into a situation with Maceo that required you to make a decision about a part of him that fell short. Chris is a good man who loves Arizona and her child, and he treats her with respect and dignity. He’s kindhearted and generous, and he supports her one hundred percent on anything she tries to do. You and I both know how hard that is to come by.”
“True, but a big hard dick isn’t easy to come by either, especially someone who knows what to do with it,” Tess said.
Once again the line went silent and the tension was thick.
“Arizona, have you been praying about what you should do?” Bernadette asked.
“Of course I have.”
“Then be still and let God move you to your decision.”
“That’s easy to say,” Arizona responded. “But until you’re faced with making a decision that could either make or break your happiness, you have no idea how hard it is. One minute I think God is moving me in one direction and the next minute I feel like I’m being pushed toward the opposite.”
“I will say this,” Bernadette offered. “If you marry Chris and you continue to be sexually unsatisfied, he’s going to have to go to counseling with you, otherwise you have no chance of overcoming your problems.”
“And I’ll leave you with this,” Tess added. “I strongly believe that if Chris doesn’t learn how to bring it, you’re gonna eventually step out on him.”
“No, I wouldn’t do that,” Arizona said. “The one thing I’m not going to do is be a cheater, ever again.”
Now it was Bernadette’s turn to reply with brutal honesty. “Arizona, I want you to think about what I’m getting ready to say. Tess is right.”
“Well damn, cuz!” Tess said. “I can’t believe you actually agree with me.”
“How can you say that, Bernadette?” Arizona asked.
“Because I know human behavior.” Bernadette paused, and then spoke slowly. “People don’t change what they want, they change where they get it from. You want good sex, and if Chris can’t give it to you, eventually you’ll seek and find someone who can.”
Bernadette’s words sank in like thick mud, and Arizona didn’t know what to say because she knew that Bernadette and Tess were right. Over the next few minutes Bernadette tried to lighten the mood by talking about how she was still trying to adjust to North Carolina’s wishy-washy weather. They ended their call with Tess, of all people, saying a quick prayer, asking God to give Arizona the words and direction she needed.
As Arizona sat on her couch, waiting for Chris to come over, she hoped that God would hear Tess’s prayer as well as her own.
Chapter 22
BERNADETTE
Bernadette was amazed at how well she’d been handling the chaos around her, and she knew she had age and time to thank for being able to deal with the twists and turns she’d experienced that week. But right now, her head hurt as if she’d been hit with a hammer after listening to loud music. The conversation she’d just had with Arizona and Tess had been difficult and emotional, but in no way did it compare to the private hell she’d been internalizing since her shocking discovery a few days ago. It was as if life was repeating itself, taking her back to the day when Walter had shattered her illusion of happily ever after.
Bernadette was still numb from the devastating revelation she’d uncovered about Coop, and that knowledge had ironically put her in the same situation with Arizona, forcing her to make a decision about the fate of her relationship with the man she loved, and more important, the only man who had ever truly and deeply loved her back.
“What am I going to do?” Bernadette whispered aloud as she looked down at the framed photo of her and Coop sitting on her nightstand. “I told Arizona to pray and be still, and I need to do the same.”
Until meeting Coop, Bernadette hadn’t thought it was possible to experience unconditional love from anyone other than her mother. And after all that she’d been through, the thought that she could actually trust anyone enough to allow them into her life and love them the way she loved Coop was something she’d all but given up the hope of feeling. But she’d found love when she’d least expected it, and now she couldn’t imagine life without the feeling it gave her when she woke up every day. Over the last four months she and Coop had fallen into a rhythm that felt more natural and more loving than anything she’d ever experienced.
She’d initially been nervous about getting too attached to Coop so quickly. But after only two weeks of dating Coop, he’d told her that he knew she was the one, and he hadn’t been discouraged by her skepticism. “I’m gonna earn your trust, and you’re gonna be my wife,” he’d said.
Bernadette loved the fact that Coop went out of his way to show and prove to her that he loved and cared for her. He thought about her needs over his own—whenever they shared a meal he always gave her the last slice of pizza, or piece of bread, or sip of wine, or whatever it was they were eating. He paid close attention to the things she said during their conversations—he knew her favorite color, where she liked to shop, and that she preferred generous scoops of natural brown sugar in her coffee. He was the calm in the middle of her storms, and that was one of the many things that made Bernadette admire Coop the way she did. She’d been so used to always being the strong, levelheaded voice of reason for family, friends, and coworkers, but now Coop was that person for her.
And if all those wonderful qualities weren’t enough, Coop was hands down, without a shadow or hint of a doubt, the best lover Bernadette had ever had. He knew how to be gentle when she needed tenderness and bold when she needed more. His touch and caress made her weak in the knees and wet between her legs. The first time they’d made love she’d nearly been in tears it had felt so good. He’d pleased her with his tongue, his hands, his lips, and with his well-endowed manhood. She loved looking down at his handsome face nestled between her thighs during oral sex, and it always gave her a jolt when she saw him lick his lips and smile. But beyond the physical pleasure he gave her, Bernadette loved that Coop showed her his love and kindness through words and actions. He made her feel beautiful, wanted, and deserving of love.
Now, as Bernadette sat on the edge of her bed trying to figure out what she should do with the information she’d found, her mind took her back to a few days ago when she’d been in Coop’s home office and had accidentally come across a discovery that jeopardized her relationship with him and their future together.
Coop was in the process of moving a portion of his office at Southern Comfort into his home, where he now spent most of his time ever since he and Bernadette had started dating. Through Bernadette’s urging, Coop was undertaking the laborious task of purging to make room for the papers, boxes, documents, and office equipment he’d soon be moving into his home. Bernadette had gone over to Coop’s house straight from work, and they’d been packing up what had seemed to her like thousands of files that were scattered throughout the large space. Coop had left to run an errand and then pick up dinner for them while Bernadette stayed behind and had continued to purge. She’d been in the process of moving papers and folders from his large metal cabinet into one of the many plastic bins they were going to transport to a shredding facility, when she’d made her discovery.
Bernadette had nearly finished unpacking the cabinet when she saw s
omething that caught her eye under a messy stack of papers, buried at the bottom of the large cabinet. “What’s this?” she’d asked with curiosity. A piece of paper was stuck in what appeared to be a manmade cut-out at the base of the cabinet. Bernadette reached in, pulled up the flap covering the secret space and immediately got a sick feeling when she realized she’d discovered a small, makeshift hidden compartment. Her heart started beating fast when she saw an old, rusted metal box inside. She didn’t have to open the box to know that she’d find trouble inside, otherwise the box wouldn’t be in a secret hiding place to begin with.
“Lord, please don’t let Coop be involved in drugs again,” Bernadette whispered as wild thoughts began to pop into her mind. She picked up the old, rusted metal box that was covered in dust and took a deep breath to brace herself for what she might find inside. Then suddenly she changed her mind. Whatever was in that box belonged to Coop, and he’d hidden it there for a reason. “I’ll just put it on his desk and ask him to go through it when he gets back,” she said aloud.
Bernadette reached to take the box to Coop’s desk when the tiny lock on the box swung open and the papers inside flew out, along with something wrapped in a dusty gray cloth that made a loud thump when it hit the floor. When Bernadette bent down to gather the papers and the cloth she gasped at what she saw—a police report, newspaper clippings, and a gun.
“Oh no!” Bernadette whispered with panic, then looked around as if someone was watching her. A few moments ago she hadn’t wanted to pry into Coop’s things, but that was before she’d known what was inside. She instinctively recoiled and moved away from the box’s contents because there was undoubtedly a bad story behind the things she’d just found, and even though she didn’t want to know what she felt was going to be a terrible truth, she knew she needed to have full knowledge of whatever had made Coop keep a gun and criminal documents locked away in a hidden compartment in his home office.
The fact that Coop had a gun didn’t alarm Bernadette because she knew he kept one in his truck, as well as one inside the nightstand beside his bed—and she’d learned that many people living in Bourbon did as well. As Bernadette gathered the papers, another bad feeling overcame her. Something told her that if she read the details of the documents in her hand she was going to be sorry, but instead of listening to her gut, she followed her curiosity.
Line by line Bernadette read a police report and newspaper articles that were dated more than thirty years ago, detailing the death of a man who’d been killed by a gunshot wound directly to his heart. His name was Morris Fleming, and he’d been murdered under mysterious circumstances, and in what one of the newspaper articles alluded to as a possible drug deal gone wrong, given that his body had been found in a section of the Bottoms that had been known for drug activity and prostitution.
“Oh, my goodness.” Bernadette gasped as reality set in. “I remember this,” she whispered in shock.
Shortly after Bernadette had moved to Bourbon, she’d seen an investigative report on the evening news marking the anniversary of a cold case involving a murder that had taken place more than thirty years ago. She’d been drawn to the story because the victim, Morris Fleming, had been a medical student from Washington, DC, who had just completed his residency at Johns Hopkins. He’d come to Bourbon for a visit, and he’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time and had lost his life. To this day neither his family nor the authorities knew the purpose of his ill-fated trip to the small Southern town, where he had no relatives or friends that anyone had known of. Despite the years that had rolled by, Morris Fleming’s parents had not given up the fight to solve their son’s murder and bring the guilty party to justice.
Bernadette shook her head, and her hands began to tremble as she looked closely at the picture of Morris Fleming, who looked like Maceo’s twin. “That’s why Maceo looked so familiar when I met him,” Bernadette said to herself, remembering the conversation she’d had with Tess. She’d remembered the investigative report on the evening news and the image of the handsome young man with the high top fade and the Members Only jacket, but it wasn’t until now, looking at the picture in her hand, that she recognized Maceo through the image of a dead man.
Even though Bernadette’s mind was quickly organizing pieces of the puzzle into place, she didn’t want to believe what she knew was the truth. “Why does Coop have information about a decades-old murder hidden in a secret compartment in his house?” As her eyes scanned the documents to confirm her thoughts, she found what she was looking for, and it made the faint hairs on her arms stand on edge. She saw Coop’s unmistakable penmanship scribbled on a piece of faded loose-leaf paper, and the words that followed answered her question. Coop had written Maceo’s name, his birth date, and the words “I’m sorry for what was done. I can’t bring him back but I can help raise his son.”
The date of Maceo’s birth was six months after Morris Fleming had been murdered. “Jesus,” Bernadette said as her mind raced. “It all makes sense now.”
She remembered Tess telling her that Maceo had grown up not knowing who his father was, but that he’d heard rumors that his mother had carried on an affair with a successful sales executive from up north who’d been married with kids. He’d met Sue while traveling on business and they’d gotten together every time he’d come to town. But once he’d found out she was pregnant he hadn’t wanted to risk losing his wife and children, so he’d beaten her in an attempt to cause a miscarriage. After that he’d dropped out of sight and no one had heard another word about the mystery man. Tess had said that Maceo had always been frustrated because he’d never been able to verify whether the story was true because neither his mother, nor Coop, nor anyone in his family would ever talk about what had really happened. But what Maceo did know for sure was that his biological father had indeed assaulted his mother, and he knew this because one of his older cousins who’d passed away several years ago had told him that shortly after Maceo’s mother had shocked her family with the news that she was pregnant—by a man whom none of them had met—she had been spotted in town with a black eye and bruises.
Bernadette closed her eyes and wrestled with the truth that had settled in the pit of her stomach. Coop had killed Morris Fleming, and as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she knew that the man she loved was a murderer. She knew that Coop had loved Sue dearly, and once he’d found out that Morris had not only gotten her pregnant but that he’d tried to savagely beat the baby out of her, Coop had made sure that Morris never put his hands on another woman again.
Bernadette picked up her smartphone and googled “Morris Fleming Murder.” Although it was a cold case, the investigative news feature several months ago had reignited interest, and there was even an 800 number that had been posted so people could leave an anonymous tip if they had information that would help solve the case.
“He got away with murder,” Bernadette whispered, feeling numb. She looked at the 800 tip-line number, and she thought about the desperate pleas of Morris’s parents, who were now elderly and frail, and only wanted closure and justice for their slain child. Then she thought about the fact that she had information that could give the couple the answers they’d longed for. But Bernadette’s stomach knotted at the fact that, that same information could send the only man she’d ever loved to jail.
It was hard for Bernadette to fathom that Coop was capable of murder because he was such a loving, kindhearted, and gentle man. But he’d shared, in his own words, that during his youth he’d been violent, hot-tempered, reckless, and even ruthless about anything or anyone beyond himself and the money he’d made selling drugs. He’d admitted that he’d done a lot of things he wasn’t proud of and that he wished he could erase.
Bernadette didn’t know what to do, so she carefully gathered the papers and used a Kleenex from Coop’s desk to put the gun back into the dusty gray cloth. She returned everything back into the metal box just as she’d found it, then she placed them under the messy stack of papers at the bac
k of the file cabinet where she’d first discovered the horrible truth.
Bernadette nearly jumped into the air when her phone rang, and she became even more nervous when she saw that it was Coop calling her.
“Hey,” she said.
“I’m at the restaurant with Maceo and he wants to know if you want chicken, ribs, or both?”
“Oh . . . it doesn’t matter.”
“Since when?” Coop said with a slight laugh. “I know you love Maceo’s cooking, so I’m surprised you didn’t say both.”
“Either one is fine with me.”
“Bernadette, baby, is something wrong? Are you okay?”
“I’m good.”
“You sure? You don’t sound good.”
“I’m just tired, that’s all.”
“I’m sorry, baby, I know between your demanding work schedule and helping me clean out my cluttered office, you’re beat. But just relax. I’m on my way over with some good food and a bottle of your favorite wine, and since tomorrow is Saturday, you can sleep in.”
Bernadette loved that Coop was always thinking of ways to please her and minimize her stress. But right now he was unknowingly causing her more worries than she’d ever felt in her life. “Okay, I’ll see you when you get here,” Bernadette said, trying to sound upbeat.
“Bernadette, are you sure nothin’s wrong?” Coop asking again, this time with more concern in his voice.
Coop’s concern made her think about how everyone said that she and Coop acted like they were an old married couple because they got along so well and knew each other like the back of their own hand. Bernadette knew that was true because right now no matter how hard she tried to convince Coop that she was fine, he knew that she wasn’t. But she didn’t want him to worry, or get suspicious, so she injected cheer into her voice to appease him before they ended their call.
Now, back in the present, Bernadette was more torn than ever as she thought about the shocking discovery she’d made a few days ago. She had to choose between doing what was legally, ethically, and morally right, versus pleasing her heart. She knew that as a law-abiding, morally conscious citizen, she needed to call the tip line and report what she knew. But as a woman who was deeply in love with a man who returned that love tenfold, she needed to protect Coop and keep his secret hidden in the past where he’d buried it all those years ago. Bernadette reasoned that Coop had been a different man back then and he was truly a good man now. She wanted desperately to talk to Coop about what she’d discovered, but she feared that any mention of the past would lead to the possible end of their relationship, and she wasn’t ready for that.
The Other Side Page 25