Until the End of Time

by Schuster, Melanie

  Andrew groaned. It was so like Renee to be concerned about his sister, a concern that he normally would have thought was loving. Right now though, it just seemed martyr-ish. “Renee, Bennie is a strong woman. Her only concern is going to be for you. And not telling her now, that’s just another secret that is going to end up causing you more pain.”

  He could see from the glint in Renee’s eyes that she was about to start on another stubborn tack to prove her point, so he capitulated. “Okay, okay. We won’t say anything to Benita. Even though I think my sister can handle the news—she’s pregnant, not feeble. But if that’s the way you want it, fine. But,” he looked at her closely as he spoke, “we have got to get this out in the open as soon as possible,” he reminded her gently.

  Renee took her half-full mug over to the sink and carefully rinsed it out. She couldn’t look at Andrew because she knew that he could talk her into anything. With her back to him, she began to speak slowly and softly. “All right, Andrew. I’ll think about discussing this with Donnie and Clay, okay? I guess they have a right to have all the information before signing anything. I’ll think about it. And when I’ve made up my mind, we’ll talk to them. But not today, okay? I have a killer headache and I want one peaceful Sunday before all hell breaks loose.”

  She turned to face him then; unaware that her drawn face was etched full of pain. “Just one peaceful Sunday with you and my puppies is all I ask,” she said plaintively.

  Seeing her so unhappy and withdrawn stoked the fires of the dormant rage that Andrew still felt towards Donovan Bailey. But he let none of that show as he went over to embrace her.

  “Anything you want, baby. Anything you want,” he vowed.

  ***

  The last thing Adonis Cochran, AKA Donnie, was expecting on a Sunday morning was to find his oldest brother and two squirmy Yorkies at his front door.

  “Come on in, Bunchy. What brings you out so early?” he asked mildly. It was clear that his brother was upset about something and it didn’t take him long to find out what it was. Luckily, his two golden retrievers were in their dog run in the back so that there was no chance of a dog massacre in his living room.

  “Sit down, Adonis. We have a lot to discuss and it isn’t going to be pleasant.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “You have to call off this deal you’re getting into with Donovan Bailey,” Andrew said without preamble. He waited for the shock to register on his younger brother’s face and then went on, “The man is bad news. He is the worst kind of trash there is and if you knew all the details there is no way in hell you would be involved with him. So please God tell me that you haven’t signed any contracts and you can get out of whatever it is you’re into with him,” he finished.

  “What just a minute, Andrew. This ‘whatever it is’ is a very big deal for Cochran Communications and The Deveraux Group. You expect me to just walk away from the biggest thing I have done in my working life just on your say-so? Let me explain just what it is that we’re doing here.” Donnie said calmly.

  He went on to explain that Clay’s company, The Deveraux Group was about to launch an all news cable channel much like CNN with Donovan Bailey at the helm. Plus, Cochran Communications was about to turn several of its AM stations into a talk/news format that would be in partnership with the television news. This was a groundbreaking move on the parts of Donnie and Clay, one that would prove lucrative in the extreme as well as set an industry precedent for years to come.

  “This is an idea whose time has more than come, Andrew. This can pave the way for so many more things—I don’t have to give you a grocery list, you can just imagine what this is going to mean to African-American broadcasting and how many jobs it is going to create. All the groundwork has been done and it’s all been done with the idea that Donovan Bailey is going to be our executive in charge as well as being the main anchor. That man has credentials coming out of his ears! All that work that he did in Europe over the years is just the experience we need and you’re asking me to tell Clay that we just walk away from it? On a whim? What the hell have you been smoking?”

  Donnie had worked himself up from his normal laid back persona to what for him was molten rage and even then he hadn’t raised his voice. As the youngest of six he had learned other ways to get his point across. He waited expectantly for Andrew to explain himself.

  Andrew, in the meantime, was sprawled on the sofa with his head back and his eyes closed, almost as though he weren’t listening. Finally he opened his eyes and looked his brother full in the face.

  “Donovan Bailey” he spat the name, “is a rapist. Some years ago when he was still working in the States, he took a colleague home from work and molested her in her apartment. No charges were brought, even though the woman filed a report. There was considered to be insufficient evidence to pursue the matter and he got off scot-free,” Andrew said in a quiet, deadly voice.

  Donnie looked shocked at both the words he was hearing and the look on Andrew’s face. Then he shook his head as if to rid himself of the effects of those words. “Look, Andrew, that’s a pretty nasty story. But if it happened all those years ago and there were no charges brought how do you know the woman was even telling the truth? You know as well as I do that there are a lot of women out there that cry ‘rape’ when they take a notion for a whole lot of reasons. How do you know this isn’t some kind of urban legend brought to life?” he asked reasonably.

  Andrew sat up and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He looked at the floor for a long moment before answering his brother.

  “Because the woman told me herself. The woman was Renee,” he said softly.

  Donnie’s face went pale and his eyes seemed unnaturally dark in contrast. He swallowed several times before he could speak. “That son of a bitch. That sick, low-down son of a bitch. He stood in her face last night grinning like a Cheshire cat, talking about how they used to work together in Pittsburgh. That sleazy mutha…oh damn, Bunchy, how is Renee? How did she take seeing him?” At once, all of his concern was for Renee.

  Andrew explained the whole situation to Donnie, and was surprised and touched to see tears come to his eyes. Donnie and Renee had always enjoyed a very special relationship. It was Donnie’s turn to explain as he poured them both a Scotch.

  “See, Renee was like a big sister, but she was better than a sister because we weren’t related, you know? She always treated me like an adult, something that a gawky teenager does not get from his family,” he said fondly.

  He went on to tell Andrew how he and Renee often had long talks about things that were bothering him, usually about girls. “She would take me out to lunch or to dinner, just like we were the same age or something, and let me just piss and moan about Sheila or Tonya or whomever. And then she would give me great advice,” he said with a laugh. “You might not know this, but Renee went to the prom with me,” he added.

  This was news to Andrew. At his dumbfounded expression, Donnie nodded his head. “Yep. You were in med school and I, as you recall, had not reached the full pinnacle of my masculine beauty,” he said with a wink. “But I worked up my nerve and asked the prettiest girl in my class to the prom. Everything was all set, we were going to double date with Briscoe and his girlfriend and we had gone into hock to rent a limo and go out to dinner, the whole shot. And at the last minute, Charisse, that was her name, Charisse, backed out. It seems that she got a better offer from the captain of the basketball team.

  “Man, I was crushed. The embarrassment and the heartbreak—you are talking about some serious teen angst, here. And Renee was in town that weekend and tells me not to worry, she’ll be happy to go to the prom with me. And she did. It was the best night of my entire life, bar none. She had on some foxy designer dress and she danced every single dance with me and made me feel like I was like 12 feet tall instead of an overgrown, gangly kid. That’s the kind of person she is,” he said reflectively. “And that bastard put his hands on her. Son of a bitch,” Donnie swore
and continued to swear for a few minutes. By now he had reached the point where he wanted to get his hands around Bailey’s throat, something that Andrew had to talk him out of.

  “Believe me, I know where you’re coming from. But the problem right now is how to get out of this deal without letting Bennie know about Renee’s past. Remember, Renee doesn’t want anyone knowing, especially Bennie and the family. That’s why she went through all this all by herself for so long. She’s going to kill me if she finds out I told you, but I didn’t know what else to do. I knew you wouldn’t want to have anything to do with the slimy rat bastard and I didn’t want to wait until you had put something in writing.”

  By now Donnie was on the phone to his brother-in-law, Clay Deveraux in Atlanta. After stressing the need for utter security on the matter, he told Clay the deal had to be nullified and told him exactly why. With no hesitation, Clay agreed.

  “We still may be put in a position to defend why we brought him along to this point and dropped him, but you’ve got two lawyers in your family and I have one so between them, we’ll be okay. Rotten son of a bitchin’ asshole—I just hope his ass survives long enough to do some time. You know, don’t you, that if he did it to Renee, he’s done it before and has done it since. And I agree with Renee, Benita doesn’t have to know this right now,” he said gruffly in his deep voice.

  Clay was especially fond of Renee, but his only concern in life was the happiness and well being of his wife. Secrets be damned, she wasn’t hearing anything upsetting about her best friend while she was pregnant and that was that as far as Clay was concerned. Furthermore, he didn’t see the loss of Donovan Bailey as insurmountable.

  “There’s plenty of talent out there. We can find another person to put in that spot. A woman might an even better fit for the network. Just get rid of Bailey and take care of Renee,” he added. He spoke to Andrew for a few minutes before hanging up.

  Andrew looked at his watch and groaned. “I told Renee I was going to get the New York Times about an hour ago. I gotta get back over there before she knows I did exactly what she told me not to do,” he said glumly.

  Donnie took his brother’s arm. “Hey, Bunchy, you did what you had to do. There was nothing else you could have done under the circumstances. The important thing now is to get him out of our lives completely.”

  ***

  The rest of Sunday went more or less according to Renee’s wishes. During Andrew’s absence she took a long, long, bubble bath and tried to erase the events of the past weeks from her mind. By the time Andrew returned to her house, she was in a much calmer state; it was as though she had crossed a mental bridge to a more hospitable environment. Andrew did his best to make sure she stayed relaxed and happy the rest of the day. They talked quietly, listened to music while they did the crossword puzzle and Renee was moved to prepare a nice Sunday dinner of Cornish game hens and wild rice stuffing. They spent the night in each other’s arms, sleeping soundly.

  That day of rest was just what Renee needed. She was at Urban Oasis earlier than usual on Monday, and was actually able to give herself over to the myriad of tasks necessary to her role as owner. The holiday season was in full swing, which meant Christmas weddings, cotillions, dinner dances and a plethora of other activities, which would require head to toe beautification for her clients. Renee always welcomed the attendant hubbub because of the magnificent increase in sales figures; now she welcomed it for another reason entirely. As long as she was busy, she couldn’t dwell on Donovan Bailey.

  She was going over the Christmas card list to make sure that everyone who had visited Urban Oasis in the past year would receive holiday greetings; this was the kind of special treatment that made the salon such a standout. Vaguely, she heard the door to her office open and assumed it was Valerie. “Val, did you get the final menu for the party to the caterer? We may need to increase the quantities since we’re inviting sales reps. You know how some of those reps can eat!” she said without looking up.

  “Well, if you invite me, I’ll be sure to come with a hearty appetite,” a male voice replied. Renee forced herself to maintain a semblance of calm, although the nausea that was now familiar had overtaken her. She stood and slowly turned to face Donovan Bailey, who was standing in her doorway wearing a smile that said, “I know you’re glad to see me.”

  Before she could ask how he found her and how he got to her private office, Donavan casually entered the room and explained his presence.

  “Donnie Cochran told me that you owned the premier day spa in Detroit, so of course I had to drop in. I hope you don’t scold Valerie, but I told her that I was an old friend and that I wanted to surprise you, so she brought me back,” he said with a smirk.

  Renee was amazed that she could stand, but she found that yes, she was able to, albeit with her arms crossed tightly over her chest. In a deceptively calm voice, she asked him point blank, “Why did you lie to her?” ‘Valerie’…like they’re just the best ol’ buddies in the world, she thought. Donovan always did have a way of getting the female of the species to grant him special favors like he was God’s gift to women. And in truth, if you did not know the ugliness that lived inside the shell, he was quite a package.

  Six feet tall, with the muscular build of an athlete, fair skinned with brown wavy hair that was cut impeccably as always; hazel eyes that always twinkled and lips that were nicely shaped, although a bit on the thin side. And he had a dimple that would flash with any provocation, especially when he was trying to be endearing, like now.

  “Renee,” he said charmingly, “how did I lie? I did want to surprise you and we are old friends, after all. We go back a long way, you and I, just like I told Donnie last night,” he added confidently.

  Before Renee could give him the blistering retort that was on the tip of her tongue, he went on: “I have to tell you again, Renee, you are looking absolutely fabulous. Fabulous. And this place…it’s magnificent! Who would have ever dreamed that this is where your real talents lay? You have come a long way from Pittsburgh, Renee. I lived in Europe for many years, but even in Paris, Rome, Milan and Amsterdam, there were not many women who could rival your beauty and style,” he said, looking her up and down.

  He was so busy taking in the picture Renee made in a smoke gray Missoni sweater and leather Mizrahi skirt that he didn’t notice the look of total incredulity on her face. The Pashmina stole she had been wearing in the chilly back office was flung over her desk as she finally found her voice.

  “Either this is a nightmare, or I’m in Hell. It can’t been a nightmare because I’m awake. So this must be my personal version of Hell, since you’re in it. What has gone wrong with your mind that you think you can come into my place of business and pass yourself off as a friend of mine when nothing can be further from the truth? And what makes you think that you can throw a few compliments my way and all traces of what you did to me will disappear—poof—like it never happened?” she snarled.

  Donovan’s poise began to crumble and he raised his hands to placate Renee and stave off any further vitriol but it was too late.

  “How dare you speak to me of my ‘talent lying elsewhere’. My talent was in the newsroom, you low-down, sleazy yellow bastard, and you well know it. My talent, my skill and my training were all about television and that little rug got jerked out from under me thanks to you, you animal. Well guess what, I still rose like the phoenix from the flames and I will keep on rising which is none of your effing business.

  “I don’t know what you think you’re playing at, here, but I have to warn you that you’re on very dangerous ground. I’m not a safe woman for you to be around, Bailey. I’ve already been through the fires of hell at your hands so I have no real fear of death. I’m not afraid of you.”

  She stood still for a moment as the realization of what she said sank in. It was true. At that moment, she had no fear of the man. She looked at him and all she saw was a pampered, spoiled, medium-sized man who got his kicks out of hurting women. She took a fe
w steps toward him, and sure enough, he backed up a few steps.

  “So you’d better answer my question. What the hell do you want here? ‘Cause if I were you, I wouldn’t trust me with a sharp implement in my hand. This wouldn’t be a good place for you to get a trim,” she advised.

  “Renee, I feel terrible about that misunderstanding we had so many years ago…”

  Renee gave a short, harsh laugh. “Don’t go there, Bailey. I understood what you did back then and you understood it, too. It was rape and you got away with it.”

  By then, Renee was less than a foot away and she dared him to make a move with every tensed tendon and sinew in her body. Just then, she could have taken him apart with her bare hands and he seemed to realize it, too.

  “Look, Renee…a lot has changed since then. I did a lot of things I regret, and I can’t tell you how desperately I want to make amends for them. But,” he hesitated and like a novice soap opera actor, he morphed into an “I’m sincere” face. “I don’t see how rehashing the past can get any of us anywhere. I had no idea that you were a friend of the Cochrans', but…you probably know the time and money spent in developing the new cable network.”

  Renee’s narrowed eyes and alert posture told him that he had hit paydirt.

  “There’s been a tremendous outlay of cash on the part of your friends the Cochrans' and if anything should happen to abort the deal, I’m in a contractual position to cost them even more. So it would seem that we derive a mutual benefit in keeping the past in the past, if you know what I mean,” he said with a smug smile.

  Renee’s eyes betrayed her emotions as always. They immediately turned muddy and unfocused and like the animal of prey that he was, he went for the kill.