by Cydney Rax
“Oh, B, seriously? What fool told you that, and why would you believe it?”
“You are telling me things that you want me to believe, right? Well, I feel like I don’t have to believe everything I hear.”
“Okay, B. Fine. But what about the things that you see? Can you believe it if you see it?”
“What are you getting at?” Burgundy said.
“If I tell you what I saw, would you believe it?”
Burgundy’s entire face seemed to scream no. It was true that her sister talked a lot, but much of what she said hardly ever made sense to Burgundy. She knew full well how dramatic Alita could be. She felt that the woman did many things for attention. And maybe this was one of those times. Alita’s theory about Darius had been way off. In fact it was laughable. It had caused a man to quit his own job. And it proved that Elyse was a pathological liar. So there was a good chance the little girl was also lying about Nate.
“I doubt you saw anything—” Burgundy replied.
“Listen to me for a moment, B. Please.”
“What, Lita?”
“I know you’re not going to like what you hear, but this is what I saw.” Alita knew this would be the hardest thing she’d ever have to say to Burgundy. Much harder than the brutal judgments she’d given her about being an uncaring snob who was stuck on herself.
“B, I did something I should not have done and yes, I came over to the house without calling first.”
“Alita.”
“And I followed another car inside the security gate. I did. I drove around the neighborhood half scared to death trying to talk myself into doing this confrontation thing. I wanted to find Elyse and whip her little behind for embarrassing the hell out of me. But, B, I was lucky in that I drove in the driveway. And I did not go to the front door like I normally do. I walked around, and I came to the gate that goes to the backyard. And it was unlocked.”
“Alita, please.”
“The gate was unlocked, B, and I opened it and came into the backyard. And it was so quiet, so very quiet that it was like nobody was left on earth. I didn’t even hear or see any birds or anything.”
“This is getting ridiculous, Lita.”
“No listen up. I walked around the back of the house, and you know y’all like white folks and you like to keep the window blinds open all the time and so I easily could look inside of your house. I saw inside of the castle. I saw the king and queen’s bedroom window. And B, I saw the two of them, in your bedroom.”
“I don’t want to hear it—”
Alita kept talking, telling her eyewitness account of what she had seen that day. As Burgundy listened, it seems her ears grew bigger and bigger. And the more she listened in horror and hated what she heard, it seemed like her ears began to shrink.
“I saw through that window. And Nate was wearing just his plaid sleeping pants. He wore no shirt . . . just the pants.”
“So what? I’ve seen him plenty of times walking around the house in just the pajama bottoms.”
“But Elyse was wearing the matching top. And it was unbuttoned. And—”
Burgundy covered her ears.
Alita snatched her sister’s hands from her ears and shook her shoulders. “Listen to me, B, or at least explain to me, what was the girl doing wearing his pajamas? Doesn’t that seem strange to you?”
Burgundy gave Alita a cold, stony look. “If you told that to a court of law, they’d laugh at you and toss out the case.”
“Oh, Burgundy,” Alita said in a pleading tone. “Don’t do this. Don’t reject truth. Truth is what we’re about, right? Am I right? Or are we supposed to play along with this fucking family fantasy that you’ve come up with, but you don’t even believe it yourself? What? Why waste the sisters’ time? You really think this what Mama would have wanted?”
“Leave Mama out of it.”
“No, let’s bring Mama into it. Because our precious mother isn’t as angelic as we’ve painted her to be.” Alita burst into tears. Her mother wasn’t perfect by far, but she still missed the woman’s voice, her smell, her touch. Alita cried for a while until she got rid of her anger and hurt and sorrow.
“So anyway,” she said as she wiped her nose, “do you really believe that our mama would want us to be like this, B? Lying to each other? Because ain’t it true that our own mother was the type to lie to herself?” Alita began to sob. “Mama was a pretender too. I guess you grew up to be just like her.”
Now Alita was laughing. And going from weeping to laughing within minutes made it feel like she was losing her mind.
“Sister Day is like a big cover-up.”
“Alita—”
“No, be honest. I don’t know who we trying to prove something to and why we gotta act like we’re Reeveses, as if that means anything.”
“Right now what you’re saying isn’t making any sense, Alita. And I believe you are sincere. You think you saw something, but I’m telling you it was nothing. Don’t go looking for trouble either, because if you do, you’ll always find it, even though you haven’t proved a thing.”
“Okay, fine. I give up. Keep living in your fantasy world, Burgundy. But I won’t let Elyse continue to stay here with you two. Is that understood?”
“I will have to discuss it with Nate—”
“Burgundy.”
“We’re married, and we have to be in agreement. My husband is my covering. If I go against his wishes, then bad things will really happen in our marriage.”
“What? Who told you that?”
“My church.”
“Oh, hell, no. Keep those people out your business.”
“Alita, don’t be upset. I told you let me discuss this with Nate. And I’ll let you know.”
“You know what, you are so smart, yet you’re stupid as hell. It’s okay, B. You not the first woman to get played by her man. In this present world, just about every woman has an ex-husband, you hear me? We survive the bullshit and go on to find a much better man than the lying-ass, cheating, fucked-up, delusional, wife-beating, whoremonger, jailbird, bitch-ass punks that treat you like shit and act like he’s the victim. These men out here suing women for child support, trying to get that spousal support, having side babies while they married, and acting so shocked when she gets fed up and ready to leave his ass. So if your man is doing any of this shit, B, it’s time to make a decision. Fuck what he wants. You either leave his ass or you stay and keep dealing with it.”
“Hillary stuck by Bill.”
“She’s stupid,” Alita yelled.
“And Camille Cosby stuck by Bill.”
“Two stupid-ass wives. Wait, hold up. That lets us know we need to stay the fuck away from men named Bill.”
Burgundy cracked a tiny smile.
“I hear what you’re saying, Alita, but God hates divorces.”
“He hates child molesters too.”
“Please don’t call him that.”
“Oh, all right. I get it. You a stand-by-your-man-no-matter-what type of woman. Like that lady that stuck by her husband who molested all those boys in the locker room. You disgust me.”
In all her life Burgundy had never been judged so harshly. The glare of the spotlight shining upon her insecurities and weaknesses was almost more than she could bear.
And Alita knew she had touched a sore spot. She knew that this entire scenario was something that Burgundy never would have expected. “He believes in God, he’s a good man, Alita. This has to be some sort of mistake.”
Alita’s eyes burned with anger.
“For once in my life, it feels good to know I’m not the only foolish woman out here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Get out! Leave him.”
“We have kids. They worship him.”
“So what? They can still know their father, but I don’t even know that I’d want them to know that sleazebag.”
“Lita, you assuming stuff. Assuming is the lowest form of intelligence. We can’t make critical life dec
isions based on assumptions and circumstantial evidence.”
“You’re a fool. But if it’s fine for you to be a fool, you gon’ pay a big price for staying with that man. ’Cause if you staying, then you paying.”
“Alita, how many times I have to tell you that I have no proof? Why should I take anybody else’s word over my husband’s? Even my sister’s. My emotionally unstable sister.” She paused. Nate wasn’t perfect, but she refused to believe he was the devil either. And in spite of their few differences, she knew she still loved him. That was all that mattered. That’s all she could let matter.
“That’s my husband. Something that you could not hold onto yourself.”
Before Alita realized it, her arm flew out like a baseball bat. She slugged Burgundy across the cheek.
Burgundy’s eyes enlarged. She rubbed her cheek, which was made hotter when she placed her hand on it.
“Don’t make me go there, Lita,” she finally said. “You don’t want to see me go there.” Burgundy blinked her eyes several times and prayed no tears would fall. She had to be strong, resilient. She had to keep it together no matter what.
She walked out before Alita could answer. She went to her bedroom and locked the door. The room was dark. She heard loud snoring. She turned on the lamp and stood there looking at her husband. A mixture of love and hate filled her entire heart. Burgundy reached down and smacked him on top of his head. Nate woke up startled. She hit him again. And again.
“Burgundy, what’s wrong with you? What you hit me for?”
She cried and kept striking him, not very hard, but enough to let her husband feel her pain. Truth felt painful. Truth was ugly. Truth caused people to face things they did not want to face . . . like horrible, unimaginable secrets that could destroy families.
And while Burgundy was letting out her frustrations on Nate, Alita was upstairs, getting Elyse to grab a couple of things. She took her by the hand, and they sneaked down the back staircase. They quietly closed the door behind them and got in Alita’s car. Instead of starting the ignition, she put it in neutral and had Elyse sit in the driver’s seat. She pushed the car down the driveway and a few houses down. Then she hopped in the passenger seat and encouraged Elyse to start the car.
They drove off in the darkness of the night. Alita was ready to face whatever consequences would come her way. For her, Sister Day had just got real.
Stay tuned for what happens next
In the tension-filled sequel
A Sister’s Survival
Coming soon from
Cydney Rax
And
Dafina Books