BEAST

by Pace, Pepper

  “Oh my god! Oh my god…” She pulled back and examined Ashleigh at arm’s length. “You are so thin…”

  Ashleigh giggled happily.

  Ashleigh quickly grabbed Christopher’s arm. “

  “This is my sister Darlene and her husband Luther and this is my fiancé Christopher.”

  Darlene stared in shock. But…Mom said…uh, hello.” She offered her hand and Christopher shook it. Darlene was a little thing and maybe a little more made up then to his liking. But he couldn’t deny that she was beautiful, yet a little uncouth. He shook her husband’s hand. He was dark skinned, handsome, very fit but still dwarfed by Christopher’s height and weight.

  “Well maybe we should head back to the bar and wait for Venita.”

  Darlene made a face. “Girl, please, that heffa is going to make up some excuse not to come.” Ashleigh looked alarmed.

  “She wouldn’t do that-”

  “Honey, Venita is trifling. I invited her to a party a few weeks ago and the bitch didn’t even show up and it was RSVP…” Her words trailed at the look that crossed Ashleigh’s face. “Oh…I would have invited you but I know how you don’t like that sort of thing…”

  Venita showed up then, thankfully, saving Ashleigh from having to decide how to address her sister’s snub. Venita came in looking like a model. She was the tallest sister at approx 5’10” without heels. With them she was impressive. Christopher noted that the sisters were all very pretty but they had a penchant for lots of makeup and glam. Ashleigh was now a woman that went for comfort over glam though she still dressed up for work. But at home she had taken to shorts and a t-shirt.

  Venita’s husband was white and Christopher was just beginning to understand that his race had never been an issue. He was beginning to form an idea but pushed it back for now. The couple was accompanied by two kids; a boy and a girl.

  Venita eyed him before acknowledging any of her sisters.

  “Sorry I’m late. Is this…your fiancée?”

  Ashleigh made the introductions again and Christopher greeted everyone. “I think we better get our seats. They’re holding our reservations.” He resisted the urge to look at his watch. He was military and it was unheard of to be forty-five minutes late for anything and then just give an off-handed apology. It was more than unheard of, it was plain rude.

  Venita never mentioned how good Ashleigh looked but Christopher caught her eyeing her younger sister up and down when Ashleigh wasn’t watching. Darlene grabbed Ashleigh’s hand and blinked at her ring.

  “Jesus…that’s a rock!”

  Ashleigh blushed and stared down at it. “Yes, I’ve named him Lamar and I kiss him every morning and say, hello there, lovely.”

  The kids laughed and Christopher smiled at them wondering if he and Ashleigh’s kids would look something like them. Venita’s husband Keith was just as friendly as Darlene’s husband Luther but there was definite tension between the two. After being seated at a large table the conversation centered on Christopher.

  “Well how and the hell do you keep finding these handsome men?” Venita asked.

  “Lucky I guess.” Ashleigh said while looking at Christopher.

  “Well I need to go where you go.” Venita said, not realizing or caring that she’d just insulted her husband who shot her a look. Yeah, things were definitely not great with them.

  “You look so good.” Darlene said for about the millionth time.

  “Remember when you were little and how you used to hide food?” Venita chuckled. “We would find cookies and donuts and candy sometimes years old; shoved behind the VCR or behind the hutch-”

  “Remember the time she hid a candy bar in the drop ceiling and it attracted mice? The exterminator showed it to Mom where the mice had gotten at it.” Darlene said while laughing. “Mom tanned your behind.”

  Ashleigh smiled good-naturedly though she didn’t remember anything particularly funny about it.

  “And she was so cute and fat.” Venita said. “But Mom had to buy her clothes in the old lady section.”

  Darlene laughed. “Remember those polyester pants that used to squeak when she walked? She was twelve wearing a seersucker suit!” Venita and Darlene cracked up and Ashleigh’s stomach grumbled. She sipped some water and nibbled on a breadstick.

  “I bet she was adorable.” Christopher said while looking at her with nothing but love. She met his eyes and smiled.

  “Adam! Put down that roll!” Venita shouted. The little boy replaced the roll shamefaced. “That is your third roll. Don’t think I haven’t been watching you. Why do you have to be the greediest person at the table, huh?”

  “Honey,” Keith interjected.

  “Look, he knows he’s on a diet.” She rolled her eyes at her husband. Ashleigh looked at the chubby little boy. Oh my god, he was just seven or eight years old!

  Venita had already turned her attention back to Christopher. “So you have to keep yourself in shape when you’re in The Marines, huh?”

  Ashleigh excused herself to go to the restroom. She wanted a breather, but soon her sisters accosted her at the sink.

  “Okay, where the hell did you find the cute Marine?” Venita asked.

  “Huh? I…what? Venita, you are married!”

  Venita rolled her eyes. “I’m not staying with that fool forever.” Ashleigh’s eyes grew big. Darlene didn’t even seem surprised by their older sister’s revelation.

  “Mama told us your dude had something wrong with his face.” Darlene said. “There is nothing wrong with that man’s face. He’s fucking gorgeous.”

  “Well you know Mama is a liar and a crazy bitch.” Venita said bitterly.

  “Thank god she moved to Tennessee, girl she was getting on my last nerves.”

  “You telling me,” Venita checked her make-up in the mirror.

  Ashleigh stared at her sisters in disbelief. She rarely hung with them since leaving home, but she didn’t remember their out and out disrespect of their mother.

  “Wow, all this time I thought you two and Mom were tight.” Where did the hostility come from? They were the chosen two.

  Venita made a face. “Girl, I don’t talk to her unless I have to.”

  “Please,” Darlene rolled her eyes. “When Mom came up to take care of you she told me I needed braces.” Darlene flashed her perfect teeth. “I sat my dumbass in the mirror for half an hour looking at my teeth before Luther told me that there wasn’t anything wrong with them.”

  Ashleigh frowned. “We should go back out. The food should be here.” Ashleigh didn’t care if the food was there or not, she just didn’t want to be alone with them any longer than she had to be.

  The meal was delicious and the conversation easy, mostly because her sister’s kept asking about Christopher who became the center of attention. At one point Venita asked if he had any single brothers and Keith turned red. Christopher wisely ignored the question—both times she asked it.

  They were both ready to leave when Venita took her son Adam’s plate away from him because she said that he had already eaten more than his share.

  Ashleigh leaned in towards Christopher. “Please get me the fuck out of here.”

  “Gladly.”

  Christopher stood and reached in his back pocket for his wallet while everyone stopped eating and talking to look at him. “Please excuse us but Ashleigh’s not feeling well. The food just isn’t sitting well with her.” He tossed two hundred dollars on the table. “Please have desert on us.” Ashleigh stood up and waved because she didn’t trust herself to open her mouth. Everyone rushed to tell her goodbye and to make false promises to call and to get together soon.

  “Pleasure meeting you.” Christopher lied, and then they left. He put his arm around her when they were outside and felt her relax.

  “I understand. I understand everything completely. Do we have to invite them to our wedding?” He asked, half joking.

  She shook her head. “Hell no. I don’t owe them anything. She thought about how her s
ister, Darlene hadn’t even thought to invite her to her party. “Besides, they are probably sitting in there already talking about me like a dog.” And they were.

  They were halfway home when Ashleigh let out a tense breath. “Christopher.”

  “What, Sweetheart?”

  “I think I need some ice cream.”

  “Okay.”

  “I just really feel…like if I don’t get some ice cream then…”

  “It’s fine.” He turned the car. “Graeters?”

  “Yes.” Ashleigh could feel her heart pounding in her chest.

  “I want you to test your blood sugar. Did you bring your kit?”

  “Yes.” By the time they pulled in front of Graeters ice cream shop she had the results of her test and it showed that her blood sugar level was good.

  He opened the door for her and held her hand. “You okay?”

  She nodded. “Yeah but I just need some ice cream.”

  “Okay, its fine.” At the counter she ordered a triple scoop of raspberry chocolate chip but Christopher changed it to a single scoop. “We’ll come back and get more if you want it.”

  She nodded her consent. They sat at one of the tables and she began eating her ice cream quickly.

  “Slow down, baby. It’s not going anywhere.” She looked at her cone in surprise and then she smiled and ate it slowly. They ate their ice cream in silence and when she was done he asked her if she wanted another. She nodded and said she wanted a scoop of chocolate. He bought it for her and after she ate half of it she gave him the rest.

  “I’m good.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, thank you.”

  “Was that the baby or seeing your sister?”

  “I’m not sure. I think a little of both.”

  “I’m pretty sure that I have a good picture of how it was like for you as a kid.”

  She looked thoughtful. “The way Venita treated Adam is the way my Mom treated me. I just took it all and buried it.” She knew that Adam would more than likely grow up with low self-esteem, or become shallow or both.

  CHAPTER 11

  Where do you go if you are on a mountain for three days with a bunch of people that you don’t know and you happen to be the only black person…well except for the colored people that live down at the bottom of the hill? There is no place to run and hide. You have to pull up your big girl pants and face it head on. And that is what Ashleigh knew she had to do. But after confronting her family she was more nervous than ever about another family confrontation. She couldn’t stop thinking about how hard things had been with Alma. In the end it had all turned out okay but she couldn’t stop imagining twenty Almas and having to try to win them all over.

  Christopher loaded a cooler into the truck and turned to Ashleigh. She was wringing her hands and watching him doubtfully. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her nose. “Sweetheart, you’re going to have fun. They’ll be all kinds of stuff to do and I’ll make sure that you won’t be left alone.

  “I know. I just want everyone to like me.”

  He smiled. “I’ll tell you a secret.”

  “A secret? Oooo skeletons in the closet?”

  “Not exactly. The secret is that your reputation precedes you. Everyone already knows all about you, Ashleigh. And everyone in my family has nothing but good things to say about you. Not sure what you did to win Alma over but my Mom told me that she’s your biggest cheerleader. So you have absolutely nothing to worry about.”

  She relaxed. “Okay.”

  “Are you ready? One last bathroom break?”

  “No, I’m all set.”

  Christopher picked up his guitar and placed it in the backseat, and then he helped Ashleigh in. The ride down to Corbin Kentucky was long but Christopher tried to make it interesting by telling her stories about the mountains. He made it seem like a wonderful place to grow up. When he wasn’t telling her stories he was singing and about half way down she fell asleep. It seemed that she hadn’t been asleep but a few minutes before Christopher was pulling up into a field of parked cars. She yawned and looked around.

  “Aww. I missed the drive up through the mountains.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll make enough beer runs so that you’ll know it backwards and forward. It’s dry.”

  She gave him a surprised look. “You mean there are still places that are dry?”

  He nodded. “Yeah no liquor sold here. You have to go down to Corbin.”

  Several kids were running around and playing but they only looked at Christopher curiously not recognizing him. He didn’t worry about it; there would be time for reintroductions later. They headed for Uncle Ray’s house and as they got close Ashleigh fell in love with the large A-frame house. She was even more impressed when Christopher told her that Uncle Ray had built it himself many years ago and as he and Aunt Lonnie had more and more children he had just added on. Now it was a big gorgeous house.

  They headed up the porch steps.

  “Hi everyone.” He greeted the people they passed. Everyone responded in a friendly way but once they were in the house Ashleigh heard someone ask who that was. She glanced at Christopher who seemed to enjoy being the mystery man.

  As they walked through the crowded house Christopher greeted everyone in a friendly manner and they all responded in a friendly manner. It was obvious that no one knew exactly who he was but no one wanted to be the one to ask. Ashleigh thought Christopher was so bad not to tell these poor people who he was but she kept her smile to herself.

  They finally reached the kitchen where a few people were preparing enough food to feed an army. Christopher walked up to an older man that was nearly as tall as him.

  “Hi Uncle Ray.” He smiled.

  Uncle Ray looked up and beamed. “Christopher!”

  Christopher raised his brow in surprise. “How did you know it was me?”

  “Son…you’re 6’5”. There’s not too many of us quite that tall.” He gave Christopher a hug and then the other people in the room exclaimed as they realized that Christopher was the mystery man. Ashleigh got slightly lost in the crowd as thirty people crowded the kitchen to get a look at Christopher, ask him about the surgery, touch him, and hug him. It was like being around a movie star!

  Christopher gently grasped her hand and pulled her forward. “Hey everyone, I want to introduce you to my fiancée Ashleigh. We’re also…um, about to be parents.”

  That announcement caused some good-natured comments and everyone hugged her and welcomed her to the family. She relaxed. Not all family reunions were filled with dysfunctional people.

  Ashleigh met Christopher’s other two siblings who lived out of state; a brother Gregory and his wife and children and another sister. She was nothing like Alma and she immediately hugged Ashleigh and exclaimed that Mom and Dad loved her. Her name was Beverly, she was single, spirited and had more freckles on her face than anybody she’d ever seen.

  Mr. and Mrs. Jameson arrived later that evening. Butch had driven and he gave her a hug that made her feel more welcomed than anything else. Mr. Jameson was tired from the trip so they got him fed and he lay down to rest in one of the bedrooms designated for him and Mrs. Jameson.

  They had a fish fry with corn on the cob from a neighboring farm. There was corn pudding and corn fritters. Christopher explained that corn and potatoes would play a huge part in their meals since Uncle Ray could get them free. But in addition there would be all kinds of farm fresh vegetables. Everything was delicious and Christopher didn’t bat an eye when she piled her plate high.

  After dinner, Ashleigh could tell that Christopher was anxious to play football with some of the older boys and young men so she told him she was going to join some of the ladies on the porch. He walked with her and sat with her a while until Beverly shooed him away, promising to take care of her. Ashleigh nodded her approval and then he hurried away like a big kid.

  “I can’t believe how changed he is.” Beverly commented.

  “He’s tran
sformed,” Mrs. Jameson said, “and I’m not referring to the surgery.” She gave Ashleigh’s hand an affectionate pat.

  She enjoyed talking to the ladies. Their slow country accents made her feel right at home. As it grew dark they began to tell ghost stories. Mr. Jameson found his way to the porch and seemed very alert. He gave her a hug and actually remembered to call her Ashleigh.

  “You be sure to stay with someone and don’t go off in the woods by yourself. There are wildcats around here.”