by Mary Monroe
“You don’t even call her up from work or invite her to come meet you for lunch that often anymore,” I pointed out. “A wife needs attention, you know.”
“Oh yeah? It’s mighty strange I don’t hear you complaining about all the time Kenneth spends away from you.” I didn’t like the smirk on Bo’s face, but I chose to ignore it. “He’s with you less than I’m with Sarah.”
“That’s different. Kenneth is an old man and we’ve been together a lot longer than you and Sarah. There was a time when I resented him working such long hours, but I’m used to it now.”
Bo suddenly gave me a conspiratorial look.
“What’s the matter, Bo? Why are you looking at me that way?” I fished my compact out of my purse and checked to make sure I had not smeared my lipstick or that a sesame seed from the bagel I’d just eaten was not stuck to my lip or between my teeth.
“Vera, I know you better than you think. I know you can find a lot of things to do with all the time you have on your hands. If you know what I mean . . .”
I rotated my neck and blinked hard. “What do you mean by that?”
“You know damn well what I mean by that,” he chuckled.
“If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking,” I snarled.
“Are you going to take my advice and find a young stud and have an affair? Or have you already done so?” He paused and snickered for a few seconds. “Is that why it doesn’t bother you anymore that Kenneth is gone most of the day?”
I stared at Bo in mock slack-jawed amazement. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I squeaked. I was so flustered I caught my finger in my compact when I snapped it shut. “And let’s stay on the subject. We were discussing you spending more time with your wife.”
“Maybe I don’t want to spend more time with my wife right now. I like having my own space.”
“Maybe that’s why your ex divorced you.”
That remark really rattled Bo. He squinted his eyes in such an odd way, his eyebrows almost touched the top of his eyelids. “Except for what I told you, you don’t know a damn thing about me and my ex!”
“I didn’t mean anything by that. I’m sorry,” I apologized, waving my hand. “I know you were a good husband to her and you’re a good husband to Sarah.”
Bo swallowed hard and blinked a few times so that his eyes looked normal again. “I’m a man who loves harder than the average man. Before I met Gladys, I had only been with three other girls, and I never even thought about cheating on Gladys once we got together.” There was a tight-lipped smile on his face now. It made him look downright shy, a characteristic he’d once told me was a weakness when associated with a man. I guess he must have suddenly recalled telling me that because a few seconds later a much more serious look suddenly crossed his face. I was amazed at how fast he could shift from one display of emotion to another. “A woman can cause a man a whole lot of grief!”
“True. But that’s only when a man picks the wrong woman.”
“Bullshit! Women keep talking about not being able to find a good man. Well, not that I’m bragging, but I’m a damn good man! Not only do I treat my woman with a lot of respect, but I also don’t cheat on her. Other than Nelda, the girlfriend I left back in Houston, the only other woman I’ve made love to since Gladys dumped me is Sarah. And I will tell you here and now that I am not going to go through another divorce. I don’t care what I have to do. I will never let Sarah go.”
Bo’s ominous words sent shivers up my spine.
CHAPTER 37
KENNETH
EACH DAY I FELT A LITTLE MORE BLESSED. NOW I HAD A GRANDCHILD on the way. On top of all my blessings, I had more money now than I could ever spend in my lifetime. And since I couldn’t take it with me, I was going to leave my fortune to the people who deserved it the most. I had just set up an appointment with one of my attorneys to amend my will. I wanted to continue taking care of my loved ones from beyond the grave.
I really loved my wife and I wanted to make sure she was well provided for, should I die before her. But without her knowing it, I had already decided to make some special provisions for my child and my grandchild, and any additional grandchildren after my death. Most of my estate, including my beloved mansion and my business, would go to Sarah because I felt she was the one who deserved it the most. Even though I loved my wife with all my heart, I had made her very happy since we met. But my mama didn’t raise no fool. I was particular about who was going to enjoy my money after I died. Even with my busy schedule, I kept up with what was going on in the world. In addition to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, I read the local newspapers, I watched the news on a portable TV in my office, and some nights when I couldn’t sleep I watched some of those true-crime TV shows. But I didn’t need all of those sources to tell me that some people were out for everything they could get. My wife didn’t like being single, so she would remarry in a heartbeat upon my death. There were so many con men and tricksters on the loose; she’d be a sitting duck.
I had always been generous, even when I was a boy growing up with limited funds. I’d split a baloney sandwich out of my brown paper bag lunch with kids who didn’t have any lunch at all. The more I gave, the more blessings I received. That was why I was more generous than ever now.
And more blessings for me meant more blessings for my child.
I prayed that Bo and Sarah would spend the rest of their lives together. However, praying about my daughter didn’t stop me from worrying about her. But being a businessman, I had to be realistic. Anything could happen, even in the strongest relationships. I was well aware of the divorce rate in America. There was no guarantee that my daughter and her husband would stay together. Bo had already been married once and had endured a very nasty divorce. That was something I thought about almost every day since he and my daughter got together. I was worried that Bo might have a flashback and take out his frustrations with his ex on my daughter and divorce her. Then she’d be up for grabs and the hounds would come sniffing. My daughter could be victimized by some gold-digging scoundrel and so could my grandchild. I’d seen it happen in other families.
But the bottom line was, I had to leave my huge fortune to somebody. Had Sarah not come into my life, I would have left most of my estate to charity and enough to Vera for her to live comfortably. These were things that I didn’t like to think about too often because they were too disturbing. So I concentrated on all of the good things in my life.
I didn’t think anything could go wrong. Unfortunately, things were going so well that I got a little too comfortable too soon and I should have known better. A man my age should always be prepared for the worst, no matter how well things were going.
When I least expected it, I got a reality check that literally brought me to my knees.
About six weeks before Sarah was due to deliver her son, she lost him. And she lost him in the most horrific way.
It was a Friday evening, two weeks into the new year. Bo and I had taken an important client out for a two-and-a-half-hour lunch, and we had run from one meeting to another before and after that. When Sarah dropped by unexpectedly, we didn’t even know she was on the premises. Bo and I had almost concluded our last meeting of the day with one of my senior sales representatives around 4:00 p.m. when one of my cashiers burst into my office.
“Sarah’s in trouble!” Tami yelled.
Bo and I reacted immediately. We sprang up out of our seats at the same time. My sales rep, a heavy-set female who got hysterical quicker than anybody I knew over the least little thing, fell to the floor trying to get out of her seat so fast.
“What the hell happened?” Bo yelled, already running for the door.
“Some dude snatched a handful of batteries and ran out the door. Sarah was on her way out, too, and he knocked her down!” Tami reported, talking as she ran along with Bo and me and my sales rep. “It looks like she’s hurt real bad!”
I was huffing and puffing so hard I could barely breathe. I held my h
and over my heart. It was beating so hard, it felt like it was going to pop right out of my chest. A small crowd had formed by the time Bo and I reached the front entrance.
“Mr. Lomax, please don’t go out there!” yelled one of the floor salesmen as he parted the crowd for us. “You don’t want to see your daughter the way she is!”
“Get out the way! I’m going out there to see my child!” I shouted. For an old man with a bad heart, I was very strong at times. I mowed down the salesman and two other employees who tried to prevent me from going outside. Sarah was stretched out on the ground by the entrance door with her eyes closed. She was writhing and moaning and rubbing her stomach. It was a sight that would haunt me until the day I died. The next thing I knew, I collapsed like a straw hut in a hurricane.
“My baby, my baby!” I managed. My hand was still over my heart. Massaging it didn’t do much good because it was still pounding like a drum. My blood pressure had shot up so high it felt like blood was going to spurt out of my ears.
Curtis Thompson, the new security guard that we’d recently hired, was leaning over Sarah, fanning her face with a magazine. The thief who had knocked her down trying to escape lay on the ground unconscious. A large ugly black bruise had already formed on his knotty bald head.
“I’ve already called for an ambulance, sir!” Curtis hollered, looking at me, then at Bo.
Bo stood rooted in his spot like a tree. It looked like he was in a trance. A split second later, he crouched down on the ground. He fanned Sarah’s face with his hand and Curtis continued to fan Sarah’s face too. She slowly opened her eyes, but she was still rubbing her stomach. “My baby, my baby,” she whimpered. These were the same words that I had just whimpered. A patch of skin had been scraped off one side of her face. Her shoes and the beret she’d been wearing, as well as her purse, had landed several feet away from her, right next to the batteries that the thief had attempted to steal. Tears were rolling down her face and I could see the large red stain in the crotch of her white maternity pants, which told me that she and my unborn grandchild were in serious trouble.
Curtis had coldcocked the thief. Two other employees stood guard over him. If I had not been present, they probably would have roughed him up even more. The cops arrived a few minutes before the ambulance. One of the officers had to slap the thug’s face to rouse him so they could cuff him and throw his sorrow ass into the back of the squad car.
Bo rode in the ambulance with Sarah and I followed them to the hospital in my car. My heart felt like it was on fire and I was so light-headed I had to stop twice along the way. I knew that when and if I made it to the hospital in one piece, I was going to need some medical assistance too.
I prayed to God that I would live long enough to make sure my child was going to be all right. Now more than ever, I knew that if something really bad happened to Sarah, I would die of grief.
CHAPTER 38
SARAH
WHEN I WOKE UP, I THOUGHT I HAD DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN because it was so quiet and the atmosphere was so serene. And everything was white. The ceiling, the walls, and my bedding. I was lying on my side in a loose, white hospital gown and two pretty white women dressed in white stood by the side of the bed, looking down at me. From the sad looks on their faces, you would have thought they were viewing a corpse in a coffin, which is why I thought I was dead at first. My mind was so jumbled I couldn’t even think or see straight. I blinked several times, but my vision was still unfocused. Then I heard Vera.
“Welcome back,” she said in the gentlest voice I’d ever heard her use.
I turned to the other side. Standing next to Vera was Bo. It was obvious he’d been crying. I could see the tracks of the tears on his face. Vera looked sad, but it didn’t look like she’d lost too many tears, if any at all. Her eyes were as clear as a glass of mineral water.
“What happened to me?” I asked. My head was throbbing. My cheeks ached when I spoke.
“You were involved in an accident, dear,” one of the pretty nurses told me.
“I’m in a hospital? Is my baby—” I didn’t even have to finish asking my question. I could tell just from the sad looks on every other face in the room that I had lost my baby. “My baby’s dead,” I stated.
Then a doctor entered the room. He was so dark I assumed he was black. But when I heard his accent and saw his name tag I realized he was Dr. Ram Gupta, the same Indian doctor who had removed Grandma Lilly’s gallbladder fifteen years ago. “We did everything we could,” he told me. “I am so veddy veddy sorry, Mrs. Harper.”
“You’re young and healthy, so you can have plenty more babies, Sarah,” Vera assured me. I couldn’t understand why she was the only one in the room with a smile on her face now. The expression on Bo’s face was so grim he looked like a pallbearer.
“Where’s my daddy?” I looked from Vera to Bo.
“Uh, he’s at home resting,” Vera answered. “He, uh, he held out until you were out of danger. But the incident was real hard on him. His doctor told him to stay off his feet for a few more days. That’s the only reason he’s not here.”
“How long have I been here?” I asked, rising even though it was painful for me to make even the slightest movement.
“You were brought in five days ago,” the doctor said.
“I’ve been unconscious all this time? Well, what kind of accident was I in?”
“It was a criminal matter at the store,” Bo said quickly. “We’ll tell you the rest of the details in time.”
“And the culprit is in custody,” Vera added.
“Somebody tried to kill me. Why would somebody want to kill me?” That thought made me feel unbearably sad.
Bo’s mouth dropped open and a look of horror appeared on his face. “Kill you? Baby, why would you say something like that?”
There was a horrified look on Vera’s face. “Who would want to kill you, Sarah?” she croaked.
I shrugged and shook my head. “So nobody tried to kidnap me or anything like that, then?”
Bo and Vera looked at each other, then back to me. “No, that’s not what happened. We’ll tell you everything you need to know when you’re feeling better,” Vera said. “Now you need to get some rest.”
I nodded in agreement. Bo leaned over and kissed me. My lips were so numb I could barely feel his. Vera gave me a pat on the shoulder and then they left the room. All I wanted now was to be alone.
I found out the next morning from Vera exactly what had happened. I cringed and shuddered when I heard the details. By the time she got to the end of the story, she was in tears. “If it hadn’t been for that security guard, you might have been hurt even more. A witness said that that creep had grabbed you by the arm and was pulling you toward the parking lot. During the struggle, a gun fell out of his pocket.” She sniffed, dabbed at her eyes, and blew her nose into one of her fancy monogrammed handkerchiefs.
“Well, whatever that security guard’s name is, I hope Bo and Daddy do something real nice for him.”
Cash and Collette came by while Vera was still with me. She was still boo-hooing a little. By now her handkerchief looked like just another snot rag. Collette brought flowers and she had to mention how much she’d paid for them. Cash brought me a green plant and a get-well card. Bless his heart, he had also smuggled in a bottle of beer for me in a brown paper bag. After he and Collette left, Bo returned and Daddy was with him.
“Bo, I’m so sorry I lost our baby!” I wailed.
“Honey, it was not your fault,” he assured me. “We can start on another one as soon as you get well.”
I looked at Daddy. “Daddy, I’m going to give you more grandbabies than you can stand,” I vowed. “One a year until I’m no longer able to have children!” I immediately realized just how ridiculous that sounded.
Daddy laughed. “I don’t need that many.” He moved closer to the bed. “What’s important now is you getting well. I’ve spoken to your doctor and he’s confident you’ll be up out of here in a day or
so. Baby, you’re going to be just fine.” He gave me a quick peck on the cheek.
I looked at him and squinted my eyes so I could see him better. “And what about you?” I felt fairly well, but I was more concerned about him now.
“Me? I’m okay, I guess,” he said hoarsely.” He didn’t look okay to me. There were deep dark circles around his eyes and lines all over his face that I had never noticed before. “Yep! I’m doing just fine! Fit as a fiddle!” Daddy had spoken too soon because he suddenly bent forward and began to cough so hard, Bo summoned a nurse. In less than a minute, a large pug-ugly nurse, who looked more like a prison guard, steamrolled into the room with a wheelchair and hauled Daddy away in it.
“Bo, I . . . I’m scared,” I fumbled, clutching his hand. “I can’t lose my baby and my daddy at the same time.”
“Honey, everything is going to be just fine. Your daddy got so upset about what happened to you, he’s just having some bad flashbacks. But Vera has spoken to his doctor and they’ve assured her that he’s in good shape for an eighty-year-old.”
“An eighty-year-old what?” I asked. “Horse, cow, goat, or what?”
“Excuse me?”
“Daddy looks way older than his age and he’s been having one health problem after another the last couple of years. A man his age can’t be in good shape with all that going against him.”
“Honey, I don’t know what you want me to do or say. Things could be a lot worse. Just be thankful they’re not.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I exhaled and then sucked in some fresh air. “Vera told me all about how that thug knocked me to the ground and how I passed out. I can’t get that out of my mind. I just wish Daddy had not been there to see me lying on the ground unconscious and bleeding. Maybe he wouldn’t have taken it so hard.”