Crossroads

by Nikita Lynnette Nichols

  That day after school was when Amaryllis had her first sexual encounter.

  Michelle snapped Amaryllis from the thought of her past. “What is Nana talking about, Amaryllis? What did she and Veronica teach you?”

  What was Amaryllis to do? She was saved now. God had given her a new life and a new start. Why was her past haunting her? Michelle was right. They should have never come to Baton Rouge searching for answers. All of Amaryllis’s skeletons were about to tumble out of the closet. She sat on the sofa next to Charles with tears filling her eyes. “They taught me how to make a man fall in love with me.”

  Michelle’s eyes grew wide. “Oh my God. Amaryllis, what have you done?”

  Tears spilled onto Amaryllis’s cheeks. “I don’t want you to judge me. I am so sorry.”

  “There’s nothing to be sorry about. You did what had to be done,” Nana said.

  Michelle couldn’t believe her ears. “Of course she has something to be sorry about, Nana. Amaryllis deceived men.”

  “What she did was take control of her own destiny,” Nana reasoned.

  “By poisoning the minds of men and manipulating them? Nana, you can’t possibly think that trickery is good,” Michelle countered.

  As James sat and listened to Michelle go back and forth with her grandmother, his mind wandered back to a night when Amaryllis was living with Michelle in Las Vegas. James had called Michelle’s home after work, and Amaryllis answered. She informed James that Michelle was working late but offered to make him a home cooked meal.

  When James arrived at Michelle’s house, Amaryllis was dressed in lingerie and had come on strongly to him. He remembered that night like it had just happened yesterday.

  When Amaryllis opened the door, James looked at her from head to toe. He had to blink his eyes a few times to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing.

  The pink chiffon teddy Amaryllis wore hugged her every curve. It left nothing for his imagination. He stood in the doorway at a loss for words. He was stunned and couldn’t move. Amaryllis reached for his hand and tried to pull him inside, but James resisted. He quickly withdrew his hand from hers and remained standing in the doorway.

  “You’re just in time, James. Dinner is ready. I hope you’re hungry,” Amaryllis said to him.

  James had started to sweat. He’d never been in this situation before, and he didn’t know what to do. He asked Amaryllis why she was dressed like that.

  “What? This? This is something I just threw on,” James remembered her saying, then she turned around to give him a view of her backside.

  He asked her where Michelle was, and she reminded him that Michelle was still in court.

  James refused to step one foot in Michelle’s home. He knew that Amaryllis was trying to set him up. He told her that he didn’t think that it was a good idea for him to come inside because of the way she was dressed.

  “What do you mean?” Amaryllis asked James.

  “The way you’re dressed, I don’t think Mickey would appreciate it.”

  Amaryllis told him that the evening was about him and her.

  James frowned. “What are you talking about? There is no you and me.”

  After turning her advances down, he left Michelle’s doorway, got in his car, and drove straight to his pastor’s house for counsel.

  As James thought back on that night, he wondered if Amaryllis planned to put a root on him with the meal she had prepared.

  “I’m not proud of what I’ve done, Michelle,” Amaryllis stated. “I’ve been using witchcraft for years. Veronica helped me cast my first spell in high school. And since then, Nana had been sending me secret recipes.”

  “Was I one of your victims?” Charles couldn’t help himself from asking. He had to know.

  Amaryllis covered her face and cried openly. “Oh, Charles, I’m so sorry.”

  What was he to do? Should he walk out on her and leave her alone with her issues, or should he stay and deal with the bomb that she had dropped on him? Charles remembered a time when he was so in love with her that she could do no wrong. The sun rose and set at her command. Now he knew that she had full control of his heart.

  They were in their early twenties when they met. Amaryllis had invited Charles to Veronica’s house for dinner. By the time he left that evening, Charles was smitten. The more she cooked for him, the more Charles was in love.

  Knowing what Amaryllis had done to him, Charles had every right to leave her to her demons. Instead, he pulled her into his arms. “It’s okay. It’s in the past.” The person Amaryllis was when they were in their twenties was not the woman she was now. She had turned her life around, and because of her willingness to serve God, Charles had also changed his ugly ways.

  Amaryllis hugged him and blew her nose. “Nana, please tell us why we were separated.”

  Nana leaned back in her rocker and crossed her ankles. “Your father insisted that Veronica fly back to Chicago with him. It wasn’t three months when she had called to announce that she was pregnant with twins. Veronica was a gambler, and she loved going to the riverboat. The commission your father earned selling houses funded her trips to the blackjack tables and slot machines.”

  So that’s where I got my gambling habit from, Amaryllis thought. She was addicted to the Black Jack table when she was living with Randall. There were times when she had gambled with Randall’s tithe money and lost it all. And when Randall had cut her allowance off, Darryl stepped in and funded her habit. But it wasn’t for free.

  Nana continued with her story. “The finances had gotten so bad that Nicholas and Veronica were about to lose their home. Trusting Veronica to pay the mortgage was a mistake Nicholas had made. When the first foreclosure notice came to the house, Nicholas was livid. Veronica was eight and a half months pregnant by then and turned to other sources to help make ends meet.”

  “What other sources?” Michelle asked.

  “Drugs. She bought marijuana on the street and sold it for profit. One day, in the wee hours of the morning, a dealer and his goons kicked in their front door and put a gun to Nicholas’s head and demanded to be paid what Veronica owed them. After pleading for his life and promising to make good on the debt with his next commission check, they left. Two weeks later, Nicholas paid the debt and that same day, on the sixteenth of November, ninety eighty-four, the two of you were born. Exactly one week later, Nicholas filed for divorced and full custody. The judge ruled that each parent would get custody of one girl. It was Veronica’s decision to keep the light-skinned one. Nicholas packed up the dark-skinned twin and moved to Las Vegas.”

  Nana looked at Michelle. “I never knew why Nicholas told you that you had a different birth date or made you believe that you were two years older than your sister. And I don’t know who the woman in the pictures assumed to be your mother is. Those answers you’ll have to get from your parents.”

  Chapter 26

  A week later, in Las Vegas, Michelle hung up the telephone from her father. She had asked Nicholas to come over because she needed to talk to him about something important. Since Amaryllis was going on vacation soon, she couldn’t take anymore time off from work. She couldn’t be in Las Vegas when Michelle confronted their father.

  As soon as Nicholas sat at Michelle’s kitchen table, she threw both her fake birth certificate that he’d given her and the authentic one at him. The twins knew that their true birthplace was Chicago, Illinois. Michelle also threw a faxed copy of Amaryllis’s birth certificate on the table. Amaryllis had gone to the Daley Center to get it as soon as she arrived home.

  “Explain,” Michelle said to her father.

  Nicholas read the authentic certificate first, then looked up at Michelle. “Where did you get this?”

  “Explain it,” Michelle ordered.

  Nicholas leaned back in the chair and ran his fingers through his hair. “I did what I had to do.”

  “Why did you lie to us all these years?”

  “I did what I had to do,” he r
epeated. His voice was calm and relaxed.

  Michelle looked at her father. “Is that gonna be your answer for everything? You did what you had to do? Who is the woman in all of those pictures? The woman who you told me was my mother, who is she?”

  Nicholas got up from the table, grabbed his keys, and walked past Michelle.

  “Daddy, where are you going? Answer me! I know that Veronica is my mother. Who is the woman in the pictures?” Michelle was losing all hope of ever knowing the full truth why she and Amaryllis were separated.

  Nicholas stepped back to Michelle and kissed her forehead softly. When he pulled away, Michelle saw tears in his eyes. “Let it go. I did what I had to do.” His voice was slightly above a whisper.

  When he walked out of Michelle’s front door, she knew that since Amaryllis absolutely refused to question Veronica and since she herself didn’t succeed when she asked their father about their past, the truth would never be known.

  But Nicholas wasn’t the only one keeping secrets. Michelle and Amaryllis promised to never tell their father how he had been tricked by the enemy. Both girls knew that by keeping that secret from him, they were no better than he and Veronica were. Michelle knew her father, and she also knew that it would completely destroy him if he found out just how Veronica and their grandmother had deceived him. It was for the best that he didn’t know. Just like Nicholas didn’t indulge Michelle about her past, Michelle wanted to spare him the heartache and pain of his past as well. She understood that some things were better left unknown.

  “So, how did it go with Daddy?” Amaryllis asked Michelle when she had called her.

  Michelle exhaled. “It didn’t go. He wouldn’t admit to or tell me anything.”

  “Well, did he at least reveal who the woman in your photos is?”

  “Nope. He wouldn’t go there either. All Daddy said was that he did what he had to do and for me to leave it alone.”

  “Leave it alone?” Amaryllis shrieked. “He couldn’t have been serious, Michelle.”

  Michelle reflected back to his somber expression. “He was very serious.”

  “Daddy owes us the truth.”

  “And so does Veronica, but I don’t see you beating down her front door, asking questions.”

  Amaryllis became silent. She hadn’t spoken with Veronica since long before she’d gotten saved. Amaryllis was working on her feelings toward her mother but a lot of damaged had been done. Veronica pimped her daughter’s body. She abused Amaryllis over and over again. Maybe one day Amaryllis would call Veronica, but not today. Her wounds were still too fresh. She needed more time to heal.

  “I’m sorry, sis,” Michelle said. “That was a low blow. I know you don’t talk to her. But if we can’t get anything out of Daddy, maybe you should—”

  “Heck, no. That ain’t even an option. After all the hell she put me through?”

  “I’m just saying Veronica may be our only source.”

  “Humph, then I guess we’ll never know what happened to us.”

  “And you’re okay with that, Amaryllis?”

  “Are you okay with it, Michelle?”

  “I guess we really don’t have a choice, do we?”

  “Well, at least we know what our true birth date is,” Amaryllis said.

  “Yep, and I’m happy to know that I’ve gained two extra years on my life. Thirty-five seemed too old to become a mother. I can deal with giving birth at thirty-three.”

  “I hear you, gir—” Amaryllis almost choked. “What did you say, Michelle? Are you pregnant for real?”

  Michelle smiled into the telephone. “Yep, it’s been confirmed. And you were right. I’m beginning my second trimester.”

  Amaryllis was happy. “Oh, wow, sis. That’s great news. Congratulations. I’m so happy for you.”

  “Speaking of happy. Happy birthday, sis.”

  Amaryllis paused. “Oh, my goodness. With so much going on, I completely forgot what day it was. Well, happy birthday to you too, Michelle.”

  “This is so weird.”

  “I know. It’s gonna take some getting used to. But we’ll be okay. We got each other. We got our men. And it won’t be long before we have us a little diva.”

  “Or a little divo,” Michelle said.

  “I’m rooting for a girl.”

  “Oh my God. Please don’t say the word ‘root’ when referring to my baby.”

  Amaryllis understood exactly what Michelle meant. Nana’s words about any offspring being born into their family was still fresh in both their minds. “Sorry, sis.”

  “Let’s change the subject,” Michelle suggested. “When do you and Bridgette leave for Jamaica?”

  “Tonight and not a moment too soon. I am ready to get away.”

  “Well, have fun but not too much fun. I know what happens in Jamaica.”

  Amaryllis chuckled. “And whatever happens there will stay there.”

  “Don’t forget how far you’ve come, Amaryllis. You’ve been through a lot to get to where you are now. Don’t throw that away.”

  Amaryllis was looking forward to going to Jamaica, but there was no way she was going to allow anything to come between her and God. Besides, she’s got a man, a great man that loves her in spite of all of her faults and imperfections. Amaryllis would be a fool to throw that away. “Don’t worry, Michelle. I packed my Bible. I won’t mess up.”

  Michelle was impressed. “I am so proud of you, girl.”

  Amaryllis was no longer at a crossroads. She knew exactly which road to take toward her destiny. She smiled. “I’m proud of me too.”

  Chapter 27

  Sixteen Years Later

  After ordering her daughter upstairs to her room, Michelle heard the door slam.

  “Don’t slam any doors in this house, young lady,” Michelle yelled. “Do you hear me, Amaris Denise Bradley?”

  It was over one hundred degrees in Las Vegas, and Michelle was fit to be tied. Though she was standing in her air-conditioned living room, she felt as though she were standing on her front porch. She just couldn’t believe that her sixteen-year-old daughter had ditched school again.

  Two hours ago when Michelle’s secretary, Chantal, announced that Las Vegas North High School was waiting on line three, Michelle wondered what her daughter had done this time. It had become the norm that either Michelle or her husband, James, would receive a call from the school once a week. Either Amaris had gotten into a fight, cursed a teacher, or had played hooky.

  The call today was to inform Michelle that Amaris hadn’t reported to her first-or second-period classes, and Michelle knew just where to find her daughter. When she drove up to the house where Amaris’s eighteen-year-old forbidden boyfriend, known as Slash, resided, Michelle saw them sitting on the front porch. As soon as Amaris saw her mother’s late model black BMW, she tossed the cigarette she’d been smoking into the bushes.

  Michelle pulled her car over to the curb and rolled down her passenger-side window. “Get your behind in this car, right now!” she yelled.

  She watched as Amaris stood from the porch and made her way to the car.

  “How you doin’, Mrs. Bradley?” Slash greeted her.

  He was taunting Michelle. Both Michelle and James had instructed Amaris to stay away from Slash. He was not permitted to call their home or Amaris’s cellular telephone.

  Amaris was ordered to not interact with him at all. Last week, when James caught Amaris communicating with Slash on her computer, it had been immediately removed from her bedroom. From then on, if Amaris needed to use a computer to help with her homework, she was to use the desktop in the family room where she could be monitored.

  Michelle ignored Slash and focused on her daughter’s face and attire. When Michelle dropped Amaris off outside of the school that morning, she was wearing black cotton Capri pants and a pink T-shirt. Only lip gloss was on her lips. Between then and now, Amaris had changed into a thigh-high denim miniskirt and a tank top. Her face had been decorated with black eyeliner, rub
y-red lipstick and eye shadow. Michelle also noticed that Amaris was braless.

  She started in on her daughter as soon as she opened the passenger door to get in. “What the heck are you wearing? Are you wearing makeup? Where did you get that outfit, and why aren’t you wearing a bra, Amaris?” Michelle regretted that Amaris had already been wearing a C cup since she was just thirteen years old. “You know that your boobs are too big to go braless,” Michelle fussed.

  After tossing her backpack into the backseat, Amaris got in the car and slammed the door shut. She then turned her entire upper torso toward her mother. “Can I please buckle my seat belt before you flood my eardrum with all of that yin yang?”

  If Michelle didn’t think she’d go to jail, she would have wrapped Amaris’s seat belt around her neck and strangled her with it. “Who in the heck do you think you’re talking to?”

  The defiant teen glanced in the backseat, then connected her eyes with her mother’s. She didn’t say a word, but Michelle knew that her smart-aleck daughter’s gesture was asking, “Do you see anyone else in this car?”

  Though she hadn’t spoken the words out loud, Michelle wanted to smack her in the mouth regardless. She put the gear in drive and pulled away from the curb, but she wasn’t letting Amaris off the hook about her clothes. “Where are the pants and T-shirt that you wore to school this morning?”

  Amaris smacked her lips before she spoke. “In my backpack.”

  “You know what, little girl? I suggest you lose that attitude because it’s not doing you any good right now. And didn’t your father and I forbid you to see that boy?”

  Amaris smacked her lips again. “Forbid?”

  The smacking of the lips infuriated Michelle. She desperately wanted to pull the car over and go one on one with her rebellious daughter. “You heard what I said. I didn’t stutter. Yes, you were forbidden to see Slash. You know that you aren’t suppose to speak with him or see him. And I watched you enter the school doors this morning. What did you do? Wait until I drove away before you walked out?”