BOMAW 10-12

by Mercedes Keyes

  Moments later, they lay still in each other arms once more.

  "Jackie, I know it's a sin, but - we have a year, before he's free, let-..."

  "No Paul... no. Let's just have this, enjoy this, okay?" She looked up into his eyes, "Once you're gone, and you get started on your new life, else where, this is going to be, just a distant memory. Let's keep it nice, and sweet, and simple. Tomorrow you leave, close this book okay? Remember what you read, but put it away, okay?"

  He nodded his head, but couldn't speak, instead he held her tighter, determined to get the most of this time they had.

  "I'm gonna get up now." He murmured softly.

  "Why?"

  "I'm gonna finish that kitchen, make it nice and pretty for you, just the way you'll like it."

  "You have all of tomorrow to finish it before Vivian comes for you."

  "I know, but, I want to make sure it's done." He sat up in the bed, turning to stand.

  "Well, I best get up too then. We'll work together."

  He smiled at her, "We are good together you know."

  "Yeah, we are. Come on, let's get this done now."

  * * *

  L.A. Wherrington Manor

  They wouldn't open the gate for him, so Shawn climbed over it to get to the Hummer. The moment he stepped up to it, the front door came open with Oscar T. in it yelling at him, "You're trespassing! You're trespassing! We did not open that gate for you! That's it, you're going back to jail! How dare you! I'm calling the police! Anthony!" Oscar yelled back into the house for the butler; but Georgiana appeared.

  "Go back to what you were doing Anthony and stay out of it!" She yelled and then to Oscar T., "You leave him be, he's come for his vehicle!"

  "He wrecked my office! Came into my home, destroying my property! Now he's got the nerve to come back here!" Oscar yelled at her, then turned back to Shawn as he was unlocking the Hummer, pretty much ignoring him. Oscar made the mistake of coming down off of the porch towards Shawn. Pointing at him he yelled, "When I get done with you, you'll be sorry you ever came back here!"

  Shawn never said a word, one moment Oscar saw him in the door of his Hummer and the next, he had him by the throat, "In that case, I better make it - worth - my - while! You want me Oscar T., you got me."

  Oscar T. struggled, "YOU GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF-..." Shawn drew back and popped him with one good blow before the servants could run out to his rescue. Oscar dropped out cold. Georgiana stood in the door smiling. She wouldn't have cared if he'd beat him into the ground. The servants were blocking Shawn from hitting him any more, it was a wasted gesture, he wasn't interested in furthering his attack, he was after all, down. Shawn backed away, eying Georgiana evilly. He went to the Hummer and jumped in, as the gate was opening for him to leave. Georgiana stood watching him go, feeling a renewed sense of desire for him. She wondered would she ever get over wanting that man. She stepped aside as her servants carried her sleeping husband into their home. She wondered if she prayed to God for this man, would she get him? If she believed in God, she would have. What she believed in, was money, and power and being a Wherrington - to her, this world was what you made it, and what lie within it, was there for the taking. If she could figure out how to get him, she would. He was gone from sight now, off into the night. She turned back into her home, with a lot of things on her mind. In the midst of all the turmoil, she'd learned something concerning her husband as well, a few other things, she would contemplate the best course of action to deal with him.

  Chapter 265

  L.A...

  Not long after her husband had been carried in, Georgiana re-entered her home. The servants had carried Oscar T. to a sofa in his office where he now lay unconscious, still. Anthony was about to wave a bit of smelling salts beneath his nose when Georgiana stopped him,

  "Leave him!"

  "But Mrs. Wherrington - he could be badly injured."

  "Anthony, have you a problem working for me?"

  "No, Mrs. Wherrington."

  "So as your employer - when I firmly state - leave - him. What part of that order causes you conflict?"

  "His nose is bleeding." He pointed out nervously.

  She sighed, walked over to see for herself, looking down her own nose at him. "So it is." She mumbled, unconcerned.

  "Still leave him? He could drown in his own blood." He warned cautiously.

  She reached down, grabbed his opposite arm from her and rolled him onto the floor, face down. "There, that'll fix that. Oh, and if he should bleed on the floor, make sure it's cleaned up immediately, the sight of blood makes me ill." She finished walking away back to his desk and started going through his things that he'd been furiously going through. He'd returned home earlier to find that his office had been ram-shacked - and raised hell as the servants had been scrambling trying to put things aright.

  Anthony left the room - closing the broken door as best he could behind him.

  Georgiana, now back at his desk, was slowly going through the things that were stacked there to be sorted and put away once more. As she was going through his things, he began to stir, he let out a piteous groan that she continued to ignore. Her focus was on the many pictures of black women he'd no doubt had affairs with. The pictures had been the first things he'd grabbed to put out of sight, but not before she'd seen where he put them, and so taking them back out, she gave them a look over. What she noticed in all of the pictures, was that no where was there one of Bea Rose to be found. She had known that they'd been having an affair before her suicide, so could only wonder why her picture wasn't among the ones in her hand now. She was also looking over the entries of his large check book. That too he'd been trying to hide, but things were so out of sorts that night, one thing happening after another, he was left vulnerable. She saw no reason not to take advantage of that. With them returning home almost simultaneously, and then arguing once he found what had taken place, there had been no time to safely re-hide things away.

  Now he was waking up - she didn't doubt for a moment, that he was in pain.

  She looked up at him briefly, he was trying to lift his head, whimpering from his throbbing nose. Still, even with the sight of him moving as he was did not keep her from digging more into his affairs. Yet, with all that she was finding, nothing in the midst of it gave her a clue to prove the accusation Shawn made against him, that he'd set their own daughter up.

  He was slowly sitting up, "Aaaawhhh - aaaawhhh." He started moaning, groaning out loud, he would have gone louder were it not for the pain in his head. Aware of her presence, and perhaps because she gave no reaction, he warbled even louder, "oooh-aaaawhhh!"

  "Shut - up! It's just a broken nose for goodness sakes!"

  He moved back against the sofa, then started trying to lift himself upon it, "Get - get out - of - m-my things - y-you - b-bitch!"

  She snickered at him, "Careful, it's not a good time to call me names. Why, I could easily, walk right over there, and punch you in that nose once more - bitch that I am." She smiled as her eyes gazed and narrowed as the notion grew more appealing.

  "I wouldn't try it - i-if I were you. Get - get away from my - my desk!" he growled with tears coming to his eyes from the pain.

  Georgiana slowly stood, walking back around the desk to the front of it, she crossed her arms, leaning back against it staring at him.

  "W-where's Anthony, c-call him." he grumbled.

  "In a moment."

  "Now!"

  "As we were arguing before Everett Styles returned,-..."

  "I-I've said - all I've had to say - on that... c-call Anthony."

  "I sure hope, for your sake, that you aren't the one behind our daughter's attack. Our daughter Oscar T. Ours! You see, long before I started having affairs - you'd already - knocked me up with her. She's yours. From the top of her blonde head of hair - so much like your own, to the bottom of her feet. Oh yes, I've cheated; but in the beginning, it had been nothing more than flirting mostly, I wanted you to feel like shit! That was my plan
. After her, I didn't want another child by you, so I had myself taken care of. Don't believe me? Have yourself tested against her DNA, you'll find out what I've always known." She stood from the desk, walked to the broken door, opening it, she glared at him, watched him pale. "I'll be filing for divorce now. You and I both have endured this torture long enough. I want you out of Wherrington Manor as soon as possible. Book into a hotel for all I care, but I want you out of here." She stepped out of the door and called, "Anthony! He's awake, see to him."

  * * *

  At the Condo...

  Ben finished unpacking, putting his suitcase away, back into the closet, trying to be quiet and not wake the boys, sleeping peacefully. There was no way he was leaving now, with everything going on as it was. Sylvia was downstairs, still pacing. She'd stopped only to make the phone calls, speak with King Louie, speak with Deidre and then, back to pacing again. Neither of them knew what to do to calm her, sooth her, ease the stress she was under. He shook his head thinking out loud, "You could have at least called us, or her!" he murmured this to himself as he went back downstairs to find Mundo and Crystal at the breakfast bar speaking low. He looked around the room, "Where's your mother?" he asked either.

  Mundo sighed, "She went up to their room, said she was gone try and get some rest, and just wait."

  "The boys still sleeping?" Crystal asked.

  "Out like a light." he responded still thinking about Sylvia, his father.

  "Thanks man for not leavin' yet. This some messed up shit, I ain'even lyin'. What we gone do?" Mundo asked.

  "We don't know enough to know what to do. Just what King Louie related to your mom. We need to know all the details first, then figure out how to make this right."

  "If - we can make it right." Crystal spoke with the shake of her head, she looked up at them, "Maybe we should call Angela, talk to her, see how she's doing, ask her exactly what are her mother's concerns here."

  "It's too late at night for that. She's probably sleeping. We need Shawn to come home and tell us, exactly what is going on." Ben muttered, feeling disgusted with the way he was handling things, "I mean, come on - he's gotta know this is driving your mother crazy, waiting for him to come home, waiting for him to call? I don't get him sometimes."

  "Man, he probably so worked up over every thang, he ain't thinkin' straight. He done already got arrested, tearin' up some shit - you and me, we know how far off he can go!"

  "Yeah, tell me about it." Ben looked over at the clock on the wall. "It's one thirty in the freakin' morning."

  "Look, I think we should all hit the sack. Mama's gonna be up first thing in the morning to go by Deidre's. Are we going with her?"

  "I'm goin'! Tell you that right now." Mundo spoke up.

  "Me too, I'm definitely, in."

  Crystal sat a moment thinking about it. "I guess I'll stay behind since I have the boys."

  "We'll take'em with us, you need to be there, this might be the last time we see Angela again." Mundo worried.

  "No way, I'm telling you now - we cannot leave here without her. I don't know how it's going to get done - but - if we go, she goes with us. I don't care what it takes, so you two, have to help mama figure this out. I'm gonna stay here and wait for Papah-Shawn if he's not home by the morning. But you two, I fully expect you, along with mama, to go there, and bring Angela home. That's all there is to that, right?" She looked from Mundo, to Ben last. He was staring straight and deeply into her eyes. She almost looked away to cut it, but couldn't, instead she gave a sad smile, that he knew was for more than just this dilemma with Angela. Finishing, she advised, "We best get to bed, can't solve this problem, worn out - who knows what tomorrow will bring."

  Mundo nodded, stood, "That's it then, we don't leave without Angela, that's our stand, no matter what." He confirmed, "Agreed?" He asked Ben, looking towards him.

  Ben looked from sister to brother, smiled, nodding, "Some how, some way, we don't leave here without our little sister - agreed."

  Looking out over the estate where the condo was situated, street lights shinning brightly here and there, an occasional car light shined as it traveled by, making Sylvia catch her breath a moment, feeling as if her heart actually stopped, hoping the lights belonged to the Hummer her husband drove. When the vehicle kept on by, she remembered to breathe again, her stomach caving in from the disappointment of it not being him. Biting into her bottom lip, trying not to cry, it did little good to cease the flow of a tear that fell anyway. She sniffed, wiped the moisture from her cheeks and continued to stand in the window of their upstairs bedroom, watching, waiting, trying not to fear, trying to keep her imagination under control. All efforts in that seemed to fail as well, because her mind sent her back to another time, years ago.

  The final time, in the last year where Armundo sr. had seemed to turn around. Trying to trust him and believe in the things he promised was about to change in their lives, had not been easy for her. She'd had too much negative to draw from, to reflect on that made her unwilling to believe right away. It had been a long time before she willingly let him make love to her. From times of past, it had mostly been on the end of a fight, where he'd been drinking and forced her to endure him into the night. If not for the fights, her attitude, her manner with him had mostly been distant, watchful and guarded - clearly putting off any ideas he might have of touching her otherwise. Rarely was she in the mood to want his touch. Trying to juggle a job, take care of Crystal and Mundo, until Crystal left for school - they passed each other speaking only when one had a need from the other. Most of the time, if he needed something, he would tell or ask Mundo for it. If she needed something, it was the same. Only when Mundo jr. wasn't around, did they communicate with one another. However, that last year of his changing, he began actually talking to her. Smiling at her. Funny as it might seem, his behavior had been similar to a man courting a woman to win her favor. That had taken her by surprise. Even his drinking had waned it seemed. He was starting to go out, telling her he'd be back soon, and then, sure enough - he'd return, and sober. He had actually taken her and Mundo out to dinner a few times, awkward as the events had been. They both couldn't believe it - as their looks to one another clearly showed. Another time, he'd surprised them again saying, they should drive to check on Crystal, take her out to dinner - go out as a family. Sylvia had phoned Crystal about it, but she hadn't been interested - said she had a lot of studying to do. In the face of this strange, new and different Armundo Sr., Sylvia and her son, walked around the home waiting for the other shoe to drop. Mundo, didn't trust him, and as his sister wouldn't give in and believe in him, neither could he. He felt that he was up to something but couldn't figure out what it was.

  At night, stone cold sober, in bed, Sylvia remembered the first time after so many years, that he had reached for her, persuading her with his moves to give into him. With nothing current to hold against him, Sylvia gave in. The one thing about Armundo Sr. which could not be denied, when he wanted to make love to a woman, he knew how. When it came to the things a woman wanted in bed, he delivered. Part of her felt disloyal to her own sense of right and wrong, to her own conscience, by finding pleasure in giving in to him. After all, he had treated her, and his own children with discard, disinterest and often times, disdain. How many times had he cursed her, demeaned her, hit and abused her? Done things that made her not trust him with her children? So to lay and give into him came with an inner struggle not easily overcome. This went on for sometime, and it was she, who was the first to give him the benefit of a doubt - because she had never wanted to end up divorced - raising her children as a single parent. The irony of it was, despite being married, she had been, a single parent. For that reason, their children kept the distance. Mundo, the last one home, often times glared at him with narrow eyes of distrust, and too, his eyes would go to his mother, trying to understand, why - why was she giving him a chance? To Mundo, he deserved nothing from them after the things he'd done and said to them over the years. Not once, had thi
s man, hugged him. Not once, told him that he loved him. Not once, said that he was proud of him. Not once - not one time gave him anything near, to a sense of belonging or value. But the other things, the ugly, nasty, mean, drunken things he'd said and done, could not be counted, could not be listed without effort, there were simply too many.

  In a way, Sylvia had known that Mundo went through a stage of resentment towards her for not leaving him when she was finally in a position to do so. For giving him another chance. Back then, if she smiled at his father, or laughed at something funny he said, and he could be funny as well - Sylvia would turn to look at Mundo, only to see disapproval in his eyes. He had nothing in his heart, for his father, nothing. He would only stand and leave the room, leaving Sylvia to feel once more, that she'd betrayed herself and her children by allowing him a chance to display change. Making her question her own sense of judgment, her ability to correctly see him as someone, some how worthy of forgiveness. He was all that she had known back then. If there was a possibility of change, or better things from him, she wanted it. After all the hell, surely what she was seeing was the reward and fruitage for staying true to him despite it all?

  Then one day, he left with a promise to return, for her to be ready, they were going out to dinner, just the two of them.

  He'd said, "I want you to go out and buy a real pretty dress. I gotta make a run, be ready when I get back, okay?" He'd smiled his smile, one that could be so charming, so fetching and too - so false. But determined not to reflect on that part, she'd smiled, accepting his kiss to her lips.

  He left - and she'd never seen him again.

  This night, was so much like that night so long ago - where she waited, and waited and waited.

  "Damn you Shawn! How could you do this, and say you love me?" She cried out, swiping at her tears. She turned from the window, walked to their bed, sitting there she thought about where he might be, what was going through his mind. "You could have come to me. Why didn't you come home, to me?" She sniffed as she thought about the way he was with the kids. They were his life, this baby she carried, seemed to be his life. She lay down covering herself thinking about that. The conclusion she came to finally, hurt - it hurt like hell. But it was late, and she had to get up the next morning. Looking at the clock on the radio, it was almost two in the morning. She had to get some sleep. Despite the hurtful conclusion she'd drawn in her mind, she prayed to God until sleep overcame her, that He not let anything happen to her husband.