"Good morning."
"Morning. Seen my husband?" She asked.
"He was out here a while ago, haven't seen him lately though."
She nodded, looked around, set her eyes on the studio and went there looking for him. She tried the door but it was locked. She knocked, waited and then walked around the side of the building, stepping over gravel ground and rocks because the landscaping hadn't been done yet, wouldn't be done until all of the building on their home was completed. At his office window, she looked in, nothing - not in there. "Well where in the hell is he?!" Her mood wasn't improving, "He knew damn well I would want to know what that chief and he discussed, the least he could have done was come and tell me what he said. Pissin' me off!" She fumed coming from the studio, back across the road, and despite her growing angst, smiled at those that waved or nodded at her. She checked on the side of the garage, his SUV was there, so he wasn't gone anywhere. Then checked his bikes, the Harley he road was there as well. Her car was there too. She went back into the house through the basement thinking she may have missed him, nope. Food still on the table, probably cold, no Shawn in sight. She went up the steps, into her kitchen, to her office, not there. Back through the house to her bedroom, she opened the door to check the bathroom and needn't go any further, there he was, in bed, the fan from the window blowing on him, sound asleep.
Not for long.
"SHAWN!?"
Her voice startled him enough to make him bolt up, he'd fallen back asleep, after worrying himself over should he have gone back to bed, and dozed off. "What?!" He barked.
"Oh hell naw! I know you trippin'! Why are you back in bed?!"
"I'm tired!" He answered back.
"Tired? You tired? You gone lay yo' ass down to sleep cause you tired?!"
"Yeah." He turned, putting his feet to the floor.
"And you don't think I'm tired?! I can tell you now, I sure as hell am, already, sick and tired! You talk to that chief?"
Shawn sighed, this was why he'd come back to bed. "Yeah, he left already."
"And you mean to tell me you didn't care enough to find me, tell me what happened? What he said? What you said? You just gone come in the house, go back to bed?!"
"I just wanted a couple hours more sleep - what's so wrong with that?"
"Oh hell naw Shawn, you too damn old to pull that one! Hell no! Considering the circumstances, you didn't think I'd want to know what the hell happened? What's going on?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'll get dressed now, come down, tell you whatever you wanna know."
"No no no, don't bother! Take your ass back to sleep! If you can sleep under the circumstances, it must not be a big deal to you! So sorry to have disturbed you! I'll take that breakfast I cooked you, and toss that shit in the garbage!"
"Is that what you're mad about? I'll come and eat it right now! How was I supposed to know you fixed me breakfast?"
He was making it worse, "How were you supposed to know I made you breakfast?! How about it's early in the damn morning, Shawn! Most people, get up in the morning, and want breakfast, Shawn! If I'm up first, I usually cook breakfast, Shawn! But never mind - go on and lay your ass back down! You don't care, shit - I don't care either!" She slammed out of the door.
"Oh God, Jesus and all the angels, break my fall, break my fall; because here we go. Damn! I shouldn't have come back to bed. Fuck, shit, hell, damn damn damn!" Shawn grabbed his jeans, thrust his legs into them, and grabbed his black shirt, snatching it on. He went into the bathroom, splashed his face, rinsed out his mouth and left the bathroom buttoning his shirt, and headed down the stairs into the lioness's den. She was at the sink, dressed in one of her very pretty summer dresses, given to her by Mercy James, which would accommodate her as she grew in her months towards the final stages of pregnancy; she was putting on her two inch healed sandals.
"Where you going?"
"Out!"
"Out where?!"
"Your food's on the table, eat if you want, if not, don't care."
"Hang on here, what's this all about?"
"Look Shawn, when will you learn, to leave me alone? I am a grown ass woman, if I feel in the mood to go somewhere, I have the freedom to do so. You are two-hundred fifty damn years too late to be asking me that shit, as if I need your permission!"
"Ah come on Sylvia! All this because I didn't come down and eat my breakfast?!"
Sylvia slapped the counter, "You know damn well that's not what this is about!"
"Well then what is it about, Sylvia?!"
"Leave - me - alone!" She snatched her purse off the counter, glaring at him, as if daring him to make a move to stop her.
"Now you know I'm not gonna let you leave this house upset like this, so put the purse down and talk to me."
"If I choose to leave, you can't stop me!"
"Sorry sweetheart, I can, and you know I can."
"You try that shit on me today, and we gonna be in one helluva tussle! You will, have to hurt me today, that's no lie!"
"Jesus Christ! What the hell did I do?!" He blazed, "So I went back to bed, what's the big deal? I'm sorry, okay? Don't blow everything out of proportion!"
"And don't you minimize the importance of this situation! You know damn well, why I'm upset! How in the hell do you expect me to feel Shawn?! I'm not like you! I can't just close the door, walk away, turn over and go back to sleep! You know damn well this entire situation is freaking me the hell out!"
"You knew this day was coming, Sylvia."
"So - damn - what! Okay! It doesn't make it any easier to live with! It may not be a big deal to you, but it's one hell of a big deal to me! Just like that..." She snapped her fingers, "... it's stressing me the hell out! My goddamn head is spinning, Shawn! And the least that you could have done, was to come down here and made a little effort to relieve my worrying about it! But no - you were too goddamn tired! So go! Take your tired, triflin' ass on back to bed! 'Cause I don't need this shit!-..."
"Okay okay, calm down, please - will you calm down!"
"NO! I don't wanna calm down! I'm pissed off, and I'm staying pissed off until I don't feel like being pissed off! If you don't like it, there's the goddamn door! I was heading out of it, but you had to get in my damn way!-..."
"Well look at you Sylvia! Talkin' about me needing anger management, I'm not the only one here needing-..."
"Don't tell me what I need Shawn, I know what I need, a goddamn stress-free-ass-life! Same shit - different nigga'! One nigga given me stress and then don't pay the rent! Only difference is, yo'ass at least will pay the rent! I suppose I should be grateful for at least that! But you know what, I can pay my own damn rent, shit! My own house note!-..."
"I'm gonna tell you now, I resent you comparing me to him, I am nothing like that asshole you were married to before me, so don't compare us!"
"I will compare who the hell I want! Shit! I'm the one in the middle of this shit! My stupid, sorry dumb-ass! Had it made, "No goddamn men allowed!" And what did I do, open the door and let your ass in and some more stress, drama and bool-shit!"
"Fine, that's the way you feel, maybe I should just go then." Shawn, feeling edgy and resentful over being compared to Armundo, snapped back.
"Yeah, maybe you should! Let's not be confused, you not necessary for my goddamn existence! Who the hell are you? Shit!-..."
"Careful what you say, once said, you can't take it back!"
"I ain't gone take it back either, shit! I will simply have to live with the consequences! Hell, I have lived through the hardest thing I could ever endure, my goddamn father walking out the door on me! Shit! Who are you? I knew waaay back then baby, I had no one to depend on, but ME! Shit! Same for that sorry ass nigga that came before you! I didn't need his ass, I don't need yours! I took care of my babies by him, and will do the same with this one! Shit - BYE! Walk your ass out! Go! Go quickly - the hell with long goodbyes!" She swiped at the tears rolling down her cheeks, pissed about them, "And so you know it, I'm not crying eithe
r! So don't stand there looking at me, feeling sorry for me, because Sylvia Lucinda Martin - don't need shit else, but some goddamn peace and peace of mind!"
"You think I'd walk out this door for good, you have lost your mind."
"No, I lost my mind, letting you in the door, in the first place!"
"Maybe, maybe so." He took a chance walking up on her, Sylvia shook her head, backing away, "No Shawn, leave me alone! Just go away, and leave me alone!" Now she really was starting to cry.
"No chance, no chance in hell. No matter what you say, how you feel, I love you baby, I love you."
"Why'd you have to do what you did Shawn!? Why do you have to be the way you are?!" She cried out, still backing away from him, soon to run out of space, the wall to the bathroom was coming up behind her.
"We've had this discussion before Sylvia, I am, who and what I am. I can't change baby, I will be this way, until the day I die. So, okay, fine, compare me to him, but you know - no matter what, I'll be here for you." He moved in closer, because she was against the wall now, he didn't want her moving from there, and was soon blocking her, his arms up, hands pressed to the wall on both sides of her, lowering himself to look into her face, into her eyes; moving in closer still, his forearms now against the wall. "Look at me." He coaxed softly, watching more tears fall. "Aye, look - at - me."
Sylvia finally forced herself to look up at him.
"I'm sorry Sylvia, I'm sorry. You're right, I - I knew you were pissed and..." He sighed, "... I - hid in bed - and I should have just, come down then, faced it, you - told you, what you needed to know. I'm not trying to stress you out Sylvie, I'm not baby, really I'm not. It's just that, sometimes, I fear you more than any law. More than any foe. There is no one, that I fear, more than you, displeasing you, losing you. And you know that, don't you?" He looked into her eyes, lifting an arm from the wall, his fingers gently wiped her tears away, caressing the soft skin of her cheek, he gazed into her eyes even longer. "Forgive me, please? I'm not perfect, but I will never hurt you, or leave you, I will never leave you - only death would make me leave you."
Sylvia sniffed, and returned, "There's always prison, huh Shawn?" She stared into his eyes to let that sink in, finally, she pushed away from him, leaving him standing there, "I'll be back later."
He turned, "Where you going?" He asked, and dare not try to stop her.
"I said I'd be back."
"Today right? Today? Please Sylvia - today?"
She turned in the doorway, looking back at him, "Yeah Shawn, yeah." And walked out the door. Climbed into her red mustang, pulled out and hit the highway, with the intention of going to the store to pick up her grocery list from the chalk board, but twenty-five minutes later, her exit came up to get off and hit her favorite grocery store; only to find herself passing it by. She didn't feel like stopping yet, in fact, one hour went by, and then two, and then three hours, until she was looking for change to go through the Illinois toll-ways. She looked at her clock on the dash, it was 12:45 in the afternoon and she was in Chicago. Twenty minutes after that, she was pulling up in front of Sheila's house. Getting out, she walked up to the door, rang the bell.
Sheila opened it, saw her.
"Aaaah shit! Now what? Come on in - what he do now?"
* * *
Crystal was missing the family. The house was quiet. She was up, Victor was in bed, sleeping. She wasn't sure what time he'd come home last night, but he was in bed, knocked out cold. She could tell he'd been drinking, could smell the evidence of it in the room where she'd gone in to get herself something to wear, her make-up and other things before getting in the shower. Now she was fresh, dressed, already had something out of the freezer for dinner, but now what? She picked up her mobile sitting in front of the TV that played low, about to message her friends, or rather, Rochelle, when she put in her pass codes, and her phone lit up. A moment later, it started vibrating as text messages rolled in. She smiled, excited, there were six of them. Clicking to the text messages to see who they were from, she noted, two were from Victor, had come in from the night before no doubt while he was out. And then four from Ben, they were from this morning. She decided to read Victor's first.
*How bout i come get you? Text me back*
And of course she'd never seen the message, because after Ben's message, she'd turned her phone off. The second message said.
*Fine, don't expect me to come running right back home*
Crystal smirked; at the moment since she hadn't known, it mattered little, she deleted both messages. And then felt her excitement build previous to reading those from Ben. The first, *Good morning Crysta'Bella, want you to know, I stayed with the boys last night* and second text, *Town chief is here this morning, speaking to Mundo, your mom and Shawn* and third text, *I miss you, but I have the boys, that helps - taking them to see, Iron Giant - I love you* and the last text, *I'd like to text you through the day, okay?* - Crystal looked up at the bedroom door, a bit nervous, but discarded it and text him back. *I'd like that, sure. Thank you, for taking care of the boys.* - She sent it. Then set about calling Rochelle, walking out on the front porch so her voice wouldn't wake Victor.
"Whassup girlie?" Rochelle answered right away.
"Nothing much girl, I'm back at home."
"Back at home? What you mean?"
"Victor, I'm back with Victor."
"What?! Why?"
"I really don't wanna talk about it right now, thought we could get together today, need your hair done?"
"Girl yes! Matter of fact I do, need a touch up and my style cleaned up, but I'm at work right now; off at three, that gonna be okay?"
"That'll be fine."
"Your place or mine?"
"Hmmm, yours - that way I can talk freely."
"Deal, see you at three-thirty?"
"I'll be there."
"Straight! Betta' get some money out the bank huh?"
"You know it!" Crystal laughed.
"All right, see you then."
Soon as Crystal hung up, her phone vibrated with a new text message. She checked, it was from Ben. *We're having a ball, don't know what you're missing. Mundo and I, have all the kids, Angela, Sasha, Joseph, Isaac, Darren, bodyguard - driver included. Only thing missing, YOU!* Smiling, she text back, *Wish I were there, you're such a good friend Ben.* she clicked send, walking back into the house, to the kitchen. She decided if she was going to Rochelle's, she should at least prepare something for Victor, as well, leave a note so that he knew where she was. Phone vibrated, reply back from Ben, *Always, always you and I - where's your ring, btw?* Crystal looked up, thinking about it. She knew where it was, in the room, among her things, in her small jewellery box. She crept quietly into the room again, found her jewellery box and took it in the boys room. Opening it, she took the ring out, looked at it, admiring it, cherishing it, an idea came to mind that brought a smile to her face. Putting it safely in the pocket pouch of her purse, she left the house and went to the arts and crafts store at the mini-mall not far from her. She'd always loved having lots of things on her key ring, and thought there was no better place for the ring, than on her key ring and always with her, out in the open, yet - still hidden from view. She went to the yarn section, found the fine, silk, weave thread yarn, purchasing bundles of purple, blue, gold, red and white. Plus a fat curve weave needle, and eight, brass, ring weights. Paying for her purchases, she went home, still quiet, checking on Victor. He was still out cold.
On the sofa, she sat, laying out all her yarns, took out the ring, pulled it from the gold chain, that she put around her neck. There would be nothing suspicious about the gold chain, she swore she would never take it off. Next step, she began weaving and sewing a colorful cover, thread woven tightly against thread, knotting it on the outside until the entire ring was hidden within the color-silk pattern - it would be the center ring. From the knotted edge on the outer ring, she began sewing, crocheting a circular colorful flower, gold petals, sewing into it, the brass rings, to sew in the
center of them, red hearts within each. It took her hours, sitting where she was to complete it, but when it was done, she had a gorgeous, sturdy, flower adornment for her key chain. Smiling, she grabbed her keys, and attached it to them. It was big, heavy and pretty - so colorful, it would be almost impossible to lose her keys, and - from now on, that ring from Ben, would be with her everywhere she went. A great sense of satisfaction washed over her. Just then she heard Victor up. She looked up at the door as she was cleaning up her sewing supplies; he opened it stepping into sight, eyes going straight to her.
"What time is it?" He groaned tired.
"Close to one I think."
He mumbled something under his breath and walked down the hall to the bathroom. Crystal stood, put her sewing supply away, picked up her keys, tossing them into the air to catch them, grinning and feeling pretty proud of herself. In the kitchen, she could hear that he was getting ready to get in the shower. "You want me to fix you something to eat?"
He didn't answer her right away, instead, he opened the bathroom door, standing in it, staring at her. She turned as the two of them stood looking at one another, he finally asked, "You get my text last night?"
"No, I hadn't seen it until this morning, I was probably sleep when you sent it."
"Em, okay. What about today? What have you planned for today?"
Before she could answer, the phone rang. They both stared at it. "You should get it, I haven't been back here long enough for it to be for me." Crystal advised.
"Could be your mom? Shawn? Mundo?"
"They don't have this number, I don't even have this number." She reminded him.
He went for it and grabbed the phone, "Hello?"
She turned back to her trusty cook-book, intent on preparing him another good meal before she left to do Rochelle's hair. By the sounds of the conversation behind her, he was not happy. "No, I said that I needed the rest of the week off! I was given until Sunday!"
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