Guilt Trip

by Pat Simmons

  However, Ace was pretty sure Kidd and Eva were probably in bed for the night. If Eva took a nap, so did Kidd. If Eva went to bed early, so did Kidd. If Eva wanted ice cream, so did his brother. Ace shook his head. At least Eva didn’t set Kidd up with a baby story.

  Cameron shot back. “I’m not happy until Lois is happy, and she won’t be happy until Talise is happy. At this point, I don’t think Talise likes you, so I don’t think you can make her happy.”

  “I don’t care” was on the tip of his tongue, but Ace did care about Talise. It would take time for him to get over the fact that she toyed with his feelings and tried to trap him. “Whatever, man … Hello? Hello?” He squinted at his phone. The call dropped or Cameron hung up on him. Either was fine with Ace. He clicked off the television, having lost interest in the Sox’s comeback anyway.

  Unbelievable. He couldn’t fathom why his cousin had turned on him. Cameron was the one who had tracked Ace down on his genealogy chart to begin with. Three years older, Cameron was the one who steered him toward a corporate career in accounting instead of a criminal livelihood in gambling. He once bailed Ace out of jail after a night of drinking and partying, which had led to fighting.

  At first, Ace thought Cameron was attracted to Lois because the woman was fine. The fact is, his cousin explained, that Lois had a large pool of contacts who were movers and shakers in the community. It was some of her colleagues who had funded some of Cameron’s pet youth programs. Besides, the two business associates tried dating when they first met. There were no sparks.

  In a sense, he was Ace’s mentor. Early on, Ace shared that he didn’t have the dedication or money to attend MIT in Cambridge. Cameron convinced him to start at the Roxbury Community College, and the rest was history.

  To further their relationship, his position with Healthcare Concepts had been the result of Cameron’s networking. As far as Ace was concerned, orchestrating a professional career was one thing, but his cousin had crossed the line when it came to a woman. That is—one woman—Talise.

  His cell phone ring jolted him out of his reverie. Cameron again.

  Immediately, Cameron picked up where they left off. “It’s going down like this. If you’re accusing her of setting you up, then I feel your pain. But if you’re not denying that this baby is a Jamieson, then I’m setting up a trust fund for my little cousin.”

  “What!” Ace leaped to his feet. “Now she’s blackmailing you?”

  He stomped across the room, rubbing his neck. If Ace didn’t have a meeting scheduled first thing in the morning, he would be on the next plane out of St. Louis.

  “No, I offered and she didn’t accept. But I’m just as knuckleheaded and stubborn as you. Oh, sorry about the dropped call.”

  “Right.” Fuming, Ace disconnected. Whatever happened to the saying “Leave your cares behind”? It was a good thing he and Cameron weren’t together. They definitely would have come to blows—and over a woman—no less. Jamieson men did not fight over women. There were too many available for their choosing.

  Ace sat back on the sofa and dropped his head in the palm of his hands. If he had any artery blockage, it had already worked through his veins. He could feel his heart pumping fast and strong. Then again, maybe that wasn’t such a good sign.

  He took a few minutes to gather himself. If Talise was pregnant with his child, there wouldn’t be any need for his cousin to set up a trust fund. Cameron acted as if he was heartless. Ace would pay child support.

  If nothing else, Cameron heard his side of the story. Standing, he stretched his tensed muscles and tidied the game room. He then carried his empty dishes to the kitchen, rinsed them off, and loaded them into the dishwasher. Heading to his bedroom, he realized it wasn’t late. However, the blowup with Cameron had drained him. Talise had become a nightmare, wreaking havoc from over a thousand miles away.

  Ace hadn’t been in his room five minutes when another nightmare stormed in. Kidd’s flaring nostrils was an indication it wasn’t a social visit.

  “What, man?”

  “When’s the wedding?”

  Cameron. He should have figured. His cousin couldn’t hold his liquor or water, especially when it came to family news.

  Ace flopped on the loveseat in the sitting area of the bedroom. He couldn’t guarantee he and Kidd wouldn’t argue, but Eva would put them out before she would allow them to fight in her house.

  “Cameron is a bulldog when there’s a hint of Jamieson blood. What did he tell you?”

  “Baby, yours, abandonment.” Kidd stared at Ace. “Does that sound about right?”

  “I guess he didn’t mention phantom baby, entrapment, and gold digger?”

  “Your relationships beg for counseling. Let’s not follow the crooked path our father created.”

  “Who says it’s crooked? You mean to tell me all of a sudden you know how to be a father?” Ace challenged his brother.

  “Of course not.” Kidd glanced over his shoulder and walked farther into the room, taking a seat in front of him. “But I love God and Eva more than anything. With those two in my corner, I can’t help but do a superb job.” His grin was cocky.

  “I’m not willing to take that chance, Kidd. I’m not about to play house husband now and maybe never. Tay set me up and now she’s stuck with the baggage.”

  “You’ve put yourself in those situations.”

  This wasn’t the first time Ace had one of these conversations with Kidd. But this was going to be the last.

  “Women are cunning,” he retorted.

  Kidd shrugged. “No more than a man when he wants to get in a woman’s bed.”

  “Remember the night I had to be bailed out of Randolph jail?” Ace asked him.

  “Yeah, for drunk driving.”

  “Wrong. That’s what you thought. It was because crazy Linda Shelton was trying to drug me with that date rape stuff.”

  “GHB or Rohypnol. Ace, I told you that chick was crazy when I first saw her. I don’t care how hot she was. That was too many colors in her hair for me.”

  Ignoring the dig, Ace continued. “Anyway, it’s a good thing that I’m a big man because my body was fighting off that stuff. I was able to get out of her apartment and into my car. Before I could get home, I crashed and woke up in jail.

  “They wanted to charge me with driving under the influence. When I tried to explain what happened, nobody believed me. I even got a few jeers and taunts.

  “I wanted out of jail, but one punch would have kept me there. By the time Mom bailed me out, I figured she wouldn’t believe me either. Now, tell me, that’s not desperate measures for me?”

  Scratching the hairs on his jaw, Kidd shrugged and remained silent. At first, Ace thought he was dozing off, then realized Kidd was considering what he had said. One thing his brother drilled into his head as they were growing up: Always fess up to the good or bad. If folks didn’t like what they heard, then too bad.

  “I seem to pick out losers who are willing to sleep with every Tom, Jamal, and Harry.”

  “Then you need to start turning down Thomasina, Janice, and Harrietta.”

  “Yeah, I know. I was with Tay longer than with that Thomasina woman.”

  “There really was a Thomasina?” Kidd snickered.

  “Yeah. She was cute too. Sometimes, I get an urge. If a woman’s willing, so am I. But I do have my standards. She has to be a looker.”

  Kidd stood, not looking too pleased from that last comment. “You need to conquer those sexual urges before they lead you straight to a sexual disease hell. Then that hell points straight to the lake of fire and brimstone. Settle down with one woman.”

  Woman was created for man. Didn’t he hear somebody once say that? Ace wasn’t about to let Kidd put a guilt trip on him.

  Chapter Fourteen

  A baby!” Sandra rejoiced when she got the call. She was about to be a grandmother. “Lord, thank You. Please help Kidd to be an exemplary father, to Your glory. Amen,” she prayed.

  All d
ay long, Sandra couldn’t keep the smile off her face at work. A coworker said she was glowing as though she had hit the lottery. Sandra kindly replied, “The lottery is a gamble, but a blessing from God is a sure thing.”

  God, I must have done something right. Thank You.

  A few days later, Sandra almost fainted when she heard some more baby news—this time secondhand. It was a real possibility that Ace had indeed fathered a child too.

  A second grandbaby? The first thing that crossed her mind when she thought about her younger son was, here we go again.

  Cameron supposedly had met the woman and spoke highly of her to Kidd in hopes that Kidd could talk some sense into Ace. What disturbed Sandra the most was that her headstrong, misguided son had to know about the baby before he packed up and left.

  Sandra was heartbroken. It had finally happened. Aaron Jamieson had turned into his father, Samuel. If things didn’t turn around from here, there would be a second generation of Jamiesons with an absentee father.

  Cameron wasn’t her nephew by blood, but she treated him as such. Not only was he extremely intelligent, but he was a good judge of character. Considering the way he took Ace under his wing, it seemed as if he could discern a person’s worth before they could.

  He was an all-around good guy. If only Cameron would go to church … she left that thought hanging. This was about Ace and that young woman. Surely, it was praying time. Of all days for her to stay late at the office, today wasn’t a good one. But there was no way around it. Sandra had to inform her team about upcoming insurance policy changes.

  After she returned home, she couldn’t wait to close the door and lift her hands in high praises to God. She was so filled with joy over new life coming into the family. Later, upstairs in her bedroom, Sandra fell on her knees and prayed earnestly for Ace.

  An hour had passed by the time God’s anointing left her presence. Sandra took a few minutes more and read a few passages from Luke. Afterward, she went downstairs and warmed up leftovers, but she could barely eat. Ace still weighed heavily on her heart.

  That night before Sandra climbed in the bed, she prayed again. “Lord, I haven’t received a word from You. Maybe this is ‘much ado about nothing’ on my part. Regardless, God, please save my son. Help him to be the man You called him to be.” With such mixed emotions, her sleep was anything but restful, so she prayed within her spirit.

  At work the next day, she continued praying and spent her lunch break diligently searching the Holy Scriptures. She fasted because she wanted to call her son and calmly verify what Cameron had said. The day dragged on and still God hadn’t spoke to her. That evening, after she broke her fast and ate, she was ready to call Ace because he hadn’t called her.

  Hold your peace, the Word of the Lord spoke to her spirit.

  She obeyed and did nothing. At the end of the week, with still no word from Ace, Sandra decided to make her weekly call on Saturday instead of Sunday. She knew her son wouldn’t lie to her, but Ace was good at evading the truth.

  Saying a quick prayer first, Sandra pressed Ace’s cell phone number.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  Taking a deep breath, she smiled to help restrain herself. “How’s everything going?”

  “No complaints. Eva is feeding me and the job is coming along.” Ace chatted about everything but what she wanted to hear.

  Finally, her patience grew thin. “Aaron Christopher Jamieson,” she said, as calmly as she could. “I hope these rumors about you getting a woman pregnant aren’t true. Is that why you packed up faster than a peddler selling bootleg CDs?”

  “Mom, I don’t know if there is a baby.”

  “Are you denying this woman is pregnant, or that the baby is yours? And in case the baby is yours, you would be missing in action.”

  No response. His silence was causing her to have a growing suspicion that he was evading the truth.

  “Son, you’ve always stood your ground with women in the past. This woman wouldn’t be the young lady you spent so much time with recently, is it? What’s wrong with her? Is she wanted by the authorities, or has an incurable disease, or … help me out here, Aaron.”

  Ace said nothing.

  “Don’t you see the pattern?”

  “No, I don’t. You didn’t need Pop around to rear us. You know how it goes. You’re the strong Black woman who did it all.”

  Starting to read between the lines, a tear dropped from Sandra’s eye. Did it all? Barely. For so many years, what she had done deceived her sons into thinking that she could do it all. In reality, she went without lunch, so they could have more than peanut butter and jelly in theirs. She did her own hair and learned to cut theirs. She mastered the art of making secondhand clothes appear fresh and new.

  Sandra had no outside monetary help, except from her parents when they could. Of course, she didn’t hear from Samuel on a regular basis. But he knew not to come into her house without money for the boys and presents to bribe them. Worst of all, he never stayed long enough for his sons to get to know him. Otherwise, she and her boys probably would have discovered sooner that he had other children.

  “If she’s pregnant, Mom, it boils down to another woman’s attempt to snag me.”

  Blame it on the woman. “The only snag should’ve been on your pants zipper. Stubbornness is not attractive or the sign of manhood,” she scolded. After a thoughtful pause, she continued, “If that child is a Jamieson, Aaron, please be a real man and take care of your responsibility.”

  Ace stuttered, “Mom, I can’t promise anything right now.”

  Sandra turned ballistic. “That is not the right answer! Don’t make me regret that I’m your mother! I called to pray for you, but right now, I have to get off this phone. I need someone to pray for me, to keep me from hurting you when I see you!”

  Disconnecting, Sandra dropped her head into her hands. “That didn’t turn out right, Lord. I repent and I’ll apologize to Aaron. God, please end this cycle of single-parent homes. Please.”

  Later Saturday night, Sandra tossed and turned in her bed. Even if her son didn’t do the right thing, what could she do about it? How much should she get involved? After all, it might not be Ace’s child. What if it was, though? Would he actually walk away like Samuel?

  The next morning, Sandra called Cameron to get his take and hopefully the truth. They exchanged greetings and then she got down to business.

  “Kidd told me what’s going on with Ace. Do you know her? Do you believe her?”

  “Her name is Talise …”

  Talise. What a pretty name. “I guess she’s the one he called Tay.”

  “Sandra, this could turn ugly. I feel somewhat responsible because I introduced them. Her roommate and I are colleagues. When Lois broke the news and chewed me out, I immediately felt guilty. Ace and I share the Jamieson name and so I took it very personally. I really thought Talise was the one to change him.”

  “No woman wants to babysit a man, sweetie. A man has to want to change if he wants to keep from losing a good woman.”

  They spoke a few more minutes about the situation. Sandra wasn’t surprised to learn that Cameron planned on setting up a trust fund for Ace’s baby. She sniffed. But if that was her grandbaby, she refused to let anyone outdo “Nana.”

  “Do you think Talise would mind if I called her?” Sandra must have lost her mind to ask. She wouldn’t know the first thing to say.

  “Hmmm. I don’t know. You should’ve seen the blood drain from her face once I mentioned that Ace moved out of state. If she was nine months, she probably would have gone into labor.”

  “I’ll take my chances.”

  “I don’t have Talise’s number. I’ll have to get it from her roommate, and Lois is still pretty hot.”

  “Whatever you can do.”

  Cameron called back a few days later with Talise’s number. “Good luck,” he said before disconnecting.

  Sandra didn’t have to imagine herself in Talise’s shoes. She had lived it. After sa
ying a brief prayer, she punched in the woman’s number.

  “Talise Rogers, please.” Sandra hoped the woman didn’t hear the tremble in her voice.

  “Speaking.”

  “Hello, my name is Sandra Nicholson.”

  “Who?”

  “I’m Aaron Jamieson’s mother.” Dead silence. She thought Talise was going to end the call right then.

  “How can I help you?” Talise was demanding, but still polite.

  “First, by accepting my apology for my son’s behavior, and … hopefully, by agreeing to have lunch with your baby’s Nana. I would very much like to meet you, be a part of your life, and tell you my story.”

  Sandra heard sniffling on the other end.

  “I’ll have to give it some thought and let you know. To be honest with you, Sandra, I don’t think I’m up to seeing another Jamieson in my lifetime.”

  “Then we should definitely have lunch, because I’m not a Jamieson.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Talise sat dumbfounded after terminating her brief conversation on the phone. She and Lois were camped out in her bedroom, watching health shows about pregnancies and delivering babies on the TLC Network.

  “Who and what was that all about? As soon as I heard Jamieson, I knew it wasn’t good,” Lois said, with a suspicious frown.

  Once Talise had relayed to Lois what Cameron told her about Ace’s whereabouts, her roommate was livid. Since then, Lois seemed to stick closer by her side. She even offered to go with her to some doctor visits. Talise lost her man, but gained an even better friend.

  “Ace’s mother,” Talise responded. “She wants us to meet for lunch. She says she’s not a Jamieson. Maybe she was smart enough to divorce Ace’s father before he did too much damage.”

  “Oh, that’s why Cameron wanted your number. I gave it to him with a promise not to give it to Ace. I just assumed he wanted to check up on you from time to time.”