Diamond Revelation

by Sheila Copeland

  “Hey, Dad.” Chris gave his father a hug. “Where are the movies?”

  “Ooops. I must have left them in the car, son.” He served Baby Doll a slice of pizza and took a huge bite out of another slice.

  “I’ll go get them.” Chris raced out of the family room while Germain and Baby Doll ate pizza.

  Topaz nervously tapped her foot. Germain hadn’t spoken to her or even attempted eye contact. Chris returned with the DVDs and a box of Red Vines and some other candy.

  “Here, Mom.” Chris gave her the box of licorice. “Dad bought your favorite candy.”

  Topaz felt a lump forming in her throat. I can’t cry now, not here in front of the children.

  “Thanks, honey.” Topaz turned to smile at her husband.

  “You’re welcome, darlin’,” Germain replied with absolutely no eye contact.

  Darlin’? That was so generic. Germain called every woman he met darling. It was part of his southern charm. But he had never called Topaz darlin’. A single tear pressed itself out of Topaz’s eye, and she quickly wiped it away. There would be no battle between Topaz and tears tonight…not in front of the children.

  “Dad, did you have a good time on Uncle Sean’s yacht?” Chris asked.

  “I sure did, son. Baby Doll, cut those lights off, baby. It’s showtime.” Germain was becoming almost as good at performing as his wife.

  Topaz was glad Germain told Baby Doll to turn off the lights. Germain grabbed her and sat on the sofa next to Chris.

  When the movie was over Baby Doll was asleep. Chris got up and turned on the lights while Germain carried Baby Doll upstairs and put her in bed. Topaz stood up and stretched.

  “I’m going up to my room and do some reading, Mom.” Chris was so much like Germain, it was scary sometimes. Not only did he look like his father, but he also had his ways.

  “Did you finish your homework, baby?” Topaz smiled.

  “Yes, Mom.”

  “Good night, my sweet.” Topaz hugged and kissed her son.

  “Are you sure you’re okay, Mom?” Chris fixed an identical set of golden eyes on his mother again. “You were awfully quiet during the movie. We didn’t have to tell you to be quiet one time because you were talking to the characters.”

  “Yes, baby. I’m sure.” Topaz feigned a yawn. “I fell asleep during the movie. Now stop worrying about me. I’m the mother and it’s my job to worry about you.”

  “Okay, Mom. I’ll see you in the morning. Love you.”

  “I love you, too, baby.” Topaz blew kisses at Chris as he disappeared up the stairs. As soon as he was out of sight, she collapsed on the sofa like a rag doll.

  Topaz was hoping Germain would come back downstairs so they could talk, but he never did. She finally went up to their suite, where she was surprised to find him in bed, reading.

  “Don’t get any ideas. I’m only lying here until the kids are asleep and then I’m going back downstairs.”

  “Can’t we talk about this?”

  “There’s nothing to talk about as far as I’m concerned.”

  “Are you ever going to talk to me again?” Topaz was on the verge of tears.

  “I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

  “Do you want a divorce, Germain?” Topaz had finally voiced her greatest fear.

  “I said I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

  “Does that mean you’re considering a divorce?”

  “I just told you I don’t know what I want. Damn, woman. Would you leave me the hell alone?” Germain jumped out of bed and grabbed his robe and book. “The kids should be asleep by now.” He left the room without another word, and Topaz cried until her pillow was soaked with tears. Exhausted, she finally fell asleep.

  The next morning Germain was gone before she was out of bed. He had breakfast with the children and left just as she was going into the bathroom. Topaz heard his Porsche as he drove away. All she really wanted to do was stay in bed and feel sorry for herself, but she had to be Mommy and drive the kids to school. She took a quick shower and chose a pretty blue lace top to wear with a short skirt and boots. She was really feeling much better about things when she walked into the kitchen.

  “You look beautiful, Mommy.” Baby Doll was never big on compliments, but she loved to receive them.

  Topaz smiled at her daughter. “Thank you, sweetie. I feel beautiful. Now let’s go before you’re late for school.”

  Topaz dropped them off just in time. She was just about to pull off when she thought she heard someone calling her name. She looked around and saw Keisha frantically waving.

  “Hey, girl. What are you doing here?” Topaz asked.

  Although Kendra also attended Buckley, Keisha rarely, if ever, drove her to school because Kendra was picked up in front of her house by the school’s van.

  “You never returned my call. I didn’t know if you were avoiding me, so I decided to catch up with you here,” Keisha explained.

  “What call? I didn’t get any phone call from you. I thought you had kicked me to the curb, too.” Topaz smiled.

  “I called to check on you after y’all left the ranch the other night. Didn’t Nina tell you?”

  “Nina didn’t tell me anything. I haven’t seen or spoken to anyone except my children and Germain.”

  “Germain? So things are okay with you two? I know you didn’t get your sexy on for nothing. Those boots are kickin’, girl.”

  “Germain’s not talking to me. I got my sexy on for me.”

  “I’m sorry, girl.”

  “Whatever.” The smile slowly faded from Topaz’s face. “So you want to go to Starbucks or something?”

  “We need to go somewhere so we can talk privately.”

  “We can get coffee and sit in the car so we don’t have to worry about someone snooping.”

  Keisha followed Topaz to Encino where they ordered coffee, tea, and scones and sat in Keisha’s car.

  “So what’s up?” Topaz sipped on a cup of green tea.

  “I can’t believe how well you’re handling everything.”

  “I have to keep it together for the children. Chris was all over me last night. He even asked me if everything was okay.”

  “Chris is a very sensitive and intuitive child. What did you tell him?”

  “I can’t remember what I told him, but he’s watching every little move I make.”

  Keisha smiled. “Eric is too upset with me.”

  Topaz was shocked. “What for?”

  “Because I didn’t tell him what I thought I knew.”

  “You guys do tell each other everything.” Topaz took a tiny bite of a scone.

  “I guess I never said anything because I wanted so badly to be wrong, but every time I looked into Niki’s eyes I knew I wasn’t.”

  The ladies sat in silence for several minutes.

  “So Nina never told you I called,” Keisha began. “That’s interesting.”

  “What’s so interesting about it?” Topaz focused on Keisha.

  “I had a very enlightening conversation with her.”

  “About what?” Topaz finished the scone and stuffed everything into a bag.

  Keisha took a deep breath. “Nina told me you guys never did a paternity test for Niki.”

  “So.”

  “So?” Keisha’s eyes widened with surprise. “How do you know if Sean is really her father?”

  “Because he just is, he has to be.” Topaz was obviously shaken by the thought.

  “She doesn’t look anything like Sean.”

  “So.”

  “You were seeing Germain before your little trip to England. She could be his daughter.”

  “No, Keisha, no. She can’t be. She just can’t.” Topaz crumpled like a balloon losing air.

  “Why not?”

  Topaz faced Keisha with a tear-streaked face. “Because that would mean…” Topaz turned and looked out the window, unable to complete her thought.

  “That would mean what, T?”

  Topaz w
as crying and dabbing at her eyes with a fresh tissue. She had already amassed a small pile of them. “That would mean I gave me and Germain’s baby to Nina.” Topaz finished in a whisper.

  Keisha took some papers out of her bag, and Topaz watched as she slowly unfolded them.

  “What’s that?”

  “Consent forms.”

  “Consent forms for what?” Topaz looked at the papers in Keisha’s lap and then at Keisha.

  “I got permission from Sean and Germain for my dad to do a paternity test.”

  “What?”

  “A paternity test. It has to be done. Everyone deserves to know the truth.”

  Topaz said nothing as she sat with her eyes glued on the forms in Keisha’s lap.

  “There aren’t any other contenders, are there?”

  “No.” Topaz was still whispering.

  “Kyle gave me his permission. I faxed everything to my father this morning. Daddy already has everyone’s information in his lab and he’s going to run the test himself and fax me the results.”

  “Oh my God, Keisha.” Topaz was horrified. “What if Niki is Germain’s daughter?”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

  “When is he going to call?” Topaz demanded.

  “As soon as he gets the results.”

  “How long does it take to run a paternity test?”

  “Topaz!” Keisha yelled a little too loudly. She was just as anxious as her friend to get the results of the test. “Chill, girlfriend. Daddy fired Rosalyn after I told him about all the drama she caused. She was a great researcher, but she had issues.”

  Topaz opened a bottle of water and took several sips, making a valiant effort to calm herself.

  “Want to do a little Christmas shopping while we wait?” Keisha suggested, knowing very well that neither of them would purchase anything.

  They were driving down Ventura Boulevard toward one of Topaz’s favorite boutiques when Keisha’s cell phone began to ring.

  “I guess I’d better answer that, huh?” Keisha looked at Topaz, who slowly nodded her agreement. Keisha pulled over out of traffic. It was Greggo calling from the restaurant. Topaz sighed, relieved for the moment as she gazed out the window.

  “Okay,” Keisha said. She handed Topaz the phone. “It’s for you. It’s my dad.”

  “I thought you were talking to Greggo,” Topaz whispered.

  “I was. Daddy called while I was on the line. He wants to speak to you.”

  Topaz swallowed hard as she took the phone from Keisha. She knew the information she was about to hear would change her life forever.

  “Hello.”

  “Hello there, Miss Topaz.” Dr. Nichols had referred to her as Miss since they were little girls.

  “Hello, Papa Nichols.”

  “I’ve got some information here I’m sure you’ll be very glad to hear.”

  “What is it?” Topaz broke out in a cold sweat, and her entire body shook with fear.

  “Germain is Niki’s father.”

  “Okay.” She handed Keisha the phone and suddenly everything faded to black as Topaz drifted off into peaceful oblivion.

  Chapter 27

  Nina and Kyle sat in bumper-to-bumper rush-hour traffic on the freeway, making the ninety-minute plus journey from Burbank to Malibu. Nina had suggested a driver so they both could relax on the way home, but Kyle wasn’t ready to succumb to such pampering. He had even muttered something about his manhood when Nina tried to bring up the subject again.

  She completed a phone call and tucked her BlackBerry into her briefcase and focused on her husband, who had been unusually quiet and into himself all day.

  “This traffic is mad crazy,” Nina declared, glad that she wasn’t the one driving. “I called the Realtor today. They’re faxing over houses for us to look at in Toluca Lake and Sherman Oaks.”

  Kyle made no comment, so Nina continued talking. “Sherman Oaks could work out very well. We’ll be right by Niki’s school and no more than thirty minutes tops from the office, even in the craziest traffic. We wouldn’t even have to take the freeway. There are a couple of routes to take on the surface streets.”

  “Sounds good, baby.” Kyle smiled at Nina and ran his hand over her head. Nina stretched across her seat and rested her head against his arm.

  “I wish you’d let me hire that driver so we could snuggle up together in the back of the car.”

  “I’ll drive my woman.”

  Nina smiled and made a face in the dark. Kyle could be so stubborn and such a man sometimes.

  “Baby.”

  “Huh?” Nina was still resting her head on Kyle’s arm even though she was totally uncomfortable leaning on his hard shoulder.

  “There’s something I need to tell you.”

  “What?” Nina sat up and looked at her husband.

  “I gave Keisha permission to do a paternity test on Niki.”

  “You did what?”

  “I gave Keisha permission to do a paternity test.”

  “I don’t believe you.” Nina shook her head. “Why would you do something like that without talking to me first?”

  “Because we need to know the truth. I thought you knew for sure that Niki was my brother’s daughter. That’s the only reason I agreed to go along with your crazy scheme.”

  “I never asked you to go along with anything. I told you I didn’t want you in the middle of it, but oh no. You said God told you I needed you and you came to London to take care of me.” Nina was practically yelling.

  “God did tell me to come to London and take care of you. But you didn’t tell me everything I needed to know.”

  “What are you trying to say, Kyle? You regret marrying me?”

  “Nina, don’t put words in my mouth.”

  “Then what the hell are you saying?”

  “Watch your tone, Nina.”

  “You watch your tone, Kyle.”

  “What the hell were you and Topaz thinking? Don’t you know anything? Babies change. You should have never made a decision to put Niki up for adoption without getting a paternity test.”

  “I didn’t make the decision. Topaz did. I wanted to bring Niki home because I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving her in some foreign country.”

  “Did you know there was a possibility of someone else besides my brother being the father?”

  Nina stared out of the window wishing for the impossible…that she could turn back the hands of time.

  “Did you?” Kyle demanded.

  “Yes, Kyle. I knew.”

  “Then why didn’t you tell her to get a paternity test?”

  “I don’t know. You know how brown Niki used to be. It never crossed my mind that Sean might not be the father.”

  “What a ho.” Kyle smirked. “I don’t know why the doc would get himself involved with someone like her. The sex must be some kind of great.”

  “Kyle!”

  “What, Nina?”

  “Don’t talk about my cousin like that.”

  “I just call ’em as I see ’em.”

  “So why didn’t you suggest we get a paternity test when we came back to California, Mr. Know-it-All?”

  “I was going on your information. But don’t worry, I’ll double-check everything you do, now that I see you aren’t capable of making intelligent decisions.”

  “Are you trying to call me stupid?”

  “No, but you certainly do some stupid things, like passing on Topaz’s music, signing Sky, and not getting a damn paternity test,” Kyle yelled.

  “I thought we were past the music thing and you weren’t going to bring it up anymore.”

  “I just can’t believe you and Topaz would do something so stupid. Do you realize how many lives are affected by this? What the hell were you thinking?”

  “According to you, I wasn’t thinking at all. So sue me.”

  “I bet Jade would love to sue you two and then some.”

  “Well, too bad I wasn’t born perfect
like you, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

  “I never said I was perfect.”

  “No…you just expect me to be perfect.” Tears streamed out of Nina’s eyes.

  Kyle focused on the traffic as they drove in an uncomfortable silence.

  Nina looked at Kyle out of teary eyes. She was trying to think of something to say that would hurt him just as badly as, if not more than, he had hurt her.

  “I have a question.”

  “What’s that?” Kyle asked, hoping they would call a truce and apologize.

  “I was wondering why you ever got involved with someone like me, since I’m not perfect.”

  Kyle sighed long and hard. He was tired of the traffic and tired of arguing with Nina, tired of problems, tired of the pain. He just wanted everything to magically work itself out and just go away. In a perfect world it would, but he knew the world was far from perfect.

  “You know, Nina. I’ve been wondering the same thing. Why are you still taking birth control pills? You know how much I’ve wanted us to have our own baby.”

  “I thought Niki was our baby.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Let me think. I’m on the pill because I don’t want your baby?” She finally had the ammunition she needed.

  “Why not?”

  “I’m young. I have a career and a beautiful body. I’m not trying to lose any of that.”

  “Then why did you even marry me?”

  “That’s a good question. But it wasn’t so I could have your baby. I already have a daughter, remember?”

  They were in the garage now. Nina jumped out of the SUV and ran ahead into the house. In the kitchen, Niki was having dinner with her nanny. The little girl’s face lit up the moment she laid eyes on Nina.

  “Mommy, you’re home.”

  “Yes, baby, I’m home.” Nina picked her up and hugged her as tightly as she could.

  “I can’t breathe, Mommy,” she heard Niki say.

  “I’m sorry, baby.” Nina laughed as she released her grip on the child.

  Kyle came into the kitchen with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Nina saw the sadness in his eyes and was immediately sorry for all the unkind things she had said. They were both under an incredible amount of pressure in their personal and professional lives. He was her best friend, and unfortunately, she had succeeded in hurting him.