For the Sake of Love

by Dwan Abrams

  On their way to the event, they heard Spade’s song on the radio and turned the volume up. They could hardly hear the song because they were too busy screaming like a car full of teenagers. Spade took that as a good sign. It put him in a party mood.

  Once at the event, it was on and poppin’. They walked the red carpet as soon as they got out of the car. The night air felt perfect. Cameras were in their faces, and all they could hear was, “Over here,” “Hey, over here.” They stopped and posed for the photographers and waited until all of the photographers got their photo ops. Bria and Spade held hands as they walked inside the building. People treated Spade like he was already a celebrity. He couldn’t move two feet without someone giving him hugs or daps or a conversation.

  He whispered in his wife’s ear, “You’re the baddest chick in the room.”

  Men were eyeballing his wife, making Spade’s chest stick out just a little bit further. He felt proud to call her his wife, knowing every guy in the room wished they could have a woman like her. Some guys were even ogling his mother, and he didn’t appreciate that.

  “I’m going to take a seat,” Ms. Spencer said. “I’m only here to support you, baby.” She kissed Spade on the cheek and left him with his wife.

  Spade encouraged Bria to work the room. He told her to meet people and socialize. He could tell that she was having a good time socializing with celebrities, popular radio personalities, and other industry professionals. She handed out business cards promoting the spa.

  Spade had to disappear for a brief spell to meet with some of the people in his camp. When he returned, the chatter that had filled the room suddenly went silent. People stopped talking midconversation and turned to face the door. Spade entered with his entourage and the crowd gave a roaring applause. He loved every minute of it. He stood in front of a huge display poster with his image and his CD cover.

  He waved, posed for pictures, and searched the crowd until he found Bria. He felt better knowing where she was.

  “Come on, there’s some people I want you to meet,” he spoke directly into her ear as he grabbed her hand and led her through the crowd. She smelled so good he wanted to take her in the bathroom and handle some serious business. He loved a good-smelling woman.

  He introduced her to the members of his team: his publicist, manager, booking agent, record producer, record promoter, music attorney, and the record label’s A&R department.

  “Guys, I want you to meet my wife, Bria Spencer. We just got married this week,” Spade said.

  Everyone congratulated them. They were all very nice and welcoming to Bria.

  Bria said to Spade, “I have to go to the ladies’ room.”

  She scurried away, and he followed her. Two women rushed out of the bathroom when they saw him. Knowing he had limited time, he paid the bathroom attendant fifty-dollars to clear out everyone except Bria for the next twenty minutes.

  Bria exited the stall and washed her hands. “What are you up to?” she asked. She could see his reflection in the mirror.

  He locked the door and came up behind her. He kissed her on the neck and hiked up her dress. “You look so good, I couldn’t resist, Mrs. Spencer.”

  She batted her eyes and said in a flirtatious tone, “Mr. Spencer, shouldn’t you be out there with your guests? This is your party.”

  “The party’s in here.” His hands caressed her body. “This is one of my fantasies for you.”

  She laughed. “Oh, really?” She sounded playful and went along with his plan.

  He knew that he didn’t have a whole lot of time before people started getting restless about not having access to one of the bathrooms, so he made every moment count. He took his sexy wife right there on the sink.

  When they finished they washed up in the sink using paper towels and straightened out their clothes. Bria applied a fresh coat of lip gloss and headed back to the party. She walked out ahead of him, trying not to draw any unwanted attention.

  Spade came out just in time to hear his opening act perform. They had just taken to the stage.

  “Baby, let’s dance,” he said to his wife.

  She took his hand, and they danced a couple of songs. There was a woman gyrating next to them, and the woman in front of them was backing that thing up.

  Spade couldn’t overexert himself because he still had to perform.

  “I need to take a break. My dogs are killing me,” Bria complained.

  “All right, while you go take a breather, I have some people I need to talk to before I get changed.” He handed her a glass filled with Sprite from the bar, and she carried her drink to the table where Spade’s mother was sitting. He disappeared into the crowd.

  As soon as Bria sat down, she kicked her shoes off underneath the table, hoping that no one would notice. “Are you having a good time?” she asked Spade’s mom.

  “The best.” Someone tapped Ms. Spencer on the shoulder. “Excuse me, Bria.” She moved over, putting some space between the two of them and spoke to the red-haired lady.

  Shortly afterward, Kerryngton invited himself to sit next to her at the table, away from her mother-in-law.

  She sucked air between her teeth and rolled her eyes. “Ugh,” she said with disgust. She resisted the urge to throw her drink on his designer-label attire.

  “Calm down. I didn’t come over here to fight with you,” he said. “I want to apologize. I shouldn’t have called you a gold digger.”

  “You got that right. I never cared about your money. You’re the one who acted like money was a love language. All you did was spend money. I didn’t ask you for anything.” She felt good getting that off her chest.

  She noticed that the red-haired lady had left and that her mother-in-law was looking at them. She suddenly felt uncomfortable. She hoped Ms. Spencer couldn’t hear their conversation even though there was some space between her and Bria.

  “I guess I deserved that,” he said. “I’m not going to lie, you messed my head up when you refused my marriage proposal. Talk about a bruise to the ego. No woman had ever rejected me like that before.”

  She softened her stance, and she could feel her anger melt like the ice cubes in her drink.

  “I’m not ready to be your friend, but since Spade is my artist, we at least need to be civil,” he explained.

  She gave a faint smile and nodded. “I got you.”

  “Um, Bria.”

  “Yes.”

  “Congratulations.”

  She could tell that was difficult for him to say. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”

  “Good. Stay tuned. I have an announcement to make before Spade performs.” He stood up.

  Bria didn’t know what that meant, but she was sure Kerryngton wasn’t crazy enough to say or do anything embarrassing at Spade’s event.

  “Bria,” he kissed the back of her hand, “as always, you look stunning.”

  Bria tactfully pulled her hand back and gave him a toothless smile before he walked over and spoke to Spade’s mother. Bria couldn’t hear what he had said, but whatever it was upset Ms. Spencer. Her eyes welled with tears.

  Bria felt protective and moved closer to them. “What’s going on? What did you say to her?”

  He didn’t say anything.

  Ms. Spencer got up and went into the bathroom. Bria felt like punching Kerryngton in the throat, but she refrained. Instead, she gave him a mean look before running behind her mother-in-law.

  Once in the bathroom, Bria heard sniffling sounds coming from one of the stalls. A stark contrast from what she and Spade had been doing in the ladies’ room earlier.

  “Please come out and talk to me,” Bria pleaded.

  Ms. Spencer unlocked the stall and walked out. She dabbed her watery eyes with tissue.

  “What’s going on? What did Kerryngton say to you?”

  A woman washing her hands in the sink looked at their reflections in the mirror. Ms. Spencer waited until she walked out before taking a deep breath and exhaling. “Bria, you’re young, a
nd you may not understand what I’m about to tell you. I can only pray that you, and especially my son, can forgive me one day.”

  Bria felt her heartbeat speed up.

  Turning her face away from Bria, she said, “Many years ago I had a drug addiction. Before Spade, I had another son.”

  Bria gasped. “What?” She covered her hand with her mouth.

  “Yes.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I wasn’t in any position to care for a child. I didn’t have money for an abortion, so I put the baby up for adoption.”

  “Oh God.” Bria’s heart sank.

  She sniffled. “About four years ago a young man reached out to me, telling me that he was my son. He wanted to meet me, but I . . . I refused. I didn’t want to revisit that time in my life. I was so ashamed. I didn’t want to face him or Spade.”

  Bria swallowed hard, dreading to hear the rest of the story.

  “The child I put up for adoption had found me. He knew my name, address, telephone number, everything.” She cussed. “Nothing can stay hidden forever. At least not if somebody really wants to find out.” Sighing, she said, “A while later I received a letter telling me that he had been locked up.” She shook her head. “I know this is going to sound sick, but I felt relieved. I never responded to the letter.”

  Bria frowned at her. “Why would you feel relieved?”

  “Because I didn’t have to deal with it, and I hoped he’d forget about it. Then tonight . . .” She closed her eyes and lowered her head. “When I saw you talking to that guy, I had a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. And when he came over to me, I knew.”

  “You knew what?”

  Her lower lip quivered. “That he was my son.”

  “Are you sure?” Bria wanted to shake her, because she knew Spade’s life was about to change forever.

  “Yes, I’m positive.” Her voice trembled along with her hands. “He told me. He said, ‘Nice to finally meet you, Mom.’ And when I looked in his eyes, I had no doubt. A mother knows.”

  “This is going to devastate Spade. Kerryngton is the president of the label that signed him.”

  “Oh God.” She ran into a stall and threw up.

  They could hear that the opening act was wrapping up and Spade was about to take to the stage.

  Bria pulled Ms. Spencer’s hair away from her face. “It’s going to be all right. We’ll deal with this. But right now we’ve got to get out there for Spade.”

  Ms. Spencer pulled some tissue from the roll and wiped her mouth. She then tossed it in the toilet and flushed. Bria ushered her to the sink so that she could rinse out her mouth. When she finished, Bria gave her a peppermint.

  Ms. Spencer touched up her makeup. “Time to face the music.”

  “Literally and figuratively,” Bria said.

  They walked out and took their seats.

  Spade’s energy level was turned up. He wanted to see Bria before his performance because she was like the Adrian to his Rocky. He knew he’d kill it as long as he had her by his side. He couldn’t be defeated. He went to her table.

  “Tonight’s your night, baby,” she reminded him. “You’ve been waiting your whole life for this moment. I’m proud of you. Go represent for the family.”

  Family . . . That sounded good to him. Spade placed two fingers over his luscious lips, blew her a kiss, and left. She puckered her lips and kissed the air.

  The opening act cleared the stage and Spade took over. “Everybody having a good time tonight?” he spoke into the mic.

  “Yeah,” “Woo hoo,” and cheers could be heard from the audience. A round of applause followed.

  “I’m so glad everybody turned out tonight to support me and the release of my new CD. Words can’t even express how much this means to me. Thanks to all of you, but praises to God for making this possible.”

  More cheers and applause from the crowd.

  “Before I perform tonight, I want to introduce y’all to the two most important people in my life.” He gestured toward Bria. “My wife, my heart, the love of my life, Bria.”

  She waved and people clapped.

  He then motioned toward his mom. “And my mom.”

  Spade felt someone pat him on the back. He turned around when he heard Kerryngton say, “Congratulations, Spade! May I?” He reached for the mic, and Spade let him have it. “Good evening, everyone! For those who don’t know, I’m Kerryngton Kruse, the CEO of the label lucky enough to have signed Spade.” He faced Spade. “I came out to tell you that your song is number one on iTunes.” He held up his index finger.

  The news startled Spade. When his eyes initially landed on Mr. Kruse his gut reaction was to clock him again. He didn’t know whether that pat on the back was him marking the spot where he wanted to place the knife or a legitimate congratulatory pat on the back.

  He had to separate business from personal, because he couldn’t go around beating up the head of his record label, he thought. Even though he didn’t like Kerryngton because of what he said to Bria, he still had to work with the guy.

  He couldn’t believe that his song was number one! Inside, he was rejoicing and thanking God.

  Kerryngton shook his hand. “You worked hard. You deserve it.” He summoned for a waiter to give him and Spade some champagne. They each took a glass. The crowd cheered some more and raised their glasses along with Spade and Kerryngton. Kerryngton led the toast, “Here, here! To Spade!”

  Everyone clinked their glasses together and sipped.

  Kerryngton turned his attention back to Spade. Away from the open mic he said, “I apologize for the other day at the courthouse. I was out of line and shouldn’t have said all that stuff to Bria. She’s a good woman and didn’t deserve to be treated like that. You’re lucky to have her.” He grinned. “Now let’s get this money.” He then placed the mic back in its stand and got off the stage.

  Spade took another sip of his sparkling drink and set it on the side of the stage. He winked at his wife and took to the mic again. “My newly released single is number one on iTunes. Nothing but God. Holla at ya boy.”

  He gave the DJ the signal to begin, and he ripped it. He knew he was killing it so bad that he could’ve changed his name to Slayer. He was sure Charlie Sheen wouldn’t mind if he borrowed “Winning,” because that’s exactly what he was doing.

  After the party was over, Spade was still on an emotional high. He told Bria and his mom, “I feel so good, I don’t feel like going home yet.”

  “That’s great, baby,” his mom told him, but she seemed nervous.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Bria said, trying to hurry him out.

  As they made their way to the door, Kerryngton intersected them. “You ripped it tonight,” he told Spade.

  “Thanks, man.”

  “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

  Spade shrugged. “Okay.”

  “Son, wait!” Ms. Spencer said, and both men looked at her. “Let’s all go somewhere more private and talk.”

  Spade raised a brow. “Why would we do that?”

  “I have something to tell you. It’s important,” she told him.

  Kerryngton said, “Listen to your mother.”

  Spade was about to go off, but he didn’t want to give Kerryngton the satisfaction of knowing he had gotten to him. He decided to let that slick comment about him listening to his mother slide. “What’s up, Momma?”

  “We don’t need to talk in front of the cleanup crew,” Kerryngton said. “No one’s on the other side of the building.”

  They were quiet until they arrived at the more private part of the facility.

  “Somebody needs to tell me what’s going on,” Spade demanded.

  Before a word could flow out of her mouth, Ms. Spencer was in tears again.

  “Mom, what’s wrong?” Spade asked as he wiped her tears with his hand. He hated seeing his mother cry.

  She then told him the same thing she had earlier revealed to Bria.

  Spade felt as though a boulder had rol
led over him. He couldn’t look at his mother. Trying to console him, Bria hugged him.

  “Son, I’m so sorry. I love you. Please forgive me.”

  He heard Kerryngton’s voice and looked at him. “I knew you were my brother. That’s the only reason I didn’t press charges against you and drop you from the label.”

  Spade felt his anger rising again and silently prayed. He was a Gospel artist and didn’t need any bad publicity because of his temper. As calmly as he could he said, “If you knew you were my brother, why did you date my girl?”

  Bria stepped away from him, and Ms. Spencer grabbed her hand.

  Kerryngton looked him square in the eyes. “Because you had everything I wanted.”

  Reading Group Discussion Questions

  After Spade received his prognosis, do you agree with the way he handled his relationship with Bria? Why or why not?

  Spade confided in Mr. Murray and swore him to secrecy. Do you think Mr. Murray was right to keep his confidence? Explain your answer.

  When Kerryngton came on the scene, what did you think his intentions were?

  While in London, Bria learned some startling truths. Did you expect her to make the decision she made regarding her relationship with Spade? If so, did you agree? If not, what did you want or expect to happen?

  As Bria’s relationship with Kerryngton progressed, could you feel their love developing? If so, were you for them or against them? Why?

  Medicine is not an exact science. Were you surprised by Spade’s final results? Do you know of anyone who has ever been medically misdiagnosed?

  It has often been said that good men are hard to find. If you could choose between Kerryngton and Spade, which one would appeal to you most? Explain. If not you, which one would you pick for Bria? Why?

  How did you feel when Spade and Kerryngton had their altercation?

  Did you notice any growth or changes in Bria’s character? If so, what?

  Were you surprised by the outcome of the story?