The Favorite Son

by Tiffany L. Warren

  “You slept with Blaine. Did he … did he force you?”

  “No. It was consensual. I can tell you the reasons, but they’ll just sound like excuses, and I don’t have an excuse.”

  “Humor me. Tell me the reasons anyway. I have to understand why my girlfriend of ten years would decide to have sex with my twin brother.”

  “Camden, you’re yelling.”

  Camden chuckled. “Am I? You think?”

  “It happened in Miami. I was feeling some kind of way about the gay accusation, and you were acting distant.”

  “Oh no. You’re not going to blame me. I’ve never been distant. I’ve been working, I’ve been in another state, but I have not been distant. You, however, have been needy and selfish. You didn’t want me to come here and go after my dream so you punished me by having sex with my twin.”

  “It wasn’t like that. I wasn’t trying to punish you.”

  “Good, because you’ve punished yourself. Have fun with Blaine. I hope you don’t catch any diseases, ’cause he gets around.”

  “Camden, I’m pregnant. Your father wants me to marry Blaine, and I don’t know what to do.”

  “Do you love him?”

  “I care about him. We’ve been friends forever.”

  “Ask yourself if you want to be married to someone you don’t love,” Camden said. “It doesn’t matter to me. Have a great life.”

  Dawn burst into tears. “Camden, please don’t hate me. Please. I love you more than anybody on this earth. I know I’ve done wrong, but please don’t hate me.”

  “What do you want me to do, Dawn? I can’t wrap my mind around this. Do you know I was planning to propose to you in Atlanta? You were sitting up there pregnant with my twin brother’s child and I was about to give you a ring.”

  Dawn sobbed and choked over the phone. She begged and pleaded for his forgiveness, but Camden felt nothing. Not even pity.

  “What if I got rid of the baby?” Dawn asked. “Do you think we could get past this?”

  “Are you crazy? If I was you, I wouldn’t add one sin on top of another. What did that baby do to deserve that? All things work together for the good, Dawn. If you love the Lord, and repent, He’ll forgive you.”

  “What about you, though, Camden?”

  “Don’t break my heart and ask me to be like God.”

  Camden disconnected the call and sobbed. He hadn’t cried when Dawn broke up with him. Maybe, deep down, he thought they were just having a rough patch and eventually they’d get back together.

  But there was no coming back from this. Nothing that could make him want to be with Dawn ever again.

  Even though he wanted nothing more to do with his brother or Dawn, Camden wanted them to see him one last time. He wanted them both to see the pain they’d caused him. They would know and have to live with their damage.

  Camden looked at the clock on his phone. Nine o’clock P.M. He dialed Amber’s phone number. She answered on the fourth ring.

  “Cambreezy, this nap that I was just taking … my God. It was straight from the throne of grace. What’s up, though?”

  “Amber, I want to ask you out on a date.”

  “What in tarnation? Stop playing, man.”

  “No. I’m serious. I need a date. To Blaine and Dawn’s wedding.”

  PART II

  CHAPTER 41

  “B. J.! Leave your brother alone! He’s trying to have his nap!” Dawn hissed at the rambunctious five-year-old throwing toys into the crib where one of her six-month-old twins was sleeping.

  As soon as B. J. woke Jacob, the other twin Jayla would wake and they would both be screaming at the top of their lungs, destroying any hope Dawn had of a moment of peace and quiet.

  “I wanna pway wif him,” Blaine Junior protested as Dawn picked him up like a football and tucked him under her arm.

  Once they were outside the babies’ nursery, Dawn closed the door and put B. J. down. He had tears in his eyes. He loved his younger siblings even though they were brand new, and if he could, he’d spend all day running back and forth picking up the toys and pacifiers they hurled across the room.

  “So, how would you like a snack? You can eat some Goldfish and have a juice box. By the time you’re all done and your cartoon is over, the babies will be awake.”

  B. J. gave his mother a smile that was the spitting image of his uncle Camden’s. His smooth brown skin was just as dark as Camden’s and his black wavy hair lay down just the same. Dawn felt sorry for the girls who would be in his path one day. But she planned to raise him to respect women, a lesson that his father could never teach.

  Dawn led her handsome son into the sprawling kitchen and sat him at the table. Every room in the ten thousand square foot house was sprawling, and Dawn took pride in it. Her home was one of the few things she could take joy in.

  Blaine walked through the house, talking on his cell phone, with Akil at his heels.

  “I don’t care what it costs, I want a new audiovisual system in the sanctuary. What we have now looks amateurish on the broadcast. We are an international ministry, we need to look like one.”

  Blaine disconnected the phone and looked at Akil. “Can you make sure they do what I asked on that? I don’t see why this is so hard. I’m the one signing the checks, right?”

  “Yeah, man.”

  “Did you close on that condo you wanted?” Blaine asked.

  “Yep. I have got all my furniture ordered already. It should be totally done by the time we go on tour.”

  “Good.”

  B. J. squirmed in his chair. “Daddy! Daddy!”

  Blaine picked his son up and spun him in the air. B. J.’s giggles filled the room. Dawn sat their son’s snacks down on the table and started preparing Blaine’s lunch.

  “What are you doing?” Blaine asked Dawn.

  “Making you a sandwich.”

  “I don’t want a sandwich. Why don’t you ask me what I want to eat before you start making it?”

  “What do you want to eat, Blaine?”

  “Nothing. I’m good. Akil and I just had steaks.”

  Dawn made her lips into a line and tossed the sandwich fixings in the trash.

  “You didn’t have to waste that food. You could’ve put it away for another time,” Blaine said. “You can’t expect God to continue to bless us if you’re going to be wasteful.”

  Dawn walked out of the kitchen and toward her office. She didn’t want to hear any more of Blaine’s criticism today. Maybe he and Akil would leave again and she could have that peace and quiet she was trying to find.

  “You left your son,” Blaine called after her. “I’ve got business to attend to, I know you don’t think I’m watching him now.”

  Dawn turned on one heel and walked back into the kitchen. She scooped up B. J. along with his snacks. Then she took her son into the children’s playroom and closed the door.

  She slid down the wall and sat on the floor in the corner of the room and watched her son play.

  “Sing to me, Mommy.”

  “I don’t feel like singing, baby.”

  “Pwease …”

  Dawn cleared her throat and sang “Jesus Loves Me” to her son. He clapped and danced in a little circle. How could he not enjoy music? He was the product of musical parents. He carried the names of both his father and his musical uncle. Blaine Camden Wilson III, like his grandfather.

  Dawn could hear Blaine and Akil’s voices outside the playroom. She wished they would leave.

  They were planning another tour for So G.I.F.T.E.D. Another tour that she wouldn’t be a part of. When Camden and Royce added Kenya to the group, they’d said it wasn’t to replace her. It wasn’t the truth. As soon as B. J. was born she was told that they didn’t need her services anymore. They’d even added another female soprano to solidify her exit from the group.

  Dawn was a first lady, a mother to beautiful children, and a wife.

  “Dawn, come out here for a second,” Blaine called.

 
; Dawn slowly got up from the floor and went to see what Blaine wanted.

  “Akil and I are going to San Antonio tomorrow to scout out locations for our conference. We’ll be back Sunday morning in time for service.”

  Dawn knew that trip would include Blaine hooking up with some woman he’d met years ago or maybe even someone new. He never touched her anymore. Over the course of their five-year marriage, Dawn could count on her hands the number of times they’d had sex.

  “You should get your hair done. Have a spa day or something. You look horrible.”

  Dawn wanted to spit at him, but she just nodded. She did look horrible—haggard was a better description. She’d gained weight. That thick hourglass physique she’d had when Blaine had first taken her was replaced by rolls of fat, and stretch marks. Her breasts hung low, heavy with milk for the twins.

  “Amber said she was going to drop by and check on you later,” Akil said. “She wants to know if you want Chinese food.”

  Blaine laughed. “Only if she’s bringing a Chinese salad.”

  “Tell her I said yes. She knows what I like,” Dawn said, ignoring Blaine’s unfunny joke.

  Dawn waited for a moment to see if Blaine wanted to say anything else. When he went back to checking the emails on his cell phone, she assumed he was done. She opened the playroom door and caught B. J. just as he was about to pour his juice box on the floor. She took it from him. “No. Don’t do that, baby. You’re making a mess.”

  “The babies awake?”

  “Not yet. Let’s watch a movie.”

  He shook his head. “Wanna go wif Daddy.”

  “Auntie Amber is coming over. You can play with her.”

  B. J. grinned big. He loved Amber. Sometimes Dawn thought her son loved Amber more than he loved her. But then, Amber spoiled him rotten.

  Dawn felt herself relax when Blaine and Akil finally left. But her relaxation was only brief, because Jacob had already started his slow whimpering. In a few minutes he would be at full blast and Jayla would be next. Then she’d have to hold them both in her lap and nurse them at once. It was the only way they liked to nurse. One on each breast. Until they sucked her dry.

  Tears trickled down Dawn’s face. B. J. quickly wiped them away.

  “No crying, Mommy. No.”

  Dawn forced herself to smile and then rose to her feet. She took B. J.’s hand and led him to the nursery. Her babies were crying. They needed her.

  She needed them too. They were the only things keeping her alive.

  CHAPTER 42

  Camden listened to the new artist Ivy had brought to his studio. Angelique had an incredible voice, but very little vocal training. Ivy wanted to make her a teen gospel sensation, if there even was such a thing.

  “What do you think?” Ivy asked. “Can you and Amber work with her?”

  “Amber can definitely work with her, but I’m not sure how the record label can market her.”

  Angelique said, “I don’t need marketing. I’m an evangelist. The Lord is gonna open every door I need opened.”

  Camden tilted his head to one side and nodded. “Okay, Evangelist. Well, the record label will still want a marketing plan, even if they don’t need one.”

  Amber burst into the recording studio. “Ooh, I’m sorry I’m late, y’all. My flight just got in a couple hours ago, and you know I had to get something to eat.”

  “Your greedy self still smells like Pappadeaux. Did you bring me some?” Camden said.

  “What you’re smelling is my to-go box, and I could be convinced to share with you. Sing something for me, baby. I hear you got a voice like an angel.”

  “I do. That’s why my mama named me Angelique. She said my first cry sounded like a song.”

  “No one can say you’re not confident.”

  Angelique belted out a song for Amber, and Amber gave her a round of applause.

  “Yes, she’ll be great. We can work with her.”

  “Camden says they won’t be able to market me,” Angelique said.

  “He did? Since when did you start caring about record label stuff? We’re here for the music all day every day. And you, girlfriend, can blow, you hear me?”

  “That’s all I needed to hear,” Ivy said. “We’ll call you and set up a development schedule.”

  “Okay, girl,” Amber said.

  “Are you going to be in town on Sunday? We’d love to have you sing with the praise team,” Ivy said.

  “I think I will be here. I’ll come on up to the pulpit when I get to service.”

  Ivy hugged Amber. “’Kay. Love you lots.”

  “Love you too.”

  Ivy and Angelique left the studio and Amber plopped down in one of the soft leather chairs. Camden dug into Amber’s leftover food without heating it up.

  “How’s everything in Dallas?” Camden asked. “Your mom all right?”

  “You know she doesn’t take her blood pressure medicine like she’s supposed to, so I had to get in her behind about that. But other than that she’s okay.”

  “What about Akil?”

  “You know he’s living the life being Blaine’s henchman. Blaine just bought him a new condo.”

  Camden rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay. You were in OKC too?”

  Amber nodded. “You know I had to see about Dawn.”

  “Oh.”

  Camden waited for Amber to elaborate, because she always did. She insisted on keeping him up to date with every birthday, holiday, and milestone in Dawn and Blaine’s life. He wished she wouldn’t. It didn’t make him feel any closer to forgiving them. Five years hadn’t dulled the sting of their betrayal.

  “So when are you going to give up that apartment in Dallas and move here full-time?”

  She smiled. “Why would I do that? I have lots of boos in Dallas.”

  “You’ve got lots of boos in Atlanta too.”

  “You’re right.”

  “It’s easier for our consulting and artist preparation business if you’re here in Atlanta full-time.”

  “I’ll take that under advisement. Are you going to ask about your nephews and niece?”

  “Sure. How are the children who are my blood relatives that I don’t know?”

  “Well, B. J. looks more and more like you every day. He looks like you’re his daddy, to be honest.”

  “But I’m not, though.”

  “I know, but I just wish you could see him. It’s been five years. The babies are beautiful. The twins have pretty hazel eyes and curly hair like Blaine. It’s time for us to come back together. We used to all be family. I can’t take this.”

  “You’re around them all the time. It’s never going to be the same again.”

  “But you say you’re over Dawn.”

  “Been over Dawn.”

  “So why can’t you forgive?”

  Camden stared at the ceiling and groaned. He was so tired of having this conversation with Amber.

  “Why can’t they apologize?” Camden asked. “No one has once opened their mouth to say we’re sorry for hurting you.”

  “Dawn apologized.”

  “Barely. She justified her actions. There was no justification for what she did.”

  Amber stroked Camden’s smooth hair and shook her head. “Cam, the forgiveness is for you, not for them. Let it go. You haven’t fallen in love, your music isn’t the same.”

  “The music is fine.”

  “Well, sure. Technically it’s fine, but you haven’t written anything close to ‘Born to Worship’ since all of this happened. Something is broken inside you. Forgiving them lets your healing begin.”

  “I hear what you’re saying, Amber, and I know what you say is true. It’s just very hard to practice that when someone ripped your heart out. It’s dang near impossible.”

  “Come home with me the next time. Come visit. Your mother wants to see you.”

  “She is welcome to visit here. I even offered to fly her in.”

  “She’s refusing because she wants you to
come home. Please, Camden. Come home with me. If it is too much for you, we can always leave.”

  “If I do it just once, will you leave me alone?”

  Amber said, “Maybe. Maybe I’ll leave you alone. I can’t promise you that.”

  Camden would do this for Amber, and because he missed his mother terribly. But he had absolutely no interest in Blaine, Dawn, or their children. He also didn’t care about putting So G.I.F.T.E.D back together again in the way that it was. There was a time and season for everything, and Camden’s season for dealing with Blaine was long past. This was Camden’s season for moving on.

  CHAPTER 43

  Kenya stretched across the hotel room bed in the red lingerie that Blaine bought her to celebrate their first anniversary. She was trying to get Blaine’s attention, but he was busy reading his emails and responding to them.

  “Come on to bed, babe. We don’t have much time,” Kenya said.

  “We’ve got all the time we want, sweetie.”

  “But we have to leave tomorrow morning to get back to church.”

  Blaine set his phone down and came to bed. He untied his robe and slid under the sheets naked.

  “Come over here, girl. You got me ready now.”

  Kenya crawled over to Blaine and purred. “You know what gets me ready?”

  “What, baby?”

  “When you tell me you love me and that you’re going to leave Dawn.”

  Blaine said, “Do we have to talk about that right now? You know how I feel about you. I’ve known you’d be mine from the very first time I saw you.”

  “So what took you so long to come after me?”

  “Don’t you remember that Dawn was pregnant when we met? You were worth the wait, though.”

  “I was. Does anyone know about me?”

  “Does anyone know? What do you mean? Why would I tell anyone about you?” Blaine asked. “I’m a pastor. I can’t go around broadcasting that I’ve got a woman on the side.”

  “Not even Akil?”

  Blaine was pretty sure Akil knew exactly what was going on between him and Kenya. It was his job to know. But they’d never had a conversation about it, and Blaine had never admitted it. Akil simply looked the other way and made sure no one else found out about his indiscretions.