Lying Lips

by Mahaughani Fiyah

  “Why aren’t you lying in bed with me?” I asked him cheerfully. Slowly, cautiously he looked up and directly at me. His face, that handsome face, was filled with worry and stress. But his eyes, his eyes were what got to me. As I looked into those bedroom eyes, I saw how swollen and puffy they were. Red rimmed and sad is how I would describe them as I quickly came to the realization that he’d been crying. “Baby, what’s wrong?” I held his hand tighter, tried to sit up, but his hand was out in a flash gently lowering me back down.

  “Keep still,” he began slowly, hoarsely, his voice sounding rough and gravelly. “What is your name?”

  Had his face not registered so much worry and fear, I’d have laughed at him for asking such a silly question, but because of the stress that was radiating from him, I quickly gave him the answer that we both already knew.

  “Lon..” Immediately I paused and caught myself before I said the wrong thing. “Legaci. My name is Legacy Carmichael…” I paused for a second. “Legacy Carmichael Styles.” Immediately I saw his tense shoulders relax just a little.

  “What is my name?” He threw another question at me.

  “Your name is Asanti Styles. Asanti Maximus Styles.”

  “Who am I to you?”

  This was crazy, but I went with it.

  “You are my husband.”

  More stress rolled off of, and away from, him.

  “What is today?” Yet another question thrown at me.

  “Asanti there is no—“

  “What is today, Legaci?” He spoke so hard and fast that I jumped.

  “Today is Monday, October 20, 2014.” Now I was becoming afraid. And the stiff way in which his body jerked at my answer, the tension that came back with my words, had me suddenly as worried as he appeared to be.

  Without acknowledging my answer, he reached onto the night stand and grabbed the phone. “She’s awake,” was all he said, then hung up. He stood and began to pace the room. Pace the room and watch me with eyes that bored into my soul.

  “Asanti,” I spoke quietly, softly.

  “Yes,” he spoke so gently, so quietly, I began to tremble.

  “What’s wrong?” He stopped pacing, turned fully to me.

  I was scared to death.

  He knew!

  He knew!

  My mind kept telling me that he knew. I’d somehow been exposed. My lies and treachery had been exposed and in a minute Ashton was going to walk into the room and my whole world was going to fall apart. I was going to lose everything. My husband, the first one, my children, my life. Asanti.

  “Baby, will you please come here. I can explain everything,” I began to speak fast. Too fast. “It wasn’t intentional. I wasn’t thinking, it just all happened so fast. I should have been stronger, more able to resist, but I couldn’t. I was weak and—“

  “Stop it, Legaci. Stop it right now.” His voice was still, quiet, almost deadly. “How the hell can you blame yourself for an illness?” He walked toward me. Then he stopped as if remembering something. Backed away again.

  “I can’t touch you right now. As much as I want to hold you, to love you, I’m afraid that if I touch you I’ll hurt you.” He ran his hand backward over his head, stared at me. “Let’s just wait until Dr. McGill gets here.”

  “Doctor?” I questioned in a shocked voice. “Doctor?” I said again.

  Then it hit me. He thinks I’m crazy. Nuts. That I have some kind of mental condition that I can’t help. He’s going to try to have me committed. He’s my husband, he has the legal right to do so. I’m going to be locked up in a nuthouse in California with no way to get to my Louisiana family.

  Oh God!

  He cant touch me because he’s so mad he’ll kill me if he does. But he thinks I’m too crazy to help betraying him, toying with his emotions. I have to get out of here. Why did I lie? Why did I have to marry two men? What the hell is wrong with me? I needed to get out of there and I needed to do it fast.

  “Asanti look,” I threw the covers off of me and quickly threw my legs over the side of the bed.

  Hastily I planted my feet on the floor, stood up, and immediately the room spun out of control. Instantly I found that I was in Asanti’s arms moments before I would have hit the floor. Suddenly I was nauseated, my stomach rolling uproariously. Sweat popped out on my skin and rolled down my spine. My vision began to blur.

  “It’s okay, baby,” I heard Asanti say as he lowered me back to the bed. I held on to him for dear life. “Everything’s okay,” he said to me as once again I blacked out.

  This time when I opened my eyes there was a doctor present. “Hello Mrs. Styles,” he said as he huddled over me shining a light in my eyes. Where the hell did he come from? I tried to push him away from me and sit up, but his strong hands grabbed my shoulders and laid me back down. “I don’t think getting up is a good idea right now,, you’re a very sick woman.”

  “I’m not sick!” I almost shouted. The panic came back to me. They were trying to lock me in a loony bin. All because I married two men they were trying to treat me as if I was insane. “There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m fine,” I fought as I tried to free myself from him.

  “I beg to differ,” he said as he continued to hold me down. “And the fact that you’ve been unconscious for four days agrees with me.”

  “Huh?” That knocked the wind out of my sails. “Four days?” I looked to Asanti who was moving toward me.

  “Baby,” he said gently as he moved the doctor away from me and sat on the bed near me. Gently, he grabbed my hand. “What is the last day you remember? What do you think today’s date is?”

  “I told you already. Monday, October 20, 2014.”

  “Mrs. Styles,” the doctor began. Asanti shook his head vehemently.

  “Baby,” he began as he stroked my hand, “Today is Friday October 24, 2014.” He reached over and grabbed the Newspaper on the bedside table. Passed it to me.

  I looked at the date and my mouth dropped. To further prove his point, Asanti pushed the button that raised the television from its hiding spot at the foot of the bed and put the channel on the news. At the bottom of the screen was the date. And the time. It was indeed four days later.

  And I was stunned.

  I had just missed four days of my life. Four entire days. I hadn’t spoken to my husband or my kids. I hadn’t called my job. No one knew where I was. And Asanti looked scared to death.

  “Baby,” he said with such choked emotion it touched my soul. Then he stopped and stared at me. The panicked look in my eyes caused him immense worry.

  “I’m okay,” I told him. I knew not to move any more than necessary so I simply held his gaze. “I’m really okay.”

  That’s when he touched me. Grabbed my face between his hands. Kissed me gently on the lips. “Baby,” was all he said again.

  Then the doctor cleared his throat and had us both looking over at him. “I’m really sorry to interrupt, but I need to examine Mrs. Styles.”

  Slowly, reluctantly, Asanti moved away from me, but not so far that he couldn’t touch me. He held tightly onto my hand as the doctor gave me a thorough and somewhat intrusive exam. When it was over, he looked at Asanti and then at me.

  “She’s exhausted, dehydrated, and her blood pressure is high. To top it off, she’s stressed out beyond what is normal. The fever has broken and her blood pressure is lower than before, but it’s still high. She needs rest Mr. Styles,” he said as he eyed Asanti seriously. “And not just slowing down a little during the day, I mean she needs to lie in bed for the next week or so and rest.”

  My mouth dropped open. A day or two I could handle, but a week was out of the question. I had a family that needed me. They couldn’t go an entire week without me, with no word from me. Especially after the four days I was already missing in action. I had to get home.

  “Asanti,” I blurted out, “I can’t stay here for an entire week. I have a job that I need to do. I need to get…”

  “Baby, your health come
s first,” Asanti told me.

  “I know that, but really, I’m fine. Absolutely fine. I have too much to do and too many things that need my attention. If I don’t get back—“

  “Mrs. Styles, I know you have things that need your attention,” Dr. McGill cut me off, “but honestly, if you don’t take care of yourself you can die. Then those things will never have your attention again,” the doctor said to me.

  That closed my throat and stopped the words of protest from escaping. Immediately tears rolled down my face.

  “Dr. McGill,” Asanti began, “thank you for your time. I’ll handle things from here.”

  “Asanti, she really needs—“

  “That will be all,” he told the doctor with a look that would have scared the hell out of lesser men.

  The minute the doctor was out of the room I was trying to be on my feet, but Asanti put a stop to that with a look that scared me stupid. “Sit down!” He spoke as if he was speaking to a child. Without thought I obeyed him. Something in his eyes had me shaking and if I was wearing boots I would have been shaking in them.

  “But—“ I tried to begin.

  “No buts. You’re staying in bed and that’s final.” I looked at him with panic in my eyes. I know he saw it, but that did not change his mind. “I will not budge on this, Legaci. I will not budge,” he looked at me. “I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you are in bed for a week even if I have to put everything in my life on hold and stay in bed with you.”

  He was serious. Very serious. Looking at him told me that there would be no way to stop him from making sure that I got better.

  Damn!

  I needed to get to New Orleans. I needed to be closer to my family. I needed a way to get there and I was willing to do anything to accomplish that mission.

  But how?

  “Talk to me,” my husband, the second one, began in a gentle voice. “I can see your mind scrambling. And baby, even if your body is at rest, you’ll never get any better if your mind isn’t at rest as well.” He grabbed my chin and held my gaze. “So talk to me. What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?”

  “I just want to go home,” I said like a pouting child. “I’d rest better if I was in New Orleans.”

  He stared at me for a long time, saying nothing as he did so, as if he was trying to see more than I wanted to say to him, more than I wanted to reveal to him. It made me nervous. It made me wonder if he knew. Then as if coming to some kind of conclusion, he spoke.

  “If I get you to New Orleans will you promise to rest then?”

  Those words were like music to my ears.

  “Yes!” I blurted out without thought. “I promise I will rest and not get out of bed if you do that.”

  Again he was silent. Quiet. Without sound. I was just about to start fidgeting when he spoke again.

  “Then I’ll make the arrangements,” he told me as he stared into my eyes. “Just give me a minute,” he told me as grabbed his phone and stepped into another room.

  Dodged another bullet there, and I was grateful for it. I needed to be with my other family for a while and if I was in New Orleans I could do just that. Of course I would rest and take it easy, sort of, but at least I’d be with my family.

  My real family.

  My first family.

  I could at least make things up to them. Get them situated and start repairing the damage that I’d caused between me and Ashton.

  Asanti stepped back into the room.

  “The arrangements have been made. We leave first thing in the morning.”

  Huh?

  What?

  Had I heard him right?

  Did he actually say we’ll be leaving in the morning?

  I could not believe my ears. He was coming with me. How could I not have known that? How could I not have seen that coming? I was slipping. Not staying on top of my game. I needed to change that. Asanti had to stay here and I had to figure out a way to ensure that he did.

  “Baby,” I began, having no idea what in the world I would say. He simply looked at me. “Baby,” I started again. Then my mind went blank. Completely blank. I needed another lie. I needed something to say that would make Asanti stay put.

  Why not go for the truth? The truth wrapped in the midst of lies.

  “I want you to stay here. I need you to stay here.” That was the truth.

  “Why?” He asked simply. So simply that it scared the hell out of me.

  “Because I will feel terrible if you leave your company just to cater to me. You need to be here right now.” That was truth also.

  “I’ll only be here if you are here.”

  “Asanti your company needs you now. I’ll be okay.” Even more truth.

  He stared at me again. Hard. “You’re my wife. You’re not feeling well. Where you go, I go.”

  Damn!

  This wasn’t going quite how I expected it to go.

  What now?

  Start lying!

  “Asanti,” I began with a pleading look on my face, a look that I hoped would convince him to stay, “I will never be able to rest if I know that I’m the reason you’ve abandoned your job, your company. You’re needed here. All you’ll be doing in New Orleans is babysitting me.”

  Half truth, half lie.

  I definitely would not be able to rest if he was in New Orleans, but not because I gave a damn about his job, which I did. But I’d be more concerned with keeping him away from my real family, too concerned with that to get any rest at all.

  He was quiet as he considered.

  “As you said, I need mental rest as well as physical rest. With you in New Orleans I’ll get the physical but the mental won’t happen.”

  Still he was quiet.

  I needed more.

  “Asanti, I love you as much as you love me, and I worry about you the same way you worry about me. Knowing that you were in my hometown with me as you worried about what was going on here would torture me and I wouldn’t be able to focus on anything but that.”

  Half truth. I did love him, but my concern wouldn’t be with him and his company. It would be with him discovering my secret, finding out my lies.

  “I don’t want you to worry about me, Legaci. I can take care of everything from New Orleans and I can also keep an eye on you.”

  Damn! This was harder than I thought.

  “Just because you don’t want me to worry about you doesn’t mean I won’t.” Now I had to pull out the big guns. “You’re my husband Asanti, I will worry if you’re not here taking care of what means the world to you, what you once told me you loved to the point that you’d rather be doing nothing else.”

  He started to speak then closed his mouth. A counterargument escaped him.

  “You have a valid point. A very valid point.”

  Bam!

  “So you’ll stay here while I go there?”

  “No.” Damn, damn, damn! “But I’ll compromise,” he told me with a smile as I wondered what the compromise was.

  “And how will you do that?”

  “I’ll send you off tomorrow morning alone and I’ll meet you there three days from now. A compromise.”

  I considered. Really considered. Could I get a house for us to live in and make it look like my home in the three days I was supposed to be resting. I would have to.

  So I would make a way to do it.

  “Okay,” was all I said.

  “But Legaci Styles,” he said as he grabbed both of my hands, “you have to promise me you will take excellent care of my wife until I get there.”

  “I will,” I said with a smile. “I’ll keep absolutely still and stay in bed until you arrive.”

  That was a complete lie.

  The minute I landed in New Orleans the next day I was on the move. The first thing I did was call Asanti to assure him that I had made it to the city safely, that I was okay, and that I was on my way home to get in bed and rest. The next thing I did was immediately take a cab to my real
home where I lived with real family.

  I knew no one would be there when I arrived because the kids were at school and Ashton was at work.

  I was so wrong.

  The minute I stepped through the door, Ashton was on me like white on rice.

  “Hello, Mrs. Bentencourt,” he said as he stepped to me. “Glad you could make it home.”

  He seemed cold. Distant. That was new behavior for him.

  “Hi Ashton. I’m glad to be home.”

  “What does your job have to say about you being here?” He asked with disdain in his voice.

  Huh?

  My job?

  What the hell was he talking about?

  Then it hit me. My job. I’d told him that I was doing an undercover story with some dangerous people. And I’d told him this before I’d gotten sick. I’d hidden lies inside of the truth. Truth inside of lies. Then I had gotten sick and forgotten everything. I needed to get it together and quickly before I gave myself away.

  How could I forget my alibi?

  The thing that would keep me afloat until I could get rid of Asanti.

  “They’re taking care of business that’s going to keep them occupied for the next few days. It had nothing to do with the story I’m trying to get so I decided to get out of there and come home. I missed my family.”

  Ashton said nothing. Only looked at me as if he was trying to see the truth in me because he didn’t believe my words. Instantly I was offended. Twenty-five years and suddenly he didn’t trust me. But I had to control that anger and acknowledge that over the last few weeks I had done everything I could to betray that trust. I’d made it so that he couldn’t, didn’t trust me.

  So I stared at him.

  And tried to understand.

  “Did you really?” He posed the question with ice in his voice.

  “Yes, I did.” That was the truth. “I really did.”

  “London, we need to talk. Right now.”

  “O-kaaay,” I said cautiously. I had no idea what was coming. Wasn’t ready to play hardball with Ashton when I had so much to handle with Asanti.