“May I help you?” she asked.
I put on my best smile and asked,“Are you Amber’s mother?”
She gave me a curious look from my eyes down to my toes. “Yes, I am. Who are you?”
I nibbled on my lip trying to determine the best way to proceed. “I’m sorry, this is kind of awkward. My name is Noelle Gordon; my husband, Grant, was your daughter’s teacher last year.”
The sparkle in her eyes told me she knew exactly who I was. “Yes, what can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if I could talk to your daughter?”
“She’s not here. What is it that you need from my daughter?” She was starting to get a little testy with me and I couldn’t fault the woman. I would have done the same.
Laughing, I tried to lighten an already awkward situation. “This might sound ridiculous, but around two months ago someone dropped a baby off on my porch. I heard your daughter was pregnant during her senior year and I was wondering if maybe . . . Amber was Sierra’s mama.” There, I said it.
The female smirked like she knew the answer to a secret before she even set her lips to speak. “Yes, as a matter of fact, Sierra is her daughter.”
My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe I had finally found her. It hurt knowing the circumstances because discovering Amber opened a whole other jar of problems for me.
“Finally,” I said, followed by a deep breath. “After all these weeks of searching, I’ve finally found her. May I come by later and talk to Amber?”
Her mother shook her head. “She won’t be here. She’s going to school in South Carolina.”
“South Carolina?” I was completely thrown for a loop by this entire situation. “No offense . . . but what kind of mother leaves her child on a doorstep, then leaves town?”
The woman folded her arms against her chest, then replied, “She didn’t leave her on your doorstep. I did.”
“But why? And what did you mean by . . . what’s done in the dark?”
She smoothed her hands along the front of her shirt, then rolled her eyes in my direction. “No offense, but this is really none of your business. The person you need to be asking is your husband.” She then slammed the door in my face.
40
Candace
Ever since I got fired, I’d been moping around feeling sorry for myself. I didn’t have a job. My man was a joke, and I was the laughingstock of the neighborhood. I guess I could say life wasn’t fair, but did it have to happen to mine?
“You can’t keep feeling sorry for yourself. Isn’t that what you told me?”
I opened my eyes and stared up at my best friend while she put a deep conditioner in my hair. If Chauncey hadn’t been suspended, I would have never stepped foot in Situations again.
Tiffany gave me a sympathetic smile as she spoke. “You told me to let it go and be thankful I found out when I did; well, I am thankful you told me. I just hate that you lost your job for it.”
I shrugged my shoulder. “I knew the consequences when I told you. But I just couldn’t let you marry that fool without knowing the truth.”
“And I thank you for it. I definitely would have been making the worst mistake of my life.” Tiffany leaned me back in the seat. I always loved the feel of warm water running through my hair. She waited until I was sitting over at her booth before she asked, “Have you talked to Chauncey?”
I glared at her. “For what? It’s humiliating enough as it is.”
“Candy, you should at least give the man a chance to explain,” she scolded.
“Screw him,” I said, sitting up straight in my seat.
Tiffany grew silent and had sense enough to know I was done talking about Chauncey. A couple of days ago, she told me he wanted to apologize to me in person, but I still couldn’t forgive him. Just thinking about Chauncey hurt so much I wanted to punch my fist through a wall. I was crazy about him and I thought we really had something there, but it had all been a lie. To think I had wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. How was I supposed to forgive him after he lied and broke my heart? As far as I was concerned, things could never be the same again. The best thing he could do was stay the hell away from me.
After Tiffany hooked up my hair, I stopped at Church’s Chicken for a two-piece, then headed home. I didn’t have the guts to tell my parents I lost my job, so I kept dropping Miasha off in the morning and picking her up at five. Thank goodness Mama always contacted me on my cell phone, so I wasn’t worried about her calling the clinic and finding out. The last thing I needed was for Papa to start worrying and insisting that Miasha and I move back in with them. I loved them, but they could be smothering and overly protective at times.
I was sitting and watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show when I heard a knock at the door. I started to ignore it because not too many people knew I had lost my job. But whoever it was, kept knocking, so I went and answered the door and turned up my nose when I spotted Tyree standing there. He had been MIA for the past three weeks.
“What’re you doing here?” I asked, and allowed my eyes to travel down his body. Tyree was standing there in jeans and a nice button-down shirt, wearing a belt, and was even smelling good.
“I dropped by the clinic and they told me you didn’t work there anymore.”
“What do you want?” I asked with a suspicious frown.
He scowled at my attitude. “I wanna talk to you about something.”
I stepped aside and he moved inside. I’ll admit I was a little surprised that he was out and about this early. Tyree was a night owl and spent most of his day in bed. He took a seat on the couch and I moved in the recliner across from him. Since I was depressed I had needed something to cheer me up, so I had taken my last bit of money to get my hair and nails done, which meant the rent-to-own company wouldn’t get their money this week for my living room furniture.
“Where’re you on your way to?”
He gave me a stupid grin. “I got a job.”
“Hold up . . . a job? Since when do you work?” The last time I remember him working was flipping burger, and that lasted all of two days.
“Yeah, I’m working at the Heinz plant in the packaging division.”
“Okay, hold up . . . let’s back this up a moment. You telling me you’re punching the clock? Since when?
“For about three weeks now,” he replied with that same ridiculous smile on his face.
“Ain’t that a bitch.”
He chuckled at my reaction. “My supervisor made me a lead last night.”
“You mean to tell me you’re doing the damn thang?”
He shrugged like it was no big deal, but I could tell he was proud. “I figured it was time for me to get myself together if I was going to be a good father.”
“I’m happy for you.” And I was. “Does that mean I’ll be getting my money on time now?”
“Yep, I get paid every week.” He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a couple of hundred and sat them on the table that unknowingly he just saved from being repossessed. “I also want to prove to you that I can be a good man to you, too.” He rose and moved beside me and took a seat. “Candy . . . I still love you. Hell, I never stopped and I would like a chance to show you. What you think about us getting married and doing it right this time?”
“Married?” I looked over at him. For years I had waited for this moment, but he was too busy hanging in them streets. There was a time when I could have laid down butt naked in the middle of the road and declared my love to him. Tyree was still just as good-looking and was Miasha’s father, but he wasn’t Chauncey and that’s what hurt. I loved that man and even though he played me, I wasn’t ready yet to move on. “I don’t know, Tyree.”
The stern set of his lips said he wasn’t ready to take no for an answer. “You don’t have to say anything just yet, but think about it.”
I nodded. “Okay, I’ll think about it, but I won’t promise anything.” I don’t know why I was hesitant. It wasn’t like Chauncey and I were getting
back together. Tyree was my daughter’s father and if anything, Miasha deserved to have both her parents in her life. At least I knew what I had with Tyree. He smoked too many cigarettes and hung out too damn much with his boys, but it definitely beat a blank.
“I better get out of here so I won’t be late for work.”
“Damn, who would have ever guessed you would be saying those words?” We both had to laugh at that. He rose and I followed him to the door. “Thanks for the money, Tyree.”
He swung around. “Anytime.”
Next thing I knew he was kissing me. I opened my mouth and memories of our time together came flooding back, but then I found myself comparing his techniques to Chauncey’s. Tyree didn’t even come close, and that was enough to make me wanna scream. I pulled back.
“I’ll talk to you later,” he said with a confident smile, then headed down the stairs and out the door, leaving me with something to seriously consider.
41
Chauncey
“What are you doing here?”
I stared at my mama as she climbed the stairs to the three-bedroom, two-story home where I grew up. I had watched her coming up the street in her nurse’s uniform. A Dodge Intrepid was parked at the curb, but she preferred to take public transportation and save on gas and parking.
“I asked you a question?”she demanded. A hand was at her thick waist just the way it always was when she was cussing me out for something I had done. “Did you lose your hearing while you were locked up? I asked what you’re doing here?”
“I came to see you.” I had hoped for my mama to have showed some sign she was happy to see me. That there was still some love in her heart for her only child, but it hurt me to say I saw absolutely nothing.
“I thought I told you never to set foot at my door again.”
She still wore the same short afro. Only now it was practically gray. “I was hoping after all this time you missed your baby boy,” I replied with a smirk.
“My son’s dead to me. He died six years ago.” She could have stabbed me in the chest and it wouldn’t have sliced me as bad as her words.
I moved closer and smiled. “We all make mistakes and I made mine, but I’m a better person because of that.”
“So what do you want from me, a trophy or something?” She shook her head. “You raped a woman and there is no forgiving that.”
Even after all these years, there was no point in arguing my case with her. It didn’t matter to her if the girl was sixteen or forty or that I had been tricked. All that mattered to Wanda Wilson was her only son had been convicted for rape.
“At first I thought you hated me because of my conviction, but ever since I spoke to my father I discovered your hatred runs deeper than that.”
“Your father?” she snarled.
“Yes, my father,” I said, and she had the nerve to try and look angry and betrayed. Ain’t that some shit. “He told me everything about how you wouldn’t let me see him. All those times you had me sitting for hours waiting for him because you said my ol’ man was coming to pick me up, when he had no idea where we even lived. How could you do something like that to your own son?”
“Why you think? Your father left us for another woman and had a child. He didn’t care about us.”
“That child’s name is Linda. And yeah, he was wrong for having an affair, but you were the one who put him out. You were the one who told him to never come back.”
“Of course I did! Do you think I would stay with a man after finding out he had been unfaithful!”
“I wouldn’t expect you to, but no matter what he did to you, you had no right taking my father from me.”
“He lost that right the second he walked out that door.”
I stared down at the woman who barely stood five feet tall. “You are such a bitter woman. Thank goodness for Ms. Hattie. Did you know she used to let Dad sneak over and see me? He was there every day until she died.” I could tell she didn’t like hearing that because her beady brown eyes narrowed dangerously. “Tell me something . . . what did you do with all of my birthday and Christmas presents?”
Her bottom lip quivered. “I donated them to Goodwill.”
My ol’ man had been telling the truth. He hadn’t been lying. Anger boiled inside and I felt ready to explode and scream at the top of my lungs. “Why?” How could a woman hate a man so much that she was willing to take my father away? “Mama, you tell me you can’t find it in your heart to forgive me for going to jail, well, that’s too bad. Unlike you, I blame you for nothing and forgive you for everything you’ve done to me.”
She gave me a long look and silence past while I waited for her say something, anything, to let me know that despite everything she still loved me. “Listen, I had a long day. If that’s it, then please leave me alone so I can go in the house and relax.”
I shook my head and tried to hold it together, but her rejection after all these years hurt me to the core. “I came over here because I had hoped that once you saw me you would forget the past and be happy to see me, but now that I’m here, I know that will never happen, and guess what? I am okay with that because I know it’s nothing that I’ve done. It’s just the type of person that you are. You’re hateful and unforgiving and as hard as it is to say this, I know I don’t need someone like you in my life.”
I walked off leaving her standing there on the top step. I waited until I reached the corner before I looked over my shoulder and saw she was gone. I wished Candace was there so she would wrap her arms around me and tell me it was okay, but I ruined any chances of being with her. I lost the two women I loved; one for my own stupidity and the other due to no fault of my own.
42
Tiffany
“Tiffany! Tiffany, hurry and get your butt in here!”
There was no telling what Candace was getting ready to bitch about now. I rose from the bed and moved into the living room where she was standing in front of the television. When she swung around to face me, her eyes were so wide, they were frightening.
“Oh my God! Tiffany, you’re not going to believe this?”
I glanced from her to the television screen that was showing the weather. She was scaring me. “Believe what?”
Tiffany started waving her hands wildly in the air. “They’re gonna finish the story in a minute, but listen to this. King Funeral Homes is under investigation!”
“What?” I couldn’t have possibly heard her right.
She nodded her head. “There were reports of a foul smell coming from the funeral home on 78th Street, so they sent the state out to investigate and they discovered a corpse in a body bag in a closet. Not only that, two other bodies were left decaying out on tables.” She was talking so fast it took a few seconds for the words to register.
“What?” I couldn’t believe it. “When?”
“Shhhhh . . . it’s back on.”
“Investigation began when two families complained they had not received the cremated remains of their love ones. One also reported that residents in the neighborhood started complaining of a strong odor coming from the location. King Funeral Homes at 7815 South Cottage Grove has temporarily been shut down until all violations have been corrected. Since the story was first aired, other families have come forward reporting jewelry being removed from their love one’s possession.”
All I could say was, “Wow.”
“I know.” Candace took a seat on the couch. “I guess we need to watch the news more often because for the last week, King Funeral Homes has been all over the news with reports of personal belongings being stolen.”
I watched Kimbel’s mother on television saying how they had fired staff members suspected of thievery and hoped to return the belongings to the loved ones. “The largest black funeral home in the city and we can’t even trust our own people,” I mumbled. It was pathetic, to say the least.
“I know. That’s crazy.”
I was still pissed at Kimbel, but his parents were good people and I felt bad
for them. Here they were planning to open another funeral home and then something like this happened. When I got to work later that morning, I was still thinking about them and feeling bad, so on my break I decided to give Mrs. King a call. I was shocked she was even answering her phone.
“Hello?”
As soon as I heard her voice I started having second thoughts. After all, I was supposed to have married her son. I was probably the last person they wanted to hear from.
“Hello? Is someone there?”
So much for hanging up. “Mrs. King . . . this is Tiffany.”
“Tiffany? Dear, it is so good to hear from you! I wanted to call, you but I figured . . . it was better to just stay out of it. How are you?”
“I’m fine. The question is how are you holding up?”
She sighed heavily in the receiver. “We’re taking it one day at a time. We made some careless management decisions. Now that we fired most of the staff at the Cottage Grove location, all we can do is hope that it will never happen again, and ensure loved ones are cremated in a timely manner. Now, if only we could find out where the valuables have gone.”
“I’m sure they will surface.”
“I’m sure they will. Kimbel is checking every pawn shop in the city of Chicago.”
I frowned at the mention of his name. Asshole. “Well, you hang in there and I’ll say a prayer for both of you.” I’m sure Mama was already down on her knees praying enough for the both of us.
“Thank you, dear, and please drop by sometime and visit us. Even though you didn’t marry my son, I’m sure you had your reasons and I respect that. Just don’t be a stranger.”
“I will.” I hung up feeling good. I thought it would have been hard to listen to her voice. I had wanted so badly to be a part of their family.
I busted my ass the rest of the afternoon and was dead on my feet by the time I got to Candace’s that evening. Yet the second I stepped into her apartment, I grabbed a glass of water, then turned on the television to catch the late night news. They were talking about the funeral home again. It had also been the hot topic in the salon for the day.
Suspicions Page 24