“Candace! It’s on again.”
She came out of her room and took a seat beside me on the couch as the two of us listened. Things had gotten so bad families were talking about taking their business to the white man. Kimbel’s parents were too ashamed to even show their faces and had hired a PR person to represent the family. But when the story shifted to the stolen valuables, a woman appeared on the screen standing in front of the funeral home, holding up a photo of her grandmother. “I’ve been asking the funeral home for months and got no answers. All I want is my grandmother’s ring back.” The camera zoomed in on the ring and I choked on my drink.
“What’s wrong?”
“That’s my ring,” I said between coughs.
“You got a ring like that?”
I started frantically shaking my head. “No, that’s my engagement ring. Now hush!” I listened to the woman say that the ring had been in her family for generations. A thousand dollar reward was being given for information leading to the return. As soon as the weather man came on I raced to the bedroom, rummaged through my jewelry box, and came back with the diamond and emerald ring. “Look!”
Our eyes met. “It does look like that missing ring. You don’t think . . .”
She didn’t need to finish the question. I already knew what she was getting at—the same conclusion I had come to. “I don’t think . . . I know. Kimbel stole this ring off a dead woman’s body and gave it to me.”
Candace brought her hand to cup her mouth. “I can’t believe this shit! He stole jewelry from dead folks.” She was shaking her head. My heart was pounding so hard I could barely speak. All I could think about was Mrs. King. I felt so sorry for her, but I had to do the right thing. I slipped my shoes back on my feet. “Where you going?”
Glancing over my shoulder, I replied, “I’m about to make Kimbel pay for everything he put me through. You know what they say . . . Karma’s a bitch.” I grabbed my purse and headed down to the police station. A thousand dollars sounded real good right about now.
43
Noelle
When Grant arrived home from the airport, I was sitting in the living room sipping a glass of wine, waiting. As soon as he had called me to let me know his plane had landed at Midway Airport, I put Sierra to sleep and had to make myself a drink to calm my nerves. Sleeping with a student. It was a wonder Amber’s mom hadn’t pressed charges; instead, we were gonna have to give her money. Money we’d have to pay to keep her quiet about the whole situation. Her mother hadn’t said as much, but I already knew what it was going to take. Any other woman would have thrown her husband out into the street and made his ass beg for forgiveness, but not me. I planned to make Grant’s life miserable. I was going to make my husband raise his child and have a constant reminder of what he did to us and our marriage.
I wiped tears from my cheeks. I deserved better and dammit, I was going to get it. And to think, all this time I thought Sierra belonged to Scott.
I heard Grant’s car pull into the garage. I just sat there and waited for him to enter the room. As soon as he did, I rose to greet him. “Hey, baby.” he said and looked happy to see me standing there waiting.
“Hello. How was your trip?” I asked while trying to count backward from ten. My eyes kept traveling to the letter opener on the coffee table. I wondered if I could stab him with it and win a temporary insanity plea? Grant walked farther into the room, then wrapped his arms around me. When our lips met all I could think about was him kissing that teenage girl.
Grant broke our kiss, looked at me, and smiled. “Man, it was an experience I will never forget!”
“I’m sure.” Probably like sleeping with teenagers.
“You would not believe how much our visit made a difference for those kids.”
I wondered if he’d slept with any of those Korean girls. I know I was letting my mind play tricks on me, but I couldn’t help it. While he went on and on about his experience, I contemplated pulling off the perfect murder.
“Something sure smells good,” he finally said.
I offered him an artificial smile.”I made meatloaf. Your favorite.”
He grinned. “Yes, it is. Give me two minutes to change and I’ll be right down.”
I paced the room, punched the wall a few times, and waited until we were seated at the table before I finally felt calm enough to say, “I have a new client. She said you used to be her teacher.”
“Really?” he said between chews. “Who is it?”
I reached for my glass. “Carmen . . . Carmen White.”
Grant’s face lit with recognition. “Sure. Bright girl. Has a lot of potential. I wonder what she’s doing with her life?”
“I got the impression she was working and attending community college,” I replied while stabbing my peas with my fork.
He shrugged. “Anything is better than nothing.”
“Anyway . . . while talking to her I found out who Sierra’s mother is.”
His eyes snapped to me. “What? That’s great news. Who is she?”
“Amber Andersen,” I said slow and controlled, then waited for his reaction.
“Amber . . . my former student Amber?” His eyes shifted nervously.
I nodded, then leaned back in my chair. “I went by and met her mother. She had a lot of things to say, and when I asked her who was Sierra’s father, she told me to talk to you.”
“Me?” he held up his hands. “Listen, Noelle . . . what my students talk to me about in private is between me and them.”
I cut my eyes at him. “I just bet. So did you know she was pregnant?”
Grant took a drink from his pop can before answering. “I suspected as much. After I heard she had dropped outta school, I went by her house to talk to her—”
“You went to her house?” I snapped, cutting him off.
He gave me a look like it was no big deal. “I’m a teacher and I was concerned. She hadn’t been in class for days and I wanted to know why. That was when Amber told me she might be pregnant.”
Did he really expect me to believe this shit he was trying to feed me? “Who’s the father?” I asked as I started stabbing peas again.
He shook his head. “I can’t say.”
“What do you mean you can’t say? Is it Scott?” I asked suspiciously.
He looked confused. “Scott? Hell no.”
“Then who else could it be because Sierra sure looks a lot like your side of the family?”
A light suddenly went off in his eyes. “What are you trying to say?”
I was sure I had a crazed look in my eyes. “I’m asking . . . is Sierra your daughter? Is that why you’re so adamant about getting her out of our house because you don’t want your little affair in my face?”
Grant glared across the table. “You’re sick, you know that? I am a teacher! I would never step over the line and violate a student’s trust.” I wanted to believe him. I really did, but how could I when all the facts said otherwise.
“What else can I believe? You won’t tell me who the father is, yet you deny it’s you. The baby looks just like Scott and Amber’s mother dropped her off on our doorstep.”
“Fine, if you don’t believe me, then let’s go over there.” He sprung from the chair.
“Right now?” I challenged.
“Yep, right now. Since you don’t believe me, I’m going to prove to you I’m not lying.” He shook his head. “It’s a shame my word just isn’t good enough.” There was sadness in his eyes and I know I hurt his feelings. Well, too bad. Grant wasn’t the only one hurting right now. I guess my husband thought I was going to say forget it or call his bluff. Not me. I got up, went to my room, and slipped on a pair of jeans and reached for my sneakers. Grant followed, realized I was serious, and for the first time, he looked a little worried.
“Maybe we should just wait till tomorrow after we have cooled off. It’s too late to be knocking on someone’s door.”
I glanced across the room at my alarm clock. It was almo
st ten o’clock. “I don’t think so. We’re getting this mess over tonight. So if there is anything you need to tell me, then you better do it now.” As soon as I had on my shoes, I got the diaper bag ready, then removed Sierra gently from her crib and grabbed her car seat. Grant was still standing in the same place I left him. “Don’t just stand there, let’s go,” I ordered. I was through playing games.
“Fine, but you’re going to regret accusing me of messing around with a student. I can’t wait to see your face when you find out you’re wrong.”
He climbed behind the wheel and was quiet all the way to Amber’s house. Part of me was starting to have second thoughts. What if I was wrong? If I was, things would never be the same between us again.
On the way, Grant tried to act like he didn’t remember where she lived. I had no problem giving him direction and when he pulled in front of the house, I turned to him and said, “You know I don’t like surprises. If there is anything you need to tell me, now is the time.” I was trying to give him one last chance to come clean because in about the next five minutes all hell was gonna break loose.
“I already told you I don’t have anything to hide.” He got out the car first and I starting to have a bad feeling all over again. The house was relatively dark except for a light at the front of the house. I wasn’t feeling anywhere near as confident as I followed Grant onto the porch and rang the doorbell. A few seconds passed before a light turned on and the door opened. A beautiful young woman stood there. Her eyes looked red and swollen like she had been crying. The second she recognized my husband, her jaw dropped.
“Mr. Gordon, what are you doing here?”
Out the corner of my eyes, I watched my husband shift nervously from side to side. “I came to speak with you and your mother.”
Her eyes darted from me to him. “What about?”
“Sierra,” I replied with a hint of attitude. I didn’t have all night to be playing guess who. The sooner we got to the bottom of it, the better.
Amber’s eyes grew wide. “You know where my daughter is?”
I wasn’t buying her behavior for a minute. “Of course we do. Unlike you and your mother, we didn’t leave her on someone else’s porch. She’s over in my car.” Before I could get the words out, Amber pushed past us and raced over to the car and opened the back door. As soon as she held Sierra in her arms, she started crying. I had tears in my own eyes. You could tell she really loved her baby. What the hell was going on?
“Who gave you my daughter?” she demanded to know as she moved onto the porch, carrying Sierra in her arms.
Grant came around and stood beside her. “Your mother left her on our porch.”
“What? Why? I’ve been crying my eyes out for two days. When I left for Army basic training, I signed my daughter over to my mom as temporary legal guardian while I was gone. When I got back she told me Sierra’s father came and took my baby.”
I rolled my eyes over at my husband. “She was with her father. Grant and I have been taking care of her.”
Grant blew out a heavy breath, then smoothed a hand across his head. “My wife has this strange idea that Sierra is my child.”
Amber gasped. “No way! Mr. Gordon? That’s crazy. This is Shawn Williams’s baby.”
My eyes traveled from one liar to the other. They both looked nervous and scared. I was sick of the games. “I think it’s time for everyone to stop lying. Dammit, Grant . . . you know that child is yours!”
Inside, I heard the shuffling of feet and someone coming toward the door. The porch light came on and the next thing I knew, Amber’s mother stepped out onto the porch, wearing a skimpy pink gown. Does she have no shame? “Now isn’t this sweet. One big happy family!”
Before I could tell the chick to check herself, Grant stepped forward with this stupid look on his face. “Lucy . . . is that you?”
“Hello, Grant,” she said with a smirk. “I bet you’re surprised to see me again.”
“Y-You’re Amber’s mother?” he stuttered and looked seconds away from passing out on the porch.
She was nodding and grinning at the same time. “Yep, in the flesh.”
I had to walk over to my husband and sniff him, because I swore he shit his pants the way he was staring at her. He had gotten caught and was stunned to silence. I was just glad that we were all there. No more lies. Before the night was over, everything was coming out in the open. Since the two of them were standing there looking stupid, I decided to get the conversation going again. “So Sierra is your daughter after all.”
“Go on, Grant, tell her,” Lucy said with a sly smile.
“Tell me what?” I said, and even Amber looked confused.
Lucy gave a loud, boisterous laugh. “Okay, since he’s obviously still a coward, I’ll tell you myself. Sierra’s not Grant’s daughter . . . Amber is.”
Next thing I knew, everything went black.
44
Tiffany
I was so excited about my date with Baughn, I was messing up heads left and right.
“Damn, Tif! I said honey blonde. I look like fucking Carrot Top.”
“Sorry, Sarah. I’ll put some toner on it and lighten it a bit.” It was like that all morning. I was so looking forward to my date.
I finished my last client by five, then hurried home and heated up the flatiron. While I was doing my hair, Candace came into the bedroom and took a seat on the bed.
“Tiffany, check this out. I was in the ladies’ room at work. It’s a pretty good size with about five stalls. Anyway . . . I went into the last one to take a dump. Of course, you know someone always has to come into the stall beside me.”
I nodded as I looked away from the mirror. “Girl, you know that’s how it always works.”
“I know. Anyway, where was I? Okay . . . I’m one of those who will wipe my behind when I’m finished until the tissue comes clean, but since I don’t sit on any public stools, I squat. I was trying to balance and wipe my butt at the same time. I lost my balance and dropped the tissue, and it flew across the floor over onto the next stall.”
“What? You lying?”
She giggled. “I’m serious. Dookey stains and all.”
“Oh my God!” I was screaming with laughter.
“Tiffany, gurl, I was like, oh shit! Now what am I going to do? I waited for the female in the next stall to say something and when she didn’t, I finally said forget it, then reached my hand under and retrieved it.”
“Oh my God! Candy, no you didn’t?” I said, even though the look on her face said she did.
She sucked her teeth. “What other choice did I have?”
“Not that.”
Candace leaned back onto the bed. “What you expect me to say, uhhhh, excuse me, but can you pass that back over here?”
We were falling out. I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes.
“All that woman saw was this black hand sliding under her stall,” she managed between chuckles.
“Yeah, but how many black females work in your building?” Candace was temping for a big law firm downtown and really liked her job a lot. The manager was so impressed with her skills, they were even considering keeping her on permanently. I was so happy for her because all that moping around had started to get on my nerves.
“There ain’t but two black females in our department, so you know it won’t be hard to figure out it was me.”
My girl has no shame. I shook my head. Only Candace could come up with some crazy mess. “You are too much.”
My cell phone vibrated. I put the flatiron down, then reached for it on the dresser. It was a text from Baughn: See you tonight. I smiled, then noticed I had one missed call. Not recognizing the number, I brought the phone to my ear and retrieved the message. Hi, this is Marian at the Women’s Health Associates. Can you please give me a call back?
It was Dr. Clark’s nurse! Oh God! Oh God! I moved into the bathroom and shut the door, then took a seat on the stool. My hands were shaking so hard I could
barely dial the number. Hopefully someone was still there, because if I had to wait until Monday for my results, I was going to be a nervous wreck. While I waited for the receptionist to put Marian on the phone, I said a silent prayer. Please, Lord. I’ll never ask for anything from you again if you get me through this.
“Tiffany?”
“Yes,” I croaked.
“Thanks for calling me back. I just wanted to let you know your tests all came back negative; however, you do have a little yeast.” I didn’t hear anything else after the word negative. I didn’t have it. Can you believe? Yessss! Yessss! Kimbel hadn’t infected me with his germs. Hell, I hung up feeling so good about my evening with Baughn and what the future might hold for me.
I came out of the bathroom screaming and crying at the same time. Candace thought my mother had died. After I told her, we sat their hugging each other while I cried some more and started planning my future. Damn, life was good!
I had given Baughn directions to my house, and by eight I heard a car pull up out front.
“Tiffany, is that a Lexus convertible I see?”
We were both trying to peek between the blinds without him seeing us. “Damn, I guess it is.” It was a far cry from the Toyota he had taken me out in in Jamaica.
Candace gave me a weird look. “What did you say he did for a living?”
“He goes to school and works at a hotel in Jamaica during the summer.” I guess I didn’t know that much about him after all, which was a shame. I spent an entire evening with him and I was more interested in talking about Kimbel’s sorry ass than getting to know who Baughn really was. Tonight was going to be different.
“He must be making good money ’cause that car in about fifty G’s.”
The second he climbed out that car I don’t know if it was me or Candace who sucked in a deep breath.
Her eyes snapped in my direction. “Damn, that negro’s fine! You didn’t tell me he looked like that.”
“Probably because I didn’t remember,” I mumbled under my breath. Baughn was wearing a red T-shirt that fit snugly against his chest and a pair of jeans that hung low on his waist. On his feet was a pair of leather sandals. A gold chain was around his neck, and even from where we were looking I noticed a single diamond stud in his left ear. Oh, Baughn was definitely something to look at.
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