“Then Donella started acting crazier than usual, more possessive, more eccentric and paranoid. She thought everyone was out to get her and she kept talking about being punished for what she’d done. Eventually the whole story came out and it was not pretty. She was so obsessed with you; she was the one who got you taken away from Morgan. And Marva. If you’d been able to stay with either one of them, you’d have had a chance. But she wasn’t having it. And she was also the one who got you taken away from the family who wanted to adopt you.” Victor’s anger was apparent, as his voice became flat and deep with emotion.
“See, she had this friend who was crazy about her because she was a big time singing star. The friend was one of those women who have to live vicariously through other people, you know the kind. Dumpy, plain, thick glasses, no life, you know? Anyway, ol’ girl worked for social services and she worked her evil magic to get you manipulated through the system. Donella was totally obsessed with you, Shay. I mean Nina.” Spent, Victor had stood up and started pacing around the room, leaving Tony to do the talking.
“Anyway, Shay, it all came out. The nuttier she got, the more she would talk and we finally realized you weren’t dead; she‘d just been feeding us a line. So we started looking for you. We hired detectives, we even moved back to Chicago to see if we could pick up any hint of you. Everything came to a dead end because we had no idea you’d changed your name. It was like Sharita disappeared off the face of the earth.”
Now it was Nina’s turn to talk. She had been curled up next to John on the sofa of their guest cottage and she had to set the record straight. “I’d been living in California for about a year. I was working as a nurse’s aide, which isn’t glamorous work at all, by the way. You work hard for the money when you’re an aide. But I liked it because I could also get sitter jobs where you’re basically sitting with a patient in a nursing home or geriatric ward or something. I got to wear a uniform, which was great because I had very few clothes. And I had a place to sleep because most of these were night jobs. I was basically a booty-wiper and floor-mopper, but I kept those bootys clean and my floors always shone like glass. That’s how I met Mrs. Whitney.
“She was this little old lady who’d run off every home health aide and sitter and maid her family hired. She was supposed to be really mean, but she just acted like that. She hated her family because they were all after her money. She could be a holy terror when she wanted to be. But I was recommended by this nursing home and I went to her house and she hired me on the spot because she liked me. I wasn’t scared of her and she liked that. I stayed with her for four years, from the time I was eighteen until she died when I was twenty-one. She wasn’t really sick or anything, she was just old. I used to cook for her, bathe her, help her get dressed, take her to the doctor, stuff like that. I’d do her hair and we’d watch old movies together. She loved Charlie Chan and The Thin Man movies.”
Nina had started to cry a little, remembering her funny, feisty, Mrs. Whitney. “She was the one who taught me to make preserves, John. She taught me a lot about life in general. I think I really made a difference in her life while we were together. And when she died she left me her topaz earrings and she also left me an inheritance. It wasn’t a huge sum of money, but to me it was like a fortune.” She laughed shamefacedly. “The first thing I did, after I got a place to live, was to get my teeth fixed. They were a mess after not going to the dentist since I was a kid. Then I invested it the way she taught me to and I had a nice little nest egg until,” she looked guiltily at John, “well, I used it for something important.
“Anyway, I wanted a new life. I changed my name legally to Nina Whitney. The Whitney is for Mrs. Whitney, of course, but the Nina is for Nina Simone because she was tough, fearless and committed to civil rights.”
“Yeah, well, that little change made it really hard to track you down, Shay. But luckily, you have a friend who noticed a resemblance between you and Mama. And this investigator saw the pictures in her office and knew what do with the information because he was working on a class action suit. The ongoing investigation we were doing to find Shay was somehow tied in with what he was doing and he realized someone was looking for you. And he brought the information to John who found us and brought us here. And the rest is history,” he had ended with a grin.
“The rest is history, indeed,” Nina smiled up at John. “If you hadn’t been snooping around trying to get dirt on the horrible Oscar Giddens I might never have found them. You’re overly protective, macho and interfering and I love you for it. For that and a million other things, I’ll love you forever, John. And yes, you are my hero, my knight in shining armor, my Prince Charming.” She stopped as the rumble of John’s stomach told her he had more pressing things on his mind.
“Okay, okay. I’ll get you something to eat before everyone gets up. But after that I’m going to spend the rest of the day telling you how wonderful you are. How’s that sound?” She kissed him sweetly before turning back to the coffee cake.
“It sounds like a perfect day.” John smiled and watched her slide the prepared pan into the oven.
Nina made good on her promise on breakfast. She quickly put together a delicious meal of grits, eggs over easy, smoked sausage and toast. While John was praising her kitchen skills she continued to work, making salmon croquettes for the family. He raised an eyebrow when he saw her rolling each one in seasoned cornmeal in preparation for cooking. “Hey, you were holding out on me. Why didn’t I get those,” he asked with mock indignation.
“You can have as many as you like when everyone sits down to eat,” she said distractedly.
John sensed her shift in mood at once, and he asked her what she was thinking about. She smiled, a sad faraway expression. “I’m thinking about Mommy. I never knew how she died until last night. I was so little when she passed away I didn’t understand what happened to her. When I got older, I read different things about her being a drunk and dying of an overdose, that kind of thing. There were a lot of sensationalized reports about her. How she died destitute and how the IRS seized the house, oh there were awful things, John. I didn’t have anyone to tell me otherwise so that’s what I believed all those years,” Nina said sadly. “But Victor told me the truth, that Mommy had a congenital heart problem and she just died in her sleep one night. All this time I thought my mother was an alcoholic and she was no such thing. She wasn’t broke, either.
Tony and Victor had told her she had a trust fund. When they realized there was a good possibility Nina was still alive, they set up a trust for her so she would receive her share of their mother’s estate. Nina had simply stared at them when they imparted the news. “I don’t need money, I just need you,” she told them. “I just want you back in my life forever.”
Her brothers hugged her hard and Tony had said, “The two things aren’t mutually exclusive, Shay. You can have the money and us, you don’t have to choose.”
“So many lies, so much hatred and deceit,” Nina sighed. “I can’t believe someone deliberately set out to destroy my life because she thought I was her husband’s child. She didn’t even know for sure, John, she just assumed it. She ruined my life and my brother’s lives, too, although I don’t think that was her intention. I think in her twisted way she loved them and was trying to make a family with them. At least I hope she was.” Nina was shaking her head sadly as she washed her hands in the kitchen sink.
John rose from the table and put his arms around her. He held her tightly and inhaled the sweet smell of her hair. “There’s no question she was disturbed in a lot of ways, Nina. I think it’s a testament to your early nurturing from your mother that you all managed to grow into stable, normal adults. You are all very fortunate, baby. After all you went though, to end up with your brothers back in your life. You have an amazing story, chica.” He kissed her, gently at first, then with increasing desire. “You’re an amazing woman.”
“I have an amazing man,” she countered and the kissing was about to get really heate
d when the morning invasion began as Adam and Alicia came in the kitchen followed by Angelique, with Lily Rose.
All serious conversation stopped as Christmas Day began.
Chapter 23
While the women worked to get breakfast ready, the men cleaned the sidewalks of the snow that had fallen during the night. Nina kept stealing glances out of the many big windows in the great room. The snow enchanted her because she hadn’t seen so much of it since she was a child. After a big happy breakfast of grits, hash browns, scrambled eggs, salmon croquettes, smoked sausage, coffee cake, biscuits and muffins, it was time to open presents. Nina had several presents for John, which she would give him later, in private. She was touched and surprised, though, when her brothers presented her with a gift. She opened the big square box slowly, trying not to mess up the paper on the beautifully wrapped gift.
Victor and Tony both groaned aloud. “Shay, please hurry up,” they said in unison . Victor explained, “She used to do that when she was little. It would take her twenty minutes to open a package because she hated to mess up the wrapping. She always did things just so. Used to drive us nuts,” he said fondly.
Nina just stuck her tongue out at the two men and kept on daintily removing the pretty paper. It was finally done and she opened the box to find a big photo album. Her hands started shaking even before she opened it. When she looked at the first page she started crying again, which caused little Marty to run to her side. The album was full of pictures of Nina as a little girl, pictures of her mother and her brothers; every picture Victor and Tony owned had been copied and laboriously arranged in chronological order. There were also pictures of her brothers over the years they’d been apart from her, something that was even more special to Nina. She sobbed happily and showed the album off to everyone. She was so thrilled about it she couldn’t stop thanking Victor and Tony.
After the men cleaned up the kitchen so dinner preparations could start, there was a little downtime, time in which John and Nina were at last alone in the cottage. She put on a cotton shirt instead of the heavy red wool sweater she’d chosen because of its festive color. It was going to be too hot in the kitchen for a heavy sweater. John sat in a big overstuffed chair in the living room and Nina was curled up on his lap. Her head was on his shoulder so she could lose herself in the clean scent of his neck and she was holding his hand against her breasts.
“I’ve never been happier in my life, John. I still can’t believe all the trouble you went through for me, not to mention all the expense. This is the best present you could ever give me, you gave me my brothers back.”
“You are entirely welcome, my love. It seems appropriate because you’re the best present I’m ever going to get in my entire life. I can’t wait until we’re married, Nina. That’s going to be the happiest day of my life,” he said quietly.
***
They wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the day wrapped in each other’s arms, but that seemed a bit impractical as well as rude, so Nina finished changing and they went back to the main house where Nina joined the cooks and was soon hip deep in making the cornbread dressing. With everyone working together the huge meal came together easily and it was a grand, festive affair. They dined on turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, greens, standing rib roast, Yorkshire pudding, cranberry orange relish, macaroni and cheese, ham, potato salad, corn pudding, and salads, both tossed and spinach. Nina knew she was a member of the family for real when she had to stop Big Benny’s repeated attempts to eat things he wasn’t supposed to have. “Mr. Cochran, you know you’re not supposed to have that,” she said briskly as she intercepted a sweet potato casserole covered with a praline topping.. She put a small baked sweet potato on his plate instead. “I made this just for you. Enjoy,” she added and tried not to laugh at his consternation.
The men cleaned up the kitchen again after dinner and the women took it easy while the children played and the babies napped. Nina didn’t even hear the doorbell; she was too engrossed in conversation with Bennie to pay it any attention. Angelique answered the door and turned around with a smile. “There’s someone here for you, Nina.”
Nina was in the middle of a sentence when she turned to face the door and what she saw made her heart soar. There was a tall, handsome middle-aged man with distinguished silver hair and a deep cleft in his chin. “Morgan,” she said breathlessly, and then covered her mouth with her hand as Marva also walked through the door. Her hair was no longer long, curly and auburn, it was short, sleek and prematurely white, but it was still Marva James, who, like Morgan Sterling, had tried to make a home for her. Nina tried to speak, but couldn’t, she was hugging them both and crying again.
John watched her from the doorway, flanked by Tony and Victor. This was what he wanted for Nina, her happiness and everything she’d missed out on given back to her tenfold. He was proud and pleased that he had some small part in giving her the deepest desire of her heart, but a tiny, selfish little corner of his psyche was just a little jealous that someone else had the power to bring her such joy.
Before he could mentally kick himself for being a self-absorbed jerk, Nina walked Morgan and Marva over to where he was standing. Putting an arm around each of their waists, she introduced them to John. “This is John,” she said with such pride and adoration, John felt humbled. “This is my fiancé.” She looked into his eyes and gave him the smile that only he could get from her, a smile that equaled an eternity of love.
The momentary twinge of machismo vanished, leaving nothing in its place but the warming glow of Nina’s love. John was indeed a lucky man.
***
A few days after Christmas, John wasn’t feeling so lucky. Victor and Tony were so thrilled to have Nina back that they entreated her to come to Chicago them for a visit. They were so eager to get reacquainted with their little sister, it was impossible for her to say no. John had, in fact, encouraged her to go. He knew it was important for Nina to have a chance to rebuild the bonds that had been broken when the siblings were separated as children so she went to spend some time with her brothers. John was prepared to miss her, but he wasn’t ready for the huge hole her absence made in his heart.
The drive back to Ann Arbor without her was bad enough. He missed her scent, her conversation, even her infernal disco music. But it was much worse when he had to deal with the empty apartment. He found himself sleeping on her side of the bed, burying his head in her pillows to inhale the soft fragrance that was hers alone. They talked every day, but John was counting the hours until she would be back where she belonged, with him. The only thing her absence did was give him a chance to read some of her writing. She wanted him to read her college papers and journals, she’d told him, but he couldn’t do it while she was around.
She’d tried to explain it to him once. “I really enjoyed writing. I wanted to major in creative writing, but my instructor told me I’d never make it as a writer. He said I had no imagination and very little creativity,” she’d admitted. “But I really love to write, isn’t that ironic? That’s how I ended up working for a publisher. When I got out of college I needed to find a job, of course, and even though I had a degree in education, my heart wasn’t in teaching. I taught for one year and hated it,” she said shamefacedly. “But I got a summer job temping at the publishing house and I loved it,” she said, her face lighting up. “I could read all day, and it required me to be methodical and exacting. No imagination or creativity was involved at all. And they kept me on and I got to be better and better at every assignment and here I am; the perfect ghostwriter.”
Now John took a great deal of comfort by sprawling across the bed every night reading Nina’s writing. Whoever told her she couldn’t write was full of it. Nina was an excellent writer, able to use a few perfectly chosen words to convey a world of meaning. Her work drew him in like a snake charmer’s flute mesmerizing a cobra. It was like navigating the corridors of her heart and soul. And right now, it was all he had, besides their fairly conversations. He did
n’t want to be selfish, but he wanted her back home in the worst possible way.
“Nina, all I’m saying is there’s no rush. Getting married is a huge step for anybody, and you haven’t even known this guy that long, now have you? I just think you should wait awhile, that’s all. Just wait a little while,” Tony said persuasively.
Nina was sitting in the dining room of her brother’s brownstone, trying very hard to hold on to her temper. She’d been in Chicago for a week and this was the fourth time Tony had brought up the subject. Victor was no better; they were both determined to get her to postpone the wedding. It started out subtly enough with a hint here and there, but now they were like juggernauts, something Nina pointed out to her adoring brother.
“Anthony, I know you and Victor mean well,” she said carefully, “but you’ve got to understand that I know my own mind. I know my own heart, too, and John is the right man for me.” She and Tony were sitting at the same end of the table, facing each other and drinking big cups of cappuccino. She reached over and patted his hand affectionately. “I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time, big brother. You have to trust that I’m doing the right thing.”
Instead of returning the big smile she was giving him, Tony looked glum. “That’s just it, Shay. You shouldn’t have had to take care of yourself. You should have been at home with us. We should have all grown up together and you should have had a happy life, a regular childhood. We should have been a part of your life, Shay,” he said angrily.
Nina sighed and put her cup down. She put her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her palm. This, too, was something she’d heard fairly often since she’d been with her brothers. If they weren’t discouraging her marriage they were voicing their anger over their separation. She reached for Tony’s hand with her free hand and held it tightly.
A Fool for You (The Cochran/Deveraux Series Book 7) Page 23