The Replacement Wife

by Tiffany L. Warren

  A huge smile burst onto Deirdre’s face when she approached Moe’s car. Although it wasn’t a baller’s ride, the black Nissan would do. Most of the boys who tried to talk to Deirdre couldn’t even pick her up. They could only call her on the phone and send text messages.

  Moe took two steps toward Deirdre and encircled her in a hug. She liked the smell of the expensive cologne she had given Moe for his birthday.

  Deirdre said, “Hey, Moe. You smell good.”

  “Oh, you like that? It’s some of that expensive stuff. Some rich girl got it for me.”

  “You got a rich girlfriend?”

  “She is paid, fo’ sho’.”

  Moe opened the car door for Deirdre to get in. He might be a thug, but at least he was polite. Well, he was almost a thug. Moe was a member of their church, Freedom of Life, and had known their family since he was a baby. He didn’t attend church much, though, which was great for Deirdre. Church boys made her itch.

  “So, how were you able to escape? I thought you said your dad was home.”

  “His old bootleg girlfriend came over, and they went on a boat or something.”

  “Your dad’s girlfriend is fine. She ain’t bootleg. I saw her at church and thought, ‘she could get it.’ ”

  “What? You better stop playing.”

  Moe laughed as he pulled away from the mansion. “You know I’m just playing with you.”

  “Yeah, whatever. She gets on my nerves.”

  “Why you always gotta sneak out to meet me, though? Why don’t you just tell your dad about me?”

  Deirdre laughed out loud. “You do know my father is insane, right?”

  “The parents always love Moe.”

  Deirdre doubted this was true. Moe was the type of guy fathers hated. He was dangerously handsome, with his long hair that he wore in a slicked back ponytail and his thick goatee that wanted to be a beard but wasn’t quite there yet. A star athlete at his school, Decatur High, Moe had a muscular body. He looked like he was ready to lose his virginity or, worse, take some girl’s virtue.

  “Maybe some parents love you, but my dad is a lunatic. He already has me at an all-girls school with a bunch of lames. I don’t want to be on total lockdown.”

  “At some point you’re going to have to let us meet. You can’t hide me forever.”

  Deirdre’s smile beamed in Moe’s direction. “You’re planning on being around forever?”

  “Forever, ever.”

  Deirdre reached across and held Moe’s free hand while he drove. She’d never felt this way about any other boy, and while she knew most people didn’t stay with the people they dated as teens, she hoped they’d be the exception.

  “So where am I going?” Moe asked. “You didn’t say where you wanted to go.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You wanna go skating?” Moe asked.

  “No. The last time we went to the rink, someone from church saw us and told my grandmother. I almost got grounded.”

  “So . . .”

  “I just want to do something exciting.”

  Moe laughed. “I mean what you trying to do? Sneak in the club?”

  “Maybe . . .”

  “Well, we could go over my cousin’s house in Decatur. They’re having a little house party.”

  Deirdre clapped her hands. This was exactly the type of thing she was talking about. She was sick of church skating parties and shut-ins where a bunch of church kids sat around pretending not to be bad when they really were, or wanting to be bad when they were incredibly scared to do anything other than read the Sunday school primer. Deirdre wanted to experience life outside of church. Her father had given his entire life to church, and look at what it had gotten him.

  “I definitely want to do the party. Let’s go!”

  “All right. Okay. Party it is,” Moe says.

  “Do you know what time it’s going to be over?”

  Moe shook his head and laughed as he pulled onto I-20. “You can’t want to kick it hard and then worry about what time you’re gonna get home. These kinds of parties don’t have an end time. They go until.”

  “Until when?”

  “They’re over,” Moe said. “Forget it, I’m about to take you to IHOP to eat. You ain’t ready.”

  Deirdre slumped in her seat and crossed her arms across her chest. “I am ready. I was just trying to see if I was gonna have to sneak back in or walk through the front door.”

  “If I take you over my cousin’s house, you gonna have to sneak in.”

  “Okay, then, let’s go.”

  Moe still seemed hesitant, so Deirdre repeated, “Let’s go. I’m serious.”

  “We’ll go, but don’t be trying to blame me if you get in trouble.”

  “They don’t run me like that.”

  “Oh, you a boss now?” Moe laughed so hard that he snorted.

  Deirdre rolled her eyes and pounded the dashboard. “Just drive!”

  When they pulled up to his cousin’s house, Deirdre tried to hide her nervous energy from Moe. There were cars parked along the side of the house and in the yard. There weren’t any cars in the driveway, because there were three very frightening-looking dogs there in a huge, cage-like contraption. It was too late, of course, for Deirdre to change her mind, but she wished she’d let Moe talk her out of this.

  “You okay, baby girl?” Moe asked when she paused before stepping out of the car.

  Deirdre gave him her fakest smile. “I’m cool. Just afraid of dogs.”

  “They’re on lockdown. They can’t get you.”

  Deirdre and Moe walked into the party with his arm around her waist. She couldn’t have been more ecstatic. He was claiming her to his friends and cousins, and not just to the lame boys he knew from church. These were his hood friends. That meant she was down enough and fly enough, no matter how much money there was in the Chambers fortune.

  The small house was dimly lit, and it was very hard to see through the foggy, smoky haze that filled the room. For half a second Deirdre was scared. The whole scene reminded her of one of those Lifetime movies where a teenage girl wakes up clutching her tattered clothing, unable to remember the previous night. But then, as she focused on each face in the room, her nerves calmed. These were regular teenagers getting together for fun, and even though the room was smoky, only one person seemed to be actually partaking in the weed. Everyone else drank soda out of cups and balanced plates with spaghetti, chips, and burgers on their laps.

  “Hey, y’all, this is my girl Deirdre. Can y’all make her feel like family?”

  “Yeah,” shouted one of the guys. “Just like kissin’ cousins.”

  Deirdre chuckled nervously as Moe led her to a tiny love seat near the back of the living room. At least everyone wasn’t paired off. There was a boxing match playing on a big flat-screen TV that was mounted on the wall. Deirdre glanced around at the other meager furniture and decided the TV was out of place.

  “You okay?” Moe whispered, as he put his arm around Deirdre. “You seem a little uptight.”

  She nodded and repeated her words from earlier. “I’m cool.”

  Deirdre felt herself relax even more when one of the cousins brought her a plate of food. The spaghetti looked incredibly greasy—there was actually a puddle of orange-tinted grease around the glob of food, and the burger was cold, but she ate it with all the enthusiasm she could muster. She wanted Moe’s cousins to know that she accepted their hospitality.

  The undercard boxing match ended, and the main fight started. Deirdre had no idea who the boxers were, so she cheered when Moe cheered. He seemed happy that his down, fly girlfriend was taking an interest in the sport.

  “Who you got? Ruiz or Lopez?” one of the cousins asked Deirdre when she cheered again.

  Since she hadn’t bothered to learn their names, Deirdre said, “I’ve got the guy in the white shorts!”

  “Lopez! Good choice. He’s gonna put Ruiz to sleep in a couple of rounds.”

  Deirdre assumed t
hat “putting to sleep” included winning the boxing match. She wondered if the party would be over then, because it was getting late, and it had taken about twenty minutes to get over here. She wanted to make it home before her father and be safely in bed by the time he got home.

  Lopez delivered those winning punches just a few moments later. As everyone in the room cheered, Deirdre saw a gigantic cockroach scurry across the floor in her direction. It was almost as if the monstrous bug was charging. Deirdre closed her eyes tightly and gasped.

  “What?” Moe asked.

  “It’s a r-roach!”

  Moe burst into laughter as the roach scurried on past their feet and under the love seat where she and Moe were sitting. Deirdre immediately started squirming, because now all she could picture in her mind was the roach crawling up the back of the couch and jumping on her neck. Did roaches attack? Did they jump? She didn’t know, but she was getting the heck off that love seat.

  When Deirdre jumped up, Moe’s laughter intensified, and now the others were looking in her direction with questions on their faces. Deirdre was beyond embarrassed, but she couldn’t make herself sit back down.

  “What’s wrong witchu?” The pretty, round girl who asked the question looked Deirdre up and down like she was crazy.

  “Nothing,” Deirdre replied. “I just like standing up. My legs get restless sometimes.”

  “She’s scared of a roach!” Moe blurted. His giggles made Deirdre want to choke the sound out of his throat.

  “You ain’t never seen a roach before? Girl, bye.” The round girl gave Deirdre a disgusted look. So much for fitting in with Moe’s family and friends.

  Deirdre didn’t want to admit that she hadn’t ever seen a roach up close before. It wasn’t her fault that the Chambers family exterminated.

  “Well . . . uh . . .”

  “Deirdre?” A loud and very recognizable voice boomed behind Deirdre. She spun on one heel and found herself eye to eye with her brother, Reese.

  “What are you doing here?” Reese asked, his voice not lowering one bit.

  Deirdre was in utter shock. Her legs were shaking so badly that she could feel her knees knock. Then she took in her brother’s appearance. His clothes were disheveled, and there was a girl with him who definitely looked like she’d just done something the mothers of the church would get all up in arms about.

  “What are you doing here, brother? Looks like you’re doing more than I am.”

  Moe jumped up from the love seat. “Reese, she just wanted to hang. Nothing popped off.”

  Reese looked Moe up and down. “Don’t think my sister is about to be your next little freak. It’s not going down like that.”

  “Stop it, Reese. He really likes me.” Deirdre didn’t like the sound of her voice when she said that. It seemed too desperate, and she thought that maybe she should’ve let Moe proclaim his honorable intentions.

  Reese grabbed Deirdre’s arm too roughly for her liking. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  Finally, Reese’s girlfriend spoke up. “You’re leaving? I thought we were gonna hang.”

  “Sorry, babe. I gotta take my sister home. I’ll call you later.”

  The girlfriend sucked her teeth and gave Deirdre an evil glare. “You better.”

  “You don’t have to do this, man. I’ll make sure she gets home okay,” Moe said.

  Reese narrowed his eyes and gave a tight head shake. “This is my sister. I know how you roll. Stay away from her.”

  Still holding on to Deirdre, Reese pulled her toward the door. She looked back at Moe, wishing he would rescue her from her brute of a brother. Deirdre had to go with Reese—there was no way she could let him go home without her. He’d tell their dad on her.

  Once they were in Reese’s car, he started yelling. “What are you thinking, Dee? Do you know what happens to girls like you at those kinds of parties?”

  Deirdre ignored him. He wasn’t her daddy.

  “For real, Dee. You trying to be a baby mama out here?”

  “I know you are not talking. Are you trying to have a baby mama out here?”

  Reese didn’t answer the question as he sped back toward the safety of their mansion.

  Deirdre gasped when she saw her father’s Benz in the garage. It was the car he’d driven to the yacht party. She knew because she’d watched him as he drove off, and he was definitely still awake because the barracuda’s Lexus was parked in the circular drive. Chloe never spent the night, but sometimes their father drove her home. He hardly ever went to pick Chloe up for their outings, which in Deirdre’s opinion said something about their relationship, and it wasn’t something good.

  “Reese, Daddy is still up . . .”

  “Good. I need to tell him where you been hanging out.” Deirdre shook her head in confusion. “Reese, you were there too.”

  “Totally different.”

  “Why you gotta be a snitch?”

  “ ’Cause you my little sister, and you not about to be a ho out here. If I hadn’t been there, Moe would’ve had you in the back room.”

  Deirdre jumped out of the car and slammed the door. If Reese was planning to snitch, she wasn’t going to give him the pleasure. She was going to walk into the house and deal with her dad herself.

  Although their mansion was huge, there was only one way upstairs, and that was the big double staircase. Unfortunately, the main parlor was the highest-traffic area of the home.

  All of Deirdre’s boldness faded when she saw her father pacing the floor a few feet away from her. He hadn’t noticed her sneak in, but Reese was on her heels, so it was only a matter of moments before her life was over.

  “Who is that? Reese?” Quentin asked when he heard Deirdre try to tiptoe upstairs.

  “No. It’s me, Daddy.” Deirdre’s voice shook as her father stormed out of the sitting room with Chloe on his heels.

  “You were out at this hour? Where have you been?”

  Deirdre’s first inclination was to lie, but she knew that would never work. “I was hanging with Moe, at his cousin’s house in Decatur.”

  “I must be in the Twilight Zone or something. Did my sixteen-year-old daughter just tell me she went out with a boy without my permission? Are you out of your mind?”

  Chloe followed Quentin and gave Deirdre an irritated glare. Deirdre was sure she had interrupted some conversation about something Chloe wanted to buy—with her father’s money.

  When Deirdre didn’t say anything, Quentin continued, “No child of mine is gonna be out in the street at night like she’s tricking for dollars.”

  Reese walked through the door and gave his sister a sympathetic look. Deirdre wondered if he had forgotten, while he was planning his snitch festival, how their father acted when he was angry.

  “Dad, she wasn’t doing anything bad.”

  “You were with her?”

  “We just kind of ended up at the same place, I guess.”

  Quentin lifted both hands to the sky. Deirdre wondered if he was praying. “So both of my kids are hanging out in the hood?”

  “Quentin, babe, maybe you’re overreacting. Everyone is safe. Didn’t you ever do anything like this when you were their age?” Chloe said, while stroking Quentin’s back.

  Quentin shrugged off Chloe’s touch. “These are my children. I didn’t ask for your input.”

  “I was just trying to . . . help.”

  “You’re not helping,” Quentin said.

  “Well, since I’m not part of this little family affair, I’m going home. Will you at least walk me to my car?” Chloe asked. “It will give you some much-needed time to calm down.”

  Quentin said, “Yes, of course. Deirdre and Reese, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll be out of my sight by the time I get back in here. And don’t even think about going out anywhere.”

  Deirdre pouted as her father walked out the door with Chloe. The daggers coming from Chloe’s eyes could have cut through a boulder.

  “You so stupid,” Reese said. “
I wasn’t really gonna tell on you.”

  “Whatever, Reese. How was I supposed to know that?”

  Deirdre ran the rest of the way up the huge staircase and into her bedroom. She threw herself onto her bed and bawled into her pillow. No one understood what she was going through. If she just had someone who would speak up for her. She knew it would be different if her mother had lived. Everything would be different.

  But Deirdre knew, just as her dad and her siblings knew, that there was no amount of crying, praying, or shouting that would bring her back.

  CHAPTER 4

  Montana belted out the solo to “Encourage Yourself” by Donald Lawrence and the Tri-City Singers as if it had been written just for her. Even though it was only rehearsal, the entire choir at Freedom of Life Church had gone into worship from the rousing rendition of the song, and even though Montana was feeling pretty hopeless, she had to admit that singing always made her feel better.

  The day had started out all wrong, with a notice to move within three days plastered on her door first thing in the morning. She’d begged her landlord to give her more time to come up with the rent, but it had been a month and a half since she’d had any money to give. She’d been laid off from her job three months ago and had yet to find another one. If only that call center had waited just a few more months until she’d gotten her teaching certificate before they’d sent her packing, then she might have been able to rebound more quickly.

  Anyway, in a few days she was going to be homeless in Atlanta, the last thing she’d ever wanted. Of course, she could go home to her family in Ohio, but she was getting too old to keep running back home every time she lost a job—or a man.

  She needed encouragement, and a miracle.

  When the choir director, Brother Odom, asked for any prayer requests, the usually timid Montana jumped out of her seat. She was desperate for a breakthrough, and that desperation broke down every bit of her shyness and inhibition.

  “What’s your prayer request, Montana? Or do you have a testimony?” Brother Odom asked.