The Replacement Wife

by Tiffany L. Warren

  Montana nodded in agreement. “I don’t want to hinder the healing. I’m not as strong as I seem, Quentin. I need to not be under the same roof with you.”

  “As long as it’s not because of Chloe. I’ll have someone clean the guest house tomorrow and move your things there.”

  “Thank you, Quentin.”

  Montana started to leave Quentin’s office, but then she turned and said, “You know, Quentin, God can heal things a lot more quickly than you think. You should ask Him to help you.”

  “I have. I’m waiting for Him to show up.”

  “Maybe He’s waiting for you.”

  Montana left, and Quentin sat back down and read the court filing again. He sighed and put the papers down. This whole lawsuit needed to be over as soon as possible. If it went on too long, it could ruin his chances with Montana. He couldn’t lose her; he wouldn’t lose her.

  Then the answer came to him all at once. God had told Quentin to rest. Even though he was in the middle of a battle, that’s what Quentin was going to do. Lay down his weapons and rest.

  He already felt victorious.

  CHAPTER 44

  Deirdre was furious! It was prom night, and Chloe wasn’t answering her phone—it was going straight to voice mail. She needed a ride to Moe’s house, and there was no one she could ask except Chloe. She wanted to kick herself for not getting her driver’s license.

  Plus, Chloe was her cover story for the evening. She was going to be on punishment for life if she stayed out all night long with Moe. She might not even get to go to her own prom.

  Deirdre felt panic setting in. If she stood Moe up for his prom, he was absolutely going to break up with her. She was sure of that. Not going to the prom wasn’t an option.

  She dialed Chloe’s phone again, and again it went straight to voice mail. How could she not keep her part of the bargain?

  Deirdre typed a furious text. Where r u? Prom?

  After several minutes with no reply, it sunk in that Chloe wasn’t going to help her with this. She was going to have to sneak out. If only she was off her father’s draconian punishment, she could’ve just spent the night at her best friend Kae’s house. Chloe was her only cover story.

  It annoyed Deirdre that she had to hide her boyfriend. At least she wasn’t pregnant like Reese’s little hood chick. She should be able to walk out the front door and go to prom with her boyfriend and take pictures and the whole nine yards.

  Then she remembered who her father was. That wasn’t going to happen.

  Finally, Deirdre broke down and called Moe. “Can you come and get me?” she asked.

  “I thought your mentor was bringing you.”

  “Yeah, well there was a change of plans. Can you meet me here? At our spot, in fifteen minutes?”

  Moe said, “Of course. Anything for my little rich girl.”

  “Okay. See you later.”

  She disconnected the phone, and there was another knock on her door. “Go away!” she said.

  “Deirdre, it’s me. Open the door.” It was her father, the last person she wanted to speak to.

  She put her bags inside her closet and opened the door.

  Quentin came in and sat on the edge of her bed. “Look, Chloe isn’t going to be able to mentor you anymore. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  “You don’t get to choose my friends, Daddy. That’s not fair.”

  “I do get to choose your friends. Until you’re grown and out on your own, I get to choose.”

  Deirdre burst into tears. “You just hate me, that’s all. And now that you like Montana, you’re going to hate me even more because I look like Mommy. Well, guess what? I don’t want a new mother. Montana can leave me alone.”

  Quentin sighed and stood to his feet. “You know I don’t hate you, and Montana just wants to be your friend too. I promise she’ll be a better friend than Chloe ever could be.”

  “Daddy, can I just be alone right now? I don’t want to talk anymore.”

  “Yes, but remember that we all love you, Deirdre. Everyone in this house loves you.”

  Deirdre shook her head and plopped down on her bed. “Okay, Daddy.”

  Deirdre waited until she heard her father’s footsteps go all the way down the stairs, and then she opened her door and waited until she heard his office door close. He’d be in there for hours now, and because she’d just thrown a mini-tantrum he wouldn’t come looking for her. So this was the time to make her escape.

  Deirdre tiptoed to her closet and quietly picked up her garment bag and her overnight bag. She hurried out of her room, holding her shoes in her hand. She’d put them on outside.

  She went out the side entrance that no one ever used except Ms. Levy for deliveries. That exit put her closer to the path and would conceal her as she walked away from the house.

  When she got to the edge of the property, she looked at the clock on her phone and waited. She didn’t need anyone seeing her standing there. No one from inside the house would be able to spot her from a window, but if anyone drove up, she was pretty exposed. Her heart raced. She was too close now to give up.

  Finally, she saw the car Moe said he was driving for prom. It was a silver, drop-top Benz. Chloe would be impressed that she was riding in it.

  Deirdre didn’t even wait for Moe to get out and open the door for her; she was that anxious to leave. She jumped in on the passenger side and threw her bags in the back seat.

  “You can get dressed in our hotel room,” Moe said.

  “Okay. Where are we staying?”

  Moe cleared his throat as if there was about to be a big announcement. “We have a two-bedroom suite at the Embassy Suites. They even have a free breakfast buffet.”

  Deirdre’s countenance fell. “The Embassy Suites?”

  “Nice, right? And the breakfast is not that continental stuff. This is the real deal, with a waffle maker and everything. First class for my first-class chick.”

  Deirdre had never stayed in an Embassy Suites. She was thinking he was going to take her to the W or the Ritz Carlton in downtown Atlanta. It was prom weekend, after all. Wasn’t he supposed to go all out?

  Even though Deirdre did not appreciate the hotel selection, she was extremely appreciative of Moe’s look. His shoulder-length hair flowed free with so much body he looked like an Herbal Essences model.

  When they got to the hotel, Deirdre was even more unimpressed. It was clean and decent, but it wasn’t anywhere close to what she was used to. But she tried to make the best of it and took an hour to get beautiful.

  When Deirdre emerged from the bathroom in her metallic green, skin-tight Herve Leger gown and silver Louboutin sling-back heels, Moe jumped to his feet and stared at her in awe.

  “Dang, baby. You are looking right.”

  “Thank you.”

  He laughed. “Can we just skip prom and get to the after-after prom.”

  Deirdre shook her head and offered Moe a bottle of water from her bag. “You sound a little thirsty. Indeed, you sound parched.”

  Moe burst into laughter, but Deirdre was actually nervous about that part of the evening. She kept putting it out of her mind that Moe wanted to take her virginity. A part of her wanted to make an excuse to try and get out of it.

  “Okay, you’re right. Let’s go and enjoy the prom. It’s gonna be fun.”

  “Well, I’m ready, so let’s go.”

  On the way out of the hotel, Deirdre and Moe got so many compliments from the other hotel guests that she knew they were looking good. They probably could’ve posed for a teen magazine.

  When they got to the prom, Deirdre was disappointed yet again. First the Embassy Suites, and now prom in the high school gymnasium? She knew that his school was in the hood, but really? The gym?

  The first smell that hit Deirdre’s nose was stale gym sneakers, and that was followed up by dirty socks. Trying to overpower the gym’s native funk was the aroma of somebody’s version of a soul-food feast. There was a huge buffet set up on one side
of the gym, with paper plates and plastic forks and knives wrapped in little sections of paper towel.

  It was like a family reunion from the hood.

  Deirdre couldn’t believe she wore Herve Leger to this thing.

  Moe took Deirdre around and introduced her to all of his friends. The boys gave him mad props for having a girl as fly as she was on his arm. The girls gave nothing but mean glares. It didn’t bother Deirdre. She was used to haters. She smiled at them anyway.

  “Hey, babe, I’m gonna take some pictures with my homeboys. I’ll be right back.”

  Deirdre started to object, but then she changed her mind. She didn’t want to seem needy, but she sure didn’t want to be left with the dates of his friends.

  One of the girls boldly walked up to Deirdre. “Is that Malaysian?”

  “Is what Malaysian? My dress? No. It’s Herve Leger.”

  The girl burst out laughing. “Your sew-in. Is that Malaysian or Virgin Remy? What brand is it? Bohyme?”

  Deirdre had absolutely no idea what this girl was talking about. It was almost like she was speaking another language.

  “Your hair?” the girl asked again when Deirdre didn’t reply. “What kind of weave you got?”

  “Oh, I don’t have a weave. I’m sorry. I didn’t know what you were talking about.”

  The girl signaled for all of her friends to come over. They surrounded Deirdre like a little gang.

  “This look like her real hair?” the girl asked.

  Another girl said, “That ain’t real.”

  Deirdre shrugged. She didn’t have to convince them of anything. She didn’t care if they thought her hair was fake. She didn’t care about them at all.

  “And I know them ain’t no real red bottoms,” the ring leader said.

  Deirdre only smiled. She had nothing to prove.

  Finally, Moe and his boys came back from their impromptu photo shoot. Moe broke through the circle of girls and put his arm around Deirdre’s waist. The ring leader of the girls sucked her teeth.

  “What’s your problem, Katina?” Moe asked.

  “You know what my problem is. How you gonna bring this fake ho to prom when your baby mama is sitting at the house with y’all newborn son.”

  Moe held up a hand to stop her noise. “Not. My. Kid. I keep telling y’all Boosy was pregnant when I started kicking it with her. Plus, have you seen it? Ain’t no way that chocolate baby is mine. How two light-skinned people have a chocolate baby?”

  “That’s yo baby, Moe. She said you was the only one she’s ever been with.”

  “Whatever. Come on, Deirdre. Let’s go dance. Let these birds keep clucking.”

  When they got to the dance floor, Deirdre snatched her arm away from Moe. She hoped he didn’t think she was going to let this baby mama stuff slide.

  “You sure Boosy’s baby isn’t yours?” Deirdre asked.

  He nodded. “Yes. Her stomach was already poking out when I met her. I just thought she was a little chubby. I wrapped it up when I got with her.”

  Deirdre narrowed her eyes into slits. “Why should I believe you?”

  “Because I wouldn’t lie about a kid. If it was mine, I’d claim it, on everything.”

  Deirdre cocked her head to one side and wondered if she should believe him. Moe pulled her close and into his arms. Deirdre felt her resolve go by the wayside as she felt Moe rub little circles on the small of her back.

  “Don’t you want to dance with me? It’s prom night. You can be mad about Boosy later.”

  Deirdre nodded and she and Moe got out on the dance floor and jammed to hip hop and R & B cuts. At least everyone on the dance floor was there to party. No hating at all.

  Then, out of nowhere, there was a ruckus on the other side of the dance floor. It got chaotic really quickly as people started running off the floor. Moe grabbed Deirdre’s hand and was pulling her toward the exit when someone ran up behind him and hit him in the back of the head with a stick.

  Deirdre screamed but couldn’t stay where she was because she was about to get trampled, so she moved with the crowd. Sirens blared in the distance, and security guards swarmed the area.

  Deirdre frantically searched the crowd for Moe. When she didn’t see him, she went into panic mode. What if he was unconscious? She tried to go back inside the gymnasium, but the security guards stopped her in her tracks.

  She felt her heart drop when the paramedics brought Moe out on a stretcher. He had an oxygen mask on his face, and his hair hung down limply.

  She ran a few steps after the ambulance and wondered what to do. She didn’t have the keys to the car Moe was driving, and she didn’t even know how to drive, so the keys wouldn’t have helped.

  Deirdre hated to do it, but she pulled out her cell phone. She was going to have to call someone to come and get her.

  First she called her best friend, Kae.

  “Kae, can you come and get me? I’m at Moe’s prom and drama popped off. He’s in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.”

  Kae giggled. “You’re where? I’m at . . . oh wait . . . whose house are we over?”

  Someone yelled in the background, and Kae started cracking up again. Deirdre groaned. Why would she pick this night to get drunk and party?

  “I don’t know if I can drive, Dee. Somebody hid my keys from me. I’m pretty smashed.”

  “Ugh! Bye, Kae.”

  Then an SUV pulled up next to the curb where she was standing and the window rolled down. It was Katina and the pack of mean girls.

  “Hey, that’s messed up what happened to Moe. You want us to drive you to the hospital?”

  Even though the girls were mean before, they seemed friendly now. And since she didn’t have many other options, Deirdre jumped in their truck.

  “I can’t believe they messed our prom up like that!” Katina said.

  Another girl said, “Well, I’m not graduating anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. I can go again next year.”

  “That don’t even make no sense. That’s your third prom, Renee.”

  “Oh well! Maybe Boosy can go with me since she had to miss it this year.”

  An eerie silence fell over the car, and Deirdre was suddenly uncomfortable.

  “Those are some nice shoes you got on,” Katina said to Deirdre.

  “Thanks.”

  “Take them off.”

  Deirdre grimaced. “Take them off for what?”

  “ ’Cause I want them,” Katina said in a calm and measured voice.

  “I’m not giving you my shoes.”

  The girl sitting next to Deirdre in the back seat pulled out a straight-razor blade. She said, “You will if you trying to stay pretty.”

  Deirdre reached for the door handle, but Katina hit the lock. Deirdre swallowed and sized up the girls. She’d never been in a fight in her life. She wouldn’t have a chance.

  She reached down and took off her shoes. She’d buy more next week. No reason to get sliced up for them.

  “I like her dress too,” the girl sitting next to Deirdre said.

  Katina nodded. “Switch. Give her yours.”

  Deirdre rolled her eyes. She regretted getting in the car with this gutter trash. She unzipped her dress down the side and gave it to the girl. She was way too fat for the dress and was going to look like a stuffed sausage in it if she could even zip it up.

  The girl handed Deirdre her gaudy spandex and sparkly mess of a dress, and Deirdre quickly pulled it over her head. Katina pulled into a gas station parking lot.

  “Get out,” Katina said.

  “But I don’t know where this is!” Deirdre complained.

  “Aww . . . use the GPS on your cellie. Better yet, gimme that phone. Somebody give her a dollar so she can use the pay phone over there.”

  Deirdre shook her head. The pay phone didn’t even look like it worked. But at this point all she wanted to do was get out of the SUV.

  When Katina finally released the locks, Deirdre jumped out of the truck and started r
unning. She could hear the girls laughing in the background. But she didn’t care. She’d probably never see those birds again.

  Deirdre was barefoot in an ill-fitting dress and racking her brain for who she could call. She couldn’t remember any of her friend’s numbers. They were in her phone, and she didn’t know them by heart. She knew her father’s number, Reese’s, her grandmother’s, the twins’, and Montana’s. She shook her head and sighed. The only one she could call and not lose her life was Montana.

  She got change from inside the store, where the clerk looked at her like she was a drug addict or prostitute.

  “Obviously, I was just robbed!” Deirdre said, when the girl took the dollar from her with a turned-up nose.

  The girl shrugged. “Then you probably should call the police.”

  “I just want to go home.”

  Deirdre sighed and dialed Montana’s number, hoping she would answer the phone so late. It was almost midnight.

  “H-hello?” Montana said in a sleepy voice.

  “Hi, Ms. Montana. It’s me, Deirdre.”

  “Where are you calling from? Aren’t you here? Are you okay?”

  Deirdre burst into tears from the onslaught of questions. “Please come and get me! Some girls robbed me and took my clothes, and my purse and phone. My boyfriend is at the hospital. Please!”

  Montana gasped. “Oh, honey. I’m on my way.”

  “Hurry!”

  “Putting on my shoes right now. What is the address?”

  Deirdre read Montana the address from the side of the building. As she looked away, she also saw a man leering at her from the gas station store.

  “Montana, I’m scared.”

  “I’m getting in the car now. Just stay on the phone with me.”

  It seemed to take forever for Montana to get to the seedy part of Atlanta where Deirdre had been left. When Deirdre finally saw Montana’s car turn into the gas station parking lot, she dropped the phone and ran to the car, making sure to avoid broken glass and other trash on the ground.

  Deirdre exhaled as she slammed and locked the passenger-side door. She had never been more relieved in her life.