Destiny Lingers

by Rolonda Watts

  Mother was not at all happy about my decision to remain on Topsail Island. “Are you crazy? You got a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York City. You are breaking your teeth in the number-one market. We’ve always had big dreams of your winning that Emmy one day, and you’re just that close to going network, and what? You blow it all for love with a white boy—on a tiny, little countrified island?”

  “Mother, I’m not blowing anything,” I say as I patiently try to explain the situation and my choices to her, but she just rambles on and on about what a tremendous mistake she thinks I’m making. I know in my heart that while this may not be the decision Mother would make, it is the only decision for me. “Look, I am with the man I love, on the island I love, and still able to pursue the career and the passions I love. What’s so wrong with that?”

  “But there’s so much more out there for you to accomplish, Dee.”

  “Mother, listen to me—you have always pushed me to be the very best at everything I do, and I deeply appreciate that. I tried it your way, but my dreams are not your dreams. My choices aren’t yours. Mother, can’t you see how happy I am—for once? Again, this is not about you. I want a much simpler life for myself than maybe you would choose. Just let me be happy, Mother, please? Can you please just be happy for me for once? Please?”

  Mother is quiet. I’m not sure whether she’s sincerely contemplating my words or about to blow a gasket. But I rest in my finally knowing what I want for my life and for the first time, I’m determined to get it, not craving anybody’s approval or caving under anybody else’s pressure. I am destined to be happy, fulfilled, and—as Aunt Joy always reminded me—I promise not to give up on love. I will truly, deeply, forever love Chase Monroe McKenzie, as I always have, all my life. And I will never second-guess our love again.

  “But, where are you going to live, Dee?” Mother asks. “The beach house needs so many repairs.”

  “Chase has asked me to live with him, at least until Tranquility is ready.”

  “Dear Mary, Mother of God! Your father is going to have a fit.”

  “I know,” I say, resigned to the fact that Daddy will only see my living with Chase as shacking up. “He’ll come around. After all, I could still be living up in ‘the ghetto’ with Garrett. I really do need your support right now. Chase and I both do.”

  “Well,” Mother says resignedly. “I don’t know what we would have done without that Chase. I must say, that young man does stand by you during the worst of times, doesn’t he? He seems to be there for you no matter what. That’s very important, Dee. I guess that quality in a person is admirable—in any color.”

  “I appreciate that, Mother.”

  Life keeps getting better every day.

  While I have this break from my volunteer work on the island, I decide to do some more hurricane cleaning around Chase’s house while he remains on around-the-clock duty. So many things need to be put out to dry before they mold and mildew inside. Other than some flooding and lots of dampness, the good news is that Chase’s dream home turned out to be stronger than we imagined. Flooding or not, it feels wonderful being in the house that Chase built. Something deep in my heart tells me he built this home with me in mind.

  I am hanging Chase’s kitchen rug over the front porch banister when I hear a vehicle slowly creeping up the long driveway through the marsh trees toward the house. I know it’s not the familiar rumble of Chase’s big truck, and we’re not expecting anyone, so who in the world could it be? The car gets closer, slowly entering the clearing around Chase’s home. I have never seen this car before. The car slowly grinds to a halt. I cannot see the driver’s face from up here on the porch because of the sun’s bright reflection.

  The shadowy driver sits there. He does nothing, which gives me even more of an eerie feeling. I stand on the porch and wait for this unexpected intruder to make a move. I remember Chase left an emergency radio sitting on the kitchen table. I will use it if I have to. Maybe it’s just my New York instincts that have me on edge right now, but I feel there is something weird about this approaching car.

  “Hello,” I call out. “Can I help you?”

  There is no movement.

  “Hello?” I repeat. When still no one budges from the car, I storm into the house, grab Chase’s emergency radio, and then march back onto the porch, preparing to recite the car’s license number to the radio dispatcher. Finally, the car door slowly opens, and to my shock and surprise—out steps Garrett Nelson.

  “Hey, baby,” he says smoothly as he slides his sneaky way out of the car. “Don’t get all excited now. It’s me. Surprise!”

  “Yeah, some surprise, all right!” I am livid that Garrett has the nerve to resurface on Topsail. “Why are you here and what do you want?”

  “Hey, hey, easy, Dee. I come in peace,” he teases as he saunters closer to the house.

  “Garrett, get right back in that car and drive straight back to New York where you and your mess belong.”

  “Dee … Dee, look, hold up,” Garrett says, making his way toward the steps.

  “Stop it right there, Garrett! Don’t you dare come a step further. You are not welcome here. Go home!”

  “Not welcome here? Wait. Hold up.” Garrett kicks the sand. “I come all this way to see you because I was worried about you, baby. I heard you got caught on the island down here in that big hurricane. I heard you were homeless. Then I hear you’re living back here in the woods somewhere with some white dude. I was just worried about you, Dee. I came to take you home.”

  “Take me home? What home? We don’t have a home, Garrett. You destroyed that months ago, remember? Around the time you were impregnating Eve!”

  “Baby, please, listen to me. Let’s talk.” Garrett walks up the first few steps.

  “Back up, Garrett! Get off the steps!” I feel as if I am shouting at a bad dog. “Go home! Now! It’s over between us. I want nothing to do with you.”

  Garrett looks like I just knocked the wind out of him. He gives me one of those puppy-dog looks. I will never ever buy into that look again.

  “Destiny, please, just listen to me for a minute. Baby, I made a big mistake, and I know that now. I took you for granted, and I think I was angry that married life wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I started believing you were more in love with your career than with me. Eve was just there, baby. I swear I never stopped loving you. I want another chance, Destiny. I swear I’ll work harder.”

  “Garrett, you sound ridiculous. And does your pregnant girlfriend, Eve, know you’re down here groveling in front of me like this? You can’t just waltz into my life whenever you feel like it. It’s over, Garrett. It can’t be more over, and no amount of begging and looking at me all sad like that is going to change the circumstances or the situation. I have already moved on!”

  “But I want us to try one more time, Destiny. Honey, please, I’m begging you.”

  Then the fool actually starts to cry. Something horrible must have happened between Eve and him, something so horrendous that it made him drag his pitiful ass all the way down here to Topsail Island and track me down with some big old crocodile tears to plead for a second chance. Garrett might have lost Eve and me, but he still hasn’t lost his nerve.

  “Okay, what happened, Garrett? What happened to you and Eve and the baby?” I wait at the top of Chase’s stairs, staring down at my pitiful soon-to-be-ex-husband.

  “There is no baby,” he mumbles.

  “Excuse me? What did you say? I didn’t hear you.” I can’t believe what I really heard. But then again—yes, I can.

  “I said, there is no baby. Eve was lying all that time. Can you believe that?”

  “What do you mean, can I believe it? You lied to me all that time too!”

  “Yeah, but to lie about a baby, just to trap me into leaving you—that wasn’t right.”

&nb
sp; “Oh, Garrett, it happens all the time.” I sigh and muse that for a smart man, Garrett can be so stupid.

  “Hey, and get this—Eve was cheating on me too.” Garrett looks up at me in wide-eyed hurt and disbelief from the bottom of the stairs that I will not let him climb. He has been hoodwinked and bamboozled by a stone-cold perpetrator. Eve duped us both. “Dee, I swear she was fuckin’ Maxine behind my back. She left me for fuckin’ ghetto-ass Maxine—a woman. Damn! I still can’t get over that shit!”

  “Well, too bad,” I say.

  “Plus, she was a slob, Dee. All she wanted to do was lie around all day. She didn’t want to get a job, but she always wanted presents. And she couldn’t touch you in the kitchen, baby.”

  “Why are you telling me all of this?”

  “Baby, Eve always accused me of one day going back to you. She never completely trusted my love for her. She said I’d always love you, not her completely, and it’s true. She was real insecure about you. She knows you’re the better woman.”

  “Garrett, go away. It’s over between us,” I say, exhausted. What did you really expect from me when you came here today?”

  “I don’t know. I wanted to check in on you, surprise you, and make sure you were all right. But baby, I really wanted to see if maybe we could get back together, you know—start all over again. I admit I made a mistake, and I am here to say I’m sorry, and I want you back, Destiny. Heck, I was thinking maybe we’d go to the movies tonight.”

  “Funny, I was thinking we wouldn’t see each other anymore.”

  Garrett scowls.

  “It’s time for you to go home now, Garrett. It’s over. I’ll call and have my attorney draw up the divorce papers tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow? Divorce papers? Whoa!” Garrett hops up the steps, coming face-to-face with me. “Can’t we talk about this, baby?”

  “What is there to talk about, Garrett? You fuck my best friend and destroy our marriage, and you want me to act like nothing ever happened. I swear, you have a lot of fucking nerve, Garrett!”

  “Destiny! I said I was sorry. Damn! Gimme a break!”

  “Oh, I’m going to give you a break all right!”

  Garrett looks desperate. “Okay, I made a mistake,” he says. “But what? You can’t forgive me?”

  “I forgive you. I forgive myself for marrying you. And mostly, I’ve moved on, Garrett,” I say firmly.

  “Moved on? What the hell does that mean?”

  Suddenly, I hear the deep rumble of the engine of Chase’s big red truck. He is coming down the driveway to the house. Garrett looks in that direction, raises an eyebrow, and then looks back at me.

  “You better go now,” I advise. The last thing I want Chase to see is Garrett standing outside his house, begging me to get back with him.

  “Come on, Destiny. I’m taking you home with me,” he says as he grabs my wrist and starts pulling me down the steps. “Enough already!”

  “Let go of me!” I yell, but Garrett maintains a firm grip on my wrist and continues yanking me.

  “We’ll talk when we get home, Destiny!”

  Chase’s truck slams to a halt. Chase jumps out and races over. “Hey, hey, hey, buddy, what’s going on here? Destiny?”

  “None of your damn business, and I ain’t your goddamn buddy!” Garrett spits at Chase, barely looking at him as he keeps pulling me toward his rental car.

  “Hey, hey, hey—slow down. Let’s talk a minute, Let the lady go.” Chase is in civilian clothes, but I know he still carries a gun somewhere. I pray he doesn’t have to use it on Garrett today. I have never seen Garrett like this. As arrogant as he is, he has never touched me so violently before. But he’s desperate, and humiliated, and he’s doing whatever he can to save whatever little is left of his manhood from even more self-inflicted shame.

  “This is my wife!” Garrett retorts.

  Chase remains professional. “Yes, sir, but I’m still asking you to let her go.”

  “Fuck you!” Garrett spits and tugs me harder down the stairs. I am desperately clinging to the banister with my other hand. At the bottom of the stairs, I finally start beating on his hand to let me go.

  “I said, let her go!” Chase demands as he rushes over and grabs Garrett’s upper arm. Garrett lets go of me and takes a swing at Chase, who ducks and head tackles Garrett to the ground, where their mad tussle continues. I am screaming for them to stop, afraid that someone is going to get hurt, and we all make the evening news. Haven’t we all been hurt enough?

  Garrett is cussing and fighting back hard as Chase punches him hard in the gut. “Owwww, man!” Garrett yelps. Chase then flips the doubled-over Garrett on his aching stomach, twisting his arm behind his back.

  “Let me go, motherfucker,” Garrett spews into the dirt. “Let me go!”

  “Settle down, or I will arrest you!” Chase demands.

  “What the fuck you mean, arrest me, motherfucker?” Garrett squirms to free himself.

  “He’s a cop, you idiot!” I scream.

  “And I will arrest you for assaulting a woman and a police officer, you keep it up!”

  Garrett freezes. “A cop?” he says. “What the fuck? Dee? Is he really a cop?”

  “No, Garrett, he’s really the Topsail Island police chief!”

  “Holy shit!” Garrett exclaims as he breaks free from Chase, rolls over, and painfully scrambles to his feet. “Hey, man, look, I didn’t know who you were. I—”

  “Now, you look,” Chase says as he gets up. “You don’t need to cause any more trouble to Destiny or yourself, for that matter. She’ll be okay right here, where she wants to be, where she belongs.”

  “Where she belongs?” Garrett looks back and forth at the two of us. “Oh, so it’s like that?” Garrett asks, finally putting all the pieces together. “You fuckin’ a cop? Holy shit! You fuckin’ the white po-po?”

  “It’s over, Garrett. Just leave and sign the divorce papers as soon as you get them.”

  “You love this dude?” Garrett points at Chase with an incredulous look on his pitiful face. He looks confused but finally resigned. “Fine, Dee, if that’s the way you want it. But we could have worked this out, you know.”

  “Good-bye, Garrett,” I say.

  “Get off this island and stay off,” Chase warns. “You leave Miss Destiny alone, and you won’t have any problems with me. But you step one foot back here—you get anywhere near this lady—I promise you, it’s another story altogether. Are we clear?”

  “Yeah, no problem, man.” Defeated and deflated, Garrett walks to his car and opens the door. Then he stops and turns around to me. “You know that little blonde flight attendant with the big tits? She gave me her number this time. I wasn’t going to call her—till now.”

  “Do whatever you want, Garrett. You’re a free man.”

  Garrett looks like a pimp rolling off in search of another pussy adventure. As he drives away, I shake my head in utter disgust. How could I have ever married that man?

  “Destiny, you okay?” Chase asks in a tender voice. He lovingly kisses my temple. I nod my head, though I am still shaken. Another storm just ended in my life.

  Chase takes me inside the house that we shared as children and now share again as lovers. He cranks up his little cassette player up on a shelf that somehow also survived the storm.

  “I was meaning to play this for you before the hurricane.” He pushes the button on the player and walks over to me. “May I have this dance?”

  “Yes, Chief,” I reply, with tears in my eyes and even more love for this man in my heart. “I want to dance with you forever.”

  “Me too, Destiny. Me too.” Chase leans in and kisses me as our song begins, with Johnny Hartman crooning, “It’s very clear, our love is here to stay—not for a year, but ever and a day …”

  Chase and I slow dance right there in the middle
of the mold and mildew, holding fast to each other, happier than ever before. I don’t know how we ended up here together, after all this time, but I have to believe the fates, God, and good old Aunt Joy had a lot to do with it. We vow to let nothing keep us apart ever again. Yes, time moves on, but destiny lingers. Chase and I are proof of that. And we both know that neither our lives, nor our beloved island, will ever be the same again.

  “Are you ready to start a new life with me?” Chase asks as he squeezes my hand.

  I smile. “I have been ready all my life.”

  “Me too,” Chase replies as he dips me like a prized dancer. “Me too.”

  About the Author

  For more than three decades, Rolonda Watts’s name, face, and distinctive voice have been known by audiences of all ages everywhere, thanks to her many award-winning works in television, radio, digital media, magazines, and film. Watts is the CEO of her Watts Works Productions, as well as an Emmy- and Cable Ace Award–nominated journalist, TV and radio talk show host, executive producer, actor and voice actor, novelist, speaker, talent manager, and humanitarian.

  Most know her by one name—Rolonda—under which she launched her own internationally syndicated talk show, produced by Watts Works and King World Productions. Rolonda! ran for four seasons: 1994 to 1998. Ro has not stopped talking since! Today, she continues as creator, host, and executive producer of Rolonda On Demand, a one-hour lifestyle, current events, and celebrity interview podcast heard weekly on Play.It, the new CBS local digital media platform: RolondaOnDemand.com or Play.it/Rolonda.

  Rolonda began her television career as a local CBS news reporter in Greensboro, North Carolina, before joining New Jersey network WNBC-TV, and later WABC Eyewitness News in New York as an investigative news reporter and anchor. She hosted Lifetime television’s talk show Attitudes before joining Inside Edition as weekend anchor, producer, and senior correspondent, and then she launched her own internationally syndicated TV talk show. Rolonda’s deep, rich, and raspy voice is one of the most recognized in the business, serving as announcer for Divorce Court (FOXTV) and Judge Joe Brown (CBS).