Friday evening, the entire family, excluding Crystal and the boys, stood in the front garden of Sylvia's house, where they'd all been living and stared across the road at their brand new home.
Semi's gone!
Trucks, gone!
Workers, builders, electricians, plumbers, landscapers, gone!
Deidre, Charlie, Samuel, Jeremiah - gone!
The grounds, the road that ran between one home and the other, clean.
The security mobile home, nicely situated to look like a regular home down from Sylvia's house - was done up as well. Landscaping finished, driveway in, immaculate. The apartment above Sylvia's garage - done. Her bed and breakfast kitchen, finished, polished to an indisputable standard. The wrecked landscaping there, repaired, improved and done.
The bill for it all - paid - in - full.
Cost from Shawn's pocket - $85,000.
Cost from Deidre's pocket - she wouldn't tell.
And there they stood, speechless.
Shawn was just as awestruck as Mundo and Sylvia.
As they stood, Shanna and Royce came over to stand with them, peering at it.
"Absolutely - amazing." Royce couldn't help but sigh.
"Well, we going in, or not?" Shanna asked, "All that rushing around we did Sylvia, picking paint, paper, flooring, carpet, fixtures - let's see how it turned out."
Sylvia couldn't move, her hands covered her face in absolute astonishment.
Shawn turned to her, "Well? Are we going in?" he asked.
She glanced up at him, tears in her eyes, "You know what?" She whispered the question to him.
"What honey?"
"It doesn't look like, a place where I would live."
"Why would you say that?" he asked.
She shook her head, "It just doesn't - I'm not the kind of person, who ends up in a home like that, and - I don't play the lottery, so - it's so - hard to believe."
"Believe it baby, believe it - come on, we've stalled long enough, let's - go home, shall we?"
Even Mundo was stunned, feeling like his breath was stolen from him. Of course he was completely healed over from the attack earlier that summer, and would be much better off, according to his lawyers; he would be getting close to a quarter of a million dollars. The pay off hadn't come yet, but it wouldn't be much longer.
"Come on you guys, I can't wait any longer." Shanna announced, looking down at Angela, she commanded, "You lead the way."
All smiles, Angela did, Mundo behind her, Shanna behind him, Royce and finally, Shawn and Sylvia, holding hands, they crossed the road and entered the gate that would swing open automatically when they drove home, just a click of the remote, and entry would be granted. Shawn's studio stood off to the left of the mini mansion, separated by a drive that lead to the back of the house where a single garage was positioned for Crystal's car, if she ever took up residence in her apartment overhead.
Placed angled on the front landscaping outside of Shawn's business was a 4ft in height, 6ft in width X 2ft in depth, stone built perch with an oval wood sign perched center top that read, "Styles Photography Studio".
At the front door, the keys to the house hung from the keyhole, Angela reached up and turned them and entered.
Everyone followed her in removing their shoes inside the door, with the exception of Sylvia because Shawn swooped her up into his arms to carry her across the threshold.
She giggled, excited and put her arms around his neck, and let him carry her in, "You're making a habit of this Mr. McPherson - a few more months from now, you won't be able to do this."
"In a few more months, we'll see." He grinned, kissed her lips and stepped inside. There, he removed his shoes, she kicked hers off.
From tall windows and skylights, the sun poured in, taking their breath away once more. He turned in the center of their massive living-room, still holding Sylvia in his arms, "Well, what do you think?"
"First, that you should put me down." She simpered.
Obeying, he gave her a kiss and sat her down. Everyone was wondering off to investigate where they would, looking for rooms, and soon, Mundo was looking for his, and Angela, looking for hers.
Sylvia wanted to look at her kitchen first; the more she saw of the house, the wider her grin became, until she could no longer contain her excitement.
Finally, Shawn had to ask, "Papa done good?"
She glanced up at him, all teeth, "Papa done reeeaaaal good."
The next two days, were spent with them moving in. What was transferred, were mostly their clothing, personal items, things she wanted from one home to the next, leaving behind only what would be used by the guest in the bed and breakfast. She'd bought bedroom sets for everyone in the new house, and a few pieces of furniture.
The one room that Shawn demanded be fully completed, was Mama Jojo's! He was now anxious to go and get her. After the wedding, that was the first thing on the list.
They did a deep cleaning of the house, and informed Vivian, she was more than welcome to invite family to stay there for free for her wedding. Which she did. She also invited Sheila and Dennis to come and stay with her and Jake in their new home as the day for their marriage drew near. They almost backed out, because Sheila wasn't feeling well - she'd come down with some summer flu bug that had her feeling ill, she joked with Vivian, "Gurl, for a while there, I thought I was pregnant again! Sick as I was, feeling dizzy - nauseated, tired. I don't know what kind of bug that was, but it had my ass worried."
"You okay now?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine, shit - wish I could hang onto it a bit longer, shit made me lose five pounds, best damn diet I been on!" She joked.
"I'm just glad you okay, I can't wait for you to get here and see my house, Sheila, it's beautiful! Jake laid this place out! I'm so proud of it, it's perfect. And lord, wait until you see Sylvia's new house - shoot, you might wanna stay there."
"I'm staying with you! Gotta check on you, make sure you doing okay! Where Jake?"
"He'll be home tomorrow - he's on one of his road trips."
"Em, you all right staying there alone while he gone?"
"I am not alone! Shawn checkin' on me all the time, Shanna comin' for me every time I look up, if not her, mama Gert be here! I can't get nothing done here, I don't have to cook, Sylvia make me come over there to eat, then make me sleep over - so I'm not sleeping here by myself. I'm fine!"
"That's what I'm talking about! Okay, well - let me get off and start gettin' these people ready - we got another wedding to attend."
"Sho' you right! See you when you get here!"
"Love you!"
"You too, bye!"
*** Next episode - the wedding!***
Also - Crystal finds out, that Ben is leaving town, going to California
- the thought of him not being there - sends her into a desperate panic!
One more episode - which will be 100!
That's Bomaw's FIRST Centennial milestone!
Chapter 300
===== Letter=====
My Dearest Jacqueline,
This is letter twelve - as I write this - I can only wonder about the others I've sent. Did you receive them? Read them? I've asked that before, I know, but you're so stubborn! You could at least send me a card to say, you got them all. I'm going to have to assume, that since they haven't come back to me, that's a good sign. Each of them is filled with all the love I feel for you; how I long for you. The last few had money, no, $550 is not much when needing it for a divorce, but I promise you, I will send you more. I could have sent more, but I held back a bit to have pocket money over this busy summer, I know you'll understand. School will be starting soon, and so there won't be that much money, but where I can, I will send you more. To change the subject, there is something, someone - on my mind...
I can't help but wonder, have you heard from him? Your husband? Does he write you as I do? Does he regret ruining things for his family? Does he say, you are such a good thing, I can't bare losing you? If so, how do you
feel, reading that from him? Do you - miss him? Miss - me?
I miss you.
I'm with my family, but I feel disconnected from them some how, as if, I no longer belong to them, with them. I feel as if, I am away from home. You know, it's so strange, before you - with my family, I was always home. Now, after you, I feel as if - I have no home. I am now, a drifter, floating about in the midst of life and it's necessities until, I can go home. Jackie, I felt at home, with you. That is why I now, feel like I'm away from home. Does that make any sense at all to you? Probably not, you see me as a boy. I'm not a boy, not anymore. I don't feel like a boy, I feel like a man, a man who knows what he wants and what this man wants, is you.
Surely, with this being the twelfth letter, you know that by now, you know that it's true. Does Ronnie ask about me? I know Stephanie doesn't - regardless, I hope she is fine, that he is fine, and you, of course.
Since you, I've become an even deeper observer of life, and people. You know what, I love my family. I really do. I'm very proud of them, of the men in my family, and the women that we are attracted to. However, I must admit, I don't know who's gaining the most favor, us McPherson men, or the women who must endure us. Do you know, the next generation of our family will be predominantly mixed - it seems, that my grandmother, for the most part, has gotten her way. That's not to say that all of us, them, the next generation will be mixed, but certainly the majority. We are an oddity in that we don't care what other people think. I believe we truly do derive some sort of pleasure in rocking the boat, lol. We are dominant, head strong, alpha white males who think beauty has nothing to do with the color of a woman's skin, or the texture of her hair. We are men raised to be men no matter which woman we choose as our mate. The older generation of the McPherson's, are a bit more aggressive, controlling, demanding; my generation, not so much. Yet, we are men just the same.
I want - with all my being - to be your man.
Does our age, really matter?
Not to me, besides, when I look at you, see you in my minds eye, reflect back on our time together, I couldn't get my mind to remind me, with a, "Hey Paul, she's 31, don't forget, too old for you." message. I guess I was too busy admiring you, desiring you, fantasizing about you and the things I wanted to do with you, in bed, and out. Come on Jackie, you must admit, we were good together, really good. I lead sometimes, and you followed, without question. There were times when you lead, and I followed, without question. Why was that? Because we both understood each other. We both respected what the other knew. When you followed me without question, not once did the fact that I was only 18 to your 31 come to you to make you stop and question it. And with things I could see you knew and made sense in your explanation - there was nothing in me that made me want to stop and say, hey, you're just a woman, I can't let you take charge in this!
No! I trusted you.
And you - trusted me.
Although I did take over tuning up your car, didn't I? Jackie that was only because, well - you were so pretty, such a - well - a woman, I couldn't let you do that, I mean, what kind of man would that have made me? I didn't stop you because you didn't know how, or were incapable, I stopped you because I didn't want you to get hurt under there when I was right there and capable - that's been on my mind for a while now. I'll always be that way with you Jackie. I will protest when it comes to things that could hurt you because you're a woman - I mean, you are the physically weaker one of us two - but that is the only area where you're unequal to me - no where else. God made you that way, because he wanted us men, to do our part in taking care of something so precious, valuable, delicate, beautiful - you. That doesn't mean we can't listen to you when you're telling us things for our own good. In that, we need all the help we can get - look at the world we live in, let's face it, man left on his own - can really screw things up, I'll be the first to admit that - I believe, it's because we don't listen to our women, the helpers God gave us. Of the really important decisions in life, men have cut women out. Thus, women took offense, were made to feel inadequate, and now, to prove themselves, they do things the same as men would do them, fearing to be looked at as unable to grasp what this life thing is about. Thus, we're all - out of whack, because men didn't treasure, men don't listen - now women, are acting like men. Crazy huh?
Speaking of some head strong men, my Uncle Shawn, whoa! Jackie, he's something else. He's the kind of man I'm thinking, that must be in charge of everything - and must oversee it all. My aunt Sylvia, she has a time with him, because he's got some kind of temper - he's quick to fight and she doesn't like that about him. So she spends a bit of time telling him off about going off, lol - you should see them together. He's much much bigger than her, and doesn't always like it when she's telling him off, so he either listens, or runs off! I laugh to myself when they're around having it out - she's good for him I'm thinking.
My dad, is a bit like him. I've been watching him, with my uncle present, the way he does things, is rubbing off on my dad. The lady he was with before Vivian, he could care less what she did - how she did it. He was like, along for the ride - serious about nothing, a practical joker. Now, totally different since my Uncle Shawn has come on the scene and is doing stuff.
I can see it so clearly, my dad is trying to keep up with him; I don't think that's going to turn out too well in the end. Either way, I'm learning from them; I'm watching them; I'm watching their wives - and I always compare them, to you. They're sassy, do the head thing at them a lot, putting their hands on their hips, rolling the eyes, sooo funny - I do know, that is a black woman thing, after all - you did it to me a few times, I'm laughing about it now. Oh Jackie - I miss you so - I want you so - and I will never settle for anyone else. That's what all of these letters to you are about. I must convince you of this. I pray that I can. I don't wish to end up like my cousin Ben. He is heart broken, so much so you cannot miss it. It is as if the very energy of life itself has been sucked right out of him. He's not the same, you can see it in his face, his eyes, that he has no joy - only sorrow, he pines away for her; the girl, Crystal, who broke his heart. She is my uncle Shawn's wife's daughter. She didn't mean to - it just happened because she was torn - because she was married to her two son's father. Long story short - he came back for her, and she - trying to do the right thing, went back to him.
Because I'm human, I can't help but think about us - you and I - and ... him.
I love you Jackie, I want to win you from him - and I am determined, that I will - because you know, as well as I know, that you and I - belong together - the rest, will get worked out when it will. This is all for now my love...
Paul ... your future husband...
===== end of letter =====
"Mom, you wouldn't happen to have a stamp on you?" Paul asked his mother. He was done packing a lot of his things, he was moving in with Jake and Vivian, as his mother knew he would.
"Another letter to Jackie?"
Paul grinned, "Yes, Jackie."
They both laughed about that, the irony of him falling for a woman who shared his mother's name, "Yeah, thought I'd mail it on the way to the house. Now, you're sure you don't mind me moving in with them? I mean-..."
"Son, I've had you for 18 wonderful years! I figure there's only 3 more to go before you're a full blown man; I think you should spend those last few years with your father, it couldn't hurt."
"And you're not gonna miss me, be longing for me, stuff like that? Jealous of me spoiling, Vivian?"
Jackie tossed her head back laughing, "Are you kidding me? Jealous? That Vivian is going to need all the back-up she can get, marrying your father!"
"Mom, be nice - he's changed!"
"Ha!"
"He loves her!" He argued more in his behalf.
"I don't doubt that for a moment - there is no way on God's green earth, that a woman would be able to drag Jake to the alter otherwise."
"She's not dragging him, fact is, it's the other way around."
She shook her head, "I
still can't get over it, I never thought I'd see the day, that he'd get married, not ever! Just goes to show what the right woman can do for a man - but faithful to her? Yeah, that's another matter all together. I've been around Jake since I was in school, he's never been loyal to anyone he's dated. In fact, he never really dated, he just hung with the girl he was screwing at the time-..."
"Mom, I don't like you talking like that." Paul mildly corrected her.
She laughed at him, "Excuuuse me! Fact still remains, he went steady with no one until that woman Doris - and he cheated on her. He loves the challenge of the chase too much son; fact is, he has Vivian, she's going to be his wife, chase - over! Now, what is he going to do? I'll tell you what, he'll be a good husband as long as he can, but that ugly little demon in him that needs to chase, conquer, try, taste and experience something new, it will take over - and when it does...ha - yeah, son, I don't think that will ever die in him."
Paul could only stand, stare at his mother and hope that she was wrong.
"Maybe that's why he waited so long to marry - to be sure it was out of his system."
"Sure son - we can always hope, can't we?"
"You act like you want him to cheat on her or something mom; you wouldn't have a tiny bit of resentment would you? After all, if you'd been able to have your way, you'd be married to him now; not jealous are you?"
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