BOMAW 12-14

by Mercedes Keyes

  It was a simple matter, because mama cherished her, loved her, his protective instincts were strong and overwhelming - after all, no matter how much he fought it, or rebelled - he was still Bartholomew's son - he was the one who'd followed Shawn, looked up to Shawn and was driven to be just like him, if not - better, and certainly more fierce if he needed to be. Unlike Shawn - Jake had no problem with slapping the hell out of a woman to get his point across, he'd never hit one before - but if she pushed him - stepped into the midst of his home that he was building, his family, then so-be-it.

  She'd checked out, having only a few items, and crossed in front of the lane he was standing in for checkout, unable to resist, she'd looked at him again. This time - once more - Jake made eye contact with her - the look he gave her, made her quickly look away, her heart pounding. She decided - from that moment, she would cut Jake from her life - it had never been anything serious anyway; simply put, it wasn't worth it.

  Jake thought about Derrick, his situation - what that woman had done to Meribel, "Fuck that!" He mumbled low, he wasn't stupid, women could be just as dangerous as any man - and if they tried him, they'd find out what a mistake that would be.

  Seeing the back of her, and glad for it, he loaded the conveyor belt.

  A moment later, he was outside, loading the truck with his purchases, his mobile rang, checking it - he saw that it was his son, Paul, answering it, "Yep?"

  "Dad - just to let you know - they're here. Her folks, the house is full."

  "Shit! She still in bed?"

  "That - she is, I wouldn't let her up."

  "She eating anything yet?"

  "I gave her the last of some fresh sliced chicken and peppers - she's kept that down."

  "Okay, got one more stop to make, and I'll be right on. Her mother saying anything?"

  "Not much to me - but she's blown away by the house, even though, she's hiding it - she's not ah - what's the word???"

  "Nice... not nice..." Jake dreaded having to face her, but had little choice.

  Paul cleared his throat, "I hate to say it, but - no, not very. Besides her, the others, they can't believe it, her father is here too, asking me lots of questions. I showed them around, showed him some of the before and after pictures of the place, I could tell, he was impressed. Her sister is going crazy over it, the oldest one - Lacy?"

  "Yeah, Lacy - the other one there?" He asked, smiling thinking about Ella.

  "Oh yeah, she's here..." Paul started chuckling, "You sure they're related?"

  Jake burst into laughter putting the last bag in the truck, "I'm afraid so. What about Candace?"

  "Emmm, no Candance - just the two. Oh and uh, her friends are here too, that Dean guy - oh man dad, he's gay!"

  Jake roared with laughter walking back from pushing the cart away from the truck, climbing in. "I know, glad they could make it - I'll be on my way in a bit."

  "Okay, bye!"

  "Ooooh, I am so happy for you!" Dean gasped, sitting beside Vivian on her bed, Stephanie on the other side of her. The moment they came in, and certain family members got a few minutes of Dean, they started excusing themselves. He could care less, he was used to it - if he got it from his own family, he couldn't expect any less from those that weren't.

  "Girl! Your house is the BOMB! Oh my goodness! I couldn't believe it when we got here. Oh and your friends house? That's the shit baby, right there - who the hell is he? A politician or some-damn-body? And oooh he fine!"

  Dean shivered, "I could do him - shit I'd do him in a minute!" He swore thru clamped teeth.

  "Hey! Don't act a damn fool - that's my brother-in-law and I might add my best friends husband."

  "I know-I know, I'm just saying."

  Stephanie was cracking up, "Girl, this fool eying this man like he done lost his mind!"

  Vivian's eyes shot from Stephanie to Dean, "Dean!"

  "I'm behaving myself - really I am - but damn he look go-o-ood - emp - damn, enough to eat all-l-ll night long, I swear."

  "Well you can just forget that - because he don't go that way."

  "Emmm hm, that's what they all say." He smirked, doing a head roll, "They'll all turn once, even if for just, onenight."

  "Sorry Dean, not among these men, they are all straight as they come, heterosexual." Whispering low for his ears only, she teased, "Lovers of the pussy...hahaha." She grinned and tapped his chin.

  "That's why I can't stand yo'ass - I should've kept my ass in Chicago, not even come." He sassed, full on with the drama.

  Laughing Stephanie, corrected him, "Quit lying, you was coming if you came alone!"

  "'Cause you love me!" Vivian squeezed his arm.

  "Maybe I do, but I still can't stand you - got that tall, fine, strapping, vigorous man! Damn, I should move here, huh?"

  "Hell naw!" Vivian shook her head, laughing, "I don't think so."

  Dean twisted his lips and twisted his hand off to her vehement refusal of seeing that as a possibility.

  "Anyway, how you feeling? I can't believe you pregnant already!" Stephanie moved the topic of discussion.

  "I can! Shit, you can tell - that Jake don't play! And your friend is pregnant too! I bet ya'll don't do nothing around here but, fuck!"

  "Dean!" Stephanie and Vivian reprimanded with his name again. "You better be on your best, Dean, my parents here, and so are Sylvia's!"

  "Okay, okay okay, I need me a man, hell." He moped, looking pitiful.

  "Well you gonna have to be mighty lucky to find yourself one around here. You all seen Alec Ore?"

  "Not hyde, nor hair." Dean informed her.

  "I hope he made it here all right." Vivian asked concerned.

  "He'll be here, he said he was coming when I saw him at work yesterday." Stephanie added.

  "Good, I'd like him to be here. I need to get out of this bed, but Jake won't let me up."

  "Ohhh, that is sooo sweet. Girl, you don't know how lucky you are, such a good man."

  "Yo'mama sure don't think so, she ain't been doing nothing but turning her lip up at all these white folks, mmm um, I feel sorry for Jake, 'cause she gone be a trip as a mother-in-law." Dean needed to impart that as fact, the way he saw it.

  Vivian groaned, laying back against the head board, "I know, I'll be hearing it as soon as my father is out of ear-shot."

  "Well hopefully, this day and tomorrow will be over before you know it, and she'll be heading back to Chicago so you can be with your man in peace." Stephanie whispered, glancing from the door back to Vivian.

  Sheila's boys, Zachary, Jimmy and Tyrese; Lacy's son, Cory and Ella's boys, Lamar and Reggie were all outside with Paul. He was entertaining them to keep them out of the adults hair. They were full of questions, exploring the barn, the grounds, and having a ball climbing the trees out back. Asking him questions like, "How come he ain't got no pigs - no chickens - no cows - no horses or nothin'!?" It was a complaint of disappointment.

  For Paul to smile answering, "He just may get some, he just finished the house, now he can focus on livestock if they want to raise livestock."

  "If I lived in the country, and had a farm, I would have cows and pigs, and horses too!" This from Tyrese.

  "You ain't gone have nothing! You scared of pigs! Pro'ly cows too." His brother Jimmy scolded.

  "I ain't scared o'pigs - I just don't like no dead pigs!"

  "Well I tell you what, I'll take you all by my grandfather's farm, and you can see pigs, cows, chickens and a bull."

  "Whoa! I wanna go!" Ella's son, Reggie's arm shot into the air as if in a class room.

  "Me too!" Lacy's Cory, second that.

  "You can all go, you just have to mind your manners, do what I say, and not get into anything. Maybe we'll get fishing poles for you, and you can take turns fishing for catfish in the giant pond we have there."

  They were all excited to hear that.

  "So you Jake's son, huh? I like Jake, his brother beat him up, you know that?"

  Paul laughed, "Yes, I remember."


  "Em, yeah, that was bad. And how come your mother's not married to your dad?" Again Tyrese.

  "Answer to first question, yes, I'm Jake's son, his youngest, and - he has two others, my older brother Ben and the other one, Kevin. And nope, he and my mother aren't married - they just weren't like that."

  "Weren't like that? What, they get a divorce or something?" Tyrese asked.

  "Stop asking all them questions boy! Ain't none o'your business!" Zachary, Sheila's 16 year old corrected him.

  Paul smiled, questions didn't bother him, how else did you find things out if you didn't ask questions? He had been the same way growing up, and his mother had answered them all, straight forward and honestly. He went on to show them a good time, waiting on his father to return so he could ask if it was okay to take them by his grandfather's farm.

  Inside, while Dean and Stephanie spent time with Vivian in her room, Lacy, Ella and her mother looked around the house, Milton going his way, to finally meet up with Dennis and Lucas on the vast front porch, admiring the view.

  For the women, they all took it upon themselves to look around inside, some upstairs, some down - every room was finished to perfection, while not all rooms were furnished, they certainly lacked nothing in waiting to be filled. The basement, was for Jake, that was easy to see. There was a small kitchenette down there that Vivian could use, but she hadn't yet - it was filled with all new appliances and many of them still had the thin, transparent plastic covering that protected the surfaces of the microwave, oven door, stove glass top surface with it's halogen eyes. In the large laundry room, a brand new washing machine and dryer, which she'd used - and the small ones, apartment size brought up from Chicago were up stairs in their bathroom - where Jake had built them in. The larger laundry room in the basement had two folding tables sat before built in shelves up the wall for folded clothing and linen to be tucked in until she wished to put it away; in there as well, a permanently setup ironing board and iron, a hanging rack and in the corner, a new Singer sewing machine sitting in a stunning wood cabinet for her to sew if she chose to. Other rooms in the basement included two bedroom's, one was Paul's - the other for Ben when he dropped in - off from them, a full bathroom with a shower. As for the rest of the basement, that was for Jake to come in from work, dusty, worn, dirty - where he could sit a moment on his large L shaped sectional furniture of dark blue and Asian cream brocade to relax around his large screen TV - stereo, entertainment center. There was also a bar, a pool table, darts board, and a pinball machine; one of his old favorites; flashing lights, dinging bells and whoop whistles; if he played any games at all, it was on that; what could be more fun that pulling that pin lever back and letting it go to send the ball flying around to all the targets while flipping the levers and blocking it from rolling back to drop in the hole? He'd never gotten into Playstation or XBox.

  The house was basically split in two styles, in the basement, all modern, all current, all contemporary.

  Upstairs, outside of the kitchen appliances, all was antiques, Victorian and French provincial.

  Gert had even contributed a few pieces found and purchased for their home - enhancing what Vivian had done, stunning to all who visited there - Lacy could not get enough of it - admiring all the luxurious wood panels and wall papering. Ella walked around wondering what everything costs, and wondered why her sister liked old furniture when new looked so much better. As for Vivian's mother, Betty - despite what she saw - she still would not find it in her to praise what Jake had provided, muttering low to Lacy and Ella as they made their way back up the stairs from the basement. "Old ass house - and she settling for this - I see his brother got that Sylvia a brand new home, now that's somethin' to show off."

  "Mama don't do this - please. Why can't you just admit it, that he's done really well towards her. You and I both know, this is exactly what Vivian likes, it's her taste; I for one, think it's outstanding - Homes Gardens would do a spread on this place in an instant! And the gardens? Come on mama, why can't you just admit you were wrong about him."

  "I ain't admittin' shit!" She stopped at the top of the basement door to grouse, "He still white! Ain't nothing gonna change that!"

  "Ah, I do believe - so is Sylvia's husband, after all, they're brothers." Lacy pointed out.

  "Em, but Sylvia ain't my daughter - is she? Damn white people all over the place." Betty curled her upper lip distastefully.

  Just then Shanna rounded the corner, having come through the kitchen door, startling them, for Betty to snap, "Who the hell are you, just walking up into my daughter's house!? You ain't even knock!"

  "Mama!" Lacy couldn't believe her rudeness.

  "Don't mama me, see - I couldn't live here, just gone walk up in somebody's house!"

  Turning red, Shanna tried to explain herself, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, I just came by to meet you. I'm uh, Jake's younger sister." She swallowed, trying to smooth things over, her hand that had been out, she withdrew, her fingers curling in to scratch her suddenly sweaty palm.

  "His sister? You live here or something?" Betty asked, her tone and body language still full of resentment.

  "No, I live down from my other brother, Shawn."

  "I see, so obviously you all have a, enter upon arrival policy because it's your brother's house, not my daughter's! Em hm, who is she that you should respect her home."

  Shanna was so stunned she wasn't sure what to say, how to react.

  Ella shook her head giggling and walked past them all - heading back upstairs; while Lacy - her face reflecting her remorse, approached Shanna, "I'm Lacy, Vivian's older sister - please excuse my mother-..."

  "I don't need nobody to excuse me! Let me go check on Vivian, hope that faggot still ain't up there! She let anything up in her house!" Betty mumbled on her way down the hall heading for the stairs behind Ella.

  With her face burning, Shanna finally spoke, "Why do I get this feeling, she doesn't like me?"

  "It's not you - it's her! And we're not all like that, and it's really nice to meet you."

  Shanna sighed, thanking goodness for that, "Nice meeting you too, but I think, I'm gonna depart -..."

  "Oh don't go, you came to see Vivian?"

  "I came to meet the rest of the family, and it's really nice meeting you - but I really should go. If you wanna come by my place, I'm right down from Shawn, the big doublewide down the way - it's the only one on the road up from him."

  Lacy felt bad and walked with Shanna out the kitchen door, "I wish you wouldn't leave on account of her, this is your brother's house after all - you don't have to go."

  "I live right here, I can see Jake and Vivian all the time - but you guys are up just for the weekend, I don't wanna interfere." Shanna explained heading down the stairs.

  "All right, but I'll take you up on visiting." Lacy promised.

  "That would be great." Shanna waved walking away.

  Lacy looked around the gardens wondering where her father and the men disappeared to? No doubt they were walking the land and area, Paul had told them about how far their property went, so much of it on fields and an entire acre of it in the woods, she figured they must have gone looking it over. She stood leaning over the front porch railing in love with all she saw, thinking how lucky her sister was to have fallen into all of this. She was so happy for her; she just wished her mother could be more open to the idea of Vivian's future husband being white. Stepping down from the porch, Lacy slowly strolled around the garden and circling the home to the back, she went through the white picket fence to see a mighty oak that took her breath away.

  "Oh my God! Look at that tree!" The sight of it made her gasp out loud. There was already a thick rope hanging from it attached to a big tire. Looked like one off of a semi or something it was so big. She couldn't resist - she rushed to it, climbing in, and started swinging, twirling. The boys had been walking that way, saw her, calling out, they rushed to where she sat swinging.

  * * *

  Alec Ore wasn't sure
what to do next. This had been the first weekend he'd had off in months - only reason he'd taken this one, is because Vivian Cooke, one of the banks best employee's had left and was now getting married. They'd worked together for years. He'd always been in the position he held at the bank and when she'd come to work there, she'd been the buzz of all the execs. They'd never seen anything so exotic as her stepping up to work at the bank - fully qualified - a professional. Following her interview, hiring her had been automatic. She'd worked hard for every promotion they'd given her - and unlike some of the other ladies who had come on to him to move up - she was not guilty of the same.

  He'd always respected her and after getting to know her, he'd considered approaching her for a date, but she'd been so young. Besides that, he had a feeling, that she was so focused on professionalism she would have taken his advances the wrong way; with someone like her having such a strong and honorable work ethnic, he hadn't wanted to wreck it - so - kept their relationship purely a working one, and as it turned out, she'd ended up working directly with him. Then the office gossip mill churned up the story she was involved with one of their constituents, doctor. He'd had to stop that story when it was being poured out to him, because he'd cottoned on to why they wanted him to know, it was to knock her down from his favor - it hadn't worked. He'd given Janna a warning about spreading office gossip and especially bringing it to him. Two to three years after becoming his right hand - or rather, wo-man, to everyone's surprise - some man had come into her life and snatched her away. Not the doctor. He couldn't help but be happy for her - for a while, he thought she would end up like him. Working 12 to 13 days straight without one off; he thought it a joke, this thing about banker's hours.