by Eboni Snoe
“This, too, is part of living in the Keys,” he declared. “It’s a part that will either nourish you or break you.” He breathed the air as if it were life-giving prana. “The stormy side of the people here. The secrets that we hold. It is the price that some of us pay.”
“You make it sound ominous. I think it is beautiful.” Sasha looked up at the sky.
“It is more than perspective, Sasha. It is reality.”
“But isn’t that what reality is? Your perspective is your reality. My perspective is mine.”
“Yes, and my reality has made me cautious.” He touched her face.
“Are you telling me you’re a coward, Cay Ellis?”
“Perhaps.” His thumb softly stroked her mouth.
“But I know that’s not true,” she said, referring to how he rescued her.
“That was uncharacteristic of me. I couldn’t help myself.” His voice was husky as his face descended.
This time she did not wait to see if he would close his eyes. When his mouth touched hers it was eager, demanding. Sasha wrapped her arms around his neck and molded her body against him. Cay, like the storm outside, let loose the need in him and Sasha had no choice but to reply in kind. She was deeply moved, but there was no way to tell by her verbal response. “So I overpowered you?” She made light of the situation, but Sasha yearned to know how he saw her and what he felt.
“You can say that. And that may not be good,” he whispered.
“Not good?” Sasha feigned offense. “This is our second kiss and you don’t know if it would be good?”
Cay smirked. “You said the kiss in the bedroom did not count,” he reminded her.
“Oh, that’s right.” Sasha stared into his eyes before she pulled Cay’s head toward her. Her kiss was different. It was sweet and caring. Not at all what she had expected to give. She had wanted to inflame, exert her power, but instead she had proclaimed her feelings. Sasha pulled back as a siren sounded in the distance.
“That’s a warning,” Cay said as he looked at her.
“For who? You or me?” Sasha said softly.
“I don’t know, but I plan to find out.” His arms tightened about her.
“Cautious, are you?” Sasha placed her finger against his lips. “I believe in change, but not too quickly.” She disengaged herself. “Good night,” she said, then headed for her bedroom, alone.
Chapter 7
“I thought by now the storm would have been over.” Sasha poured herself a cup of coffee the next morning.
“No, this one seems to be hanging around,” Olive replied as she cut up fruit for breakfast.
Sasha could tell Olive didn’t like her presence in the kitchen. She started to leave but changed her mind. “Why don’t you like me, Olive?”
“I-I never said that,” Olive stammered, obviously caught off guard.
“You don’t have to say it. It’s in the way you act. In the things you don’t say.”
“Well, if you don’t mind my saying so, it’s not my place to like or dislike anyone Mr. Cay invites to Guana Manor.” She slipped comfortably into the housekeeper’s role.
“I’m not into people’s ‘places.’” Sasha took a sip of coffee. “Since I’ve been forced to stay here, it appears for more than one night, I’m just trying to understand.”
“In my opinion you haven’t been forced into anything. You’re the one who appeared on this doorstep.” Olive planted her feet and looked Sasha straight in the eye.
“So that’s it. You think I’m after something.”
“Most of the women that flutter around Mr. Cay are,” she said, tilting her chin stubbornly.
“Most of the women?”
“Yes. Before my Precious came, and ever since she passed away, they’ve come up with every ploy in the book to try to be the next Mrs. Ellis. But I’ve got to say yours was a little drastic.”
Sasha thought, for a woman who said she knew her place, Olive didn’t bite her tongue. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Coming here wet with your clothes clinging to you. A man needs a little bit left to the imagination if you’re going to really pique his interest.”
“Oh, the see-through poet’s shirt. It was peaked all right,” Sasha added softly.
“What did you say?” Olive squinted.
“Nothing worth repeating.”
The housekeeper glared at her. “That’s what’s wrong with you young women, you don’t know how to make a man feel you’re worth waiting and working for. Now, with you, you may have had him for that short period yesterday, but that will be all you’ll get. He got what he wanted and he will be gone.”
“Is that right?” Olive’s audacity knew no bounds.
“Not that Mr. Cay is a whorish man. That he isn’t. If he was he would be busy day and night. But he is a man nevertheless.”
“I think I need to clear this up before it goes any further.” Sasha placed her cup on the counter. “I did not come here to be the next Mrs. Ellis. And” —she wanted to add “if it’s any of your business”— “Cay Ellis has not gotten anything from me.” She paused for emphasis. “I was drawn into this situation. You should know. Mr. Knowles was the one who brought me here.”
“That was early yesterday morning.” Olive placed her hand on her hip. “You had your meeting and things were settled. It was you who came back here on your own after you got a real good look at Mr. Cay and Guana Manor.”
Now the woman had gone too far. “I came here after my furniture and my belongings were doused with bleach. And I believe your precious Mr. Cay was behind it.”
“Bleach had been poured in your house?” Olive’s eyes widened.
“Yes.” Sasha’s anger began to build again. “Everything it touched was ruined.”
“Bleach…isn’t that something. Was there a bottle or bone hanging near your front door?” Olive came a little closer.
“Not that I saw,” Sasha answered, confused.
“And there’s nobody that you know of that would want to put you through that kind of mischief.”
“Nobody that I know of outside of Mr. Cay,” Sasha repeated herself. “And I would not call this mischief, I’d call it—”
“Mr. Cay wouldn’t do something like that.” Olive waved her hand in dismissal. “That’s simply out of the question. But I know who would.”
“Who?” Sasha was stumped.
“The chicharney would.”
“Chicharney,” Sasha repeated. “I’ve heard Cay use that word before.”
“See there.” Olive’s eyes lit up. “Even Mr. Cay thinks it was the chicharney. You poor child.” Olive placed her hand on top of Sasha’s. “To have actually been a victim of the chicharney’s tricks.” She shook her head. “But you know, there are a few silk cotton trees on the Bethel land. They were planted by Hazel Bethel a long time ago. The silk cotton trees are where the chicharney likes to live.”
Sasha was disconcerted by Olive’s assessment and her change of heart. “Really?”
“Yes. I can’t wait to tell Baltron that the chicharney has been up to no good on Magic Key,” Olive announced with satisfaction. “And Sherry doesn’t believe in such things.” She turned up her nose.
Sasha decided to remain on Olive’s good side. “If you don’t mind my asking…what does a chicharney look like?”
“He is a small three-legged animal.” Olive leaned forward. “He sort of resembles a leprechaun.”
Sasha tried to smother her smile.
“Now, you laugh if you like.” Olive shook her finger.
“No…no…I think he must be quite comical-looking.” Sasha whitewashed the real reason for her mirth.
Olive looked as if she was trying to determine if Sasha was telling the truth. “There are some remarkable things on these Keys and the islands,” she said in a dead serious voice. “You just remember that.” Olive headed out of the kitchen with a breakfast tray.
Sasha took her coffee into the breakfast room.
“Did you sleep well?” It was Sherry Ellis, sitting at a small table.
“I slept okay. What about you?”
“Not very well,” Sherry replied. “I tend to have nightmares.” She looked long and hard at Sasha as if she were expecting a reply. When Sasha had none, Sherry asked, “Why don’t you sit down and drink your coffee.”
“Actually, I was headed back to my room.”
“I would like it if you sat down,” Sherry insisted. “It’s not often that I have a woman near my age to talk to here at Guana Manor.” She nudged a chair from underneath the table with her foot.
“Why not?” Sasha sat in a chair on the opposite side.
“Yes. Why not?” Sherry repeated. “Unless you, too, have something against me?”
“I’m just a guest here. Nothing more.”
“It seems if Papa has his way you will be more than that.” Sherry looked at Sasha meaningfully.
“You would be a better judge of that than I would. I thought he was just having a good time.”
“He was having a good time. I hear in the old days he was very known for that. Good times and women.” Sherry removed a cigarette from the pack beside her plate.
“I don’t think Mr. Ellis’s past is any of my business,” Sasha informed her.
“Don’t worry” —Sherry shook her naturally wavy hair— “I’m not revealing any deep dark family secret. It’s common knowledge.”
“I see.”
“Papa doesn’t have very high regard for women. He says we’re troublemakers.”
“I guess he’s entitled to his opinion.”
Sherry crossed her legs, then lit a cigarette. “Have you noticed all the male portraits on the walls?”
“No, I haven’t. I haven’t taken it upon myself to explore the place,” Sasha replied, seeing that Sherry was intent on giving her view of the Ellises.
“Well, you won’t find one painting of a woman other than Papa’s mother, Mother Ellis. They say she was very fair skinned, almost white.” She paused. “All the other women were obsolete.”
“Really.” Sasha wondered what Sherry was really driving at.
“Yes, really.” Sherry dunked her tea bag before closing the lid on the china teapot. “This is not your normal family.” She blew a stream of smoke into the air. “Bizarre things happen around here. Sometimes I wonder if this Florida sun hasn’t fried all our brains. Some of these people are so wrapped up in that obeah stuff. I heard Mother Ellis banned that kind of talk from Guana Manor. But she believed in the obeah all the same. She’s the only Ellis woman who commanded any respect. The men were so busy building the businesses and their fortune their women were secondary in their lives.”
“Cay’s wife didn’t seem to be secondary in his life.”
“Cay is different.” Sherry slid down farther into the padded chair. “Guana Manor and the Ellis fortune mean a lot to him, but human relationships mean more.”
“Was Cay’s brother, Wally, different?”
“Wally…” Sherry contemplated the name. “In the beginning I thought he was, but after a year he turned out to be more and more like Papa.” A wistful smile crossed her lips. “Money can be such a seductress. You’re entrapped before you know it. You do realize we Ellises are terribly rich, don’t you?”
“I can look around and tell you’re not hurting financially.”
“Hurting financially. That’s an understatement.” Sherry lit a cigarette and blew the smoke out over her head. “When I was in my late teens my parents brought me to Big Pine Key for a vacation. That was the first time I met the Ellis family. It was at a restaurant. They had a business, and still do, by the way, called Happy Tourists Boat Rental. We ended up renting one of their boats for the weekend. There aren’t that many black folks capitalizing on the tourism industry down here in the Keys. Not on the high end, at least.” Sherry poured herself a fresh batch of tea. “So my parents, who are into status, and Papa Ellis, who is as well, naturally hit it off. They thought my marrying one of the ‘Ellis boys’ would be a good idea. Good for my future. Plus Papa wanted to make sure the ‘red bone blood,’ as he called it, stayed strong in his family tree.” Sherry ran her hand over her creamy yellow arm. “And of course, I did think Cay and Wally were good-looking. Any woman would.”
“So you and Wally were married a long time before he died.” Sherry had piqued Sasha’s curiosity.
“No. We had been married two and a half years.” Sherry’s face turned long, then brightened. “In the beginning I didn’t know which one of them I liked. I was young, you know. Thought I was God’s gift to man and all that. Plus we lived a long way from here, in Aurora, Colorado.” She fingered her hair. “But over the years we managed to keep in touch, and I continued to visit the area.” Sherry sighed. “Then one time I came down and found out Cay was getting married. To tell you the truth, I was shocked.”
“Why?”
“Beca-ause, all those years I’d been visiting, he never had a serious girlfriend.” Her silky brows knitted together. “Precious popped up out of nowhere, if you ask me. Well, it wasn’t long after that they got married, and that kind of helped me make my choice. Wally and I were married a year later. That was five years ago. I was twenty-five.”
“I see,” Sasha replied.
“You like saying that, don’t you?”
“Saying what?”
“I see. Do you really?” She looked Sasha dead in the eyes.
“I don’t know what you expect me to say.” Sasha shrugged.
“When I married Wally we had the most beautiful wedding down by the water. The sand was white and…everything was so beautiful. Even though I had taken my time making up my mind, I believed Wally loved me and our marriage would be beautiful as well. But like I said, Wally turned out to be like Papa, and I had a problem with that, if you know what I mean.”
“No, I can’t say I do.” Sasha frowned at the taste of her now-cold coffee.
“Wally loved women. He’d come home smelling like them. Their scent would be all in his clothes and in his hair.” Sherry took a long pull on her cigarette. “Precious never had that kind of problem with Cay. I used to hear laughter coming out of their bedroom window at night, while I was sitting on the veranda waiting for Wally to come home.”
“Did Wally know that you knew about the women? That you were unhappy?” It was hard for Sasha to imagine Sherry’s husband forcing her to wait for him at night while he pursued other women. Sherry was a beautiful woman herself.
“He knew,” Sherry replied. “But he didn’t care. It didn’t matter that I stopped going to bed with him, either. That just provided him with an excuse to do more of what he was already doing.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” Sasha pressed.
“Like I said, it’s lonely here. Sometimes I need to bend somebody’s ear who is outside of all this. Who isn’t biased.”
Sasha looked down.
Sherry rested her head in her hand. “One night, after Precious died, I was crying about Wally, and Cay heard me. He came into my bedroom to see what was wrong. He knew what his brother was up to, and he just wanted to comfort me.” Sherry paused. “I guess being in the state I was in, I took it the wrong way. I needed to feel love. I wanted to be reassured that my life wasn’t just one big mistake. So I turned to Cay. I asked him not to leave my room. I wanted him to stay.” Sherry licked her lips and sat back. “That’s when Wally came home. He heard me, and saw us on the bed, and jumped to the wrong conclusion. Cay and Wally were kind of distant after that. Papa blamed me.”
“That was years ago,” Sasha remarked, although she didn’t like the feeling that churned in the pit of her stomach.
“It will be two and a half years next month,” Sherry informed her.
“I’m sure Mr. Ellis has put most of that behind him.”
“Does it seem that way to you?” Sherry didn’t wait for Sasha’s answer. “The only reason I’m living here today is because of a promise Cay made to me the day
after Wally died. He promised I would always have a home at Guana Manor. If it was left up to Papa, I would have been kicked out the day we buried Wally.”
“But why do you want to stay here if Mr. Ellis really doesn’t want you to?” Sasha knew how it felt to be an outsider. “You’re young enough, and definitely attractive enough to start your life somewhere else.”
“Because Guana Manor is my home, too.” Sherry’s features hardened. “I’ve dreamed of living here since I was a teenager. Of raising a family here, of seeing my portrait go up on these walls and seeing myself buried at Guana Manor in the family cemetery. I’m not going to let anybody or anything cheat me out of that. Not Wally’s womanizing during our marriage, not his untimely death.” She leaned toward Sasha. “So you can imagine, if I feel this way about my deceased husband, how I would feel about anybody else who might threaten my plans. Now, do you really see, Ms. Townsend?”
“I don’t think it could be any clearer,” Sasha replied.
Sherry’s lips spread into a slight smile. “So Papa can hate me all he wants, but as long as I have Cay, I don’t have anything to worry about.”
“But do you truly have Cay?” Sasha asked, her gaze steady.
“I’ve always had him. I was just a little slow reeling him in.” Sherry looked satisfied. “But I won’t be this time, and I won’t allow him to get on anybody else’s hook, either.”
Sasha gave a light chuckle. “So now I know the real purpose behind our little chat. Well, let me put you at ease. I’m not trying to hook Cay, Sherry. So you need not worry about that. But I don’t know what Cay’s intentions are. He seems to be a man who knows his own mind. If he wasn’t, he would have taken you up on your offer in your husband’s bedroom a few years ago. But, on second thought, I think most men would shy away from going to bed with their brother’s wife.”
“Half brother,” Sherry informed her.
“Brother nevertheless.” Sasha stood up. “And I guess Cay hasn’t accepted the offer since then, even though I’m sure you’ve made it clear to him that it still stands.” She pushed her chair away from the table. “So if I were you, Sherry, I might be looking for a burial plot somewhere else.” Sasha headed for her bedroom, the only place in Guana Mansion where she could let down her guard.