A Blessing & a Curse
Page 22
The woman looked from one to the other before her glance settled on Simon. “Well, since you’re the only man here, I’m going to assume that you’re Mr. Jackson.” She handed him the packet.
He held it with the tips of his fingers, like he was holding precious cargo. And Jasmine kept her eyes on the envelope that was about to free her.
Simon asked, “Is there a place where we can go? To open this?”
Again, the woman’s gaze swept over the four of them before she said, “Follow me.”
Simon was first, followed by Rachel, then Jasmine and Mae Frances. The woman led them to a conference room and ushered them all inside. “You can talk in here.” When they were seated, she left them alone.
“Well,” Simon said, still wearing that silly smile.
“Go ahead,” Jasmine said. “Open it.”
Rachel narrowed her eyes. “You seem so anxious.”
“I just want to get this over with,” Jasmine told her. Then looking at Simon, she added, “Once and for all.”
As Simon gently tore the top of the envelope open, Mae Frances took Jasmine’s hand and squeezed it. That calmed Jasmine down even more.
Still, she held on to Mae Frances because she didn’t have anyone else. She purposely hadn’t told Hosea about this retest because she knew her husband would be suspicious, just as Rachel was now, and would be even more in a moment when Simon read the results.
But Hosea wouldn’t have let her get away with this; Rachel would have no choice.
She took a final deep breath as Simon pulled the single sheet from the envelope. And then Jasmine waited for his silly smile to fade away, like she expected. But his smile was still in place when he glanced up at her and said, “Just like before . . . you are my daughter.”
It took a moment for those words to settle in before she shouted, “What?” Ripping her hand away from Mae Frances’s grasp, she snatched the paper from Simon. “That’s impossible,” she said as her eyes scanned the paper.
She didn’t understand all the numbers, just like before, but she understood enough—there was a 99.9 percent chance that Simon Jackson was her father.
“No!” she yelled again and turned to Mae Frances. “What is this?” She waved the paper in her face.
“This is the right thing,” Mae Frances said, her voice level even as Jasmine shouted.
“No!” Jasmine cried, shaking her head. “No! You were supposed to fix this.”
“What?”
Suddenly, Jasmine remembered she and Mae Frances were not alone. She couldn’t see her clearly, though. Not through her tears.
“What do you mean Mae Frances was supposed to fix this?” Rachel demanded to know. “Fix what? How?”
Jasmine ignored her, keeping her eyes on Mae Frances. “You said you had my back.”
“And that’s exactly why I didn’t do anything, Jasmine Larson.” She reached for her, but Jasmine scooted away. Mae Frances continued anyway, “I know you’re upset by this now, but I promise you in a few days, in a few weeks, it might even take months or years . . . I didn’t want you to have any regrets. And changing those results would have been something you would regret for the rest of your life.”
Jasmine shook her head. “I can’t believe you betrayed me like this.”
“It feels that way now, but I know I did the right thing. I did it because I love you. And I’m not going to let someone I love miss out on any kind of love.”
Then, Mae Frances scooted her chair back and with her eyes on Rachel, she gestured with her head toward the door. Rachel jumped up, but glanced at her father. When he nodded, she followed Mae Frances toward the door.
Rachel paused, though. “Jasmine . . .”
But all Jasmine did was look the other way.
Mae Frances led Rachel from the room and closed the door.
It was as if their leaving gave Jasmine permission. She covered her face with her hands and wept, though no tears fell from her eyes. She was cried out, but the pain she felt was still the same. Now this would never end.
She lowered her head and thought about what it would be like now, having Simon around all the time when she didn’t want him. She stared at her hands folded in her lap, and wondered what else she had to do. Was there another way to end this?
There was nothing but silence; so much so that for a moment Jasmine thought she was alone. But when she looked up and across the table, Simon was still sitting there. Now, that smile was gone.
His face was etched with pain once more, only this time it was deeper than when she’d called him Mr. Jackson. Jasmine could tell he was hurt down to his soul.
Still, he said nothing for a few moments. Just looked at her with eyes filled with deep sorrow. Finally he said, “Jasmine, if this is causing you this much . . . anguish, then I will respect your wishes. I will just go.”
She swallowed and through glassy eyes studied Simon.
“I will just go,” he repeated, sounding like he was a broken man.
Jasmine waited a moment before she said, “And . . . you’ll leave me alone? You’ll never bother me again?”
He shook his head. “You’ll never hear from me. I loved your mother too much and I love you. And now . . . to see you like this.” He pushed back his chair. “I’m sorry,” he said before he turned away.
Jasmine watched him walk from the table and she wondered if this was really over. Would he keep his word? Would he leave her alone?
She had a feeling he would. She had a feeling she would never see him again. She had a feeling she would never get to know . . . her father.
And that made her happy.
And that made her sad.
She watched each step he took. She watched as his hand gripped the doorknob. She watched as he took that first step out the door and then closed it behind him.
That was when she jumped up and ran. Swinging the door open, she said, “Simon! Wait!”
He turned around.
She inhaled, exhaled, and said to him: “Just for a few minutes. Can you stay? Can you tell me about my mother?”
He hesitated as if he thought she might change her mind. Then his smile was as slight as his nod as he came back into the room. Together they sat down, this time on the same side of the table. And then another moment of hesitation passed before he took her hand.
“Let me tell you about Doris Young. Let me tell you about the beautiful, wonderful woman who was your mother.”
Epilogue
One Month Later
Mae Frances reached for her cell phone, and with just one eye open, she peeked at the screen for the identity of the incoming call. Scooting up in the bed, she tugged the sheet up to cover herself and clicked on the phone.
“Yes, Jasmine Larson?”
“Is that any way to greet your favorite person?”
“Well, Jesus isn’t on the other end of this line, you are. So, what’s up?”
Jasmine laughed. “Okay,” she said. “Remember, you wouldn’t even know Jesus if it weren’t for me.”
“Was there any reason in particular that you called in the middle of my vacation? Or did you just call to torture me?”
“If there’s any torture going on . . .”
“Jasmine Larson . . .” Mae Frances said, with a warning in her tone.
“Okay. Well, I was calling to see how you were doing and to tell you what’s been going on.” She paused. “With me and Simon.”
“Simon.” Mae Frances said his name with a smile spreading across her face. “At least you’re not calling him ‘that man’ anymore.”
“No, he’s graduated to Simon.”
“So, how has it been?”
“It’s cool,” Jasmine said, though Mae Frances could hear the little bit of hesitation that was still in her voice. “I’m sure Simon would like it to go faster, but he’s letting me take my time—if you can call talking on the phone just about every day taking my time.”
“Now that makes me happy. So you call him every day?”
“Well, I’m sure he’d like that. I think he’s a really good man.”
Jasmine paused as if she wasn’t sure that she wanted to agree with that just yet. “Well, the one thing I do know is that he really did love my mother.”
Even though Jasmine couldn’t see her, Mae Frances nodded because that was the truth. She and Hosea had been with Jasmine the day that Simon finally told her the whole story: How he and Doris had been writing each other, but then her letters suddenly stopped coming. How he didn’t know what had happened and how he’d been devastated. How he’d even bought a ticket to take a bus to Mobile, but once his parents found out, they’d shut that down. Still, she let Jasmine repeat the story, knowing there was some kind of therapeutic relief in there for her.
Mae Frances said, “Every time I think about Simon and your mother, I think about that Raymond and Joanne story.”
“Raymond and Joanne? You mean Romeo and Juliet?”
“I mean what I said. Raymond was this dude I grew up with in Galveston and his mama hated his girlfriend, Joanne. But even though they were only fifteen, they were in love and tried to sneak off to get married. But then his mama found out and showed up at the courthouse with a shotgun. ’Cause they’d gone to the courthouse with some fake papers. Anyway, his mama pointed that gun straight at Joanne’s face. I’m telling you, Joanne ran outta that courthouse so fast and no one ain’t heard from her since. That was fifty, sixty, seventy years ago, I don’t know. But no one ever saw Joanne again.”
Jasmine chuckled. “Are you making that up?”
“I’m serious. Just be glad that didn’t happen to Simon and your mama.”
“Yeah,” Jasmine said. “Simon kinda figures that Mama may have stayed away from him since he was from a family of preachers. She probably didn’t want him to be cast aside the way she was.”
“True love, I guess. I ain’t neva known a love like that before.”
“Well, Simon says that if he had found Mama, they would’ve married.”
“Now don’t you go wasting your time thinking about what might have been. Shoot, if he’d done that, you wouldn’t have had your daddy and your sister and you probably wouldn’t have met Preacher Man and had your children . . .”
“Okay!” Jasmine said.
“I have just always believed that everything happens the way it’s supposed to. So just be happy with what you got.”
“I am,” she said. “At least I’m trying to be.”
“Good. Now, how’s Rachel?”
Jasmine paused for a moment. “Rachel? You actually called her by her name.”
“Well, I have to . . . now that she’s your sister.”
“We’re not quite sisterly, but at least we talk . . . sometimes. Simon puts her on the phone and makes us talk to each other. She said that it’s gonna take some time for her to get over the way I treated her father . . . our father.”
“She’ll get over that.”
“Whatever; Serena is a great sister, so I’m cool if it’s just the two of us for the rest of our lives. Anyway, enough about my crazy situation. How’s your vacation?” And before Mae Frances could answer, Jasmine added, “Where are you anyway?”
“My vacation is just fine and you don’t need to know where I am.”
“Why? You think I’m gonna show up? What? You trying to hide some man?” Jasmine laughed.
“I keep telling you, Jasmine Larson, you don’t know who I am.”
“Oh, please, I know everything that . . .”
In the middle of Jasmine’s sentence, Mae Frances clicked off the phone. And then she powered it off, knowing that Jasmine was probably calling back at that moment. “Hmph! That girl thinks she knows me and she don’t know nothin’ ’bout me.”
“So, what you mean you ain’t neva known a love like that before? I bet you know it now.”
Mae Frances smiled when she said, “Shut up, you old tyrant.”
He stood, stretching as the sunlight beamed through the window of the Super 8. “Hmph, I should’ve been telling you to shut up last night. I’m sure the folks next door didn’t get any sleep.” He stood at the edge of the bed in all his glory, not the least bit ashamed. “I told you, the hair may be gone”—he patted the top of his head—“the muscles may be gone”—he jiggled the hanging skin under his arm, then wiggled his hips—“but Big Daddy still got that magic potion that makes the ladies scream his name.”
“I don’t scream.” Mae Frances pretended to pout. She couldn’t believe this man had her acting like a giddy teenager.
“Hmph, ask the folks next door. You were acting like you were twenty years old.” He moved in closer to her, mimicking her. “Yes, Bubba! Yesssss, Bubba! I ain’t neva had it like that, Bubba!”
Mae Frances took a pillow and swung it at him; he jumped out of the way, then dove on top of her. He couldn’t have weighed more than 140 pounds so she easily pushed him off. He rolled to lie beside her, out of breath, like their two-minute tussle had really worn him out, which was strange because she knew for a fact that he could go much longer than two minutes.
“Mae Frances, you some kind of woman. Just fine. And you got all your teeth. Don’t find that around here often.” He chuckled. “I don’t know what I did to deserve a woman like you,” he said, his tone turning serious.
“You don’t have me,” she replied, turning over on her side to face him.
“Not yet. But I will.” He flashed a confident smile, which Mae Frances couldn’t help but return.
She couldn’t believe she was back in Smackover . . . but Bubba was right. He had some kind of magic on her. It was strange because she’d had her fair share of men—powerful, handsome, charismatic—but there was something about Bubba Jackson that kept drawing her to him. And it wasn’t the fact that he gave her a Viagra-style night without popping a pill. Bubba made her feel young again. He made her feel special. He made her smile inside. Even though they were from two different worlds, he wasn’t intimidated and his confidence turned her on.
“So, when we going public?” Bubba asked. “I’m eighty. I can’t be spending years as a secret sidepiece.”
“Hush. I told you, I don’t let the world know my business.”
“You know I googled you,” he said.
“You don’t even know how to spell ‘google’!” She laughed.
“My nephew helped me. He bought me one of those contraptions that you can google on.”
“You mean a computer?”
“Yeah. But I didn’t have any need for it. Till I met you. I wanted to know more.”
“Hmph. So you went digging?”
“That’s just it. I went digging, but I didn’t find anything.” He sat up and looked at her strangely. “How you gonna be . . . How old are you again?”
Mae Frances gave him a serious side-eye.
He continued. “How you gonna be however old you are and I can’t find nothing about you?”
“And what makes you think I’d be on Google anyway? Maybe I’m just an ordinary woman.”
“Ordinary women don’t know everyone from Al Sharpton to Colin Powell.”
“How did you know I know Colin?”
“I didn’t. But see what I mean,” Bubba said. He stood and walked around to the edge of the bed, facing her directly. “All those connections and nothing about you nowhere?”
She flashed a sly smile. “You know what you need to know.”
“But I want to know more.” He crawled toward her on all fours. Mae Frances couldn’t help it; she giggled. “What I got to do to get you to tell me more?” he asked. “Tickle your fancy?” He ran a finger across the bottom of her foot. “Find your sweet spot?” He lifted her arm and kissed the inside of her forearm. “What’s it gonna take?”
Mae Frances stared at him. She’d never before wanted to tell her story and had only taken the book deal because th
e price was right. The truth was she’d been unsure if she ever really planned to deliver her life story. But it was time. Jasmine connecting with her newfound family made Mae Frances think about her own. Being here with Bubba made her remember all the loves she’d lost.
“You want to know my story, Bubba Jackson?” She reached over, pulled his boxers off the lampshade, and tossed them to him. “Get dressed, I’m going to give you a sneak peek of my soon-to-be blockbuster book . . . and it’s a doozy, because do I have a story to tell . . .”
DON'T MISS ALL OF RACHEL AND JASMINE'S SCANDALOUS ADVENTURES
Team Jasmine or Team Rachel? When the position of president for the American Baptist Coalition opens, both women think their husbands are perfect for the job.
Sinners & Saints
* * *
Could danger and murder turn enemies into BFFs? When one of the Coalition's heaviest hitters turns up dead—and Rachel looks guilty —Jasmine must decide if she'll help hunt down a killer.
Friends & Foes
* * *
Will they be famous or infamous? As stars of the reality show, First Ladies, will Rachel and Jasmine have to form a unholy alliance to go up against a bunch of so-called Godly women.
Fortune & Fame
* * *
ORDER YOUR COPIES TODAY!
GALLERY READERS GROUP GUIDE
* * *
A BLESSING
& a Curse
RESHONDA TATE BILLINGSLEY
&
VICTORIA CHRISTOPHER MURRAY
Introduction
A Blessing & a Curse continues the collaboration between ReShonda Tate Billingsley and Victoria Christopher Murray, following the beloved First Ladies of the Baptist Church and sworn frenemies Rachel Jackson Adams and Jasmine Cox Larson Bush.
After seeing Jasmine on their outrageous reality TV show, Rachel’s father, Simon Jackson, makes a shocking revelation—with her eerie resemblance to his first teenage love, Simon is almost convinced that Jasmine is his daughter.