Every Woman Needs a Wife

by Naleighna Kai

  “Brandi, two years was a long time to wait for you. And then Vernon came through and whoosh—you were gone. And he wasn’t all that patient, either.”

  “Very patient, loving; arrogant,” she said softly, “but I could overlook that last part. And that’s why I married him.” She perched her hips on the table, swinging her legs back and forth like a child. “Michael, you’re one of the sweetest men I’ve ever known, and I felt something for you, but it wasn’t nearly as powerful as what I felt for Vernon. I adored you, but I loved him.”

  The crestfallen expression on his face made a slice of doubt sliver through her mind. Was she making the wrong decision again?

  “I can’t just chuck him over the side because of this, Michael. We’ve gone through so much. And I still love him. If I went to you right now, you’d be getting leftovers and that’s just not right. If there’s any chance that my marriage will work—I have to try.”

  The same decisions she had to make right after college were popping up all over again. This was her chance to right old wrongs and be in the clear. Michael had dated several women but never married, probably because he was still waiting for her. But sometimes his quiet, intense energy was frightening—even now. Yet, she was curious, too. Maybe it took being with Vernon all this time to prepare her for someone like Michael. And she couldn’t just put all of her hopes in Vernon, either. So she said, “Okay, why don’t we start with a date—just a date.”

  His lips spread into a beautiful smile and his eyes lit up with a love that was almost painful to see.

  She wagged a finger at him. “And you keep your hands and lips to yourself.”

  “Damn, you sure know how to take the fun out of life,” he said, still grinning as he moved and centered himself between her thighs.

  She couldn’t help but smile back. “And just what were you planning?”

  His left eyebrow lifted twice, as a single finger traced a fiery path along her cheekbone. “Nothing I can say out loud.”

  “Behave, Michael.”

  “Woman,” he began softly, brushing his lips against her temple. “Will you stop cursing at me?”

  CHAPTER Fifty-One

  Vernon sent up a silent prayer as the men escorted him toward the airport exit. The gun in his rib cage kept him on the straight and narrow, just in case he got any ideas about escaping. These men were crazy. How had he gotten into this mess?

  The old janitor appeared again, this time blocking the path of the group.

  “What do you want?” Jaunal growled.

  “Since you called me a boy, implying that I’m not grown enough to ask what you folks is doin’ on my own, I brought along my mama and my papa.” He shifted to the left allowing full view of the male and female police officers standing directly behind him.

  “Now like I said, what are you folks doing here?”

  “They’re trying to kill me! And they stole my wallet,” Vernon said, glaring at Bubba who still had a death grip on his shoulders. He yanked forward out of the man’s hold. The gun disappeared as the not-so-jolly man grunted and reached into the pocket of his blue overalls, producing the wallet. Vernon snatched it and turned to the janitor.

  “Now, sir,” the old man said with a grin. “I’m sure you’ve got a plane to catch. So if you’ll follow me.”

  Vernon brushed off his suit, stepped around Bubba’s massive form, through the rest of the group, and walked briskly away.

  The policewoman stepped forward, scanning the crowd. “Now if y’all just follow me…we’ll sort it all out.”

  Wilbur Jaunal tore his arm out of the officer’s grasp, his cheeks flushed with color. “Do you know who I am? I own—”

  “Well, I know one thing, you don’t own airport security,” the burly woman said, practically lifting the angry man from the ground. She scanned the crowd once, then said in a voice that meant business, “So let’s get moving.”

  Vernon thanked the old man, whose gaze narrowed as he said, “You tell little Miss Tanya that Grandpa James is still waiting for another serving of Brummistew.”

  “You know Tanya?”

  James nodded. “Stayed with my family for two years before that Jaunal tried to force us to send her home.” He grunted, looking over his shoulder to see that more police had arrived and rounded up all of the Jaunal clan. “That man just ain’t right. What he did to that girl was downright evil.”

  “How did you know they were talking about your Tanya?”

  The man’s pace slowed a little as he said, “I overheard them when they passed the skycaps. I’d recognize Jaunal’s ornery behind anywhere,” James said. “So what’s he doing?”

  “He’s offered a hundred-thousand dollar reward for information about her.”

  “Yes, we’ve known about that for years, but none of us are talking. Haven’t seen her since she slipped out that night.” Then the man’s expression darkened and became almost deadly. “He made a mistake when he touched my granddaughter. Sending her home with that note on her wrist. We made sure that he got some of what’s comin’ to him before they carted him off to jail. And jail time wasn’t easy for that old boy. I’m sure right about now there’s parts of him that’ll remember the place far longer than his mind will.”

  “One hundred thousand is a lot of money.”

  “Some things in life are more important than money, son: the Good Lord, family, health and strength, and living life in a way that makes you proud. We loved that little girl. Tanya has an old soul and a good heart. She shared everything she learned from those highfalutin folks of hers; how to waltz, set a fancy table, how to play tennis and the piano. And we taught her how to hold her head up despite what her parents done to her.” Then they passed the newsstand again, and the old man looked over to Vernon. “Actually, she’s the one that made me think different about white folks. Then it’s men like her daddy that goes messin’ it all up again. She left to protect us from that man. She didn’t have to do that. We have our own way of dealing with the likes of Jaunal.”

  The overhead announcer called out the final boarding for the flight to New York City. Vernon wondered if a Chicago flight would happen anytime soon.

  “So you’re her fella?”

  Now how could he answer that? Truthfully might be the way to go. “I was, but she’s living with my wife right now.”

  The man stopped walking to stare at Vernon who realized that the truth didn’t come out quite so good. “Long story.”

  “Y’all ain’t got her involved in some of that kinky stuff now?”

  “No, I got busted by both women and they joined up to kick my butt.”

  “Serves you right,” Grandpa James replied with a hearty chuckle as he started walking again. “You look like a decent enough fella, but you can’t treat womenfolk just any kinda way. If it wasn’t for our women, we woulda never made it through slavery.”

  Vernon kept pace with the old man, but he looked over at him, waiting for a better explanation.

  “They sucked the new masters at their breasts and sacrificed their bodies to the old masters which sometimes kept us alive. They’ve always had the master’s ear—and it’s happening today, too. Look at that Rice lady—president made sure to keep her around, didn’t he?” The man kept a nice easy pace as they walked toward the ticket counters. “That old Southern boy knows exactly what he’s doin’. You think about that the next time you get an itch you need to scratch. I’ve been married to my Belle for forty-five. Ain’t never thought about being a back door man. ‘Cause that’s exactly what my woman would’ve shown me—the back door. And I was as randy as they come,” he said with a grin. “Loved me some women, though. They’re downright the most beautiful creatures God made. And He made ’em strong, too. He knew we was gonna mess up sometime.”

  “Mister…”

  “Pitchford.” The man extended his weathered hand. “James Lee Pitchford.”

  Vernon shook it heartily. “Thanks for the advice, man. I won’t forget it.”

  “Now
that them Jaunal boys are on your tail, you’d better watch out. They had your wallet, right?”

  Damn, that’s right! “Yes, sir.”

  “You be careful. And tell Tanya that the Pitchfords still live in the same place if she wants to come home.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  He turned to walk away but James Lee grabbed his wrist. “Word is there’s a lot of money tied up in that girl, money that Jaunal would kill to put his hands on. Her being alive is damn inconvenient right now. You take care of our little girl.”

  Vernon could only nod. “I’ll do what I can to protect her.”

  “Jaunal has a private plane, but you’ve got a head start. Make the most of it.”

  CHAPTER Fifty-Two

  A frantic banging on the door brought Tanya’s head up from the novel in her hands. She placed The Things I Could Tell You! on its face and hurried to the door.

  Vernon rushed in. “Pack your stuff and let’s go!” He slammed the door behind him.

  “Will you stop this?”

  He peered out of the window. “I’m serious. I just got back from Social Circle and had an unfortunate run-in with your father. He has a hundred-thousand dollar reward out for you.”

  She let out a little laugh. “Vernon, you are so good! Your delivery is Oscar-worthy. Let go of my arms!”

  “Tanya, I’m only going to say this once,” he said, shaking her. “Pack your shit, the girls’ things, and something for Brandi. We have to get the hell out of here. Jaunal, Bubba, and Mr. Wiccams were hot on my tail—”

  Tanya’s hand shot out and hit him square in the jaw. “What did you do? Oh God, Vernon! What did you do?” She sank to her knees.

  “I’m sorry. Truly, truly sorry. I didn’t know,” he said, cradling a hand over the right side of his face.

  She glowered angrily at him, chest heaving up and down, wishing she had the strength to totally punch out his lights, but she was too angry to move. Too frightened to really think about what he had done. He had put this family in more danger than he knew.

  “You can hate me all you want,” he said through clenched teeth. “But get the girls. We need to break camp like yesterday. I dodged them at the airport in Atlanta, but they have this address, and—”

  Tanya stood slowly, anger shooting through her unlike any she had ever known. “That bastard killed my sister to cover up his lies. He’d think nothing of killing me, you, Brandi, and the girls. A reward out for me? This is about money and lots of it. He killed my sister and she was only trying to get away.” She punched him hard in his chest. “You fucker! It’s taken years for me to be safe and you destroyed it all in one day! I hope we all don’t pay for your stupidity.”

  Guilt washed over him like a waterfall, but he quickly pushed it aside realizing there was more at stake. “Sierra! Simone! Come quick,” he yelled upstairs. “We’ve gotta get going.”

  A rumble of activity indicated that the girls were on the move.

  Vernon followed Tanya into Brandi’s office. “What about clothes?”

  “We can buy clothes anywhere. I only need passports and birth certificates.”

  The girls bounded down the stairs in jeans and bare feet Sierra, a few steps ahead of her sister, asked, “What’s wrong?”

  Vernon scattered the contents of the drawer behind Brandi’s desk. “We’re leaving.”

  Taking in the frantic activity, Simone asked. “Why?”

  “I’ll tell you when we get in the car.”

  The doorbell rang. Vernon paused in the center of the office, then looked at Tanya, “Oh my God. That must be them.” He ran out of the office, Tanya right behind him and the girls right behind her.

  Before he could get to the door, the glass window to the side shattered and sprayed out on the marble tile foyer. He covered his face just in time.

  Moments later a beefy hand, covered by a denim shirt, beat out the rest of the glass. Vernon hightailed it past Tanya with the girls’ hands in his. As Tanya ran toward the side entrance, trying to catch up with Vernon, moisture peppered her brow, then poured down her face.

  She kicked off her heels in route, her arms pumped back and forth, propelling her even faster. She heard a crash, followed by a loud thunder of footsteps on the upper level of the house. Her heart pumped faster. This couldn’t be happening! If she got out of this alive, she would shoot Vernon!

  Shadowy figures rushed toward her from the garage. The girls broke free and sprinted back into the house with Vernon right behind them. Tanya froze, then spun around quickly to find the others bearing down on her from the opposite direction. She turned again. Trapped!

  Vernon quickly turned and kicked Bubba, who was nearest, in the knee.

  Tanya kicked her father in the groin, then ran past his doubled-up form to get the girls to safety. With no prompting, they went upstairs. They found no safety there.

  Men filed into the living room, some from the solarium. Some came through the open front door. Two men brought the girls and Tanya downstairs, pushing them forward into the living room.

  Wilbur Jaunal reached out for Sierra then took her to the sofa.

  “Don’t touch her,” Vernon growled. Bubba punched him in the gut.

  Jaunal grinned, pulling the little girl onto his lap, patting her thighs possessively.

  “You’ve grown up into a lovely young lady, Tanya,” he said, leering at her. “Hate I missed out on so much growth.”

  Then he turned a frightened Sierra to face him and smiled. “Well, little girl, how ’bout dem Bulls?”

  Vernon lunged forward. “Sierra, come here!” Sierra struggled to loosen Jaunal’s grasp on her waist.

  “No, she’s fine right where she is,” he said, gripping her even tighter. “I’ll take good care of her. Like I took care of all my girls.”

  Tanya’s insides boiled as she broke away from her uncle Hank’s grasp and lunged for her father. The man shoved Sierra to the side; she let out a whimper as she ran to Vernon. Before anyone could stop her, Tanya went for her father’s eyes, fingers going in one of them as he raised a fist to beat her away.

  Tanya fought back, gouging his face with her sharp nails.

  Uncle Hank yanked her back, but she managed to thrust one foot out and connect with Jaunal’s face. A spray of blood poured out onto his starched white shirt.

  “You bitch! First you cause me to lose everything.” He blinked, trying to recover. “Now you’re trying to blind me.”

  Tanya suddenly stopped struggling as her mother walked in, followed by a wide-eyed Aunt Nadine and a sulky-mouthed Aunt Peggy. Shock took her breath away.

  Her mother gave her a scathing glance from head to toe. “Turned out all right, didn’t ya?”

  “Which is more than I can say for you,” Tanya shot back.

  Margaret leaned forward and said in a voice that was just above a whisper, “All you had to do was give us a son. Things would have been fine. But you messed it up by telling that teacher of yours. I would have raised it and no one would have known a thing—”

  Tanya was sickened to learn that her mother had wanted her father to have sex with her. “Why would I want to have my father’s child?” she choked out.

  “That was the only way to get our hands on the rest of the Van Oy fortune, neither of my sisters produced sons and none of their daughters were of breeding age.”

  Tanya was too numb to feel anything. Her parents’ greed knew no boundaries. “Did you realize how much he hurt me?”

  The hard woman shrugged. “It always hurts that first time. You were a big, strong girl. You could get over it.”

  “So why didn’t you just have one of your own?”

  “Can’t,” she said in a hushed tone. “I was too old.” Then she cast an angry glance at Wilbur. “And your father couldn’t get it up for anyone but young girls. And the DNA had to show that it was my bloodline and his,” her mother continued, oblivious to Tanya’s disgust. “So you were the obvious choice. You would’ve been taken care of for the rest
of your life. If you had just kept your mouth shut.”

  “So what was his reason for hurting Mindy?” Tanya said loudly enough for everyone to hear, pain and anger holding ground in her heart. “She wasn’t of ‘breeding’ age.”

  Nursing his eye, Jaunal said, “I never touched her.”

  “You raped her just like you did me,” Tanya said angrily. “Then you killed her to cover it up.”

  Her mother gripped her arm, forcing Tanya to face her. “We would’ve owned all of Monroe, Social Circle, Jersey, and Covington. Nothing would have stopped us. Then you and that Mrs. Patton started spreading lies. Your sister’s death is on your hands. She wasn’t home where she was supposed to be. It’s your fault.”

  “She stood by and let it happen. She knew he was raping us, but she wanted her precious money!” Tanya cried.

  “Enough!” Margaret said. “Enough! Just sign these papers and we’ll be on our way.”

  “Oh, you’ll be on your way sooner than that.”

  Heads turned to the Black woman standing in the doorway brandishing a metal pipe. The silver-haired Black woman standing next to her held a gun that would make Clint Eastwood jealous.

  CHAPTER Fifty-Three

  Brandi reached out, pulled Margaret in front of her, and put the gun to the woman’s head. “By my calculations you all will be leaving within the next ten minutes. Your escorts are on the way.” Bubba grabbed for Tanya. “Come on! It’s just two women. We can take them.”

  A shot rang out, causing Tanya to wince. Smoke curled from the end of Bettye’s gun as she glared openly Bubba. He grabbed his foot and was too busy doing the pain dance to care.

  “I was told to shoot the stupid ones first. Anybody else think two women can’t hold their own? Try me!”

  “Sierra, Simone—run down to Avie’s,” Brandi said. “Tell her we need Jeffrey Manor assistance. She’ll know what I mean.”