Sierra turned back. “Should I call Uncle Donny?”
“No!” Vernon said. “If he comes, the game will be over before the police get here.”
“Avie’s packing, too?” Tanya whispered to Brandi, relieved that the ugly situation was under control. “Who in their right mind, would give that woman a gun?”
“I thought the same thing.” Then Brandi turned to the Jaunal crew and said, “Now, I hate to break up this little family gathering, but I didn’t invite you. Tanya didn’t, either. And we certainly don’t want you to stay.”
Tanya unplugged a lamp and wrapped the cord around her father’s wrists; she looked across the room at Bubba. “If one drop of blood falls on the carpet, I’ll give you something to be sorry about. I shampooed two days ago. You don’t know how hard it is to get out bloodstains.”
Uncle Hank whipped off his jacket and gave it to Bubba.
“Now what’s all this about?” Brandi asked, trading weapons with her mother-in-law, but keeping it trained on Margaret. “Don’t think about it, Jim Bob. I’ll put a cap in your ass.”
“You’re right. They are my family,” Tanya said eyeing Vernon with a glare that should have put him six feet under. He, along with Bettye, continued to tie up the rest of the family. “Vernon went down to Social Circle and they came pouring out of the woodwork and trailed him here.”
Brandi threw an angry glance at Vernon.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know about all this.”
With the Jaunal clan tied up waiting for the police to arrive, Tanya told Bettye, Brandi, and Vernon her story.
“After I moved in with Michelle’s family, I was fine for a while. I learned how to cook, sew, take care of a home, and I learned about God. I was going to stay with the Pitchfords forever if they’d let me. And they would have, too.” Then she looked at her father. “But a note left in my locker warned me if I testified I would be sorry.”
And sorry she was.
♥♥♥
As Tanya sat in the wooden chair of the Social Circle courthouse, being sworn in, the police still hadn’t located her sister. Whoever snatched her didn’t do it because they didn’t want the littlest Jaunal to testify; her testimony had been recorded earlier. The kidnapping was a warning for Tanya. One she didn’t heed, but should have.
As she lay in the bed next to Michelle that night, unable to sleep because she knew that something was wrong, she overheard Mama Diane and Mr. Edward talking in the kitchen…
“They threatened to fire me if I don’t return Tanya to her family.”
Mama Diane’s soft, silky voice carried through the thin walls. “She needs our help—”
“Yeah, but if I lose this job, I won’t be able to take care of you and the kids. We can’t get involved with this mess. She’ll be okay. White folks look out for each other all the time. Who’s gonna look out for us?” Mr. Pitchford asked pointedly.
Mama Diane said in a voice filled with steel, “We’re not going to let some redneck stop us from doing our Christian duty. That child’s family now.”
And they had made it through that crisis.
Then the youngest Pitchford child had come straggling in two days later, beaten, blood covering her small blue shirt and a note tied securely to her wrist.
Get that white bitch out of town
or your family will suffer
♥♥♥
That night Tanya slipped out of bed, as Michelle’s soft brown eyes brimmed with tears, knowing exactly what was about to happen even though the two girls hadn’t spoken about it. Tanya knew that the D.A., who had used Tanya’s medical report as part of the defense, wouldn’t stop until he had Jaunal on the ropes. The man had a hard-on for Jaunal since Tanya’s father had forced the D.A.’s family to pack up their old family home and move to Covington. The case wasn’t all about justice for Tanya, it was about payback for the white people Jaunal had mistreated.
Thanks to the media’s involvement, Jaunal’s crimes were known to everyone in the Social Circle area. He would stand trial for the aggravated sexual assault, but unfortunately he made bail. During the trial, the body of a little blonde girl turned up on the opposite side of the tracks near the trailer parks. Someone wanted to make it look like people from the east side of town had done it. But Tanya knew better.
They didn’t have to tell her that Mindy had been raped before she was killed. They didn’t have to tell her that they couldn’t get prints from her sister’s flesh, because someone had sliced her fingertips off. Tanya knew exactly the day her sister had been killed. The day she opened her mouth and told the world that her father was a beast and her mother allowed it to happen. People still whispered, but not too loudly, because their livelihood still depended on Jaunal Industries.
But when she found out that the small bright red spots inside the pink membrane surrounding Mindy’s eyes meant someone had strangled, she knew with an absolute certainty that her father had killed Mindy personally instead of having one of his henchmen take care of things. Once when he came to her room, he’d wrapped his massive hands around her neck, cutting off her ability to breathe, as he raped her. Sick fucker!
Tanya had thought that after her testimony she and her sister would be free. Well, in the most morbid of ways they were. Her sister was free in death, walking with the angels. Tanya had been set adrift to make her way in life the best way she knew how. And she wasn’t prepared.
If she had stayed within her own circle, she would have been protected and sheltered from the vicious realities of life. The only thing she would ever have had to worry about was what to wear and to what social function. Minor things. Stupid things. Being pushed out of Social Circle had taught her more, but mentally she had shut down. Because of the pain in her heart, stemming from the fact that she had had all the money in the world and no real love from her parents, she didn’t think beyond her next meal or the next place to lay her head.
She had only held on to the thought that she would never be as selfish as her parents. And she could sleep well knowing that for all of his influence with the judges and local police, her father was in prison and would never hurt another human being.
♥♥♥
But now he sat across from Tanya in her home in Chicago, looking every one of his advanced years. If she had the guts, she would take Brandi’s gun and do the world a favor. But then, too, she had another idea.
“I have to make a phone call.”
Moments later she came back to the living room and smiled. “The District Attorney said they’ll send someone to get you from the police station. You’re out on parole and being here is a violation.
“I think you’re about to spend a few more years in a place where you don’t want to be. And we’re going to make sure this time they look into Mindy’s death. I hope you fry for it.” Tanya, filled with rage and indignation, shook a fist at him. “And if they’ll let me, I’d like to pull the switch.
“And you,” she said, turning to her mother. “I hope you get exactly what you deserve. Only a coldhearted witch could love money more than her children. You’ll die old and alone, and if I have anything to do with it, you’ll die broke. I’m calling Avie Davidson, the best lawyer in the world, and I’m pressing charges for what you did to me. Then I’m taking you to civil court. By the time I’m through you won’t be able to afford a proper shoeshine.”
Margaret lifted her chin defiantly and glared at her daughter.
After the police had carted the Jaunal tribe off to jail, Vernon turned to Tanya. “Grandpa James said to tell you that you still have a place to call home.”
At the mere mention of the old man’s name, tears brimmed in her eyes and spilled over. “He’s doing okay?”
“The whole family’s doing okay. They’re a little upset that you slipped out on them that night. He said they would’ve taken care of your father in their way.”
She shook her head. “I just didn’t want anyone else hurt because of me.”
“I know.” Then he
peered at her. “What’s Brummistew?”
Tanya laughed as she wiped away her tears. “Brunswick stew! And it’s a long story.”
Brandi came to stand between Vernon and Tanya. “Don’t worry. We’ve got nothing but time.”
CHAPTER Fifty-Four
A week later Vernon lay on the floor in his mother’s media room. Gladys Knight’s sultry voice piped through the speakers, singing, “Overnight success…”
By all reports on his bank account, overnight success would be true. Tears sprang from his eyes unchecked as the pain in his heart expanded. His ego had finally checked itself at the front door and he’d been right there on the floor for hours, listening to music and searching his soul trying to figure out his life. He had put his family’s life in jeopardy trying to follow the instructions of his father.
William’s life and accomplishments had always been his guiding light. Vernon had just never realized how dim that light really was. Now he had to break loose and find his own way and come to the reality that life was more than just money and power.
The Perfect Fit was doing okay, not as good as it had when Brandi was around, but it was floating above the surface. He had a newfound respect for Brandi’s talents—they were a perfect fit and truthfully he felt that way across the board. A deep shiver of unhappiness filled his soul. An emptiness that was sudden and unexplainable overcame him.
Who she had become was who he was falling in love with all over again. Tanya had made him feel special, like he’d done something great by saving her from poverty—it made him feel powerful and needed. Brandi had never really needed him. Not as much as he needed her.
“Vernon?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, though he didn’t tear his gaze from the ceiling.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Her voice was soft, soothing.
Could he say everything? Yes, everything was closer to the truth. “Nothing, Mama, I’m just thinking.”
The soft sweep of material sounded under the music. His mother kneeled next to him. A delicate hand reached out, brushing away the tears that kept falling.
Slowly she lifted his head, curling him into her arms. He held onto his mother welcoming the comfort—the only real comfort he’d had in months.
“I miss her. I mean, I really, really miss her.”
“I know, sweetheart,” she said, patting him gently.
“But I don’t know how to get her back. I don’t even think she wants me back anymore. I almost got them killed.”
“Yes, that stunt you pulled was downright stupid and I hope you learned something from it.”
Vernon pulled away to look at the glowing silver-haired woman. He had yet to meet the man who was putting such a light in her eyes. “What do I do about my wife?”
“It takes time for a woman to heal.”
“But how much time? I’m dying over here.”
“I talk to her everyday. She still loves you, too, but just like you’re doing some soul-searching, so is she. The counseling sessions are doing some good and some of your points about what’s going south in your marriage are valid, and I believe she’s thinking things over. Trust me, she’s missing you, too.”
“I can’t tell.”
His mother’s soft tinkle of laughter was like music to his ears. “Just because she’s not hunting you down, or falling all over herself to get you in the sheets, doesn’t mean she’s forgotten you.”
“Why is marriage so complicated? It just doesn’t work anymore,” Vernon said softly. “So many divorces. I mean I know I messed up and all, but…”
“People have stopped being friends,” Bettye said softly. “Attraction might bring people together, and sex that’s enough to have you climbing the walls might keep people smiling in the bedroom, but friendship—real, honest-to-goodness friendship—and companionship have been pushed to the back burner. People forget that they spend more time outside the sheets than between them. Something else has to fill that space, and it had better be about quality—not superficial things—like status and money.”
“I understand that now.”
She leveled her dark brown eyes to his. “Do you really?”
He nodded.
“Then why are you down here feeling sorry for yourself?”
“I saw Brandi today. I’ve never seen her so…tired, so worn down. And the fact that I had something to do with that…” He shrugged. “I mean, at first I was pissed that she brought Tanya into this, but I can understand her point now. Then the business thing, it was a game—you know, to show her that my contributions had some value, too. She didn’t do it all by herself,” he said softly as he reached over to turn Gladys down some. “Now the League’s involved and people are really out to crush her—and they’re succeeding. I don’t know how to stop it. There are too many people involved and I don’t know who they all are anymore.”
“Come on,” she said, patting his arm. “Get up. Let me put some food in you.”
Vernon trailed her to the kitchen, silently reflecting on recent events and feeling every bit of guilt over what he’d done.
“If you love her,” his mother said, pulling out the makings for a salad, “you’ll find a way to make things right. She didn’t set out to hurt you. She only wanted to show you how she felt. You took it to the extreme by bringing the League in.”
“But Dad—”
“Vernon, you can’t always live in your father’s shadow,” she said, slicing the tomatoes. “Sometimes you have to do what’s right for you. Quit letting his life define who you are. The man is nowhere near perfect. Trust me on that. If you need an example of how to treat women, look at how Jesus did things.”
“Yeah, He can’t tell me much,” Vernon said chuckling as he pulled up a stool. “Jesus didn’t have marital problems, either.”
She stopped and looked up at him. “Son, do we have a full Bible?”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s more to His story than most people know. And there’s more to that Adam and Eve story than most people know. When you get an opportunity, read up on Lilith—the woman who was supposedly created before Eve and was made to be equal to Adam. He screwed up and she screwed up. It’s a part of Jewish folklore and scriptures and was used to show why there are two different types of women—strong and rebellious or submissive and weak.”
Vernon racked his brain for a moment, then remembered something he read on the Internet when the Lilith Fair concerts had popped up all over the country. “But the story about a woman being equal to men was supposed to be a myth.”
She smiled. “All stories are based on some truth, Vernon. Even the Bible, which was written to explain the unexplainable, is laced with history, stories, and parables to teach a lesson. There’s so much to learn and all of it didn’t make it into the Bible we have today. A whole lot’s been taken out to accommodate the male-rules-over-the-woman story line—and the original sin piece, too.” Bettye paused, then wiped her hands on the dry towel.
Vernon tried to say something, anything, but he soon realized he and his father had based their views of marriage on the Bible. “But it says men are to be head of household.”
One eyebrow shot up. “If we don’t have the full Bible as it was supposed to be given to us, do we actually know that God said that? Did Jesus say that? Or was it one of those knucklehead disciples who didn’t believe in marriage in the first place? The ones who came from an area that believed women were strictly for breeding. Or was it the men who altered the Bible to retain power and status over women—making it their God-given right to ‘rule’ over a woman? Get a grip, Vernon,” she said with a soft laugh. “Come on, let me show you something.”
Moments later, he stared at the brand-new Apple computer on her desk. “When did you get this?”
“About a month ago.”
He looked under the desk. “Where’s the hard drive?”
“It’s built right into the monitor.” She clicked the mouse a couple of times.
Marvel
ing at the colorful display and the ease at which his mother navigated through the software and the Internet, he asked, “And when did you learn to use it?”
“Same time,” she said, taking in his wide eyes and shocked expression. “Whoever said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks wasn’t an old dog.”
She typed a few swift strokes on the keyboard. “Check this out. Here is the Lord’s Prayer as we know it, and this—” she clicked the mouse again—“is the original translation directly from Aramaic to English.”
Vernon scanned the screen looking at both. “That’s nothing like what we say.”
“Exactly. It’s worlds apart, not even the same meanings. Like I said, some things have been altered and some have been left out or put in. And if they took liberties such as this with the Lord’s Prayer, what other drastic changes have been made?”
Vernon took a minute to absorb this, while his gaze remained glued on the correct translation of the prayer.
“We can learn the most from what they told us about the peaceful way that Jesus lived and what He said—there is neither bond nor free, Jew nor Gentile, male nor female—all are one.” She turned to face him. “Nowhere in that statement did He say that women were secondary to men in God’s eyesight.”
“But God created man before woman—”
“So they say…” she replied with a smile. “God created everything in duality—light and dark, heaven and earth, water and land, male and female animals. Then when He got to man, he created a single entity, a woman a whole lot later? Common sense, my son. Use common sense. Listening to men like your father is gonna keep you on the opposite end of progress and that’s certainly not a place you want to be.”
Vernon thought about this for a moment. “Gotcha.” Then he followed her back to the kitchen, his appetite returning slowly. “Mama, did you learn anything about mergers and acquisitions while you were with Dad?”
“I probably know as much about it as he does,” she said, dicing a few pieces of grilled chicken.
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