Deni nodded. For the first time, in years, she felt like returning to the Catholic church where she had attended private school all those years ago. She decided she would light a candle for Blossom when she got there.
Chapter 19
Reunion
When Deni, Coleman, Miss Johntrice, and Britton walked out of the large Catholic cathedral on Wilshire Blvd., Deni’s cell phone began to vibrate. She’d turned it on vibrate, just in case there was any news about Blossom while they were in mass.
As she frisked through her purse, Deni’s hands trembled. What if it was bad news? She didn’t even want to think about it.
Coleman and Miss Johntrice looked at her eagerly.
“Deni.” A strange baritone voice spoke up.
At first, Deni didn’t recognize the voice. “Who is it?”
“This is Robert Franklin, your father. Deni, we have good news.”
“What?”
“We’ve found Blossom.”
“What? Where? Is she all right?”
Coleman, Miss Johntrice, and Britton began to clamor around her with questions. “Who is it? Where’s Blossom? Is she safe?”
Deni held up her hand. “Hold on. She’s safe. It’s Robert Franklin.” She turned back to her cell phone. “What happened?”
“We found Blossom up in San Luis Obispo. She was in a convenience store with her kidnapper. A lady named Louise Stubbs noticed Blossom because she was looking so sad. She was also taken in by Blossom’s unusual eye coloring.
“In the first place, there aren’t many black people up in San Luis Obispo. This is a central coastal college town. This lady hadn’t seen the news either. It was really a miracle how we found Blossom. Ms. Stubbs says there was just something about how sad the child looked that caught her attention.
“When she asked Blossom if she was okay, the lady whom she was with snatched her up so fast, it threw up red flags in Ms. Stubbs’s mind. Plus, Blossom kept looking back at her with these sad gray eyes.”
“So being a good citizen and living in a small town like that, Ms. Stubbs followed the car when it pulled off with Blossom. As her suspicions grew, she used her cell phone and called in her suspicions to the police. With Blossom already being in the amber alert system, the local police were able to trace back the original missing child alerts. They thought that this might be Blossom.
“Within a half hour, they pulled the lady over just as she pulled into a motel at the end of town.
“She had changed the child’s name to Heather, but Blossom said, ‘No, my name is Blossom Blue.’
“The lady who had kidnapped her from school turned out to be wearing a black wig. Her name is Jean Allen and she lives in Westwood.”
Deni screamed. “What? Jean is my best friend. She’s been to my home!”
“Well, she’s been arrested for child kidnapping and endangerment.”
After Robert Franklin drove to San Luis Obispo to assist bringing Blossom home from the S.L.O. police station, the social worker and he drove the child down to Los Angeles’s Children’s Hospital. Deni, Coleman, Miss Johntrice, and Britton met them at the hospital. Coleman made sure he took Blossom’s blankie.
Everyone was relieved that Blossom’s physical examination revealed no molestation or physical abuse.
Later Deni found out the story as to how Jean had kidnapped Blossom. Jean disguised herself by wearing a dark wig and sunglasses. She had confessed after she was apprehended by law enforcement.
Jean had pretended that Coleman had sent her to pick Blossom up from school early that day. The staff had gotten busy and forgot to make the woman sign Blossom out and since she wore a school board badge, they hadn’t paid her much attention.
After she drove off with Blossom, Jean had told the child they were going on a little trip. It turned out her husband Abe knew nothing about this plan and Jean had concocted this all herself, so he was not arrested as an accomplice. No one knew how sick Jean had become over wanting a child. She had fallen in love with Blossom at first sight, especially since she loved Black children in general, and even more so, because she saw how precocious Blossom was. Her wanting a child had become such an obsession for Jean, it had just pushed her over the edge.
That evening the rejoicing over Blossom’s return morphed into a large dinner, which included the Blue family, Deni’s newfound father, and even her relatives, whom she invited and was truly glad to have come meet Robert, Coleman, and his family. Before the evening was over, Shana and Lionel and their crew of seven children in tow arrived like gangbusters. Shana had already lost her pregnancy weight since giving birth to baby Deni. Shana proudly held up Deni’s namesake, and was pleased how Deni made a fuss over the baby. When Deni wasn’t entertaining and serving guests, she held little Deni.
Even Mother Ticey had come out with Aunt Martha and Uncle George.
Mother Ticey, Aunt Martha, and Uncle George all remembered Robert Franklin. They were very friendly toward him and they spoke highly of him.
“He asked to marry your mother,” Mother Ticey told Deni, “but she wanted to go to college and so she wanted to wait until Robert got out the service before they got married.”
Deni didn’t have to ask what happened to her mother’s college plans. She knew her birth was what had sabotaged that. But one thing about it. Her mother had never complained or blamed Deni for the failed dreams because she had given life to her. She’d always made Deni feel special; wanted. Now Deni had found that she’d truly been a child born of love.
“Robert, man, we heard you got captured,” Uncle George said. “That had to be hard.”
A sad look flitted across Robert’s face, but he didn’t comment. Deni remembered all the terrible things she’d read had happened to the prisoners of war in Vietnam and she shivered.
Miss Johntrice went into the kitchen and cooked up a pot of gumbo. Robert and Uncle George barbecued and tried to see who could out-barbecue the next man.
All the adults kissed, hugged, and made a fuss over Blossom and all the other children as well. It seemed like children seemed more important, more valuable since Blossom’s return. Eventually, Blossom was so excited to have “play cousins” to run and jump with, she’d forgotten about being the center of attention.
To burn up their energy, Deni allowed the children to go swimming in the community pool as long as there was an adult present, which it turned out to be Coleman. He didn’t want Blossom out of his sight again.
All evening long, the adults played bid whist, dominoes, and chess.
And everyone ate as much as they wanted, returning for plate after plate.
Near the end of the night, everyone got up and danced to the Electric Slide. Deni looked around and she felt a sense of contentment she hadn’t experienced in a long time. For the first time, she was happy to have her relatives to share her happiness with. For the first time, she felt like she belonged.
“That Coleman is fine,” Shana whispered to her. “You better scoop him up.”
Deni didn’t answer, but the glow in her face said it all. She and Coleman calypsoed together and they also danced the Charlie Brown.
At one point in the evening, Deni caught her father, Robert, studying her. When he caught her eye, he smiled across the room at her.
“Deni, thank you for letting me into your life again,” he said. “I’m your father and if there is anything I can do for you, I will. I know it’s going to take time to build a relationship, but I want to be a part of your life. I think you can never have enough people who love you.”
Deni slowly smiled back and nodded her head.
Chapter 20
Garden of the Gods
Three months later . . .
Coleman had arrived at the Elegance Hotel in Beverly Hills early. He was so excited he could hardly contain himself. He thought of Deni’s kindness in sharing her home with his family. That could not have been easy for her. Her home was immaculate when they moved in. It still was neat and clean, but it looked more liv
ed in with a few Kool-Aid stains on the carpet. Yet, she had been so gracious with his rambunctious brood.
He thought over the intimacy they had shared outside of the bedroom. The walks on the beach. The boardwalk at Santa Monica. The opera. The jazz club. Even the ordeal of Blossom’s kidnapping.
He ordered a huge bowl of strawberries, grapes, and berries. He also ordered a bouquet of red roses.
He’d never been this excited about the possibility of being with a woman, he mused. The feeling of wanting to impress, as well as please her was something new for him.
He pulled out his bag and took out his aromatherapy oils. Sandalwood to promote calmness, which Deni usually needed at the end of a workweek. He pulled out the bomb—ylang-ylang, which opened and enhanced one’s sensuality and sexuality. Last, he pulled out jasmine, an aphrodisiac that eased emotional constriction. He lit a stick of lavender incense that gave the room a healing feel, to activate the crown chakra, allowing the light of intuition and inner guidance to clear the negative energy out of the room. He even set up his rock garden with its gentle, tinkling waterfall.
Coleman surveyed the room to make sure everything was perfect. The terry cloth robes were neatly packaged and the triple-thick towels were hung neatly in the bathroom. He had vanilla-scented candles lit in the bedroom and around the bathtub. He had slippers waiting for her.
Just the thought of Deni had his manhood calling for her body. He hadn’t felt like this since Mellon, but this time, he was stimulated just as much by Deni’s mind as he was with her body.
When her cell phone rang earlier that afternoon, she was pleasantly surprised to hear Coleman’s voice at the other end. “Your highness, I’m your servant at your command for the evening. We will have a night of gentle caresses and thoughtful kisses. When you arrive at the Elegance Hotel in Beverly Hills, your bubble bath will be waiting for you. I’ll have other pleasant surprises. Your wish is my command. I’ve made arrangements for our dinner too, so have a light lunch.”
Deni closed her eyes and reflected on the message. She had come to know this man who worried about his children, took care of his widowed mother, lost everything and still could find some joy in life.
After she got out of court, Deni came straight to the hotel room. She had looked forward to seeing Coleman all day. The past three months had heightened her sexual attraction to him. They had developed a special bond—especially after what they went through with Blossom. Her only sadness was knowing that Jean had been placed in a mental hospital. Abe still went to visit Jean, but it was unknown if she would ever recover.
The soft knock at the hotel door alerted Coleman to Deni’s arrival. When he opened the door, he stood drinking in her appearance, from head to toe.
“You look lovely,” he said, approvingly. She was wearing a designer pant suit with a demure V-shaped neckline.
Deni stepped inside the room, where a sensual melodic jazz tune drifted out the room’s speaker.
Coleman took her by the hand and escorted her into the living-room section of the suite.
He gazed into her eyes and they had their first kiss as he gently pulled her close into his arms.
“I’ve always thought a kiss was more intimate than sex,” he said, kissing Deni on her nose.
Deni stared at him curiously, but she looked eager to follow his lead in this rhapsody of love. He helped her sit down on the sofa, and then he pulled out his saxophone and her violin.
“What are you doing with my old violin?”
“Is it like riding a bike—where you never forget?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t practiced in years.”
“Give it a try.”
At first Deni was awkward, as she held the bow and the violin, but after a while, she found that old rhythm and the notes that she and Coleman played somehow harmonized. Deni had forgotten how beautiful an instrument a violin could be when played against a backdrop of jazz.
The music led to them slow dancing to some of the old rock ’n’ roll tunes like Smokey Robinson’s “Oooh, Baby, Baby” and Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing.”
Before Deni knew it, Coleman was slowly undressing her. He began feeding her the strawberries and berries.
When they undressed, they eased into the deep sunken tub of bubble bath. The exquisite alchemy of soap, water, and body slithering against body began a friction, which heated up the water all over again.
Coleman sat behind Deni and massaged and washed her back, her buttocks, and her pelvis area. He nibbled on the back of her neck and she began to moan.
Afterwards, Coleman patted Deni’s skin dry and she in turn patted his skin dry. They began to whisper back and forth about the pleasures that each was giving one another.
Deni had never had a lover so considerate. Coleman seemed to anticipate her needs before she voiced them. Now she felt like a woman had never been made love to until they’d been molded in the hands of an artist—a jazz musician at that.
They never ordered their meal service until the next morning, as they became each other’s treat.
Epilogue
Family
August 2006
“Coleman Blue’s music is cutting edge, accessible to the public, and highly individual and embodies all the best of jazz, according to the LA Times,” Deni read out loud. “This is great, baby.”
Coleman cast a proud glance across the family room at his wife who was suffering through the early stages of morning sickness in her first trimester of pregnancy. His work was getting so well known, he’d been featured in the Los Angeles Times—no mean feat.
Recently Deni had turned her family room into an office for her new business. Deni wanted to be able to service her own community more effectively than she could as a court-appointed county counsel. She’d left her job at the Los Angeles County children’s court in June and started her own nonprofit legal aid foundation.
This took place right after she and Coleman married in May in a private ceremony attended only by family members and close friends.
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
URBAN SOUL is published by
Urban Books
10 Brennan Place
Deer Park, NY 11729
“The Value of a Man” copyright © 2007 by Denise Campbell
“Change of Life” copyright © 2007 by Michelle McGriff
“Katrina Blues” copyright © 2007 by Maxine Thompson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
ISBN: 978-1-5998-3024-7
Never Knew Love Like This Before Page 24