Under Covers

by Rhonda Bowen

  “Thanks,” Naomi said, as she held on to her friend. “I love you too.”

  “Yeah, whatever,” Natasha said letting go. “Get out of here before I change my mind about calling Jordan.”

  Naomi blew kisses at her best friend before she rushed through airport departures to find her gate. In five hours, she would be back in the place she had once called home. The place where she had spent every summer and a few Christmases until she turned eighteen. The place where memories and regrets lurked around every corner. She really hoped everyone’s prayers worked. If there was ever a time she needed God, it was now.

  Chapter Eight

  “You got the back?”

  “I got it.”

  “Okay let’s lift on three....one, two, three!”

  Jordan’s muscles barely whined as he hoisted his end of the sofa off the driveway in front of his house. His cousin, Malcolm, however wasn’t faring as well on his end.

  “What in the world....kind....of couch...is this?” Malcolm grunted out as they carried the large tan overstuffed seating unit through the main double doors of the house.

  “La-Z-Boy,” Jordan said as he backed down the hallway and into what was going to be the den. “As soon as Red and I saw this one, we agreed on it. It’s going to be perfect for the den.”

  “With seven pieces it better be.” Malcolm let out a deep breath as he straightened up.

  Jordan grinned. “It will be great. When the family comes over, everyone can hang out in here.”

  “The guys can watch football while the kids play on the carpet.” Jordan motioned to the covered area in front of the sofa. “And the ladies will have a view of everything from the kitchen behind.”

  Malcolm nodded in agreement. “It will be nice having everyone here. And having those sliding doors to the backyard means you can have people out there and have them be a part of things too.”

  “Exactly.” Jordan planted his hands on his hips, looked out through the huge picture windows as if he were imagining it. “It’s going to be great. I can’t wait to move in here with Red.”

  Malcolm grinned. “I’m sure that’s not all you can’t wait for. I saw that King size bed upstairs. Four years is a long time to hold out.”

  Jordan slipped his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “It’s a conscious decision me and Red made at the beginning. Marriage is hard enough as it is. We wanted to make sure that we could date and evaluate each other with a clear head, without bedroom drama interfering with things.”

  “But come on man,” Malcolm squinted at Jordan. “This is your boy you’re talking to. You can’t tell me you didn’t slip up and hit it even once.”

  Jordan shot him a look.

  “Alright, alright. Backing away from that topic,” Malcolm snickered. “I gotta say though, I am real glad you didn’t ask me to help you move that bed upstairs.”

  Jordan chuckled. “Nah. I left that to the professionals. Some jobs are worth the money.”

  “So this means you’re all set for the big day?” Malcolm followed Jordan back out to the front where the remaining four pieces of the sofa sat. They were small, so the men grabbed one each.

  “As ready as I can be. Rings are purchased and in hand, tux is ready, hotel booking for the night is taken care of and our flight Monday morning to the honeymoon is booked.”

  “You tell her where it is yet?”

  “Not even a hint,” Jordan said with a grin. “Got her packing everything from ski suits to bikinis.”

  Both men laughed.

  “Man, I still can’t believe you’re marrying her. Well, I can believe it cause...I’ve seen her and...” Malcolm let out a low whistle. “Megan Good’s got nothing on that chick. But still, with everything going on with her.”

  “You mean the whole situation with her brother?”

  “Yes!” Malcolm set down the couch. “If your parents knew - scratch that. If your momma knew about that, she would have flipped out.”

  “Yeah, thanks for keeping that between us.”

  “Like I said, you’re my boy.” They headed back outside for the last pieces. “Does she even know that you know?”

  “Nope.”

  “She still hasn’t told you?”

  Jordan let out a deep breath as he grabbed the last piece of the couch. “Nope. But she will.”

  “When? After the wedding? She should have come out with that a long time ago.”

  Jordan grimaced. His cousin was right. Naomi should have told him about her brother in prison. In fact, there was a moment the night before, under the soft evening glow as they sat on her couch that he was sure she was going to tell him. After all, she had told him all about her drinking, and he hadn’t even known about that. But she still hadn’t said a word about her brother. He wondered if there were other things his wife-to-be wasn’t sharing with him.

  “It’s not that easy for her,” Jordan said. “Can you imagine what it’s like marrying into this family? I still remember the first time Red met mom. This confident, articulate woman that I had fallen in love with turned into a bundle of nerves right before my eyes.”

  “Well, Lady Lennox is a scary woman,” Malcolm conceded. He dropped down onto the piece of furniture he had just brought in. “She even scares me a little, and I’ve known her all my life. I’ll take Uncle G any day of the week.”

  “Yeah,” Jordan walked over to the fridge and grabbed two sodas. “Dad’s a pretty cool guy. He loves Red too. Heck, some days I think he likes her more than me.”

  “Hey, if I had to choose between her face and your ugly mug, I’d choose hers too.” Malcolm laughed and grabbed the soda Jordan tossed at him before it smacked him in the face.

  “I was hoping you could have your girl look into something for me though,” Jordan sat down across from his cousin.

  “Which girl?” Malcolm asked with a grin. “I got a lot of different girls doing a lot of different things for me.”

  “The girl you got to run the background check on Red that I didn’t ask for,” Jordan said pointedly.

  “Hey, you asked if I knew her!”

  “Yeah, as in, if you knew her personally,” Jordan said. “That wasn’t an invitation to have her investigated.”

  “The way you were sweating the girl before you even talked to her made me know that I needed to run a check,” Malcolm said. “You were already too blind to see.”

  Jordan shook his head, but he remembered clearly the first time he saw Naomi. It had been at the Thirty Under Thirty Awards Gala for young entrepreneurs. She had been in an orange gown that made her skin glow like the sunset. She had caught his eye the moment she walked into the room. But when she went up to speak as part of the reflection of past honorees, she stole his attention. Jordan had known then that he had to meet her. So he waited, and then pulled every favor he had with his sister to get her to invite Naomi to the smaller barbeque event held for the Thirty Under Thirty Board. The night they met for the first time, they had talked for hours. It was still one of the best nights of his life. And he found that most of the best moments in his life now involved Naomi.

  He couldn’t let her go.

  Yes, there were things in her past. But nothing that they couldn’t get past. In fact, the most concerning thing was that she had chosen not to tell him about that part of her life. And he had waited for it. Through the two years they casually dated on and off, and then the year after that when they decided to become serious about things. Even after the break-up and during the emotional make-up where she had shared things with him he knew she had never told anyone else. After the engagement, and right up to the moment he walked out of her apartment in the wee hours of the morning, the night before, Naomi still hadn’t said a word.

  That bothered him.

  He had prayed about it. Asked God what direction to take with her. But all he had gotten was the command to wait, and be patient. But how long was he supposed to wait?

  “Sometimes I wonder if you are still too blind to see her objectiv
ely,” Malcolm said. He watched his cousin with concern.

  Jordan took a swig from his soda. “I hear what you’re saying, cuz. But with Red, it’s different.”

  “Different as in the whole honesty thing is not important?”

  “Different as in I know she loves me. I know she’s not trying to be dishonest, she’s just...” Jordan searched for the right words to explain the woman he loved. “I’ve spent so much time praying on this, meditating on this....I know that it’s supposed to be me and her.”

  Malcolm raised an eyebrow. “You’re that sure?”

  Jordan shrugged. “I’m that sure.” He chuckled. “Why do you think that after two months of calling it quits we still ended up back with each other?”

  “Cause y’all are both crazy?”

  Jordan smiled. “Maybe. But I believe God has a plan. And He’s going to work things out with this somehow. It might be messy, but it’s going to get worked out.”

  Malcolm saluted him. “Love your confidence, bruh. What you need my friend for then?”

  “I think something may have happened with her sister, Camille.” Jordan’s brow furrowed as he thought about how distressed Naomi had been the night before. “She’s gone missing. Can you get your friend to do a quick search and see if anything turns up?”

  Malcolm nodded. “Sure. I’ll call her today.”

  “Great.” Jordan stood up and tossed his cousin the keys. “And can you lock up for me when you leave?”

  “Wait, where you going?”

  “To check some of my other contacts,” Jordan headed towards the front door. “Whatever is going on with Camille, I want it sorted out soon. Nothing is stopping this wedding. Absolutely nothing.”

  Chapter Nine

  Summer seemed to have set-up permanent camp in Port of Spain. The heat and humidity hit Naomi like a hot damp towel as she stepped out of the safety of the air conditioned airport into the bright Caribbean sunlight. She was thankful that at least the cool coastal breezes provided moments of relief.

  Though she had sunglasses on, she still shaded her eyes as she stood in the taxi bay looking out. Through the sea of brown faces she searched for the one that might be a little familiar. Truth be told, it had been so long since she had seen Latoya that she couldn’t be sure she would even recognize her cousin.

  “Naomi!”

  No need. Her cousin had recognized her.

  Naomi turned around at the sound of the voice and saw a slim, dark skinned woman with a not so slim mid-region, running towards her.

  “Latoya? Oh my God!”

  The two women embraced each other, as much as was possible with half a person between them.

  “You’re pregnant!” Naomi squealed as she held her cousin back to look at her. “You didn’t tell me!”

  “I know,” Latoya said, a huge smile exposed straight white teeth. “I wanted to surprise you!”

  “Well, you did!” Naomi stared at her cousin again. She tried to soak up the change that had happened in the nine years since they had last seen each other. Latoya had barely been twenty when she married her long-time boyfriend, Neil. Now, she was popping out babies. The world had certainly moved along.

  She smiled and pulled Latoya into a hug again. “I am so glad to see you.”

  “Likewise.”

  “So,” Naomi let go of her cousin so she could lead her to the car. “Tell me everything that’s been happening.”

  They caught up on life as the taxi flew through the streets of downtown Port of Spain and into the hills just above the city where Latoya lived. By the time Naomi got to her cousin’s home, she had gotten halfway through her part of the catching up.

  “So, you and that gorgeous man in all your Facebook pictures are finally getting married,” Latoya’s flip flops slapped against the marble floor as she headed to the kitchen.

  “Yes we are,” Naomi grinned as the image of her man’s face popped into her mind. “The wedding’s Sunday.”

  Latoya opened the fridge door. “You mean on the seventeenth?”

  “No,” Naomi leaned against the counter. “The tenth.”

  Latoya’s head popped around the side of the fridge door, a confused expression on her face. “This Sunday? Girl, what the heck are you doing here?”

  Naomi sighed and walked away from the counter. She slid into a chair at the breakfast nook.

  “Short answer? Camille.”

  Latoya pursed her lips as she placed a pitcher of juice on the counter. “And the long answer?”

  “Girl, you’re gonna need to bring that pitcher and two glasses over here for that.”

  Once they both sat, Naomi spared no details and told her cousin everything that had transpired in the last few days.

  “Nay...” Latoya rubbed both hands over her face tiredly. “I don’t even know where to start.”

  “Just don’t start like Natasha did with all the you-need-to-tell-Jordan stuff...”

  “Well, you do need to tell Jordan,” Latoya said. “But I know you won’t. You’ve always had issues when it came to men.”

  Naomi’s mouth fell open. “What?”

  “I don’t have time to touch that right now,” Latoya waved away the shocked expression on her cousin’s face. “My real concern is, how do you plan to locate our little drug dealer now? You know your foreign behind can’t be walking around Port of Spain, inquiring about a missing American girl. That’s just asking for trouble.”

  “Garth.”

  Latoya’s raised eyebrow was enough to make Naomi look away.

  “Wow, you really are doing everything to ruin things with Jordan, aren’t you?”

  “What choice do I have?” Naomi asked. “He’s the only person I know that would probably be able to find her in the two days I have to get this done.”

  Latoya wrinkled her nose. “Well, he sure deals with enough dirt to know where to find the scum that have Camille.”

  Naomi sighed. “The quicker I can deal with this, the quicker I can find Camille and get back home.”

  “Alright.” Latoya took a deep breath then hoisted herself out of her seat. “Let’s go then. Clock’s a ticking.”

  “Wait,” Naomi eyed her cousin warily. “You’re not coming with us.”

  “Of course not,” Latoya said with a scowl. “Neil would kill me. But you will need a ride to the station. Besides, it’s been a while since I’ve given Garth a piece of my mind. Today feels like the day.”

  Naomi rolled her eyes but followed her cousin to the door. She didn’t know why everyone was getting worked up. Garth was in her past, and she would only be here for two days. What could possibly happen?

  Chapter Ten

  His precinct was in the heart of Port of Spain and it took a lot off maneuvering through transit buses, honking taxis and pedestrians to get there. Latoya parked her Toyota Rav 4 right in front of the main entrance and shut off the engine. Almost immediately, two men in uniform walked towards her. But as soon as the car door opened and her stomach came into view, they both stopped. Latoya smiled at them and they nodded before going back to their post.

  Naomi shook her head. “Amazing.”

  “Perks of being pregnant.”

  The distance from the car to the front doors was short but Naomi could feel eyes on her. She pushed her sunglasses a little further up on her nose and held her head straight as she followed her cousin through the doors into the precinct. She was a foreigner. Despite the fact that she had been born in this country, she had been away too long to be considered one of their own. They knew it. It oozed off her skin like an odor, echoed in the American lilt in her speech. There was nothing she could do to hide it. And that’s why she needed Latoya. Needed Garth. Without them, she would spend the next two days spinning her wheels.

  “Ladies, can I help you?”

  The desk officer’s question was directed to Latoya, but his eyes were fixed on Naomi. He openly assessed her, wondered what trouble she might cause him on this particular day.

  Latoya
scowled at the officer. “Yes, I’m looking for Officer Duhaney.”

  “That’s Sergeant Duhaney to you.”

  His voice was rough. It hit Naomi like the bark of a tree against her bare back. When she turned to look at him, she found that he looked just as wild, the uniform and all it represented did nothing to tame him. Dark eyes, the color of coffee, stood out against nutmeg toned skin. Naomi had thought that officers were required to be clean shaven, but with the deep shadow on his square jawline, Naomi saw that Garth still broke the rules. But the scruffiness didn’t take away from him at all. He was still as handsome as she remembered. That never changed.

  “Garth, wow, a uniform,” Latoya said dryly. “Never seen you in one of those before. Does it help you remember that you’re a cop?”

  “Nice to see you too, Toya.” His tone was dismissive, partly because there was no love lost between the two of them, but mostly because he was too busy staring Naomi down. And as she stared right back without flinching, Naomi suddenly knew exactly why Natasha and Latoya were concerned. Truthfully, they had every right to be.

  Waves of hot and cold rushed over her. Her mouth felt dry. Naomi was sure that at any moment she would start shaking.

  This was bad.

  She remained rooted in place as he slowly strolled over. Garth closed the distance between them until he was so close, she had to look up at him. Naomi could count the tiny hairs on his week old stubble if she had the time and was so inclined.

  “I knew you would come back.”

  She took a deep breath and reminded herself that Camille needed her. That she walked through this valley of death for her. Right now, Camille was all that mattered.

  “Can we talk?” Naomi asked.

  Garth’s lips slowly spread into a smile that made Naomi’s gut tighten. “Sure, sweetheart. We can talk anytime you want.”