Jolene couldn’t get out of bed. It was just as well. Juliette had stayed overnight at a friend’s. Patrick had moved out. And Bradford wasn’t speaking to her. She was the laughingstock of Silver Lake, so she had no reason to get out of bed. Ever.
Why did she have such rotten luck with men, starting with Jonathan? The ones she really wanted never seemed to want her. Patrick was the only man who ever genuinely cared about her, the only man who liked her for who she really was. But she hadn’t wanted him, and now even he wanted out.
Last night, after everyone had hastily departed, Patrick and Lee went to the police station, where they met an attorney who advised Lee while she was questioned. When they returned to Silver Lake, Patrick put Lee to bed in the guest room.
Then he quietly told Jolene that he had an interview for a position as director of information technology in the Prince George’s County government. If he got it, he would have a staff and be paid a lot more than what Bradford had paid him. He even hinted that there was a new woman in his life. He slept on the couch in the family room, got up early the next morning and packed a few bags, and left the house, taking Lee with him.
Jolene couldn’t believe all this was happening to her. She snatched a tissue from the nightstand and dabbed her eyes. She was already starting to miss him. Imagine that. It was too damn quiet in this big house. And obviously, Patrick wasn’t the wimp he seemed to be. Or maybe he had changed. Whatever. She had been chasing all over town after these no-good married men, and the best man for her was right under her own roof.
She threw the bedcovers back and jumped up. She was going to pay Patrick a visit at the old house and tell him she would be willing to forgive his infidelities if he would forgive hers. She would suggest that they try to make a fresh start in their new house.
But first she was going to take a long hot bath, then put on her favorite St. John suit and her new pair of Chanel two-toned pumps. There was no telling who she would run into, and she had a lot of ground to make up in the image department, especially if Patrick landed a new position as a director in the county government. She had to look the part of the boss’s wife.
Pearl shook her head as she stood over the sink in her bathrobe and washed the dinner dishes. She still couldn’t get Lee out of her mind. That poor child had to be desperate to find her daddy to pull a stunt like that one last night. And to think that Patrick was the daddy.
And Ashley. Lord have mercy. Just when she was coming around to liking the girl, this stuff comes out about her not even really being white. Humph. She looked white, but thanks to the one-drop rule in America she was black. Pearl shook her head again. Poor child. It must be awfully tough to wake up one day and learn that you aren’t really who you think you are.
It just went to show you, life was tough. But she had gotten through the rough times, and so would Lee and Ashley. If there was one thing Pearl had learned, it was that you couldn’t let these setbacks keep you down. You had to get up and keep on moving. Heck, she was still learning, because crazy stuff was always happening.
She just hoped Kenyatta could deal with this news about Ashley. He thought he had a white girlfriend and now he learns she’s black.
As if on cue, Kenyatta entered the kitchen, came up from behind and kissed her on the cheek. The fresh scent of a recent shower lingered around him, and he was dressed in a new pair of blue jeans and a crisp white cotton shirt that Pearl had ironed just that morning.
“Where are you off to?” she asked.
“Over to Ashley’s.”
Pearl nodded. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”
“Yeah?”
“How are you with all this about her family?”
He sighed deeply. “It’s mind-blowing. She’s trying to be cool about it, but I can tell that it’s rough on her.”
“Oh, no doubt. But my question was, how are you handling it?”
He shrugged. “It doesn’t really faze me. I mean, I worry how it’s hurting her. But you know, I’m not seeing Ashley because I thought she was white. She’s kind-hearted and thoughtful. She’s good to me. That’s why I’m with her.”
Pearl smiled. She was so proud of this boy. “Good for you. Obviously, I didn’t raise no dummy.”
They both laughed. Pearl wiped her hands and turned and hugged him warmly. Then she looked into his face. “You know something? You’re a much better person than I am. But I’m working on it.” She was always worried about teaching and showing him what was right. Now she realized that he might have a thing or two to teach her.
“You do OK, Ma. I just wish you’d relax and not take everything so seriously. Go have some fun. Get yourself a man.”
Pearl chuckled wryly and turned back toward the sink. “Yeah, yeah. I hear you.”
“Well, I’m off.”
“Tell Ashley I said hello. You know, I’m having lunch with Candice this week.”
“For real?” Kenyatta asked, clearly surprised.
“Yeah, baby, but I’m a little nervous about it now, after what happened at the party. What do you say to a woman who’s just discovered she’s black?”
Kenyatta shrugged, then his eyes lit up. “Hey, sista!”
Pearl cracked up over the sink. “Oh, you. Go on.”
She was still chuckling when Kenyatta shut the door and the phone rang. She wiped her hands on a towel and picked up her cordless phone.
“Pearl. Hi, it’s me.”
Pearl sank down in a chair at the kitchen table. This was the last voice she expected to hear. “Patrick?”
He chuckled at the obvious surprise in her voice. “I wanted to apologize for all the confusion last night,” he said softly. “I guess you must think I’m a jerk after what happened.”
He should be having this discussion with his wife, Pearl thought. “It’s no business of mine.”
“I figured you would say something like that. Well, I also wanted to tell you that Lee is still with me. I’m going to keep her for the time being.”
Pearl nodded into the phone with approval. “And the girl’s mother? Where is she?”
“In Baltimore. We got in touch with Blanche late last night. It turns out that Lee had run away from home several months ago. Her mother was worried sick about her.”
Pearl gasped. “Well, why did Lee run away?”
“Oh man. It was a bad situation with her mother’s boyfriend. I still haven’t gotten the whole story out of Lee, but it seems that he attacked her and she shot him. She thought she had killed him, so she ran.”
Pearl closed her eyes. This story was getting more unbelievable by the minute. “Oh my Lord.”
“The guy was badly wounded but he survived. We found that out last night when we talked to Blanche.”
“Well, thank goodness, but it sounds like a mess. How is Lee holding up?”
“She’s doing all right considering the circumstances. I knew nothing about her until now. The relationship with her mother was brief, at a real bad time in my marriage. But I’m going to do whatever it takes to help Lee.”
“That’s so good of you, Patrick. It sounds like that girl really needs you. How is Jolene with all of this?”
“That’s the other thing I wanted to tell you. I left Jolene. I’m back at the old house with Lee now.”
Pearl’s mouth dropped open. “I … I’m sorry to hear that,” she mumbled.
“Don’t be. It’s been a long time coming. I told you that.”
“Well, if you think it’s for the best.”
“I know it is,” he said firmly.
“Then I wish you the best of luck, Patrick, especially with Lee.”
He chuckled. “You don’t have to sound so final. There’s one more thing I wanted to tell you.”
Goodness, Pearl thought. How much more could there be? “And what is it?”
“I’m standing outside your front door.”
Pearl jumped up. Good Lord. He couldn’t be serious. “I hope you’re joking.”
“Nop
e. Can I come in for a minute?”
Pearl looked down at her robe and slippers.
“I don’t care what you look like or whether the house needs cleaning or any of that,” he added as if reading her mind. “I just want to see you.”
She chuckled. “I hope you mean that, ’cause I’m not even dressed yet. And the kitchen really is a mess since I was just doing the dishes.”
“You gonna let me in or not?”
She opened the front door. “Hello, Mr. Brown,” she said into the phone. Then she reached out and pulled him through the doorway.
They sat at the dinner table in silence, each deep in thought.
“Well,” Jim said, “looks like I’m the only white person around here now.”
Caitlin grunted and Ashley smiled faintly. Candice shoved her peas around on her plate. If that was an effort to ease the tension, it had flopped miserably. She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry about what happened at Jolene’s last night.”
Ashley looked up from the table. “You apologized once, Mom. It’s not your fault what that girl did. I still get to shaking every time I think about it, but it’s not your fault.”
“Maybe it wouldn’t have happened if I had been more open about us from the start,” Candice said.
“Well, that girl …” Ashley paused and frowned. “What was her name?”
“Lee,” all three of them said at once.
“Right,” Ashley continued. “I was so scared it’s all like a blur to me now. But she wouldn’t have known the difference anyway. We look white.”
“You’re right,” Candice said. “But I still should have told you sooner. The way it came out last night was horrible.”
“Why didn’t you tell us before, Mom?” Caitlin asked.
“I … I was frightened and angry about it.”
“Angry?” Jim said. “With whom?”
Candice shook her head. “I don’t know. With the world, I guess, but mostly with my great-grandfather for being dishonest about his background and deceiving all of us, all of his descendants.”
“Why do you think he did it?” Ashley asked softly.
Candice sighed. “I understand it now. I mean, even today, with slavery behind us, I had a hard time admitting that one of our ancestors was black. I didn’t want that stigma on us. And it was a hundred times worse back then. So I have a sense of what motivated him. I’m not saying that what he did was right. But I understand it.”
Caitlin frowned. “It feels different from what I would have thought. What do I tell all my friends?”
“Kenyatta didn’t believe it was true at first,” Ashley said. “He thought you just said that to get Lee to let me go. I told him there was no way you would have said that unless it was true.”
“How’s he taking it?” Candice asked.
Ashley smiled. “He’s being very supportive, just like I knew he would be. He’s a real sweetheart. But I don’t know how some of my white friends will react.”
“I’m not going to tell anybody,” Caitlin said stubbornly. She shoved her food around on her plate, and Candice realized that Caitlin hadn’t taken a bite since she sat down at the table.
“I think you have to tell your closest friends,” Candice said gently. “You know how word gets around in Silver Lake. They’ll hear it sooner or later, and it’s better that they hear it from you.”
“You don’t need any friends who have a problem with it, anyway,” Jim added.
Candice nodded and smiled at Jim. She had completely misjudged him. They had stayed up practically all night talking about how they would handle it with the rest of the family, their friends and neighbors. He promised to help her get through this, and she hoped he meant it. She really needed him now.
“What if they all have a problem with it,” Caitlin cried out suddenly. “I won’t have any friends.”
Candice was surprised at the outburst. Caitlin had always seemed so open-minded about things like this. She had supported Ashley when her mom raised objections about Kenyatta. “I doubt that, honey. What about Sue Ellen? Didn’t she date a black guy once?”
“Some of our friends bad-mouthed her behind her back and they broke up,” Caitlin retorted. “And her mom didn’t like it any more than you did.”
Candice cleared her throat. “Well, I’ve changed about that,” she said firmly. “I was wrong. Look, honey, nobody said this was going to be easy. But you can make new friends who will like you for who you are, not your background.”
Caitlin moaned. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to make friends, Mom? Why couldn’t you have told us in private? You didn’t have to blab about it in front of all of Silver Lake.”
“Again, I apologize for how I did it. But the secrecy stops here. I tried to keep it a secret, and it was awful.”
“Your mom’s right,” Jim said. “People have to know the truth.”
Caitlin jumped up. “Why? And what is the truth? We look white, and as far as I’m concerned I am white. You can’t change that.”
“Caitlin, sit down,” Candice said firmly.
Caitlin ignored her mother. “We’re already the joke of Silver Lake. Now this.”
“What do you mean?” Candice asked, frowning.
“Look around you, Mom. Just about everyone else drives big new Mercedes-Benzes and Jaguars. We drive a tired old Ford Taurus. And we live in one of the smallest houses around here. Now we find out we’re niggers.”
Candice stood up and slapped her daughter firmly on the cheek. “Don’t you ever let me hear you use that word again.”
Caitlin winced and grabbed her cheek. She gave her mother an icy stare, then turned and fled the room.
Candice flopped back down in her seat. She couldn’t believe she had just smacked Caitlin. More than that, she couldn’t believe Caitlin’s harsh words. But maybe she shouldn’t be surprised. Caitlin had no doubt heard much worse from her grandfather’s lips. And she herself had behaved like an idiot about Ashley and Kenyatta.
“Do you want me to go and talk with her?” Jim asked.
“I’ll go if you want,” Ashley offered.
“No, I’ll do it,” Candice said as she stood up.
It seemed only right, since she was the reason her daughter was behaving this way. She couldn’t do anything about the past, about George or even her dad. But she could do a lot about the future by setting a better example for her children. Starting now.
Lee was the happiest she had ever been. No doubt she was in trouble for shooting Clive. But her daddy was sticking by her, and the lawyer thought it was a good case of self-defense. Mama had left Clive after learning what he had done to her, and the authorities hauled him off to jail.
Every morning Lee woke up, went straight to her bedroom window and looked out over the estates of Silver Lake. She loved to see the tulips blooming and to smell the scent of freshly mowed lawns. She had everything she had ever wanted and so much more. She was living with her daddy in a big, pretty house. And there was plenty of food, clothes, cars and money.
She was living the American Dream.
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