The Aftermath

by Shelia M. Goss

“I love you, too.” I placed my hand on his cheek and stared into his eyes under the moonlit night.

  CHAPTER 40

  Hope

  Raymond had awakened some feelings in me I thought were gone. I hadn’t seen him since I’d asked him to come over the other night, but we’d been talking and texting on the phone. I didn’t know if I would have the willpower not to give in to the lustful feelings I had. I really did want to make sure the next man I was with wanted me for more than my body.

  I closed my eyes and let the hot water ease the sexual tension in my body. Twenty minutes later, I was sitting on my bed putting lotion on my legs.

  “Hope!” Charity yelled out.

  I jumped up and ran into the hallway. “What’s wrong?”

  Charity rushed toward me. She had her hand out. A diamond ring stared back at me. I looked at it and then into her face.

  “I said yes,” she said.

  She waved her hand and jumped with excitement.

  “You’re getting married to Omar?” I had no issue curbing my enthusiasm.

  “Yes. Let me tell you how he proposed. It was so romantic.”

  I followed her to her room. She sat near the head of the bed and I sat on the foot of the bed. I listened to her recant what had happened the previous night.

  I smiled. “I’m happy for you,” I said out loud, but in my mind, I wasn’t too sure about things.

  “Of course you’re going to be my maid of honor. I’ve got to call Mom. Tell Lovie.”

  “For something like this, you better tell her in person. Don’t call her on the phone,” I said.

  “You’re right. Finish getting dressed. I want you to come with me.”

  I looked down. I wasn’t wearing any pants. I went and got dressed and rode over to our parents’ house with Charity.

  We were barely in the door before Charity showed our mother the ring.

  “Charity, this is beautiful. Omar does have good taste. I like the sapphire band. Different, but still classy,” she said admiringly as she inspected the ring.

  “We both agreed that we want a small wedding. Family and maybe a few friends,” Charity blurted out.

  “We can plan a wedding after your father comes home,” Mom said.

  “But he doesn’t go to trial until later this year. I don’t know if I want to wait that long,” Charity said.

  “What’s the rush?” I asked. “Most people are engaged for months or years.”

  “We want to start our new life together as soon as possible. We love each other and don’t feel like there’s a need for a long engagement.”

  I looked at Mom and she turned away and looked at Charity. “You aren’t pregnant, are you?” she asked Charity.

  Charity stuttered, “I might be.”

  Mom dropped Charity’s hand. “What do you mean? You might be. You know better than to have unprotected sex.”

  “Mom, it’s not like he’s some man I picked up at a club.”

  Why did Charity have to look at me when she said it? I no longer slept with men on the first date. In fact, I was trying to be celibate. Besides, this wasn’t about me. This was about her and her fiancé, Omar. She needed to keep the attention on herself.

  Mom remarked, “It’s like this, Charity. I don’t have an issue with you marrying Omar if that’s the man you want to marry. But I do have an issue with you not taking the proper precautions to make sure you wouldn’t get pregnant before you were ready. Being a mother isn’t easy.”

  Charity shifted her body so that she was now facing her. “Mom, if I am pregnant, it might not have been planned, but I’m going to love this baby because it was conceived out of love. I think I will make a great mom. Don’t you?”

  Mom fell for it. She rubbed Charity’s hand. “Yes, dear, I do. Well, congratulations to you both. I think.”

  “Yes, congratulations,” I said.

  Mom sent me to the drugstore to get a pregnancy test. She wanted to talk to Charity alone. I was happy to oblige them. For once, Charity was being the irresponsible one and not me.

  An hour later, we were seated at the table eating breakfast, anxiously awaiting the pregnancy results.

  The sound of the clock ticking seemed to intensify with each passing moment. “It’s been enough time, don’t you think?” I said. The suspense was killing me. I needed to know if I was going to be an aunt or not.

  “I’ll be right back,” Charity said.

  “Mom, if I told you I was pregnant, how would you react?” I asked.

  “Like the time you thought you were but you weren’t?” she responded.

  I must have had a bewildered look on my face. Mom continued, “Yes, I knew about your little pregnancy scare when you were with Tyler.”

  “Who told you?” I asked.

  “I’m Lexi Jones. Not too much gets past me.”

  “I can’t take the suspense. I’m going to find Charity.”

  “Wait for me,” Mom said.

  We rushed to the bathroom located a few feet from the kitchen. Charity opened the door. “Well, it’s official.”

  Charity was smiling so I still didn’t know if she was pregnant or not. Why all the dramatics? She just needed to let us know.

  “Spit it out already,” I said.

  “Fine. I’m not pregnant.” She waved the stick in the air. It showed a negative sign. She threw it in the trashcan and then washed her hands.

  Mom sighed with relief. I sighed with relief. Charity didn’t seem too upset with the results, either.

  “Now I can relax,” Mom said. “Well, not truly relax, because now we’ve got to get your dad free so he can walk you down the aisle.”

  I listened to them talk about Charity’s upcoming nuptials. I remained in the background fantasizing about Raymond.

  CHAPTER 41

  Lovie

  Omar wanted me to meet him at this bar, but he was nowhere around. I sat at the bar nursing a glass of Cognac.

  This used to be my father’s and Uncle Jason’s old hangout spot. Maybe one day I would settle down so I wouldn’t be the old man in the club like some of these dudes who were still trying to mack on the ladies.

  I laughed out loud while watching one guy who looked like he was a throwback from the seventies approach a female who looked to be around my age, in her late twenties. When she dissed him, he brushed his shoulder off and kept it moving to the next woman. Had to hand it to the old man, he was determined.

  I felt a hand on my back and shoulder. “Lovie, sorry I’m late. Had to turn in this report before I called it quits for the day,” Omar said as he took the vacant seat next to me.

  “No problem. Gave me some time to relax my mind a little.”

  The bartender approached Omar. “What will you have?”

  “Hennessy and Coke,” Omar responded. “If I didn’t have to get back to work, I would take it straight up.” He laughed.

  “I hear you. So what’s going on? You got some news on my robbery?” I asked.

  “No. That’s dead in the water. I wanted to meet with you about Charity.”

  I stopped nursing my drink and shifted my body where I was now facing him. “What about Charity?”

  “Well, Lovie, looks like we’re going to be brothers. I asked Charity to be my wife and she accepted. Drink up. The next round is on me.” Omar gripped his glass.

  “Congratulations.” I tapped his glass with mine. Although I was congratulating him, I was a little hurt. Charity should have been the one to tell me. I shouldn’t have had to hear it from Omar. “When did this happen?”

  “Last night. She wanted to tell you in person. I thought she would have by now. But when you didn’t say anything, I decided to go ahead and let you know. Didn’t want any secrets between us.”

  “I appreciate that, man. Charity’s a good girl. She’s a happy girl.
Let’s keep her that way.”

  “She’s my heart. I don’t plan on doing anything to hurt her. Like I told your old man, I’ll die before I let anything happen to her.”

  “I’m going to hold you to it,” I said as I turned back in my chair and motioned for the bartender to refill my drink.

  Omar got a call from his partner and had to leave. I had two drinks but wasn’t drunk so I left the bar and went to my parents’ house.

  Mom was sitting in the living room listening to some old school R&B when I walked in. She was nursing a drink of her own.

  Mom looked at me, and then the near-empty glass. “I told you I wouldn’t get drunk again. Never said I wouldn’t drink anything.”

  “Mom, it’s been a long day. I’m not going to judge you. I just left a meeting with Omar and had two drinks myself.”

  I moved past her and sat down on the chair.

  “So you know about the engagement?” she asked. She took another drink.

  “Yes. He couldn’t wait to share the news. When did Charity tell you?” I leaned back in the chair and waited for her response.

  “Your sisters stopped by this morning. We spent the majority of the day together so that’s why I hadn’t called you.”

  “I was busy anyway,” I said. I sure could’ve used another drink, but reached into my pocket and pulled out some gum and chewed it instead.

  “You’re looking exactly like your daddy over in that chair,” Mom said.

  “I do look good, don’t I?”

  “Conceited like your daddy too.” She laughed.

  “I thought I got it from you.”

  “Him. Me. You are a Jones.”

  She stood and picked up her empty glass. “There’s food in the kitchen if you want some. I’m kind of tired. I’m going to turn in early tonight.”

  “I’ll find something. Go ahead and get you some rest.” I dialed Charity’s cell number. “I heard congratulations are in order.”

  “Lovie, I meant to call. I’m sorry. I was with Mom and when I got home, I fell asleep.” I listened to her give me excuse after excuse.

  “I was a little upset that I had to hear about it from someone else.”

  “I wasn’t trying to keep it a secret,” she assured me.

  I replied, “You sound happy so that’s all that matters to me.”

  CHAPTER 42

  Omar

  With Charity spending a lot of time at my place, I needed to rearrange my closet so she would have space for her clothes. My attempts to move a box located above the hangers resulted in it falling on the floor, spilling out its contents.

  I bent down and placed the old pictures back inside. My eyes lingered on the last one. It was one of the few pictures I had with me, my mother and father in altogether. That was one of the happiest days of my life. I could remember it like it was yesterday. The picture was taken on my thirteenth birthday. My features were more like my mother’s. Dad had admitted that he’d questioned whether or not he was my father until he’d gotten a blood test done proving to him that I was indeed his child.

  My only regret was that no one outside of my family knew I was his son. I was his best-kept secret.

  “Omar, are you in there?” I heard Charity ask.

  “I’m in the closet. I’ll be out in a minute.” I placed the picture in the box and placed the shoebox near my other shoeboxes.

  Charity opened the closet. “I saw both of your cars outside.”

  We greeted each other with a hug and kiss. “Moving some stuff around, in case you want to bring some of your clothes over here.”

  “We do need to talk about our living arrangements,” she said.

  My cell phone rang. It was Dad. When I didn’t answer, he sent me a text.

  “We can look for a place together,” I said as I led her out of the closet.

  We sat on my bed.

  “Wherever we stay it must have a huge walk-in closet because Omar, you’ve seen my closet. I have a lot of clothes.”

  “You have enough to open up a store.”

  “Not that many,” she replied.

  “Yes. Charity, besides the women on TV, I’ve never ever seen a woman with as many clothes as you.”

  “Huge closet space is what I have to have. What’s one thing you need for our new place?” she asked.

  I lay on my side and looked into her eyes. “All I need is you. You’re the only thing I need in our new place—wherever that may be.”

  I pulled her down on top of me. We kissed. I shifted our bodies until I was now on top. I devoured her mouth with mine. My phone vibrated, interrupting our flow.

  “This better be good,” I said to the person on the other end of the phone.

  “I need you. One of the accounts I’ve been using to pay the hotel is overdrawn. How can that be when I had thousands of dollars in it?” Dad asked from the other end.

  “I’m sort of busy right now. I’ll take care of it tomorrow.”

  “Omar, I need you to do something for me,” he stressed.

  “I will. But it will have to be tomorrow,” I said. I hit the End button on my phone.

  “Who was that?” Charity asked.

  “Jake,” I lied. “He keeps bugging me about finishing this report. He’s becoming a pain in my side.”

  Charity shifted. She was now off from under me. “Maybe you should take care of it. It sounded important.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Positive. Besides, I’m not going anywhere. You’ve got me for life.” She held her hand in the air, showcasing her engagement ring.

  I kissed her ring and then kissed her. “I don’t have to leave to go anywhere. I need to access my computer.”

  “You do your work and I’ll go fix us a little something to eat. Of course I stopped by the grocery store before coming over because you never have anything in your refrigerator.”

  “You’re so good to me,” I said.

  “You know it.” Charity blew me a kiss and left the room.

  I got my laptop out of the bag and placed it on top of the bag. I went to my closet and returned holding a small notebook with login information. I went online and accessed one of my father’s accounts so that I could transfer money.

  There must be something wrong. The account had a zero balance. I accessed another one of his accounts and the balance showed zero. I wasn’t sure of what was going on. I accessed several accounts and got the same thing. I was about to give up. I tried one more account. It still had money in it. I used the online banking and changed the password on the account. I wrote it down on the sheet of paper and made a mental note to tell my father his new information. I didn’t have time to go in more depth because Charity was around.

  “Nooo, it can’t be!” I heard Charity yell.

  I rushed out of the room and saw Charity passed out on the floor. My dad was hovering over her.

  I pushed him out of the way and picked Charity up. “Charity, are you okay?”

  She could barely open her eyes. “I saw him,” she said before passing out again.

  “I told you not to come here,” I said to Dad as I placed Charity on the couch.

  “You left me no choice. I need money and now.” I rubbed Charity’s hair off her face. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my wallet. “There’s a thousand dollars in there. Take it. Get out.”

  “Son, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had company.”

  “Yes, you did. Now go before she wakes.”

  Dad took the money and left.

  Charity woke and blinked her eyes. “I saw him. I saw a ghost.”

  “Saw who?” I asked, acting like I didn’t know.

  Her body shook in fear. She wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me tight. “Uncle Jason. I saw Uncle Jason’s ghost.”

  CHAPTER 43 />
  Lexi

  Ever since I had received the call from Charity the night before, I hadn’t been able to sleep. I tried to assure her it was only stress.

  She’d gotten engaged, thought she was pregnant and her father was locked up. Stress will have you hallucinating.

  “Mom, what’s wrong?” Lovie asked as he saw me pace back and forth in the kitchen in front of the stove.

  “Have a seat.” I fixed Lovie a plate while I talked. “Charity called me last night because she had a hallucination that she saw Jason. She passed out. Omar had to revive her.”

  “What do you mean? Is she in the hospital? Where is she?” Lovie asked question after question.

  “She was at Omar’s last night. She’ll be going home today. I’m going by there as soon as I get you out of here.”

  “Mom, I could have stopped at Mickey D’s or something. You didn’t have to cook breakfast.”

  “Yes, I did. Cooking soothes me.”

  “Charity will be all right. She had a nightmare. Stop worrying.”

  “She wasn’t sleeping. She was wide awake,” I said.

  “Stress. We’ve all been under a lot of it,” Lovie said in between bites.

  “You’re right. I will feel better about things once I see that she’s all right for myself.”

  After Lovie ate, I followed him outside of the house and got in my car and went straight to Charity and Hope’s place. Charity was in her room changing clothes when I got there.

  “Mom, I’m fine. I haven’t been getting much sleep lately, so all of this is from exhaustion.”

  “Then get some sleep. Stop running behind Omar.”

  “He is not the problem,” Charity said.

  Hope stepped into the room. “Mom, you said you wanted to see me.”

  “Yes, dear. I was going to ask Hope to go with me, but after what happened, I will need for you to go instead.”

  “I’ll be ready in about five minutes. I need to find my house keys.”

  “If you keep them on the table by the front door, then you will know where they are,” Charity said.

  Hope threw her hand up. “Whatever. Mom, I’ll meet you at the door in about five.”