But he stressed to her that weekend, “I don’t want his ass over here again! I mean it Joy,” and she hadn’t thought of Royce until that Monday when the phone rang and it was the guard, shoot I didn’t call Royce, “A Mr. Harrington to see you Ms. Abrams,” “Sorry but I can’t see him today, tell him I’ll call him,” and before she hung up good her phone was ringing. It was Royce, “Why Joy? Is it because of what I said Friday, that my lawyer will be contacting you?” “No, Michael found out you’ve been coming over and he wasn’t too happy Royce,” understatement of the year, “I can’t let you come over anymore, I’m sorry I know you want to see Justin but I can’t okay,” and she heard Royce swear, “Dammit, okay Joy, I’ll talk to you later,” and he drove away. And then two days later she got the certified letter from his lawyer,
“Michael and Joycelyn Abrams, a suit has been filed at the George L. Allen Sr. building in the city of Dallas family court in the case of the minor child Justin Royce Abrams, the case is for proof of paternity and joint custodial rights of said child…You are hereby requested to appear in court on…Royce Thomas Harrington vs. Michael and Joycelyn Abrams for paternity…Seeking visitation rights for said minor…a judgment in the case will be pending…,” Joy scanned the letter from Royce’s attorney, and when Michael got home she handed it to him and walked away. When he was done reading he came in the room with her and she knew he was mad and she knew he was going to say something hurtful and she knew he blamed her. She’d known that from the day he dragged her from The Club in tears and he’d let her know many times since then this was all her fault. She waited for him to say whatever it was he was going to say,
“So the prick is suing us for his custodial rights, good Joy, fucking good,” and he thought the fucking snowball just got bigger, and that night Joy didn’t go to bed when he did. She stayed up and watched TV, something she rarely did, but she didn’t want him to pound inside her tonight and hear his hurtful words. So she pretended to watch TV, but all she did was silently cry, and somewhere in the wee hours of the morning after she accidentally fell asleep on the sofa she crept into bed as far away from Michael as possible, which was another thing she’d never done. She’d slept in his arms since their wedding day and she loved it, loved feeling his strong arms around her. It was Michael who started it, “I love you Mrs. Joy Abrams and I never want to let you go, in my arms is where you belong and I will hold you close to my heart all night every night for the rest of our lives,” he’d said on their honeymoon and he’d done just that until now. They were used to sleeping all wrapped up in each other and when they came apart at night, somehow one or both would find the other and snuggle back up against each other, but tonight she was scared he was going to hurt her with his love, and just as she was falling asleep she felt him reach for her and then she felt his leg drape across her body and his arms around her as he went deeper into his sleep. She relaxed and went to sleep comfortable in his arms.
Royce had done what he had to do, he’d talked to his lawyer after the fight with Michael and his advice had been, “You have to sue for custody, if not you don’t have any rights or say so in the child’s life regardless if you’re the father or not if you’re not listed as such,” he’d said, “I’ll draw it up,” his lawyer said. “Okay I’ll let you know,” but it was hurting Joy that stopped him, but once he saw they weren’t getting anywhere. That he wasn’t going to do as they asked and she wasn’t going for what he wanted it was time, but Joy, he desperately didn’t want her to hate him, and that Monday when she wouldn’t see him scared him so bad. He did think she wanted nothing more to do with him, and he hadn’t seen her or Justin since.
It had been three days since he’d seen Justin and Joy had been served today and Royce sat in his office his face in his hands, worried she’d hate him and his lawyer’s words ringing in his ears, “Tell your wife, this will look much better in court if she is by your side,” he dreaded the thought of telling Tammy. She was going to freak out he knew that, like Michael was infuriated with him, she for some reason was incensed and upset at Joy and blamed her for what happened and he didn’t know why, saying things like she would kick her bony behind, and he knew Tammy was all talk, but Joy he wasn’t so sure, he had a feeling she would fight, just the way she talked sometimes. He could tell she wasn’t afraid and would do what she had to do, even fight if need be, “I’m from Philly okay, enough said,” she’d said acting tough one night at The Club when he teased her that she was so beautiful all the other ladies were jealous and he’d love to see a cat fight. And now he had two weeks to tell Tammy, and he knew the sooner he told her the sooner she’d get use to the idea, Justin was here, Justin was his son.
He put the pictures in his briefcase, the pictures of just Justin, not the snapshots with him or Joy in them, he didn’t want her to know he’d been spending time with them the last couple of weeks. He took out a couple of pictures, the big professional one of Justin his blue eyes staring back at the camera, damn he’s a pretty baby, he and Joy did good work, and look at that hair. Justin had a ton of curly dark hair. It was big, fluffy and curly all over his head, who couldn’t love him? And he hoped Tammy would, she’ll have too, she doesn’t have a choice really. Justin was his son, she can’t deny him his son, no more than Joy.
Later that night after the kids were in bed he took Tammy by the hand and led her outside on the back patio. He thought she wouldn’t make a scene outside where the neighbors could hear. They sat by the pool where he could see her from the underwater pool lights and the nightlights around the house that gave the house a nice lighted ambiance, “I have something to tell you.” He sat across from her on one lounger and Tammy on the other,
“My god Royce what is it you’re scaring me taking me out here?”
“Well I don’t want the kids to hear anything until we tell them.”
“Oh, then it’s serious,”
“Yes, it’s serious,” and Tammy felt her heart beating wildly. She thought the time had come. Royce wanted to divorce her. He hadn’t been himself since the debacle at The Club and the past couple of weeks he’d been happy, and now she thought he’d been happy because he’d decided to leave her.
“Okay tell me,”
“I don’t know how to say this other than straight out,” he paused a knot in his throat, “I’ve seen Joy Abrams and the reason she left so suddenly was because she was having my child. She has a son and he’s mine,” and despite himself he smiled, “He’s beautiful Tammy and I want you to know him, I want you to…,”
“What! What are you…are you out of your mind Royce!” Tammy stood up and walked away from him, “A baby! Joy has a baby by you!” She looked hard at him, her words screeching, so much for making a scene, but he had no choice in this Justin was his son and he intended to fight to be in his life and he needed Tammy to be there with him. She ran up on him like she wanted to slap him and he knew if she did he might slap her back, but she stopped in front of him breathing hard, her chest heaving and then she burst into tears.
“How could this happen Royce, how could this happen?” She cried; he pulled her down on the lounger.
“Sit, sit Tammy, sit,” he was afraid she might fall in the pool now and he’d have to go in after her. “Look Tammy, I know this is hard and unexpected, but it happened and there’s nothing we can do about it but accept it,” he said trying to convince her.
“She did it on purpose I bet, I bet she meant to do it,” she said through her tears, and he felt himself wince, why does everyone blame Joy?
“No Tammy, she didn’t, it just happened. The condom broke and…,” that had just come to him to lie like that. She looked at him tears running down her face, “The condom broke Tammy, it broke when we were together. We didn’t think anything of it at the time,” Royce lied, he knew he was becoming a very good liar and he lied so convincingly too, “So don’t blame her, blame it on a faulty condom,” he joked, and Tammy looked at him.
“This is no time for jokes Royce, a condom brok
e and she got pregnant,” she said sarcastically still crying.
“Yeah, that’s the only way I know it could have happened. It’s done Tammy and I’m suing her for visitation. He’s my son and I want to be in his life, I want us to be in his life,” she looked up at him shocked.
“Are you nuts? I don’t want no parts of her black bastard! She can keep him for all I care,” and Royce was shocked, stunned and in disbelief at what she said.
“Tammy you can’t mean that. He’s a baby, he had nothing to do with this, but he’s here, you can’t fault him.”
“The hell I can’t, I don’t want to see her bastard baby and neither should you Royce, let her keep him!” She was beyond angry, and now it was his turn to be angry.
He stood and walked away from her, “He’s my son!” He said angrily pointing at his chest, “My son! And I will not just throw him away to make you or anyone else feel fucking better!” He stared at her, “He will come to this house and he will be welcomed here!” He said angrily, and Tammy stormed off, and Royce was stunned and Joy’s words came to his mind, you think Tammy is going to go for this, and now he had the answer to that, it was a resounding No!
Wait until she sees him, she’ll love him, “Oh shit, I forgot to show her the pictures,” he knew now was not the time, but he would show her the pictures of that beautiful baby and like him he knew she would fall in love with him.
Tammy was mad as hell, and she blamed Joy, “The bitch did this on purpose, I know she did, I know she wanted Royce, wanted to take him from me,” she cried to herself. She threw herself on the bed and pulled the cover up over her head, the fucking condom broke, is that the truth? She wanted to believe it was something as simple as that, and she thought that was probably the truth, the condom did break, that happens but for Joy to get pregnant was cruel, “Why God! Why did you let this happen?” She cried out, why was God punishing her, was it because she loved a man so much, much more than she loved him, God is a jealous god and he wants you to put no man before him, she could hear her mother say.
Her mother was very religious, even though her mother was a drunk and got beat regularly by all four of her husbands she somehow managed to get up on most Sundays and drag them to church. She always thought it was a bunch of malarkey that her mother believed she had to suffer here on earth because there was a better place waiting for her in heaven; her mother would say of her pitiful, miserable life and after a beating. She quoted the bible constantly about anything going on in their lives like, “Suffer the children,” “The meek shall inherit the earth,” and, “I am a child of God born into sin, that’s why I suffer,” she’d say after a beating or “Spare the rod, spoil the child,” she’d say after she or one of her siblings was beaten by whatever husband or boyfriend she had at the time. She hadn’t thought of her mother in a long time, she hadn’t even told Royce she had three sisters and a brother, all of them born of one husband or the other.
When she left to marry him she quoted the book of Ruth to herself, where thou goest I will go, where thou layest I will lay, thou god shall be my god, thou people shall be my people. She never even told her mother she’d gotten married, or invited anyone she knew to the small wedding, not even Jody; she thought they’d embarrass her. Royce’s brother decided to give her away, and when they went to Amarillo to visit his parents she never even mentioned heading to Lubbock, and she thought of her mother now and what she’d say of all this; that God was punishing her for forsaking her family and putting a man before him.
“Is that it God? I love him more than you?” She cried and she knew it was true. She loved Royce more than anything really, more than God, more than herself, more than the children, more than life. “I’m sorry we never went to church God, but Royce never said we should.” She knew Royce had grown up Catholic and because she was pregnant the church wouldn’t marry them, so they had a small family wedding at his parent’s house. She lay in her bed crying and needing her mother for this one. Royce had a baby by that bitch Joy Abrams, she wiped at her tears, “I can’t go through this, I don’t want to go through this God,” she pleaded.
Royce came in and she heard his heavy footsteps as he walked into the bathroom, she heard the shower turn on and she cried harder, he wants to bring the baby here! She let out a loud sob, what will people say? Oh God! She cried, “God will not give you more than you can handle,” she heard her mother say after a particular bad beating, “He knows I have a tough ass!” Her mother laughed and said as she wiped blood from her nose and mouth. I can’t handle this. I can’t face people knowing he has a baby by another woman, a black baby at that, and another thought kept trying to be heard and finally it came out, and he loves her, you heard him say it, everybody heard him say it, and a picture of Royce on his knees pleading his love for Joy came to mind, and she punched the pillow, “Over my dead body will I allow that child in my house,” she vowed.
She heard the shower turn off and the door open. She pictured Royce drying off, damn he was so fine, and she felt her body responding to the thought of him. She dried her tears and listened for him. She heard the sink faucet turn on and knew he was brushing his teeth and she heard a few mumbles or grumbles too, he was talking to himself. “I’m sorry Royce,” she said to herself, “But this hurts, she had your baby, this hurts to much,” and she hated Joy, hated every breath she took. She heard the bathroom door open and saw Royce walking naked to his dresser, his dark hair wet and combed back. He opened his drawer and took out a pair of pajama pants and quickly put them on and he never even glanced at her, and then he walked to his side of the bed and pulled the cover back roughly and climbed in and turned away from her; he was on the far side of the bed his back to her and she began to cry.
Royce was furious at the things Tammy said, how she spoke about a baby, his child. “Black bastard, and I want no part of him. She can keep him for all I care,” he couldn’t believe how cruel and callous she was about a child. He needed to take a shower to feel the warm water wash over him but it couldn’t wash away her words. This was not going as planned; this whole thing hadn’t gone as planned. First Michael and Joy wanted him to stay out of his child’s life and he had to sue for visitation and now Tammy was being heartless when it came to his child. He hadn’t expected that of her, he always thought she had a loving heart and wouldn’t hurt a fly, but now he sees when it came to an innocent baby she wasn’t so loving, now you see why Joy wanted it the way she did, now he sees, but he was suing for custody. He couldn’t back out of that now, nor did he want to. He wanted to see his son and acknowledge him and he wanted him to carry his name. He was going to change his name to Harrington as soon as the law allowed; there was no way he was going to let his son grow up with another man’s name, especially not Michael’s.
The warm water had felt nice running down his face, “Tammy will just have to accept it,” he said under his breath, in time she’ll get used to it, it’s new now. She just heard it, give it time to sink in, he stepped out the shower, dried off and brushed his teeth. He walked into the bedroom still fuming a bit at her outburst and what she’d said, “Black bastard,” always came to the forefront. He climbed into bed and lay as far away from her as possible. He heard her silently crying, and he thought, good, cry, you should cry for the way you acted about a child, an innocent child, he felt her moving. She came over to his side of the bed.
“Royce,” she said softly.
“Yes”
“We can work this out,” he smiled and turned to face her,
“I’m glad you said that Tammy, I know we can,” he said, happy to hear her coming to his side.
She kissed him on his chest, sweet little kisses. She went down his belly; she loved the soft line of dark hair that ran from his navel to his crotch. She kissed and sucked the hair as she made her way down to his thick wiry hair. She slipped his pajama bottoms down past his hips and took his soft member in her mouth and sucked, she knew how he liked it. He was getting harder, she caressed him, stroked him and sucked h
im, taking him deep in her throat, and when he was hard, so hard, she climbed on top of him and eased him inside her. He moaned as she moved on top of him. She moaned and moved on top of him so good, and when she thought she had him right where she wanted.
“Let’s forget about the baby Royce, no one has to know. Joy can take care of him, its best that way,” she said softly and leaned down and kissed his lips and she didn’t get a response.
Royce had stopped moving as soon as she said, “Forget about the baby,” he pushed her off him.
“You think I can forget about my son!” He sat up and looked at her in angry disbelief, “And you think a little head and a fuck is going to make me change my mind!” He paused and ran his fingers through his hair, “Arggg, this is fucking unreal!” He said angrily and got up, pulled his pants up and stormed out and as he went she screamed at him.
“I’m not taking in her bastard!” He relegated himself to the couch this time. He turned on the TV and flipped through channels and he was mad as hell, it’s a baby, he thought, my baby and she thinks fucking me is going to work, unbelievable!
For Royce, Justin was more than his child. He was his link to Joy; he was the reminder of their brief love and coming together at The Club; he reminded him that it had been real and beautiful, Justin was love.
Michael hadn’t been the same since he read the letter. The snowball was still rolling and getting bigger and bigger and Royce Harrington was suing them for visitation and for rights of paternity and he was a lawyer he knew what that meant. He was going to prove his paternity and change Justin’s name probably, wipe the Abrams name from his records, fucking bastard, he thought, but he knew he would do the same. He wouldn’t want his son to have Royce’s name if he could help it, but it was the thought of Royce he had to deal with. Royce always seemed to cross the line with him, first he slept with only Joy at The Club and had been with her for months and didn’t wear a condom not once when he was with her, then she had his child. Then he finds out he’s been coming by while he’s at work and now this, suing them and wedging himself in their lives forever. He couldn’t take it, he wanted to kill somebody, he wanted to punch somebody and he wanted to hurt somebody and since he couldn’t hurt Royce he took it out on the one person he could, Joy.
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