by BILL BARTON
The startled look on Tyler's face was like a small poke in her already tight stomach, and his face did not recover fast enough to satisfy her or remove the invisible finger that punctured her belly. He turned back around and leaned inside the window of the car, exchanged a few words, and suddenly the normal street noises were back in the air again. The driver of the car removed the CD and handed it to Tyler. He needed a few days to finish the transaction, he told them, and he would call to make the next appointment. Praise for Tyler's taste in women came from the passengers inside the vehicle before it moved into the flow of traffic.
"You're early," he said as he stepped toward the bench and removed his do-rag.
"Why are you not wearing your suit?" Sabrina asked, following behind him.
"It's hot, baby. It's Houston hot. It's Costa Rican hot;" and he turned around, threw his arm around her waist, and kissed her hard.
That was the first time she had felt any aggression from Tyler, reminding her of the old days, and she pulled back and licked her lips. She tasted alcohol.
"Have you been drinking?"
"It's nothing. My homeboys are clients. Just showing some respect. It's business, baby" He returned to the bench where his wardrobe and laptop lay.
"It just surprised me not seeing you in your suit"
"I gotta dress the part ... when in Rome, baby." Tyler began to slip into his shirt. "Suits make these guys uncomfortable, and if niche music retail keeps growing like it is, I'll start my own clothes line and put P. Diddy out of business." "
"Well, you might want to think about starting a clothes line for kids," Sabrina said, folding down the upturned collar of his shirt.
I hear you, baby. That's a great idea. I'll put you in charge of designing-"
"We can start with our kid"
Her words put an abrupt halt to Tyler's redressing. Sabrina was smiling. She did not want to frighten Tyler with this announcement or give him any reason to plot a hasty retreat. She wanted one outcome, and she wanted Tyler to want it as much as she did.
The scenario she had worked out in her mind after she had taken her pregnancy test was sound and logical. Tyler just could not go off, she had to keep him from going off, she knew the brutal results when Tyler would go off, and this information was as much of a sucker punch as that from Bruce with his baseball bat. She was testing the hypothesis of God's transformative power within another human being.
"Are you saying you're gonna have a kid?" Tyler threw his tie over his shoulders, slinging one end around his neck like a scarf.
"I'm gonna have our kid"
Tyler began to hyperventilate. Sabrina placed a hand on his shoulder, but he shifted his weight and slipped out from under it.
Sabrina took that as a good sign; Tyler had not knocked her hand away. She had to be patient and understanding. She must remain calm and positive. This was dramatic news for anyone to hear, and she needed to keep the focus on all the potential good that could come from this.
Tyler jerked the tie off his neck and wadded it up.
"You're telling me this is my kid?" Tyler asked. "I mean, it never happened before when we were in LA."
"We weren't ready then. Maybe it's God telling us we're ready."
"Ready for what?" Tyler threw up his arms and dropped onto the bench.
"It happened while we were in Costa Rica;" she said. "Isn't that romantic?"
It was obvious from his expression, his body language, that he did not quite see the romantic implications.
"You got one choice;" he said. "Get rid of it"
Sabrina pretended not to hear his retort. It was an impulsive response to unsettling news. It was not the reaction from someone changed by God. It was the reply from the old Tyler, and she was not going to let the old Tyler reemerge and swallow up the new Tyler.
"Baby, my aunt and uncle, my grandparents, they are all going to be happy for us," Sabrina said, sitting down beside him. "Even my mama will be-"
"You think your family is gonna be happy when they find out I'm the one who did this? You think they won't throw my past right in your face?"
"But that's just it. Your past is in the past"
Tyler bounced off the bench and up onto his feet. He began to pace back and forth in front of Sabrina, expelling blasts of air from his mouth. He was a locomotive building steam for the long climb out of this valley.
"This is it. Your family ... it'll never work. You best get rid of it. They'll never accept me. They'll never accept this baby."
Sabrina watched his vigorous gait. At points he seemed about to explode and threw out an arm or kicked a leg to release the swift buildup of energy. She could not watch and had to avert her eyes. There was too much truth to what he was saying. There had been too much realism in their history for her family to react to an unplanned pregnancy with joy.
"I've got some money saved," she said. "We could go somewhere ... maybe"
"Maybe I should just leave," Tyler said.
She feared these words most. Her father left, and her brother's father was never there to leave. He had appeared long enough to impregnate her mother and disappear like some phantom. This, Sabrina could not tolerate. She was not like her mother. Tyler was not like those other men, like so many other men who refused to accept responsibility. Yet she could not lose this baby. If she panicked, she could lose them both. If she was wise, she might keep them both.
"You love me, don't you?" Sabrina was only semiconfident of his answer.
As he continued to wear out the pavement in front of her, that confidence began to wane, and the quicker the decline in her confidence, the more she began to realize she might be facing this situation all by herself. The family could reject her as they had rejected her mother. The family would not allow a second generation of shame. Was she just like her mother? Would she walk the same path now that she was pregnant? Would the account of her mother's ruinous actions be a version of her future?
She thought since her aunt and uncle had entered her life, her future had changed, life had been generous and kind, and in its generosity, it had brought Tyler back to her. He had to love her. He had to be committed to her and to this child. God had to be a part of this whole plot. In her mind, all the signs of his participation were there.
Tyler came to an abrupt halt in front of her. "Do you love me?"
Surprise and relief flooded Sabrina's face. Of course, she loved him. Had she not proven it to him?
"And you want to keep this baby?"
Of course, they should keep this child. Their love had created this child.
"And you know down deep your family would never agree to us getting married? They would never let me see you again"
Of course, she knew there was the issue of her family. It would hit the fan when this news came to the light.
"And you don't want to do this alone; you want to do this together"
Of course, they must be together for this. There was no one else in the world with whom she wanted to walk into the future.
All of this confirmed, he sat down beside her.
"I love you, and I want to keep this child," he said.
Sabrina surrendered to the burden of her overtaxed heart and the sobs came in rippling drifts. Tyler tucked Sabrina's head into his shoulder and brought his other arm around her for support.
People rambling by cast snooping looks in their direction. When she became calm, Tyler wiped her tears and kissed her face. She had been frightened that the old Tyler might have won the battle.
He placed his hands on either side of her face and spoke in a calm, reassuring tone. "I have a plan to make this work"
Yes, the new Tyler had won, and the vice grip inside Sabrina's heart began to loosen its hold.
Dewayne had been gone three days, pretending to catch passes and run around tacklers in a studio for a series of football video games, the first of which would debut in the fall. Technicians wired his body from head to toe to record all his moves in front of a green screen so the com
puter designers could draw his likeness and make his image do far more amazing things on-screen than he could ever do on the playing field. He hated to be gone so long, but the company needed to shoot enough action footage for animators to use in the first three videos; the price paid for this level of success. There would be no words of complaint.
Rosella had arranged for the plane to leave early that morning so he could get home and make it to the Stars' training facility for a half day's workout. Dewayne felt good about the team for this coming season. During the early summer minicamp, the veterans and rookies were acting like family at a reunion. The biggest factor for the improvement in team spirit was the absence of Colby Stewart.
Two days after the Jobe family had returned home from the mission trip, all the sportscasters were talking about, in a thirty-six-hour sports news cycle, was how Colby had signed with Baltimore and was now the highest paid linebacker in the league.
When Dewayne heard the news, he had to admit he was relieved. There was no love lost. He thought he might call to congratulate Colby, make a gesture of kindness, but the hectic pace of his life swallowed up the half-hearted intention. He assumed he might see Colby in the locker room before he left, but when Dewayne came to practice after the mission trip, Colby's locker was empty.
Dewayne opened his locker and found a message written from Colby: "If your God loves you, then you better pray our teams don't meet up" Dewayne had decided to keep the note. If the two teams did happen to meet in the coming season, Colby's memo might be a real motivator.
The day Dewayne left for the three-day trip to New York to shoot his football video games, Tyler was traveling to Los Angeles. Rosella had shuttled them together to the airport, dropping Tyler off at his airline gate before taking Dewayne to the private jet service that would fly him to New York.
Tyler's plan called for the three of them to be together, the entire Jobe family in full knowledge of his itinerary.
On the afternoon of Dewayne's return, Rosella packed her husband a comfortable change of clothes and blended his favorite smoothie, iced down in a cooler in the backseat of the Denali. Before he had left for New York, he had encouraged Rosella to go to the spa, said she deserved such pampering and the baby would be fine with Sabrina and Bruce. She was reluctant, but he was insistent. Had not Robert survived without her for a week while they were on the mission trip? Rosella finally conceded when Sabrina had offered to pick up Dewayne, telling her aunt not to worry; she would be sure to have Uncle Dewayne call her cell as she drove him to the training center from the airport.
Sabrina had earned a new level of trust as Rosella had given her more and more responsibility with the business after closing several new endorsement deals for Dewayne. This rapid increase in their business required creating computer accounts for each new client and tracking expenses specific to each, and Rosella had trained Sabrina how to monitor all this client information as well as cash flow. It wasn't unusual for Sabrina to spend several hours a day on these tasks.
Once Rosella repeated for the umpteenth time where she would be if the kids needed anything, she left for the spa for eight hours of physical indulgence with a group of players' wives from the team. Bruce played with Robert on the floor in the office while Sabrina sat down to finish some business on the computer.
When Sabrina heard the garage door close and saw Rosella back out of the drive and pull away from the house, she took five minutes to be sure her aunt would not return for some forgotten item, then dropped the bomb on Bruce that she was going to get Tyler.
Bruce took the news that he and Robert Jr. would be alone in the house with Tyler while Sabrina picked up Dewayne and delivered him to the training facility with disgust.
"Why does he have to come here?" Bruce said. "I'm old enough to take care of myself and the baby."
Sabrina needed to be patient. She needed to stay calm. She did not want Bruce to see anything unusual about this news and make him apprehensive.
"Tyler is coming to help me with some new computer soft ware Aunt Rosella bought, and he can be putting it into the system while I'm gone"
She did not expect Bruce to understand what she was doing, what she was going through. Understanding would come later with the revelation of the truth, and she hoped his forgiveness, everyone's forgiveness, would follow. Forgiveness from her family was a part of her plan, the part she had not discussed with Tyler.
She began her note to Rosella, scribbled on Jobe Enterprises stationery:
Her cell phone rang. Tyler was headed to their rendezvous point. Time was running short, and she needed to leave now to keep the plan on schedule. She folded the note and stuck it in the desk drawer. She would finish it when she returned.
One of Tyler's associates had dropped him off in a parking lot of a gargantuan shopping mall close to the Jobe house, where he was to meet Sabrina. When Tyler strolled up to the Denali in the mall parking lot, Sabrina was perturbed with his tardiness, but was soon placated once he embraced her and told her all would be well. She steadied her nerves, cleared her head, and refocused. The thought of being in Costa Rica in twenty-four hours with her future husband was all the incentive she needed to continue with the plan.
They dashed back to the house, and before Sabrina pulled out of the garage to head to the airport for her uncle, she watched as Tyler dropped the Roofies in the smoothie drink. If he had calculated the correct dosage for a man Dewayne's size, he would be out for several hours, and Tyler swore the drug would burn through the bloodstream so fast his system would be clean enough for a drug test in a few hours.
Tyler removed his gloves after closing the lid on the cooler and getting out of the car. He kissed Sabrina.
"Baby, you call me as soon as your uncle is asleep. Meanwhile, I'm going to be buying us two first-class tickets to paradise and get the numbered account set up for the money transfer"
Sabrina reached her hand out of the window and took Tyler by the collar.
"This is just a loan, right?"
"Yes, baby. Just a small amount to carry us through until the baby gets here. Once we get ourselves set up and I get some things working, we will pay back that loan"
"With interest"
"Better interest than any bank would offer. I promise"
Tyler took her hand away from his collar and kissed it. The promise and the kiss satisfied her, and she pulled out of the garage.
Half an hour later, Sabrina sat in her uncle's Denali and worried the computerized sound system with her index finger, impatient to find a song on the radio to calm her down or at least distract her attention as she waited for Dewayne to emerge from the private air fleet hangar.
In spite of her edginess, so far the plan was going well. At any moment, a Ciga Games Lear jet from New York would taxi Dewayne across the tarmac. Rosella had always insisted on this form of travel when she negotiated any of his endorsement deals that took him out of Houston, and it had not taken long for Dewayne to become accustomed to the specialized perks. The jet would deposit him in front of the hangar's small, luxurious lobby. Rosella had left him a message that she had decided to go to the spa and Sabrina would take him to the Stars' training facility from the airport.
After Sabrina left for the airport, Tyler had gone to work on the computer. There was very little talk between Tyler and Bruce once Tyler was in the house.
Ever since the mission to Costa Rica, Tyler had been a frequent guest in the house, and everyone but Bruce was growing more comfortable with him around. Bruce kept his distance, observing Tyler's polite and restrained behavior with the family. He knew Tyler's quiet circumspection was not normal. He did not buy the "new Tyler" line his sister kept using, and why not? If the old Tyler had nearly beaten him to death, why should he expect an authentic spiritual makeover?
Bruce played with Robert in the room next to the office and was happy to be out of Tyler's sight, but when the baby started to get fussy, Tyler appeared at the door.
"Can't you keep that baby quiet?" he
said, his voice weighted with exasperation.
"He's a baby," Bruce said, lifting his little cousin off the floor, cradling him in his arms, and bouncing him to stop the crying. "They make noise'
"Yeah, well, put a cork in him or something. Just shut him up. I'm working"
Bruce recognized the new Tyler had been unable to restrain the old Tyler. Perhaps he would soon tip his hand for the others to see that the old Tyler was the real Tyler now and forevermore.
"I thought you were supposed to be in LA for a week," Bruce said.
"In my line of work things move fast, little man, and you got to keep up. Go where you gotta go. Do what you gotta do"
"Why you wearing plastic gloves?" Bruce asked.
Tyler looked a little surprised they were on his hands. "Germs ... Now shut that baby up," and he disappeared from Bruce's view.
Bruce took Robert into the kitchen, set him in his high chair, and gave him a cracker and a bottle of juice, which kept him occupied until Bruce could prepare him some real food. He did everything he could to keep from banging around in the kitchen so as not to disturb Tyler. He swore he would never again allow himself to be in this position.
Bruce opened the microwave door before the beeper went off signaling the cereal for the baby was ready. He closed the microwave door and poured the cereal into a bowl, and just before he was about to bring it over to the high chair, he could hear Tyler talking to someone in a low voice.
He set the bowl on the counter, gave the baby another cracker, tiptoed to the door into the office, and stuck his head around the corner. Tyler had his back to him with his cell phone cocked to his ear, held in place with his shoulder. Bruce watched as he opened the desk drawer where Rosella kept a small antique box filled with cash, and while he talked on the phone, he counted out a thick stack of one-hundred-dollar bills and then stuffed them into an envelope and put it into his travel bag.