“Nothing!” Lauren hissed.
Nina walked in the room angrily, still not closing my front door. She came up to me as if this was all my fault. “Is she still talking about your father?”
“Yes,” I said, wondering why Lauren was now acting like she didn’t want Nina to know what we were talking about. Matter of fact, she looked a little sullen in Nina’s presence.
Nina turned to Lauren. “You have always been a spoiled shallow child, Lauren. When you haven’t gotten your way, you have always run to Sheryl and manipulated her to come to me to get what you wanted. Did you tell Sheryl that for the last five months you’ve been demanding money from me? Money I don’t have.”
“That’s a lie!” Lauren hissed.
“Which one?” I asked. “Her having the money or you asking for it?”
Angrily, but with a lot of pouting, Lauren said, “She does have the money, Sheryl. Like I said, she’s being selfish and greedy.”
I looked at Nina. “Momma, do you have the money?”
“You know about everything?” Nina said, answering my question with a question.
“I know you faked his death and that you took a large amount of money to do it.”
“Yes, I did, but like I told you before, I only received enough to live off and help with the bills. I was a single mother. Earl paid me the money to help him fake his death and to help you girls out with daily expenses and college. It wasn’t a lot because I felt real bad about where the money had come from and so only took what we needed. But it’s all gone now. I really don’t have any more money.”
I could care less about this whole matter and just wanted to put it to rest, but Lauren was adamant.
“Don’t you dare just leave it alone, Sheryl! Get the answers you want from her now. Why is she hiding a sexual predator? Why is she just accepting the fact that our father raped us? Why is she letting him just live his life without repercussions for what he did to us?”
Lauren did have a point and it would quell the disturbance in my gut. I looked at my mother to ask this, but then a voice cleared at the front door and we all looked towards it.
“I did not rape anyone!” the angry deep voice of Uncle E said.
I’m positive Lauren passed out. I was too mesmerized by the man who filled the doorway to do anything. And I was positive that although he did have the voice of Uncle E, he certainly looked like someone else I thought I knew!
Entry Forty
Unfortunately my sister, Lauren, didn’t faint, but she did do some weird leg shaking thing. Fortunately, my mother caught her before she fell. I only saw this in my peripheral because as the man entered the room with us, I still couldn’t take my eyes off of him.
Uncle E had changed. Seriously changed. This wasn’t the same face of the man I remembered, but his voice was the same. Real deep and smooth like Russ Parr doing his sexy imitation, except Uncle E did it naturally.
“Hello, Nina,” he said, coming up to my mother.
“E?” she asked, not sure and looking up into his eyes deeply.
He smiled and nodded.
Touching his face, Momma looked like a woman who honestly couldn’t believe her eyes. But then after a moment, she hugged him like a long lost friend.
I backed up. I wanted to collapse on my own as I realized what the hell had happened and how this man really had impacted my entire life.
My sister looked frightened. Really frightened. Uncle E saw this also as he released my mother and faced Lauren.
“Yeah, Laurie, you should look scared,” he said. “Because of you, I had to pay a large sum of money to keep my secret when I was very close to revealing myself to certain people. I’m pissed as fuck at you.”
“You changed your face!” Lauren said, as if no one knew but her.
“You expected me to keep my face after I did so much to make sure I died?” he asked, as if she had lost her senses.
I was sure she had.
“I’m calling the police on you!” Lauren sneered and headed for the phone.
Nina grabbed her and swung her around to face us. “You won’t do anything, you lying little heifer.”
“I’m not lying!” Lauren screamed.
“Yes, you are,” Uncle E said.
“Wait!” I said, suddenly over everyone’s voice.
He looked at me guiltily. “I know, Sheryl. I should have said something before now.”
I couldn’t believe this. “You’re Earl Howard. My boss. You can’t be Uncle E,” I said, speaking slowly as if at any moment he would deny it and make me know that I was going crazy.
“What is she talking about?” Nina asked, looking at him.
Earl Howard took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You’re one smart cookie, Sheryl. From the day you were born, I knew you’d have the sense to do the right thing with my talents and you did. You were amazing to watch as you grew.” He walked up to me and firmly, yet gently held my shoulders. “I made sure I gave you an offer you couldn’t refuse to come work at my company. I also made sure all the managers knew I wanted to do whatever I could to keep you.”
“But we spoke on the phone before,” I pointed out. “Why didn’t I recognize your voice then?”
“Most times I disguised it or I wouldn’t speak in conference with you.” He said this as if it was easy enough to figure out. “I couldn’t break the promise I made to Nina.”
“What promise?” I asked.
“She thought I did hurt you, so I promised never to see you again. But that didn’t stop me from making sure you were taken care of. You were my daughter. I had to do what I could for you.”
“What about me?!” Lauren asked hurt.
He cut her an evil look. “I ought to barnyard whoop your ass, Lauren.” Turning fully to her, he demanded, “Tell the truth about those bruises and lies, now.”
“There’s nothing-” she started to deny.
“NOW!” he bellowed.
Lauren shook like she was going to pee on herself and started to cry.
“What is he talking about?!” I demanded to know.
“She made up lies about being raped,” Earl said. “Didn’t you, Lauren?”
I walked up to her and shook her. “Tell me now, Lauren.”
Reluctantly, she nodded. “When we were young, I was so upset that he showed so much love for you and not me that I decided to make sure we never saw him again. So I hurt you on purpose one night while you slept at his house. And then when I found out about the money, I decided to weed it all out of Momma until I got what I felt was mine.”
“You little bitch-” My mother started toward her, but Earl stopped Nina by blocking her way.
“Let her finish,” he ordered.
“It wasn’t fair!” Lauren screamed. “Sheryl got everything and I got nothing!”
“You had every chance to do something with your life as much as Sheryl did!” Nina screamed back. “You were lazy, shallow, and stupid and wanted someone to take care of you instead of you taking care of yourself! You’ve manipulated and lied to get what you wanted and you still think you’re the victim! I won’t take another moment of your guilt trips, Lauren! Not anymore.”
Lauren sobbed hysterically. I stepped away from her because I wanted to slap her, too, but I had to keep her condition in mind.
“Get the fuck out my face!” Nina screamed. “And if you breathe one damn word about all this, I’ll cut your tongue out and make sure you never speak another word again!”
I was even scared of the way my mother said that threat. Lauren ran out the house.
“She might still tell,” Earl said.
“That bitch is not going to tell,” Nina said. “She takes my threats very seriously and now that she can’t manipulate Sheryl anymore, she knows she’s going to have to shut her mouth if she wants any financial help from me at all.”
He looked remorseful. “How much does she need, Nina?”
“She’s in debt over one hundred thousand.”
Taki
ng out a checkbook, he wrote out a check and then handed it to Nina. “There’s a little extra for you, too.”
Nina looked hesitant about taking the check.
“Please, Nina. It’s legit. My company is worth over five million. That’s pocket change for me.”
Taking the check, Nina gasped at the amount and then smiled warmly. “Thank you.”
“Could you excuse us, Nina, for a moment? I have to speak with Sheryl alone.”
I wanted to tell my mother to stay, but I was too scared to speak.
Nina looked at me unsure, but after looking back down at the check, she said, “All right.”
He whispered something in her ear and she blushed. “I promise,” he said out loud to her and kissed her cheek.
In a quickness, my mother left me alone with Earl Howard, my father and the man who had been my boss – which I had not even known until now!
I was pissed, angry, frustrated and very, very confused.
Entry Forty-One
Earl looked around my place in satisfaction. I noticed that I had his eyes. Something I guess a plastic surgeon couldn’t change. Other than that he was a different man from the one I remembered when I was little.
Whenever I saw pictures of Earl in company newsletters, I always thought he looked so handsome for a man his age and he kept in peak physical condition. His skin color was the same as I remembered and he had a baldhead, but it didn’t look as if he was balding. I was reminded of a brawny version of Blair Underwood, dressed in a tailored suit
“I’m not that mad at Lauren,” he confessed.
He wasn’t making eye contact. His eyes were still surveying the room as if he was going to see something out of sorts.
I watched him, waiting to look him in the eye.
“She’s always been like that, but your mother was right. Lauren was given just as much opportunity as you. There really was no favoritism.”
He still did not look at me.
“Why?” I asked, as if he already knew what I was referring to.
Earl finally looked at me. He smiled proudly. “Why what? Why’d I hire you and do everything in my power to make sure you stayed with my company? Easy! I wanted you to take my place when you were ready.” He spoke as if this should be obvious that he couldn’t think of anyone else to take his place.
Still smiling, Earl walked up to me, raising one brow in amusement. “You’re ready.” Reaching inside his coat, he pulled out some faxed documents. “I had all my calls and faxes forwarded to me at my hotel room. So when I received this information, I just knew I had to come speak to you. I didn’t know I was going to walk into a reunion.”
“You’ve been in Detroit all this time?”
Nodding, Earl said, “I snuck up here two days ago because I knew something was wrong. I knew that someone in the Detroit office was against me, but I couldn’t pinpoint whom. So I wanted to be on top of things and be around in case things started to get out of hand. Plus, I found out other information about Erin and I was just waiting for her to fuck up so I could smack her around with the information. You single-handedly figured out what my own spies couldn’t.” He looked grateful as he shook the papers that I had faxed to him. “I felt Erin was angry enough to go behind my back and do something stupid. I just didn’t expect her to do something like that. Serves me right for dipping my stick in the office pool, huh?”
I didn’t answer. I think he was speaking rhetorically anyway because he continued.
“Once I read over your report, I really wanted to track her down and break her in half, but I decided not to.”
“You’re just going to leave her where she is?”
“No, I’m not. I’m going to let you fire her.”
Cassandra was right! I would get Erin’s job!
“Tomorrow, we’ll meet at the office at seven-thirty; before Erin is due to get in. By that time, I should have arranged for all her things to be packed up. If she refuses to leave, I can easily make her life difficult in this business. Once her clients know what kind of person she is and some other things, I’m sure they’ll tell her to get to stepping.”
“You’ll blacklist her if she doesn’t leave?”
“Hell yeah and I’m powerful enough to make it happen,” Earl said determinedly. “With a lot of fucking pleasure,” he added, looking down at the documents as if he were reading the secret to the fountain of youth. “Sheryl, you make me proud to call you my daughter and the new president of the company.”
“President?”
“Yes! I’ll serve on the board of directors for maybe another decade because I can do that behind bars with my eyes closed.”
“Behind bars?!” I exclaimed, feeling my stomach drop in disappointment.
Guiltily, he said, “Yes, honey. My conscience is getting the better of me in my old age. And even though I’ve paid off my debt twofold, I want to clean my record. My lawyer said some of the people I’ve paid back would even testify so my sentence won’t be too harsh. He predicted about three to five years. I know you can hold it down until I get out.”
I was overwhelmed. I would be in charge of the company?! This was even better than Erin’s job.
“I can’t wait to fire Erin,” I said excitedly.
“I was hoping you’d whoop her ass first,” he growled angrily.
I laughed and hugged him.
“Does this mean I’m forgiven for my own deceit, Sheryl?”
“Yes, Daddy. I forgive you.” Life felt new and wonderful at that moment as his arms encircled my waist. Life was perfect.
Earl stayed for a couple more hours. We spoke over tea and pound cake about the company and his life. He was really interested in my own personal life since he knew very little of it.
There really wasn’t much to share with him and I avoided any mention of my promiscuous behavior. He was my dad for goodness sake. A girl can’t tell all her business to her parents!
When Earl insisted that he had to go, he kissed me on my cheek and thanked me again for all I had done for him and his company. He corrected himself and added, “Our company.”
I like that. I liked that a lot!
Entry Forty-Two
I shot up in bed at six in the morning cursing. Shit! I promised to meet Theo at Cobo Center and Earl at the office at the same time - seven-thirty.
Fuck!
I couldn’t do both. I couldn’t disappoint Earl right after he’d just made me president. And if I didn’t meet Theo, he’d do something crazy like cancel the divorce and stay married to that bitch!!
I called Theo’s cell phone, but it immediately pushed me to voice mail, which meant that his phone was off.
Throwing on some clothes, I was dressed by six-thirty and shot out the house. I reached Cobo Center in less than ten minutes praying while on the Lodge Freeway that a Michigan State Police Officer didn’t pull my fast ass over.
According to the guard at the gate, Theo hadn’t arrived at work yet. But sometimes employees that didn’t drive to work went inside through the front.
“Could you call a supervisor?” I asked desperately.
The guard looked me over. I felt like he was licking me with an invisible tongue. I wanted to take an acid bath to get the disgusted feeling off of me.
“I could maybe do a little some’um fer ya.”
‘Could you get a Tic-Tac?’ I asked him, but only in my head.
It was too damn early for him to be acting a damn fool. Cajoling, I smiled flirtatiously and said, “I’d really, really appreciate it.”
The guard started sweating, despite the fact that the morning was quite cool and even colder because we were right by the river. Picking up a phone in his guard booth, he called a number and asked if “Lowe” had come in yet.
When he hung up, he said, “No one ain’t seen him yet, but he’s scheduled to work. Wanna come in here and keep me company while you’re waitin’?”
‘Ewwwwww!’ I screamed in my head, sickened.
But I just smiled and sai
d, “No, I’ll sit all alone in my car over there. But can you let me know if anything new happens while I’m waiting for him?”
“Most definitely and if ya need a little warming, my booth is comfortable.”
‘Not even if there was a cold day in hell!’ I said to myself, but I only winked at him as if I would consider it. I knew he was watching my ass as I went back to my car and warmed up.
Again when I dialed Theo’s phone, it went straight to voicemail. I began to get a little peeved. ‘Shit! Answer your phone, Theo!”
At seven, when I was getting edgy and had called Theo twice more with no success, the guard in the booth waved to me.
I ran over to him knowing I could kill myself in my four-inch Max Studio heels, but I was a desperate woman!
“His super just let me know Lowe ain’t comin’.”
I was really frustrated by this man’s lack of ability to speak proper English. “Not coming to work?”
“Says he got trouble with his old lady. No doubt she trying to snatch his ass back and keeping her legs wrapped around him so he can’t get out’o bed.” He snickered and looked like he wanted me to do the same to him.
I cursed under my breath. “Thanks!”
That bitch was trying to work fast. I decided to get over to Theo’s home as fast as possible, hoping morning rush hour traffic didn’t slow me down.
The guard was trying to pass me his number, but I was too consumed with getting to my car to even care. Once I was on the road, I called Theo’s phone again.
Still straight to voice mail.
I arrived at his place in fifteen minutes, but there was no answer at his door. I didn’t know what else to do!
Standing on the porch, glaring hard and wishing the door would open – even though there were no cars in the driveway – I decided to call Theo’s cell phone one more time.
“Hello?” Erin’s voice said very irate.
I didn’t say anything. The background noise indicated they were most likely in a car.
Diary of A. . . Page 18