Part of the reason she didn’t tell him was because she was afraid that he would refuse to leave and demand that they get married immediately. And she was afraid that her foolish heart would get swept up in the moment and then she’d be married and living with a cheater. And she’d rather be a single mother than endure such a thing.
However, the way Tony was with the kids made Theresa think twice about her vow of single motherhood. Her children loved Tony and he would be an awesome father… but would he be an awesome husband?
She put her coffee mug down and stepped away from Tony and the thoughts swirling around in her head as she told him, “When the kids are finished opening their presents I’m going to the hospital to check on Tara.”
~~~~
“I’m glad to see that you’re still here,” Theresa said as she walked into Tara’s room carrying a dozen pink roses.
“Where am I supposed to go? I haven’t even received my release papers yet.”
Sitting the roses on the bed side table, Theres said, “I just talked to your nurse and she is working on your discharge paperwork now. So, I came just in time to drive you home.”
“Why are you missing time with your kids on Christmas for me? You should be at home, watching them play with all their new toys.”
Theresa pulled up a chair and sat down. “Trust me, while they’re playing with all of those new toys, they aren’t even thinking about me.”
“Yeah, but you love watching them on Christmas morning. You’ve told us all on numerous occasions, not to bother you on certain holidays. Now I feel worse than ever that I’ve stolen more time away from your kids.”
“A good friend once told me, ‘We might be down, but we’re not out, as long as we all stick together’. So, I thought I’d come hang out with you for a little while… let you know that their are people who are still in your corner.”
“That only sounds good as the lyrics to a song… that’s what you told me when I suggested that we stick together, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember. But maybe I was wrong.”
“But I don’t want you missing time with your kids.”
“Calm down, Tara. Tony is at the house with the kids and I needed to get away from him for a little while. So, you haven’t stolen anything from my kids.”
A smile creeped across Tara’s face as she said, “So, you’re like a runaway bride or something?”
“Or something,” Theresa agreed and then quickly changed the subject because she couldn’t deal with the reason why she was running away from Tony. She needed time to process everything and figure out just when the right time to tell him about the baby would be. “How are you feeling this morning? Did they get you all detoxed?”
“My buzz is gone, that’s for sure.” Tara didn’t look too happy about that.
“Well, I hate to be an even bigger buzz kill, but with everything that was going on with you last night we didn’t have time to give you and update on the group.”
“What update?” Tara interrupted. “Are we getting a new manager, because we sure need one.”
“That will be up to you and me, because as you know, Tina has left the group to go solo. But the thing I don’t think you’re aware of is that Trinity is most likely moving back to North Carolina.”
“Trinity?” Tara shook her head. “She wouldn’t leave us like that. She loves this group just as much as we do.”
“Trinity is different now. But different in a good way. I don’t think she’s coming back.”
Before they could discuss anything further, the nurse strutted into the room with papers in her hand. “The doctor has signed your release papers, Ms. Owens.
“Oh goodie,” Tara exclaimed in the most sarcastic tone she could muster. She didn’t care if this woman told noisy reporters that she was rude. Because Tara knew that the biggest headline would be that she was a confirmed druggy.
And right now she was ticked off because nobody bothered to ask if she wanted all things changes. The Four Ts was now Two Ts. How was she supposed to process that? She didn’t know whether to be mad or sad about her current predicament. Didn’t know if all of this was her fault or who to point the finger at this time.
She played it calm and cool while Theresa drove her home. But once she was left alone with her thoughts, Tara could think about nothing other than getting rid of the pain that was attempting to consume her again. She threw on a gold and cream dress and hit the town… party time.
4
While Tara was partying, Theresa was finding new things to agonize over. For the most part, Christmas had been enjoyable. Theresa had been able to block the reality of everything she was dealing with and just spent the evening playing with her children and their new toys. But at eight a.m. on the dot the next morning, the phone rang. It was her mortgage company, informing her that her payment was late.
“What are you talking about? My payments are always on time.” She received a ledger from her accountant every month indicating the bills she owed and the payments that had been made on them.
The woman on the other line used a very patient tone as she said, “You are correct that in the five years that you’ve had this mortgage with us, your payment had never been late.” She paused then added, “I’m calling to find out what has changed, and to see if you need any assistance from us.”
“What has changed?” Theresa honestly didn’t understand this woman. If her payment have always been on time, why were they calling her. “Why would I need assistance?”
With the same patient tone, she answered, “Because we didn’t receive your payment this month. We thought you might want to take care of this lapse before it goes thirty days late.”
“Let me speak with my accountant so I can get this matter resolved.”
Theresa meant to call the accountant the minute she hung up the phone, but then Mikey ran into the room all excited about their annual day after Christmas shopping spree.
Rolling out of bed, Theresa told Mikey, “Go wake Tony up and tell him to get junior dressed. I’ll get your sister dressed and then we’ll be ready to go.”
Theresa was sleepy and very tired, especially after the sleepless night she endured, thanks to a nightmare about father’s stealing babies. She seriously doubted that Tony would be mean spirited enough to take TJ and the baby she was now carrying away from her, but the dream still shook her up. Theresa recognized that the dream probably stemmed from the guilt she felt at not telling Tony about the baby. But if he knew about the baby, Tony would find some way to postpone his trip to Charlotte. And Theresa just couldn’t handle that.
But she could handle this annual shopping trip with her kids. They always had fun picking out ornaments to hang on the tree the following Christmas and getting all the discounted deals they could carry. So, no matter how tired she was, she was going shopping.
Theresa’s mind was on overdrive as she jumped in the shower. Trinity had shaken her up on Christmas Eve when she’d told her that each of the Four Ts lives would have been destroyed if they had never formed their group… like it was God ordained for them to be together or something. But with Trinity moving to North Carolina, Tina going solo and Tara being a junkie, Theresa just didn’t see how the Four Ts were meant to be. Maybe that was all in the past.
However, Theresa was still thankful for the past, because if Trinity was to be believed, if her girl hadn’t talked her out of having that abortion when she got pregnant with her first child and the father got ghost… Theresa would have died from that botched abortion. And if she had died, she wouldn’t have Mikey, Brielle or Tony Jr. The tabloids can say what they want about her having three kids by three different men, she didn’t care. All Theresa ever cared about was that her children were happy and had clothes on their backs and food in their bellies.
The water started to run cold in the shower so Theresa turned it off and got out. Her walk-in closet was next to her shower, so after toweling off, she slipped into a pair of stone wash jeans then sat on the e
xtra cushiony bench in her closet while she threw a brown and tan turtle neck sweater on and then slid into her favorite brown leather boots. Nothing Theresa put on had a designer label attached to it… although she had many designer labels, it was never that which attracted her to the clothes or shoes she purchased. Theresa liked what she liked, and that was that.
She left her bedroom an headed down the hall to her daughter’s room. But Tony was already in the room, going through Brielle’s dressers. He handed her a yellow sweater and Brielle said, “No Daddy, I don’t like that one.”
Theresa’s eyes rolled to the back of her head and back. She’d let all of this daddy stuff slide on Christmas, but now that she was having dreams about him stealing her kids, enough was enough.
He wasn’t Brielle’s daddy, and she didn’t need him getting that twisted. “I don’t need your help with Brielle. I told Mikey to have you get Junior dressed,” she snapped at him.
Tony turned to face Theresa. He gave her that half grin that millions of viewers adored in the local commercials he’d been featured in back in a few years ago. “I thought I’d help you out.”
“I don’t need your help. Just get out of my daughter’s room.”
“There you go with that. I’m the only daddy Brielle knows, so how ‘bout that?” Tony slammed the dresser shut and stormed out of the room.
Tony could go head on with that, because Theresa didn’t even know how long he would continue playing daddy to TJ. Daddy’s had a way of disappearing after a job transfer. That’s the way her own father had played it. His job transferred him to another state when Theresa was thirteen. She hadn’t heard another word from him until she became famous and he needed a loan. She hoped he was still waiting on that Western Union to come through.
She took her daughter’s favorite dress out of the closet. “Here Honeybun, you can wear this today.”
“Thank you, Mommy. I love my beautiful dress.” Brielle twirled around the room while holding her dress against her chest as if it was the most precious thing in the world.
At that moment, Theresa wished that she were a kid again. Because it didn’t take much to make a kid happy. A dress here, smile there, a piece of cake and it’s all good. Theresa’s problems weren’t fixed so easily though. And Tony was a great big problem on the list that she didn’t need nor want to deal with at the moment. “Come on, smiley face, let’s get you dressed so we can head out on our annual shopping trip. And we’ll eat until our bellies are so stuffed that we roll back into the house.”
Brielle laughed.
But after the kids picked up a few items and they stood at the register to pay for them, all the laughter stopped. Theresa handed the check-out girl her Visa Black card and then turned her attention to the breaking news that was on the television above the check-out counter.
The reporter was saying, “Tara Owens, one of the lead singers in the group, The Four Ts was arrested on drug possession charges last night as she attempted to leave the Savannah night club with her entourage.”
“Ma’am, ma’am,” the clerk called to her.
Theresa pulled her eyes from the television back to the clerk, but her thoughts were all over the place. Because she just didn’t understand how Tara could get arrested on drug charges when they took that dope fend to the hospital on Christmas Eve to get her stomach pumped. Tara had promised them that she was going check into a rehab.
The clerk held out her card to her. “Do you have another card? This one didn’t go through.”
Theresa’s eye drifted back to the television and then immediately cut back to the clerk. “Excuse me?”
“Your card was declined.”
Tony went for his wallet. “I got it.”
But Theresa stopped him. “You don’t have to pay for my stuff. I’ll just use another card.” But as she opened her billfold she remembered the phone call from this morning. The bill collector telling her that the mortgage was past due.
She quickly paid for their purchases with her debt card, because she knew that she had about fifty thousand in her checking account. She then rushed the kids out of the mall before they could ask for anything else. There would be no gorging on scrumptious restaurant food. She picked up a party pack from McDonalds and went home.
5
“Thank God you answered the phone.” Theresa was practically screaming as Trinity picked up.
“Why wouldn’t I answer your call?”
“I’ve been blowing up Tina’s phone and she hasn’t bothered to answer. I guess she’s letting stardom go to her head already,” Theresa complained.
“I haven’t heard from Tina either, but she’s probably busy getting everything set up for her new solo career,” Trinity tried to sound reasonable.
But Theresa wasn’t in the mood for reasonable. “That’s all well and good, but my life and Tara’s life are over here falling apart, so I’d like to get somebody on the phone.”
“What’s wrong? I called Tara yesterday, she didn’t answer nor has she returned my call.”
“She’s in jail.”
“What do you mean, she’s in jail. Tara was supposed to be signing herself into a rehab.”
“Well, she was all over the local news being arrested outside of one of her hang-out spots. You know how she gets around Christmas. It’s like that girl goes numb every year.”
Trinity sighed. “Yeah, I’ve been praying for her.”
“Well, you need to tell God to hurry up, cause this girl needs help. And I can’t do it all by myself.”
“Im sorry that I’m not there. But you can still count on me to help in anyway that I can.”
“Good. Her bail is ten thousand and I’m going to need half of that because in case you haven’t found out yet, our accountant hasn’t been paying our bills and I’m not about to lose my house fooling around with Tara.”
After a sharp intake of breath Trinity said, “I knew that he had lost a lot of our money, but I had no idea that he wasn’t paying our bills. Because there should still be plenty in that account for bills.”
“If you knew about bad investments why didn’t you tell me?”
“Darrell told us about the investments after you left the meeting. And with everything that has happened since, I just forgot. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. But I think we need to call the police.”
“And a lawyer, because I plan to sue Calvin Warner and get back every dime he stole from me… I got kids to feed.”
“We never should have allowed Darrell to hire his cousin as our accountant.”
“I thought that was a bad idea from the get-go. But no one listened to me,” Theresa reminded Trinity.
“You were right,” Trinity admitted. “And I’m not going to let you spend money that you need for your children. I’ll wire the ten thousand to get Tara out of jail.”
Pride almost made Theresa refuse to accept all of the money for Tara’s bail. She wanted to contribute but Trinity didn’t have kids who depended on her for all their needs… Theresa did. “Thank you, girl. I appreciate that. While I’m trying to get my finances straightened out, I really can’t afford to part with no bail money.”
“Oh trust and believe, Ms. Tara is going to pay every cent of this money back. And I want you to make her agree to get to a rehab before you turn over my money.” Trinity was adamant on that. Rehab or stay in jail.
“I will drive that crackhead to the rehab myself.” Theresa and Trinity stayed on the phone a little longer, making arraignments when they hung up Theresa turned to find Tony’s bulky, muscular body standing in her doorway.
She had loved this man and had wanted to build a life with him. But the football groupies got in the way and then one injury after another on that football field cost Tony a multi-million dollar contract. He was now being traded to the Panthers for half of his original contract. Theresa could have dealt with the loss of the money… he was still earning more money than most could even dream of… but Tony hadn’t been true to her.
“I do
n’t get you,” he said as he walked into her bedroom as if he had been invited. “You’ll take all the help you can get from Trinity, but the moment I offer help, you act like I spit in your face or something.”
Theresa just couldn’t forgive him. He was like all the other men who invaded her life and left it far worse than when they first arrived. But she was bound and determined to protect her heart this time.
“Why won’t you believe a word I say anymore?” He advanced, standing at the foot of the bed as he continued, “I never touched that girl. Yes, she did come to my hotel room. But No, I didn’t let her in. I was trying to be a nice guy because of all the bad press I received after that fight. So I walked her back to the hotel lobby. She said she was hungry… I was hungry too, so we sat down for a bite to eat at the restaurant. End of story.”
Tony Junior had been eighteen months old when Theresa’s heart had been broken yet again by one more baby-daddy. But this one had her fooled. She had even bought a wedding gown because Tony convinced her that they were getting married and he was going to be a father to all her children. Then TMZ showed those pictures of Tony and that woman at his hotel. Theresa stopped believing in fairytales that day and vowed that no man would ever make her believe again.
“I don’t have time for this, Tony. I have to go get Tara out of jail and resurrect my career.”
~~~~
“Why didn’t you check into the rehab like you promised?” Theresa asked Tara during the ten minute visitation the guards had allowed.
“I meant to go,” Tara said, looking as if she was still coming down off her high. “But when I got home and started thinking about Christmas, I got depressed and didn’t want to be in the house alone.”
“Why do you have such a problem with Christmas? I just don’t get it.”
Tara folded her arms across her chest as she seemed to shrink into herself. Her mouth opened and she mumbled, “It never lives up to it’s promises. Then her eyes widened as if she had revealed too much. “Just forget it,” she said. Christmas isn’t the problem. I messed up, like I always do.”
The Gift Page 3