by Mary Monroe
Rachel’s eyes got big, and her lips trembled for a few seconds, as if she was about to laugh. She didn’t laugh, but she snorted, and a mysterious smile appeared on her face. “I guess I wasn’t his type.” She cleared her throat with a few short coughs. “How are your brothers doing?”
“Josh and his wife have four kids now. Damon immediately divorced his wife when he found out about her and Father. Damon married a girl from Jamaica six years ago. They have a son and a daughter.”
“And how are you doing these days?”
I had to think carefully before I answered. I didn’t want Rachel to know the extent of my remorse. “Well . . . I’ve learned from my mistakes,” I admitted. “I’m still getting used to middle age.” I chuckled, patting my expanding belly. “Other than that, I am doing just fine, too.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” I expected her to give me a smug look, but she didn’t. Instead, she gave me a sympathetic look and then another smile. “Are you and your family ready for the holiday?”
“My wife divorced me years ago. I don’t even know where she and the man she was having an affair with moved to.” I tried to sound as composed as possible. I didn’t want Rachel to know just how bitter I was. But things didn’t seem as intense today. Her presence and upbeat demeanor had brightened my mood tremendously.
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that. Then you don’t get to see your daughter?”
“Darla left Gayle with me.” I snorted.
“Oh,” she said again. “I hope you’ll enjoy the holiday, anyway.”
I nodded. “I’m sure I will. My mother is going to barbecue, and some of her folks from Louisiana are in town. What about you?”
“My husband and I are leaving for Mexico on Friday. We usually spend our holidays down there in the condo we own in Puerto Vallarta.”
“So you’re married now?” As soon as I said that, I realized what a stupid question it was. A woman like Rachel had probably been proposed to by more than one man after I broke up with her.
“My husband works in this building, and I dropped by to see if he wanted to take me to lunch. But he was just about to talk to one of his parolees, a young man who can’t stay out of trouble.”
“Uh, I just dropped my son off for his regular meeting with his parole officer. Matthew Bruner seems like a caring dude, and Darnell likes him.”
Rachel’s eyes got as big as saucers. “Matthew Bruner is my husband!”
“What a coincidence! I guess it is a small world, after all, huh?”
“I guess it is, Seth.”
The elevator stopped, but we both ignored it.
“Uh, I hope I’m not being too forward, but can we go have a cup of coffee? I am really happy to see you, and I’m really happy to see that you are doing so well.”
“I’d love to,” she said.
There was a coffee shop within walking distance, and that was where we went. As soon as we sat down, I started sharing my tale of woe, and I didn’t want to stop. I noticed tears in Rachel’s eyes when I told her how out of control my daughter was and how my son kept going to jail.
I expected her to gloat, but she didn’t.
“I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and a daughter who has never given us any trouble. I’m sorry to hear that your wife left you. And I’m really sorry to hear about your children.” It almost sounded like she was apologizing to me because her life had turned out so well. “My daughter, Camille, is on the honor roll, and she’s already talking about what college she wants to go to. She’s only ten and already reads on a high school level!”
I gave Rachel a pensive look. “You know what’s so ironic?”
“What?”
“I . . . I didn’t want to marry you, because I thought we’d have children with some serious problems. My folks are intellectuals, so they would have had a hard time dealing with your folks down the road. Well, the class thing is what it is. But I ended up with children with serious problems, anyway. But you didn’t. And neither one of mine can blame their behavior on a mental condition like your—”
“You can go ahead and say it. It doesn’t bother me at all. Just to let you know, my sister, Janet, is happily married and has two sons. And neither one of them has any problems . . . so far. Mama finally put my brother in one of those board and care homes, and he’s doing so much better, she’s mad at herself for not putting him there sooner. But I still feel that my family is blessed. Things could have been a lot worse. My mother could have had a lot more serious problems to deal with.”
“Like I have? After all the planning and scheming I did, you’re the one who ended up with the perfect marriage and a perfect child. . . .”
Rachel shook her head. “My child is not perfect, and my marriage isn’t, either. We have the same issues that most families have.”
“Rachel, I need to ask you something. You don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to. Did you really love me?”
“I did. And before I leave, I want you to know that I am really sorry about what I did to you. It was wrong. I knew it was wrong when I was doing it, but all I cared about was getting back at you.”
“And you sure did that! I can’t tell you which one of your stunts pissed me off the most! But that time my credit card got declined while I was having lunch with a potential client was bad. That’s the one thing I think about the most. I’m so paranoid now that when I pull out a credit card to pay for a purchase, I hold my breath until I know it’s been approved.” I laughed.
“Well, if it’ll make you feel any better, last month, when I attempted to make a purchase at a Walmart, of all places, they declined my credit card.”
“Oh?”
“But only because I had reached my credit limit.” We both laughed.
“Rachel, I need to ask you something that’s been eating at me for years.”
“What’s that?”
“Did you sic the IRS on me?”
She looked me in the eye and nodded with a straight face. “Did they come down hard on you?”
“Like a boulder.” I sighed. “Well, that was my own fault. It took me almost eight years to pay them off in full. I haven’t told even the smallest fib on my taxes since.”
“I’m glad to hear that, Seth.”
“Anyway, I’m glad I ran into you. I wish you nothing but the best.” I held my breath and tried to come up with the right words to say next. I had to blink hard to hold back my tears. “Rachel, I should have apologized to you years ago about the reason I didn’t want to marry you. I’m doing it now, and I mean it from the bottom of my heart. I was a fool, and I eventually realized that.”
My belated apology surprised Rachel. She gasped and began to stutter. “Seth . . . I . . . I . . . I accept your apology. I owe you one, too.”
“And I accept it. Like I just said, I wish you nothing but the best.”
“I wish you the same, Seth.” She looked at her watch and exhaled. She stared at me; I stared back. I didn’t know what to say next, and apparently, she didn’t, either. Finally, she looked at her watch and said, “I want to run over to Macy’s and pick up a few items to take with me to Mexico, so I’d better get going.”
With her eyes still on mine, she rose. Our table was in front of a window near the entrance. When she stood up straight, a bright ray of sunshine streamed in and illuminated her face. It gave her a glow that almost seemed like divine intervention. Maybe it was because a feeling of warmth and peace came over me and made me want to look at my situation from a different point of view.
I knew then that my outlook on life was going to improve dramatically, because I had finally made peace with the only woman I had ever truly loved.
“Good-bye, Seth. It was really nice seeing you, and . . . no hard feelings, right?”
“Right.” It felt so good to tell the truth. The more I told the truth, the better I felt. I couldn’t wait to see what the future held for me now that I had become the man I should have been years ago.
“G
ood luck, Seth.”
“The same to you, Rachel.”
I stood up and was about to walk off in the opposite direction. But before I could, she trotted up to me and gave me another hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. It made me feel better than I had in a long time.
READING GROUP GUIDE
BAD BLOOD
Mary Monroe
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
The suggested questions that follow are included to enhance
your group’s reading of this book.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Would you end a relationship with someone if you found out there was a history of mental illness in his or her family?
2. Do you think Rachel should have told Seth about her family’s mental illness issues before he asked her to marry him?
3. Rachel’s mother and her aunt Hattie thought that mental illness was acceptable but that being gay was not. They had practically disowned their younger brother Albert because he dated only men. Do you know people who feel the same way?
4. Were you surprised when Seth decided to stay in the relationship with Rachel only until she helped him get out of debt?
5. Do you think it was wrong for Rachel to continue sleeping with Skirt when she didn’t want to be seen with him in public because he was such a thug?
6. Were you surprised when Seth’s father, Conrad, attempted to hit on Rachel? Were you glad when she gave him a black eye when he showed up at her apartment after Seth had broken up with her?
7. Darla was a beautiful, well-groomed woman when Seth met her and decided to marry her instead of Rachel. However, shortly after the wedding Darla turned into a slovenly, self-centered bitch who hated and mistreated Seth’s teenage son, Darnell. Do you think Seth got just what he deserved?
8. Seth’s troubled son had a lot of behavioral problems, but he responded well to Rachel’s influence. Do you think Darnell would have turned out to be a much better person if she had become his stepmother instead of Darla?
9. Was Rachel wrong to taunt Seth, vandalize his property, tamper with his credit cards, and break into his house when she found out the real reason he broke up with her?
10. Do you believe in karma? If so, do you believe that people will eventually get what they deserve if they hurt or betray someone?
11. Rachel was well aware that Skirt was a thug to the bone. Were you surprised when she asked him to help her break into Seth’s house?
12. Were you happy when Matthew resumed his relationship with Rachel?
13. When Seth’s life crumbled, did you feel any sympathy for him? Were you surprised when he and Rachel apologized to each other many years later?
DAFINA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2015 by Mary Monroe
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Library of Congress Card Catalogue Number: 2015934126
Dafina and the Dafina logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-0-7582-7476-2
ISBN-10: 0-7582-7476-9
First Kensington Hardcover Edition: June 2015
eISBN-13: 978-1-61773-974-3
eISBN-10: 1-61773-974-X
First Kensington Electronic Edition: June 2015