by Tracy Brown
Born heard the pain in her voice. “I was hurt, Jada. You made a fool out of me. Niggas in the street were coming to me, and telling me that they saw you high, that they saw you embarrassing yourself. I felt betrayed. And I guess Anisa helped me forget about the hurt I was feeling.” Born stared at her intently. “I never loved her the way I love you,” he said. “Anisa looks good, she gets attention. But she’s not you. She doesn’t move me anymore. It’s been a long time since I can honestly say I felt any type of love for her.”
“Do you still feel love for me?” Jada surprised herself that she’d asked the question.
Born was also surprised. He thought about the years without her in his life. He realized how much he missed her input, her smile, her voice. He wondered if she had any idea how difficult it had been for him to walk away from her all those years ago; wondered if she knew how hard it had been for him not to call her or go after her. He had watched her blossom from a young lady to a woman over so many years. And leaving her behind had been no easy task. Looking at her now, all grown up and standing on her own two feet, he was so proud of her. Jada had been his ride or die chick. And sitting with her in the back of that soul food joint, he realized that she still held his heart after all these years. Their love had been a fairy tale, only their story’s ending had had a sordid twist. “Yeah. I still love you a whole lot.”
Jada smiled, glad to know that Born still had a genuine love for her; glad to know that her feelings hadn’t been hers alone. “I still love you, too.” She blushed slightly, feeling vulnerable. “Do you forgive me, Born?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I forgive you,” he said. “Do you forgive me?”
Jada smiled. “Yes. I do.”
Born reached for her hand, and kissed it. Both of their hearts were comforted being in one another’s presence after so long. They finished their drinks, and Born paid the check. Yet the two of them sat there, not moving, neither of them wanting to end the evening. Finally, Jada reached for her purse, and slid her chair back. “Thanks for a lovely meal,” she said, half jokingly. Things had never been that formal between them. She smiled. “I have to admit that I don’t want to go right now—”
“So don’t.” Born smiled back at her. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her, but he held back. He couldn’t believe that he was with Jada after all these years. Yet, despite the affection he felt toward her, there was still a wedge between them of pain and disappointment.
She was thinking the same thing. So many years ago, this man had made the kind of love to her that makes you want to kick up your leg like one of the Rockettes. She remembered how she literally had felt every nerve in her body respond to Born’s touch. He had loved her perfectly, once upon a time. Jada shook her head, trying to break free of the memory. “I have to,” she said. “If I don’t leave now, I probably never will.” Jada stood up, and Born followed suit.
Jada stepped around her chair, and walked closer to Born. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him into a firm embrace. He hugged her back, and held on tightly. “You can call me, and I plan to call you, too. I’m glad we’re on good terms now, Marquis.” He smiled at her calling him by his government name. “I missed you,” she said.
Born got a little choked up, but kept his game face on. “Yo, I missed you, too. A whole lot.” He hugged her tightly, grabbed her by the hand, and led her out of the restaurant. They said good-bye to the friendly restaurant staff, and walked out hand in hand. Jada showed Born where she’d parked her car, and he walked her toward her silver Buick Rendezvous. He complimented her on her taste in SUVs, and then they stood awkwardly beside her truck.
“Jada, I want you to know that I wish I would have reacted differently when I walked away from you. I wish I had been strong enough to help you through it. I didn’t know how to handle that. But now I know that if I really loved you, I should have tried to help you. I didn’t have it in me to help you, so I shut you down. I’m sorry, baby girl.” He moved closer to her face, and caressed her cheek with his hand. “I’m so sorry.”
Jada tried to control her runaway heartbeat. She felt flutters in her gut, as she felt his warm breath on her face. Then he kissed her gently, and she let go, kissing him back fully. His tongue tasted sweet in her mouth, and she kissed him with an intensity that surprised both of them. Their kiss lasted several moments, and not once did they stop to think about their public display of affection.
Born didn’t care who saw them. In his arms he held the love of his life. Whoever didn’t like it would just have to kiss his ass. When he pulled himself away from her, he kissed her once more gently on her lips. Then he looked at her, his expression full of regret, and full of love, even after all this time.
Jada’s eyes were tear filled, and she looked away in order to blink back the waterfalls. She laughed uneasily, and said, “I need to go.” She took her keys out of her purse, and looked at Born. “I’ll call you,” she said. Born watched her climb inside her truck, and she rolled down the window to talk to him.
“Think about this,” he said. “This don’t have to be the end of our story. It might be the start of a whole new chapter. We said we’d always be friends, right?”
Jada nodded.
Born smiled at her. “Well, if you ever need a friend, holla at your boy.” She smiled, as Born walked away backward. He winked at her. Then he put his hands in the pockets of his jeans, turned around, and walked away. Jada sat watching his familiar stride as he walked. She put her key in the ignition, and started to drive away. But she couldn’t help feeling like her heart was breaking all over again. She called out his name, and Born stopped walking and turned back to her.
“Why don’t you come by my house? I think Sunny would be really happy to see you.”
He nodded, grinning that same irresistible grin he always had. “I’ll follow you,” he called out. Jada smiled, and waited for him to pull his car up behind her, so that they could drive to her place. She wanted to jump for joy, but she contained her enthusiasm as they headed for her house.
41
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Born followed Jada inside her house, and they were immediately greeted by two kids. Sheldon and Mercedes ran to Jada, and hugged her. Born looked at the two happy children and smiled. Sheldon looked so much like Jada that it was obvious to him that this was her son. She introduced them, anyway.
“Sheldon, this is my friend Born.” Sheldon shook Born’s hand, and Born smiled at him.
“Wassup, little man?”
“Wassup?” Sheldon responded.
Born noted how handsome Jada’s son was. He turned his attention to the pretty little girl standing next to Sheldon, and Born had to fight the urge to cry.
Jada pointed to Mercedes. “This is—”
“I know who she is,” Born said softly. “She looks just like her father.” He looked at Mercedes, and saw Dorian’s features all in the beautiful girl’s face. She had Sunny’s long brown hair, and her light complexion. But everything else was Dorian. Born felt the guilt he still couldn’t shake after all these years pounding in his heart. “Hi, Mercedes.”
Mercedes smiled at the tall man who was smiling at her. “Hello. Are you Aunt Jada’s boyfriend?”
Born laughed, and Jada wanted to die from embarrassment. “I used to be Aunt Jada’s boyfriend,” Born explained. “But now I’m just her friend.” He smiled. “And I can see you got your mother’s outgoing personality!”
“Ya damn right, she did!” Sunny stood behind Born with her hands on her hips. He turned around, and saw her standing behind him with a smile plastered across her lovely face. She opened her arms to him, and said, “Wassup, baby?”
Born hugged Sunny for a long, long time. Seeing her and Mercedes made Born feel so good and so bad at the same time. He felt happy to see Sunny, who still looked like the star she had always been. He was also happy to see her daughter for the first time. But seeing the two of them also brought back the feeling that he had let his friend down, and cost
him his life. And that made him want to cry.
Sunny smiled at Born. “Now you’re the last person I expected Jada to bring home.” She looked at Jada, curiously. “Where the hell did you find him?”
Jada smiled back. “I called him. We met for lunch, and I invited him back here.”
Sunny nodded, and was glad that Jada had taken her advice and called him. She looked at Born, still smiling. “Well, I’m sure your ears have been ringing ‘cause we’ve been talking about you for days!”
Jada frowned at Sunny, not wanting Born to know that he had been the topic of so much of their conversation over the past couple of days. Born frowned, too. “What were y’all talking about?”
Just in the nick of time, Ava emerged from the kitchen and saw Born standing in the foyer. “Oh, my God!” she exclaimed. “Hey, Born. What’s up?”
Born smiled back at Ava, as she came over and hugged him. She still looked good, and Born recalled the day he’d seen her naked. He was glad now that he hadn’t violated Jada’s trust by sleeping with her younger sister; otherwise this reunion would have been very uncomfortable. She smiled at him. “When did you get here?”
“Just now,” he said. Jada ushered Sheldon and Mercedes back to their room so that the grown folks—particularly Sunny—could talk freely. She came back, and ushered everyone into the living room, and then gave Born a tour of her home. He was amazed at how well Jada had done for herself. He was proud of her for spending the money she had taken from Jamari to put a down payment on this house. It seemed that Jada had turned a major corner in her life, and Born was happy for her. He commended her for having the courage to turn her life around, and they prepared to head back downstairs.
Born stopped Jada at the top of the stairs. “I wanna say something to you before we go back down there.”
Jada looked at him, wondering what was on his mind.
“I’m so proud of you,” he said. “You did all this by yourself. You stayed focused, and you did what you had to do. And look at you now. I know I ain’t no one special, or whatever. But I just wanted to say that I’m proud of you, and I really admire you for being strong enough to do all of this on your own.”
Jada smiled, truly thrilled that he had noticed how extraordinary her accomplishments were. It had been no easy task for her to stay off drugs, to fight for her son, to go back to college, and to buy a home for her family. She knew that it was her own strength, and God’s grace, that had gotten her through it all. But she also knew that there was one other contributing factor. “I had a good teacher,” she said. “You taught me how to be a survivor, and how to fight my way to the top. I owe you so much for all the things you taught me.”
Born shook his head. “You don’t owe me nothing. In fact, I’m the one who owes you. I know I can’t make up for walking away and leaving you by yourself. But if there’s ever something I can do to help you in any way, Jada, I’m here.”
Jada looked around for Sheldon or Mercedes. Satisfied that the coast was clear, she leaned in and kissed Born softly. His lips were so perfect, as if they were made to kiss hers. She stood with her face only inches from his. Then she took him by the hand, and they headed back downstairs to the rest of the crew.
They spent a long night catching up on each other’s lives. Sunny smiled, watching Jada and Born together again, laughing and talking. She thought about how her conversation with Jada had started, when she’d first gotten the flowers from Born. Jada had told Sunny that Born was the love of her life, and Sunny’s reaction had been negative. She had wondered how Jada could feel love toward a man who had tossed her out on the street with no one to turn to. Sunny had seen the depths to which Jada had fallen, and she couldn’t understand how Jada could come out of that situation feeling anything but anger toward Born. But as she sat and watched the two of them that night, laughing and smiling at each other, or catching each other’s gaze as they talked, Sunny understood. Their love reminded her of the love she’d shared with Dorian. It was something unique, that she knew she would never have again with any other man. Sunny dated. She had several wealthy and successful suitors who would give her the world. But Sunny’s world had been Dorian, and no one could bring him back. She didn’t want to ever fall in love again. But she hoped, now watching Jada and Born together, that they would be able to salvage whatever was left of what they’d once had.
“So, Sunny, what are you doing these days?” Born asked. “I bet you got your hands full with Mercedes. All the little boys in school must be beating down your door.”
“Mercedes goes to an all-girls prep school on the Upper East Side. Ain’t no boys beating down shit.” Sunny smiled. “Besides, I’m hoping she and Sheldon get married someday.”
Jada laughed. “Wouldn’t that be something?” she said. “Poor Sheldon. If Mercedes is anything like her high-maintenance mama, my baby’s in trouble.”
Everyone laughed, knowing that Sunny was the supreme diva. Sunny waved her hand at Jada, and then turned her attention to Born. “I’m modeling now. Nothing major, yet. A couple of runway shows here and there. Just some magazine ads, cosmetic ads, and shit like that. Baby Phat, Apple Bottoms, fashion layouts in Essence and Vibe, and all that. My friend Olivia has been hooking me up with some of her designer friends, and they seem to love my face.” Sunny smiled, happy with her little claim to fame.
Jada smiled, too. “It’s all that ass, not the face, that they love,” she joked. Sunny stuck her middle finger up at her friend, and they all laughed.
“In the modeling world, I’m old,” Sunny explained. “Most of the girls who get the big ad campaigns are in their teens and twenties. Either that, or they’re household names who have paid their dues, and their faces are easily recognizable. I’m trying to change that. I’m thirty-six years old, and in my mind I’m still young. The fashion industry doesn’t see it that way, though.” Sunny shrugged. “Thankfully, I don’t need the money. Every dime I make goes into a trust for Mercedes. When Dorian died, he left me all of what he had, and he damn sure had a lot! I don’t have to work. I just want to.”
Born nodded. “Well, it’s good that you’re doing what you always wanted to do. Dorian used to always tell me that you thought you were a supermodel.”
Sunny laughed, remembering the days when she used to demonstrate her runway walk for Dorian, and he would tell her how sexy she was. She missed him so much, and she could tell by the look on Born’s face that he missed his friend, too. “Dorian loved you, Born.” Sunny’s face and tone were sincere. “You were his favorite from the very beginning. Once he met you, it was like he found his protégé. Dorian used to always tell me that you were the one who would take over his empire. You were the one he knew would come out on top.” Sunny smiled at Born.
He nodded. “Yeah. I thought it would be me and him on some Biggie and Puffy type shit for life. That was my man, you know?” Born’s eyes got misty. “I just wish I could have stopped what happened. I feel like that shit is kinda my fault.”
Sunny frowned and shook her head. “It wasn’t your fault, Born. Nobody’s to blame for that shit but Raquel. You didn’t know that she was deranged. And none of us knew she had a gun. You tried. You shot the bitch in the leg! And for a sane person, that would have been enough to stop her. But Raquel was trying to kill me. Dorian saved my life. He saved Mercedes’s life. And that’s how he would have wanted it. I know it. Don’t blame yourself.” Sunny wiped one tear that drifted down her cheek. “He loved you, Born. He loved you a whole lot.”
Born smiled at Sunny, and he felt better. At least she didn’t blame him for Dorian’s death. He hoped that someday he could stop blaming himself. Mercedes came in with Sheldon in tow, and Sunny explained to her daughter that Born had been a very good friend of her father’s. Mercedes smiled big and hugged Born. “My daddy was a hero. He saved Mommy’s life.”
Born nodded. “Yup. I could tell you a whole bunch of stones about your father.”
Mercedes’s face lit up. “Really? Tell me!”
Born looked helplessly at Sunny, and she threw her hands in the air. “What, Mr. Big Mouth. You told her you got stories. Go on and tell her some stories!”
Mercedes tugged at Born’s hand and pulled herself up onto his lap. “Tell me.”
Born laughed at Mercedes’s aggressive personality, and cleared his throat.
“Well, one time, me and your father were in Brooklyn …”
For the next hour or so, Born entertained Mercedes, and all the other folks present, with story after story about his adventures with Dorian. Mercedes was enthralled, and never took her eyes off of Born. Sunny, too, hung on Born’s every word. Some of the stories were familiar to her. Dorian had told her some of them. But others, Sunny heard for the first time, and she smiled, reminiscing on her one true love.
The night wore on, and they all enjoyed the atmosphere. Everyone laughed and joked and talked until the wee hours of the morning. Sunny had everybody laughing. Mercedes fell asleep in Born’s arms, and Sheldon fell asleep in Jada’s. They carried the two of them to Sheldon’s room, and laid them down. Jada tucked them in, and they went back to the living room, where everyone was beginning to grow sleepy.
By the time Born got ready to leave, at close to two o’clock in the morning, he and Jada had rekindled their friendship, and agreed to see each other again soon. She walked him to the door, and he stood there smiling down at her. “Thanks for inviting me over here,” he said. “It was nice being back around you and Sunny again. Your son is so handsome, and Mercedes is beautiful.” He reached over and touched Jada’s cheek lightly, tracing his finger across the silky texture of her skin. “I’ll see you again real soon.”