A Weekend with the Cromwells

by Olivia Gaines

  “Now, that is what I want to hear first thing in the morning,” she told him as she pulled him close.

  Breakfast was quick before they loaded up in Thurston’s car for the drive upstate. Douglas refused to allow his mother to check his suitcase when he rolled it out to the vehicle.

  “I like your car, Daddy,” Douglas said to his father.

  “Yes, it is,” Thurston told him with pride. He very seldom drove the BMW and most of the time he simply paid for regular maintenance and parking fees. Now that he had moved to Brooklyn, there was more parking on the street. Thurston was truly surprised when Tae-Tay informed him that there was a garage in the back of the unit in which they resided. He could park his car there. After they left the museum, the afternoon before, he took them into mid-town to the garage to pick up the fancy car. It was already fueled and ready to go when they arrived. The money he would save on storage fees he could put away for a family vacation fund.

  Loaded up with family friendly songs, jazz CDs, and as back up, a movie for the tablet, as they headed up I- 87 towards Saratoga Springs. Douglas, who was unusually quiet, had very little to say during the ride up the highway.

  “Douglas, are you okay, sweetie?” Tae-Tay asked him.

  He yawned widely and leaned into the corner of the seat. “I was so excited, I got up early. Now I ‘m sleepy.”

  “If you want to nap, I will wake you as soon as we get close,” she told him.

  This must have worked for Douglas because his little eyelids became heavier as they drooped to a close and the boy was out. Tae-Tay was almost envious. She had been able to sleep very little last night as well. Especially after the call from her mother. In a few days, her father would be out of prison and set free upon the city of Compton once more. There was no doubt in her mind that the man was going to come looking for them. It was a smart move on her part not to tell her mother where she and Douglas had moved to and with whom. She didn’t even tell her mother her married name. It was something she had to do. Her mother wasn’t trustworthy and her father was a professional criminal. All of it was insane to her.

  If Thurston had been some serial killer with a penchant for little boys, her mother would have been of no help. She wanted to confide in Cookie Brown and tell her everything, but time and bad circumstances had taught her otherwise. The last time she confided in her mother, her father ended up doing 10 to life in Lancaster courtesy of the State of California Corrections system. Tae-Tay had left many of her worries behind, along with her crazy family.

  She had a new family now. There were no thugs, people named after insects or bad men hiding under her bed. TataLavisha Brown Cromwell was free of all of those bad men and confused women. Nervous hands fumbled with her phone, hoping her mother had not given Leviticus her phone number.

  Thurston spoke softly so as to not jolt her from her deep thoughts, telling her, “I will call my cellular service when we get to my parents and get you a new cell phone with a New York number.”

  “Thank you Thurston, that would be nice,” she responded. Her face was turned toward the window while she stared out into the mid-day, watching houses and towns fly by the window.

  “You can get rid of that one when the new one arrives,” he said.

  “No!” she said quickly. Giving it a bit more thought, she apologized, “Sorry. This is the only number my mother needs.”

  Thurston said nothing. He allowed the scenery to fill their minds as trees and buildings whizzed by the car windows. He exhaled, “At some point, I would like to meet her.”

  “At some point, you will,” she said.

  Again, a quietness filled the car. Something was off, and as his wife, Tae-Tay would have to learn at some point to trust him. He decided to make one more pass at it, “That was her on the phone last night...I guess she is worried about you and Douglas.”

  “No. She is more worried about herself and getting to Palm Springs in the next few days,” she said. She had not turned her face from the window.

  “Does she need you to send her some money to help her get settled?” he wanted to know.

  “No, I left her a few bills. She wanted to tell me about my Daddy,” she finally spoke the words. If this was going to be her husband for life, he needed to know about all the monsters in her closet, Leviticus Wilson included.

  “How long has your father been gone, Tae-Tay?” he asked.

  She finally turned in the seat to face him. “My Daddy has been gone since I was 14. He is in prison. Well, he won’t be after next week.”

  CHAPTER Three

  Family Matters

  Tae-Tay spoke very little the rest of the drive. Even if she had wanted to, she couldn’t have. Douglas awoke somewhere around the Catskills and talked all the way into Albany. It was too early for lunch and still an hour to go before reaching Thurston’s familial home, but a bathroom break was in order. Tae-Tay, being so accustomed to taking Douglas into the ladies room with her, was surprised when Thurston intervened.

  “I’ll take him into the men’s room,” he told her.

  Douglas, never one to be unexcited about even the most mundane things, was ecstatic. “I’m going to the Big Boy’s Room!” This of course required a Michael Jackson move, which included three pelvic thrusts, a spin, and a very loud, “Whooo!”

  Beatrice Cromwell, Thurston’s mother, had planned a special luncheon for them and Tae-Tay wanted to ensure that no appetites were spoiled before the meal. She purchased health conscious snacks for them to nosh on while they drove to his parent’s home. It was evident that Thurston had something on his mind because from the trunk he pulled out a tablet with headphones for Douglas.

  “Tae,” he shortened the already shortened name for her. “May I ask you a personal question?”

  In the short time they had been together, he was starting to learn some of her tells. Wringing her hands or clenching her fists were a sign that she was nervous. Although her face would give nothing away and her eyes would remain fixed, those hands would constantly move.

  “Sure Thurston, you can ask me anything,” she lied, her fingers wringing inside of her hands.

  “How long do you plan to be married to me?” he asked flatly, his eyes on the road.

  “What kind of question is that?” she wanted to know. She turned in her seat, one knee propped against the armrest. “Are you ready to be rid of us already?”

  He laughed a bit. “No. That’s not it. I am wondering if you trust me as your husband.”

  “I will trust you until you give me a reason not to...like now for example, this line of weird ass questions is making me nervous,” she said with indignation.

  Thurston took one hand off the steering wheel to take hold of one of her hands, “You, Douglas, and I are a family. As a family, we take on whatever comes, good, bad, ugly, or exciting. I will fight tooth and nail to ensure that you both are happy and safe.”

  A faint smile formed on her face. “I know that Thurston. I don’t understand...”

  He squeezed her hand, “We cannot choose which families we are born into Tae. We can, however, make the decision about how we wish to live our lives. If, in your thought process, your current family doesn’t fit the type of person you want to be, then you make a conscious decision to live differently. Either by expanding your options or shutting down others, if that is what it will take to make you happy.”

  Her face had not moved when he glanced over at her. She blinked her eyes a couple of times before saying, “You sure know how to make pretty words come out of that mouth of yours. I have no idea what the hell you just said!”

  Thurston burst into laughter. “I said, in a nutshell, that you don’t have to be like your family. They are still your family though, and when and if you want me to meet them, I am ready.”

  “Oh, hell no! My Mama, God bless her soul, couldn’t hold an apple in her mouth if she were about to die of starvation,” Tae-Tay said.

  He was shaking his head. “I have no idea what that means...”


  “It means, Thurston, that my Mama would run around flapping her lips, talking way too much, and it will either get someone killed, blackmailed or worse...so what I am saying is the less she knows, the better,” Tae-Tay said as she turned in the seat to face forward.

  “What is worse than getting killed?” he asked.

  She only twisted her lips as if it were a dumb question. Thurston moved on to what he really wanted to discuss. “And your father?” he asked.

  “My father is a fool,” she said. Thurston hit the turn signal to exit the interstate. There were only a few gas stations on the exit and one diner that looked like it had been there since Prohibition. He made a left and drove down a long road, making a right, another left, and up a long drive. She was once again wringing her hands.

  “Did you father show you affection when you were growing up?” he asked.

  “Yes, he was a very hands on with us,” she told him. It was the way she said it that gave him pause.

  As he slowed the car at the base of the drive, he put the car into neutral. He wanted to make certain she had his undivided attention. “Tae, sometimes some attention is better than none at all. My family is different. They are not demonstrative with their affections. I am letting you know before I drive over this hill that the house is big and fancy. The contents inside are rare if not priceless and there is so little love in that house.”

  Her hand reached across the seat to caress his face. “I didn’t know,” she told him.

  “That is why I am telling you,” he said with a sigh. His eyes looked through the front windshield at the hill. “Sometimes, you never know how good you have it until you see how others live. The money, it is just a means to an end and as you told me in L.A., we never really do anything good with it.”

  A sly smile crept across her face, “...but we can always start...”

  “I am liking you more and more each day,” he told her.

  “What? It’s only like now? In the shower this morning, somebody was head over heels in love,” she twisted her neck and pursed her lips.

  “That’s because what you were doing to me from a standing position was enough to make me give you everything I own,” he said with a throaty laugh. He winked at her. “Yes, I declared my love, my heart, and anything else you wanted.” Thurston started to shake like he was shivering.

  “What in the world was that?” she asked, wondering if he had caught a sudden chill.

  “I had a flashback to this morning, I feel like Douglas. I want to hit a Michael Jackson move,” he said with laughter. He was still laughing as he pushed the gear shift into drive.

  She was beginning to like him even more as well, because now he was starting to let down his guard and be not only her husband, but her man. This weekend was very important to him for some reason. Tae-Tay could tell there was something important he wanted to show her, but didn’t quite know how to say it. Inside her heart, she felt the same way. She would have to tell him about her father and that life, a life she never wanted to go back to for any reason.

  Leviticus Wilson was also a father she never wanted to see again.

  As Thurston drove the car up the hill, the wrought iron gates came into view. Even before the car had reached the gates, Tae-Tay was impressed by the perfectly manicured lawn, the impeccable landscaping, and bright bursts of colors that saturated the grounds from flowers and foliage. It was definitely needed because the house was drab as a librarian’s wardrobe.

  “Welcome to Cromwell Estates,” he told them. Douglas had turned off his computer and had slid over in the seat to look out the windows.

  She and Douglas both stared at the structure. It wasn’t really what she had expected. She knew it was going to be a big house, but this looked more like an old castle, complete with a widow’s walk and what looked like a corbel tower with a pinnacle, far-reaching with elongated windows. The home was made of a fair colored brick, with light hued mortar, which made it look dull, and in need of some paint. The whole building looked like unpainted cement with white windows.

  Douglas asked right away, “Is this another one of those muse-hum things like we went to yesterday, Daddy?”

  “You mean a museum, Douglas?”

  “Yes, Daddy, that’s what I meant, a moo-zee-uhm,” he said very slowly, ensuring he enunciated the words.

  Under his breath, Tae-Tay heard Thurston mumble, “It feels like one.” He inhaled slowly before responding to his son, “No, Douglas, my mom and dad live here as well as my brother Lawrence.”

  “Just three people live in this big ole house?”

  “Yes, and the maids and butler,” he said with a grimace.

  He pulled the car to the front door, only to have it opened by a tall black man in a suit with tails. His face was dour as if he smelled something foul. The face which housed his lips were thin and the nose looked too small for his rather large head, but his eyes were kind. “Who is that, Daddy?” Douglas asked the question, but Tae-Tay wanted to know as well.

  “That is Rodgers, the butler,” he told them.

  The man stepped outside to assist Tae-Tay out of the car and told her “Welcome to Cromwell Estates, Mrs. Cromwell.” Rodgers also opened the door for Douglas, who stared at the man like he had grown a second head.

  “Welcome, Master Douglas,” he said to the boy.

  “Thank you for having me,” Douglas said as he looked at his Mom with a bright smile.

  Who knew...he found his manners.

  Thurston acknowledged the man and walked right past him, leaving the car running and the luggage on the sidewalk. Even though it was his job, Tae-Tay still felt uncomfortable about it. Rule of Thumb. Rule of Thumb.

  Douglas, bless his soul, although he had found his manners, he must have left them outside the door. “Daddy, you sure this ain’t another moo-zee-uhm?” Something caught his eye and he stopped and froze in his spot. One look at the grand staircase and his little jaw dropped wide open.

  “Whoa! Did you ever slide down that banister, Daddy?” he asked as he took off running for the staircase. Thurston took off behind him, grabbing the child by the back of his shirt and lifting him off the floor into his arms.

  “Don’t even think about, Douglas,” he warned the child.

  “Not even once Daddy....please?” Douglas begged.

  “Not even once,” Thurston said. He turned, the boy still under his arm, to see his mother standing there watching the whole scene.

  Tae-Tay smiled and greeted her warmly with a hug while Thurston put the boy on his feet, still holding the back of his shirt. “Welcome to Cromwell Estates,” Beatrice told them as Rodgers came through the room behind them and announced lunch would be served in the dining room.

  Both Douglas and Tae-Tay were looking at the front door, wondering how the man went from the front of the house to coming from the back of the house. It didn’t matter, she was hungry. Someone said food and she was ready to chow down.

  “Douglas, mind your manners,” she cautioned her son. His eyes were still on the banister. She knew he was going to find a way to make that a part of his next adventure.

  CHAPTER Four

  Child’s Play

  The house was an amazing testament to American History. Every room was adorned and gave homage to an era of black American history. The one image that caught Tae-Tay’s eye on the way to the dining room was a life size painting of W.E.B. Dubois. She stood in front of it for a minute and stared. This was family history. Thurston noticed her staring.

  “Great grandfather on my mother’s side,” he said quietly.

  “The only pictures hanging in my Mama’s house were of Malcom, Martin, JFK and the 44th,” she said.

  His eyes got wide as he pointed at his wife, “I knew it!”

  She pinched the fatty part of his arm and followed him into the dining room. The table was set so beautifully that Tae-Tae was scared for her or Douglas to touch anything. She took out her phone and snapped a picture to add to her Pinterest page. She had one
eye on her phone and the other on Douglas, but there was no need to worry. Douglas was happy because Veronica had arrived before they did with her four children. His eyes were wide again as he exclaimed “Kids! Look Momma, kids!”

  Thurston bent down to his level and told Douglas, “Those are your cousins.”

  “That is great! I don’t have any of those. Do I get to keep them forever?” Douglas asked.

  “They are your cousins for the rest of your life,” he said. “Let me introduce you to them.”

  Veronica, his sister, was married to Thomas, who Thurston said looked like a sad clown, had four children. Johnathan, who was 8 and the spitting image of his father, stood rigid, as if he had an imaginary string pulling his spine towards the ceiling. Daniella, who was six, was a mini replica of her mother. Beautiful creamy skin, doe-like brown eyes and cute little kissable lips that were naturally the perfect shade of pink. Harris, who was five like Douglas, sat quietly observing. He didn’t even bother to wave when Douglas was introduced to him. Evette was the youngest, and at three years old she was a cross between her parents and extremely well-behaved, unlike Douglas, who understood the true power of being five years old. He immediately gravitated to Harris.

  “Hey man, have you ever slid down that banister?” Douglas asked.

  Harris looked at Douglas as if he had just peed in the floor. “No, you could hurt yourself,” he told him.

  It was now Douglas’ turn to stare at his new cousin before he looked back at his mother and father with his face twisted in disbelief. Veronica burst into that horrific unladylike laugh. “He has so much personality,” she told Tae-Tay as she passed out hugs and kisses.

  “If that were the only issue I had to worry about,” she told her sister-in-law, whom she also gave a fond embrace.

  A small bell rang in the background, which was a signal for everyone to take their seats. Beatrice, to Tae-Tay’s amazement, did not sit at the head of table. Neither did Thurston in his father’s absence, but Lawrence, who entered the room and gave the widest grin Thurston had ever seen him display when his eyes rested upon Tae-Tay. He, of course, came into the room with a single perfect pink rose, for her alone. Lawrence performed his secret brother handshake with Thurston, gave Veronica a hug and kiss, and frowned at her kids before he took a seat.