Chapter 29
“But you were always on my mind; you were always on my mind.” Brenda Lee
Peyton opened her eyes and woke up to the two busy body women plus another strange woman, all staring at her. She tried to sit up on the sofa that she didn’t recall seeing in the conference room until now.
“Feeling better?” the strange woman asked her.
Peyton slowly nodded her head.
“Let me help you sit up. By the way, I’m Lissa. I’m a nurse. I happened to be coming to see my husband, Minister Dalkins. When they told me that someone had fainted, I rushed right over here.”
“Thank you,” Peyton replied.
“Are you all right?” Carlton asked as he knelt down next to the sofa.
“I’m fine. Just embarrassed. What happened?”
“You passed out.”
Peyton continued to look around the room dazed and slightly confused about what had happened. It took her a minute or two to recall the events that had transpired.
“No need to be embarrassed. We just want to know if you’re okay. Do you need to see a doctor?” Lissa asked.
“No, I’m good.”
Peyton stood up. Still a little shaky and off balanced, she swooned again and Carlton took hold of her waist to help steady her.
“Maybe you should sit back down for a minute. Then I’ll drive you home,” he told her.
“No, that won’t be necessary. I can drive.”
“Oh, no. I don’t think that’s a good idea,” added Alissa, the nurse.
“She’s right,” agreed Mrs. Fentress.
“So, there you have it. You’ve been outnumbered. I’m going to go get keys. I’ll be right back,” Carlton told her.
“We’ll stay with her until you come back,” Jeanine offered.
“Thanks. It won’t take but a minute.”
●
On the drive home, Peyton and Carlton talked about their common dilemma. Carlton was still reeling from the fact that Breyonna had the audacity to show up at Perfecting Your Faith. This was something serious. Not that he ever thought it was child’s play, but now he understood how dangerous Breyonna really could be and he didn’t like it, not one bit.
Carlton called one of his trusted staff members who was a detective for the Adverse City Police Department. He told them that Breyonna was a confused, disgruntled woman that came to the church spewing crazy innuendos. The detective told him he would find everything he could about Breyonna and let him know by day’s end.
Carlton and Peyton talked at length and decided that they would forego telling Meesha and Derek about Breyonna until after the detective let them know what he came up with, if anything.
“You get some rest and try not to worry,” Carlton urged as he pulled into Peyton’s driveway. At the same time, one of the church building engineers pulled in the drive behind them driving Peyton’s car.
“Thanks, Carlton.”
He got out of his car and ran to the passenger side and opened the door for Peyton. He extended his hand toward her. When her car pulled up beside Carlton’s, she signaled the driver to park in the circular driveway. He complied.
“Come on, I’ll help you inside,” Carlton offered.
“No need. I’m straight. Go handle your business. Just call me as soon as you hear from that detective. In the meantime, I’m going to think about what to do next.”
Chapter 30
“Do not kid yourself, a conflict is never about the surface issue. It’s about ones unsaid, untreated and unhealed wounds.” Unknown
A couple of days following the fiasco at Perfecting Your Faith, the housewives met for lunch at one of their usual restaurants. Outside of Peyton, none of the others, including Meesha, were aware of what had occurred.
Meesha was the first to arrive followed by Avery and Eva who came in together.
After they exchanged small talk while looking over the menu, Meesha spoke up. “Have you heard from Peyton? It’s not like her not to be here.”
“I talked to her briefly a couple of days ago,” Avery said.
“Nope, I haven’t heard from her. Maybe she’s been hitting the sauce a little too much and couldn’t drag herself out of the house.” Eva joked.
Meesha gave a somewhat disapproving look.
“Well, it’s the truth,” Eva said. “You know how much she loves to get her drink on.”
“Let me call her again,” Avery offered, removing her phone from her purse and dialing Peyton’s number. “Ummm, it went to voicemail.” Avery tried a second time and the same thing happened.
“Call her at home,” Meesha said.
Avery made the call to Peyton. “No answer there either. Now I’m starting to worry.”
“It’s probably nothing. She probably had something else to do today.”
“Maybe so,” replied Eva.
“Yeah, and she just forgot to tell us,” said Meesha.
The housewives ordered their respective foods and after the server left, they continued chatting and catching up on the latest happenings in their lives.
“How are you and Harper getting along?” Meesha asked.
Eva glanced quickly at Avery before responding to Meesha. “We’re good. And guess what?” Eva suddenly looked and sounded like she was on cloud nine. “This weekend we’re going to the Physician’s Ball.”
“Ohhhh, that’s great. What are you wearing?” Meesha asked.
“Let me guess,” chimed in Avery. “Something by Jason Wu.”
“How’d you guess?” Eva laughed lightly.
“Because anything that FLOTUS wears, you love. That means if she wears Jason Wu you wear Jason Wu.”
Meesha joined in the laughter. “Is she right?”
“You know it,” Eva answered.
Meesha’s phone rang. She picked it up from the table and answered it. She mouthed to Eva and Avery, “It’s Carlton.”
After a minute or two of talking to him, she ended the call.
“What was that about?” Avery asked.
“Ummm, I don’t really know.” She sighed. “He says he needs to talk to me. He wants me to meet him at home in an hour.”
“What do you think he wants?” Avery asked.
“Maybe he wants to tell you that he’s sorry for acting like such a butthole lately with all that talk about a divorce,” Eva said.
“Whatever it is, he sounded serious.” Meesha placed her phone inside her purse and then prepared to stand up.
“You aren’t going to eat first?” Avery asked, sounding like she was frustrated.
“No, he sounded strange so I want to find out what’s going on.”
Eva placed her hand on top of Meesha’s. “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be fine.”
Meesha eyed Eva curiously before she smiled. “Thanks. You’re right. Anyway, I better go.” She opened her purse and removed her American Express Platinum card to pay for her meal.
“Don’t bother. I’ll take care of it,” Avery offered.
“Are you sure?” Meesha asked.
“Yes, now go handle your business. Call and let us know what happened.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you ladies later. Oh, and if you hear anything from Peyton, let me know. I hope she’s okay.”
“Don’t worry about Peyton. I’m sure she’s fine,” Avery told her. “Now go.”
Meesha put on her strawberry red caped jacket, picked up her purse and phone, and said her goodbyes to her friends. Whatever Carlton wanted to talk about, she wanted it to be done and over with. From this point forward, she was determined to shake off the worries and give her problems over to God.
●
Carlton made an invisible path across the exquisite dark hardwood floors. Both hands holding his head, eyes closed, fists clinched, lips pursed, and stride hard and heavy. When he heard the ding of the security alarm code being deactivated, he knew it was Meesha. He prepared for the worst. He unclenched his fist, said a silent prayer, exited the room, and went to meet he
r at the front door. This day was inevitable. It had to happen. Secrets couldn’t stay hidden forever.
Leading the way into the kitchen, he walked toward the wraparound kitchen island, stopped, not once deflecting his stare. “I have another kid, a son.” There, he’d said it. He’d said it out loud as soon as their eyes bonded.
Meesha felt a flash of hormonal electricity coarse through her body. Carlton had that effect on her. He was highly sexual and his enigmatic aura was magnetic from his confident Obama stride to his Terrence Howard smile. He was an easy man to love. It was the reason she’d bore him four children, and up until recently, she would have gladly given him more.
Did she hear what she thought she heard? Did Carlton just tell her that he had a son? She didn’t understand what was going on. Of course he had a son. Four of them to be exact.
Meesha remained quiet but confused, watching him from the other end of the kitchen island.
Carlton sounded extremely nervous as she listened to him tell her the story.
“He’s about to turn fifteen. Anyway, it was not serious between me and his mother.” His stare didn’t flinch as he spoke. “This woman, the kid’s mother, popped up in Adverse City a few weeks ago, threatening to tell the media and you about him.”
Meesha felt her eyes stretch wide open. She imagined she looked like a frog with eyes bulging out of her head. She felt like she was slowly going down a spiral shaped tunnel with a bright light that dimmed as she floated down the tunnel. Her hearing intensified to that of a blind man. She didn’t know what to say. She felt like the cat had gotten her tongue.
“How do you know this woman is telling the truth, Carlton? I mean, you’re all over the news, TV, the internet, YouTube, the whole gamut because of Perfecting Your Faith. Flailing her arms, she continued. “How do you know she isn’t trying to extort money from you by putting her son off on you? I mean, have you taken a DNA test? I know you aren’t going to entertain what she’s saying until you know for sure.”
For the first time since she entered the room, she captured him with her long legs and svelte body, causing him to lose momentary focus on the conversation at hand. Watching her, she looked somewhat frightened, different from the confident, sexy, and bold woman of faith he knew her to be. Yet, he was still captivated by her beauty.
“I can take a DNA test. I will take a DNA test, I should say. I don’t think it will prove anything different than what I feel and what I believe.”
“And what is it that you believe, Carlton?”
“That Lee….”
“That Liam is his son, Meesha.”
Meesha popped around. Her frog like eyes grew even larger when she heard the female’s voice and saw the woman who suddenly appeared behind her was Peyton.
“What are you doing?” Carlton exploded. “How did you get in my house?” He looked past Meesha.
Meesha glared. Her eyes tightened. She transferred her hardening stare toward Peyton. An obviously intoxicated Peyton. But intoxicated or not, Meesha entertained every word Peyton said.
“Your hired help let me in, who else. Carlton, I told them. I told Derek and Liam the truth.” Peyton sobbed uncontrollably. Her words were thick and slurred. “Derek left me. Liam hates me. They packed their bags and they left me, Carlton. I have nothing left. My son, my husband, they’re gone.”
“What are you talking about, crazy woman?”
“I’m sorry you had to find out like this, Meesha, but there was no other way.”
It’s true, Meesha. Well, partially true. Liam may be my kid,” Carlton said somberly.
“Liam is your son? How is that? I mean, this can’t be real,” she said, placing her right hand on her forehead, and her left hand over her belly. “How could you keep something like this from me?” she barked at Carlton. Tears started rising. Her throat felt tight and her head throbbed, not because of pain, but because of anger.
“And you, you slept with my husband?”
“Listen, Meesha.” Carlton took several steps toward her.
“Don’t come near me. Don’t you dare come near me.”
“It’s not what you think,” Peyton said, pleading.
”Shut up. You’ve already said too much, and on top of that, you’re drunk,” Carlton accused.
“I may be drunk but I know what I’m saying.”
This time it was Meesha who walked toward Carlton. She looked up at him. Who was this man standing in front of her? She thought she knew him. Thought she knew all there was about him like he knew all about her. “You shut up and let her talk,” she shouted back, pushing him with the palm of her hand. “I want to hear what this drunken heifer has to say.”
“What this drunken heifer has to say is that Carlton is Liam’s father.” Peyton slurred.
Meesha tried unsuccessfully to keep the tears at bay. She swallowed deeply, hoping it would make the knot forming in her throat disappear.
“He is not our son,” Carlton barked back.
It was like watching a heated tennis match as her tear-filled eyes flickered back and forth between the two people standing in front of her. Meesha didn’t know who to listen to.
“She is not Liam’s mother. At least she’s not his birth mother.”
“Are you kidding me? Now you want to play me like I’m stupid?” remarked Meesha.
Carlton reached out toward Meesha but she slapped him and quickly stepped away from him.
He rubbed his cheek. “Look, let me explain.”
“Explain? I don’t think there’s anything left to say. You want a divorce so you can be with her?” She looked at Peyton. “And to think, all these years I thought you were my friend. I stood by you, took up for you when everyone else turned their backs on you. And you do something like this?”
Peyton nervously pivoted from one leg to the next.
“Haven’t you heard a word I’ve said? I said that she,” he pointed at Peyton with a vile angry look on his face, “is not Liam’s birth mother. She raised him as her son, that part is true. But Breyonna, his birth mother, gave him to Peyton when Liam was a baby.
“I may not be his biological mother, but he is my child, my son. I know all of this sounds crazy and you may not understand any of it right now, but you deserve to know the truth. And Carlton, I’m sorry, I couldn’t keep quiet any longer. I went to the detective and he didn’t find anything on her, except some arrests for petty crimes she committed. Don’t you see that she’s trying to ruin us, and she still can if she goes to the media.”
“Get out!” Meesha screamed, stomped, and yelled at Peyton. “Get out of my house now!”
Peyton staggered as she turned to leave. Heavy tears streamed. She ran out the door, leaving it open. She suddenly had a splitting headache. Forget all the commotion going on inside the Porter household. The only thing on her mind was getting in her car and driving home. She needed a drink, an aspirin, and her bed.
“Wake up. Peyton, wake up,” Derek said. “It’s just a dream.”
Peyton opened her eyes slowly.
“Are you okay? You were talking and crying in your sleep. Something about Meesha and Liam.”
The lingering effects of alcohol remained in her system. Slowly she looked around, and then exhaled deeply. Thank God, she thought to herself when she realized she had been dreaming.
Chapter 31
“The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemy.” Unknown.
Eva stepped out of the shower, dried herself off, then looked on her vanity for her favorite fragrance. After spraying a dab on each wrist and the center of her neck, she placed the expensive bottle back inside its box. Smiling in the mirror at her slender, perfectly flawless, and statuesque body, she turned around and walked out of the bathroom.
Knock, knock.
The voice stunned her as she came face to face with Seth standing in the hallway at the entrance to her and Harper’s master suite.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said and immediately turned and walked off.
Her skin immediately turned red at the embarrassing thought that Seth had seen her naked. She wasn’t used to having to hide behind closed doors. Having him living on their property was a huge change. She quickly rushed over to the door after rushing into her walk-in closet and retrieving a robe. She looked up and down the long hallway to see if he was still around. Not seeing him, she breathed a sigh of relief, then closed and locked her bedroom door.
“What was he doing in the main house anyway? He had everything he could possibly need or want in the guest house.”
The ringing phone invaded her thoughts. She walked over to the side of the bed and picked up the phone from its charging cradle. When she saw Harper’s name pop up, she smiled, exhaled, and forgot all about Seth.
“Hi,” she said in a soft seductive voice.
“Hi, sweetheart. Wow, you sound sexy as hell.”
“Oh, do I? How are things going?”
“Good. That’s why I was calling. I’m going to get out of here in about an hour. You want to go out for dinner?”
Eva blushed with excitement over the phone. This was the Harper she loved. He could be spontaneous, adventurous, and daring. She loved that about him. “Yes. Of course.”
“Okay, I’ll see you in a bit.”
“I love you, Harper.”
“I love you too, baby. I’ll be there shortly.”
Eva replaced the phone back on its base. She went back to her closet and exchanged her robe for a pair of leggings and an oversized sweatshirt. It was still rather cool outside. Stepping into a pair of sneakers, she left her room and traipsed down the stairs. Looking around when she got to the bottom landing, she saw that the house was empty as she peeped inside several of the rooms, before she went to the side back door leading outside and to the guest house.
The Real Housewives of Adverse City Page 14