by Honey
Zach leaned across the green blanket he’d spread on the floor in the den. He gently pushed Zachary Junior’s diaper-clad bottom, encouraging him to crawl. He’d been scooting around on his knees while his parents relaxed on the blanket next to him.
“I guess it’s possible. I still love Jay, and I want what’s best for her, but I no longer want her in my life. After I testify later this week, I never wanna see her again.”
* * *
Ida Bell shook her head. “I don’t blame Zach one bit for taking a leave of absence during Jay’s trial. He didn’t even come to church Sunday. Reverend Broadus asked his auntie to come to the front of the church so he could lay hands on her and pray for Zach in his absence. Honey, I felt the power of that prayer all down in my bones!”
“What are folks around the church saying?” Sheila asked Ida Bell.
All the women leaned forward in their chairs, with their hands on the table.
“All the saints at Refuge want Jay to go to jail for hiring someone to kill Zach. Nobody could believe she did something so cruel to her own brother. I hope she rots in jail.”
“Amen,” Sheila said.
Ida Bell looked toward the door of the break room to see if anyone was coming. “Jay is claiming she’s crazy and doesn’t remember what she did. Her lawyer is gonna try to get her off on temporary insanity. That chile ain’t crazy. She’s just mean and evil. I hope the judge throws the book at her.”
* * *
Zach made direct eye contact with Jill from his seat on the witness stand, where he sat tensely, sweating bullets. Kirk and Mr. Lugar had been quite thorough in preparing him for cross-examination, but Mr. Rice’s technique was far more aggressive than either of them had anticipated. The lawyer was on the warpath and had been since he started questioning Zach two hours ago. He’d hammered away at his and Jay’s relationship as children, teenagers, and adults. Mr. Rice had just asked Zach to describe the circumstances surrounding his initial sexual encounter with Jill, and Zach had paused to look at his wife regretfully for the answer he was about to give. It would open up their personal life to a world of strangers, who had no right to know anything about them.
“It was the latter part of August, year before last,” Zach stated and lifted his chin.
Mr. Rice pressed his palms flat on the wooden slab separating him and Zach and grinned. “Where was your sister?”
“I’m not sure. She had just left my house.”
“I see,” Mr. Rice said, smiling as he adjusted the glasses on his long nose. “You pounced on your sister’s lover of four years as soon as she left your home, headed back to her brand-new, stressful job. Are you sure it was your first time sleeping with Ms. Bessette? You see, I find it hard to believe that she willingly fell in the sack with you only moments after Ms. King had left your house. I mean, did you court Ms. Bessette? Did you promise her anything? Did you pay her?”
Kirk was sitting directly behind the prosecutor’s table. He sent Zach a message with his eyes to keep his cool and answer the question.
“I did not pay my wife to be intimate with me.”
“She wasn’t your wife then, now was she? She was your sister’s lover. Was she not?”
“Yes, she was.”
“I didn’t hear you. I’ll ask you again. The first time you had sexual intercourse with Jillian Bessette, was she or wasn’t she your sister, Ms. Jayla King’s lover?”
“I told you already! She was Jay’s lover at the time.”
“What about the second time and the third time you slept with Ms. Bessette? Wasn’t she still romantically involved with your sister?”
“No, they weren’t really involved after the first encounter Jill and I had.”
Mr. Rice faced the jury box, where the seven men and five women of different races and ethnicities sat listening attentively to Zach’s testimony. “How do you know that Ms. Bessette wasn’t really romantically involved with Ms. King as you continued your secret love affair with her? Was there an official breakup? Did Ms. Bessette move out of the bedroom they were sharing in your home into another one or into yours? Explain to the judge, this fine jury, and me exactly what you mean.”
“My sister was basically living at the Seven Seas Hotel, and she didn’t call or visit Jill for several days. I know for a fact that after the first time my wife and I were intimate, she discontinued her sexual relationship with my sister.” Zach loosened the knot in his gray silk necktie and leaned forward.
“You most definitely would know that, now wouldn’t you? You crept around the door of their bedroom while they were making love one night, didn’t you? You became insanely jealous! You couldn’t stand that Ms. Bessette was having sex with her lover, your sister, when you wanted her for yourself! You became so enraged, Mr. King, that you burst into the room and stopped them!”
“That’s not how it happened,” Zach whispered, struggling to maintain his composure. “Jay didn’t tell you the whole truth.”
“Well, please enlighten us, Mr. King.” Mr. Rice inched closer to the witness stand, wearing a sinister smile, taunting Zach. “This is a courtroom, where truths are supposed to be revealed. We’d like to hear your truth.”
“I heard Jill screaming that night. She sounded like she was crying. She screamed and asked Jay to leave her alone. There was fear in her voice. I tried to ignore it, but Jill kept crying, like she was in pain.”
“So you entered the bedroom unannounced while your sister, Ms. King, and her lover Ms. Bessette were in the throes of passion? That’s a gross invasion of privacy! How dare you? What gave you that right?”
“Don’t answer that question, Mr. King!” Mr. Lugar shouted as he stood. “He’s badgering the witness, Your Honor.”
“Answer me, Mr. King! You were out of control with jealousy that night. Weren’t you?”
“Keep quiet, Mr. King!” Mr. Lugar demanded.
Zach felt himself about to snap. He could clearly see the scared look in Jill’s eyes that night in his memory and could hear her shaky voice telling him what Jay had done to her the next morning. Judge Elway was banging his gavel against the bench to silence the opposing attorneys. Spectators were whispering. The courtroom was in chaos, with Mr. Lugar and Mr. Rice shouting alternately.
“Order in the court!” the judge shouted.
Mr. Lugar jabbed his index finger hard into the air. “I object to this line of questioning, Your Honor! Mr. King is the victim in this case. He is not on trial here.”
Jill closed her eyes and lowered her head. Aunt Jackie reached over and clutched one of her hands, and Dex grabbed the other one. Zach watched it all from his seat. Jill was upset over how Mr. Rice hurled accusations at him about the very private details of their life. She had been adamant about coming to court today to support Zach, and now he wished he had followed his instincts and insisted that she stay home. Wishing very much to get past the long cross-examination, he faced Mr. Rice, man-to-man.
“Like I said, Jill sounded like she was crying, and I distinctly heard her ask Jay to leave her alone. I apologized to both of them for intruding and left the room. Minutes later, I heard my sister leave the house, and I didn’t see her again for several days.”
“How many times did you have sexual relations with Ms. Bessette after that?”
“I’m not sure.”
“When did you finally come clean with your dear sister about your affair with Ms. Bessette?”
“I think it was in November of that same year, after returning from a trip to Jamaica. I had accompanied Jill to the island to tend to her little brother’s medical needs. On the day we were to return to the States, she was detained by airport security. My sister, the woman who claimed to have loved her, had reported some false information to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I had to leave Jill in Jamaica. Upon my arrival in Atlanta, I went to my sister’s suite at the Seven Seas and told her that Jill and I were in love.”
“How did Ms. King take the news? Did she congratulate you? Did
she laugh, cry, or faint?”
“She was very upset, as I expected she would be. She cursed at me and threw me out of her suite.”
“And then you topped that by marrying Ms. Bessette months later in a secret wedding in Jamaica, after she became pregnant with your child. How did your poor sister take that news?”
Zach looked at Jay. She was cool as a cucumber, nestled between Mr. Ford and a female attorney at the defense table. Her countenance was flat. She wore a nice black pantsuit, and her short curly hair had grown out several inches. Without a doubt, she was enjoying Mr. Rice’s attack on him, but she was doing a good job of suppressing it.
“Jay was very angry when I told her Jill and I were expecting a baby. Again, she cursed and screamed. Her reaction caused an embarrassing scene in the bistro where we’d met to talk. She vowed never to forgive me, and she told me Jill and I would get what we deserved someday.”
Mr. Rice made multiple attempts to coax Zach into saying his marriage to Jill and the news about her pregnancy had pushed Jay over the edge. None of his tactics worked. In fact, Zach boldly told everyone in the courtroom that he didn’t think Jay was crazy at all, and that only her pride had been damaged by his relationship with Jill. He repeated her bone-chilling wish that she’d killed him herself on the evening she discovered he hadn’t been murdered. Murmurs and gasps filled the courtroom, and once again Judge Elway had to demand order.
Chapter Fifty-one
A spontaneous trip to Raleigh turned out to be the perfect getaway from all the courtroom drama and the media blitz. Wallace was pleasantly surprised when he found Zach, Jill, Zachary Junior, and Nahima on his front porch. Patricia and Wallace Junior had been expecting them. Zach had called to speak with his father earlier that week, after his cross-examination, but he was at his church, teaching Bible study. Patricia had insisted that they come up for the weekend to surprise Wallace, and surprise him they did.
Jill and the baby joined Patricia in the spacious sunken den in the middle of the house. It was close to the playroom. They sipped tea and talked while Wallace Junior and Nahima made lots of noise playing together. Zach and Wallace were on the golf course.
“This is the happiest Wallace has ever been. Not even the trial has been able to steal his joy,” Patricia mused. “He’s in a good place now that his son and grandchildren are a part of his life.”
They both watched Zachary Junior babbling and playing with his toys on a blue blanket in the middle of the floor.
“When I first met Jay, she spoke very little about her parents. All she ever said was that her mother was dead and her father had left them to be raised by their aunt. It was Zach who told me the whole truth. As painful as it was, he shared everything with me. The one thing he stressed most was his father’s intentions. Zach felt it was crucial that I know Papa King didn’t mean to kill their mother,” Jill responded.
“No, he didn’t,” Patricia said. “When I was first introduced to Wallace, he was a broken man. One of my friends, a fellow attorney who had been my mentor since I graduated law school, had represented him during his murder trial. His name is Grady Vaughn. He brought us together during the time Wallace was trying to become a schoolteacher here in Raleigh. He was fighting a battle with the school system because of his criminal record. I took the case on and won. While we prepared for court, we became close. I was much younger than him, of course, but I saw his spirit. It was gentle and calm. It was hard for me to imagine him killing anyone.”
“Love causes us to do things we aren’t proud of sometimes, I suppose. It was only because my father-in-law loved his wife that he attempted to wound his friend for having an affair with her. That was not the case with Jay. She wanted Zach dead because she felt he had taken something that belonged to her. I was her property as far as she believed. Jay had controlled me for four years. She never imagined I would open my naive eyes to the reality of our very toxic relationship. And she never thought I would open my heart to someone else, especially not her brother. Zachary didn’t take advantage of me, ya know?”
Patricia chuckled lightly, and the dimples buried in her smooth brown cheeks made an appearance. Her long thick ponytail swayed from side to side when she shook her head. “I didn’t think he did. When I first met you, I noticed a passion in your eyes for Zach that reminded me very much of what I have for Wallace. When most of my family members called me crazy for marrying a much older man, a convicted murderer, and a former client, I ignored them. I followed my heart. I know how it feels to fight for love.”
“I know that how Zachary and I came together may be frowned upon by others. We’ve both admitted it was wrong, but look at us. We are so very happy. Our son means the world to us. We are a family. I don’t believe God will punish Zach and me because we fell in love. He has forgiven us, and that’s the most important thing. We both sought Jay’s forgiveness, but she refused us.”
The front door slammed just then, and this was followed by the hum of male voices. Wallace entered the den, with Zach right behind him. The children must’ve heard the men, because Nahima ran from the playroom with a handful of Lego building blocks. She waved to her uncle and grandfather before she dashed back into the playroom.
“I hope you two are hungry. Jill and I prepared a spread,” Patricia announced.
“I don’t know about Daddy, but I am.” Zach leaned over and pecked Jill on the cheek.
Jill pinched her nose. “Zachary, you smell dreadful!” She pushed him away. “Please do not touch the baby!”
Zach knelt down at the edge of the blanket, and Zachary Junior squealed and crawled briskly in his direction. His meaty arms and legs moved with perfect coordination toward his daddy. Jill made a clever interception and carried the baby to the sofa. Wallace and Patricia laughed.
“Do I stink that bad that I can’t hold my own son?” Zach moaned.
“Yes, Zachary, you are quite smelly. Please go and shower while I heat up the food,” Jill told him.
“I guess I better do the same before Patricia starts complaining too,” Wallace interjected.
Patricia smiled. “Thank you. I was about to suggest that, sweetie.”
* * *
“Welcome back, Zach. How are you?”
“I’m okay, Nancy. I got plenty of rest and quality time with my family. Now I’m ready to work. I wanna stay as busy as possible. What do you have for me?”
She handed Zach three charts as they walked side by side down the hall toward the NICU nursery. “They’re all little girls, and fighters too. The smallest one has lots of spunk, but she’s a crack baby. Her maternal grandmother is here around the clock. Make sure you talk to her, because she likes to know everything that’s going on with the baby. Her name is Lizzie Carter.”
“No problem. What’s the buzz around here? Are folks talking about me? Is the trial still a hot topic?”
“You know how it is, Zach. Some people live just to gossip. I guess it makes them feel important. But to answer your question, yes, the trial is hot as jalapeño peppers. Everybody is reaching and pulling for every tiny detail. The newspaper and all the local news channels are covering it daily.”
“I know. The entire state of Georgia knows me as the brother who stole his sister’s Jamaican lover, knocked her up, and married her in a secret island wedding. I bet everybody thinks I’m a low-down son of a bitch.”
“Nobody around here feels that way about you. We know the real Zachary King, and we love him. Screw Jay’s stupid attorneys. She ain’t crazy. They are, for believing her nonsense. I don’t want you to worry about the gossipers, Zach. Just do your job the same way you’ve done it all these years. Your little patients need you.” Nancy looked up and saw Mrs. Carter taking steps in their direction. “Here comes that grandmother I was telling you about. Introduce yourself to her. I’ve gotta run to a meeting.”
* * *
Dex tried to hide the newspaper when he saw Zach approaching their table. At the last minute he crumpled it and threw it on a chair behind
him.
“What are they saying about Jill and me today?” Zach asked as he sat down. He shook a bottle of guava juice before he opened it. Then he pulled a sandwich out of his lunch bag.
“You caught me, huh?”
“You know damn well I did. Why do read that shit anyway? You know the whole story inside and out.”
“I’m curious about all the lies Jay fed her lawyers. That’s all.”
“Well, I can’t wait for the verdict. At this point, I don’t care if Jay is found innocent. I just want my life back. With this trial hanging over our heads, Jill and I can’t fully relax and let our guards down. The sooner it’s over, the better. I feel like the whole world is watching me.”
“Ain’t nobody watching you, man. You’re paranoid.”
“Maybe I am, but I can’t wait for this case to be over. If it’s not soon, I may pack up my wife and son and move to Raleigh. Nobody knows me up there except my dad, Patricia, and Wallace Junior.”
“So you’d just up and leave like that?” Dex snapped his fingers. “Jay hires someone to kill you. She’s on trial for it. Her defense is weak, by Attorney Rice’s own admission. Sure, some of your dirty laundry is being aired out, and it’s foul. But you’re the victim, man. Why the hell would you leave your aunt and Nahima? Forget about me, your best friend, and Abriah, your godchild. We’ll be fine. But that pretty, innocent little girl who looks up to you would be devastated. How would you explain to her the reason you’re leaving her behind? Stop acting like a punk! You made some choices, Zach, and now you’re living with them. I thought you said you didn’t regret falling in love with Jill. You told me if you had it to do all over again, you wouldn’t change a damn thing.”
“I wouldn’t.” Zach stuffed the remains of his sandwich in his lunch bag. “It’s just hard walking down the hall, knowing folks are whispering about you. A waitress at Pappadeaux recognized me the other night. It was strange, man.”
“People will forget all about the entire case after a while. Just hold your head up and keep it moving.”