Another Man's Baby (18 page)

***

A week passed before Gabi felt up to returning home. She packed her bags and stood by the door with Eric’s parents. It was time to say goodbye.

“I’m going to make him regret this.” Gabi looked into her mother-in-law’s eyes. “I’m going to make him sorry he hurt me.”

“Baby, he is sorry,” Ongela replied, trying her best to keep Gabi calm.

Gabi shook her head. “Not as sorry as he’s going to be.”

“Gabi, you’re talking revenge. Don’t do it. It’s only going to tear you two even farther apart; it’s not going to help you get back together.”

“Nothing can do that.”

“You can get back together if the two of you start working together, listening to each other. Have a little faith, just a little, Gabi. That’s all it takes.”

“That would be all I’d have to give, but right now it’s not faith that’s needed. You don’t have any idea what your son has done to me. I know you want us together and I’m not even asking you to keep secrets from him, but I’ve never broken a promise to Eric. I promised him if he hurt me, I would hurt him.”

“If you’re talking about sleeping around to get back at him it’s the wrong move. You’re going to feel like dirt afterwards. Men aren’t like women; they can’t forgive that as easily.”

Gabbie’s mouth dropped open. “You think I should just forgive him?”

“Don’t you want to be able to forgive him one day?”

“I feel nothing for him,” Gabi said softly, and she meant it.

“That’s not true, Gabi, or it wouldn’t matter to you to even the score. If you truly didn’t care you’d just forget this.”

“Maybe I care enough to make him hurt the way he hurt me.” She kissed her mother-law-law’s cheek. “Thank you so much for giving me refuge and for giving me a family. I can never repay you, but I’ll love you always,” Gabi said and kissed her again before marching out the door.

***

“What do you think she’s going to do?” Ongela Jackson asked her husband.

“We both know very well what she’s going to do. Did you encourage her behind my back? Was the little thing the two of you did here in front of me just for my benefit?”

Ongela was insulted. “Of course I didn’t encourage her. I advised against it. Yes, she’d brought it up before but I always told her not to do it. I don’t want to see those two apart.”

Terry Jackson swore under his breath. “I think we should call Eric and warn him.”

“No.” Ongela put her hand out to stop her husband from calling their son.

“I thought you said you told her not to go for revenge,” Terry said.

“I did, but Eric deserves to sweat a little bit after all he’s put her through in the past year he’s been home.”

Terry raised his brows. “You do know there are always two sides to every story, don’t you? You won’t even give Eric a chance to explain things to you. He said he didn’t have an affair, that he doesn’t know how the things got in the car. I believe him.”

“Even if that’s true, there are other things Gabi told me, personal things, things I’m not going to repeat to you.”

“Remember, Ongie, you’ve only heard Gabi’s version.”

“She told me all the things she’s done as well. Besides, Terry, I don’t believe Gabi will be able to go through with it. I know how much she loves Eric. But I think Eric need to think that she might do the same things he’s done.”

“What things did Eric do that would warrant him suffering? He’s been through enough, Ongie.”

“He’s done things to that child since almost the moment he came home. For over a year, Terry, that child has put up with his nonsense and every time she talked to me about it I advised her to give Eric a little more time.”

Terry flinched. “While you’ve been talking to Gabi, I’ve been talking to our son. I know Eric wasn’t touching Gabi shortly after he first came home, if that’s what you’re talking about.  But he told me about that. He wasn’t sure he wanted a baby. He was trying to protect her. It’s the war, it’s got him freaked.”

“That still doesn’t justify the way he treated her.”

“Damn. I didn’t want to tell you this. Honey, he didn’t want her to know about the babies that were used as decoys. Ongie, they booby trapped live babies with explosives. The thought of that messed our son up. That’s why he didn’t want any babies. But he tried to put that behind him because he loves her so much and because she wanted babies so badly. But I’m guessing he told her all of that when he changed his mind and agreed to have a baby.” Terry saw the look on Ongela’s face and groaned. “Gabi didn’t know about that, did she?”

“No…neither did I.  Of course I’ve read about it as I’m sure Gabi has but to go through it, to see it. My God! My poor son, my poor baby.”

“Now that you know, can I call Eric?”

“Terry, I’m not kidding. As bad as I feel about what Eric had to go through, there was still no need for him to have put that girl through all that he has.

“But, honey—”

“No buts. We’re going to stay out of this.”

“Ongie, honey, it’s hard. Neither of you has ever been in a war. I can understand where he’s coming from.”

“Did he talk to you about it, about what happened?”

“No, and I didn’t ask him to. He just mentioned a couple of things and I filled in the details. Don’t forget I also fought a very inhumane war. Eric will talk when he’s good and ready.

“He’d better get good and ready soon or I’m afraid it’s going to be too late. He’s going to have to do something drastic to keep his wife.”

“But Gabi loves him. Even you said she still loves him.”

“Of course she loves him, that’s why it hurts so much. He’s destroyed her spirit and her soul. If Eric wants that girl, he’d better learn to open his mouth and tell her what he’s dealing with inside. Saying he’s sorry is not going to cut it this time.”

Terry walked to his wife and held her in his arms. “I hope they make it.”

“Me too.” Ongela looked up at her husband. “We’ve all just got to have faith that they will.”

             
ANOTHER
MAN
’S BABY
             
229

Chapter
Fifteen

From the moment she found the panties and condom in Eric’s car, Gabrielle had felt like the walking dead. But she was determined to get over it. Part of her wanted to quit her job and get one in the hospital but she refused to allow Jamilla to run her away. She went to work every day and did her job, the same as she always had. She laughed and joked with the patients and even pretended in front of Jamilla that her life was just fine.

Gabi no longer cared that Eric wasn’t going out. He no longer mattered to her. She’d filed for divorce and he’d been served. Still, he refused to leave the house.

In light of the situation, Gabi was trying to convince herself that Eric had never come home, that the past year she’d been living with a ghost. That was easier to do than she’d originally thought. It felt as if she had, because there was no way her husband would have ever put her through the things that Eric had put her through in the past months.

Her nerves felt raw, exposed. Gabi had dropped the stubborn ten pounds that had always refused to leave. If she’d known what it would take to get rid of the pounds she would have gladly kept them and added another ten.

She’d had one objective in the past weeks, one reason for going on. And its name was revenge. Gabi was going to make her husband feel the same pain he’d inflicted on her. She ignored the voices telling her not to do it, that it was wrong, that two wrongs didn’t make a right. She didn’t care.

Gabi was empty and knew she would be even emptier after what she was planning to do but it didn’t dissuade her from her plan. It hadn’t been all that hard to execute. Two phone calls and the plan was in motion. She was taking a page from Jamilla’s book, for she was somehow sure that the panties belonged to Jamilla. She’d considered sending the panties to a lab, along with the condom, but had burned them both before she could give in to such a vile desire. She refused to allow Eric or Jamilla to take her down that road. What she was planning was bad enough.

Tit for tat, she’d promised her husband and Gabi planned to keep her promise. She’d called the one person who would be able to plant the sword in the middle of her husband’s heart. It should hurt that she was doing this, but it didn’t. She was dead inside. Twice Gabi had visited a downtown club,
The Orgasmic Stallion
, and picked up books of matches that she had left casually next to lit candles in different areas of her home.

She’d had the bait laid out for her with the matches from
Foxes Jazz Club
she’d found in the bathroom at work. Now she was doing the same. For a moment Gabi cringed. What if she’d never written down the address, of the club? What if she’d never followed Eric there? What if she’d not found him with Jamilla? But she had taken the bait and she had gone to the club, and as someone had intended, she’d found her husband in Jamilla’s arms. Now it was her turn to return the favor, to make Eric wonder.

For two weeks she’d visited
The Orgasmic Stallion
alone.  For two weeks she’d visited Reggie there. If Eric didn’t take the bait soon she might have to devise another plan. She knew Reggie was getting ideas in his head, ideas that she’d purposefully planted. Another week of this was about all Gabi could take before dumping her plan, before doing anything more drastic.

***

“Lieutenant, everything okay with you?”

Eric glanced over toward the sergeant’s desk. “Yeah, thanks for asking. How’re we doing? Are the numbers up?”

“A little here and there. I guess our going to the schools is finally paying off. There’s noise about our driving down to
Belleville
in a week or so.” He shrugged. “All the branches are going to go out together en masse.”

Eric saw the grimace that passed over the man’s face. They both mostly believed in their mission, but they were having a hard time doing it. It was a tough job and if a marine couldn’t do it, then it couldn’t be done. “How’s your son, Ross? Is he still stateside?”

Eric noticed that the sergeant swiped his lips with his tongue and blew out a breath before answering. “He’s still at
Camp
Pendleton
. He has a couple more weeks of basic.”

“He doing okay?” Eric asked, sensing a problem.

“He’s scared.”

“Can’t say that I blame him. But we can’t have him going over there scared, can we? Cautious yes, but scared, he’ll get himself…  Have you talked to him?” Eric asked, changing the direction of his statement.

“I’m so scared for him myself that I’m having a hard time. I know I need to build him up, give him confidence, but he’s my son.”

“Want me to talk to him?”

“Are you up to it?”

Eric was aware of what he was being asked. “I’m a marine, I’m up for it.”

“You okay, Lieutenant?”

“That’s the second time you’ve asked me that.”

“That’s the second time you didn’t answer.”

Eric laughed. If it weren’t for the particular assignment he’d be content to remain here. He got along with the sergeant. “My marriage is going down the tubes and it’s my fault. My wife isn’t talking to me.”

“Marriages go through rough patches. If you love each other you’ll make it work.”

“She’s been trying so damn hard, as hard as I’ve been trying to wreck things. I have to tell you, we are the couple that this should have never happened to. She’s all I ever wanted since I was seventeen years old. It took me so many years to get up the nerve to tell her how I felt about her…and now…”

“The clubbing. Is that what got you in hot water?”

“No, the war, the clubbing was just the last straw.”

“Did you know that I’ve never seen action, not in Desert Storm, not in
Bosnia
, not now? I volunteered three times to go, but I was never sent over. My blood pressure is so damn high that I’m thankful I haven’t been kicked out all together,

“You feel guilty for not going?” Eric asked.

“Yes.” The men looked at each other before turning to stare at opposite walls. Then the sergeant turned to Eric. “And you feel guilty for coming home.”

“Yeah.”

“You sure you’re going to be able to talk to my son? I mean, I want him safe and I want him to come home without guilt.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t drop any of my personal crap on the kid when I call him. He’s made his decision and I’ll let him know it was a good one and that he should be proud of it.” Eric pulled in a deep breath. “I’m still proud of being a marine. I have doubts about things, but basically I feel proud. I’m really hoping things work out for your son.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Eric decided to end the conversation before it went any farther. He wasn’t ready to talk to the sergeant about the possibility of his son not coming home. And he sure as heck wasn’t ready to admit that it wasn’t that Gabi was just not talking to him, that she’d asked for a divorce and meant it.

Eric swallowed, still unable to believe he’d actually received papers stating for all the world to see that Gabi no longer wanted to be married to him. He was refusing to move out of the house, hoping she’d come to her senses, realize her mistake, that they were soul mates who couldn’t get divorced.

He’d screwed up big time and now he was serving time waiting for Gabi to forgive him. She’d been almost to that point before finding the panties and condom in the car. Eric had a good idea who’d probably put them there, Jamilla, but he hadn’t sought her out to ask.

Eric didn’t want to give her ammunition to use against his wife. Asking Jamilla would mean it bothered Gabi. Eric had tried pointing that out to Gabi, but the look she’d given him for even having Jamilla in his car was reason enough not to pursue it. Besides, he had a feeling Jamilla would lie if asked and say things happened that hadn’t.

It seemed good sense always came a little too late. He’d stopped going clubbing and now Gabi had started. He’d attempted conversations, but she’d looked daggers through him, not answering. He’d even offered to go with her, to no avail. Something about the club she was going to preyed on Eric’s mind. He’d heard the name before but didn’t know where.

Finding out more about the club where Gabi was going came to be all that he cared about. Finally, Eric typed the name,
The Orgasmic Stallion,
in the search engine of his work computer. Using the computer for personal things was frowned on and this was the first time Eric had ever done it. At the moment he didn’t care. He got lucky on the first try.

Male exotic dancers strutted on the computer screen. Eric couldn’t believe it. His wife was going to a strip club. He should have guessed that from the name of the place. He was surprised to see how big the place was, amazed at the number of employees. Then he clicked on pictures, saw the wait staff, the bartenders, and swore out loud when he saw the face of Gabi’s old boyfriend Reggie. “Damn, I don’t believe it.”

“Anything wrong, Lieutenant?”

Eric turned off the computer. So that was where his wife was spending her nights. Hell no, no way.

***

The hours for his shift didn’t end soon enough. Eric couldn’t wait to get home to confront his wife. And she was still his wife. He had no intention of letting her spend her nights in a strip club and definitely not one where her old boyfriend worked.

Eric tried to calm down as he thought of all the matches that had recently appeared around their home. He smiled. It was Gabi’s way of getting even. He thought maybe he should let her get it out of her system, but the very thought that getting it out of her system might mean her going to bed with Reggie made him crazy. He couldn’t just sit around and wait for that to happen.

Eric had hoped that he could talk to Gabi but the moment he walked up the stairs he could smell the faint hint of the vanilla perfume Gabi used. Eric sucked in a breath. That scent mixed with Gabi always brought him to his knees. Now was no different. He stared through the bedroom door watching her dress. He made noise but she refused to even turn in his direction. He sighed loudly. Still nothing. He walked slowly toward her.

Gabi applied an extra coat of lipstick, doing her best to ignore Eric. He was staring at her, trying to make her turn. She was nervous enough already, dressed as she was. She looked like anybody’s slut. She took a deep breath, trying to give herself courage to leave the house and go out in public in the getup she had on.

When Eric started walking toward her, she almost lost it. Even now, as angry as she was, she couldn’t not appreciate his walk. He was slow, graceful, sensual, even when he wasn’t trying. He had always reminded her of a sleek black panther with his beautiful brown eyes. She felt herself weakening and moistness collecting in her center. Habit, she scolded herself, just habit, but nevertheless she felt a tremor in her chest.

Gabi had spent a good portion of her life loving this man. She couldn’t think about that now. She’d given him a year of chances, and he’d done the unthinkable. Now it was her turn to make him feel what she’d felt every day for months. He was worried, she knew that. He deserved to worry, she thought, and applied yet another coat of lipstick, ignoring the fact that her hand shook as she was doing it.

“Where are you going, Gabi?”

Eric walked up to her and looked her up and down. The tight top that was more like a scarf barely covered her breasts and showed ample cleavage and most of her abdomen. He frowned at the tight black leather pants she had on. Eric walked slowly around his wife, looking at her and making his displeasure at her appearance known. He narrowed his eyes and stared at her new hairdo.

Then Eric came to stand directly in front of Gabi. She  was going over the top, he thought, just to prove a point. He looked at the makeup on her face, a ton in his estimation, way more than he was used to her wearing.

“Where are you going, Gabi? You’re dressed like a hoochie.”

“You didn’t seem to mind it when Jamilla wore an outfit way more revealing.”