Better for Us (2 page)

Chapter 2

N
o, he didn’t just accuse her of cheating on him
. “Come again?” she said with hands on hips.

He stood up and walked over to her. “You might need to get your ears checked, since you seem to be having a lot of trouble hearing me tonight.”

Ryla’s eyes traveled the distance as she gazed up at Noel. He was almost seven feet. When they were dating, Ryla was thankful for Noel’s height, because at five-nine she’d dated a few guys who were shorter than her, and had always felt a little awkward. Today, rather than being a comfort to her, his height was more imposing than it had ever been.

She stood up, trying to get on equal footing with him, but even that made her feel a bit ridiculous since Noel was a full foot taller than her. “There’s nothing wrong with my hearing—I just don’t appreciate being called a cheater.”

“Well, what am I supposed to think, Ryla?” Giving her a questioning glare, he asked, “Did you adopt that little girl I saw you with?”

With her arms folded she said, “No.”

He clenched his fists as he turned away from her. Exhaling a burst of hot air, he whirled back around. “Why didn’t you just tell me that you had a new man? Why’d you have to sneak out of my life like that without letting me know what was going on?”

Ryla rolled her eyes. She wished Noel wasn’t so tall, because she really wanted to box his ears. How dare he assume that she was the kind of woman who would sleep with multiple partners. She wasn’t the cheater—he was. “I see you’re still a big dumb jock.”

“Oh, I was never a big dumb anything.” Then as he gave her a sinister grin he added, “Except when it came to you.”

Ryla stomped her foot like a two-year-old and rolled her eyes. “She’s yours, Noel. I’m not a cheater like
some
people I know!”

Noel looked around the room as if the little girl would suddenly materialize so he could verify Ryla’s statement. “Did I hear you right?” His voice thundered as he turned back to Ryla.

Recognizing the fury in his voice, Ryla stepped back. She hadn’t intended to just throw it out there like that. But Noel had made her mad when he accused her of cheating on him. She lifted her hands. “Noel, there’s no sense getting all mad. Sit down and let’s discuss this like two reasonable adults,” she said, attempting to take control of the current situation.

He looked at her as if she was a known crackhead asking him for some spare change. “Oh, now you want to be reasonable. Well, I need to speak with my attorney first, and then I’ll let you know just how reasonable I’m going to be.” He moved away from her and headed toward the door.

But Ryla knew that an angry Noel could be a formidable opponent. She had once witnessed him losing badly to a team that was much better than his on the court. But during the third quarter, two of the players started taunting him and Noel got mad. Nothing but net was happening after that. The game might have sent Noel and his teammates to the locker room hanging their heads in shame, but because Noel refused to lose, that game ended up making him a star.

Ryla grabbed his arm as she implored him to stay. “Please, Noel, don’t leave like this. She’ll be home tomorrow. Why don’t you just come back over in the afternoon and I’ll introduce you.”

He shook her off his arm. “Do you even hear how you sound? You’ll introduce me to my own child.... What kind of sense does that make, Ryla?”

She held up her hands in surrender. “Okay, you’re right. I admit that this doesn’t make much sense at all. But Noel, it’s all we have. Now, I’m sorry that all of this is being thrown at you at once, but we don’t need to get lawyers involved.”

Noel laughed. But it wasn’t a ha-ha kind of laugh. “You have kept a child from me for seven, eight... How old is she?”

“Seven. She’ll be eight in July.”

He shook his head. “You’ve kept a child from me for almost eight years and you’ve run from me each time I’ve seen you, but you expect me to trust you?”

“If you can’t trust me, who can you trust?” Ryla deadpanned, as she did whenever she was backed into a corner with no escape. But as usual, the jokes didn’t work for her.

“I’d rather trust a DNA test and my lawyer, if you don’t mind?”

With a lifted brow, Ryla asked, “What do you need a DNA test for? Can’t you count? I just told you that her birthday is in July, so that should tell you that I got pregnant in October, during the fall.”

“How do I know that you didn’t get pregnant during Thanksgiving or Christmas break when you were home with your mom and her many boyfriends?”

Ryla jumped as if she’d been slapped. Noel had always been a daunting opponent, but she’d never known him to be outright mean. She’d heard all the reports about his gambling, drinking and womanizing during his NBA superstar days. Maybe all of that superstardom had gone to his head and turned him into someone she didn’t know anymore. “Okay, if you want a DNA test, then we’ll do that. But can we please just work this out between the two of us?”

“There’s no longer just the two of us. We now have a daughter and I don’t even know her name.” Another laugh escaped his lips as he shook his head.

“It’s Jaylen.”

He swung back around and glared at Ryla. “You actually gave her my middle name and couldn’t even pick up a phone to tell me about her?”

“Turn the page already,” she said, and then slapped her hand across her mouth as she realized she was doing her deadpan thing, which never worked with Noel. She was just so nervous, even though she’d had seven years to prepare for this moment. She could have never been prepared for the challenge.

Ryla knew of a woman who tried to keep her children away from her ex-husband once they divorced. The judge didn’t like what she was doing. So he awarded the cheating ex-husband full custody of the kids. Ryla in no way wanted lawyers and judges involved in this situation. She took her hands away from her mouth and pleaded. “I’m so sorry for saying that. But please listen to me. Jaylen wants to meet you. She’s been asking me about her father for nearly a year now. But how do you think she will feel if she knows that her parents are fighting over her?”

Noel backed down a bit. “So you’re saying that you won’t run again?”

She nodded.

“And I can see Jaylen tomorrow?”

She crossed her heart and lifted a hand as if she was preparing to lay it on a stack of Bibles. “You have my word.”

“And when can we get the DNA test done?” Noel asked, sounding all business.

Ryla’s hands went back to her hips. “Are you really going to put Jaylen through something like that?”

“Hold on. Let’s get something straight. I’m not putting Jaylen through anything.” He pointed at Ryla. “You have put her through seven years of not knowing who her father is—”

“She knows who you are. I’ve shown her pictures of you countless times. She keeps a photo of me and you on her nightstand.”

Noel grabbed his head and massaged his temples. When he looked at Ryla again, he said, “I don’t know what made you do something like this, but I’m telling you now, if Jaylen is my child, I’ll never forgive you for this.” With that, he stormed out of her house.

* * *

Ryla plopped down on her couch, angry and spoiling for a fight herself. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she had already lost this fight. And it hadn’t even begun yet. Noel had all the cards in his hand. He was rich and could afford the best lawyer that money and celebrity could buy. She, on the other hand, was a struggling entrepreneur with nothing but debt and a growing client list.

She had, however, just thrown a wonderful party for Jonathan Conrad, who was now a partner in one of Houston’s top-notch law firms. He just might be willing to assist her with a pro bono attorney. Before she could begin to smile about her prospects, Ryla remembered that Jonathan was Noel’s frat brother and would probably have more allegiance to his frat than to a business associate. Nevertheless she got on the phone and called the cleanup crew to ensure that they would take extra care with his cleanup. It never hurt to put the best foot forward. Because for all she knew, Noel and Jonathan might not be all that close anymore.

After hanging up with the cleanup crew, she dialed her best friend, Danetta Windham. Danetta was still a newlywed. Ryla figured that calling her at ten at night was surely going to annoy Marshall. But she couldn’t worry about that right now. She needed help.

The phone rang four times before a giggling Danetta picked up. “Hey, Ryla, what’s up?”

When she heard her friend’s voice, it was as if a dam broke and tears began flowing down her lovely face. “I—I’m sorry to bother you so late, Danetta.”

The laughter left Danetta’s voice. “Are you all right, Ryla? It sounds like you’re crying.”

“Noel wants to get an attorney and he wants a DNA test.”

“Whoa, hold up. Are you talking about Jaylen’s father?”

“Y-yes.”

“When did all of this happen? The last I knew, you still hadn’t spoken to him.”

Wiping tears from her face, Ryla said, “All of that changed tonight. I ran into him at the party I was hosting for one of his frat brothers. And then he followed me home.”

“You invited him back to your house after the event?”

Ryla frowned into the phone as if her friend wasn’t keeping up, and she needed to be moving much faster than this. “No, of course I didn’t. I tried to run from him again, but he followed me and then forced his way into my house. And now he’s threatening me with lawyers and a DNA test. I still can’t believe he wants a DNA test. Can you believe that?” Ryla was speaking fast, but not fast enough not to notice that Danetta hadn’t responded to her question.

“Danetta, did you hear me?”

“Which part, hon. I’m trying to wrap my mind around all of what you’ve been telling me,” Danetta said.

“About the DNA test. He claims that I could have gotten pregnant when I went home for Thanksgiving or Christmas break.”

“Well, Ryla, you did expect this, didn’t you?”

“No, I didn’t expect this. Noel Jaylen Carter is the only man I have been with like that, and for him to suggest that I just casually sleep around is appalling.”

Trying to sound reasonable, Danetta said, “If I was in his shoes, and had just been told that I have a daughter after no communication with the mother for seven years, I’d ask for a DNA test, because you just never know.”

“Well, I know. And he is out of his mind if he thinks that I’m going to consent to having my daughter’s mouth swabbed just so he can be convinced of something that should be obvious.”

“I’m trying not to roll my eyes at you Ryla.”

This conversation was confusing Ryla. Danetta was supposed to be on her side. “Huh? Why do you want to roll your eyes at me and not at Noel? He’s the one being unreasonable.”

“Ryla, you kept his child from him for seven years.”

Now Ryla rolled her eyes. “Why does everybody keep harping on that?” Ryla understood that what she had done to Noel was wrong and a very big deal. But her snarky defense mechanism kept showing up, even when she knew there was no place for being snarky in this conversation.

“Okay, so, I can tell that you’re not going to listen to a word I have to say because you’re already getting defensive,” Danetta said, and then added, “But if anything is going to get through to you tonight, let it be this.... You owe that man an apology, and you need to do whatever you have to in order to make things right so that Jaylen can have both her mother and father in her life from this point on.”

Ryla took in a deep breath and then slowly exhaled. “I hear you. And I’m sorry about trying to be funny at a time like this. I know this isn’t an easy situation for any of us.”

“Ryla, girl, what are you going to do?”

Danetta sounded concerned, and Ryla appreciated that. “I guess I’m going to go along to get along, like you suggested. But if he tries to bring lawyers into this so he can steal my kid away from me, I’m going to need help finding an attorney. Do you know of anyone that might be able to help me?”

“If I don’t, I’m sure Marshall does. Hopefully, it won’t come to that, but if it does you know that we’ve got your back.”

“Thanks, girl. I hope I don’t have to call in this favor, but it’s good to know that I can get an attorney if I need to.” Ryla was a bit calmer by the time she and Danetta hung up.

Jaylen was spending the night at her mom’s, so she didn’t have to leave the house again tonight. Exhausted, Ryla threw her pajamas on without even thinking about showering first. She jumped in the bed, and before fear could overtake her mind about Noel meeting his daughter for the first time, she imagined the smile that would surely be on Jaylen’s face tomorrow and then calmly drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 3

“I
need a drink,” Noel told his brother, Donald, as they sat in his library. Donald pastored a church in Houston, and whenever Noel was in the city he bunked with him.

Donald leaned back in his chair and studied his younger brother. When he spoke, his words were measured. “How does a man of purpose sabotage his own future?”

Noel shook a finger at him. “Not now, Donald. Please save the philosophy for a man who hasn’t just been told that he has a seven-year-old daughter that he knows nothing about.”

Shaking his head, Donald said, “I remember meeting Ryla when the two of you were an item in college. She seemed like a very nice young lady.”

“Yeah, well, looks can be deceiving. But I guess I was just too blinded by her beauty to notice the deception that lurked beneath.” Noel pulled himself out of his seat and stood in front of the window, looking out at the other houses that surrounded his brother’s spacious home. Just as his brother’s home was filled with a wife and three kids, Noel imagined that children ran the halls of most of the rest of the suburban homes out here also.

And for the first time in his adult life, Noel realized that although his house was larger than many in this suburb, his brother and the neighbors around him had homes with families residing within. Every time Noel entered his own house, the echo of emptiness welcomed him.

He turned back to his brother, weariness showing in his eyes. “What am I going to do, Donald? How can I go back there tomorrow and meet a child that I’m not really sure belongs to me?”

“But I thought you told me that you and Ryla were in a monogamous relationship?”

Noel jabbed a finger at his chest. “I was monogamous.... I thought Ryla was, too. But we both know that I’ve been wrong before.”

“What do you feel in your heart? Do you think Jaylen is yours?”

Noel’s eyes closed with the weight of what he was going through. “I still can’t believe that Ryla gave Jaylen my middle name but never said a word to me about this baby.” He shook his head as he flopped back into his chair. He thought about the years he spent drinking, gambling and womanizing. He’d ruined his reputation so badly that he’d almost lost his way. “Things in my life could have been so different if I had known that I had a child.”

“I realize that this is difficult for you. It would be difficult for any man to discover that the woman he loved and practically idealized has done something like this to him. But, my brother, you’ve got to keep the faith.”

Noel knew that his brother spoke the truth and everything he said was for his own good. Several years ago, Donald had found him passed out in a bar where the patrons had not only taken pictures of his inebriated state, but had posted them online. By the next morning, CNN, MSNBC and every other news station had documented his fall from grace. They focused the world’s attention on the fact that the great Noel Carter’s knee injury had occurred during negotiations for his second three-year deal. The first contract had earned him five million a year, and this contract was about to double that, but then the knee injury happened, rendering the contract null and void. The newscasters had speculated that the voided contract had sent Noel on a drinking binge.

Only Noel and Donald knew that Noel’s wounds went deeper than a voided contract. By the time that contract had been voided, Noel had already made enough money from his last basketball contract and endorsement deals to keep him living in luxury for a very long time. And Noel had business interests that would earn him more money in years to come. So, the loss of a simple contract didn’t bother him much. Not being able to play the game he loved, and not having the woman he loved by his side was what had bothered him the most.

Since his basketball days, he’d invested in the stock market and a few urban renewal projects. Some stocks lost money, but the majority of his investments were making money. His urban renewal projects provided him with a community focus and reminded Noel of his desire to do more for his people. So, he’d put his hat in the race for the House of Representatives. They were acting like clowns right now with John Boehner as their leader, but Noel was still convinced that he could get in there and do some good. His campaign manager had warned him that the race would be an uphill battle because of all the drinking and womanizing he’d done in the past, but Noel had assured Ian that he was on solid ground. Now Noel wondered how many votes Ian would predict that he’d lose because of an illegitimate child.

“Do you want to pray, Noel?” Donald finally asked.

“I’m not sure what I want right now, Donald. I just know that I’m starting to feel that same hurt that drove me to the bottle in the first place.”

* * *

“Mommy, Mommy, do I smell French toast?” Jaylen asked as she ran into the kitchen with her grandmother trailing behind.

Jaylen’s favorite breakfast was French toast, and considering the news that Ryla had to deliver this morning, she figured that she’d better step her game up from the Cap’n Crunch, cereal she let Jaylen eat on Saturday morning. “And check it out,” Ryla boasted. “I got you some strawberry syrup, powdered sugar and whipped cream.”

Jaylen jumped for joy. “Just like we put on the waffles. Is this a special day or something?”

Okay, maybe she went a bit overboard, but it wasn’t every day that a little girl met her father for the first time. Noel had been so angry last night that he hadn’t told her what time he would be back today. But she wasn’t concerned about that, because if she knew nothing else, she knew that Noel Carter would be ringing her doorbell at his earliest convenience today. “It’s not a special day, honey. But let’s hurry up and eat, because there is something I’d like to talk to you about.” Ryla turned and looked at her mom with imploring eyes. “Do you think you can hang out with us for a little while this morning?”

Juanita Evans-Berkley gave her daughter a big Texas smile as she sat her Coach purse down on the counter. “Are you kidding? For French toast with strawberry syrup, I’ll hang out with y’all all day.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Ryla said, grateful that she would have a shoulder to lean on today. “Well, ladies, help me set the table so we can eat.”

Ryla went to the refrigerator and took out the apple juice and orange juice, while Juanita took the plates out of the cabinet. Jaylen grabbed the napkins and forks. As Ryla put three glasses on the table her hand was shaking a bit.

Juanita glanced at Ryla. “Is everything okay?”

Ryla poured apple juice for Jaylen and then picked up the orange juice to pour herself and her mother a glass. “Sure, everything’s okay,” she said. But then the doorbell rang and Ryla almost dropped the juice. She gripped the orange juice bottle with a firmer hand and poured the juice in the glasses. She then put both juices back in the refrigerator and started chewing on her index finger.

“What’s wrong?” her mother asked.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Ryla hurriedly said. “Why do you think something’s wrong?”

“Well, for one thing, you’re chewing on your finger. You only do that when you’re trying to figure out how to get out of something. The doorbell has rung twice so far, but you haven’t yet moved an inch to answer it.”

Ryla took her finger out of her mouth and stepped away from the stove. “Can you fix Jaylen’s plate while I go and see who’s at the door?”

“Sure thing, hon,” her mother said with a lifted brow.

Ryla took baby steps all the way to the front door. She fully expected Noel to show up again today, but not at ten in the morning. She had hoped he would at least give her until noon to break the news to their daughter. But as she looked out the peephole at the double-fudge fine black man standing on her porch, her suspicions were confirmed. She had to take a moment to study his face before opening the door. From his short fade to the well-manicured goatee, to his Hershey’s Kiss chocolate skin, everything on Noel was perfection.

Well, everything but the scowl on his face as he pushed the buzzer several times in a row. Ryla swung the door open. “My goodness, do you really need to wake the neighborhood?”

“I’ve been standing here for five minutes. And I know it doesn’t take that long to get to the front door in your house.”

Was that supposed to be some sort of crack about the size of her house?
She put her hand on her hip and protested, “I was busy. And you did come over here without calling first.”

“Do I have your number?” Noel rhetorically asked.

Noel’s voice was rising, so Ryla stepped out on the porch and closed the door behind her. “You might want to keep it down a bit.”

With nostrils flaring, Noel said, “I didn’t come over here to play games with you, Ryla. Is Jaylen home this morning or not?”

Nodding, she said, “She and my mother just arrived. But I haven’t had time to tell her about you yet.”

“When do you suppose you’ll get around to that?” he asked, in a sarcasm-infused tone.

“She’s eating breakfast right now. I was going to tell her as soon as she finished.” She tried to shoo him off the porch. “So, can you just come back in about an hour or two?”

Noel’s feet were firmly planted. “I’m not leaving until I meet Jaylen, so I hope you’ve fixed enough breakfast for me.”

“Why do you have to be such a bully? Can’t you understand that I need to break this to Jaylen gently?” Ryla knew that denying Jaylen the access to her father was wrong, even though her reason for doing so was to save her daughter from heartache later down the line. Ryla needed to clean up her own mess. She needed to make sure she didn’t do any further harm to her daughter.

“I thought you said that she’s been asking to meet me for a year now.” He looked at her as if they were having a “duh” moment. “The simplest thing to do would be for both of us to go in there, sit down with Jaylen and tell her how you kept her from me all these years.”

Ryla’s mouth fell open. “You wouldn’t dare do something like that.”

“You don’t think so...? Watch me.” Noel stepped away from Ryla and put his hand on the doorknob.

Ryla grabbed his arm. “Okay, okay, you win.”

He turned back around. “And what exactly have I won, Ryla?”

“You don’t have to leave. I’ll go inside and talk to Jaylen right now, just go back to your car for a minute.”

With a raised eyebrow he asked, “How long?”

“Give me ten minutes.” As he got ready to step off the porch, Ryla grabbed his arm again. “You won’t say anything bad about me to Jaylen, will you?”

“That depends,” Noel said with a devilish grin. “Have you been saying anything bad about me in all these years that you’ve had her to yourself?”

Shaking her head at the notion, Ryla said, “That’s ridiculous, Noel. I’ve never said a bad word about you to Jaylen!”

“Oh, you haven’t said anything bad about me to Jaylen, so just who have you been running me down to?”

Before Ryla could think of a way to avoid telling Noel that she had indeed been talking about him to her two closest friends, Danetta and Surry, the front door opened. Ryla swung around and, as if in slow motion, she watched Jaylen look up at Noel and make the connection.

Ryla panicked. “Go back in the house for a minute, Jaylen. Mommy is talking to someone right now,” Ryla said breathlessly.

But Jaylen swung open the screen door and jumped into Noel’s arms and kissed his face. “Daddy! I’m so glad you came. I’ve been waiting my whole life to meet you.” She kissed him again as she said, “Now I know why Mommy fixed my favorite breakfast. This is a special day.”