Easier Said Than Done (24 page)

I turned and leaned on the front gate. I wasn't happy to know that Damon and my grandmother had been discussing me behind my back, but I didn't want to make the situation worse by getting mad. I forced my lips into a smile. “Well, whatever the case may be, I'm glad that we talked. And I am glad that we got some things cleared up. But that other thing that happened last night was a mistake.”

Damon laughed and shook his head. “You can't even say it? We made love, Kingston. That's what happened last night and it was incredible.”

His words brought back the steamy images with the force of a mack truck, and a fiery warmth started in my stomach before exploding through my entire body.

“Okay, I admit it.” I lowered my voice to a whisper. “We're definitely compatible in a sexual sense. But that's not enough for me. I won't compromise what I believe.”

Damon placed his hands on my shoulder, his brown eyes smoldered. “What compromise? I still love you, Kingston, as much, if not more than, I used to. I know this sounds cliché, but that kind of love just doesn't die.”

“It may not have died, but something happened to it. I don't owe you an explanation, Damon, I just need more.”

“You're not giving it a chance to be more.”

I poked my finger in his chest and replied through clenched teeth, “No, you didn't give it a chance to be more. Goodbye, Damon.” I turned and walked back into the house, managing to pass the open mouths and prying stares with my head held high. But when I reached my bedroom, I threw myself on the bed and dissolved into tears. My head was telling me that leaving Damon was the right thing based on what had happened in the past; but my heart was screaming, “not again.” Because like it or not, I had fallen back into Damon's trap.

The pain, loneliness, and despair came rushing back the same as it did ten years ago. I knew that the heartache would go away. I'd learned that lesson well. No matter what, there was always an end to the pain; always an end to the heartache.

When the stream of tears dried up five minutes later, I packed my bags, and let Bianca drive me to the airport.

Chapter 19

“All right, girl, give me the news. You've made me wait long enough.” I snapped my seatbelt in place, then flipped the visor down and checked the mirror. My hair and makeup were still in place—even after the long flight; but out of habit, I brushed a coat of raspberry lip-gloss across my lips.

“No small talk?” Keela joked as she looked in her rearview mirror before switching on her left turn signal. She was doing her best to navigate through the congested airport traffic.

“Keela,” I growled in warning.

“My goodness, aren't we tense?” she joked as I rummaged through my purse for a piece of gum. She was stalling, trying to deflect the attention back to me. I stared at her until she took a deep, fortifying breath. “Well, here goes . . . I'm pregnant. You're going to be an auntie.” She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye.

I nearly choked on my Doublemint. “What! Get outta here,” I exploded, socking her in the arm.

“Ouch,” she said, massaging the bruised spot.

“Why did you wait so long to tell me? When? How?” I paused. “Forget that. I know how.”

“Take a deep breath, girl." Keela giggled. “I know it's a shock. But this is a good thing. I'm ready to be a mommy.”

“How far along are you?”

Keela wrinkled her nose and shrugged. “About eighteen weeks now, halfway through my second trimester. I was trying to wait before I told everyone. My doctor says that first babies are tricky, that they don't always stay, so I wanted the risk of miscarriage to go down before I started spreading the good news.”

“I'm not everyone,” I protested.

“I know, sweetie, but you had so much going on. I wanted you to get through that first, then tell you face to face.” Keela merged onto the highway, traffic flowing well for this time of day. “I'm gonna be a mama,” she said, gently patting her tummy.

“You're going to be a mommy!” I inhaled the wonder of it, let the enormity of the situation settle in and happiness flooded my heart. If anyone deserved to be a mother, it was Keela. She was a nurturer, a caretaker.

Keela continued to take side-peeks, gauging my reaction, waiting for me to explain the frown that now furrowed my brow.

“Go on and ask me,” she said quietly. "You're dying to know, so go on and ask me who my baby daddy is.”

“I didn't know there was a baby daddy. I thought you went to a sperm bank and was going to list ‘test tube' as the father on the birth certificate,” I suggested with a half smile, though secretly wishing that really were the case.

“Oh, you got jokes?” Keela blustered as if she were upset, but couldn't quite pull it off. Soon her whole body was jiggling and covering her mouth couldn't even contain the giggles.

“So?” I prodded.

“So, what?”

“Who's the baby's daddy?”

“Brandon.”

“Brandon who?”

“What do you mean, Brandon who?” Keela's face screwed up and suddenly the thought of Brandon being the baby's father pissed me off.

“Like I said, Brandon who? You must have met somebody new, because I know you are not talking about Brandon Charles: Brandon, ‘I can't keep my hands off other women,' Charles;
or Brandon, ‘I need more, so I dumped you after you slaved over Christmas dinner for two days,' Charles; certainly not Brandon, ‘I'm thirty-eight, but still don't have anything to call my own,' Charles; not the same Brandon Charles who had two of his other women three-waying you just to call you all kinds of sluts and hos non-stop for a week? Stop me when I've got the wrong Brandon Charles.”

Keela didn't respond, but one look at her told the story. Her eyes shone with unshed tears and my heart sank. I saw the sadness in her eyes and knew I needed to find the sweetness in the situation. I didn't want to see this as just another mess that Brandon Charles had created.

“Oh, honey.” I covered her hand with mine and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“I can't help that I love him, Kingston.” She gave me a watery smile, the tears splashing on her cheeks.

“I know, Keela. And I'm sorry. I just worry about you, and this relationship has not been the most solid. I wonder how healthy this is going to be for the baby.”

“Just be happy for me.”

“I am, but . . .”

“No buts, Kingston, be happy for me. We didn't plan to have a baby, but Brandon says he wants us to be a family, and for my child, I'm willing to try. If it doesn't work, I'll handle it. Regardless of the outcome, I need you and Essence more than ever.”

“And you know we've got your back, no matter what. And I am happy for you, Keela. No more lectures, promise.” I held up my hands in a gesture of peace.

“I'll believe that when I see it,” Keela said, exiting from the Dan Ryan and turning onto 47th street. “Now tell me about the trip. I'm dying to hear about Damon. And don't leave out anything, Kingston. Not a damn thing—I want to know everything!”

I sank down in my seat and looked out the window as we passed the Java Hut coffee shop on the left, Lee's Nails on the right and two bums standing on the corner ahead. The snow had melted to a grayish slush that had dulled the normally brilliant glow of the city; but it was good to be home.

“Kingston,” Keela said as she braked at a red light and looked at me. “You're not saying anything.”

I shrugged and picked at some chipped polish on my nails. “Sorry, but there's not much to tell; just a lot of family drama. It's sad the things relatives will do over money—money, no one even knew Mama Grace had.” Adjusting the vents on the dashboard, I said, “But I can't be
worried about that. I'm have to call my grandmother's attorney in the morning, break down my situation and see what he says. As far as Damon goes, well, he's the same old Damon. I'll tell you everything when we see Essence so I don't have to repeat it. I'm just glad to be home and away from all that mess.”

“Have you called Randy?”

“No, and don't plan on it.” Randy hadn't crossed my mind in close to three days and I didn't want to think about him now. Of course, I left out the part that Randy hadn't bothered to get in touch with me either.

Keela started to push for more details, but one look at my frown and she let it rest, rambling about baby stuff for the remainder of the ride home. Vertebrae by vertebrae, I relaxed. Now that I was home, I could work on trying to get some semblance of normalcy back into what had become my life.

* * *

Two hours later, after making a drive-by stop at my house to dump my suitcases and calling Jonetta to let her know I had made it home—Essence, Keela, and I sat around a high round table at a local pub on 51st street. We smiled as the waitress set frosty mugs of Margaritas
in front of us. Essence and I had requested ours be made with double shots of Grand Marnier while Keela's was non-alcoholic.

“I'll be right back with your appetizers.” The waitress flashed a dazzling smile before swishing off to the next table.

After two sips, Essence turned to me. “Start talking.”

“You guys don't waste any time, do you?” I kidded. “Can I take a sip first?”

“Yes,” she answered with a straight face, “but just one.”

“You are a trip!” I threw my head back, laughing so loudly that people sitting near us also looked to see what the commotion was about. Essence didn't find it funny at all.

Clearing my throat, I said, “Everything was a mess. Come to find out during the reading of the will, Mama Grace was a millionaire. Can you believe it? A millionaire,” I repeated as their faces reflected their shock. “I was sending her money every month like she was barely scraping by and she was sitting on a truckload of dough. Apparently, she saved all of her money and invested wisely.”

I took another sip, the lime from the margarita tickling the roof of my mouth. “She put the majority of the money into an estate trust fund, designed to support different programs like scholarships, but here's the kicker—she allotted thirty thousand dollars a year to help Damon
with his clinic. And to top it off, Mama Grace chosen me to be the administrator. She left me the house and everything. So you know my aunt and uncle are up in arms because they feel they've been cheated out of some huge inheritance.”

Keela and Essence sat back, taking it all in. Their eyes widened when I mentioned the part about Damon, but they didn't say anything. They would work their way back to that juicy tidbit, wanting to clear up the preliminaries first.

“How are you going to be the administrator of a fund in Jamaica when you live in Chicago?” Essence raised an eyebrow. Before I answered, the waitress placed our Buffalo wings and mozzarella cheese sticks on the table.

I filled a plate. “I have no idea. I'll be talking to the attorney first thing in the morning. In her letter, Mama Grace said that she left me the house in order to,” I used my fingers as quotation marks, “encourage me to stay and take care of the estate fund. But I can't see giving up my life here. Damon thinks she did it to bring us back together.”

“Why would he think that?” Keela munched on a hot, spicy chicken drummette, licking stray sauce from the corner of her mouth.

“Isn't that going to give you gas?” I asked, concerned at the amount of wings Keela was consuming. “I've heard about how delicate the stomachs of pregnant women can be.”

“Trust me,” Essence cut in. “That hasn't been a problem for her. She eats like food is going out of style.” She twisted her nose and looked at Keela's belly. “You're gonna be so fat.”

Keela made a face and kept right on eating. “Don't try to change the subject, answer my question.”

“Apparently he spent a lot of time talking to Mama Grace while he was taking care of her and I guess some of those conversations were about me.”

Essence wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Yeah, but to think based on those conversations, she would leave you the house just to get you and Damon back together seems like a stretch. There's got to be more to it than that,” she concluded, signaling the waitress for another drink.

I blushed and stuffed a cheese stick in my mouth. “I knew it! There is more,” Essence declared, clapping her hands and pointing at me. “Why do I always have to pull teeth with you, Kingston?”

“All right.” I held up my hands in surrender. “There's more. Damon and I talked after Mama Grace's funeral. We went back to his house where he tried to explain why things
happened the way they did. It wasn't the best of explanation, but I guess it was better than nothing.”

“Yada, yada, yada,” Essence said and motioned with her hands. “Get to the good part.”

“She's working her way to it, Essence, be patient,” Keela chastised and put her hand lightly over Essence's mouth.

“We talked in his hot tub,” I admitted, ducking my head.

“See, I told you. That's what I'm talking about, Kingston.” She slapped palms with Essence, then held her hand up to me for a high five, which I gave to her half-heartedly, still a bit ashamed that I let my guard down so easily.

“We talked in his hot tub and then, we didn't talk in the hot tub.” I popped another cheese stick in my mouth.

“You did the nasty with Damon! Such a slut!” Essence said, before sticking a finger in her mouth, then touching it to her butt. “A sizzling hot mama!”

“Shhhh, Essence, people are staring,” I said and leaned forward. “It started innocently enough. We were drinking wine and talking, then he told me he loved me and it was pretty much over.”

Essence put her face right up in mine and tugged on a stray curl of hair. “So, let me get this straight. All he had to do was tell you that he loves you and you fell right back into step?”