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Authors: Mary Monroe

BOOK: God Don't Make No Mistakes
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CHAPTER 16
R
HODA MET ME AT THE FRONT DOOR OF HER LOVELY RANCH-STYLE
house. She gave me a brief hug and led me in by my hand. She had two double shot glasses of Jack Daniels with Coke already on a tray on her living room coffee table. I was glad because a strong drink was certainly what I needed after the mob scene that I'd just fled. I snatched a glass off the tray and immediately took a long swallow.
“I was goin' to fix us some iced tea, but I had a feelin' you'd want,
need,
somethin' a lot stronger,” Rhoda said, giving me a pitiful look. “You've got a crisis goin' on, but a drink will make you feel better, or so damn bad you won't care.”
I took another sip from my glass so fast I hiccupped before I even swallowed. “You got that right. Boy, do I wish we could go back to the days when a ‘strong' drink for us meant a Pepsi or a cup of black coffee.” A great sadness consumed me. There was a time when a “crisis” to Rhoda and me meant a broken fingernail.
“We were teenagers then. But even though life had already bitten us in the ass, we were smart enough not to use alcohol as a crutch like some of our classmates did,” Rhoda pointed out, taking a long drink.
“Those were the good old days,” I sighed, nodding in agreement.
Rhoda shook her head. “But the only reason we weren't guzzlin' wine and the serious shit like vodka and rum back then was because we weren't old enough to buy it.”
I laughed. “Yeah, that is so true.” I gave Rhoda a pensive look. “How come the house is so quiet?” I asked, looking around. Rhoda had hired an interior decorator to make her home the showpiece that it was. She'd recently replaced her white shag carpets with a dazzling maroon and black print. The living room was filled with luxurious period mahogany. Framed pictures of her loved ones, my family and me included, dominated every wall in the large room, even the space above her fireplace. There was also a beautiful Japanese vase on the mantel above the fireplace. My living room looked like the one on
Roseanne
. It was plain, inexpensively furnished, and even gaudy. But it was neat, clean, and comfortable.
“Bully is in the backyard fiddlin' around with that jalopy Otis bought for Jade. It doesn't matter if he gets it to run or not—she says it's not ‘cool' enough for her to be ridin' around in. That girl,” Rhoda mouthed with a look of exasperation on her face.
I gave her a mournful look. “Where's Otis?”
“He had to rush over to the plant this mornin' again. Somethin' about more union problems. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was havin' another affair. You know how the men their age do us ...”
I looked away because I didn't want Rhoda to see the pain in my eyes.
“Not that we women are any better. I don't know what I'd do if I had to give up Bully after all these years,” Rhoda confessed. “Just like you, he's been like a lifeline to me all this time. Especially when that daughter of mine is actin' up.”
“And where is that daughter of yours?” I asked, bracing myself as I shot a quick glance toward the door leading to the hallway.
Rhoda glanced at her watch and shook her head. “It's only half past noon. She's still in bed, of course. She gets up about every fifteen minutes to run to the bathroom. I keep tellin' her that that urinary infection is not goin' to clear up as long as she keeps drinkin' and runnin' out to a damn bar every other night. That girl is so damn hardheaded!”
“I'm sorry to hear that she's still sick and not behaving herself,” I muttered. “She's going to find out one day that a hard head makes a soft ass.”
“Tell me about it.” Rhoda chuckled and made a dismissive wave with her freshly manicured hand.
“So?” I said, looking around some more. Despite the fact that I was like family to Rhoda, I never took it upon myself to make myself at home until I was told to do so.
“So.” Rhoda blinked and snapped her fingers. We were still standing in the middle of her living room. “Don't just stand here! Make yourself at home, girl.” She waved me to the couch. It felt like I had just plopped down on a cloud. She sat down in the matching wing chair facing me. “Have you given much thought to what you're goin' to do about Pee Wee now?”
Before I answered, I took another drink from my glass; then I nodded. “I've given it a lot of thought, but I am not sure yet what I'm going to do. I do know that if Lizzie's baby is Pee Wee's child, he's going to be in its life as much as he is in Charlotte's. But I can't have that child in
my
life. And I am so sorry that I feel this way about an innocent child.”
“Annette, you don't have to apologize for the way you feel. I am sure that almost every other woman on this planet would probably feel the same way. But for your sake, I hope you don't make any decisions without thinkin' it through very carefully. Pee Wee has been my best male friend since he and I were in elementary school. And you and I have been friends for almost as long. Our lives wouldn't be the same if you divorced him.”
My mouth dropped open so suddenly and so wide that the jawbones on both sides of my face felt like they had been forced open with a pair of prongs. “Nothing is going to be the same whether I divorce Pee Wee or not,” I announced.
“I know that, but what do you want now? Do you want to spend the rest of your life being bitter and miserable and lonely? Or do you want to forgive and forget, and repair what was once a great relationship with a great man?”
I blinked. “I guess I do,” I replied with a shrug.
“You guess you do what?”
“You know what I mean. If I really want to remain married, Pee Wee will do.”
“Dammit, Annette. That doesn't sound very hopeful, or very romantic!”
“Women of our age don't have many choices when it comes to marriage,” I reminded.
“Woman of
any
age don't have many choices, girl,” Rhoda pointed out. “Whatever you decide to do, I will support you all the way. I know I've said that a thousand times already, but I can't say it enough. I just hope you do the right thing.” Rhoda finished her drink and set her glass back on the tray.
I glanced at my watch to check the time. For some reason, I suddenly got agitated. I was anxious to go back home now so I could hole up in my room. “I don't like to rush off, but I really should be getting back home. I don't like to leave Lillimae with the big bad wolves for too long. Old people can be pretty vicious. Daddy is not too dangerous, but Muh'Dear and Scary Mary can do more damage with their mouths than a school of piranhas.”
“Tell me about it,” Rhoda agreed. “But let's get back to Pee Wee. I have a feelin' that once you get used to the idea of that baby, you'll make the right decision about where you want to go with your marriage.”
I gave Rhoda a thoughtful look. “It's just that I don't know what the right thing is anymore, that's all. How right would it be for everybody involved if I took Pee Wee back feeling the way I do about that baby?” I finished my drink. “Let's put this subject on hold for a little while,” I suggested.
Rhoda leaped up off the chair and clapped her hands. “Well, we've made a little progress. You don't sound as bad as you did when you called me up this mornin'. I'm glad to see that. I was afraid that I was goin' to have to have you put on life support.”
“I feel all right, I guess. I just needed to get out of that house, even for just a few minutes.”
We walked to the front door arm in arm.
“Call me later,” Rhoda yelled as I shuffled off her porch.
The street cleaners were out, so I had parked two blocks from Rhoda's house. As soon as I made it back to my car, I realized I'd left my car keys on her living room coffee table. I rushed back up her walkway and onto the porch, but I didn't bother to knock. I let myself in, returned to the living room, and grabbed my keys. I had to blame my sudden urge to empty my bladder on the drink that Rhoda had served me. I made my way down to the end of the hall where the guest bathroom was located.
The house was still quiet. Just as I was leaving the bathroom, I heard voices in the kitchen, a few feet away. As soon as I realized one of the voices belonged to Jade, my breath caught in my throat, so I moved a little faster. I wanted to be out of the house before she saw me. An encounter with her, which was always hostile these days, was one thing that I didn't need right now. But then I overheard her say something that got my attention. It made me stop in my tracks. I held my breath and listened. I had to fan my ear with my hand, because what I was hearing made me sizzle with disgust.
“You know you want me,” Jade purred. “You've been wanting to stick that big fat dick of yours in my pussy ever since I was a teenager. You look at me now like I'm something good to eat. And guess what ... I am something good to eat.”
“OW! No! No, that's not de way it is! I can't be with you this way, milady! You know I can't.” It was the voice of Bully, Rhoda's long-time Jamaican lover. And it was obvious to me what was going on. I tiptoed to the kitchen doorway and peeped around the corner.
“I'm the woman you need,” Jade continued. “Don't fight the feeling, sugar!”
I could not believe my eyes and ears! I prayed that I didn't hiccup or sneeze or cough. I didn't even want to think about what Jade would say, or do, if she caught me “spying” on her.
Jade was all up in Bully's face with her hands on his shoulders. What I saw next almost made me scream. She grabbed his crotch with one hand and wrapped her other arm around his waist. He was trying to push her away and begging her to leave him alone. It did no good for him to resist. That only made the scheming little tramp more aggressive. Right at the same time that she planted a big kiss on his lips, I heard Rhoda walking down the hallway humming a Luther Vandross tune. I quickly tiptoed in the opposite direction, hiding in the laundry room beyond the den. I was shocked at what I heard next.
“Aaarrgggh! Take your filthy hands off me—you pervert! You bastard!” It was Jade, yelling at the top of her lungs. “Mama! It's a good thing you got here when you did! Uncle Bully was trying to rape me!”
CHAPTER 17
O
F ALL THE THINGS THAT I HAD EXPERIENCED, BEING A RAPE
victim was undoubtedly the one that I would never fully heal from. It had tainted most of my childhood. It was because of that abuse that I had developed self-esteem problems so severe that I didn't think I deserved anything worthwhile for years. I had even sold my body because I didn't think that I was good enough to be in a normal relationship with a man. And until I got involved with Pee Wee, and turned my life around, I had dated men who used me and took advantage of me.
In addition to myself, I had known several other females who had been either raped or inappropriately propositioned at one time or another; some more than once, or over a prolonged period of time like me. It was a traumatic experience for anyone unfortunate enough to be the victim of such a heinous crime. Girls like Jade gave us real victims a bad name.
“Mama! Oh, Mama! I'm so glad you got here in time! Uncle Bully was all over me! See how he ripped my good blouse?” Jade whimpered.
My jaw dropped and my eyes almost popped out of my head. I didn't even bother to wait around to see how Rhoda was going to react to Jade's accusation. I held my breath and tiptoed back to the living room door.
I was glad that I had parked a couple of blocks from Rhoda's house. I sprinted down the street to my car and scrambled into it so fast, I got tangled up in my seatbelt. I sped out into the street before I even closed my door. The way I was driving, weaving in and out of traffic and way over the speed limit, you would have thought that I was trying to get away from something. And I was. I didn't want any of the shit that was going to hit the fan to spatter on me. There was going to be a whole lot of that flying through the air in Rhoda's house.
There was just no telling what the outcome was going to be from Jade's latest “performance.” This girl was one of a kind. Not only had she nearly driven me crazy by sending me a bunch of nasty letters and packages, and harassing me by phone, she'd tortured other folks as well. Her targets included her ex-fiancé and her ex-husband.
When she was in college, of which she flunked out in her freshman year, she accompanied some of her friends to Cancun to celebrate spring break. Two days after she landed on Mexican soil, she fell in love with a handsome young Mexican bullfighter named Marcelo and brought him back to Ohio with her. She treated him like a docile puppy most of the time, and he acted like one. But other times she treated him like a dog she didn't like. She made crude, racist remarks to him in front of her friends and family. She made him escort her to the beauty shop and the nail salon like a bodyguard. And when she went shopping, which was several times a week, she used to make that poor Mexican go with her just so he could carry her shopping bags. Nobody, except Jade, was surprised when Marcelo left her at the altar on their wedding day.
Less than a year later, Jade latched on to a nice young man named Vernie during a visit to her older brother's home in Alabama. She got Vernie drunk, and by the time he sobered up, they were married. She dragged him back to Ohio where she beat the dog shit out of him on a regular basis. And for some of the stupidest reasons! Once she attacked him because he'd smiled at a woman on the street. Another time she tossed a pan of hot water on his head because she didn't like the “stupid look” on his face. The weapons she attacked him with included lamps, rocks, frying pans, beer bottles, her fists and feet, and anything else that she could get her hands on during her tirades.
I had gotten to know both Marcelo and Vernie fairly well. They were both really nice young men. Jade didn't deserve either one of them.
Jade finally went too far one night. She attacked Vernie with a lamp upside his head; but Vernie finally fought back. She was the one who ended up getting the dog shit beaten out of her.
Now it looked like she'd gone too far again. I decided that if she had once tried to take my man, it was not that much of a stretch for her to try to take her own mother's man.
I took the long way home, driving the city streets instead of the freeway. I needed some time alone to think and clear my head. I didn't know how I was going to respond when Rhoda informed me about Jade's latest stunt. Knowing Rhoda, she had probably already tried to reach me on my cell phone, which was in my purse and turned off. This was a conversation that I was not looking forward to.
I drove down Main Street, and on into Roscoe's neighborhood. His car was in his driveway. I was tempted to pay him a surprise visit, but I didn't give that notion much thought. Sneaking up on men was not a wise thing for a woman to do. Not even dull men like Roscoe. The last time I'd snuck up on a lover, I'd overhead a telephone conversation between him and another woman in which I was the subject being discussed—and in the most unflattering manner. Roscoe might have had something else going on that I didn't need to know about, so I drove past his house without stopping. I was near the mall, so I ducked into a bookstore and browsed for about fifteen minutes. I would have hung around longer, but as soon as I spotted Scary Mary and two of her prostitutes strolling out of a lingerie shop, I bolted. I ran all the way back to my car.
I was glad to see that my house was empty when I got home. Even Lillimae was gone. She'd left a note saying that she had gone to get her nails done, and that she was going to treat Daddy to a night out. She included a P.S. informing me that my daughter had gone shopping with my mother.
Just as I had predicted, Rhoda had left me frantic messages on my cell phone and on my home phone. She didn't say anything about what she'd walked in on in her kitchen. Her message just informed me that “all hell has broken loose” and for me to call her back as soon as I could.
My hand was shaking so hard, I could barely dial her number.
“Annette, thank God it's you! I am so glad you called me back! Girl, I am goin' stone crazy up in this house!” Rhoda yelled.
“Uh, is something the matter?” I asked.
“Oh, you will never guess this one! Hold on so I can get myself another drink.”
Rhoda was gone for several minutes. When she returned to the telephone, she was huffing and puffing like she'd been running.
“Sorry I took so long, but I had to check on Jade. She's in such a frantic state! I had to run to her bedroom and help her to the toilet so she wouldn't have another accident in her bed, or on my carpets. I was too late, but at least she didn't make as big a mess as she did a little while ago.”
“Did Jade's infection get worse?” I had expected Rhoda to tell me right off the bat what had transpired between Jade and Bully, but it seemed like she was dancing around that subject. I certainly was not going to bring it up, because as far as I knew, she didn't even know I was in the house when it happened.
“Annette, I know you've got enough problems of your own right now, and I am truly sorry that I have to burden you with more of my problems,” Rhoda apologized. “But—”
I cut her off immediately. “But nothing. Don't you worry about burdening me. You ought to know by now that your problems are my problems, and vice versa. Now tell me what in the world is going on over there?”
“It's Jade. You are not goin' to believe what happened to her!” Rhoda paused and released several heart-wrenching sobs.
“Rhoda, please pull yourself together. You need to tell me what's going on.”
“I ... I ... don't want to go into detail over the phone. I need you here in person in case I break down again.”
“I'll come right back over there. But can you give me a hint? Is Jade in some kind of trouble?”
“Oh, Annette. She is! And so is Bully! This is the worst thing that has ever happened to my family.” Rhoda stopped talking for about ten seconds. When she began to speak again, she sounded unusually calm. Not only did that surprise me, but it scared me too. “Like I said, I need to see you in person right away.”
“I'll be there as soon as I can. But I need to know one thing: Is Bully still alive?”

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