Red Hats (17 page)

Alma was physically exhausted from running back and forth to Joy’s place in Brooklyn to cook and make sure she took her medication. Alma felt Dee’s stare from across the dining table.

“Alma, I know you don’t like people to get into your business, but I wouldn’t be a friend to you if I didn’t say that I can’t see for the life of me how you can give so much time and care to a woman you don’t like and yet turn away your own son, who obviously needs you right now,” Dee blurted out.

The look on her face confirmed to Alma that this was something Dee had been keeping inside for the past week. Dee backed up in her wheelchair as Alma rose from her seat. It wasn’t until she dropped the knife and fork onto the table that Dee stopped seeing her life flash before her eyes.
She braced herself for the blow she suspected would come as Alma walked toward her. It never came. The front door opened and then closed behind Alma.

James was surprised
to see Alma at his door so early in the morning. She wasn’t wearing makeup and had on a housecoat, so he dismissed the thought of an early-morning booty call. The tears that welled up in her eyes said she needed a friend. James took her into his arms, then into his house. He made her a pot of Folgers. She’d turned him on to it and he hadn’t been able to drink anything else.

“I want to help—I need to help my son, but I don’t know where to start.”

“We’ll find him, and you tell him that. Tell him you love him and believe that he was put here to be extraordinary. Let Jesse feel your love and support, and he will have no choice but to get the help he needs.”

“What if he doesn’t?”

“What if he does?”

Alma smiled, acknowledging the concept that positive thinking was going to be the key to success.

The smell of
urine and feces was enough to make a garbage man sick in what was the third crack house she and James searched through looking for Jesse. Shadows of crackheads, both young and old, moved in the darkness.
Alma felt as if she was in a horror movie, and if James hadn’t been at her side, she knew for sure that there was no way she’d be there.

“We have to check the back. The lady said he was inside this building,” James said.

“Well, I don’t see him. All I see is a stack of clothes back here.”

Suddenly, the clothing moved, and the gaunt face of Jesse turned to look up at her.

“Momma. Is that you?” he cried.

“Oh, dear God!” Alma exclaimed at the sight of his frail body.

As James lifted Jesse from the floor, something fell from his pocket and made a muted thud on the concrete ground. Alma bent down and picked up a mouthpiece for a trumpet. She followed James as he carried her son to the waiting taxi. Alma stroked his head as he lay on her lap, moaning softly.

“My poor baby. My poor, sweet baby.”

Alma was surprised when James
asked the cab driver to stop in front of his building. She had already made up her mind that she would not beg Dee to let Jesse stay with them. Alma knew of a motel up in Harlem she could afford until she found a treatment center that fit her budget.

“James, you really don’t have to do this.”

“What if I really want to?” he replied while handing her the keys to open his apartment. “I don’t think you want to impose on Sister Dee any more than you probably feel you are. I have plenty of room, and it’s a great excuse to keep you close to me.”

“His skin looks so dry. I think he’s dehydrated.”

“I have a bottle of Gatorade in the fridge. Why don’t you
pour him some, and I’ll make you something to calm your nerves.”

The sherry that James gave Alma took effect in just three sips. Warmth came over her as James closed the guest-bedroom door quietly behind him.

“He’s sleeping now, but we need to find him a detox center before he makes up his mind that it will be too hard. Crack wasn’t designed to let you quit by your own free will.”

Alma got up
enough courage to ask Dee humbly for her contact.

“Her name is Dr. Nadiv Winters. She runs the June Retreat in upstate New York. She said there was a bed available for Jesse. Forgive me for making the call without your permission, but I figured since you didn’t hit me, you would be back to take me up on my offer,” Dee said as she handed Alma the notepaper with the address and phone number.

“This place sounds expensive.”

“It is, but Nadiv is a Red Hat and promised that you would be able to use your insurance.”

“How am I going to be able to do that?”

“Alma, don’t ask so many questions. Just take her up on the offer.”

“I don’t know how to thank you, Dee.”

“You don’t have to. It’s what our sisterhood is all about.”

Alma leaned down and kissed Dee on the cheek, thanking her.

James had rented
a car to drive them upstate. Halfway there, Jesse woke up in the backseat, and he was angry.

“Where are you taking me? Stop this car, man. I’ve got to get back out there.”

“Out there where, Jesse?” Alma asked. “I’m taking you to get some help.”

Jesse attempted to open the door and jump out.

“I swear to God, if you jump out this car, boy, I will get behind that wheel and run you over myself. Now, for the last time, sit back and shut your mouth!” Alma yelled.

Jesse saw the venom in her eyes and closed the door. He feared her more than he did falling out of a speeding car. When they reached the June Retreat, Jesse was sleeping again. Two orderlies wheeled him inside on a gurney after Alma filled out the paperwork. Nadiv Winters was a pretty, plump East Indian woman with long black hair pulled back into a perfect bun on top of her head. Her reading glasses hung by a beautiful eighteen-karat-gold necklace that caught Alma’s attention as they shook hands.

“I am happy to meet you,” she said in a thick Indian accent. “Don’t worry about Jesse at all. He will be fine. In a few weeks, you won’t even recognize him. One thing you have to promise me, and I make everyone promise this, do not under any circumstance allow him to convince you that
he is cured. It is an addict’s con game to get out before the treatment is finished.”

“Trust me, I’m not a pushover,” Alma said cockily.

“The other thing that I ask is to make yourself available for some group-therapy sessions with him in the near future.”

“Why do I need therapy?” Alma asked.

“A lot of times, the underlying causes for addiction stem from issues of resentment and anger fostered in childhood. We need to attack those issues in order to free him of his need to escape. That is the only cure to his addictions.”

For the next
few weeks, James was a great camp counselor for Alma. He could feel her inner turmoil as a concerned mother and was determined not to let her sink into the depression that beckoned her.

Every time the phone rang, Alma’s heart dropped. Most times, it was Jesse begging for her to come get him.

“I’m cured, Momma. I don’t need to be up here with all these white people. Most of them are alcoholics, anyway. They need the extra time to heal. I don’t want to do crack anymore. It’s out of my system. Please come get me.”

“Dr. Winters told me that you must complete the entire six weeks. I promised her I wouldn’t help you escape until she said you were cured, Jesse.”

“I hate it here. These people are weird. They keep talking
about God and sponsors. They get off the drugs and alcohol and get addicted to God and sponsors!” he cried.

“An addiction to God is a good thing, son. Turn your life over to him, and everything will work out fine.”

“You turned your life over to him, and what did it get you, Momma? You’re still just as mean and angry as you were when Daddy was alive,” he shot back.

“I have to go, Jesse. I will not let you take your anger out on me!”

Alma’s hands shook as she hung up the phone. Where had that come from? How could he be so disrespectful of his own mother?
I’ll bet Kenny never said such hurtful things to Stacy. I’m ashamed to be his mother,
she thought.

“Are you all right?” James asked from the seat next to her in the movie theater.

“Yes.”

“You need to turn the volume down on your thinking, Miss Alma. I can hear your thoughts over here,” James joked. “I’ll bet you don’t even know what this movie is about.”

“I’m sorry, baby. My head is somewhere else.”

“Do you want to take a walk?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never been mad while walking,” James said as they crossed the street and headed for their spot by the water.

“I love it down here.” Alma sighed. “The water is so peaceful. Even though it’s so dirty it looks like an oil spill, it still calms the soul.”

“You calm my soul, Alma,” James confessed, holding her from behind. He softly hummed “Trust in Me” into her ear.

Alma turned to face him. His eyes smiled with sincerity, and she could feel their hearts beating in perfect rhythm as they leaned against each other on the railing.

“Can I kiss you?” she asked.

James nodded as he gently pulled her toward his waiting lips. Their tongues danced slowly and both of them kept their eyes open, gazing at the lust reflected in the mirrors to their souls. The kiss was so passionate that another younger couple walking by actually stopped in their tracks and took pictures, admiring what they didn’t believe was possible for older couples.

“We’re causing a scene here,” James commented.

“Good,” she replied. This was a pleasant distraction for her. “I can do this all day.”

“Me too.”

“May I kiss you again?” she asked.

“Only if you promise to do it for an eternity.”

“I can’t promise you that.”

“Of course you can,” he said, dropping to one knee before her, with the young couple as witnesses.

“James, what are you doing?”

Looking down at him, she knew that this kind of perfect moment only happened in the movies. In fact, it had happened in the movie she just saw, but she hadn’t been paying attention the way she was right now.

“Alma, I’ve only known you for several months, and yet I feel like I’ve known you a lifetime. Your kiss, touch, and smile are all I think about. I want to make love to you. I want to see you when I wake up and hold you when I go to sleep at night. I can’t stand to be away from you. I love you, and most important, I respect you. If you would say yes to be my wife, I swear I will treat you like a queen, and I will make you the happiest woman in the world. Will you marry me?” He held open a jewelry box, revealing the most beautiful, elegant antique diamond engagement ring Alma had ever seen.

She looked over to the young woman, who had tears rolling down her cheeks. This was the proposal she had always dreamed about as a little girl.

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Say yes!” the young woman yelled as her camera flashed.

“Yes,” Alma said through tears of her own.

Dee got up
out of her wheelchair and hopped around on one foot in a celebratory jig for Alma, who was all smiles as she showed off her ring.

“I can’t believe it! I swear, I need you to pinch me and tell me I’m not dreaming.” Alma squealed with delight. “Ouch!” she said after Dee squeezed her arm hard. “I feel like the luckiest woman in the world.”

“He’s the lucky one, Alma. You have to let me tell the girls. I know how private you are, but you haven’t seen unity
until you see the Red Hats throw a wedding. How much money are we working with?”

“I don’t know. James said that he wanted me to have fun with it. His only stipulation was not to bug him too much with the planning of it. He basically just wants to show up with the rings. Maybe we should wait until James gives me the budget first.”

“Absolutely not. He said he wanted you to be his queen, right? Well, a queen has got to look like one on her wedding day. Besides, whatever he allows you, we will get it done for half of that. I know several travel agents who can get us fabulous deals on some beautiful resorts in Connecticut or Long Island by the shore. Oh, my God, I’m just as excited about this as you. How about the Bahamas for your honeymoon? There’s a sister at the Paradise Cove who works in reservations and will get you the presidential suite for a regular suite price if it’s not booked already,” Dee said as she finally sat back in her wheelchair.

The girls all
met up at Marie Callender’s for tea. Alma made sure she sat next to Dee, just in case someone tried to slip her a piece of celebration pie. They all shrieked as Alma delivered the good news. Alma could tell that Joy was putting on a brave face as she embraced her to congratulate her.

“I’m happy for you, Alma. He is a great man, and I’m sure you two will be an amazing couple,” Joy whispered.

“Thank you,” Alma whispered back.

“When y’all finish all the hugging and kissing over there, I want to tell Alma about my friend Ann’s dress shop. She has a wedding gown in the window that is something out of a storybook. Maybe I can talk her into letting you borrow it for a day,” Magdalena said.

“I’m not borrowing my wedding dress. I’d rather not get married than have to hide tags while I say my I do’s. That is so tacky!” Alma said.

“I was just throwing it out there.”

“Well, I’m throwing it right back. Thank you, but no thank you. I never had a wedding before. I just showed up at the courthouse the first time around. I want to remember this one, because I don’t plan on doing it again.”

Stacy used one
of her contacts in high society to book Alma the Montauk Yacht Club in East Hampton for a super discount as long as the wedding took place on a Sunday afternoon. The dress Alma fell in love with wasn’t her size and would take ten weeks to deliver—it was an Italian design by Antonio Bertucci, who handmade every one of his creations. So the girls surprised her with a visit from a sister who was a costume designer for films and specialized in making knockoff gowns. Freda Minx was used to working under pressure and promised to have the dress fitted and made in five weeks for the cost of the fabric.

Alma was walking on air about the wedding, but a phone call from the June Retreat brought her back to the ground quickly.