The Johnson Sisters (22 page)

 

The gang was all here, aside from Dawn, who I didn't want to be here anyway for what I had to tell my sisters. It was still early in the day, so we were all dressed down in jogging pants and tees. Even Phoenix was dressed down in a pair of black-and-white geometric-print leggings and a long black top. She even had her hair still wrapped up. She was on Viv's sofa with her feet beneath her, lying down like she was getting ready to go back to sleep.

“Viv, you didn't cook breakfast for us?” Phoenix asked.

“No, I did not. Besides, it's close to lunchtime.”

“Then you don't have any lunch made for us?” Phoenix griped sleepily.

“Again, no, I do not. How many fast food places did you pass on your way over here? You should have picked me up something to eat,” Vivian retorted.

“I didn't stop and get anything because I figured you were going to cook.”

“I've never cooked breakfast or lunch for you guys. You know we usually do dinners.”

“You could have made an exception this time. Now what am I going to do? I'm starving,” Phoenix said with her arms clamping down on her stomach like she had bad cramps.

“I got some leftover lasagna in there,” Viv told her.

Phoenix jumped up with a quickness and ran to Viv's kitchen.

Viv looked at me as I shook my head and we both made our way to the kitchen. When we walked in, Phoenix was placing the lasagna on the counter. She also pulled out a bowl filled with tossed salad, along with taking out two different salad dressings.

“I guess you weren't lying when you said you were hungry,” I said to Phoenix.

“Y'all know I'm not usually up this early on a Saturday. My body is not used to this,” she said, taking the red plastic lid off the long glass dish. She retrieved a spatula and cut a nice-sized piece of lasagna, placing it on a clear glass plate. She then went over to the microwave above the stove, placed the food inside, and set the timer to heat for two minutes.

“Where's Shauna?” I asked, eager to get this little meeting started.

“Here I am,” she said, walking into the kitchen. “I hope you don't mind I let myself in, Viv.”

Shauna was the last to arrive and shocked the hell out of us when she came bopping her behind in there with a big bruise on the cheek. We all were ogling her, but she had the biggest smile on her face.

“I wouldn't be smiling if I had that bruise on my face,” Phoenix blurted. “What happened to you?”

“It's a long story that I don't feel like discussing.”

“You better tell us something,” Viv retorted.

“Uhhh, you guys,” Shauna said.

“Spill it,” I said.

“Okay. Cal showed up at my place this morning and—”

“Please tell me that fool is locked up,” Phoenix said, cutting Shauna off like she didn't want to hear any more details. “Because if he isn't, I'm going to call our cousins to handle this fool once and for all.”

“Cal is locked up for violating his restraining order, and the man who came to my rescue is Grayson.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Who in the hell is Grayson?” Phoenix asked with a frown on her hungry face.

“He's my boss and my new man,” Shauna revealed, grinning from ear to ear.

The microwave beeped and Phoenix opened it to retrieve her heated pasta. The steam rose from it as she placed it down on the island. While Phoenix turned her attention to her food, me and Vivian went back to talking to Shauna.

“You can't be in a relationship with your boss,” Viv said.

“Yes, I can,” Shauna replied.

“Isn't that a violation of some code of ethics?” I asked.

“It might be, but we are keeping things cool until I find me another job.”

“Shauna, did Cal hit you in the head too many times? Because you are talking crazy. One minute you down and depressed about this man beating your behind, and the next we know, you are in a new relationship with your boss,” Phoenix said.

“Yes, pretty much, but Cal ain't beat me in the head too many times. Hell, maybe that needed to happen in order to find the man who is meant for me,” Shauna explained.

All of us stood there looking at Shauna like she had lost her mind. I knew my mouth was open. She didn't pay any attention to me as her happy behind walked over to Phoenix.

“Ooohh, that smells good. Can I get some? I'm starving,” Shauna said, reaching to take the fork out of Phoenix's hand to taste her heated food.

“Oh, no you are not. I don't know where your mouth has been,” Phoenix said.

“It's been the same place yours has been,” Shauna shot back.

“Which is the exact reason why you shouldn't be eating after me.”

“Point taken. I'll fix my own,” Shauna said, going over to the cabinet and retrieving a plate to fix her own lasagna to heat up in the microwave.

“Can we get this little meet and greet started before you heifers eat everything in my kitchen?” Viv joked.

We climbed up on the barstools at the island and watched Shauna fix her food and Phoenix eat.

“Okay. I called us together to tell you something I found out about our sister.”

“What? She finally came to her senses and decided not to marry Corey?” Phoenix kidded.

“No. I haven't spoken to Dawn.”

“Then what is this about?” Shauna asked.

“If you two motor mouths will shut up, I will tell you.”

“Okay. Go ahead,” Phoenix said with frustration as she squeezed ranch dressing on her salad.

“Our sister is a porn star,” I blurted. I knew there was no other way to say it but to say it.

The room fell silent. I looked around at each of my sisters to see all eyes were on me. It was like someone had pushed a paused button on our life, and I was ready for the playback to continue.

“Did y'all hear me?” I asked.

“I think we heard you, but we are not sure if we heard you right,” Viv said, looking baffled.

“Come into the living room. I have something to show you,” I said, jumping down from my stool. Viv and Phoenix were right behind me, but Shauna was too busy fixing her food.

“Don't start without me,” she yelled.

When I popped that disc into Viv's Blu-ray player and turned her television on, the same visual of our sister's room came on the screen. It wasn't long before my sisters were watching Dawn in action.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Viv said in astonishment.

“I told you,” I said, looking over at her stunned face.

“What does she think she's doing?” Viv asked.

“Well, it looks like she's getting hammered by some dude,” Phoenix said with a mouthful of food.

“I can see that,” Viv retorted. “But what is she thinking?”

“Evidently she's not,” I said.

“And here we were thinking little miss innocent Dawn was a prude. She's the biggest freak of us all,” Phoenix responded.

“Who knew she was a whore?” Shauna said, taking a sip of wine before putting a forkful of food into her mouth.

“How? What? Who gave you this disc?” Viv stammered.

“Tyree showed this to me. His boy brought it over to him after coming across it.”

“So people have seen this?” Viv asked.

“Isn't that what porn is made for, for the enjoyment of others watching?” Phoenix said.

“I'm calling her,” Viv said, getting up and going over to her phone.

“For what? She is on her way over here. Besides, what are you going to say to her?” I asked.

“I don't know,” Vivian snapped.

“Don't get mad at me. I thought you guys should know,” I said in my defense.

“What else is going to happen?” Viv asked no one in particular.

“Viv, you might want to sit back down before you make that call, because that's not all I have to show you.”

The looks on their faces told me everything. They couldn't believe I had to reveal something else to them. Little did they know the next video I would be showing could permanently destroy the sisterly bond we were struggling so hard to maintain. For a moment I wondered if I should show it at all, but there were enough secrets among us. This needed to come out, although I hated to bring more damaging revelations to our slowly diminishing family.

 

All eyes were on me now. My fork was midair when all of a sudden I lost my appetite. A day that had started out great, turning ugly to end up amazing, had all of a sudden taken another dark turn down a road I was not ready to travel.

Vivian was standing across the room with her arms folded across her chest, watching with her mouth slightly open. Serena was sitting on the sofa, looking at me distrustfully, while Phoenix was still chomping on her food, glaring at me like she was waiting for an explanation. All of them were waiting on one, but I didn't have any words to say.

I reached over and put my plate down and replaced it with the glass of wine I had before me. I turned the glass up to my mouth and finished what was left in the glass. Lucky for me, I had brought the bottle into the living room with me. I quickly poured me another and took a large sip before the silence between us was broken.

“Seriously, Shauna,” Viv said, being the first one to speak. “How could you?”

I looked at Serena, who dropped her head in disgust, I guessed. The shame and humiliation was taking over.

“Say something,” Viv demanded.

“What is there to say?” I finally spoke.

Nervously pivoting from one foot to the other, Viv said, “Explain yourself.”

“What can I say? I was wrong.”

Serena rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms across her chest. Both she and Vivian were blocking me out, while Phoenix was finishing up the last bit of her food.

“And y'all thought I was the whore,” Phoenix said.

I glared at her.

“Well, it's true. All y'all were worried about how I get my money, and we had two sisters bouncing their ass for the world to see.”

“You guys. I'm not a whore,” I told them.

“Then what does this make you look like? You were so quick to call Dawn one a few minutes ago, yet your ass is up on that screen doing the exact same thing,” Vivian said, pointing to the fifty-inch flat panel hanging on her wall.

I was just as shocked as they were to see myself appear on the television, but what made this revelation even worse was the fact that my debut performance was being performed with Dawn's fiancé.

“You slept with Corey?” Vivian asked.

“It was a few times,” I tried to explain.

“What's a few?” Viv asked.

“I don't know. Ten. Twenty.”

“That's not a few. That's an affair,” Phoenix interjected, putting her now empty plate down on the coffee table.

“That's our sister,” Vivian stressed.

“She's our half sister, okay? And one I never asked for,” I said angrily.

“You didn't ask for us either,” Viv shot back.

“True, but at least we came from the same people. She was created through deceit and mistrust.”

“So that gives you the right to betray her?” Serena finally butted in.

“I tried to tell her he was no good,” I explained.

“Why? So you could have him all to yourself?” Serena snapped.

“I didn't want him. We just had a sexual thing. I didn't want to marry him.”

“Just sex, huh? Isn't that what it was for our dad?” Viv asked coldly. “Didn't he sleep with Dawn's mother for just sex?”

I couldn't say anything. It's funny because I'd never looked at it like that. Talk about a smack in the face.

“How are you any different than Dawn's mother?”

Hearing Vivian say that stung more than I was prepared to receive. I dropped my head in disgrace and clasped my hands in front of me, wringing them nervously. Vivian's words did hurt, but that didn't stop me from coming back at her.

“Dawn and Corey are not married, so what's the problem?” I asked angrily.

“But you were going to let her marry him knowing what you two had done together?”

“Would it have made a difference? I tried to talk her out of it. I mean, look at how many women Corey has been with and she stayed by his side. She accepted his hand in marriage for goodness' sake, so why should I care?”

“You don't think that if she knew Corey stooped so low as to sleep with her very own sister it could have changed her mind?” Serena asked.

“I don't know, and to be honest, I don't care. I'm tired of pretending I have been cool with Dawn joining our family. Looking at her every day reminded me constantly of the betrayal Daddy did to our mom. She died with this burden on her heart. That could have been one less thing Mama had to deal with before she left this world.”

“Mama was at peace about everything and you know it. If she weren't, she wouldn't have taken Dawn in as her own,” Viv explained.

“How do you know? Mama could have died of a broken heart.”

“Do you know our mother at all? That woman was so strong. She had the strength to forgive our father and raise the child he had with his mistress. You know Mama never faked anything for nobody, not even Daddy. When she kicked him out, she meant it; but when she took him back, she meant that, too. Mama left this world knowing she was going home to be with Jesus. Her main priority in life was to live the best life possible and treat people to the best of her ability. Mama was a great woman. She knew there was no need to hold grudges because that would hinder her from getting into God's Kingdom,” Vivian explained.

I knew she was telling the truth. Mama's main purpose in life was to live right, because she wanted heaven to be her home once this earthly world was done for her.

“I think you can't forgive what happened, Shauna,” Serena said. “You can't put this on Mama.”

“Maybe you are right,” I said.

“And that anger has allowed you to be another one of Corey's pawns,” Phoenix said.

“I didn't know he was recording us,” I said.

“If Dawn finds out about this . . .”