27
“Work it, girl. You know you’ve got the Midas touch.”
“Be quiet and enjoy, Big Daddy. I’m going to rub some more oil over your body. Say my name if it feels good to you.”
Giant red candles surrounded by a cluster of red and white small and medium-sized candles, lit up the room, emitting an aroma that had Victor in a trance. The room smelled of wild cherries and vanilla mixed with the scent of musk from the oils that Sheila heated and massaged into Victor’s naked body. The oil was held in a small vase that sat in a wrought iron holder, kept warm by a small well filled with candlewax that was lit and placed underneath.
A large sculptured mirror hung on one wall of the bedroom, while the rest of the room was furnished with handcrafted antique white furniture trimmed in gold. A king-size bed hugged the middle of the room, a large armoire sat on an opposite wall, and an elongated dresser sat under the enormous mirror. Two high-back winged chairs covered in a yellow silk cloth set in an antique white frame sat to either side of a small fireplace that kept Sheila and her lover, Victor Christianson, warm on cold nights. It was the room of a kept woman because Sheila’s salary was barely enough to pay the mortgage.
Victor’s arms lay at his sides, his face turned to one side. Eyes closed, Victor moaned as Sheila massaged oil from the top of his shoulders down the well of his back, moving further down until she stopped to give his buttocks a deep tissue massage. Victor moaned again.
“I don’t hear you,” Sheila whispered.
“Sheila, Sheila, Sheila,” Victor whispered.
“Say my name so I can hear you,” Sheila shouted.
“Sheilaaaaaaaa. Sheilaaaaaaaa.”
“Yeah, Momma is going to make you feel so good. Now turn over and let me finish my work. Oh, oh. You aren’t pointing at me because I’ve been a bad girl, are you?”
“Sheila, come on, baby. Stop talking and get to work. Big Daddy needs your hands to work its magic and whatever else you got up in your bag of tricks. All of my muscles are throbbing. I’ll say your name louder if you need me to.”
“Raise the roof then, Big Daddy; you and Momma are getting ready to put the fireworks on blast.”
“SHEILAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
There was a knock at the door followed by the doorbell. Mimi hesitated, took a deep breath, and then walked the few feet to answer it. First she looked through the peephole, in case the face staring back at her was Victor’s instead of the person’s she was expecting. It was Brenda’s face that stared back, and she opened the door.
Brenda still had her youthful good looks. They were both in their late-thirties, but time had been extra good to Brenda. Brenda was covered in a lightweight trenchcoat, but from the gold that dipped around her neck and hung from her earlobes, she smelled like success.
“Hello, Brenda,” Mimi said, stepping aside to let Brenda pass through.
Once inside, Brenda turned around and looked at Mimi. She tried to open her mouth, and then stifled an onset of tears. “Mimi,” was all she said before wrapping her arms around Mimi’s neck.
Tears began to fall from Mimi’s eyes as she embraced Brenda in return. They stood that way for several moments before Mimi removed her arms. Brenda did likewise. Mimi caught another tear. This wasn’t how this get together was supposed to go. Emotions were running too high and threatened to abandon what Mimi needed to say to Brenda.
“Let me take your coat.”
Brenda slid out of her coat and handed it to Mimi. Brenda wore an ivory shawl-collar cardigan of lightweight cashmere over a pair of Dereon jeans. Simple but elegant.
“I didn’t know these condos existed,” Brenda said, as she followed Brenda into the cozy living area, attempting to ease into the conversation.
“They aren’t old at all. In fact, they may be six to seven months old. I bought mine brand new. Make yourself comfortable. Would you like some wine?”
“I would, but I’m still recovering from my accident, and I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize my suit when they find the person who hit me.”
“Brenda, excuse my insensitivity. I completely forgot you were in an accident. How are you doing? Maybe this is not the right time.”
“Mimi, hold it. I’m doing real good. I’m blessed to have come out of that accident without any major trauma to my body. It was a hit and run accident and my car was totaled. They haven’t caught the person who did it yet.”
“My God, Brenda. I’m glad you’re all right.”
“I am, but I’m feeling much better because we’ve finally reconnected. I’ve missed you so much, and even after the years passed, I didn’t stop wondering. I may not have thought of you as often, but every now and then something would come up to trigger a memory. So how are you and what have you been doing since you walked out of my life?”
Mimi sat down and then got up. “Let me get my glass of wine.”
“Can’t be that bad,” Brenda said, a small frown forming on her face.
“No, no. I’m nervous after finally seeing you for the first time in nineteen years.”
“I’m still the same Brenda, more or less. You know, Mimi, I thought I’d see your name on somebody’s record label and I’d tell everyone that she was my best friend.”
Mimi stared at Brenda then looked away. “I’m a terminal disappointment, huh?”
Brenda got up from her seat. “No, you aren’t, Mimi. I’m grasping for straws, trying to understand where we went wrong.”
“We didn’t go wrong, Brenda.” Mimi went to Brenda and held her hands. “I’ve missed you, too. Not a day went by that I didn’t think of you. You were my best friend, and I loved you with all my heart. If you don’t remember anything else, remember that. Now sit down. I’m going to get that wine.”
Brenda sat down, but she was puzzled. She looked around the room and smiled at Mimi’s handiwork. She looked in the direction of the marble fireplace and saw what appeared to be a family picture. She started to get up but Mimi returned to the room.
“So why doesn’t Victor want me to see you?” Brenda asked forcefully.
Mimi wasn’t expecting Brenda’s forwardness. She remembered Brenda as more on the timid side. “We’ll get to it, but first let me tell you what I’ve been doing for the last nineteen years. I left Durham and went to Hampton, Virginia.”
“Did you continue your education there?”
“Yes, I did, and I met the most wonderful man who happens to be my husband.”
“Oh, you’re married. Is he working in Durham?”
“No, he’s a full bird Colonel in the Army. At the moment, he’s overseas getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan.”
“What a senseless war.”
“Yeah, it’s been rough. He’s served in Iraq several times.”
“So you met this wonderful man and you had a little girl.”
Brenda was pushing Mimi’s story faster than she wanted it to move. Mimi was planning to tell it a different way, but if there were patches in the story, she would smooth them out later. After all, this was why she called Brenda. To get it all out in the open. No more secrets between them, although it would be on track to hurt others…their daughters’ friendship for one.
“Yes, Raphael and I became proud parents of Afrika Nicole Bailey.”
“I can’t believe you still named your baby Afrika…that you remembered what we said a long time ago.”
“I can say the same for you, Brenda. You named your little girl Asia.” They laughed.
“Wow, that was a long time ago. So tell me about Raphael. I thought you only had eyes for…for…John…what was his last name, Mimi?”
“John Carroll.”
“Oh, John Carroll. You say his name like you’ve never stopped being friends. I thought that boy was going to die after you left without as much as a goodbye.”
“Life is funny, Brenda. I ran into John a few days ago. I went to Lake Johnson to jog, and who should I run into?”
“You’re kidding me. Just like that. It’s been a while since I’ve seen John. He’s got a bald head now.”
“Yeah, but it’s becoming.” Mimi needed to steer the conversation away from John. Not that she was obsessed with him; it was that he had now become a part of her new story. And again, she wanted to furnish the story in her own time.
“Now, Raphael, he’s the love of my life. He’s tall, a carbon copy of Vin Diesel, but darker. He has a bald head, too. When I saw him in his ROTC uniform back when we were at Hampton, I realized that I wanted a military man. All that precision built up in one body, saluting and marching to their own frat beat. But we fell in love, and Brenda, I’ve been in love with him ever since. We complete one another, and my husband feels the same about me.”
“I’m happy for you, Mimi. I really am.” Brenda looked away and down at her hands that were folded in her lap. She got up and went to the mantel and picked up Brenda’s family picture, although it had been taken when Afrika was small. “A beautiful family.”
“Thank you,” Mimi said.
Brenda put the picture back on the mantel and sat back down in her seat. She looked at Mimi, who was smiling at her. “I wish that I’d listened to you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I wish that I had never married Victor. I thought that having his child would endear him to me. Yes, he claims that he loves me and we’ve had a respectable life together, but he can’t keep his thing in his pants. He’s like a maggot when he sees a beautiful woman. He’s got to get in bed with them, blow on them, and do all kinds of filthy things, and then comes back to me expecting me to be his bitch. You just don’t know, Mimi.”
“Maybe I do.”
Brenda jumped to her feet. “I hate that son-of-a-bitch, Mimi. He’s sucked me dry. Yes, I have two wonderful children and I’ve got my practice, but at what cost? I’m constantly having to bail out his sorry ass because he’s indebted himself to his whores and my name happens to be dangling next to his when the creditors come calling. He used to be fine back in the day, but he’s a cheap imitation…like a fake Rembrandt. He’s so fake that only the old women want him now.”
“So why didn’t you leave him, Brenda? Why are you still with him if you’re so miserable?”
Brenda wiped water from her face. “Because like a fool, I still love him. For some unfathomable reason, I thought I could change him…make him love only me. I have these two children he adores without a doubt and as a couple, we’ve become limelights in our community. Partially, that’s due to Victor, but he didn’t get that job as director because he was all of that. No, it was my father who knew the university president and put in a good word for his son-in-law so that he wouldn’t look like a college graduate who couldn’t find a job and couldn’t take care of his family.”
“So how long has Victor been a director?”
“For the past fifteen years. Victor got in there and learned the job and is pretty darn good as an administrator. It’s all the extracurricular activities he has under the guise of administrator. I’m sure that Victor is having some tryst with his secretary at this very minute. They say the wife is always last to know, but I’m a psychologist, and not much gets by me. Which brings up my initial question, which is…why does Victor hate you? Why has he forbidden me to see you?”
Mimi’s eyes widened. “Forbidden, huh. Brenda you’re not going to laugh at the answer; in fact, I’m not sure how you’ll respond. I knew this moment would come, and I’m going to lay it all out there because you need to know.”
Brenda sat stoically in her seat, almost as if she was afraid to move, for sure afraid of what Mimi was about to say. “You’re scaring me, Mimi. I truly wanted us to celebrate our reunion.”
“You’re going to have to put the reunion on hold. What I’m about to say is going to change our relationship forever. I’m not sure where to begin, but all stories have a beginning, and I’m going to go back nineteen years ago when we were freshmen in college and you had discovered that you were pregnant.”
“Maybe I do need a glass of wine, if you don’t mind. I’m not sure that I’m going to like what you’re going to say to me.”
“You won’t, but promise you won’t throw the wine in my face.”
“Maybe I should leave. Maybe today isn’t the day I’m supposed to hear what you’ve got to say.”
“Today is the day,” Mimi said. “It’s time for me to face this thing head on. I’m afraid if I don’t, someone will get hurt…maybe killed.”
Brenda stood up again and shook her hand at Mimi. “What are you talking about, Mimi?” Tears began to fall from Brenda’s eyes. “Tell me right now. Stop stalling and tell me why you ran away… why you didn’t have the guts to tell me you were leaving. You were my best friend for God’s sake. I needed you. When you left, I had no one…no one. I was left to shoulder the burden of my baby all by myself.”
“Listen to you, Brenda. I couldn’t stay because I had issues of my own. I couldn’t help you because I couldn’t help myself. I realized that you needed me, but who was going to be there for me?”
“What are you talking about?” Brenda cried.
“Victor raped me. Now you know. I’ll get that glass of wine now.”
There was a long pause. Brenda stood stiff in the middle of the room like she had turned into a pillar of salt. “What did you say? Did you say Victor raped you?”
Mimi wasn’t sure if she should give Brenda a hug or wait until she had grasped the gravity of what she had heard. “Yes, Brenda, that son-of-a-bitch raped me. I couldn’t tell you; I couldn’t tell anyone.”
“Do you have something stronger than wine?”
“I don’t want you going out on me until I’ve finished my story. I’ll be right back.”
Brenda flopped back down in the chair while bubbles burst from her nose. Tears rolled down her face like a reservoir had been broken. She wiped her face with the back of her hand and tried to hide her emotions by bringing both hands in front of her face.
“Here’s a box of Kleenex and your wine,” Mimi said with sad eyes. “We’ll both need the box when I’m through.”
“When did he rape you?” Brenda asked with accusing eyes.
Mimi looked right through her. “It was the day you asked me to speak to him about his not having to bear the responsibility of your pregnancy, but you wanted to be with him anyway. He was drunk, Brenda, and that sorry son-of-a…I’m sorry. I hate dredging this up. Victor pulled me inside and started talking crazy. I tried to leave but he went crazy. He tore off my clothes and threw me down on the floor. Then…then he pulled down his pants while holding me down on the floor…and it happened.
“When he finished, he let me up and said to me, now go and tell Brenda that I f’d you. Brenda, I wanted to run and tell you, but I was so ashamed. I had to run to my room with my clothes all torn up. I prayed that you wouldn’t be there when I got there. You weren’t, thank God, and I did my best to cover it up until I missed my period the next month. Right then, I couldn’t stay there.”
“Why didn’t you report it to the police?”
“I don’t know. In some part because I realized that it would hurt you, and I couldn’t risk losing our friendship.”
“But you ran away. What’s the difference?”
“The difference is that no one knew. I didn’t even tell Victor. I called my parents and they came to my rescue. We only had a few weeks until the end of the semester, and no one would question my disappearance until school started again.”
“You knew that I would.”
“Yes; that was the disheartening part of this.”
“So tell me, Mimi. Is Afrika Victor’s daughter?”
Mimi sat still and took a sip of her wine. “Yes.”
“So why in hell did you come back to Durham after all these years to disrupt me, my family, and your family, for God’s sake? Why, Mimi? Why did you come back here?”
“Because my daughter wanted to go to NC Central. I tried to talk her out of it. We were living in Kansas at the time. My husband was about to deploy to Europe, and Afrika wouldn’t take no for an answer. I would’ve gone with my husband, but after Afrika insisted on going to Central and had put the paperwork in herself and got accepted, I had no recourse but to support my child. I thought, just maybe, we could slide into Durham for four years and slide out the way we came, and life would go on as usual. Who would’ve thought that your daughter and my daughter would become best friends?”
“Just like you and me. Who would’ve thought it? Now Asia has a half-sister. I remember there was some talk about their similarities when Afrika first came to the house, but now I know why Victor was squirming.”
“He didn’t know, Brenda. He must’ve put two and two together; soon after Afrika was at your house, he paid me a visit.”
“You mean Victor has been to this house?”
“Yes, he has. He threatened me, put his hands on me, and told me that if Afrika and I didn’t leave the city, he was going to make life a living hell for us.”
“Weren’t you afraid?”
“In the beginning I was, but the more threats he made against me, I resolved to stay and fight. Yes, I thought of taking Afrika out of school, but Victor Christianson wasn’t going to make me run anymore.”
“Why should I believe your side of the story? What if you were the one who put the moves on Victor? You were talking against him pretty strong. Maybe that was so I’d lose interest and you could have him.”
“Brenda, don’t do this. I hate Victor with all of my being. It’s wrong to hate, and God knows I want to make it to heaven, but if Victor attempts to hurt me and Afrika again, I will kill him.”
Brenda clapped her hands. “That was nice. Make Brenda think that she had nothing to do with Victor coming on to her.”
“Brenda, this is the very reason I didn’t tell you nineteen years ago. I was afraid you wouldn’t believe me. You don’t know how many times I wanted to call you and tell you the truth, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t bear the pain it would cost you. So I kept my secret.”
“Only to spit it in my face nineteen years later.”
“Believe me when I say, I had no plans of telling you, Brenda. It’s only that Victor has been stalking me, causing havoc with Afrika’s student records. He threatened me about meeting you for lunch. He’s left threatening notes in my mailbox, but this has got to end. That’s why I decided to tell you. My husband will be here at the sound of my voice, if I experience any more problems with Victor. And for your information, I told John Carroll all about it. In fact, he confronted Victor this very afternoon. I know this isn’t the lunch you had envisioned us having, but I couldn’t keep this secret any longer.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I trust that Victor has gotten the message. Brenda, I can’t guarantee what might happen if he attempts to bother me again.”
“What about the girls…Trevor? When do we tell them?”
“I think that we need to keep that under wraps for now. It’s enough that you know, but let’s not jerk the children into our mess right now.”
Brenda looked at Mimi. “Our mess?”
“Yes, our mess. So what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to divorce Victor; something I should’ve done a long time ago. Now, I’ve got to go. I’ve had enough for one day.” Brenda paused as if she suddenly remembered something. “Victor may beat me home. What do I tell him?”
“You want a divorce.”