54
Brenda ended her phone call, tied the belt to her robe around her waist, and paced the floor as a nervous Asia rocked back and forth in one of the high-back chairs in her mother’s bedroom. Tears shed earlier were now dry on Brenda’s face and only thoughts of moving forward and getting on with her life consumed her. But in order to move forward, she had to close the lid on Victor and all of his garbage—his unfaithfulness, disloyalty, betrayal, and all of his countless other indiscretions. It was a shame that it was going to cost close to ten thousand dollars to shove all of it into the ground.
The realization of Victor’s death hit her hard. It was so unexpected—a bad ending to a movie that started out so full of promise. And even as Brenda contemplated leaving him, knowing that she couldn’t say goodbye on her own terms made it hurt much worse. And the first person she called was Mimi, her best friend, who always had a knack for soothing her disappointments.
As if she suddenly realized Asia was in the room, Brenda stopped pacing and looked at her daughter, who sat coiled up in the chair as if she was laced up in a straitjacket ready for the crazy house, her feet tucked underneath her body and her arms wrapped securely around her waist, wearing her red and pink cotton pajamas with the white hearts on them. Brenda went to Asia and knelt down on the floor in front of her, brushing her disheveled hair that looked like tumbleweed on a Texas plain away from her face, and brushed her cheeks as well with the back of her hand.
“Hey, baby,” Brenda said in a soft voice, “It’s going to be all right.”
Asia glanced at Brenda, turned away and then looked back at her again. “It’s going to be all right for whom, Mother? You? You hated Daddy. Trevor told me that you all have been arguing and that you were going to leave Daddy. I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe all the lies and secrets you’ve kept from Trevor and me and then…and then to find out that Nikki is my sister.”
“Don’t make this about you, Asia, because it isn’t. I hate to speak ill of the dead, but your daddy was no saint by any stretch of the imagination. He was a whore.”
“Shut up, Mother. My god, he’s dead for heaven’s sake.”
“Heaven? Surely, your father will not be going there.”
Asia unwrapped herself from her cocoon and prepared to leave the room. She stopped under the doorway and turned slightly to look at her mother. “It’s your fault Daddy is dead. I blame you.”
Brenda’s hand began to fly. “Young lady, don’t sass me; it doesn’t become you. All of my life, I’ve done nothing but protect you and Trevor from your father’s deceitfulness and the mockery he made of our marriage. I’m the one people painted as a fool because I stayed with your father when all the world knew that the great Victor Christianson was bedding and laying seed with all the women in Durham.”
“Mother, that’s disgusting,”
“Yes, the hell it is.”
Asia rolled her eyes at her mother. “You’re jealous of Daddy’s success.”
“Listen here, Asia. You can try and disrespect me if you want, but his success was due to me. He was nothing on his own.”
“Why are you talking about him like that, Mother? I don’t understand you.”
“Go sit down,” Brenda said, pointing to the chair Asia had vacated, “and I’m going to explain it so there will be no questions left in your mind.”
Asia stood still for a moment as if contemplating what Brenda had said. Then she turned completely around and plopped into the chair, placing her feet underneath her again. She stared at Brenda as if to say, the clock is ticking. Talk.
Brenda went and sat on the side of her bed, fluffed one of the decorative pillows with her hand, and looked at Asia. “You know that both your father and I loved you and Trevor unconditionally. That’s what parents are supposed to do. You are our children. And in loving you, our job is to protect you from the elements by providing a roof over your head, food to eat, clothes on your back, and anything else to sustain life. And because we could afford to do so, we gave you more. In protecting you, it’s also our job to keep you safe from the predators in the world—drugs, alcohol, and child molesters. In doing so, it may mean we have to protect you from family members or situations that may be detrimental to family survival—I’m sure you get what I mean.”
“Yeah, since you’re talking to me like I’m a ten-year-old.”
Brenda looked at Asia and then dropped her eyes. “This is a sensitive issue for me, Asia. I can treat you as the adult you purport to be, but I’ll break it on down for you if I need to.”
Asia looked up at her mother and smiled. “I’m sorry, Mom. This thing with Daddy…his dying…Nikki…it’s so overwhelming. This kind of stuff happens in other people’s family, not ours. I…I can’t believe it’s happening to my family.”
Brenda got up and rushed to Asia’s side. Asia stood up and fell into her mother’s embrace.
“We will get through this, baby,” Brenda said, rubbing her fingers through Asia’s hair. “We will get through this.”
Then all of a sudden, Asia pulled away. She looked into her mother’s eyes. “Who do you think killed Daddy?”
“That’s the very question I asked myself, Asia. I don’t know how many enemies your father has out there, but he’s done some questionable things in the past week. I have to tell you that I’m almost sure he tried to kill your friend. If I hadn’t seen the gun with my own eyes that day, I might not have believed it. The bullet hole in the wall from where the gun went off last week is proof positive that something wasn’t right.”
“What? Daddy fired a gun in the house?”
“He was mad at something, and the way he tore out of here with that gun in his pocket at least an hour before Afrika was shot only leads me to believe the worst; especially since Mimi had only shared her dark secret the night before.”
“Did you ever love Daddy?”
“Asia, I’ve always loved your father. Maybe too much. There are times when I’ve wondered where my life would’ve been if I hadn’t fallen for Victor Christianson; especially knowing even as far back before we were married that he couldn’t love just one woman and that it might be the death of me. But I had to have him. I was the one who came out on top. Despite all of his other conquests, Brenda won the trophy…He chose me to be his wife.”
Brenda hugged Asia tight. “The greatest gift Victor gave me though was you and Trevor. You don’t know how proud you both have made me.”
Asia returned the hug and squeezed Brenda tight. “I love you, Mom. You’re right; we’ll get through this. I’ve never said this to you before, but here goes. I want to be just like you.”
“Asia, you are a smart, beautiful young lady who will aspire to do great things. You will make your own mark in the world and will do it well. Know that your proud mother will always be near, cheering you on. Now go and get out of your pajamas. We have a full day ahead. Oh my goodness. Have you called Trevor?”
Asia sighed. “No, but we’ve got to tell him.”
“Mimi’s coming by. Maybe I’ll get her to go to the school with me.”
“I don’t want her to come over here.”
“Asia!”
“If she and Nikki hadn’t come to Durham, Daddy would be alive.”
“It isn’t her fault. The old adage about your sins will find you out…it was your father’s time. Mimi didn’t even want to come to Durham; however, by denying Nikki to go to the school of her choice, she may have had to explain a harsh reality, and Mimi was trying to protect her. Your father has done some awful things, and if he hadn’t been trying to cover it up, he might not be lying in the morgue at Duke.”
“God, Mother, you say that like Daddy didn’t exist in your life. I remember so many good times and I can’t stand to hear you talk about him like that.”
“All right, let’s not talk about Victor in a negative light.”
Asia sighed. “I’m not ready to see Nikki’s mother. I’ll go with you to tell Trevor. Nikki needs her mother at the hospital. We can handle it.”
Brenda smiled. “Okay, baby. I’ll call Mimi and tell her not to come. I needed a friend, and she was the first person I called.”
“There will be time for that, but you’ve got me now. I’ll help you call the relatives before word hits the street and they find out that way.”
“We may not be able to stop it. I’m sure it’s already on TV blast. This may sound crazy, but it was time for a family reunion.”
“Mother, stop.” Then Asia began to laugh. “You can’t help it, I know.”
“It sounds rather absurd, but in the midst of this tragedy, I need some good ole down-home country family loving.”
Asia rolled her eyes into her head at her mother’s suggestion. “If that’s what you want.”
“That’s what I need.”
“I think you need a hot shower and a massage.”
“I need that, too.”