D.C. first, and I’ll call our brother Michael to come join us.”
“Thanks, Edward. I love you, big brother. You are my saving grace, and I owe you big. Now let’s get out of here.”
“Yeah, here comes the manager.”
“Who’s going to pay for this,” the manager asked out of breath.
“He is,” both Angelica and Edward answered, pointing to Malik. “He got off easy,” Angelica continued, “since we didn’t get to order anything but a few drinks. How about you and me find a nice quiet place to eat?”
“You’ve got it.”
58
Music blared from the car radio. Puffed faces stained with tears looked straight ahead as Jefferson and Margo drove away from the restaurant.
“Why did you do it, Jefferson? Why did you rile up Malik and cause a scene that made us look like we weren’t intelligent beings? Wasn’t it enough that I said I didn’t love Malik, but I love you? And what was he talking about… you and Angelica were together?”
Jefferson kept his hands on the steering wheel and continued to look straight ahead.
“Answer me, Jefferson. I’m tired. I’m so tired. When I think I’ve gotten over a rough spot, here comes another speed bump.”
“You don’t understand, Margo.” Jefferson threw his hands up.
“Please put your hands on the wheel. I don’t want to die because
“This man was my best friend. We were closer than I am to my own siblings. Been knowing him since college, and we’ve shared so much of our life together. But he crossed the line. And the nigger had the nerve to think that I was going to share the one thing I held most precious with him. I should’ve killed him.”
“I hate that you and Malik are at each other’s throats. I can’t believe that it’s all come to this.”
“So, was he better in bed than me, Margo? Did you tell him how good it was or how happy he made you feel?”
“Shut up, Jefferson. You have no right.”
“I could’ve killed him tonight.”
“And prove what…that you’re a big man…that you were protecting your possession? Huh! Is that what I am to you, your possession?”
Jefferson’s fist hit the steering wheel and then he slammed his foot on the brake and screeched to an abrupt stop just as the light turned red. Tears began to form in his eyes and fell the length of his face. He looked like a grown-up teddy bear looking for someone to cuddle him.
“Stop that crying,” Margo huffed. “Those crocodile tears aren’t going to get me to melt after having endured tonight’s humiliating experience.”
“I wasn’t going to let Malik stand there and continue to disrespect you.”
“And expose your dirty laundry.” Margo shook her head and then released a long sigh. “You and Angelica deserve to rot in hell. You slept with her, didn’t you? Told me you didn’t, but you figured what I didn’t know wouldn’t hurt me. They say the truth always comes to the light.”
“That was a long time ago, Margo.”
“That was a long time ago, Margo,” she mimicked. “You were unfaithful, and I guess I’m supposed to forgive you of your sins as if nothing happened.” She snapped her fingers.
Jefferson sighed. “Does that make you feel better about what you did with Malik?”
“Don’t try and use reverse psychology on me.” Margo turned and looked out of the window. “Maybe if I had enjoyed it as much as Malik seems to think I did, maybe I’d feel better.”
Silence ensued. Jefferson took a chance and glanced at Margo. Her head was leaning on the passenger door window with her eyes staring at the passing cars.
“Why don’t we get an ice cream cone?” Jefferson asked.
“Are you serious? We’re having a discussion about the rest of our lives and you want to get ice cream?”
“Yes.”
“I was thinking. What if Malik presses charges against you? Do you know what that means?”
“Let him, but I doubt seriously that he’d do it since he openly admitted that he had extramarital sex with you.”
It was Margo’s turn to sigh. “Let’s get ice cream. Maybe this nightmare will go away.”
They drove on in silence as contemporary jazz flooded the car. At the next light, Jefferson turned into the parking lot and drove through a maze of cars, finally bringing the car to rest.
“Cold Stone ice cream okay with you?” he asked Margo.
Margo pulled her face away from the window, turned to Jefferson and shook her head yet again. “You know it’s my favorite, so why did you ask me that silly question?”
“Hoping I would get a smile from you?”
Her head fell forward and then up. Plastered on her face was a great big smile. “What are we going to do? Our lives have become so complicated. We should be enjoying the best years of our lives-going to plays, concerts, lying out on the beach, but instead we’re bickering about who screwed who and which one of us screwed up the other’s life.”
“Margo, stop. I love you with everything I have. Woman, I know you don’t believe this, but I don’t care what you and Malik did. I want my wife back, the mother of my children and all my daydreams. I know we can’t start from the beginning, but we can start fresh from this time forward, even if that means divorcing all the negative folks who have been a part of our lives. What do you say?”
Pinching her lips, Margo brought her hand to her face to hide the smile that was trying to get through. Doe-like eyes batted their lashes while she shook her face from side to side. “I guess that’s why I married you-you’re the only one who knows how to break me down. Pulled the shame right out from under me until there’s nothing left to say but I love you, too, you crazy, mixed-up man. My mother always told me to stand by my man, but I never knew it would be this hard. But I do love you.”
“Whew, I’m glad that ended well. I love you, too, girl. Now let’s go and get that ice cream. I want a pint of Chocolate Devotion,” he said in a sexy voice.
Like an action figure in the comics, Jefferson sprung from the car and ran around to open the door for Margo in a flash. He lifted her hand like he did so many years ago when Margo was a beautiful debutante at the ball. He bent his elbow and Margo put her arm through it, linking them together forever. They headed for the ice cream bar.
As if there were an invisible partition that didn’t allow them to move any farther, they stopped cold in their tracks. Their eyes shifted between a woman and a child that had exited the ice cream bar and were headed in their direction. Now only a couple of feet away, they also stopped and stared back at Margo and Jefferson.
“Jefferson, Margo…”
“Linda,” Margo responded, releasing her arm from Jefferson’s and dropping it to her side. She looked hard at the slightly tanned little boy who seemed to be about four or five years old. It wasn’t his cute crop of curly hair or his handsome good looks that made Margo cringe, but rather his uncanny likeness to her eldest son J.R.
Jefferson refused to open his mouth. He was as astonished as Margo when he looked at the boy while avoiding eye contact with Linda. There was no denying it was his son and that Linda had gotten pregnant those many years ago. He felt the life rush out of him. Prison hadn’t been enough, because now he was truly reaping the consequences of his sins.
“Your son?” Margo asked when Linda said nothing further.
Linda glanced briefly at Jefferson and then back at Margo. “Yes, this is Jaylin. Say hi to these nice people, Jaylin.”
“Hello,” Jaylin said.
“Jaylin?” Jefferson mumbled. “Oh, God, what a mess I’ve made.”
“If you’re speaking of Jaylin, God doesn’t make messes. I think it’s pretty presumptuous of you to think he’s
