“That procedure usually works.”
“Yeah, it sounds painful but then again, these contractions aren’t the most enjoyable things I’ve ever experienced.”
There was silence between them before Glenda reached out for his hand. He quickly took it and squeezed tight moving close to her, standing and placing his forehead against hers.
“I’m scared,” she whispered. “I’ve never failed at anything and suddenly I’m failing at everything. I’ve failed at my marriage and now I might lose this baby.”
“You won’t lose this baby, Glenda. Now come on, we’ve been working together for months. You’re not concentrating. . . .”
“I am. I can’t stop thinking. . . .”
“Stop thinking . . . start concentrating. Think about the house, the playroom, little Thea’s pretty pink room and . . .”
“Thea?” Glenda asked, pulling her head back a bit. Tim’s eyes were still closed.
“Shhush, I’m concentrating. Now Thea is in her biggo bed in her room, sleeping, breathing sooo softly. We just checked in on her and . . .”
“We?” she asked, again trying to pull away from his head on hers. This time he put his finger against her lips and opened his eyes, swallowing her.
“Tim,” Glenda began, before his lips silenced hers.
The kiss was as sweet as they both imagined, filled with a promise of a future together. Reaching up Glenda held the back of his head, holding him to the kiss as long as possible. Keeping their heads together, Tim spoke softly to her with his eyes still closed. “I’ve fallen in love with you, Glenda. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true.”
“It sounds really crazy but wanna know something crazier?” Pulling apart, they glanced over at the monitor. “We’re loving you too.”
“Thea’s looking at us,” Tim pointed. Glenda’s emotions soared as she laughed behind her tears.
Chapter 20
“Corporate is showing no mercy Glenda,” her boss said, as she signed papers.
“Well, I didn’t figure they would. Life goes on,” she said, showing little emotion. It had been a rough night and she wasn’t in the mood for all this crap. Being in this hospital bed had her about to lose her mind. However, it was worth it. Thea was hanging in and now at twenty-eight weeks, she could be born any day and stand a good chance of survival.
“I’m sorry we had to come at a time like this but it couldn’t be helped.”
“Well, I’m just sorry I wasn’t there to take care of that little problem with Dave personally. It was more than Gerri should have had to handle on her own.”
“Actually she did okay; I mean, Dave left little to quibble over. Her actions were done by the book and she fired him without any room for recourse on his part.”
“Good for her. I’m proud of her and I’m glad you all agree that she should move into my position.”
“You are taking this so well.”
“Do you see that baby in that monitor fighting for her life . . . please, this job means very little right now. If I wasn’t such a practical person I would tell you all to get out. But I know I need this money and benefits and I’ll be damned if I let all the years I put into this company get taken from me when I need it the most.”
Glenda’s boss expected no less from Glenda. She had always been a no-nonsense woman, practical and always willing to face the inevitable head-on. Four weeks in the hospital was more than the company would allow and so she was being forced to accept a buyout at 70 percent of her year’s wage. She would be forced to cash in her company’s stock but could retain her 401(k) for another ten years. She would continue to have the Kaiser benefits for her and her child for an additional year as well. She took it and to hell with them.
Minx came in right after they left.
“Girl that’s awful. I can’t believe after all these years they pulled that on you. I wish the phone company would try some kinda crap like that,” Minx said with hands on her hips.
Glenda smacked her lips. “Please I’m surprised they didn’t do it sooner. They need to be glad I at least trained Gerri. I actually gave them a good employee in my place. Girl, she fired Dave. He went off and started attacking her. He sliced her tires and all that.”
“Well I think you need to watch out for that fool too. He sounds dangerous.”
“You’re sounding more and more like your old self.” Minx grinned.
“Please, there is no old self anymore, only a better new self.”
Both women nodded affirmation of that fact. Glenda had changed, but it was all for the better. “I filed for divorce and now Simi is trying to sue me for whatever he can think of. He’s broke and trying to get my money and thinking he can use this baby as a platform. He thinks he’s going to get some kind of custody or whatever, so he’s trying to insist on a paternity test now, before Thea is even born and . . .”
“Thea huh.” Minx smiled, having heard Tim say that name too. Glenda just grinned and kept talking.
“Yeah, Thea, and that fool thinks I’m going to allow him to jeopardize her health any further with some crazy procedure now. He must be out of his mind!”
The two of them chuckled at the insanity of a desperate man. “Have you seen Glen? He’s not been here in a couple of days,” Glenda asked.
“He’s fine. Negro has me out there trying to jog and mess.”
“Did you tell him?”
“Of course not, but I did go see his father.”
“You went and saw my brother? Get outta here. I told you not to let Glen pull you into that mess and now that I know, even more so. How did it go?” Glenda sat up straighter in the bed.
“It wasn’t that bad. I thought it was going to be horrible after all these years and, girl, he was actually kinda happy to see me and even happier to know that I’d actually been around all this time.”
“We always thought you had dropped off the face of the earth,” Glenda admitted her thoughts about the mysterious girl who dropped her baby off on their porch thirty years ago.
Thinking back on their meeting, it all made sense now. How desperate she was to be friends. She was determined that they would get close. It had been easy however, as Glenda liked Minx right off. It was funny now, thinking back on it all. It was always Minx who had pushed the relationship, making sure Glen was always in her sights. Glenda laughed thinking about her and Glen’s relationship all these years, the bickering, fighting, yet how much Glen loved Minx. She was his mother. The natural bond between them couldn’t be denied. Minx had done what she needed to do to be next to her child—even if he didn’t know it.
“I think your brother wants to date me again. Tryin’ to mack after all these years, I told him . . . that’s what got his butt in trouble the first time . . . foolin’ with me.”
“Shut up . . . girl please don’t traumatize that boy any further. His parents getting back together would be way too much drama.”
Minx burst into laughter.
“I get to go home this weekend,” Glenda finally said, sounding serious.
“You scared?”
“Girl you know I am. No job . . . no plan. It’s so not like me.”
“Change is sometimes good, Glenda.”
“Yeah true.”
“What about Simi.”
“I don’t know. He’s saying that he loves me out of one side of his mouth and then turning his lawyers on me at the same time. His actions are not very loving and I’m not going to deal with that two-faced stuff. I’m going through with the divorce but I’m really not ready for the ugliness.”
“Damn him.”
“Yeah, you’d think he’d learned how to make life easier on himself.”
“What about Tim?”
“I knew you were going to ask me that next. I don’t know. We haven’t really spoken . . . that way . . . since that night. He’s come every day to see me but I think he’s just bein
g a friend . . . trying to comfort me and . . .”
“But he kissed you . . . and you said it was a real kiss.”
“I know.” Glenda grinned, feeling the heat creeping to her face. Thea’s heart rate increased.
“Even Thea gets excited when you think about Tim,” Minx laughed.
Chapter 21
A few days later Glen ran into Tim in the lobby of the hospital. Tim was in his scrubs but off the clock and heading up to Glenda’s room. Glen was on his way down.
“Hey dude,” Glen greeted. They grabbed fist and embraced in a manly fashion. It had been a few weeks since they’d met . . . even by chance. Despite Glen’s apology, Tim still wasn’t sure if he was ready to explain his feelings about Glenda.
“Sup?” Tim asked.
“Just checking on my girls . . . well, I guess, I should change that to your girls.”
“Glen,” Tim began, raising his hand to end the confrontation before it started.
Glen raised his hands in surrender. “I’m just messing with you.”
“I’m crazy about your aunt, I guess little Thea too but I’m just not sure . . .”
“Not sure of what?” Glen asked. “You don’t plan to dump her do you? Man, that would really put a dent in our friendship. I know at first I was mad that you liked her, but I would really be mad now if you didn’t. It would really be hard to . . .”
Tim shook his head. “Will you shut up for a second? You are just like that woman Minx, always running ya’lls mouths . . . sheesh. Sometime you even look like her. Anyway, no, I’m not planning to dump her. She might be dumping me. I mean, Simi has been coming to visit her and they’ve been talking and after he leaves she’s not really ya know . . . feeling me so we haven’t really talked about us much. I don’t want to push things so soon. She’s not even divorced yet.”
“Please, Simi is out of the picture. He’s coming to beg . . . that’s all. He got served and was like,” Glen shook his head as if he’d been slapped hard in the face. “So gone with the old and in with the new dude . . . you besta state ya case,” Glen assured.
Tim was surprised at his words. “You’re really cool with this.”
“Yeah man, I’m totally cool with whatever my aunt is cool with. You hurt her though and I’ma have ta hurt you back.”
Tim was bigger and stronger than Glen and could easily take him in a fistfight but Tim understood Glen’s intentions. “Got cha,” he agreed, stepping into the elevator with a new attitude about things.
Glenda was staring at the blank monitor with tears streaming down her face when Tim entered her room. She quickly wiped at them.
“What’s wrong, Glenda? Is there something wrong with Thea?”
“No, she’s beautiful.” Glenda smiled, holding up the last printed picture she was given before they shut the monitor down. “They took me off the transvaginal monitor. I can only hear her heartbeat now and I miss her,” she said, as the tears flowed again. Tim moved over to the bed and, kicking off his shoes, pulled back the blanket and climbed in the bed next to her. She smiled weakly at him, allowing him to snuggle close to her, laying his hand carefully on her belly avoiding the heart monitor. He laid his head on her shoulder after kissing her cheek.
“So, what kind of flowers are we planting in that biggo backyard of yours?”
Chapter 22
The new year brought about many changes and from where Glenda sat, they were all pretty good. The big issues were behind her. Thea came a few weeks early. Tim assisted in the natural childbirth. She had to stay a while in the ICU but quickly reached five pounds and was able to come home.
During that time, Glenda had managed to divorce Simi without too much trouble after Candy brought him up on sexual harassment charges—that is before she realized he had no money. She dropped the case then but not before Glenda was able to use the evidence that Candy provided to obtain a divorce on the grounds of adultery. She also managed to get full custody of Thea since Simi had insisted on a blood test . . . a blood test, which only proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that by 99.99 percent Thea was his child. Unfortunately, for him, his groundless doubt over paternity along with his own promiscuous actions just made it easy for Glenda when they went to court. Simi didn’t stand a chance at getting spousal support from Glenda either, considering she was unemployed now.
As far as their joint income was concerned, Glenda had managed to tuck nearly all of her money away in Glen’s name during the separation, which was never filed as a legal separation, and so her actions were not counted as impropriety. Nevertheless, Simi demanded his share of their joint income, but he was only able to get his share of the monies that came from the selling of their assets—the house, the car, the time-share in Laughlin, of which none of that stuff Glenda had any problem relinquishing. She didn’t hate Simi, and besides, she didn’t want Thea to think her parents didn’t once love each other. Simi wasn’t a bad person—just confused. All Glenda hoped was that soon he would get over his issues and at least come see his daughter . . . but she wasn’t going to push that issue either. Thea was surely loved enough.
As soon as the divorce was final Glenda bought the house in Half Moon Bay. Minx came by often enough and now with Minx and Glenda’s brother getting serious it looked as if she would truly be part of the family now. Glen came by every weekend for their cross-country run and seemed excited about his father dating Minx although he still was none the wiser that Minx was his biological mother.
Funny how that all worked out, Glenda thought now, while moving the log with the fireplace utensil. She’d managed to get the fireplace insert bought just in time for the first storm of the winter season. Half Moon Bay came with plenty of gray days and cool weather and so having a cozy fire to cuddle up in front of was going to be perfect. She had often dreamed of moments like this when she would stare at that picture stuck on that corkboard . . . what seemed like years ago now.
Thinking of Gerri, Glenda realized she owed her a phone call to thank her for the beautiful flower arrangement she’d sent. Gerri felt she owed Glenda a lot, Glenda knew than and so accepted her gifts graciously, even though she always figured that Gerri could have made the upward movements on her own when ever she got around to just concentrating on the important things in life.
Thea’s cries came through the monitor loud and clear, catching Glenda off guard. “I thought she was asleep.”
“Please, Thea nap over ten minutes? You must have her mixed up with somebody else’s baby,” Tim said with a chuckle.
“Leave my sweetie alone . . . she just doesn’t want to miss anything.”
Pulling her into an embrace, Tim kissed her sweet and long. “I think that is a sign of a lot of intelligence.”
“Just like her mommy. She’s gonna go far in life,” Glenda bragged playfully, stroking the back of his neck tenderly. She never tired of touching him and vice versa.
“Do you regret anything, Glenda?” he asked, looking deep in her eyes for any crack in her brave front, any fault in her contentment.
“I have Thea, and you, our friends, my house . . .” she pointed at the assortment of jellies and preserves on the table, awaiting shipment. “My little home business,” she said with a chuckle, as the venture, although relaxing and fun, had yet to turn much of a profit. “Tim, I wouldn’t change this life for any I’ve had before.”
Pulling her close he inhaled the scent of her hair and kissed her temple. “Maybe we should go take a nap,” he whispered, sounding a little playful.
“But I’m not tired,” she whispered back in the same flirty tone.
“I can change that,” he said, his words holding out a promise she could not refuse. Smiling broadly, she took his hand and allowed him to lead her up the stairs to the room they shared as newlyweds, stopping only to scoop up Thea out of her crib on their way.
Katrina Blues
Maxine Thompson
Prologue
Coleman Blue
Lower Ninth Ward,
New Orl
eans, Louisiana,
August 25, 2004
When a Man Loves a Woman
“Blue’ll kill ya about his wife,” Cantrella, his mother-in-law, an avowed alcoholic, would spout out in her slurred, Gullah speech whenever she was having a drunken brawl with her boyfriend, Tank. “I’m a tell a him you was talkin’ about Mellon.”
“You a lie and the truth ain’t in ya,” Tank would retort back, throwing a beer bottle at Cantrella. This was the rhythm of all their Fridays from as far back as Coleman had known the family. He just took it that Tank was talking about Mellon; nothing with an ounce of truth to it. That was just drunk talk.
Now he hated to think back to that moment—to the very millimeter of a second of a heartbeat before something terrible happened. Something irreversible and unthinkable. If only he hadn’t gone home early that night....
Perhaps it was because of the full moon, perhaps because he’d just come off the road about a week ago and it had been a while, but for some reason, that Friday night Coleman was looking forward to going home and making love to Mellon, his wife of eight years. It was as if her raven-colored body and her exotic, slate-gray eyes were calling him. He felt his member rising just thinking of her.
That night, after he finished his gig at the Moonlight Jazz Chateau, he absently whistled “Love Jones.” Striking up a blunt, he hurled his saxophone into his case, grabbed his gear, and was ready to get home to his wife.
“Leaving early tonight?” Malik, the drummer, who used to be his best friend, called out. Usually, after a set, Coleman hung around the club, riffing, messing around with new tunes, sometimes until five in the morning. Sometimes, he’d get home just as the sun was coming up. Even though he stayed out all night, other than a few lapses, he basically didn’t cheat on Mellon in his mind. At least, he didn’t cheat with his heart.
Mellon just did it for him. She was all the woman he wanted and needed, other than now and then when a groupie could talk him into a one-night stand.