A Christmas Affair (12 page)

“Aww. C’mon. Don’t look like that. At least I’m here
to keep you company,” Hennessey boasted, whacking him on the back. “Have you had lunch yet?”

“I was going to pick something up at the airport.”

“Well, since that’s out the question, what do you say that we go and grab something to eat?”

What choice did he have? His brother certainly didn’t know how to take no for an answer.

“Hey, we don’t even have to leave the hotel. There’s a nice restaurant downstairs.”

“Fine. Fine.” Lyfe shrugged off his brother’s arm. “I still say that Tess put you up to this.”

Hennessey slapped a hand over his heart. “You wound me. Truly.”

Lyfe was accustomed to his brother faking innocence so he just ignored him and soldiered on out the door.

Behind him, Hennessey scooped out his cell phone and speed dialed Tess. “The cat is in the cradle,” he whispered into the receiver then quickly hung up.

T
ess smiled as she hummed the theme song of
Mission: Impossible.
She absolutely loved a challenge—almost as much as she loved messing around in other folks’ business. And as far as she was concerned, mucking around in her sister’s business was a long overdue project. The way she saw it, Corona Mae may have become a success in the business world, but when it came to her personal life she was flying high with blinders on. After last night, it was clear to her that Lyfe also had on his own blinders. However, if he thought his little announcement last night was going to throw a monkey wrench in her plans, then he clearly didn’t know who he was dealing with.

She was a semiprofessional matchmaker. Of course there were a few potholes she’d need to avoid, and there was the potential for a blow up when Lyfe found out that he had a daughter. But if he still felt the way she
believed he did about her sister, the end result would be those two finally tying the knot. It certainly wasn’t easy getting her parents to go along, but she knew that they secretly wanted the same thing.

Just when she was about to make her umpteenth call to her sister’s cell, her niece’s number and smiling face popped up on her Android phone. Surprised, she answered the call. “Now what’s my favorite niece in the whole wide world doing? Did your mother tell you that me and your grandparents are in town?”

“You’re in town?” Melody asked excitedly. “Where are you at? Are you at my house?”

“Oh? You mean she didn’t tell you?”

“No. I’m not home. I’m at a friend’s house. Did you just get here?”

“No. Uhm, we arrived last night. We went to your mother’s engagement party.”

“Oh.” Melody’s excitement took a major nosedive. “I guess that means that you finally met
him.
”

Tess’s brows leapt up. “You mean Rowan James? What? You don’t like your future stepfather?”

“I think he likes himself enough for the both of us,” Melody droned.

Tess laughed. “Well, I really didn’t get too much of a chance to get to know him. The place was pretty crowded.”

“Don’t waste your time. I don’t really think he’ll be around that long. Rebound relationships never last.”

“Ouch. That’s a pretty harsh assessment for someone your age,” she said, even though she agreed with her niece.

“I may be young, but the same thing goes on in school. If you meet a guy right after he’s gone through
a crushing breakup, chances are you’re the rebound girl. Plus, I’m not convinced Momma is really in love with him anyway.”

“Oh?” Tess’s ear perked up at this insider information. “Why do you say that?”

“Well,” Melody hedged, “I said something to her a few months back that … maybe I shouldn’t have.”

This was getting juicier. “What did you say?”

Her niece hesitated.

“Melody,” Tess prodded. “What did you say?”

“Well, first of all, I was upset. See, I really like this boy Robbie.”

She remembered the name. “You mean the little boy you snuck out of the house to see in the middle of the night?”

“He was leaving for Paris for a whole year! I just wanted to say goodbye to him.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, anyway. Momma freaked out and grounded me for like forever and I … “

“And you what?”

“Well, I shouted at her how much I hated her and that she was mean and was probably going to die alone.”

Tess gasped.

“I didn’t mean it. I was just angry.”

“So you tried to hurt her? Melody, that was a terrible thing to say to your mother.”

“I know,” she groaned.

“You have no idea what your mother has been through trying to raise you alone up here in New York.”

“Actually,” Melody said meekly, “I kind of do. I sort of found her old diaries.”

Tess nearly fell off the edge of the bed. “What?”

“See. That’s sort of what I was calling you about.”
Uh-oh.
“Me?”

“Yeah. I was hoping you could tell me about Lyfe Alton and whether you know where he is?”

The ride to the Four Seasons took three times longer than usual. Not because of the snow, because New Yorkers were certainly used to snow in the winter time, but because of the ice. Cars crept along or, in some cases, slid along at a snail’s pace. That didn’t stop some of them from playing ice bumper cars. Luckily her driver got her to the hotel safely. When she was helped out of the car, a good arctic blast turned her into a popsicle.

Once inside the hotel, she received an equivalent blast of heat that quickly thawed her out.

“Welcome to the Four Seasons. How may I help you?” a woman behind the lobby counter asked.

“Yes. I’m looking for Contessa Banks’s room, please.”

The front desk clerk picked up the phone. “Your name?”

“Chloe … uhm, better make that Corona Banks.”

The woman gave her a look like “don’t you know your own name?” But she quickly called up to her sister’s room. “Yes. We have a Corona Banks down in the lobby to see you. Yes, ma’am.” She hung up and then wrote down the room number. “You can go right up.”

“Thank you.” Corona flashed a smile and then jogged over to the elevator. Less than a minute later, she stepped out onto the tenth floor and went in search of her sister’s room. As she continued to follow the numbers, a door opened.

“Corona Mae?”

Corona turned at the sound of her mother’s voice. “Momma?”

Adele rolled out a room service cart and adjusted a bright red silk robe around her waist. And was she still wearing makeup?

Corona blinked several more times because she couldn’t recall a single time in her childhood when her mother had worn anything like a silk robe.

“Sweetheart, I’m so glad to see you.” She glanced down the hall. “Is Melody with you?”

Corona shook her head while still trying to comprehend her mother’s attire.

“Well, no matter. I guess we can see her a little later. Get on in here.” She waved her daughter in. “I tried to call you several times this morning.”

Corona stepped forward like she was in a trance.

Her mother remained all smiles as she swung her arms around Corona’s shoulders and pulled her the rest of the way into their lavish room. No sooner had the door slammed shut than her father came jogging out of the bathroom in a pair of tight red briefs. “Ta-dah!” he said.

Both his and Corona’s eyes widened to the size of silver dollars.

“Oh, my God!” He made a quick U-turn and scrambled back into the bathroom. “Adele! Why didn’t you tell me Corona Mae was here?”

Adele winced. “Sorry, baby. She just got here,” her mother called out.

“I think I need to bleach out my eyes,” Corona said, blinking and trying to get the image out of her head.

Her mother took her hand and patted it. “Honey, I’m
so sorry that you had to see your father like that. We’ve been trying some new things and—”

“Mom, please.” Corona kept blinking. “I
really
don’t want to know.”

“Yes, I guess you don’t.” She coughed and cleared her throat. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. You were so busy with your guests last night that we really didn’t get a chance to talk.”

“I know, but you guys also unloaded quite a lot on me last night.”

“Oh, that.” Her mother’s mouth twisted downward.

“Yeah. That.” Corona folded her arms. “Is Lyfe and Tess’s engagement for real?”

“Honey, I think that you should talk to your sister about that.”

“I intend to.” Corona paced. “The very idea of Tess and Lyfe getting married is … ridiculous. The last thing I heard was that they just bumped into each other like a week ago.”

“Well, I don’t know if ridiculous is the right word,” her mother hedged. “But it would make things rather awkward at family get-togethers. Of course, we have so few of those. With you in New York and Aunt Charlene passed on.”

“Awkward? Just awkward?” Corona repeated incredulously. “If they have children, they will be Melody’s cousins as well as her siblings.”

“That may be, but it’s not like Melody knows that Lyfe is her father.”

“And how long do you think I’ll be able to keep that a secret? The minute he lays eyes on her he’s going to know the truth. Melody looks just like him.”

Her mother opened her mouth, but she clearly didn’t have an answer to that.

“I can’t believe you guys brought him here.”

“Actually, honey, your father and I didn’t have anything to do with it. Your sister acted alone on that one.”

“Now
that
I believe.”

“Sweetheart, calm down. It’s going to be all right. By now, Lyfe is probably back in Atlanta.”

Surprise and disappointment dueled inside Corona for a full ten seconds. “Oh.”

“See?” Her mother’s arms wrapped around her. “Feel better? Now you don’t have to worry about father and daughter bumping into each other. Though you know how I feel about that.”

She nodded, but then thought, “So does that mean that they’re
not
engaged?”

Adele hedged. “You need to talk to your sister.”

“That’s exactly what I intend to do,” she said, turning out of her mother’s arms and marching back to the door. “I’ll call you a little later.”

“But … but … “

“I promise,” Corona added and then slipped out of the door.

A second later, she heard her mother shout, “It’s alright, Rufus. You can come out now.”

Despite her annoyance at her sister, Corona chuckled over seeing her father in his tight red briefs. She knocked on her sister’s door and debated whether she should push up a smile or pimp slap her sister into the middle of next week when she answered the door.

She was leaning toward a pimp slap.

“S
o let me get this straight,” Lyfe said, lowering his napkin into his lap. “You
want
me to talk to Corona Mae again?”

Hennessey shrugged his huge shoulders. “Why not? You flew all the way here. Might as well try and get a real answer.”

Lyfe had a hard time swallowing that. “Uh-huh. I see.”

“You see what?” Hennessey asked, smirking.

“I see that I’m right. Tess called you and put you up this. What? Did she agree to go out with you or something? You picked a woman over your own flesh and blood?”

“What? I’m just pointing out the obvious. She’s in New York. You’re in New York.”

“And I saw her last night,” Lyfe reminded him while trying to get the image of Corona in that stunning dress
out of his mind.
Today is a new day. I’m moving on with my life.

“Look … “ Hennessey leaned over their lunch table. “What did you expect her to say in the middle of her engagement party to another man? Of course she gave you some tired line about it all being complicated. The
real
question is whether you detected if she still has feelings for you.”

“I’m not here to bust up—”

“Yes you are,” Hennessey cut him off. “You lie to yourself on your own time, but when you’re talking to me, I’d appreciate it if you were just straight up.”

They glared over the table.

Hennessey leaned in even closer. “Look. In honor of keeping it real, I’m going to remind you of something. All in love is fair, man. Things didn’t workout between y’all when you were kids for whatever reason, but what did
you
feel when you saw her again?”

“That is beside the point,” Lyfe said, shaking his head.

“No. It
is
the point. It takes two to make a relationship, man. Just because I’m not in the market for a ball and chain, doesn’t mean that I don’t know what I’m talking about. If a man is about to steal someone that you feel rightfully belongs with you, then you need to step up.” Hennessey threw some extra bass into his voice.

It was enough to get Lyfe to reconsider everything. Had he been lying to himself? Did he come here to stop a wedding or was he just hoping to stop a wedding?

Hennessey sensed victory. “Look. The way I see it, your girl got scared and ran, but you didn’t exactly chase after her. You went home, constructed a big invisible wall around your heart and vowed to never get
hurt again. A textbook male reaction. I get it. The whole Brotherhood Nation gets it. But if you can sit there in that chair and tell me with a straight face that
you
didn’t feel anything when you saw your old girl, and you honestly don’t think that
she
felt anything, then I say you’re right. Get your big butt on the next plane out of this icebox city and move on to the next one.”

He paused and looked Lyfe directly in the eyes.

“But if you did feel something and you believe she did too, then, as a man, you need to do everything in your power to get back what rightfully belongs to you. You feel me?”

Lyfe let his brother’s words sink in and, before he knew it, he was bobbing his head in agreement. “Yeah. I know exactly what you mean.”

“Lyfe … who?” Tess stalled her niece over the line. While she had been busy trying to work it out so that father and daughter would soon be introduced, this new scenario could end with her sister literally putting her head on a spike.

“Lyfe Alton. And please don’t tell me you never heard of him before. I know that you have.”