A Hustler's Wife (22 page)

Upset, but not surprised, she went to the bathroom window, but the bars stopped her dead in her tracks, as did the bars on the bedroom window, the kitchen, and all the rooms in the house. Bengee just had the cast iron bars installed only a month before. Yarni realized that she was doomed. She drew the conclusion that she would try to get some rest tonight, but tomorrow morning she was outta there.

Bengee got into the bed with her. She told him in a shaky voice, "I really suggest that you carry yourself in the other room because I don't trust myself laying here beside you. I may have an instant replay of what you just dropped on me and kill you in your sleep. Now, please carry your dirty dick ass in the other room." Though Bengee knew Yarni wouldn't dare hurt him, he slept in the other room. He was compliant because he felt at least they were still under the same roof.

The next morning Yarni awoke to Bengee sitting in the chaise chair watching her. She arose from the bed and didn't utter a word to him. To the bathroom she went to pee, washed her face and brushed her teeth. On her way down the hall, she grabbed the cordless phone, and called her doctor's office. She explained to the receptionist that she had an emergency and needed to see the doctor pronto.

They asked her what the problem was, and she simply told them her stomach was hurting. The receptionist told her to come in at noon. She jumped in the shower, got dressed, and headed out. Bengee had gotten dressed to accompany her, but she told him she didn't want him to go.

When she reached the doctor's office, she had to wait an hour and a half before they called her name. She noticed that they had hired a new receptionist. She could tell the girl was ghetto. She had super big hair with three colors and five different hairstyles in it. Skeptical thoughts set in her mind, I hope this ghetto chic doesn't try to look in my chart and find out why I'm here. As she waited, she tried her hardest not to cry. She kept leaving out of the waiting room, going into the restroom to get herself together.

"Yarnise Pitman," the jolly nurse called. Yarni came out of the restroom.

"How are you doing?" Yarni ignored her. She wanted to ask,

"why?"

Once they reached the room, the nurse asked, "why are you here today?"

"To see the doctor," Yarni simply said.

"Yes, I am aware of that, but I need to know what to put down on this chart." Yarni felt so embarrassed. She wasn't telling the nurse anything. "I am here to see the doctor, not you. I will talk to the doctor, when he comes in." The nurse frowned her face up and said, " The doctor will be in shortly," and slammed the door on her way out.

When the doctor walked in, he saw Yarni crying. He gave her a tissue, pulled the stool over and sat on it in front of Yarni.

He comforted Yarni for a minute or so and asked her "Why are you crying?" She opened her mouth to tell him, but words didn't come out. Only she sobbed more. She finally got herself together so she could speak.

"I am ashamed to say," and looked up at the doctor as she took a deep breath. "It hurts every time I even think about it." The doctor looked at her in a caring way. He grabbed her hand. "Just take your time. Whatever it is, I assure you that you are not the first and you won't be the last that I've seen with the same problem. I truly can relate. It's written all over your face that you are hurt, but from my personal standpoint, broken hearts can mend with time. Now, I can't treat your medical problem unless you tell me."

She was quiet for a few seconds until she got up the nerve to speak. She closed her eyes and covered her face as she began whimpering. "My boyfriend informed me that he'd contracted gonorrhea from God only knows where." She paused as she wiped her eyes. She looked up as she inhaled then exhaled.

"And, I am afraid that he might have given me AIDS or herpes, or something I can not get rid of."

"I know you are hurt, and you have every right to be upset.

Let me assure you, that you are not overreacting. I diagnose people everyday for this same matter. I see some of the same people four and five times a year being treated for STD's. I only wish that some of them took it as serious as you are." He gave her the examination, and asked if she would like to be tested for HIV?

"Test for anything and everything you can pick up." Yarni said.

The doctor smiled at Yarni and said, "Listen, Yarnise, I am going to send you over to the lab to have blood work done." Yarni nodded her head. The doctor reached into the pocket of his white lab coat to pull out his prescription pad. As he wrote on his pad he informed Yarni, "Your results won't be back for two days, and we'll call you. In the mean time, it is best to get you started on some antibiotics just in case." He tore off the prescrip-tions and handed them to her. As she reached to take the paper from him, he asked. "You're not allergic to penicillin are you?" She shook her head, "no."

Bengee called her all day long. She hung up the first few times. "Baby, please don't hang up. Just give me ten seconds. I am fully aware that you are probably going to leave me.

Whatever your decision is I am going to respect it, but at the same time, I need to talk to you. I am not going to try to talk you out of your mindset, but whenever you are finished running around, I am going to be at the crib waiting on you." Yarni also had a hair appointment at three-thirty. She almost cancelled the appointment, but after all the drama from the night before, her hair was in a frenzy. Maybe the change in atmosphere may make her feel a little better. As soon as she arrived, she noticed her stylist pick up the phone and call somebody. She started getting agitated. Did she not see me walk through the door and now she gonna get on the phone? I am going to count to sixty, and if she ain't off the phone by then, I'm going to tell her to just reschedule me, because see, I am not in the mood for this. I can just keep my seventy dollars in my pocket.

Co-Co finally called her for her wash. Being a people person, Co-Co already knew something was wrong, she had talked to Bengee a few times. Co-Co was like any other female trying to pry and be nosy on the sly, but Yarni wasn't breaking. She didn't give away that anything was going wrong for her. Co-Co looked at Yarni as she paged through the "Sister 2 Sister" magazine nonchalantly. Co-Co's look was saying: You are so.... Fake, I know something had to happen between you and your man because he's been calling me all day sounding desperate. You sitting here playing the role as if you are so happy. Yeah, WHATEVER!!! Yarni didn't catch the look because she was really trying to focus on the book and not what she was dealing with. Just then, a big CareBear walks into the shop, asked for Yarni Pitman, and started singing a singing telegram. "I just called to say I love you. I just called to say how much I care. I just called to say I love you and I mean it from the bottom of my heart." All the stylist and customers thought it was so sweet what Yarni's man had done for her. What a good man, they all commented. She wanted to come back with: If you only knew what I had to go through. If you could only walk in my shoes. You only see my truck, my custom-made jewels glistening and my tailored designer clothes. You hear about and see the pictures from my extravagant trips. But what does that mean? People on the outside never know what you have to go through to get it. People think that everything that glitters is gold. Whoever said that lied.

And when I look at the big picture these are just the bribes to put up with the bullshit. So, is it even worth it?

After Co-Co tightened her hair, she still could not get a word out of her about what was going on, Yarni went by the pharma-cy to get her prescription filled. She arrived home. Bengee had cooked lobster and steak, and met her at the door with sunflowers. She dropped them in trash as she walked pass the trash can.

She wasn't buying it; not the singing telegram, dinner, flowers, none of it. She asked herself, Why am I even here? Damn is love this blind? Although she was hurt, as well as furious with Bengee, she still loved him. She never knew this side of love.

She was confused and distraught. How could someone that you love so much, give you so much pain?

BREAK UP TO MAKE UP

Yarni was shaken by the doorbell.
She wondered who it could've been because no one hardly ever visited them. She could hear Bengee's voice as he answered the door, but she couldn't make out the words. She tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't because of the racket Bengee was making. She decided to get up and go see what is going on.

As she was walking down the hall, Bengee called out to her,

"Yarni is that you?"

"Who else is it going to be?" she asked.

"Wait a minute before you come in here."

"Why? Do you have to hide the ho you have in there or something?"

Just then, she walked in, she saw a four piece Louis Vuitton luggage set sitting in the living room. "Oh, my God!!" She screamed, as she opened up and looked at each piece. When she got around to the duffle bag there were two plane tickets in it to St. Kitts. St. Kitts was on her must see list. When she looked at the ticket and saw Bengee's name on it. She burst into laughter. Bengee looked at her with a puzzled look.

"Now, this is a joke!" she continued to laugh.

Bengee smiled in on the laughter too. "What's so funny, Sweetness?"

"Do you really think that I would dare go with you on a vacation after you've done one of the ultimate betrayals." She looked at the pictures of the resort they were staying at. "Oh, this place is beautiful. But tell me, Mr. Dirty Dick, why would you even plan such a romantic vacation in such an exotic place when your wiener is dripping with Gonorrhea? No sex is going to hop off."

He smacked his lips as he looked at Yarni. "I know the sex is a dead issue, but I feel we need a vacation to work on the heal-ing process of our relationship. Yarni, I am desperate right now.

I know that we are on shaky grounds. I'm aware I made a stupid mistake."

"A stupid mistake," She interrupted. "How about a mistake that could have and may still cause both of us our lives? How about I got to live in bondage for the next seven years to find out if I've got HIV or not. Yeah, so always remember, it's easy to just slide your peter up in something, but the consequences can be fatal for a few moments of pleasure." She shook her head in frustration, anger, hurt and confusion.

"Yarni, please forgive me baby." He stood up with arms out, trying to explain. "I am so sorry."

"You're right." She nodded her head. "You are sorry."

"Yarni, whatever anger you feel you need to get off of your chest. I can take you lashing out on me, but please take a look at everything we've been through. We've really had some good times. Don't just throw it all out of the window for one foul up." Yarni stood with her hands folded as he continued. "Look, baby, I don't care about any sex on this vacation. I just want to be around you. Listen, this vacation is the least I could do for all the pain and shame I've caused you. At least take the vacation, and if after the vacation you want no parts of me, I'll just let you go your own way. I won't try to stop you or change your mind," He said humbly. "Now, the flight leaves at eight. Please, baby, please."

As bad as she wanted to decline the offer, shit, this was a free trip. When would she get another opportunity like this? She was leaving Bengee and Des wasn't coming home anytime soon.

She'd have to save for a while to make a trip like this happen.

She started getting prepared.

When they arrived in St. Kitts she had no idea that there was any place on Earth that was as beautiful. The mannerisms of the people there was flattering. She enjoyed the way the people catered to them.

They laid under a coconut tree in rented beach chairs, with Pina Coladas in tall glasses. Yarni was reading a Sister 2 Sister magazine, and he was looking at a rim book. She looked up and stared at the peaceful green water with the waves washing upon the baby powder white sand. Bengee noticed her in a daze. He said, "what are you thinking bout?" She didn't answer right away. "Bengee, do you know how humiliating I felt laying on that table getting examined because my man gave me gonorrhea?"

"I can't begin to imagine. I do know how embarrassed I felt when I went to the doctor." He got up from his chair and sat facing her with his legs straddled on the edge of her chair. "Baby, I apologize I know nothing I can do will ever make it right again, but I hope everything I have planned will ease the pain." He did have some phenomenal plans for her. He arranged for them both to get massages at the same time. Every night he'd out do himself. He presented her with a ring from the David Yurman collection. The second night, he had a picnic planned for them and presented her with a some diamond earrings. The third night, he granted her a deed to a building. He told her that he'd been planning to help her open a business, so at least she could have her own income coming in until she figured out exactly what she was going to do about school. He felt that this business would be a task to keep her mind off the fact that she would never be able to practice law due to her felony conviction. Also, in Bengee's mind, this would be considered as another one of the perks for taking the gun charge for him.

The next night, he gave her a note that promised that when they returned home he'd give her $20,000 towards her start-up fees for her business. The final night he gave her a voucher to go to New York for the next week. Along with the voucher were gift certificates for Tiffany's, Sak's Fifth Avenue, Lord and Taylors and Bendells. He'd also arranged for Cara to go with her. He provided them both spa packages at the Ritz Meridian, tickets for a Broadway play and a helicopter ride over all five Boroughs.