All I Want for Christmas (15 page)

Nedra waved her hand. “Come on, Carlos. We
both know your mother has pull in this parish with the city police,
the sheriff’s office and the DA.”

“The DA’s office wouldn’t have gone along
with it if I’d had a criminal background, or if they’d had evidence
that I had a gang connection. I don’t think you’re being fair.”
Carlos looked at her, but Nedra wouldn’t return his gaze.

She stared at the wall. “Why didn’t you tell
me the truth?”

He sighed and dropped his head. “My mother is
in a very sensitive position when it comes to law enforcement. Not
only does she have an election coming up, but she has future goals
when it comes to her judicial career. She’d like to be considered
for a federal judgeship in the next few years. Even a hint of
scandal or talk of improper behavior as an officer of the court
could kill her chances.” He fidgeted as seconds ticked by with no
reply.

“In other words, you didn’t trust me not to
run straight to Rod and tell him? Rod isn’t running against your
mother. He’s going to run against…” Nedra’s voice trailed off. “So
the mayor got in on the act as well?”

“He and Brian’s father grew up in the same
neighborhood,” he explained. “They were friends, like brothers
really, practically all their lives. Brian was maybe eleven or
twelve when his dad died. Mayor Bates promised him that he’d look
after Brian.”

Brian’s father had been in a gang in the
seventies and died from AIDS-related cancer following years of drug
abuse. He had begged the mayor not to let Brian make the same
mistakes. Carlos didn’t feel right telling Nedra so much so soon.
He pushed down the prick of guilt he felt at holding back, but
Brian’s story was not his to tell just yet.

“Okay, so you thought I’d go running to Rod
to give him ammo to use against the mayor? I’m sure Judge Jacobs
had an opinion when she found out about us,” Nedra said quietly.
She turned to Carlos.

“She doesn’t know you.” He put a hand on
Nedra’s shoulder. When she didn’t pull away, he moved closer.

“Neither do you. Like I said, we’ve only
known each other for a month,” she replied, looking down at her
hands folded in her lap.

“Do you really think I’m a drug dealer and
gun runner, Nedra?” Carlos put his arm across the back of her
chair. He tensed as moments passed.

“No, I don’t. Do you trust me with this
information?” Nedra twisted the strap of her purse between her
fingers.

“Yes, I do. I would have told you everything
eventually after the holidays.” Carlos hugged her to him and rested
his head against hers.

“Why would ‘after the holidays’ make a
difference?” she asked, relaxing in his embrace.

“Because we’ll still be together and planning
our next Christmas.”

He felt a surge of happiness when Nedra’s
reply was a tight hug and tears.

****

The next day, Nedra met her sisters and Maida
for lunch at the Mall of Louisiana. They sat in La Madeleine’s
restaurant near a window with a view of the carousel. Kids squealed
with delight as parents took pictures. Jarae and Gaylynn kept
exchanging glances, while Maida just shook her head. All three were
still digesting Nedra’s revelations about Carlos. She told them
that he’d had to do community service, but left out the part about
the involvement of Mayor Bates.

“I melted when he talked
about our future. You think he’s pulled a fast one? Now that my
romantic haze has cleared up, I’m wondering if I’m being stupid
over a man
again
.”
Nedra picked over the salad she’d ordered to go with La Madeleine’s
famous French onion soup.

Jarae raised her professionally arched
eyebrows at Nedra. “Carlos is known for being a real smooth
operator. I hear some of his friends call him ‘The Closer’. When
nobody else can get to a woman, Carlos Jacobs can.”

Gaylynn squinted at their older sister. “Gee,
thanks for being so supportive, Jay.”

“Hey, don’t ask if you don’t want the truth.”
Jarae merely shrugged and took another bite of her chicken salad
croissant.

“Listen, sounds to me like the guy is
sincere. I mean, he introduced Nedra to his little girl and has
spent practically every free moment with her,” said Maida. She
looked at Jarae, who shrugged again because her mouth was full.

“I agree with Maida. People can change.
Besides, he wasn’t caught with drugs or using them. You haven’t
heard about him using, huh?” Gaylynn glanced at Jarae again. “Okay,
Ms. Twenty-four Hour News Channel.”

Jarae swallowed and sipped from her glass of
iced tea. She patted her lips with a fancy paper napkin. “I have to
say, other than the typical smoking a little weed in college, I’ve
never heard Carlos was into drugs.”

“He smokes weed?” Maida squeaked. She
flinched as heads turned and diners nearby stared. “Sorry.”

“Thank you for putting us on blast,” Nedra
snapped.

“I didn’t say he still does, girl. He played
around in college like a lot of us. Just like we all got stinking
drunk on cheap booze at least three times. Don’t front ‘cause you
know I know,” said Jarae, pointing at Maida and Gaylynn in
turn.

Maida grinned. “Point made.”

“But some forgot to stop partying and ended
up addicted. I don’t know now.” Gaylynn frowned.

“You were just saying that he sounded sincere
and that you believed him.” Nedra blinked at Gaylynn.

“Evidence of past drug use and his
association with drug dealers sounds bad.” Gaylynn picked up her
glass of pink lemonade and took a long pull on the straw, still
frowning.

“I hate this. Just when I’m having the
happiest Christmas in years, crap happens,” said Nedra, pushing
away her salad plate.

“Trust men to screw up everything. I’m
telling you, we’ve been catching hell since Adam blamed Eve for
everything.” Maida nodded, as though dropping ageless wisdom on her
friends. “Look at Imani.”

“What happened with Imani and Errol?” gasped
Jarae, dropping her croissant as though this latest gossip was way
tastier.

“Imani kept looking until she found out what
she didn’t want to know,” Maida replied. “Errol called her
manipulative and a control freak. Said he’d tried to make it work,
but he got tired of her following him around and going through his
pockets. He went to his company’s conference and met a woman who
works at the Houston office. They hit it off and, long story short,
he’s transferring to Houston and they’re dating.”

Gaylynn gasped and put a hand over her heart.
“Oh no, poor Imani.”

Jarae shook her head slowly. “Umph, umph,
umph.”

“I haven’t seen or heard from her since the
day she was in my office,” Nedra sighed.

“
Imani did her usual thing;
went overboard and smothered the man. I tried telling her, but she
wasn’t hearing it,” Maida said.

“I’m going to give her a call.” Gaylynn wore
a look of sympathy for their friend.

“Call her cell. She went home to Mobile to be
with her family for the holidays. At least she won’t be feeling
awful. They’re very close and supportive.” Maida sipped her diet
cola with a thoughtful expression.

Nedra looked at the others. “We’ve got to get
together with Imani when she’s back in town.”

“For sure,” Jarae replied, and the women
nodded in agreement.

Nedra bit her lower lip. “Imani was with
Errol a lot longer than I’ve known Carlos.”

“Okay, can we all agree that Imani has run
off the last three men in her life?” Maida asked, leaning across
the table, her voice low.

“At least,” Gaylynn chimed in. “I hate to say
it, but you’re right. Once is bad luck. Twice is a bad decision.
Three times is a trend.”

“Maybe so, or Errol could have been making an
excuse. You know, like Adam blaming Eve when the crap hit the fan.
Guys will point the finger at you in a minute,” argued Jarae,
scowling at the world.

“He could have been honest with her, instead
of slipping around.” Nedra joined her older sister with her own
scowl.

Maida put a hand on Nedra’s arm. “Girl, we’re
not talking about Carlos.”

“No, but we could be. We’re talking about
honesty and not keeping secrets,” Nedra replied.

“Okay, we know what happened with Imani. Now
let’s examine this thing with Carlos. It’s not just about him. His
mother has her reputation on the line and asked him not to tell.
Y’all know we’d all do whatever for our mamas. C’mon now,” said
Gaylynn, waving a hand.

“True that,” Jarae replied. “And if one of my
boys got in trouble, I’d take whatever steps necessary to keep them
out of the system.”

“Amen,” Maida said with gusto.

Nedra felt the rock on her chest lift a bit.
“Under the circumstances I would have done the same thing. Whew,
this relationship stuff is complicated when you add family into the
mix.”

“Hey, if you have any lingering doubts, look
him up. Your law-enforcement pals won’t mind giving you the 411
when you tell them he’s your new man.” Jarae pointed a forefinger
at Nedra. “Do a background check.”

Nedra shook her head firmly as the other two
clamored to agree with Jarae. “I’m not going down that road. We
just talked about how Imani pushed Errol away by playing detective.
I’m either going to trust what he tells me or not. My gut tells me
to trust Carlos.”

“Then that’s settled. Let’s share dessert.”
Jarae waved to the waiter as the others laughed at her.

Nedra grinned at her older sister. “Girl,
trust you to keep your priorities straight.”

Chapter 10

Saturday night, Nedra and Carlos strolled
along with Carly in the middle, each holding one of her hands as
they moved through the crowd. New Roads looked like a
nineteenth-century village. Strings of white lights decked all of
the antique stores and specialty shops on Main Street. Other
multicolored lights in the shapes of angels, bows and small
Christmas trees hung from lamp posts. The cool night air and cozy
small-town atmosphere had everyone in a good mood, it seemed.

“Come on, I hear music. I think the Christmas
rollercoaster is this way,” said Carly. Straining forward, she
pulled the two adults along like a tiny tug boat guiding two larger
vessels through a sea of people.

“Slow down sweet pea. We’ll get there soon
enough.” Carlos laughed as he watched his daughter huff and puff
with the effort to hurry them.

“I don’t want to miss a seat. Look at all
those kids trying to get there.” Carly continued to march them
towards the music. Her little red, knitted hat had a green pom-pom
on the top, which bobbed as she moved.

Nedra smiled and increased her pace. “She’s
making sense, Carlos. It looks like everyone is headed for the same
place. I say we step it up.”

“Thank you, Miss Nedra. Now come on, daddy.”
Carly yanked Carlos’ hand until he was even with them.

“All right, all right, I’ve been voted down.
We head for the rides instead of window shopping.”

Carlos scooped up Carly and soon his long
legs had them making good progress. Nedra had to work hard to keep
up. Within seconds she was out of breath, but they soon arrived at
the roped-off entrance to the area with small carnival rides. More
multicolored lights flashed. To the left was a section with bumper
cars painted green, red, gold and purple. Just behind that, a
merry-go-round had been set up. There were many booths with games
of chance to win prizes and straight ahead was a large carousel.
Reindeer, sleighs and elves rotated to music.

Carly dropped the adults’ hands, and jumped
up and down. “Daddy, I want to ride the big reindeer. Please,
please. This way!”

Carlos grabbed her hand before she could race
off. “Whoa. We have to get tickets first. I gotta admit you were
right, baby girl. We beat a big crowd.”

Even though they weren’t too far down, they
stood in line for twenty minutes. Carly’s excitement grew as she
watched other children smile with delight as they rode the
carousel. She barely paid any attention to Carlos, who took the
opportunity to whisper his plans to Nedra to wrap Carly’s presents
later, after she fell asleep.

“You’ll have no problem wrapping them in
peace. She’s going to be exhausted.” Nedra glanced around at the
activity.

Carlos leaned close to Nedra and spoke close
to her ear, “I promise you, within an hour of getting back to my
place, Carly will be sound asleep. I’ll just manage to give her a
bath and brush her hair.”

“You’ve got this parenting thing down. I
salute you, sir.” Nedra nudged him affectionately. “But brush her
hair before bed?”

He nodded. “Carly likes her hair groomed and
covered with a satin scarf before she goes to bed.”

Nedra laughed. “Say what?”

“She has her beauty routine,” he replied,
laughing with her.

Nedra loved how his eyes sparkled when he
talked about his little girl. No matter what Jarae may have heard,
Carlos didn’t look anything like a player when Carly was around.
Instead, he was the loving father on a Christmas greeting card.
Nedra ticked off another important box: great father. She hooked
her arm through one of his and felt like she was in one of those
sentimental holiday commercials.

Slowly, the line moved forward until Carlos
stepped up to the ticket stand. “We need three,” he told the guy
holding a roll of tickets.

“Three it is.” The man counted them off.

“Wait a minute,” said Nedra, tapping Carlos
on the shoulder.

He looked at her. “You didn’t think Carly
would have all the fun, did you?”

“Yaay, daddy and Miss Nedra are gonna ride.”
Carly bounced around with delight. “C’mon!”

“B-but I- I mean,” Nedra stammered as she was
pulled towards the carousel. “I’ve never been on one of these
things in my life.”