All Or Nothing (20 page)

Whether Shantell knew it or not, she was playing a dangerous game with a very dangerous man.

Meet the Parents

Shantell pulled her Sidekick out of her pocketbook to look at an incoming e-mail message. A bright smile quickly spread across her lips:

Long time no see? I really missed you! You missed me? LOL Can u meet my mom this evening? Can you join us for dinner? Are you available? Let me know. Give me a call later. And I’ll e-mail you the directions to my house.

The e-mail was from Ronald. She had been expecting a call or something from him for some time now. When a few days went by with no word, Shantell began to worry. She thought maybe Ronald had changed his mind, that somehow he had lost interest. His e-mail helped to kill all her doubts. It erased all her worries and reaffirmed her faith in him.

She proceeded to punch in a few alphabetic keys to reply. As she did so, Shantell almost bumped into the other shoppers with her shopping cart in the Harris Teeter supermarket.

The truth of the matter was, Shantell didn’t have anything to worry about. The reason why Ronald had taken so long was because he was trying to coordinate everyone’s schedule, specifically his mother’s, and he had a hectic schedule, too. the Bobcats had just returned from a four-game West Coast road trip. Now he was back and eager for Shantell and his mom to meet.

After re-reading the message for what seemed to be the hundredth time, Shantell flipped her Sidekick closed and reentered the real world.

“Jordan, get over here,” Shantell called out. “Leave that candy alone.

“Mommy, can I have this? Please! Please!” Jordan begged.

“Get it!” Shantell ordered. “And c’mon!”

She watched as her daughter bounced back up the aisle towards her. From that moment on, Shantell couldn’t even think right. She went about her day, running errands, in a trance-like state. She was just going through the motions until she met up with Ronald and his mother.

“Mommy, where we goin’?” Jordan questioned.

“I already told you already. We goin’ to meet a friend of mine. Now Jordan, please be quiet. Mommy tryin’ to concentrate. okay?” She gently replied.

Her daughter was a homebody. She was perfectly content with staying home and watching television. That was her idea of fun. Against her will, Shantell had to drag Jordan along to meet Ronald and his mother. They were a package deal; one couldn’t have Shantell unless they accepted her daughter too. Tonight she would see if Ronald had any qualms about accepting this responsibility. Tonight she would see if Ronald and Jordan could get along.

Frustrated, young Jordan fell back in her seat and continued watching her favorite cartoon, Jimmy Neutron, on the portable DVD player.

Meanwhile, Shantell continued to drive, up interstate 77to Ronald’s house in Lake Norm. As she did so, from time to time she glanced at her navigational system, to make sure she was going n the right way. Although, Lake Norm was a short distant outside of Charlotte’s city limits, it might as well been out the country for Shantell, because she had never been there.

Lake Norm was thought to be the home of the rich, similar to what the Hampton’s were to New York City. A somewhat exclusive community that was surrounded by a large man-made lake, it was prime real estate in Charlotte for those who could afford the steep cost of owning a home there. For years there had been rumors floating around that rapper/ entrepreneur Jay-Z had a huge mansion somewhere in Lake Norm.

Following her navigational system, Shantell turned onto the exit ramp. She followed its robotic instructions to a tee. The further Shantell drove, the darker it seemed to get. The area went from urban to almost rural and remote. As she drove down a dark, winding road, a deer darted out from the woods, causing her to slam on the brakes.

“Jordan, baby, are you alright?” She called out.

Jordan replied, “I’m okay.”

“Goddamn! Stupid fuckin’ deer!” Shantell cursed to herself.

From that point on, she drove more cautiously. She wasn’t sure what would jump out of the woods next. Shantell felt it was better to be safe than sorry. She had some precious cargo onboard, her daughter; she couldn’t afford to lose her.

Suddenly the house came into view. The lights from the house seemed to glow like eyes in the dark, and it was inviting. Pulling into the driveway, Shantell got a close-up view of the house. It was a beautiful Georgian style home.

Before Shantell could unfasten her seat belt, the front door swung open and out walked Ronald. Dressed casually in a white dress shirt and blue slacks, he strolled over to the car and opened the door.

“Did you have trouble finding my house?” he wondered.

“Let’s just say, thank God for GPS,” Shantell admitted. “You kinda way out here in the boondocks. Who you hidin’ from?”

Ronald laughed the comment off. He proceeded to open the back door and unfasten Jordan from her car seat. Picking her up in his arms, he removed her from the car. Shantell was amazed that Jordan let Ronald continue to hold her. She was one of those kids who didn’t take to strangers easily, and she hardly ever let anyone hold her except Shantell, so this was a good sign.

“This is your little girl you always talking about, huh? Jordan’s her name, right?” he questioned. “She’s so adorable. Jordan, one day you’re going to make some guy a very lucky man.”

After slamming the car doors shut, they walked towards the house. Shantell felt like she was walking the plank. Suddenly her stomach became unsettled; she had butterflies in her tummy. She was nervous about the meeting, to say the least.

“I’m glad you could make it,” Ronald said. “But let me forewarn you, my mom can be a little bit of a snob, so don’t take it personal. She’s like that with everyone. And oh, by the way, I told her we met at the season opener. So go along with that, just in case she asks.”

Now Shantell really wondered what she had gotten herself into. The picture Ronald had painted of his mother wasn’t a nice one. Shantell decided to expect the worst but pray for the best.

When they walked in the house, Shantell realized that the inside was just as beautiful as the outside. She thought that a professional interior decorator helped furnish the house. Either that or his mother had excellent taste.

“Shantell would you like to see my place?” Ronald asked. “I’ll take you on a brief tour.”

“Sure, why not?”

Ronald proceeded to show her his five-bedroom, fiveanda -half bathroom, 4,000 square foot home that sat on two

acres of land. By the time they finished taking a tour of his minimansion, which is how Ronald referred to it, Ronald’s mother had magically appeared.

Dorothy Wright was seated in the living with her eyes glued to CNN, She was watching the President’s State of the Union address.

“Mother, our guests are here,” Ronald announced.

“Show them to the dining room,” she commanded him. “I’ll be there shortly.”

She completely ignored her house guests and never once turned away from the television. Shantell thought that was so rude.

“Yes ma’am.”

As they walked away Ronald turned and whispered to Shantell, “You’ll have to excuse my mother, she really into politics. She always told me that foreign policy affects us here at home. She always has to know what’s going on.”

Ronald led Shantell and Jordan to the dining room, which was just a few feet away. The first thing that caught Shantell’s eye was the lovely chandelier that hung high above the table yet lit up the room. Inside the dining room was a dining table big enough to seat Shantell’s entire family. The mahogany wood table seemed to stretch the entire length of the room. The table was nicely decorated with a tablecloth, flower bouquets, candles, wine glasses, napkins and silverware.

The table had been set with painstaking care. Shantell almost didn’t want to take a seat, out of fear that she or Jordan might mess something up. Reluctantly she did so anyway. She placed Jordan in a seat to her left and Ronald sat directly across from her. This left the head of the table open for his mother to sit whenever she arrived.

“Are you alright?” Ronald asked.

“I’m okay,” she lied.

“You don’t look so hot,” he insisted.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m fine. You seein’ things,” she assured him.

Though Shantell’s mouth may have stated one thing, her body betrayed her. She looked tense. A smile hadn’t passed her lips since she entered the house. Suddenly she was dead serious, and that wasn’t her style.

“Jordan, put that spoon down before’ I pop you!” she scolded her daughter. “Put it down now!”

As Jordan obeyed her mother, she suddenly burst out into tears. Shantell had her daughter trained to the tone of her voice. She didn’t have to put her hands on Jordan; as soon she raised her voice, her daughter would shed tears.

Quickly Shantell came to the realization of what she had done. She began to comfort her daughter in an effort to keep her from making a scene; that she didn’t need. Whatever she did worked because Jordan returned to her normal self in only a few moments.

At that very moment Dorothy Wright entered the room. She carried herself with great dignity, as if she were royalty. One look at her and it was easy to see where Ronald inherited his good looks.

“Good evening. You must be Shantell. And who might that be?”

“Who, her?” Shantell countered. “Oh, that’s my daughter, Jordan.”

“Oh really?” Dorothy said. “How old might that child be?”

“She’s four and a half.” Shantell answered. “She’ll be five in November.”

For some strange reason, Shantell didn’t feel like Dorothy Wright’s line of questioning was genuine. She felt like she was being interrogated and at some point in time, her answers might come back and haunt her. The thought made her uneasy. Shantell began to think about everything she said before she said it.

“How old were you when you had your child?” Dorothy questioned. “You had to be awfully young?”

Before Shantell could real give her a definitive answer or explanation to her question, Dorothy o popped yet another question. Sometimes Shantell was confused; she didn’t know what answer to give to what question. She kept getting badgered by question after question, and Ronald was powerless to stop it.

“Do you believe in God?”

“What church do you go to?”

“Where are you from?”

“Where do you live?”

“Where did you attend school?”

“What was your major?”

“Where do you work?”

“What type of work do you do?”

“How did you meet my son?”

Now Shantell felt like she was filling out a job application, not dating Ronald. Dorothy really had an air of superiority about her, like she was better than everybody else and her son was too good for Shantell. She thought Ronald’s mother was just nitpicking. Shantell didn’t know that under any circumstances, Dorothy could be difficult to deal with. It was obvious to Shantell that Ronald’s mother didn’t care for her; this was made apparent by her attitude.

Shantell had been through a lot of bad experiences in her life, but she could never remember feeling this humiliated. She wanted to give Mrs. Wright a piece of her mind: curse her out, tell her off, let her know just who she was messing with. Out respect for her daughter, respect for Ronald and, more importantly respect for herself, she bit her tongue. Shantell refused to succumb to those devilish temptations. This was not the time to vent. She was going to conduct herself like a lady, even if it killed her.

The only time that Mrs. Wright stopped talking was during dinner. Even then, she managed to say a few choice words.

When the food was brought out, Shantell was really at a loss. She could barely pronounce these dishes, let alone eat them. The appetizer consisted of tequila shrimp and seared

scallops on a bed of organic greens with dill tomatoes, corn and cucumbers. It got no better once the main course was served. They had lemon sorbet, peppercorn-crusted filet Mignon with brandy butter sauce. For dessert, they had chocolate decadence with lavender sabayon sauce.

Shantell didn’t know how she managed to eat this bland meal. Probably trying to leave a good impression on Ronald had something to do with it. From time to time she glanced over at her daughter; this was one time she was happy that Jordan was playing with her food. Shantell made a mental note to herself to stop by the first McDonald’s that they saw, on the way home.

The extended periods of silence at the table led Shantell to examine herself. She came to the instant realization that what she did didn’t make her who she was. She had to do what she had to do. Granted, there were other options that she could have chosen, but she didn’t, so she had to live with the consequences. Right or wrong, it was the cross she had to bear.

To her, life was a game of options. Some people just had more than others and on the other hand, some people did more with less.

When the dinner date was over, Mrs. Wright said a brief goodbye and excused herself from the table. Meanwhile, Ronald escorted Shantell and Jordan safely back to the car.

“Yo, I’m so proud of you,” he stated. “You never cease to amaze me. You kept your cool in spite of all the mean things my mother said to you.”

“Pppppsssss!” she sighed. “Only God knows how I managed to do dat. Yo’ mother is really somethin’ else. Where does she get off, talkin’ to people like that? What, she perfect? Who she think she is, God’s gift to the world? That woman needs to check herself.”

“I know! I know!” Ronald insisted. “You’re one hundred percent correct. But what can I do? I mean, should I disown her? A lot of people would love to have that problem. Some people don’t have a mother.”

The minute he said that, Ronald regretted his comments. He knew he messed up. Instantly he thought of Shantell’s home situation and realized what a mistake he had just made.

“I’m sorry!” he apologized. “I wasn’t directing that comment at you or anything.”

“I know. Don’t worry ‘bout it. I didn’t take it that way.”

Ronald leaned inside the driver’s door and gently pecked Shantell on the cheek. The kiss did wonders for her spirit. After all she had been through she needed a little pick-me up.