Bad Blood (9 page)

Chapter 16

Rachel

T
WENTY MINUTES LATER
P
ATRICE
, L
UCY, AND
P
AULETTE ARRIVED
. After we had all sat down in my living room, I poured each of us a glass of wine. We immediately started roasting Lucy's boyfriend for giving her herpes.

The telephone rang again, and I motioned for everybody to get silent. I leaped up and darted across the floor to the end table. I lifted the telephone with a shaky hand. This time it was Mama on the other end of the line.

“Hi, baby,” she began.

“Mama, I can't talk right now. I have company.”

“I just wanted to know if you and Seth had picked a date for the wedding yet—and one y'all going to stick to this time. Shoot! Your aunt Hattie keeps bugging me about it. Since you and Seth keep fiddling around with the date, she can't determine when to start saving enough money to buy y'all a real nice wedding gift,” Mama said.

I had a hard time trying to decide what words I wanted to use. I didn't say anything until Mama finished her last rambling sentence and paused to clear her throat. “Mama, Seth and I won't be getting married.” Not only did she let out a piercing yelp, but so did my three friends. “He called it off.”

“Say what? Why did Seth call off the wedding? What did you do to him, gal?” Mama hollered.

“I didn't do anything to him, Mama. He came by here a little while ago and told me he was not ready for marriage.”

With another loud yelp, Lucy rose but fell back onto the couch a few seconds later, fanning her face with her hand. Patrice and Paulette came over and stood next to me with stunned looks on their faces.

“Is that all he told you?” Mama paused, and I heard her mumbling to somebody on her end. Then she said in a loud voice to whoever that person was, “
Seth said what?
” A few moments passed, and then she cussed under her breath. “Rachel, Janet is standing behind me, eavesdropping on my call, like she always does when somebody uses the phone in this house. She just told me that when y'all was down here last year, she heard Seth on the telephone telling somebody he wasn't going to marry you, because your family had mental problems. Did you know he felt that way?”

What I had just heard made absolutely no sense to me, and I didn't believe it for one second. The man had stayed with me long after he had met Janet and Ernest. “Mama, that's not the reason he broke up with me.”

“But Janet just told me she heard—”

“Seth didn't care about our family's mental situation.”

“Girl, use your head for something other than a hat rack. Didn't you just hear what I told you that Janet told me?”

“And you believe her? Janet's been hearing voices for years, Mama. What about the time she told you a demon told her to set your laundry on fire? And what about that time she claims the dog who lives in the trailer across the street from you told her to cut off all her hair?”

“She was having episodes when she said all that.”

“What makes you think she's not having an ‘episode' this time?”

“But why would she say something like that about Seth?”

“Because right after she heard you say, ‘Seth called off the wedding, ' a few minutes ago, she took it and ran with it. Seth didn't change his mind about marrying me because of her and Ernest.”

“They ain't the only ones in our family with mental afflictions. Even your late daddy must have had some mental problems to fool around with another man's wife.”

“I know that, Mama. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to my company. I'll call you back tomorrow.”

By the time I got off the telephone, all three of my friends had surrounded me.

“Girl, you let me go on and on about my problem, when we should have been discussing yours!” Lucy boomed. “How come you didn't tell us Seth broke off the engagement?”

“I was going to,” I muttered. I returned to the couch, but everybody else stood in the middle of the floor, looking at me.

“What was your mama trying to say about why Seth broke up with you?” Paulette asked.

“Uh, my brother, Ernest, and my sister, Janet, are mentally challenged,” I replied.

“What?” Patrice's eyes bulged out like they were trying to escape.

“Mentally challenged how?” Paulette asked.

“My brother, Ernest, is autistic, and my sister, Janet, is paranoid schizophrenic. We have other relatives with serious problems, too. All mental.” You could have heard a feather fall to the floor. “Janet hears voices. She claims she heard Seth on the telephone, telling somebody he couldn't marry me, because of... my family's mental problems. But she's always hearing voices.”

“Did you ask Seth if that's the reason he dumped you?” Patrice asked. She actually looked like she was enjoying the fact that I was distressed. There was even a hint of a smile on her lips.

“You should ask him,” Lucy added.

I shook my head. “I am not going to ask him, because I don't believe that's the reason he broke up with me. He's out of my life, and I'm going to move forward.”

“Girl, if I was in your shoes, I'd be moving forward with my fist going upside his head,” Paulette hollered.

“You're probably better off without Seth, anyway. But I wouldn't let him get off so easily,” Patrice yelled. “If it was me, I'd make him wish he never laid eyes on me.”

“The man doesn't want me. That's no crime. And the bottom line is, I don't want to be with somebody who doesn't want to be with me,” I insisted.

“Well, you're a better woman than I am. Here I am with herpes for the rest of my life. As soon as I see the bastard that infected me, I'm going to slap the shit out of him, and then I'm going to put the word out about his
nasty, diseased dick
all over town. And you should at least do the same thing to Seth! What he did to you is just as bad as what asshole Gary did to me! Maybe even worse!”

“Seth was good to me. I don't want to hurt him because he fell out of love with me,” I said. “I have to give him credit for telling me before we got married.”

“So you're not going to do anything about it?” Paulette asked. “I can get one of my thug relatives to whup his ass for you.”

Somehow, I managed to laugh. “As long as Seth doesn't bother me, I'm not going to bother him,” I declared.

Chapter 17

Seth

I
DID A LOT OF THINKING AS
I
DROVE FROM
R
ACHEL'S APARTMENT.
I knew that to some people, it would look like I had betrayed her. I didn't feel that way. I was doing only what any other man in my shoes would do. And I was not doing it just for myself. I had my family to think about. They had very high expectations for me. I cringed when I imagined the remarks that Damon or his snooty wife would probably have come up with if I had married Rachel and produced a mentally ill child.
Seth, you're batting a thousand. Didn't you cause the family enough heartache when you got that ghetto woman pregnant? Now you have two idiot kids to raise!

And poor Mother. Her not having a good relationship with my first child was enough of a source of misery for her. I could not take a chance on her having to cope with another one. Or several more. Rachel had repeatedly indicated that she wanted at least two or three children. Well, she could have all the children she wanted. But they wouldn't be mine.

Yes, I had disappointed her, and I felt badly about it. As a matter of fact, I felt like a piece of shit. Especially knowing how much she loved me and how anxious she had been to get married.

But I was optimistic. Knowing how strong a woman Rachel was, I was convinced that she'd get over me and move on with her life. With that in mind, my main concern now was my own happiness and my future with Darla. With Rachel out of the picture, I could openly focus on that now.

I should have been elated, but I had another thorn in my side. My mind would not let me rest, the way I thought it would, even though I had dropped Rachel. I could still see the hurt look on her face and the tears in her eyes. Because of that, I got so agitated, I didn't want to go home. And I certainly didn't want to talk to anybody yet about what I'd done.

I glanced at my watch. I decided to stay out until I was sure my folks had gone to bed. I didn't want to face either one of them tonight. I couldn't decide what I was feeling. But whatever it was, it was a strange feeling. It felt like a cross between guilt and elation. Guilt because I had hurt Rachel, and elation because I had climbed out of a deep, dark hole that I had slid down into.

I meandered around for hours, driving around in circles and up and down streets I had never been on before. I even sat in a Walmart parking lot until a security guard gave me a menacing look. I started up my motor and began to drive around some more. I needed a drink, and Father kept our liquor cabinet well stocked with booze, so I'd drink at home tonight. With Father and Mother in bed, I could drink to my heart's delight without their interference. I planned to drink myself into oblivion when I got home. At least if I was passed out, I wouldn't have to think about Rachel.

It was almost midnight by the time I made it home. All the interior lights were out, but the front porch light was on. I let myself in and tiptoed all the way to my room. I wanted to change clothes before I started drinking. I had left my cell phone on the nightstand. I checked it and the landline on the same nightstand for messages. Darla had left one on each phone. “Honey, call me as soon as you get this message. I don't care how late it is,” she said, sounding so sweet. I dialed her number immediately.

“Hey,” I began when she picked up on the second ring. “I see you called while I was out.”

Darla took her time responding.

“Darla, are you still on the phone?”

“Yes, I am. Seth, I've been thinking. We did rush things, and lately, you've been acting somewhat distracted. Now, if you are not ready to get married next month, you need to let me know now. After what you've been through with that woman, you might want to have your space to yourself for a while, and if that's the case, I understand. But if you still want to see me, that's fine, too. We can even just date, if that's all you want.”

“Baby, I do want to marry you next month. The sooner I do, the sooner I can get on with my life. I apologize if I've seemed distracted. I had a little business issue that had been bothering me. I resolved it a little while ago. Now I can focus on you and our wedding.”

“Are you sure we won't have to worry about that woman now?”

“Rachel is out of my life forever,” I said with a lot of confidence, because I really thought that that was the case. I never expected to hear from her again. I had already made up my mind that if I ran into her on the street, I would be civil, but I would not encourage or even participate in a conversation with her.

“I'm so glad to hear that. She put you through so much, and I hope she's sorry about it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I hope she offered you some kind of apology the last time you saw her. Did she?”

“Yes, she did. She even suggested we remain friends, but I told her it was better if we didn't.”

“She didn't threaten to kill herself again?”

“Uh, no. She wasn't at all happy the last time we talked, but she wished me well.”

“Hmmm. That sounds mighty tame for a woman who had been giving you so much trouble about breaking up with her. Maybe she's already got a new fool.”

“She probably has. She's the kind of woman who gets around, if you know what I mean. That's another reason I couldn't marry her. She was a big flirt and had already had numerous lovers before she met me. Some were still calling her, so she couldn't be trusted.”

“You won't have that problem with me.”

“I know I won't.”

“Let's celebrate this weekend.”

“I was going to suggest that. I want you to join me and your future in-laws for dinner again this Sunday. They're having a few folks over, and I want them all to meet you. We can tell them all about us getting married next month.”

“How do they feel about Rachel? Don't you think your folks will be concerned about you marrying me so soon after you dumped her?”

“Don't you worry your pretty little head about my folks. They all want me to be happy.”

 

Darla had told me that her mother had told her she was a fool for being my “backstreet woman” for so long. Lucky for me, Darla never paid much attention to anything her mother said. The bottom line was, I had kept Darla in the dark long enough, and that was something that a lot of women would not have put up with. I was eager to show my woman off now because I wanted her to know just how much I loved her. And since I was off the hook with Rachel, I saw no reason to continue seeing Darla on the sly. She was going to be my wife soon and the mother of my children.

My main concern was how Rachel was going to react when she found out there was another woman in my life—and had been for some time. And since we had so many mutual friends, I knew that it was just a matter of time before she found out. I hoped that Darla and I were married by then.

Rachel called me a week after I'd met with her at her apartment.

“I can't talk right now,” I told her as soon as I realized she was the person on the other end of the line. “I'm very busy.” I was sorry I had to sound so brusque, but I wanted to make sure she knew I was in no mood to talk to her.

“When can we talk?” she asked. “There are a few things I'd like to say to you.”

“Rachel, whatever it is, it'll have to wait until I have the time to talk to you again, and the interest in doing so,” I said firmly. “Now, if you don't mind, I have to go.” I didn't wait for her to respond. I hung up immediately, and then I told my new secretary—a cute, docile young Korean woman who never gave me the headaches Sister Beulah had—not to put any more calls through from Rachel.

Rachel began to make a pest of herself. She left numerous messages for me at the office and on my cellular phone over the next few days, and I ignored them all. She even had the nerve to send me a card with a note in it that she “needed to talk to me in person right away.” I had no idea what she wanted to say to me, and whatever it was, it was not going to make any difference.