Best She Ever Had (9781617733963) (25 page)

“O
kay,” Lauren said as she dropped her purse onto the foyer table and Cynthia closed the front door behind her. “Where is it?”

“In here,” Cynthia whispered as they walked into her French county kitchen, where Clarissa sat on one of the stools, staring at the certified envelope on the butcher block as though it contained some unknown explosive that could go off at any second.

Just looking at the envelope made Cynthia ill. How had things gotten this bad? Why was Korey putting them through this?

“Because he has the right to know if he's Clarissa's father,” a voice in her head reminded her.

“Hi, honey,” Lauren said before resting her hand on Clarissa's arm.

Clarissa jumped in surprise as if she hadn't noticed her aunt come up behind her. “Hi, Aunt Lauren,” she mumbled.

“So . . .” Lauren's eyes shifted between the two women. “You guys ready to do this?”

“I guess,” Clarissa said. She then reached for the manila envelope, turning it around and around.

Cynthia bit down hard on her bottom lip, waiting for her daughter to open it. She watched, dejected, as Clarissa sat the envelope back down on the kitchen island and slowly slid it toward her. “You open it, Ma.”

“You want me to do it? W-w-why?”

“Because I can't,” Clarissa answered softly. “I'm too scared to read it.”

Cynthia stared at her daughter, then the envelope. The kitchen fell silent again.

“Well? Are you going to open it?” Lauren asked. Cynthia picked up the envelope. She took a deep breath, deciding to just bite the bullet. She ripped open the side.

Cynthia paused just before she slid out the papers inside. Her hands began to shake. She sat the envelope back on the counter and shook her blond head.

“I can't do it, Laurie. I can't read that thing! You do it.”

“
What?
But it's not my test!”

“What affects one of us, affects all of us, right?” Cynthia asked. “Hasn't that always been the case? All for one, and one for all. That's how we do things in this family.”

Lauren's lips formed into a grim line. After some time, she nodded. “Okay. I'll do it.”

Cynthia held her breath again, and Clarissa closed her eyes as Lauren slid out the papers, letting them fall to the butcher block. Silently, Cynthia prayed for it to say that Korey wasn't a match. She apologized for past mistakes and rash decisions. She promised God that if He got her out of this jam she would change her ways. No more man-hunting. No more lies. She'd become a chaste woman, and she would focus on being the best mother she could be and making amends to Korey for keeping her secret fears from him for so long.

Cynthia watched as Lauren scanned a few lines of text. She couldn't read her sister's facial expression, adding to her frustration.

“
Well?
What does it say, Laurie?” Cynthia asked.

Lauren slowly lowered the sheet of paper back to the island. “Ninety-nine point five percent match.”

Clarissa's eyelashes fluttered open. Her brows furrowed in confusion. “So what . . . what does that mean? Are they saying that Mr. Walker is my dad?”

Lauren paused, then nodded.

Clarissa clutched the edge of the counter. She lowered her eyes.

“Oh, baby . . . honey.” Cynthia walked around the island with her arms outstretched, wanting to comfort Clarissa. “I'm so sorry. I didn't—”

Clarissa's face hardened. She stepped out of her mother's grasp. Cynthia watched, feeling the acute sting of rejection as her daughter ran for the staircase. Her hands fell to her sides while she watched Clarissa race up the stairs to the second floor.

“Just give her some time,” Lauren said softly from behind her when they heard Clarissa's door slam. “It's a lot to take in.”

“No shit!” Cynthia snapped. When she saw Lauren frown, she shook her head. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I'm just . . .” She dropped her head into her hands. “God, Laurie, why is this happening? Why was I so . . . so
stupid?
I should have known Korey would be her father! Of course, he would be!” she shouted as she paced back and forth in front of the kitchen's bay window. “It seems like if there's a worst-case scenario, then it's going to happen to me!”

“It's not just happening to you, Cindy. It's affecting a lot of other people too. What about Clarissa . . . or Korey, for that matter? He's about to find out that he has a daughter he didn't even know existed until a few months ago. Not to mention poor Jared.” She made a
tsk, tsk
sound. “He had the crappy luck to fall in love with his own sister!”

Cynthia stopped pacing. “Yeah, I get it. It's all my fault. Thank you very much for pointing that out!”

“I'm not saying it's all your fault.” Lauren wavered. “Well, okay, maybe it is
a little
. I mean . . . if you had just come clean in the beginning when you found out you were pregnant and let Korey know he might be the father, you could have—”

“Laurie, I know I messed up! Okay? You're supposed to be making me feel better, damn it! Not worse!”

“Okay, okay.” Lauren held up her hands. “I'm just saying you could have handled it better, but I know you were eighteen years old back then. You did what you thought was best at the time, I guess. You can't beat yourself up over mistakes you made in the past. What's done is done. You guys just have to move forward from this.”

“But how can I? Clarissa's had her heart broken, and I have too!”

“What do you mean? Why is your heart broken?”

“Because I've been in love with the same man for the past twenty damn years, and now he's dumped me! Because I thought I finally had a chance to experience something legitimate, long-lasting, and real with him, and now it's over! And it's all my damn fault! It's all my fault! That's what I mean!”

“Wait! Wait, back up! You were
in love
with him . . . with Korey, you mean?”

“Yes, Korey! Who the hell else would I be talking about?”

Lauren gazed at her in shock.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Is it so hard to believe that I fell for someone?”

Lauren paused. “Well, frankly . . . yeah.”

“Oh, thanks a lot.” Cynthia glanced at the staircase.

“I'm going to check on Clarissa.”

“Okay,” Lauren muttered, still looking stunned, “I'll be down here if you need me.”

Seconds later, Cynthia knocked on Clarissa's bedroom door. “Baby, can I come in?”

Clarissa didn't respond, but the door was unlocked, so Cynthia went inside the bedroom anyway. She found Clarissa splayed across her satin bedspread with her head buried in one of her lace-edged decorative pillows. The young woman was sobbing.

“Oh, honey,” she said, rushing across the room. She sat on the edge of the bed and instantly noticed that Clarissa clutched a cordless phone in her hand. It was beeping, as though Clarissa had left it off the hook. Cynthia took the phone away and hung it up before putting it back in its charger on Clarissa's night table. She then rubbed Clarissa's back. “Baby, please don't cry.” She sniffed and felt tears well in her own eyes. “If you keep crying, I'm gonna lose it too.”

Clarissa mumbled something into her pillow, making Cynthia frown.

“What did you say, honey? I didn't hear you.”

Clarissa slowly raised her head. “I said I broke up with him. I called Jared, and I broke up with him.” She wiped at her runny nose. “I told him we got the results today, and I said I couldn't be with him anymore.”

“I'm sorry to hear that, sweetheart.”

“No, you're not!” Clarissa shouted, pushing herself away from her pillow. “You're not sorry! You've wanted us to break up all along—and now you finally got what you wanted!”

“But I didn't want to see you hurt. I wanted to avoid this. Really, I did. Why would I want something like this to happen?”

Clarissa stilled. She started to pick at one of the loose strings on her pillowcase. “Jared didn't want to break up. He said . . . he said he didn't care that I'm his sister. I told him he would care if we had mutant babies,” she muttered. “I said I would always love him. I'd just have to love him . . . like a sister. He didn't like that. He . . . he hung up on me.” Her shoulders trembled. She turned her face away and started to cry again. Cynthia wrapped Clarissa in her arms and let her sob on her shoulder. “But I don't love him like a sister! I still want to be with him, and now it's sick and it's gross and I . . . I . . .”

Cynthia shushed her and rubbed her head as she wept.

“Please, Ma, can you leave me alone?” Clarissa asked, pushing Cynthia away. “Just . . . just leave me alone, okay?”

Cynthia hesitated then nodded. She rose from the bed. “All right, honey. If that's what you want.”

She walked across the bedroom and closed the door behind her, shutting out the sound of her daughter's sobs. She stood in the hallway, feeling a profound sense of loss descend over her. Cynthia hadn't felt this helpless in quite a long time.

W
ith a heavy heart, Korey watched as his son loaded a collection of video games into a cardboard box. Jared unrolled a strip of masking tape and taped the lid shut, running his hand over the seam. He then climbed to his feet, carrying the heavy box in his arms.

“I can take that for you,” Korey said softly, stepping forward.

“I got it,” Jared snapped, pulling the box out of his father's reach. Jared walked around Korey and into the hallway. He then sat the box next to the others that were stacked already in the living room, creating a mini-tower of cardboard.

Jared had been snapping at Korey a lot lately. Harsh words were the only thing he seemed to have for his father now that they had gotten the paternity test results and discovered that Clarissa was indeed Korey's daughter. Korey found out that Clarissa had broken up with Jared as soon as she heard the news. He could understand why. Siblings couldn't date—no matter what the mitigating circumstances were. But that didn't mean Jared's heart understood.

This is a big mess,
Korey thought with frustration as he looked around him at the bare walls and half-empty floor of his son's bedroom. And he couldn't fix any of it.

Jared was moving out. He said there was no reason to come back to Chesterton now that this had happened. He had no desire to run into Clarissa again, though the fact was, now that they were brother and sister, it would be nearly impossible to avoid each other completely. But Korey respected his son's decision, even if it hurt him to see Jared go.

“I think that's the last of it,” Jared mumbled, just as his mother threw open Korey's front door.

“Where's my baby?” Vivian shouted. “Where is he?” She opened her arms and ran toward Jared, making Korey roll his eyes heavenward and Jared cringe.

Vivian was wearing one of her colorful ensembles today, an orange and red dress that hugged her body like Saran Wrap. In her younger days, it may have been flattering, even sexy. But Vivian had put on quite a few pounds in the last two decades, and the dress did nothing for her now ample frame. Korey supposed she tried to deflect attention from her expanding waistline with the teased wigs she always seemed to wear now. He was surprised she made it through the front door with the big curls she wore today.

“Hey, Viv,” he muttered halfheartedly.

She glared at him. “I'll deal with you later.” She then returned her attention to their son. “Don't worry, honey! Mama will take care of everything!”

She wrapped Jared in her arms like a swaddled babe and planted a kiss on his cheek, leaving a smear of red lipstick near his chin. Jared instantly shrugged out of his mother's grasp.

“I'm fine, Mom.”

“You don't look fine!” she exclaimed. “And you didn't sound fine on the phone either! What the hell happened?” She turned and faced Korey with her hands on her hips. “What did you do to my baby? I knew it was a mistake having him stay here all the—”

“He didn't do anything,” Jared said tightly. “I just . . . I just wanna go home. That's all.”

“Uh-huh,” she murmured, sounding far from convinced. “Well, you are coming home—
permanently
. Harvey's here,” she said, referring to her husband. She gestured toward the front door. “He brought the van so we can load all of your things and make just one trip.”

Jared nodded and began to pick up one of his boxes.

“Please don't do this, son,” Korey pled, taking a step toward Jared and feeling his heart break. “I know you're hurt by how all this has gone down, but we can work it out somehow. Don't just—”

“Work it out how, Pops? Just how are we supposed to work this out, huh?”

Korey fell silent.

“I told you I can't stay in Chesterton! If Clarissa's going to be anywhere around here, I damn sure don't wanna be here too.”

Vivian frowned at the mention of a girl's name. “Who's Clarissa?”

“She's nobody,” Korey answered hastily, not wanting to get Vivian further involved in the drama.

“No one, huh? I bet! Is she one of your hussies, Korey? Are you throwing my son over for some woman?” She crossed her arms over her bountiful chest. “Is
that
what this is all about?”

“Viv, you know damn well—”

“Korey Walker, I should have known you—”

“She's Pops's daughter, all right?” Jared shouted, cutting them both off.

“What?”
Vivian squawked, now resembling a barnyard rooster in both colors and sound.

Korey closed his eyes. “Jared . . .”

“She's his daughter and . . . and . . .” Jared took a deep breath. “She and I were going to get married, Mom.”

“Look, I didn't know she was Pops's daughter when we first started going out. No one did. But now we do, and Clarissa doesn't want to be engaged anymore. She said we can't.”

“You're damn right you can't! Not if I have anything to say about it!” Vivian shouted, pointing her finger at Jared. “You're too young to be tied down to some fast-tailed hussy anyway, baby!”

“
Tied down to some fast-tailed hussy?
Viv, did you just hear what the boy said? Don't you get it? They're brother and sister! They can't date anymore or get married because it would be incest.
That's
why they broke up!”

She paused and looked at both men. “So that's what this is about? Jared wants to leave because he thinks what he and this girl did was incest.”

“I don't
think
it, Mom. I did it. Multiple times,” he mumbled. “Look, can I just take my stuff to the car now?”

Vivian grimaced. “You're really upset by this, aren't you, baby?” she asked softly, staring at his face.

He hesitated, then finally nodded. “I really liked her, Mom.”

“All packed and ready to go?” Harvey asked. The squat, balding man walked through the front door. He rubbed his hands eagerly and looked around the room. “What do you need me to—”

“Hold on,” Viv said softly, holding up a hand. “Give us a few more minutes, honey.”

Harvey's round face creased into a frown as he watched his wife walk across the living room. “What's the matter?”

“Nothing. Nothing. Just wait for us in the van, will you?”

“Wait in the van?” Harvey paused. “Why?”

“ 'Cuz I just need you to,” Vivian said firmly. Harvey glanced at Korey and Jared, silently seeking an answer from them. Korey shrugged. He was just as confused as Harvey was. But Harvey knew there was a limit to how much he could question Vivian. She wore the size forty pants in their house.

“All right then,” Harvey mumbled. “I'll wait for you outside.”

After Harvey left, Vivian lowered herself onto Korey's plaid love seat. “I have to sit down. Both of you should sit down too.”

Korey furrowed his brows. “Why do we need to sit down?”

“Because I have to tell you both something.”

Korey didn't like the sound of that. “If it's all right with you, Viv, I think I'll stand.”

“I think I'll stand too,” Jared echoed, after lowering his cardboard box back to the floor.

“Fine. Have it your way.” She started to wring her plump hands. “Well, you see . . . you see, the thing is, Jared, baby. Well—”

“Damn it, Viv, just spit it out! What is it?”

She puffed out her chest and glared at Korey. “Fine, I'll just come out with it. Jared couldn't have done any incest with that girl, because she's not his sister.”

“Of course she's his sister! She's his half sister because they both have the same father!” He pointed at his chest. “Me!”

“No, they don't,” she said through clenched teeth.

“Mom, what are you saying?”

She shifted forward on the love seat and gazed up at her son. “Jared, honey, Korey isn't your father.”

At those words, Korey felt the blood drain from his head. He grabbed the wall behind him to steady himself.

“I wanted him to be,” she continued. “That's why I chose him. I knew he would be a good daddy to you and take care of us.” She curled her lip. “He was much better than your real father—Dustin Graves.”

“Dustin Graves?”
Korey shouted. “You mean
Boogie?
”

Jared cringed. “My father's name was Boogie?”

“Viv, that guy was the biggest damn pothead in our high school!”

She sucked her teeth. “He wasn't always high! When he wasn't smoking, he was actually pretty nice.” She shrugged. “But he was too irresponsible. He couldn't take care of himself, let alone a wife and child. I knew when I got pregnant by him that I had made a mistake—a
big
mistake.” She turned to Korey. “So a few days later, when I heard that you and Cynthia had broken up, I knew you were back on the market. I figured that was my chance.”

Korey closed his eyes and ran his hand over his face, fighting to hold back his burgeoning anger. First, Cynthia had lied to him about having his baby, then Vivian had lied about having someone else's! Did these women know something about him that he didn't? Did he walk around with the word “sucker” printed on a sign clipped to his shirt?

“So you lied to me. You seduced me and made me have sex with you so I'd think Jared was my child?”

“I didn't
make
you do anything! I don't remember you fighting me off, honey! You were just as eager to get into my pants as I was to get to that big dick of yours!”

“Mom!” Jared shouted, cringing in disgust. “Come on! I don't wanna hear that!”

Viv sheepishly glanced at her son. “Well, it's true. I was just defending myself.”

“What is
wrong
with you people? Have you ever heard of condoms?” Jared ranted. “And how is this story supposed to make me feel better? You're telling me that Pops isn't my dad! You telling me that my real father is some dude named Boogie?”

“No, I
am
your dad, Jared.” He walked toward his son and placed his hands on the young man's shoulders. “I don't care what the hell your mother says. You have my last name. I raised you and I love you. You are my son.”

“But not by blood,” Vivian said quietly. “So you see, it wasn't incest. You don't have to worry about that anymore.” She grunted as she pushed herself up from the love seat. She fluffed the curls in her wig as she walked toward the front door. “Now when we head home, I'll tell you whatever else you wanna know, baby. Whatever questions you have, I'll—”

“I'm not going home,” Jared said, slowly shaking his head.

Vivian stopped in her tracks and turned around to face her son. “Huh?”

“I said I'm not going home with you. I'm . . . I'm staying here—with Pops.”

The weight in Korey's chest suddenly lightened. For the first time in days, he smiled.

Vivian dropped her hands to her hips. “But I told you that Korey isn't your daddy! He's not—”

“Yes, he is. He's the only father I've ever known, and I bet he's a better dad than some pothead.” Jared turned to Korey. “Can you help me carry my stuff back in my room, Pops?”

Korey's smile widened. “I'd be happy to.”

Vivian's mouth fell open. She began to sputter.

“I'll give you a call later, Mom.” Jared picked up one of the boxes and began to walk back down the hall to his bedroom. “It probably won't be until late tonight. I've got a few things I've gotta do.”

“B-but . . . what about . . . I thought you—”

“Well, it was nice seeing you, Viv,” Korey said. He leaned down, grabbed one of the boxes, and winked at her. “You and Harvey have a safe drive home.”

He then turned around, still grinning as his ex-wife stammered and fumed.