Coveted (15 page)

“
You know what Haven, as much as you want to be friends again, I don’t. I don’t have time for this, so listen and listen good, because I don’t want there to be any confusion as to what I am about to say to you. I am only going to say it once. Our friendship is over. I want nothing to do with you. I don’t like you, can’t stand you, and I am perfectly okay with never seeing you again. With that being said, I have to go now. There are more pressing matters that I must attend to.” I hang up the phone. The nerve of that girl. I really don’t know why we were ever friends in the first place.

I swivel in my chair and look out the window. I want to call it a day so bad because it looks so nice out. The sun is shining and you can hear the sound of children’s laughter as they are getting out of school and head home. Feeling nostalgic, I think of how Haven and I used to be when we were their age. We used to have a ball. I don’t think I have one childhood memory that she is not in. How could I have misjudged her so much? I loved her like a sister. I still love her, but how can I forgive what she did to me? It feels like she personally attacked me for the last eight years of my life. She acted as if my feelings did not matter in the grand scheme of things, as long as she got what she wanted she was justified in her actions. Laying my head on the window, I keep thinking how life is crazy. I never thought my life would turn out like this. Not my life. It was supposed to be perfect. I had the man of my dreams, that gave me beautiful children, and a best friend that I would do anything for. Look how that shit turned out. I look at the children on the sidewalk again, and smile. They make me miss Namiyah and Kalani. It’s amazing, when I’m around them, I want a break from them but when I am away from them, I am always afraid that I am going to miss something. I let out a long sigh as I swivel back around to face the mountain of paperwork on my desk. Oh, well. There is work to be done. The upside to this madness is that Damir and I are meeting for Happy Hour at his place this evening. I cannot wait to see that sexy man again. I am wearing my
risqué
lingerie today. I definitely plan to get me some tonight. It has been way too long since I had some skin-on-skin action. Way too long.

A couple of hours later

Today has felt like the longest day in my life, even more so than birthing my babies. Camille finally did her job, and we pulled together many of the details for Damir’s party, which I, for one, am extremely excited about. Now I can look like the professional that I am in our meeting tomorrow.

I look around my office one more time, and believe that it is definitely a wrap. I grab my blue and white Dooney & Bourke purse and head for the door. The ride to Damir’s house does not take long. Probably because I am so anxious to get there, I am flying down the road as if I have lost my mind. I have directions in one hand, while I’m steering wheel with the other. I really need to invest in a GPS system, but I will worry about that another time. When I pull up in front of his place, he is sitting outside on his front step with a white tank top, basketball shorts, white socks and Nike slippers waiting for me. He looked good enough to eat for dessert, and everyone that know me, knows how much I love dessert.

He stands up as I park, and makes his way over to my car to open the door for me.

“
Hey you. How you doing today?” I ask him as I get out of the car.

He closes my door, and immediately picks me up and spins me in a circle, and buries his face in my hair.

“
You smell good. You have no idea how good you feel in my arms,” he says as he tightens his arms around me. “My day is going so much better now that you are here.”

The simple words coming out of his mouth sound like the most erotic, sensual foreplay you could ever imagine. He would not have to do too much; my body is already responding to his voice.

He put me down so that I could follow him into his house.

I like his house. It reminds me of that MTV show
Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica
. His house is pretty much laid out like theirs, very impressive. Shoot, I do not even have my own house anymore. Having to move back in with my parents was definitely not where it was at, too hard to get your grown and sexy on.

Damir took me straight to the basement, where his bar is located, and promptly made me a vodka and cranberry drink.

I look at him in amazement.

“
So umm, you’re not going to give me a grand tour of the place?” I ask him.

“
The only tour I want to go on,” he says as he tilts my face up and fixates his gaze on mine, “involves my hands and your body. Any other kind of tour you are talking about can wait. Right now I want you to sit down, take this drink,” which he hands me, “and relax while I give you a full body massage.”

I took a few sips of my vodka and cranberry. The words
body massage
sent a tingle up my spine. Just the idea of Damir running his hands up and down my flesh, made my body hot, or maybe it might be the drink he made for me. I do not know which, but Damir had my mind gone.

**************************************************

I rode home in silence. It is unbelievable how bad my head was pounding now. I must have had way too many drinks. I do not even want to think, much less drive. Everything seems like it is too much to handle today - well everything but Damir, that is. He has been such a delicious distraction from my life. Just thinking about him, and how he made my body feel, had me about to buck a U-turn. Whoo…good times, good times.

As I am pulling into my parent’s driveway, I notice a car parked a small distance away from the tree in the front yard. That is not completely out of the ordinary, since they do have neighbors who park wherever they want to. This time, for some reason it seems a little strange. From the looks of it, the driver keeps glancing at the house, as if trying to figure something out. I slowly get out of my car, trying to form some type of conclusion as to why the person keeps looking at my parent’s house. As I approach the front door, I hear a car door open and close. I turn to look, as the driver of the vehicle begins to move toward me. The person that I am staring at is astonishing. She looks like an exotic model, with her slightly slanted light brown eyes, crinkly, tossed shoulder-length brown streaked blond hair, and she stands about 5’9. I look at her expectantly while she glances around and hesitates before she speaks.

“
Good evening
. I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience of showing up, but I was wondering if a Kenneth Vaughn lives here?”

I look at her in speculation. I wonder what she could possibly want with my dad.

I lift my eyebrows at her. “That depends. May I ask who you are?”

“
I am the daughter of an old friend of his, who passed away recently and wanted to pay him a visit. Are you related to him?” she asks as her light brown eyes focus on me.

“
As a matter of fact I am. I’m his daughter.” I look at the way her eyes watered when she said ‘passed away’ and felt for her. “I’m sorry to hear about your loss. My father should be home shortly, would you like to come in and wait for him?” I ask her.

Her eyes light up when I invite her in and she says, “I would love to.”

Emeri 15

I cannot believe that I am inside of my father’s house. I never imaged that I would be here
, looking at this gorgeous woman that is my sister. It is so hard for me to take it all in. There are so many photographs lining the wall, and I want to examine each one, but I am rooted to the floor out of nervousness.

“
Would you like to have a seat? Um, I didn’t get your name,” the gorgeous woman said to me.

I look at her in slight embarrassment; I had not given her my name. In my surprise to being invited in the house, I forgot.

“
My name is Emeri Kendall Castado, and you are?” I say as I reach out my hand to her.

She takes my hand in hers and says, “Naima Ari Vaughn. It’s nice to meet you Emeri.”

“
The pleasure is mine. You sure have a pretty name,” I respond.

“
Thanks, I like it; I think I’ll keep it.” She says to me with a smile. “Emeri, I’m sorry. I have a slight headache and need to get some medicine before the children get here. Will you be alright if I leave you down here for a little while? My dad should be in soon.”

“
That will be fine, thanks,” I tell her.

When she leaves the room I cannot help but look at the photos; it is as if they were calling my name. I see what must be various family photos taken through the years. They look happy as a family. I see why my mama might not have wanted to break up Kenneth’s happy home. He looked so happy. It is so hard to imagine that he was living this wonderful life without me. My mama and I were struggling. I would not trade my time with her in the world, but we struggled. I feel the tears pressing against my lids threatening to fall, but I refuse to long for what could have been.

I hear the door open and a whirlwind of motion begins. A little girl with green eyes runs inside yelling for her mommy. The most adorable little boy is following behind at a slower, wobblier pace, trying to keep up and Naima comes back into the room to scoop up the little boy and hug the little girl she affectionately calls “Muffin.”

Then I see him enter, followed by an older version of Naima. Once again, I am so nervous that I do not know exactly what to do with myself.

“
Well hello,” The older Naima look alike says to me. “We didn’t know Naima was having company this evening. How are you?”

I stare at her for what felt like eternity, but could not have been more like a couple of seconds. I finally find my voice.

“
I, uh, I’m Emeri,” I manage to stammer out.

“
Well I’m Mrs. Cynthia, Emeri. It is nice to meet you.” She moves on toward the kitchen and says, “I would stay and chat with you, but dinner won’t wait.” I feel as if I am in a trance.

Naima must have taken notice because she came over and spoke to her father,
our
father.

“
Daddy, this is Emeri. She stopped by to see you. She said that she is the daughter of an old friend of yours and wanted to pay you a visit.” She turned back to me. “I must run Emeri, I have to listen to school day activities, help with homework and change diapers,” she says with the hint of a smile. “It was nice meeting you.” Then she is gone.

I hang my head down. I am now alone with the man my mama said was my father and I have not the slightest clue of what to say to him. He handles the situation for me.

“
Emeri, was it?”

I glance up slowly and I see a smile in his eyes.

“
I recognize you from Blanca’s funeral.” I feel my heart drop to the floor. He recognizes me; I wonder if he knows who I am.

“
Yes, I am Blanca’s daughter.”

“
I can tell by the eyes. What has brought you all this way to me?” He gazes at me intently as he waits for my reply.

“
Well,” I begin slowly as I clear my throat, “one of my mama’s last wishes was that I find you and get to know you.”

“
She wanted you to get to know me?” his voice laced with confusion. “Why?”

“
I’m not sure where to begin or how to explain.” I look down at my hands. I feel so awkward and cannot believe that my mama put me in a position where I would have to defend myself.

“
Well if it helps matters any, I don’t bite. Would you like to have a seat?” Kenneth offers.

“
I think I better stand, at least until you hear what I have to say.” I take a deep breath and forge ahead.

“
I am your daughter. My mama told you that she miscarried me all those years ago, when in fact she didn’t. Now here I am, alive and kicking.” I give a short, tortured laugh and continue staring at my hands. I hear a funny noise and look up in time to see Mrs. Cynthia retreating from the living room area. I had not even noticed that she was standing there listening.

I look over at the man that stole my mama’s heart, to gauge his reaction and he seems to be suspended in time. He looks as if he has aged 10 years in the last five minutes. Finally, I cannot take the silence any longer. I stand up and proceed to walk to the door.

“
I shouldn’t have come,” I say choking over the lump in my throat. “I don’t know what I expected from this visit. I guess I wanted to know what you were like and what it would be like to have a father. With my mama gone, there is only me now. I am sorry for wasting your time. Please have a nice evening. I can see my way out.”

I drop the bundle of letters that my Mama had written for Kenneth on the couch and open the front door. The tears that I was trying to hold in before were free falling down my face. I do not know what I am going to do now. I drove all the way out here, I do not have anywhere to stay, and it is dark out so I will probably get lost. What a disastrous evening. At least now, I know where things stand. I was given the opportunity to meet my father, and appease my curiosity. I guess it was now time to let it all go and move on with my life.