Family of Lies (29 page)

I didn’t sleep much that night. When he made love to me again the next morning, I thought I would scream. For one thing, Curtis had made love to me with so much vigor the night before I was sore between my thighs and I winced every time I urinated. Bo was just as rough as Curtis, so by the time he finished with me, I was walking like I had a stick up my ass. But being in pain didn’t slow me down. I visited Curtis again that same night. When I got home, Bo made love to me again and he did so for the next four nights. By then I didn’t know if I was coming or going.

Ironically, I was enjoying all the attention and it must have shown because a few days later on a rainy Monday morning, Daddy cornered me in the kitchen. He was still seated at the breakfast table, finishing up his coffee. Bo and Cash had already left to go to work. That meddlesome Collette was still in her room putting on her face (or I should say her “two” faces). Vera had an early morning session with her trainer, so she had left the house before any of us got up.

“Good morning, Daddy,” I said as I pranced into the kitchen, still in my bathrobe.

Daddy stared at me for a few seconds. He had been giving me a lot of exasperated looks lately, especially this time. Once I gathered up enough courage to tell everybody I was going to divorce Bo, they would all give me exasperated looks. He set his coffee cup onto the table and folded his arms. “Sarah Louise, what’s going on with you? I’ve noticed how you’ve been walking around all week beaming like you just won the lottery. What are you up to, girl?”

“Nothing, Daddy,” I said with a shrug. “I’m just a happy woman.”

“I wish I had some of whatever it is that’s making you such a happy woman so I could be one too,” Collette clucked, entering the room with an impish expression on her face. “You haven’t walked around with such a glazed look in your eyes since you were pregnant.”

Daddy’s eyes got big and his lips curled up into a smile that reached from one side of his face to the other. “Baby! Are you—”

“No, I’m not pregnant again. I’m just happy, that’s all.”

The exasperated look returned to Daddy’s face. Collette tilted her head and looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “Like I just said, whatever it is making you so happy, I wish I had some.”

“B
ABY,
I
’M SO GLAD YOU CAME OVER.
L
AST NIGHT
I
DREAMED
I
WAS
making love to you.” Ricky waved me into his posh apartment in the exclusive Nob Hill district that I had paid for and furnished with my money. He immediately gave me one of the longest, deepest French kisses I’d ever received. I could taste the toothpaste still on his teeth and gums. “You are the sexiest woman alive and I can’t get enough of you!” he rasped. Then he lifted me into his arms and just stood in the middle of his living room floor looking into my eyes.

This boy was too good to be true. Not only was he a damn good lover, he was too gorgeous for his own good. He wasn’t as tall as I liked my boys, but he had a fantastic body, muscles in places where some men don’t even have places. He had deep dark brown skin that was so smooth and flawless it looked like his complexion had been spray-painted on. His mother was Ethiopian, but he had no idea who or even what ethnicity his father was. He had bone-straight black hair, worn in a buzz cut, and high cheekbones, so he could have been mixed with just about anything.

“Don’t tell me, show me, dammit, you pretty motherfucker you!” I ordered.

“Oh, I am going to show you all right. By the time I get through busting you down, you won’t know what hit you,” Ricky threatened. He walked toward his bedroom and kicked open the door with his bare foot. Then he strode across the floor and gently placed me on his bed.

“I’m sorry to be coming over here at eight o’clock in the morning, but I wanted to see you so badly I couldn’t help myself,” I apologized. “And I’m sorry I didn’t call first like I usually do.”

“Vera, you can come over here whatever time of day or night you want to. And you know you don’t need to call before you come,” he replied, unzipping his pants. He stepped out of them and removed his underwear in record time.

“You’re right about that. I just needed to hear you say it.” I didn’t like to remind Ricky that I was his sugar mama, but just to keep things in perspective, I did every now and then.

I didn’t want to waste any more time talking. There were much more important things that I wanted to do with my mouth. With his eyes still on my face, he removed a package of condoms from his nightstand drawer and slid one on. I was still dressed, but I knew I wouldn’t be for long. As soon as he eased down on top of me, I wrapped my legs around his waist and started taking care of business so fast I got light-headed.

After I had given him a thorough workout and a blow job, he swooned like a Baptist preacher. Then he scrambled out of bed and danced a jig. “Baby, that was the best head I’ve had in years. My dick felt like it was being sucked by a vacuum cleaner. Oomph!”

“I’ve had plenty of practice,” I said proudly as I rolled over onto my side.

“I need a drink after that!” Ricky exclaimed, giving me one of the most satisfied looks I’d ever seen on a man’s face. “You want me to fix you one too?” he asked, trotting to the dresser where he had set a bottle of rum and a bottle of Coke.

“Not this early in the morning. I don’t know if that fool husband of mine will still be in the house when I get back home. All I need is for him to smell liquor on my breath when I’m supposed to be at the gym working out.”

“Speaking of working out, take off them clothes so I can finish my job.”

Ricky didn’t give me time to undress myself. He did it, all the while whispering filth into my burning ears. The last thing he said before he tied my wrists and ankles to the bedposts with my stockings and two of his neckties was, “Show Big Dick Ricky whose whore you are.”

After a fuck-fest that made me squeal like a pig, Ricky untied me and got up to fix himself another drink. The telephone on the nightstand next to his bed rang, but he ignored it. I was glad he had turned off his answering machine because if I had heard a woman leaving a message for him, he would have had some explaining to do. Each of my boy toys was mine exclusively for the duration of our affair. If they even so much as
looked
at another woman (or man) without my approval and I found out about it, I “fired” them. I’d only dismissed two for that reason so far.

“Baby, I don’t know how you can still stand that old Geritol-guzzling geezer!” Ricky blasted, shooting me a hot look as he returned to the bed.

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him that I guzzled just as much Geritol as Kenneth. I usually kept my mouth shut when it came to subjects that were offensive to me. And age was at the top of my shit list. But this sweet young thing was so incredible I’d almost let him get away with murder.

“Vera, you are too beautiful and delicious to be with a gargoyle like Kenneth. I seen him up close when I was in his store one day and he looked right beastly to me!”

“Tell me about it! And it’s really beginning to get on my last nerve. I hate the man and I don’t know how much longer I can put up with him. Eeyow! Just the thought of making love to him turns my stomach. When he kissed me last night with his sloppy wet rubbery lips, it was like kissing a toilet plunger. I made sure I got up before he did this morning, just so I wouldn’t have to kiss him again.”

“Baby, I’m so sorry you have to put up with some shit like that.” Ricky took a long drink and let out a mighty belch. “I know you signed one of them prenup things that state you won’t get much if you divorce him, which was a bum deal if you ask me. Sister, what was you thinking when you done that? You must have been out of your mind at the time.” Ricky paused and gave me a look that made me feel about two feet tall. He was right. I must have been out of my mind to sign that prenup.

“If I hadn’t signed, he probably would have thought I was marrying him for his money,” I whimpered.

“That is why you married him! You told me that to my face right after we first met!”

“Yeah, I know. But it’s over and done with now and there is nothing I can do to change it.”

“Humph! And you black women think you all are so smart! Ha! You sisters get the shortest end of the stick of all the women on this planet! I bet them white bitches don’t be signing no prenups like the one you signed! I used to do this teeny-weeny Japanese chick before I met you. She’s married to a fucking
billionaire.
The prenup she signed is banging! She’ll get half of whatever he’s worth if they divorce, and
everything
if he dies before her.”

“Maybe you should get yourself a white woman or another teeny-weeny Japanese woman,” I said with a smirk. I gave Ricky a scowl, so he changed his tune when he saw how pissed off he was making me.

“Oh, baby, I’m just blowing off steam,” he said in a much lower voice and a more sensitive manner. “You’re all the woman I need. I really do care about you, Vera.” He was doing okay until his last sentence. “You remind me so much of my grandmother—”

“Hey! Shut up! You hold on there right now!” I hollered, my blood boiling like water for chocolate. “I’d stop while I was ahead if I were you!” I warned, shaking a finger in his face.

“Oh, well, you know what I mean. My granny is a real cool woman and when it comes to looks, she’s sharper than a serpent’s tooth. And she looks way younger than she really is. Just like you.”

“That’s better,” I sniffed.

“Anyway, I don’t like to see you fretting over what you’re going to get from Kenneth. I feel that as long as you’ve been married to old dude and as good as you’ve been treating his sickly black ass, that rich bastard would
probably
make it worth your while if you left him now. I mean, at his age, what do he need with all them millions? Shit. If he’s any kind of man, he’ll break you off a couple million just for the hell of it. Shit.”

“Be patient, sweetie. I am not about to just up and leave a gold mine like Kenneth—unless it’s for somebody with more money than him. But I’ve put up with him this long, I can hold on a little longer. He’s got one foot and a big toe in the grave already. However, if I do decide to leave him, I know he’d probably be fairly generous to me. Especially after all the years I’ve tolerated his gas and foul breath and sweat. But I deserve more than just a couple million. I’ll come out a whole lot better if he dies while I’m still with him. I want it all.”

“I’d want it all, too, if I was in your shoes. And you’ll get it because you’re a real pro when it comes to getting paid. I bet there ain’t a man alive who could short-change you. Oomph! It’s a good thing his daughter is retarded. After he’s out of the way, you won’t have no trouble with her.”

“Retarded? Sarah’s not retarded. What made you say that?”

“You did. You said she was a slow-wit that didn’t know her asshole from a hole in the ground.”

“Oh.” I laughed. “I was just talking out the side of my mouth when I told you that. As a matter of fact, Sarah is pretty smart for an idiot,” I laughed again, this time louder and longer. Then I got serious. “I’m not really worried about her. Once her daddy’s out of the picture, I’m sure I can keep her under control. With me and Bo working together, she’ll be like putty in our hands.”

“That’s true. But Kenneth will probably leave her a bigger cut than you.”

“Like I said, once Kenneth is out of the way, Bo and I can handle that ninny daughter of his. Shit!”

“Uh-huh. Well, I just hope you get everything you got coming, baby.”

“Don’t worry. I have a feeling I will.”

V
ERA WAS GOING TO GET EVERYTHING SHE HAD COMING.
I
WAS GOING
to make sure of that.

I met Tim in his office two days after our last telephone conversation. He greeted me with a long face and promptly waved me to a seat. My legs were too stiff for me to cross them, but I shifted around in the soft leather seat and made myself as comfortable as I could.

It was a gloomy day that had started out with rain, dark clouds, and thunder and lightning. I had encountered a traffic accident on my way to Tim’s office, and I had almost run over a dog in the crosswalk. And if all of that had not been enough to get me off to a bad start, Vera had entered the bathroom while I was taking a shower and insisted on giving me a blow job, which I had not enjoyed. I couldn’t figure out why she was being so affectionate. She had not gotten that intimate with me in the shower all week. She was up to something and I would have bet my bottom dollar that it had something to do with her and her lover. Maybe she was feeling sorry for me and the blow job was a gesture of mercy. Or a display of guilt, which was even worse. It didn’t matter which one it was because that bitch was toast!

Tim sat with his arms folded. He remained silent while I looked through a stack of photographs he’d just handed to me of Vera and her young lover. After I’d flipped through the first few pictures, I had to stop. I paused, loosened my tie, and took several deep breaths. Tim handed me a glass of mineral water and I looked at the rest of the pictures.

I was so visibly upset by the time I’d seen them all, Tim handed me a shot glass filled to the brim with scotch. I swallowed it all in one gulp.

“That woman is a straight-up whore!” I roared. I was so angry I could barely talk. I wanted to beat the shit out of Vera, but I had never struck a woman before in my life and I was not about to start now. I had a better punishment in mind for her. I’d “hit” her where it would cause her the most pain: in her wallet. That woman worshipped the almighty dollar. I was going to teach her a lesson she would never forget. By the time I got through with her, she’d be so broke even her cash would bounce! “I’m fit to be tied!”

“I know exactly how you feel.”

“My wife is cheating on me with this sleazeball?” I hollered, fanning the air with a picture of Vera sitting on her punk’s lap on a bench in Golden Gate Park—a place she had once told me she only enjoyed when she was there with me. “Lord have mercy!” This Ricky character looked like a typical thug to me with his beady black eyes and sharp, weasel-like features. In almost every picture, he wore jeans and either a T-shirt or some plaid mess with the sleeves missing and the buttons undone, revealing his smooth chest that had the kind of ripped muscles I could have only in my dreams. I stared from one picture to another with my mouth hanging open and my head pounding and throbbing like somebody was going at it with a drill. “I’m meeting with my lawyer first thing tomorrow morning to modify my will again!”

“I’m sorry things turned out the way they did, my man.” Tim gave me a pitiful look. “I mean, your daughter is having an affair—that’s enough bad news for you to hear. But your wife . . . man, it doesn’t get any worse than that. After what Sherry did to me, I’m almost afraid to get involved with another woman.”

“Tell me about it.” I had to stop talking so I could catch my breath. I closed my eyes for a few moments and wheezed so hard I got light-headed.

“Dude, are you all right? You want another shot of scotch?” Tim asked, looking worried. He was already reaching for the empty shot glass I had set on his desk.

“I’m fine, Tim. I don’t need anything else to drink right now.” I cleared my throat and looked through the pictures again. There were twelve in all, glossy eight by tens suitable for framing. In one picture, Vera and Ricky were strolling out of Neiman Marcus grinning from ear to ear. He was holding more shopping bags than she was. I remembered that day well. It was last Saturday. I knew that because Vera wore a lime-green dress that she had just purchased two days before and she never wore anything twice. She had left the house in that dress to go “shopping” and had come home six hours later with just one bag. So all of the other bags must have contained merchandise that she’d purchased with my money for that sucker she was fucking. That low-down funky black bitch! Other photos showed her and Ricky coming out of a movie theater, a massage parlor, and La Scala, one of the most expensive restaurants in the Bay Area. And in the detailed report Tim showed me, Vera’s lover had just quit his job as a bartender in the nightclub where Vera had met him. His finances had been as raggedy as a bowl of sauerkraut, and his credit as spotty as a leopard when Vera first met him. But she had changed that. She had been covering his car note and other expenses from day one, even his rent. That was another thing: his residence. She had previously moved him from a flophouse on Sixteenth Street to an apartment in
Nob Hill
. A retired TV star I knew and one of my most expensive attorneys lived in this neighborhood! She’d bought him furniture and thousands of dollars’ worth of new clothes on a credit card she’d opened in her name. Three days ago she took him to the bank and opened a checking and savings account for him with a ten-thousand-dollar initial deposit. Oh! I couldn’t wait to confront her, but I didn’t want to do it right away. I wanted to give her just enough rope to hang herself and when she did that, I wanted that bitch to hang until that noose around her cheating neck rotted!

Tim continued in a firmer tone of voice, which told me this mess was having almost as much of an impact on him as it was me. “I have some lovely shots of your daughter and her friend too. And boy are they juicy. But maybe you should wait and look at them another time. You don’t look well, dude.”

“Tim, I’m fine. Let me see the other pictures too. I may as well get all of this shit dumped into my lap at the same time.”

He removed another stack of photographs from his desk drawer and handed them to me. I could only stand to look at the first few on top. I was horrified by what I saw. The way Curtis was holding on to my daughter as they strolled along Fisherman’s Wharf like newlyweds, I knew her marriage to Bo was as dead in the water as mine was to Vera.

I wobbled up out of my seat. “I’ve seen enough, Tim. You can put this one to bed. How much do I owe you?” I wheezed some more as I rubbed my chest, which had tightened up even more since I’d entered Tim’s office.

“I’ll send you the bill,” Tim said, waving me back to my seat. “I’m really concerned about how bad you look right now. Did you drive over here?”

I sat back down. I was dizzy and my mouth was so dry it tasted like I’d been chewing on a sheet of old newspaper. “I drove over here,” I managed, blinking rapidly. My vision had become blurred and my left arm was throbbing and tingling. “I’m fine,” I insisted, rising again.

“You’re not fine, my brother. And I’m not letting you leave here alone. I’ll drive you home and I’ll have one of my assistants follow us in your car.”

“Yes, please do that for me, Tim. I really appreciate having a friend like you,” I told him, shaking his hand. “Thank you for all you’ve done for me.” I let out an eerie laugh. “You can scratch Vera’s name off your next Christmas party guest list.”

“It’s already done.” Tim gave me a sharp nod.

I was glad that Tim had insisted on taking me home. I knew my body well enough to know that it was finally going to shut down for a while, maybe even permanently. I just had to hold on until I got all my affairs in order.

I had a heart attack in Tim’s car, just three blocks from my house. He made a U-turn and rushed me to San Francisco General. I passed out as soon as they loaded me onto a gurney. When I opened my eyes, the first person I saw was Vera, hovering over me like a vulture. Seeing her was so ironic I wanted to laugh because
she
was the reason I was knocking on death’s door. Had I been able, I would have sprung up out of that bed and choked her.

“Baby, you’re going to be just fine,” she told me, looking at me with her lying eyes blinking and her eyeballs rolling from side to side. As usual, her makeup was impeccable, which told me she had not shed a single tear. She was also dressed like she was on her way to a party at the White House. She even had on white gloves and some of her best jewelry. “The doctor will be back in a few minutes, so you just lie there and rest.”

That heifer had a white silk scarf wrapped around her neck. But when she leaned down to kiss me, it slipped. She quickly adjusted it, but I had already seen the purple sucker bite on her neck. It looked like a goddamn tattoo! I couldn’t get the images of her and her lover out of my mind.

“Where’s Sarah?” I whispered.

“She’s on her way,” Vera replied. “Bo and Cash were here a few minutes ago, but they had to get back to the store to meet with those vendors from Sacramento. They’ll be back in a little while. Collette called to say she was praying for you. So did all the rest of your staff in all five stores. Your friend Tim brought you in.” I noticed how the worried look on Vera’s face intensified when she mentioned Tim’s name. She knew he had done a lot of investigative work for people we socialized with, so she was probably wondering
why
I had been with him.

“Tim said you got sick while he was having lunch with you,” she told me, giving me a guarded look. “And he also told me he had come to the store to get a birthday gift for one of his grandsons and invited you to have lunch with him.”

“That’s right.” I went along with Tim’s version of events. It sounded reasonable. Had he told Vera the truth, that I’d been in his office on business, she would have figured out what I had really been up to.

“Oh. What restaurant did he take you to?”

“Uh . . . some hole-in-the-wall I can’t remember the name of. Those places all look the same to me. You know how cheap Tim is.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll never forget that time he took us to Wendy’s for lunch and paid for our burgers with coupons!” Vera laughed. I didn’t. Then she got real serious. “Uh, he told me that he and Sherry are going through a divorce.”

“She was cheating on him.”

“What? Why, that’s a damn shame! Tim was so good to Sherry!”

“Yeah, he was good to her,” I agreed with a sneer. “But to some women being good to them is not enough.”

“Uh, is he still doing private investigative work?” Vera rotated her neck a couple of times and tied the scarf around it even tighter.

“Uh-huh. And he’s got more business than ever.” I blinked at Vera a few times. That must have made her nervous because she started to shift her weight from one foot to the other. She smoothed down the sides of her dress and clutched the handle on her purse like she was afraid somebody was going to run up behind her and snatch it. I couldn’t remember the last time she’d looked this nervous.

“Well, like I just told you, you’re going to be fine. And I can’t wait to get you home!” she squealed, forcing a smile. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I have a big surprise in store for you.”

Another surprise was the one thing I didn’t need. “I have one in store for you, too, Vera.” That slipped out, but it was very effective. She looked like she had just seen Caesar’s ghost.

“That’s nice, Kenneth. I can’t wait to see what it is.” I saw tears in her eyes for the first time since she had entered my room.

“I need to see my daughter,” I said, attempting to sit up.

“Honey, be still and please don’t try to talk or stir around too much.” Vera gently pushed me back down on the bed.

“I need to see my daughter!” I said again in a much harsher tone of voice. “And I want to see her
alone
.”