Fort Morgan (31 page)

“
Like Noah,” Jacob
said.

“
Adam and Eve’s sons,”
Jill said. “There’s lots of people now so we have lots of choices.
But we’re all. . .”

“
A piece of Olympia,”
Jacob said.

“
Or Fairy Queendoms or
Titans or. . .” Jill nodded.

“
Makes sense,” Jacob said.
“So it’s okay to have a normal life, not a royal life?”

“
Normal life sounds
wonderful to me,” Jill said.

“
Me, too,” Jacob said. “Of
course, by saying that we’re saying: ‘Let the drama
begin.’”

Jill chuckled.

“
Good night, my love,”
Jacob said.

“
See you in the morning
for the next round of drama,” Jill said.

“
God, I hope it doesn’t
start that soon!” Jacob said.

Jill laughed.

~~~~~~~~

Sunday night – 9:35 p.m.

“
You should wear velvet
more often,” Jeraine said to Tanesha as he came up the stairs to
their bedroom. Jabari was asleep on the bed, and Tanesha was
packing her backpack for class the next day.

She gave a slight shake of her head and went
back to packing.

“
You know.” Jeraine put
his arms around her waist and kissed her neck. In a low, intimate
voice, he said, “You’re still wearing the tiara.”

Tanesha gasped. Her hand went to her head,
where it found the tiara. Shaking her head at herself, she turned
to him. She pulled the tiara off her head.

“
You are my princess,”
Jeraine said.

“
And you are mine,”
Tanesha said. She set the tiara on his head.

He laughed and adjusted it to a jaunty
crookedness.

“
Can I wear the earrings,
too?” Jeraine asked.

Tanesha’s hands went to her ears.

“
This is some fancy
stuff,” Jeraine said.

“
Family crest,” Tanesha
said as she took off the diamond earrings.

“
Real diamonds and
jewels?” Jeraine asked.

“
I think so,” Tanesha
said.

“
And they’re yours?”
Jeraine asked.

“
I guess so,” Tanesha
said.

“
We should put them in the
safe,” Jeraine said. “I mean, I know you’re a fairy and all now,
but there’s lots of folks who wouldn’t mind trading these for
groceries.”

“
You mean like us?”
Tanesha asked with a smile.

“
Hey!” Jeraine said with a
smile. “I’m making good money. It’s you who’s mooching off the
world.”

“
Me?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Rich daddy and all,”
Jeraine said.

Tanesha looked so indignant that Jeraine
laughed.

“
Shh.” Tanesha gestured to
Jabari. The boy opened his eyes. Seeing Tanesha, he smiled and went
back to sleep.

“
He really missed you,”
Jeraine said.

“
I missed him,” Tanesha
said. “And you.”

“
Oh, yeah?” Jeraine asked.
His voice was mocking but his face showed his delight.

“
Yeah,” Tanesha said with
a grin.

“
Look.” Jeraine pointed to
Jabari. “He has the same look on his face.”

Tanesha smiled at Jabari’s face.

“
It’s sweet how he mimics
you,” Jeraine said. His voice was neutral.

Tanesha squinted and turned to look at
him.

“
That
is
what it is — right?” Jeraine
asked. “Just a mimic — right?”

“
Well. . .”
Tanesha started. She glanced at Jeraine’s face. He was laughing at
her. “How long have you known?”

“
Since he was born,”
Jeraine said. “Annette told me she used your eggs to get back at
me.”

“
Why didn’t you say
something?” Tanesha asked.

“
Why didn’t you?” Jeraine
asked.

“
I didn’t know.” Tanesha
scowled at him. “In fact, I didn’t know anything about him until
just this year. And anyway, why didn’t you tell me? And why in the
world would you give that horrible woman access to our
child?”

“
Because I’m an idiot,”
Jeraine said.

“
That’s the truth,”
Tanesha said with a smile.

“
Hey, at least I didn’t
pretend I wasn’t his parent,” Jeraine said.

“
I never pretended I
wasn’t his parent,” Tanesha said. “I was a biological
donor!”

“
Why did you do it?”
Jeraine asked.

“
I needed the money,”
Tanesha said. “Yvonne needed to go to rehab. It took me forever to
talk that horrible Alvin into letting her go. I had to find the
money for it.”

“
Alvin didn’t want her
sober,” Jeraine said.

“
No, he did not,” Tanesha
said. “Speaking of Alvin, Rodney wanted to know if he should pay
you back for buying mom from her keeper.”

Jeraine’s face twisted with disgust. He put
his hand on his stomach.

“
I think I’m going to be
sick,” Jeraine said.

“
Why?”

“
Because I didn’t buy a
human being,” Jeraine said.

“
That’s what happened,”
Tanesha said with a shrug.

“
No, it’s not,” Jeraine
said. “I paid a man to get out of town. That’s what I did. I
did not
purchase a human
being. No.”

Jeraine shook his head.

“
No,” he
repeated.

“
Okay,” Tanesha said as
she raised her hands in submission.

He sniffed at her.

“
Why are you so hot about
this?” Tanesha asked.

“
The man I’m named for was
a slave,” Jeraine said. “By my own choice, I gave my life to the
record company. My God-given gift to sing and write songs was a
slave to their machine. My dad says it was an unconscious replay of
the trauma my great-grandfather went through.”

Tanesha nodded.

“
Your grandfather was a
sharecropper,” Jeraine said.

“
And?” Tanesha
asked.

“
You’re not so far from
slavery, either,” Jeraine said.

“
I’m aware of that.”
Tanesha’s voice was laced with impatience. “My mother was a sex
slave to a rich white politician named Alvin.”

Jeraine stared at her for a moment.

“
Ah, Miss T, I’m sorry,”
Jeraine said. “I’m an idiot.”

Getting back to
normal

“
I think we’ve established
the fact that you’re an idiot.” Tanesha smiled.

He grinned and kissed her. She patted his
shoulder and went back to packing her backpack.

“
I did not purchase a
human being,” Jeraine said to her back.

“
Fine,” Tanesha said. She
glanced at him and then back to her backpack. “Does Dad have to pay
you back?”

“
No,” Jeraine said. “I
don’t even know how much I gave the man.”

“
You cleared out that
account,” Tanesha said.

“
It was most of that,”
Jeraine said. “Do you care?”

Tanesha looked at him for a moment. Her eyes
moistened, and she sucked in her full bottom lip. She stood up
straight and looked at the wall for a moment before looking at him
again.

“
It’s the nicest thing
anyone has ever done for me,” Tanesha said. She sniffed back a
tear. “I still can’t believe it sometimes.”

She nodded to keep from weeping. He gave her
a slight smile. When he turned to look at Jabari, Tanesha turned
with him.

“
He looks just like
Rodney,” Jeraine said. “You’ve seen his hands?”

“
I know,” Tanesha grinned.
“They are big.”

She bent over to pick up Jabari. He fussed
for a moment and went back to sleep. Jeraine put his arms around
them.

“
Are you home for a while
now?” Jeraine asked.

“
I think so,” Tanesha
said. “I need to wrap up this year of school and get on with my
degree. This fairy nonsense is really eating into my medical-school
experience.”

Jeraine nodded.

“
What?” Tanesha
asked.

“
I was wondering if you’d
like to go to the Grammys with me,” Jeraine asked.

Tanesha watched him.

“
I was nominated,” Jeraine
said.

“
You were?” Tanesha asked.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She gave him a half hug and went to put
Jabari in his bed in their room. She returned to give him a real
hug.

“
I was nominated for best
song of the year for that song I wrote for you,” Jeraine said.
“Seth and Dad were nominated, too. I was also nominated for writing
it.”

“
Congratulations!” Tanesha
said. “When are the Grammys?”

“
Next weekend,” Jeraine
said. “You want to go?”

“
Sure,” Tanesha
said.

“
You can wear your
velvet,” Jeraine said.

“
That old thing? I’m not
wearing that!” Tanesha asked with a dramatic flip of her hand.
Jeraine grinned at her and she smiled. “I’m going to look
nice.”

Jeraine grinned.

“
What?” Tanesha
asked.

“
You’re going to look
nice,” Jeraine asked. “Are you going to wear the tiara?”

“
Damn straight,” Tanesha
said. She clapped her hands. “Got to represent the
queendom!”

“
It’s not such a big
deal,” Jeraine said. “I’ve been to the Grammys a bunch of
times.”

“
I know,” Tanesha
said.

“
You know?” Jeraine
asked.

“
Of course, I know,”
Tanesha nodded. “You always bring some woman with almost no
clothing on.”

“
God!” Jeraine clenched
his fists and looked up to the ceiling. “I’m such an
asshole.”

“
Uh-huh.”

“
It never occurred to me
that you would see that,” Jeraine said.

Tanesha raised her eyebrows at him.

“
You’ve seen it every
time?” his voice rose with the question.

“
You mean did I see you
screwing around with that girl at your dinner table?” Tanesha
asked. “Oh yes. I saw it. You can ask Heather about the time you
went down the red carpet with a half-naked woman under each arm and
an inflated breast in each hand. She has a lot to say about that
one.“

“
The girlfriends watched
all of those Grammys, too?” Jeraine fell onto the hardwood floor
and landed on his back. He covered his face with his
hands.

“
Of course they did,”
Tanesha said.

“
Every time I was at the
Grammys?” Jeraine’s voice begged her to say they hadn’t seen all of
them. “Surely, you missed the time I. . .”

“
Every single moment from
your red carpet sass to shenanigans in the middle to winning awards
and the ‘Ima gonna do her’ press conferences to the after party,”
Tanesha said with a smile. “Me and the girlfriends watched every
single one.”

He groaned. She nudged his side with her
right toe.

“
Are you dying?” she
asked.

“
Of shame.”

“
Ah,” Tanesha said. “Well,
I don’t mean to intervene in your drama, but death by shame is not
covered in your life insurance.”

“
And?”

“
You have a wife and child
to support,” Tanesha said. “That’s not to mention JJ’s trust fund.
If you’re going to die of shame, we’re going to suffer.”

“
And?”

“
You’d best get over it,”
Tanesha said.

He was quiet for a moment. His body began to
shake. Concerned that he was crying, Tanesha knelt down. She moved
his hands and found him laughing. He grinned at her and hopped up.
He helped her up and hugged her tight.

“
Love you,” he
said.

“
The question
is. . .” Tanesha stepped away from him. “Are you the kind
of asshole who can afford to get me a nice dress?”

“
Some designers called,”
Jeraine said. “Schmidty set it up.”

“
We can’t afford
designers.” Tanesha scowled and shook her head at him.

“
It’s free,” Jeraine said.
“All the big names want to dress the illustrious Miss T. You’ll be
a walking billboard for their clothes.”

Tanesha turned to look at him.

“
You’re a big deal,”
Jeraine said. “Schmidty’s already turned down interviews for
you.”

“
Me?” Tanesha
asked.

“
You’re a big hit,”
Jeraine said. “I’m small potatoes compared to you.”

Tanesha squinted at him.

“
You’re a fairy princess,”
Jeraine said. “And I am merely one of the many who bask in your
glow.”

“
No one knows I’m a fairy
princess.” Tanesha shook her head at him. “Right?”

“
I haven’t told a soul,”
Jeraine said.

“
That had better be true,
because Fin will. . .”

“
The man, or whatever he
is, terrifies me,” Jeraine said. “You don’t have to make threats
about what he’ll do. I’m pretty sure he’ll eat me
alive.”