Imagined Love (4 page)

Although Miles had been arrested the night before, Willa had no way of knowing how long he’d actually be detained, if at all. A man beating his wife wasn’t exactly a high priority for the local police department. If Jade hadn’t screamed hysterically to the 911 operator that her mom was being killed they may not have come at all. The performance Willa put on for the boys in blue, however, made it so they had to arrest Miles!

When one of the officers asked for a statement, Willa lied. Miles’s gun had fallen to the floor after he rammed her into the refrigerator but she said he held it to her head and would have shot her if they hadn’t arrived. She sobbed and trembled uncontrollably as she described her and Jade’s horrifying ordeal which was made worse by the fact that she was pregnant. Miles knew with certainty he was going to jail as he watched his wife give an Oscar worthy performance that nearly had the two officers in tears. He kept his mouth shut knowing any protest he made would only give credibility to Willa’s story.

If his freedom hadn’t been in jeopardy Miles probably would have laughed, or at the very least applauded the way his soon-to-be ex-wife manipulated the situation to her advantage. What nearly brought him to tears, though, was the realization that Willa was willing to do anything to be free of him. And it was then, standing handcuffed in his kitchen, that Miles accepted the painful truth that his marriage was over.

The next morning, after dropping the kids off at school, Willa brought Cicely to her house to help gather the rest of Jade’s things. It turned out to be a huge mistake. From the moment they walked in Cicely began begging! At first her requests were outlandish—asking for the new washer and dryer or the queen sized bedroom set in the guest room. Once she realized she wouldn’t be getting those things, however, Cicely lowered her expectations and began asking for dishes and other household goods.

“What’s wrong, girl?” she asked, noticing the disgusted look on Willa’s face. “Ooh, you probably need to eat something, huh? That baby’s hungry, girl. You wanna grab some breakfast? I haven’t been to The Big Wheel in I don’t know how long.”

“Nah, I gotta go to work.”

Willa barely spoke on the ride back to Cicely’s. When they got inside she collected the things Jade had left behind and hurried out of the house with no intentions of returning. Cicely wasn’t a friend, she was an opportunist and Willa didn’t have time for that. She had enough people in her life trying to use her.

Twenty minutes later, after taking the I-65& 30 Venture, Willa arrived at the Twin Towers in Merrillville, Indiana. The seven floors of both the north and south buildings housed everything from employment and travel agencies to restaurants and day spas. Provincial Life Insurance was on the third floor of the north building in Suite 316. Before going upstairs Willa stopped in the food court for a chocolate doughnut and cup of coffee. The sixty-three-year old cashier complimented Willa like he did every time he saw her. She gave him a playful wink then made her way to the office. Willa was so hungry that she wolfed down her doughnut and drank most of her coffee by the time the elevator doors opened. It seemed as if a little breakfast might have been a good idea. And since she had decided to keep the baby, it was probably wise to start adopting some healthier eating habits. Doing away with the coffee would be a start, so Willa threw the other half of her drink in the trash.

“Just the person I wanna see,” Leonard said, as Willa stepped out of the elevator. “Before you get settled in I need to speak with you, okay?”

“Okay,” she replied.

Willa was fairly certain she knew what he wanted to talk about. Ever since that afternoon they’d spent at the Radisson Hotel six months ago, Leonard had tried desperately to convince her to leave Miles for him. He didn’t seem to grasp that Willa thought of that day as the worst mistake she’d ever made and had no interest in being romantically involved. She was about to remind Leonard of that when he shocked her.

“I’m so sorry, Willa, but they’re downsizing this office and we’re gonna have to let you go. I did everything I could to keep you, but the big boss decided that Ms. Gladys will be the secretary for the entire office instead of us each having our own. I’m really sorry.”

Willa was beside herself with rage. More than anything, though, she was afraid. If she was unemployed Miles would definitely get full custody of Jade and the baby. And trying to get a new job would prove difficult being that she was five weeks pregnant and starting to get the first signs of morning sickness. Willa sat in her car for nearly an hour crying. She felt defeated and wondered if going back to Miles was the only solution she had.

Eventually she pulled herself together and got out of the car to use the payphone. Willa called Cicely to ask if she could get Jade from school and let her stay over for a few hours. She didn’t mention losing her job or that she planned to spend the day trying to find a new one. Cicely told Willa to take her time and that Jade would be perfectly fine being there with them. And the girl was thrilled over the idea of hanging out with her friends again.

Katrina sat on her bed frowning as Jade rambled on about how great Cicely was. “Your mom is cool. And she’s funny too. So how come you say all those mean things about her?”

“Because they true! You just think she cool ‘cause you ain’t gotta live here with her. But you just wait. If you stick around for a while you’ll see past all that phony crap she be doing . . . outside playing kick ball with all of us and fixing snacks! She don’t never be doing junk like that ‘til other people come around. She always trying to impress somebody and be pretending like she love us so much. Then as soon as everybody leave she be beating on us for every little thing. Man, I can’t stand that stanky dog! I wish I had your mama. Now she is cool!”

“What y’all in here talking about?” Honor asked, as she entered the room and plopped down on the bed beside Jade.

“Mama old stupid butt,” Katrina sneered.

“Can you believe her and her idiot boyfriend ate up all that food Jade’s mama brought? She brought that stuff for us but Mama gone sit up and give it to him like that low life some kinda king! She always calling other girls stupid for the stuff they be doing for men but she the one stupid! Reggie don’t do nothing but come over here a few times a month and eat up all our food!”

“For real?” Jade asked, shocked to hear such things.

“Yeah, for real! Quit trusting everybody all the time. You need to pay attention to stuff,” Katrina fussed.

“I know you not telling me to pay attention! Who was the dummy on the playground talking to the wrong person?” Jade laughed loudly, as she pointed at her friend.

“No, see the sun was in my eyes,” Katrina laughed. “Or maybe I got that eye disease . . . you know, cadillacs!”

“No, you got brain disease! How else could you sit there talking to somebody and not know it wasn’t me? I mean for real, Katrina, that girl don’t even look like me. Stupid!” Jade giggled.

“What girl?” Honor chuckled.

“You know, what’s her face? Ain’t her name Ruby? No wait, Crystal or Gem, right?”

Jade laughed again. “You know her name is Jewel.”

Honor was next to burst out laughing. “Don’t you hate when people say you look like somebody you think is ugly?”

She and Katrina looked at each other then looked at Jade and laughed. After ten minutes of incessant laughter, the boys went into the girls’ bedroom to find out what in the world was so funny. Landon was annoyed by all the cackling and told them to shut up. Robert and Alonzo, however, took any chance they could to get a glimpse of Jade. They both thought she was pretty but only Robert was vocal about

it. In the two days since she’d come to their house he had complimented her on nearly everything from her eyes to her shoes to the fact that her ears weren’t pierced like every other girl’s was. At one point Cicely told Robert to go sit down and quit making a fool of himself. Jade thought he was sweet but it was Alonzo, the one who acted completely disinterested in her, who she adored.

“Come on, Jade. Let’s get started on your homework” Cicely called from downstairs.

“Oooh, she is so phony! Since when do she help people with homework?” Katrina whispered.

“Jade probably should be helping her . . . ole dumb self,” Honor added.

“Ma!” Alonzo called, as he prepared to tell on his sisters.

“Be quiet,” Honor hissed. “Why you always trying to tell on somebody?”

“Give me a dollar and I won’t tell.”

“Where I’ma get a dollar from? You know I ain’t got . . .”

“Ma!”

“Here,” Jade said, as she handed Alonzo a dollar. “Don’t tell, okay? She was just playing.”

He snatched the dollar bill from her hand and stuffed it into his pocket. “Thanks. You lucky, Honor. Next time you better watch your mouth,” Alonzo warned then left the room.

“Wow, thanks, Jade,” Honor said, as she gave her a hug.

They all were impressed, but Katrina saw what happened as an opportunity of which to take advantage. Jade would come to regret her actions that day. She’d soon learn that sometimes it didn’t pay to be nice.

A short while later Landon opened the door for Willa and gave her a big hug. It wasn’t hard to tell he had a little teenage crush on her and Cicely cautioned him to watch himself. Once again Willa thought she was overreacting but was too tired to speak about it. Besides, she was more interested to learn why Cicely was doing homework with Jade and not her own kids.

“So Katrina didn’t have homework?” Willa asked.

Cicely stumbled over her words as she tried to come up with a reasonable explanation. She was grateful when the phone rang and jumped up from the kitchen table to answer it. “I’ll be right there,” she said then placed the phone back on the receiver. “I’ll be back in a minute, Willa. My friend Mary needs my help right quick. Don’t go nowhere, okay? I wanna hear how your day went.”

“You mind if I use your phone?”

“Girl, please, of course not. Help yourself to whatever you need. I’ll be right back,” Cicely said then walked a few doors down to talk to Mary.

Jade had finished her homework and went back upstairs with the girls. Willa was about to make a call but it was obvious Landon was lingering in the kitchen

because he wanted to talk to her. So she asked how he was doing and what he wanted to be when he grew up. Willa was impressed to hear how much thought he’d given his future. Her interest was piqued when he told her about his dream to plan events for a living. Before she got pregnant, all Willa wanted to do was go to college for a business degree to be able to start her own party planning company. Dorothea and Miles both thought it was the stupidest idea in the world! According to them no one was going to pay money to have her blow up a few balloons. Willa had every intention of proving them wrong, but after she got married and had Jade her dreams got put on hold. That was the reason she encouraged Landon to stay focused and not let anything get in the way of reaching his goals.

Slightly depressed, Willa excused herself to use the phone. Losing her job and having no real prospects for a new one had caused Willa to rethink her plans. There was no way she could afford to keep the apartment and take care of Jade and the new baby on her own. It just seemed easier to reconcile with Miles so she decided to call him to find out if that was even possible. As expected, he wasn’t all that interested in talking to her at first. However when Willa said she would drop all the charges against him, Miles was more receptive and agreed to meet her for dinner so they could talk. He was still in love with her and Willa was counting on that fact to get her way.

Miles and Willa had reconciled and were doing well in the six months that followed. The only thing they argued about was Cicely’s kids and why they were constantly at his house. And it wasn’t even that Miles didn’t like the kids. He just couldn’t stand Cicely and figured the more her children were around the more he had to deal with her. He thought she was a user who was always looking for a way to get over on people. And the more Katrina came around, the more Miles saw those same tendencies in her. He didn’t care for her and was livid when Willa decided to have the girl’s birthday party at their house!

At seven and a half months pregnant Willa’s energy level wasn’t what it usually was and she had Landon do most of the planning. At least that was the excuse she used to convince Cicely to let him help. Her reluctance was obvious and Willa could only contribute it to her being angry and jealous. The first time Landon helped with a party was for the Fourth of July. Willa was so impressed with his creativity and attention to detail that she let him plan Jade’s birthday party a few weeks later. And he turned their backyard into Strawberry Shortcake land! It was incredible and probably the best party Jade ever had. After that Cicely was constantly dropping hints about her birthday and the type of things she liked. She was expecting a party and for reasons they didn’t understand, thought Willa and Landon would be planning one for her. When August 4th came and went, her attitude changed drastically.

She stopped letting Katrina come over as much and seemed cold whenever Willa was around. Seeing a mother be so envious of her own kids was upsetting and she decided to have a little chat with Cicely. Of course she thought it was ridiculous for Willa to think she was jealous of anyone, let alone her own children. And to prove it, Cicely agreed to let Landon plan Katrina’s party—which is exactly what Willa wanted.

Once again she was blown away by the young man’s organizational skills. Landon managed money much better than she did and was able to put every dime of the budget to good use. Katrina was overjoyed and declared the party to be the best day of her life. The only thing that would have made it better in Willa’s opinion was if Miles and Cicely weren’t there! They had such bad attitudes that it made the other guests uncomfortable. And when the birthday girl went to give Miles a hug to thank him for the party, he barely responded to her. That’s why Willa found it odd later that afternoon when Miles seemed anxious to talk to Katrina. She was able to catch bits and pieces of what he was saying and realized that a little investigating was in order.