Lost Daughters (25 page)

M
AUREEN WAS GLAD TO RETURN TO HER JOB AT THE NURSING HOME,
and all of her coworkers were glad to see her. Two of the people who had been on board only a few weeks before she got there had already quit. Maureen had to take over some of their duties until they could be replaced. Even that didn't bother her.

So much had been going on in the last few days, she had not had time to call up Jay and check on him. When she did, three days after she'd returned from Louisiana, she learned from the outgoing message on his answering machine that he was still out of town. She assumed he was still in St. Louis.

Catty and Fast Black took Maureen to dinner that Friday evening, and when she told them about Big Maureen, the first thing Catty asked was, “Did she take after Mama Ruby?”

Maureen laughed. “She ain't that fat,” she replied.

“I don't think Catty meant that,” Fast Black offered. “We hope your sister ain't the kind of woman that goes around chastisin' folks the way Mama Ruby did. Remember that one-armed man she stuck with a pitchfork that time? Killed him dead.”

Maureen nodded. “I don't know if my sister chastises folks the way Mama Ruby did, but I remember that one-armed man. He shot Cousin Hattie, thinkin' she was Mama Ruby.”

“Well, the reason he wanted to get back at Mama Ruby was because she was the one that ripped off his arm,” Fast Black recalled.

“I remember that too. I was a little girl when that happened,” Maureen stated. “From what I heard about the way that man assaulted Mama Ruby in that bar where it happened, he got just what he deserved. Everybody was talkin' about that incident.”

“There was a whole lot of stuff Mama Ruby did that even you don't know about, but I ain't goin' to be the one to tell you. I don't want that big woman's ghost to come haunt me. Some of the stuff your mama done, it would curl your hair if you knew,” Fast Black said, shaking her head. “Me and my cousin Loomis and that redneck sheriff we called Big Red, we helped Mama Ruby cover up a lot of shit.” Fast Black gave Maureen a pitiful look. “I'm glad you only seen the good side of your mama. Aside from all the mischief she done, she was still a real good woman and you was real lucky to have her for a mama.”

Despite Mama Ruby's “mischief,” she had been a good mother to Maureen. “I know I was blessed to have her,” Maureen acknowledged, wondering what her friends would say if they knew what she now knew about Mama Ruby. Would they still love and praise a woman who had stolen another woman's baby?

 

Two days had gone by and Maureen still had not heard from Jay. That Monday evening around seven, right after Maureen, Loretta, and Mel had finished eating their dinner, Jay called. Maureen was in the kitchen alone.

“I've been meaning to return your call, but I've been real busy since I got back from St. Louis,” he told her. “Then I had an interview in Key West with some TV folks. I went straight there from St. Louis.”

“I thought you didn't want to be on TV.”

“I didn't and I still don't. I just turned down a show in Chicago, one in 'Frisco, one in L.A., and two in New York. But these Florida folks won't let up on me. I figured the sooner I do something with them, the sooner they'd get off my back and I can return to a normal life. That's why I did that show in Key West.”

“What about that lawsuit against the St. Louis cops?”

“That's my cousin's pipe dream, not mine. I don't want to have anything to do with something like that. What happened is over and done with, and the people who were responsible for it are dead. Even if my mother and her niece were still alive, the last thing I would want to do is send them to jail.”

“I can understand that. What good would it do now? But wouldn't you want them to be held responsible for what they did to you?”

“They will be.”

“I know what you mean. What they did is now between them and God.”

There was an awkward moment of silence before Jay spoke again. “How did your trip to Louisiana go?”

“Oh, it was all right. We met some relatives for the first time. One was our half sister.”

“You and Virgil have a half sister?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You never mentioned her before.”

“We didn't know about her until we went to Louisiana. My mama had her when she was a real young girl, and somebody else raised her. She's in her early fifties now and her name is Mo'reen too.”

“That's interesting. Did she know that your mother was her real mother when she was growing up, or did she think that the folks who raised her were her real family?”

“She grew up in some kind of asylum. My mama had to give her up when she was born, but she knew all along who her real mama was.”

“I'm happy to hear that. At least she didn't go through what I went through.”

Maureen glanced toward the doorway and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Would you like to meet me for coffee or a drink or somethin' tomorrow evenin' after work?”

“I would like to, but I can't,” Jay replied.

“Oh.”

“Maureen, I didn't want to tell you this over the telephone, but I guess I should do it and get it over with. I don't want you to hear it from somebody else.”

Maureen held her breath. Her heart rate had suddenly accelerated and she could already feel a lump forming in her throat. “Wh-what?” she stuttered, silently praying that Jay didn't have more shocking news to reveal. She had heard enough lately to last her for the rest of her life. “Are you movin' back to St. Louis to be close to your real family?”

Jay let out a dry laugh. “Hell no!” he boomed. “I don't think I want to see any of those folks again. You wouldn't believe how many pimps and other thugs I'm related to. It seems like each time I talk to somebody on that end, I hear that there's another cousin, or uncle, or aunt in prison or involved in some other shady shit.”

Maureen wanted to laugh, but she couldn't. Not until she heard what Jay had to tell her. All she could hope for was that it was something to laugh about.

She was wrong. What he told her almost reduced her to tears.

“Maureen, I know you're content just being friends with me and I appreciate that. But that's not enough for me. I'm a man and I can't continue to be around a beautiful woman like you, feeling the way I do, and not be able to do anything about it.”

“I see,” Maureen mumbled. She never thought he would be the one to sever their relationship. She had always thought that when and if that happened, she would be the one to do it. “I understand. Well, if you still want to call me up whenever you feel lonely or just want to talk, feel free to do so. I will always consider you a friend.”

Before Jay could respond, Maureen heard a woman's voice in the background on his end. “Baby, I'm back,” the woman said.

“Uh, that's Nelda. My ex. Uh, what I wanted you to hear from me is that we decided to give our relationship another shot.” The silence that followed for the next few seconds was so profound Maureen thought she had gone deaf.

“Oh,” she muttered. Her heart was breaking into a million little pieces and there was not a thing she could do about it.

“I would like to attend Loretta's graduation next month, if you don't mind. I'm sorry that I haven't had the chance to get to know her better by now, but I know what a big day that's going to be for her and I'd like to be there to see her walk across the stage and receive her diploma. Now, if you think that'll be too awkward, I won't come.”

“No, it won't be awkward for you to be there, but you don't have to come. Especially now.”

“I do want to come, so I'll be there. About this other thing, uh, well, I think I'm doing the right thing by trying to restore my marriage. You see, Nelda hasn't been with anybody since we broke up, and, well, I've been more than a little lonely myself, if you know what I mean.”

“I think I do,” Maureen admitted.

“Then I know you can understand why I decided to do this.”

“I can,” Maureen snorted. “But like I said, if you ever just want to talk, you got my number. I wish you all the best. Good-bye, Jay. ”

“Good-bye, Maureen. You take care of yourself.”

She leaned against the wall still holding the telephone, listening to the dial tone. She twirled the cord around her finger and looked at it like she wanted to bite it.

If Mel had not strolled into the kitchen to grab a beer from the refrigerator when he did, she would have bitten the telephone cord in two.

B
IG MAUREEN AND HER RETIRED COOK HUSBAND, LUKAS, DIDN'T WAIT
until Thanksgiving or Christmas to visit Maureen and Virgil. They had arrived unannounced on a Monday evening around five the first week in June. They took a cab to Maureen's apartment.

Lukas, a stingy, horse-faced bag of bones, tipped the cabdriver a quarter, so he had to unload their luggage himself. “If I had known these Florida cabdrivers was too lazy to haul our suitcases, I would have kept my quarter,” he complained, struggling to carry the two large suitcases up onto the porch.

“I wonder how come Little Mo'reen don't answer her door?” Big Maureen said with a puzzled look on her face as she stood on the J
ESUS
S
AVES
welcome mat, banging her fist on Maureen's door.

“See there. I told you we should have let somebody know that we was comin' to Florida. Now what we goin' to do?” Lukas whined, still holding the suitcases.

“I guess we'll just have to sit on this porch and wait on somebody to come home,” Big Maureen decided, easing down on the porch steps. She and Lukas sat there until nosy Mr. Ben next door poked his head out of his window.

“Who y'all folks?” Mr. Ben asked, adjusting his glasses. “What y'all doin' sittin' on Mo'reen's steps?”

“Sir, do you know where my baby sister at?” Big Maureen asked, rising. “We just got here from Louisiana.”

Mr. Ben opened his door and shuffled out to the porch, still adjusting his glasses. “Mo'reen gets off work around three, but she usually goes lollygaggin' at the mall or some beer garden every day. Some days she don't get home till six or seven,” he stated, looking at the suitcases. “She didn't say nothin' to me about no company comin' to visit.”

“She didn't know,” Lukas volunteered with a sneer. One sharp look from Big Maureen silenced him.

“What about her husband and her girl? You know where they at?” Big Maureen asked.

“Oh, there is just no tellin'. They was home a little while ago because I heard 'em knockin' around in there, but them two stay on the go. I don't know why Mo'reen allows that gal to be so footloose,” Mr. Ben remarked. “Y'all can wait in my place if you want to. Just wipe your feet first and come on in.”

What Mr. Ben didn't know was that Loretta and Mel had piled out of Maureen's bed an hour ago and were now kicking back in a steak house gnawing on some slow-roasted prime rib. Mel had finished a shoot early, and Lo'retta had left school “sick” so she could meet up with him. They returned to the apartment an hour after Big Maureen and Lukas had arrived.

As soon as Mr. Ben heard Loretta and Mel return home, he beat a tattoo on Maureen's door. Mel snatched it open with a scowl on his face.

“Y'all got some out-of-town company,” Mr. Ben announced, giving Mel a suspicious look.

“Who?” Mel asked, looking over the old man's shoulder. Mel wasn't expecting anybody from out of town, and even as dense as Maureen was sometimes, she wouldn't have forgotten to tell him they had company coming.

“Mo'reen's sister and her husband from Louisiana, that's who,” Mr. Ben snapped. “I'll send 'em over here before they drink up all of my wine.”

Mel and Loretta had to “entertain” Big Maureen and Lukas, and it was hellish for them. Big Maureen was a nosy, boisterous woman with a big appetite, and Lukas was a wimp who liked beer. By the time Maureen arrived home thirty minutes later with a few shopping bags from the mall, Mel and Loretta were fit to be tied.

Maureen was surprised but pleased to see Big Maureen and her husband. When she called to tell Virgil, he and Corrine came over immediately. After Virgil arrived, he insisted that Big Maureen and Lukas stay at his house, since he had more room. “You don't mind them stayin' in the upper room, do you?” he asked Maureen in a low voice when he followed her into the kitchen to get another bottle of wine. “Ain't nobody slept in that room since you moved out of it.”

Maureen blinked. “Why should I care if they stay in there? The upper room don't mean nothin' to me no more,” she said, giving Virgil a guarded look.

“I just thought I'd ask. I know we don't talk about that room that much no more, but it still must mean somethin' to you. I mean, for years it was like your sanctuary.”

“Well, it ain't my sanctuary no more. I have a whole new life, and the upper room is one of the many things I don't want to spend too much time thinkin' or talkin' about,” Maureen assured Virgil.

Maureen spent most of that Thursday entertaining her big sister and her husband. She drove them all over the Miami area to shop and sightsee, and she treated them to meals in some of the finest restaurants. She was so proud of the fact that Mel had postponed a couple of jobs just so he could accompany them to a few places. He even took several family photographs and developed them right away, with Big Maureen oohing and aahing about what a fun job he had.

Mel was very gracious, but it was all for show. He couldn't wait for these two countrified intruders to go back to Bigfoot country.

 

“I'm glad to see that your girl gets along so well with your husband,” Big Maureen whispered to Maureen during Loretta's graduation ceremony reception that Friday afternoon on the Goons High School's spacious front lawn. They stood away from the crowd, sipping punch from plastic cups and watching Loretta and Mel as they chatted with some of Loretta's classmates near the refreshment table. “They seem like they joined at the hip bone. Ever since we got here, I ain't seen one unless I seen the other one at the same time. They must get along real good.”

“They do get along real good. I thank the good Lord for that,” Maureen beamed. “Especially since we hear so many ugly things about stepfathers and stepchildren. But Mel's one of a kind. I was lucky to meet him.”

Big Maureen nodded. “You sure was. You luckier than most women I know. You got looks, a beautiful daughter, and a man that other women would kill for. Me, I wasn't so lucky. I had a real rough time with men after my first husband died. After him, I could have brought the pope home and my kids would have found somethin' they didn't like about him.”

“I'm glad I never had that problem. I always latched on to men that my girl took a shine to,” Maureen said with a proud sniff.

Big Maureen took a deep breath and gave Maureen a curious look.

“What's the matter?” Maureen asked. “You look like you got somethin' on your mind.”

Big Maureen wasted no time telling Maureen what was on her mind. “I'm nosy so I got to stick my nose in your business. See, I got a feelin' there is somethin' you ain't tellin' me about you and Mel.” There was an accusatory look on Big Maureen's face.

“Why do you think that?”

“The whole time I been here, I ain't seen you show not one bit of affection toward your husband. I ain't seen you hug him, kiss him, or even talk to him that much. When he took us to eat at that Cracker Barrel in Tampa last night, you didn't even sit next to him. Lo'retta did.”

“Oh. It's just that me and Mel got so used to each other over the years that we don't show our feelin's in public that much anymore,” Maureen explained.

“In public is one thing. A lot of women don't like to get too mushy in public. But I noticed that the first night in your apartment, you and him seemed more like strangers.”

“What do you mean?”

“For one thing, I noticed that when he tried to kiss you on the cheek, you turned your head. Another thing I noticed, Lo'retta pays him way more attention than you do.”

“Oh, she's just so happy to finally have a daddy, that's all. I wish I'd had one when I was her age.”

“Uh-huh.” Big Maureen gave Maureen a look that she could not interpret. “Now tell me, you in love with another man, ain't you? Don't bother lyin' to me. I ain't blind or stupid.”

Maureen dropped her head and bit her bottom lip. Then she looked at Big Maureen with a wan smile on her face. “There was another man I cared about. I met him too late, though.”

“Baby sister, I'm a lot older than you, and I've been around the block more than a few times. Let me tell you somethin'—when it comes to love, it ain't never too late.”

“You mean I should divorce Mel and go after the other man?”

“You don't have to divorce Mel, but you don't have to turn your back on that other man neither.” Big Maureen stopped talking and looked around. She smiled at Mel. He stood a few yards away near the refreshment table, munching on a sandwich. Loretta, also munching on a sandwich, stood next to him. Loretta was gazing at Mel like she wanted to munch on him next. Big Maureen searched around until she spotted Virgil. He was shaking hands with one of Loretta's teachers. Big Maureen looked back to Maureen. “Why can't you have both men?” she asked, still smiling.

“You mean like an affair?” Maureen gasped.

“You can call it whatever you want to call it. Men have been doin' it from the beginnin' of time. My first husband did it, and the nasty buzzard I'm married to now hops into bed with some floozy on Board Street every chance he gets. That's why his back is always goin' out on him. I can tell when he's been with her. I can smell her scent on his hide. That's when I make him give me some pleasure, whether he wants to or not. I straddle him and then I ride his tally whacker so long and hard, he has to soak it in Epsom salt when I'm done with it.”

Maureen chuckled. “You sound so much like Mama Ruby. She said stuff like that all the time. But I don't want to cheat on my husband.”

“Why not? I do it all the time.”

“You cheat on your husband?”

“Honey, I done had so many affairs since I married Lukas I done lost count.” Big Maureen shook her head and laughed. “It keeps my blood pressure down, and it keeps me young.”

“What would you do if Lukas ever found out?”

“I wouldn't do nothin'. He wouldn't do nothin' neither. If he did, I'd skin him alive!” Maureen gave Big Maureen an amused look; this sister was definitely Mama Ruby's daughter.

“What if he got real mean, like hit you or somethin'?”

“Harrumph!” Big Maureen snorted. “The man is crazy, but he ain't crazy enough to lay a hand on me. He did one time, though. That sucker slapped my Easter bonnet clean off my head, wig and all. I lit into him like a piranha. I bit and beat the bat shit out of him. By the time I got through, his back was broke in two places.” Big Maureen looked around some more until she spotted her husband. Lukas was talking to the parents of one of Loretta's classmates. “His back never did heal right. That's why a little fall or even him sleepin' the wrong way in bed makes his back go out. It was his own fault, though. He shouldn't have messed with me.”

Maureen shook her head and excused herself. She decided it was time for her to mingle for a while.

Catty had come to the ceremony, but she had to leave early because she had a funeral to go to. Fast Black was visiting her son in Brooklyn, so she had not been able to attend. But Maureen saw a few of her coworkers and a few people from the church she visited occasionally. And then she saw Jay. He had told her that he would attend Loretta's graduation!

He stood next to a petite woman in her twenties. His arm was around her narrow waist. He glanced at Maureen and nodded. He didn't smile at her, but she smiled at him and nodded back. Then she quickly looked away. Just seeing Jay with another woman—a prettier,
younger
woman at that—made his departure from Maureen's life seem so final.

If only Mel were not in her life . . .