Mattie's Call (12 page)

“Taking care of some business. What do you want?”

“Meet us at the house. We need to talk. Besides, there's something I need to share with you.”

“I'm sure you can tell me later. I've been banned from the house anyway.”

“Gigi, you have thirty days until you leave. Stay there until you work things out. Besides, we need each other.”

“You two don't need me, and I certainly don't need you.”

“Attorney Durk wasn't finished reading to you.”

“I don't want to hear anything else from him or the two of you for that matter. Leave me alone. Pretend you never knew me.”

“Gigi—”

She ended the call, annoyed with Joshua. She couldn't wait to hug Colton and give him a deep passionate kiss. They'd spent many nights at the Suites, laughing, planning their future, swapping fantasies of life after his misery called Roselle. She found a space in the self-parking area. Colton always drove and valet-parked them; today, she'd run in and out. She'd practiced her speech about him helping her find an apartment. She needed the day to go shopping for new furniture, curtains, and dishes. She took a few things from the house, but she wanted her new, temporary digs to reflect her tastes. She walked toward the hotel entry, stopping to check her text messages. She beamed when she read Colton's message:
Wait 4 me N the lobby.

Slipping the phone in her pocket, she walked toward the check-in desk.

Chante, their regular check-in girl, waved to her. “Hi, Mrs. Bembry. I haven't seen you here in a few weeks. How's the Mister?”

“He's wonderful.”

Gabrielle felt guilty pretending to be Colton's wife. Chante, an enthusiastic college student, always complimented her clothes, perfume, and looks. Colton nuzzled her neck and held her hand whenever they got a room, so she went along with the lie the day Chante said, “I wished my parents were still married like the two of you.”

Without missing a beat, she assured Chante, “A marriage like ours is rare, and I don't take him for granted.”

“Where have you been? I haven't seen you all in a while,” said Chante, placing her hair behind her ears.

“We've been traveling. I came over to see if he got our room.”

Chante pressed a few keys. “Not yet.”

“Oh, he's playing games.”

“Role playing later tonight?” Chante bent down beneath the counter and rose with a plastic bag in her hand. “You were so right about this stuff. I have an extra one if you need it.”

Gabrielle blushed as Chante discreetly removed the K-Y Love Passion gel.

“You
actually
bought it?”

“Yes! My boyfriend loves it. It was the spice we needed to get things back on track.”

They giggled as Chante slipped the tube in the bag.

Chante motioned for Gigi to come closer. “Oh, the alum is fire! I did the teaspoon with warm water and put it in the douche like you said. Ms. Gigi, I was revirginized!”

“Don't do it too often. Just enough to rotate your routine, okay.” Gabrielle pointed to the lobby furniture. “I'm going to sit over here and wait for Colt. Behave yourself, Ms. Chante.”

Gabrielle sat in the lobby area and removed two magazines from her purse. Taking her mother to the doctor and various appointments required patience and entertainment. When Mattie was still with them, she encouraged Gabrielle to keep her favorite books and magazines handy in case the doctors' visits ran over, or if the office didn't have magazines she liked. She skimmed the pages of
Essence
and
InStyle
. Bored with the latest styles and career advice, she closed her eyes momentarily, pondering the scene at Roastfish & Cornbread. She had to find a way to make money. A mild headache formed as she wondered how she'd make things work.

She smiled when she heard Colton clear his throat. She opened her eyes in anticipation of seeing him dressed well and ready for action.

“Ba—”

Gabrielle wanted to be teleported to Mexico. Africa. The moon. Anywhere except the couch on which she sat. Colton and Roselle stood before her, a united front. Roselle held his hand and rubbed his shoulder.

“Gabrielle.”

“Colton.”

“Let's go over to 145 Mulberry and talk.”

“I don't think that's a good idea. I thought we were meeting alone.”

He returned Roselle's affection and held her hand tighter. “She is part of the conversation. Let's get a table.”

Gabrielle stood, noted Roselle's significant weight loss. Her calm demeanor made matters worse. She'd yet to acknowledge her with a hello or greeting. They entered the hotel's restaurant and were quickly seated by their waitress. Colton and Roselle sat together on the makeshift booth along the wall; Gabrielle faced them in a lone chair.

“I'll give you some time to look over the menu,” said the waitress. She placed water and lemon slices at the table before walking away.

Colton and Roselle didn't touch their menus. He spoke.

“Gabrielle, I, we, won't be here long. What I have to say will be brief.”

He looked to Roselle for consent before continuing.

“I am publicly apologizing to my wife and to you for what I've done. I've hurt her and we are working hard to get our marriage back on track.”

“Her? What about me? You told me you were leaving her and that we'd be together. What about that, Colton?”

Roselle stiffened but remained silent. She rubbed his hand and kept her eyes on Gabrielle.

“Gabrielle, I got caught up. Things had gotten stale between Rose and me and I slipped.”

“Damned right, you slipped. And licked. And sucked, and everything else imaginable. Is he like that with you, Roselle?”

“Don't insult my wife!”

“You can, but I can't?”

Roselle cleared her throat. “I'm not intimidated by your kind. I hoped we could be adults about this matter, but I guess two out of three ain't bad. A man can get sex anywhere in the streets, but I challenge you to think of the number of men who really leave their wives for women like you. You are a very beautiful woman, but do you think he'd trust you if you got together?”

He waved the waitress away who'd returned to take orders. Supporting his wife's statement, Colton added, “I am sorry for leading you on. I should have been there for my wife and kids and I wasn't. She knows everything about us, Gabrielle, so there's no need to bring up things we did in the past to hurt her.”

“Why bring me here in person? You could have told me this over the phone.”

“I'm acknowledging my wrongdoing, and I'm getting closure. I don't want to go back on my word to Rose.”

“How charming. It's good to know I meant nothing to you.”

“Gabrielle, I'm sorry.”

“You don't have to tell me that, Colton.”

When she stood to leave, Roselle nudged his shoulder.

“Gabrielle, sit down. I'm not done.”

“I'm not a child, Colt. You don't tell me what to do.”

“I told you we were one adult short,” Roselle said.

Gabrielle plopped down in her seat, scratching the ends of the chair on the floor for emphasis.

“The keys. Give me the keys to the car.”

“Colt, that's my only means of transportation.”

“Surely a woman of your
caliber
can get a car,” Roselle chided.

“Colt, please don't do this. I need that car.”

“Gabrielle, the car is being towed as we speak. I'm taking my car back with or without the keys.”

“You wouldn't!”

“I did.”

A smirk of satisfaction covered Roselle's face. She smiled and took a swig of water.

“Your credit cards were cancelled this morning, and I closed out the account at the bank.”

“How am I supposed to live?”

“Working like the rest of us,” said Roselle. “Colton has supported you long enough. How do you sleep at night taking money from married men?”

Gabrielle unzipped her purse, chucked the keys at Colton, and ran from the restaurant. She exited the hotel in time to see her car being angled for the tow bed lift.

“Wait!”

Two men orchestrated the tow. Gabrielle spoke to the one outside the truck, read his name tag.

“Marcus, that's my car. May I please get my boxes out?”

“Colton Bembry gave us strict orders to take this beauty away.”

“I know. I need to get my things out. Please.”

She batted her eyes and gave him her famous mistress-in-distress look. He opened the door and the trunk.

“Five minutes, Gorgeous. Five Minutes.”

Seeing her struggle with the car's contents, he helped Gabrielle stack the boxes and bags in the Embassy Suites parking lot. He'd seen a lot of women break under the weight of repossessions and broken-down vehicles, but he knew this situation was different. He wondered how Colton Bembry snagged such a stunning woman.
Must be the money.

Colton and Roselle made sure the vehicle made it on the tow truck before driving away. Gabrielle flicked her middle finger, whipped out her phone, and dialed Joshua's number.

“Change of plans, Little Bro. You and Alice need to pick me up from the Embassy Suites.”

19

T
hey felt eerie in the house without their parents. Gabrielle had stayed in the house so long after they moved out, they hardly recognized it. Now, memories of their childhood rushed back as they stood in the living room.

“Looks like a hurricane hit the house. What did you do, Gigi?” Alice picked up shirts, shoes, and lingerie strewn about.

“I started moving out like Mama asked me.”

Joshua assisted Alice with moving the clothes. “You're being pig-headed as usual. What do you not understand about thirty days? That's more than enough time for you to job hunt. Where were you going to live anyway?”

“It's not important.” She assisted them with her clothes. “I can't believe Mama would do this.”

Alice sucked her teeth. “I guess I'm the only one willing to voice the truth. We let Mama down in her last days. Gigi, you were the worst.”

“There you go pointing fingers again.”

“We have a short window of time to do what she asked. I'm not playing referee with you two,” said Joshua.

“Did you hear that, Alice? He sounded just like Daddy again.”

“Daddy. Funny you should say that word,” he said.

Joshua sat in Daniel's La-Z-Boy. His countenance caught them off guard; they sat across from him on the sofa.

“Before you got all in your feelings and walked away from the restaurant, you missed something very important, Gigi.” He waited for her to look him in the eyes.

“Josh, go ahead and tell her.”

“Tell me what?”

“I have a son.”

“No you don't.”

He sighed. “Deborah was pregnant all those years ago. She was supposed to have an abortion but didn't.”

Gabrielle sat upright. “Sweet little Deborah Sampson was having sex? You mean my responsible brother, Joshua, didn't step up to the plate to make things right?”

“I didn't know until today. Mama kept it a secret all these years.”

“I'm not following you.”

Alice assisted him. “Deborah broke up with him because her snooty parents felt Josh wasn't good enough. She was pregnant by him, they had someone else picked out for her to marry, and the two of them raised our nephew. His name is Langston Calhoun.”

“I know damned well they didn't think that about you. You were the best thing that happened to her.”

Startled by the rare compliment, Joshua smiled.

“Wait right here.”

Gabrielle disappeared upstairs. Alice and Joshua, unaccustomed to the brief moment of camaraderie, braced themselves for the worst. Their oldest sister wasn't friendly or accommodating toward them. Joshua knew something had gone down at the Embassy Suites because he'd never seen his sister look so helpless. Nor had she ever needed him. There she sat in the hotel parking lot in a lawn chair provided by a concierge. Boxes on either side and dejected, their sister had fallen from grace in front of Embassy guests.

“Come in the kitchen, you two!”

“What's she doing?” Alice whispered.

“Probably carving out voodoo dolls of us.”

They laughed but honored her request. To their surprise, she sat at the island with a laptop. She navigated the screen in such a way that the three of them had access. She waved them over to the bar stools.

“Remember when we used to do our homework in here?” Alice asked. She took a seat, observing the search engines Gabrielle had pulled up.

“We always waited for Mama to finish cooking dinner. Daddy would pull weeds or tend to the garden outside,” said Alice.

“Don't forget—”

“Mrs. Claudine Mitchell's vanilla ice cream,” Alice and Joshua said in unison, taking Gabrielle's words.