Sins of the Father (11 page)

J
osette looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She looked like Rudolph, the red-nosed
reindeer. She plucked a tissue from the box on her vanity and blew her nose. Again.
It seemed all she’d been doing that evening was crying and blowing. She tossed the
tissue into the wastebasket.

Why was she letting Michael treat her this way? It was after midnight. He wasn’t home
and he hadn’t called. He could deny it all he wanted, but she was certain he was cheating
on her. What else could explain his long, long nights? She’d never believe that work
required this much late night entertainment.

She rubbed her hand across her bulging belly. “What have I done to you, baby girl?”
she whispered. “What kind of father have I given you?”

She flipped off the light in the bathroom and headed for the bed. After pulling back
the covers, she slid in and turned off the bedside light. Her tears began to fall
again, and she let them fall unheeded.

She awoke when the bed sagged next to her. Her husband had finally dragged himself
home. She sniffed to detect any hint of another woman’s perfume. Nothing. She should
have known he was smarter than that.

A part of her wanted to ignore him, to pretend she was asleep. That part lost. She
reached up, switched on the lamp, and turned to him. “You finally made it home, huh?”
she said to his back.

He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Don’t start,” he said.

“You started it,” she said. “I’m finishing it.”

He jerked off his tie and stood. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She watched as he kicked off his shoes and tossed his tie on the chair near the closet.
His shirt and pants quickly followed. Then he was in bed next to her. He had the nerve
to yawn.

“Tired, huh?” she asked.

He yawned again. “I had a long day.”

“I noticed.”

He turned exasperated eyes to her. “I’m not going to argue with you.”

Her heart sank at his words because she knew they were true. He didn’t care enough
about her feelings to calm her fears by answering her questions. “If you want out
of this marriage, just say so, Michael.”

“Now you’re talking crazy,” he said, dismissing her as if she were a child.

“You’re crazy if you think I don’t know what’s going on.”

He turned on his side and faced her. “What do you think is going on?”

“I think you’re having an affair.”

He laughed. “I don’t have time for an affair. I work too hard and too long.”

She felt those words as if he’d stomped on her heart. “That’s the only thing stopping
you—you don’t have time?”

“You’re twisting my words,” he said. “Those pregnancy hormones of yours are all out
of whack. You’d better talk to your doctor about them.”

“If you’re not having an affair, why were you so late? Why are you always late?”

“Work.”

She didn’t believe him. She’d called his office. “You’re a liar,” she said. “And a
bad one.” She turned away from him, flicked off her lamp, and sank down in the covers.
“You’re Abraham Martin’s son, all right.”

That got his attention. He rolled over to her. She felt his breath on her neck but
she didn’t turn. “What did you say?” he asked.

“You heard me.”

“I’m sure I didn’t hear you because I know you didn’t say what I thought you said.”

Josette savored the taste of victory. She’d found a button to push. “I said that you’re
Abraham Martin’s son, all right. You’re doing to me what he did to his wife. Cheating
must be in your blood.”

He grabbed her shoulder and turned her flat on her back so that she faced him. “I’m
nothing like him,” he said through clenched teeth. “Nothing.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” she said. She glanced at his hand on her shoulder. “And
don’t manhandle me again.” She turned back on her side, away from him. She could still
feel him seething behind her. She didn’t care. She’d finally turned the tables on
him. She liked the feeling it gave her.

“I’m not like him,” Michael said again. Then she heard him turn away and settle himself
in the bed.

Her joy at winning tonight’s battle subsided quickly as she realized that she was
still losing the war.

L
eah stood, unmoving, outside the MEEG Building and stared at the smoked glass revolving
doors. This building represented the life she and her children could have had if Abraham
had made her his wife. Now here she was preparing to take her son’s place at a MEEG
board meeting. She felt her knees weaken. She knew she needed to recover before she
entered. She didn’t want Deborah to see her this way.

Slowly, she made her way over to one of the marble benches that dotted the garden
park in front of the building. She eased herself down on the first bench and practiced
the breathing exercise that she used to ward off panic attacks. It had been a long
time since she’d needed to do this. The last time had been right before she defended
her master’s thesis. She was more anxious now than she was then.

She exhaled and began to feel the calmness settle around her. She blamed Abraham for
this. Her anxiety attacks had started
after Deborah was born, when she realized that she was going to have to raise two
children alone, even though their father lived close by. She’d had to take things
day by day, and still found herself oftentimes overwhelmed by the challenges she faced.

How was she going to raise two children, when she was twenty and barely an adult herself?
she’d worried. Abraham’s money had kept them off welfare, but not much more than that.
He never felt compelled to see that their children’s fortunes increased with his.
No, it was as though what he gave them was no more than the minimum payment on a revolving
credit card balance. She gave him points for paying faithfully each month, but the
sheer grandness of the building in front of her showed clearly that what he’d given
them was a pittance compared to what he had. That the original three hundred dollars
per month had grown to two thousand by the time her kids graduated college seemed
inconsequential.

She took another deep breath. It did her no good to go down that road again. She’d
had to forgive Abraham a long time ago in order to be a good mother to her children.
She wanted them happy and she knew a mother raging about an absentee father would
only do them harm. So she’d prayed and tried to move on with her life. She hadn’t
done too badly with Michael and Deborah, either. Or she thought she hadn’t until recently.

She shook her head back and forth a couple of times to shake off the negative thoughts.
Taking a final deep breath, she stood and walked determinedly to the revolving doors
that had initially paralyzed her. She pasted a smile on her face as she strode through
the doors of what was now her children’s heritage.

“Good morning, ma’am,” the security guard said when she reached the grand 360-degree,
marble-topped front desk. “May I help you?”

“I’m here to see Deborah Thomas,” she said. “I’m her mother, Leah Thomas.”

The guard punched a few keys on the keyboard and looked at the screen that was facing
him on the counter. Then he picked up the phone and dialed. “Ms. Thomas,” he said
a short while later. “Your mother is here to see you.”

Leah watched as the security guard nodded. Then he hung up the phone. “I’m going to
need you to sign in, Mrs. Thomas,” he said.

Leah didn’t bother to correct him. She merely entered her signature on the electronic
signature pad. When she was finished, the security guard opened a drawer under the
counter and pulled out a visitor’s badge that he handed to her. “You have to wear
the badge at all times,” he told her. “And you have to return it before you leave
the building.”

“Thanks,” she said, taking the badge and clipping it to the lapel of her suit jacket.

“To get to your daughter’s office, take the elevators to the twelfth floor. Her name
and room number will be on the wall facing you when the elevator doors open. Welcome
to MEEG.”

“Thank you,” Leah said, impressed with the operation Abraham had set up here, despite
herself. She turned toward the elevators and was pleasantly surprised to see Deborah’s
smiling face when the doors opened.

Deborah stepped off the elevator. “You’re looking good, Mama,” she said.

Leah looked down at the two-piece navy suit that she rarely wore. Teaching at the
community college required a much more casual look than the outfit she sported now,
but she’d felt the need to dress for the occasion. “I didn’t want to embarrass you,”
she told her daughter.

Deborah’s smile disappeared. “Don’t say that, Mama,” she said. “Don’t even think it.
Try not to let this impressive building intimidate you. You belong here as much as
I do.”

Leah patted her daughter’s cheek. “Calm down, sweetie,” she said. “I was teasing.”

Deborah pressed the button for the elevator, whose doors had closed. “Sorry,” she
said. “I’m being too sensitive.”

“That’s okay,” Leah said when the elevator doors opened. She followed her daughter
in. “This is new for all of us.”

Deborah pressed the button for the twelfth floor. “Now that’s the understatement of
the year.” She glanced sideways at her mother. “Michael and I never told you, but
we came down here when we were in high school, just to see what it was like.”

Leah’s heart ached. “Oh, sweetie.”

Deborah shook her head. “It was childish curiosity, Mama. We had to check the place
out. Once, Michael even drove us by the Martin estate in Forest Park, but the house
was hidden in a thickly wooded area so we didn’t see much.”

“I never knew,” Leah said. “I should have guessed, though. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Deborah shrugged. “We thought it would hurt you.”

Leah fought the onslaught of another panic attack. As their mother, she’d tried to
protect her children, and all the while they were protecting her. What a burden that
must have been for them! What had it done to their childhoods? She’d thought they
were happy and healthy but maybe she was only seeing what she wanted to see. What
had she done to her precious offspring?

W
hat are you doing here?” Isaac asked when he turned from the paperwork he was studying
to find Rebecca standing in the doorway of the MEEG boardroom. “I thought we agreed
that you were not welcome here any longer.”

Rebecca hid her pain behind a false bravado. She needed the false front to fight for
her marriage, since Isaac seemed determined to end it. She couldn’t let him see weakness.
She had to be resolute in her determination.

“We didn’t agree on anything,” she said, holding her head high as she marched to the
table and slid into the chair next to his. “As long as I’m your wife, my place is
beside you, and that’s where I’m going to be.” Her mask slipped a bit. “I love you,
Isaac,” she said. “I’d never do anything to hurt you. I told you the truth about me
and Michael because I love you, and because you needed to know the lengths he’d go
to hurt you.”

Isaac turned cold eyes on her. “You don’t want me to call security.”

She shrugged. “Call them, but you’d better tell your mother our marriage is over first.”

Isaac opened his mouth and then closed it again. Rebecca read his action, or inaction,
as his acceptance of her presence at the board meeting. She wanted to tell him again
that she loved him, but knew that words would not work. She’d have to show him. So,
instead of pleading her case, she sat quietly next to him and waited for the other
board members to arrive.

Saralyn sailed in first. She looked as though she’d stepped off a Paris runway in
her fuchsia suit dress with matching shoes and hat. Rebecca wondered, as she often
did, how the woman managed to pull it off. Self-conscious, she brushed her hands down
the simple burgundy sheath she’d chosen because it was one of Isaac’s favorites. Unfortunately,
he hadn’t even noticed.

“Good morning, children,” Saralyn said, filling the room with her presence. She pressed
a kiss against Isaac’s cheek and then against Rebecca’s.

“You’re in good spirits this morning,” Isaac said, surprise evident in his voice.
Rebecca was surprised, too, since she knew that Saralyn hated the changes Abraham
had made to the board.

“I’m doing what a woman has to do,” Saralyn said, removing her hat. “We have to take
care of things in your father’s absence.” She placed her hat on the table in front
of the chair where she usually sat, which was to the right of Abraham’s chair at the
head of the twenty-foot mesquite conference table with granite inlay.

Rebecca wondered what Saralyn had up her sleeve. Her mother-in-law was used to things
going her way, and right now they weren’t.

Casually, Saralyn fingered her long tresses until they lay perfectly across her shoulders.
Then she moved to stand next to Abraham’s chair. “You should sit here,” she said to
Isaac, pointing at the chair Abraham had vacated only recently.

Isaac, who sat in his usual chair to the immediate right of his
father’s, said, “I’m more comfortable where I am. Let’s leave Dad’s chair vacant until
he gets back.”

Saralyn turned toward Rebecca. “Please talk to your husband, darling. He doesn’t seem
to understand that impressions are everything. We need to let those Thomas interlopers
know where they stand from day one. That way there’s no confusion.”

Rebecca had to smile. Saralyn did not disappoint. She turned to her husband. “Saralyn’s
right, Isaac. For all intents and purposes, you’re Abraham until Abraham can be here
himself. He’d want you in his chair.”

Isaac flashed those cold eyes at her again and she flinched.

“Look, you two,” Saralyn said, glancing from one of them to the other, “I don’t know
what that look was about but I do know that this is not the time for you two to engage
in some petty bickering between yourselves. We need to be united now more than ever.
You’re going to have to put your marital squabbles on hold. We don’t have time for
them.” She gave them each a pointed stare. “Can I count on you two?”

“Yes,” Rebecca answered first, avoiding Isaac’s eyes.

“Son.” Saralyn tapped her fingers on Abraham’s chair. “I’m waiting.”

“You know you can count on me, Mom,” he said.

She nodded. “Good. Then get your rear out of that seat and into this one. We all need
to be situated before the others arrive.” After Isaac moved to his designated chair,
Saralyn pointed to the one he had vacated. “You sit there, Rebecca.”

After Rebecca had done as directed, Saralyn glided into her own chair. “Now we’re
ready to face the world and our enemies.”

Isaac looked at his mother. “Dad invited these ‘enemies’ to the table, Mom. We can’t
keep them away.”

“Don’t remind me,” Saralyn said. “There were other ways your father could have assuaged
his guilt. Why didn’t he just write them a check, a big, big check? I think that would
have satisfied
them. There was no reason for him to bring them into our lives, our business. He was
wrong to do it.”

Rebecca glanced at her husband to see what he was thinking.

“According to Alan,” Isaac said, “there’s nothing we can do.”

Saralyn frowned. “Alan’s not the only attorney in Atlanta. If we don’t like his answers,
we’ll find another attorney with better answers. Your father never took no for an
answer, and neither should we.”

Rebecca thought Saralyn made a good point. She didn’t know about the other Thomases,
but she knew she didn’t trust Michael. His hatred of Isaac was too deep. She’d never
feel safe with him in their lives.

Before Isaac could respond to his mother, the door to the boardroom opened and in
walked Michael. “Good morning,” he said, as if his presence were expected and welcome.
“I’m Michael Thomas,” he said, extending his hand first to Saralyn.

“You don’t belong here,” she said with disdain, not taking his hand.

“Nice to meet you, too, Mrs. Martin,” Michael said, not missing a beat. Then he turned
his attention to Rebecca. “I know it’s early, but happy anniversary,” he said with
a wink. “I hope you like this year’s gift better than you liked last year’s.”

Isaac jumped out of his chair. “How dare you?” he said, standing nose-to-nose with
Michael.

Michael didn’t back up an inch. “How dare I what? Be your bastard brother?” He glanced
at Saralyn. “Or enter your adulterous husband’s building?” He then turned back to
Rebecca, who shot fiery darts at him with her eyes. “Or maybe you’re daring me to
seduce your sweet wife again?”

Isaac raised his hand—

Saralyn and Rebecca came up out of their chairs. “No,” they yelled at the same time.