Sisters and Husbands (20 page)

“Good,” Beverly said. “So I’ll see you at Ma’s tomorrow after church?” Family and friends were gathering at their parents’
house for a pre-ceremony celebration before Beverly’s wedding the following Saturday.

“Yeah, I’m going to pick Russell up at Clarence’s and bring him with us, plus I got a ton of stuff to bring but I’ll get there.”

“Want me to help?” Beverly asked.

“No, indeed. You’re the guest of honor. Let us do the work.”

They hung up and Beverly shook her head with disbelief as she went back to her juice and cereal. She really hoped that Charmaine
and Tyrone could work their problems out. Charmaine had already failed at enough marriages. Thank goodness she and Julian
wouldn’t have to deal with trying to blend families. They would be able to have children together, which should make everything
a whole lot easier.

She picked up the remote just as the phone rang again. A glance at the caller ID told her that it was her mother.

“Hi, Ma.”

“Hi, Bev. Look, I just got off the phone with Vanessa at the bridal salon. Did you know that Valerie still hasn’t picked up
her dress yet?”

“No, I didn’t. She keeps telling me she’s going to go and pick it up. Just yesterday when I talked to her from work, she said
she was going to get it as soon as she got off.”

“Well, she hasn’t,” Mama said. “You need to call her and see what’s going on. Vanessa said they have to close the shop this
afternoon for repairs and they won’t open again until next week on Wednesday.”

“Maybe Valerie went to pick it up yesterday like she said she was, and the dress still needed more alterations, so she left
it there.”

“Vanessa said she never came by.”

Beverly frowned. “I’m not sure what’s going on with her. She’s usually so dependable. Okay, Ma, I’ll call her right away.”

They hung up, and Beverly dialed Valerie’s home and cell numbers, but her friend wasn’t answering at either. How strange,
Beverly thought as she left messages on both lines. Still, Valerie was pretty reliable when it came to calling her back, and
Beverly was fairly certain she would hear from her soon. Valerie might be wacky at times, but she loved to talk on the phone.
Beverly turned the volume back up on the television and picked up her cereal bowl.

Julian was out on the golf course, and Beverly planned to relax as much as she could until they hooked up later that evening
for dinner and a movie. Next Saturday was the big day, and she and her mother had a million things to wrap up all week long,
from the caterer on Monday during her lunch hour to the rehearsal and dinner on Friday evening. Beverly was really looking
forward to vegetating all day long and recharging her batteries for the upcoming week.

An hour later, Beverly hadn’t heard back from Valerie, which was more than a little strange. She tried calling again but still
no answer on either line. She turned the television off and called the salon to learn that they were closing at two o’clock
that afternoon to begin storing their inventory before the painting and repairs that would start on Monday.

“If you want to be sure to have the dress for your wedding, I would pick it up today,” Vanessa warned. “We plan to open again
on Wednesday, but I can’t guarantee that or even that we’ll open again before next Saturday.”

Beverly didn’t want to take a chance that Valerie wouldn’t get her dress before the ceremony, so she decided to drive to Baltimore
herself to pick it up. She was a little annoyed with Valerie for ruining the only day she had to rest until her wedding, but
what else could she do?

T
wo hours later, Beverly was in her Lexus speeding down I-95 from Baltimore. She was wearing black jeans and a bright blue
off-the-shoulder top. The bridesmaid dress, covered with clear plastic, was hanging on a hook over the backseat.

Beverly had dialed Valerie’s phone numbers repeatedly on her way to and from the bridal salon and gotten no answer. It was
so unlike Valerie to be unreachable for hours on end, and Beverly was mildly worried. So she had decided to drive straight
to Valerie’s apartment near downtown Silver Spring rather than wait for her to call. That way she could also check on Valerie.

Fortunately, years ago they had exchanged house and car keys, partly for this very reason. If one of them ever got locked
out or got into some kind of trouble, the other could gain access to their car or residence. Neither had ever used the keys,
and it had taken Beverly several minutes to remember where she had stored Valerie’s. She finally found them tucked away at
the back of her bottom dresser drawer.

She pulled up in front of Valerie’s apartment building, her cell phone ringing and ringing as she tried to reach Valerie.
She spotted Valerie’s maple-red Volvo parked in the lot, yet her friend was still not answering her phones. Beverly was more
than mildly worried now. She noticed that Otis’s car was not in the lot, so Valerie might have gone somewhere with him. But
even that didn’t make complete sense. Why wouldn’t she answer her cell phone?

Beverly pulled quickly into a vacant space next to the Volvo, then jumped out, the dress flung over one arm, and ran to the
building. It was a mid-rise, eight stories high, with a locked main entrance. Beverly fumbled with the set of three keys that
Valerie had given her while holding her purse and the dress on her left arm, all the while trying not to think of the horrible
things that could have happened to her friend. She was more than a little nervous about entering Valerie’s apartment alone.
After all, who knew what she might find?

But concern for her friend outweighed her fear, and she pushed the glass front door open and walked briskly through the lobby
toward the elevator bank. She pressed the up button and stepped back, trying to steady her nerves as she waited. One of the
elevator doors opened, and she ran inside, nearly bumping into a couple exiting. She pressed the button for the fourth floor,
and as she rode up alone she realized that she was gritting her teeth. She took a deep breath and made a point to relax her
jaw.

As soon as the elevator door opened, she darted out and ran down the hallway to Valerie’s unit. She fumbled again with the
keys until she found the right one, unlocked the door, and stepped into the large front room of Valerie’s one-bedroom apartment.

Valerie had heavy burgundy drapes on the windows and the room was dark. As Beverly groped for the wall switch to turn on a
lamp, she heard a faint noise. As best she could tell, it was a squeak, and Beverly narrowed her eyes and listened, trying
to figure out exactly what it was and where it was coming from. Valerie had a black cat, who always ran and hid when company
came. But it had never made such a strange sound before.

Beverly paused just inside the door without flipping the light switch, at a loss for what to do. A part of her wanted to flee,
get the heck out of there. What if an intruder was making the noise and she caught him? But that just meant that Valerie could
be hurt, and concern for her best friend won out. She stepped cautiously into the dimly lit room and headed toward the sound.

She realized that the noise was coming from Valerie’s leather couch, which sat in the middle of the living room floor, its
back facing the front door. She also noticed some garments flung across the couch. She was trying to make out what they were
when she stumbled over something on the floor. She gasped and started to look down to see what had tripped her up just as
a head popped up from behind the couch.

Beverly immediately recognized Valerie, her dyed black hair disheveled, her mouth hanging open. Beverly also realized that
her friend was naked and had this strange startled expression on her face. Beverly could understand the startled part. It
looked like Valerie had just been caught in the act with Otis, and no one liked to be caught having sex—at least no one rational.
But there was something more in Valerie’s face, something that Beverly couldn’t quite understand.

She was backing away with embarrassment and trying to understand the odd expression on Valerie’s face when a man with a shaved
head popped up from behind the couch. Beverly froze. The man she had just caught in the act with Valerie was
not
Otis.

It was Kevin, Evelyn’s husband.

For a second, all three of them looked as if they had just seen a spaceship land in the middle of the living room floor.

Kevin ducked as Valerie scrambled up off him and reached for the skirt lying across the back of the couch. Beverly stared
at the empty space where Kevin’s head had once been and swallowed hard. She thought her eyes had to be playing a nasty trick
on her and that it really
was
Otis who had ducked behind the couch. After all, both men had shaved heads. Then she looked at Valerie, hastily slipping
into her skirt, and saw the look of utter shame on her friend’s face. That look could mean only one thing. Beverly’s eyes
were not playing tricks on her.

Beverly thought she was going to be violently ill. She covered her mouth and backed up, and again tripped over the object
on the floor. Only this time she landed flat on her rump. She realized that the thing that had her stumbling about like an
idiot was a black leather duffel bag.

Kevin’s black leather duffel bag. Evelyn’s husband’s duffel bag. In her best friend’s apartment.

By the time Beverly scrambled back up with the dress and her purse, both Kevin and Valerie were off the couch. Valerie was
buttoning her white shirt, and Kevin was grabbing his jeans off the floor.

“Oh… my… God!” Beverly yelled.

“Bev,” Valerie said as she smoothed her jet black hair down. Valerie kicked something red on the floor, and Beverly realized
that it was Valerie’s thong just before it disappeared under the couch. “What… what are you doing here?” Valerie asked. “How
did you get in?”

“I… I… how?” Beverly couldn’t get more than a few words out. She could barely breathe. Was this for real? Her best friend
and her brother-in-law had just jumped up off a couch and both of them were naked. Now they were standing there together in
front of her looking guilty as sin.

“Why are you here, Beverly?” Valerie repeated. “How did you get in?”

Oh no, Beverly thought. Even if Valerie had forgotten that Beverly had a key to her apartment, she wasn’t going to make Beverly
feel guilty for letting herself in.

“You bitch!” Beverly screamed. She threw the bridesmaid dress onto the floor. “What difference does it make how I got in?
How could you do this?”

Valerie looked down.

“Don’t give me that silent crap,” Beverly said. “Not now. Shit! Any other time, I can’t get you to fucking shut up.”

“I have nothing to say.”

“Too bad,” Beverly said. “’Cause I’m just getting warmed up. Are you really so desperate that you have to sleep with my sister’s
husband? Never mind what this does to me. How the hell could you do this to Evelyn? Hasn’t she been good to you all these
years?”

Valerie just stared at the floor, so Beverly turned her ire on her brother-in-law. “And you, Kevin. I don’t even know what
to say to you.”

“If I tried to explain this to you, you would never understand,” he said.

Beverly glared at him. “You’re right, I wouldn’t. No one understands what’s gotten into you lately. You’re not the man my
sister married. Frankly, you disgust me now. Both of you do.”

“We didn’t plan for this to happen,” Kevin said. “We talked and one thing led to another and…” His voice trailed off as if
he knew there were no words to explain this. “I’m sorry you had to walk in and see it.”

“Oh, I bet you are sorry, but only because you know I’ll tell Evelyn.”

“If that’s what you feel you have to do,” Kevin said. “I don’t think it’s wise, given her fragile emotional state now, but…”
He shrugged.

“You don’t even care if I tell her, do you?” Beverly pointed her finger at him. “You know what? You’re crazy. And you two
deserve each other. I hope you both rot in hell.”

“Bev, I’m sorry,” Valerie said. “I don’t know what else—”

Beverly held her hand up to stop Valerie. “You know what? I don’t even want to hear your excuses now.”

“I know there’s no way to explain this,” Valerie said. “I just—”

“I said, save it, bitch,” Beverly interrupted. “I don’t ever want to see or hear from you again.” She threw the keys in her
hands at Valerie. Valerie ducked out of the way, and Beverly turned and kicked Kevin’s duffel bag. It was heavy and didn’t
move much, so she unzipped and lifted it, turned it upside down, and shook until the contents spilled onto the floor.

“Hey!” Kevin shouted as he flew around the couch toward her. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Beverly dropped the bag and ran toward the front door. Then she remembered the dress. She was damned if she was going to let
Valerie keep that dress even if there wasn’t much she could ever do with it. Beverly snatched the dress from the floor, then
ran out and slammed the door shut behind her, drowning out Kevin’s protests about his shaving cream and underwear being scattered
all over the floor.

She didn’t bother with the elevator. Instead she ran through the hallway, down the four flights of stairs and out to the parking
lot. It wasn’t until she reached her car that she paused to catch her breath. She leaned against the Lexus, her head spinning
wildly as she tried to steady herself.

Was all that for real? Had she actually just caught her best friend and her brother-in-law screwing? She shook her head. It
felt like she was having a nightmare.

But she wasn’t. Beverly had always thought that Valerie had a crush on Kevin, but she never, ever believed her friend would
go this far. She thought Valerie was better than that. And despite all the changes Kevin was going through, Beverly would
never have imagined that he would betray Evelyn this way. How could she have been so mistaken about two people she thought
she knew so well? At times like this, she hated the idea of sex. It made people do wacky things just to feel good for a few
moments, things they knew were wrong or deceitful.