Some Came Desperate: A Love Saga (4 page)

“You were off yesterday.”

“And I’m off today.”

“Then don’t you have some homework to do?”

“No, Jeremy, I don’t have homework to do.  I don’t have anything to do except talk to my sister.”

Jeremy glared at Simone.  “You’re a tough girl for a charity case,” he said and even Jules looked at Jeremy.

“I work,” Simone replied with some degree of hurt in her voice, “and I give you every dime I make.”

“Chump change.  That don’t make up for what I’ve done for your crazy butt so don’t even try that.  If it wasn’t for me you’d still be hanging around truck stops, with your dumb behind.  I took you in and don’t you forget that.”  Then he looked at Jules.  “Make me a pot of coffee; I’ve got to pull an all-nighter.”

Jules immediately began to do as he ordered.  Simone shook her head, which prompted Jeremy to fume.  “Go do your homework!” he said.

“I told you I did it already.”

“Do some more.”

“That’s stupid, Jeremy.”

“You’re the one who’s stupid, bringing home all of those C’s on your last report card when Jules brought home straight A’s.  Now do as I said!”

Simone rolled her eyes and angrily left the small kitchen, her anguished heart only able to take some solace in knowing that in one week, just one week, Jules would turn eighteen and their long, bitter days with Jeremy Druce would finally be over.

She woke up early.  When she turned over, Jules, who shared the double bed with her, was still sound asleep.  Normally Simone would let her rest, since Jeremy worked her like his slave, but this was not a normal day.  Jules was eighteen today and Simone had to let her know the significance of what that number truly meant.

“What is it?” Jules said annoyingly as Simone shook her awake.  “What time is it?”

“It’s Saturday, Jules.”

“And?”

“And it’s your birthday.”

Jules closed her eyes again.  So what, she thought.  But Simone shook her again.        

“What’s the matter with you, Simone?” she asked angrily as she reopened her eyes.

“We need to talk.”

“Now?”

“Yes, now, Jules, before Jeremy gets up.”

“Not again.”

“I’m serious, J.  This is serious.”  By now Simone was sitting up in bed, Indian style, and was twirling around her long Indian plait.  Jules, knowing how forceful Simone could be when she was on what Jeremy always referred to as one of her “crusades,” sat up in bed, too.  Only she sat against the headboard and tried with all she had not to fall back asleep. 

“Talk, Simone.”

“Okay,” Simone said, positioning herself, thrilled to have her sister’s attention.  “You’re eighteen today, right?” Jules, however, closed her eyes.  “Jules!”

“Yes,” Jules said as she reopened her eyes.  “I’m eighteen today. You know it, I know it, the world probably knows it loud as you’re talking.”

Simone lowered her voice.  “What I’m trying to say, Jules, is that now that you’re grown in the eyes of the law, we can leave Jeremy’s house.”

Jules looked at her younger sister.  “What?”

“That’s right.  You’re old enough to get us an apartment of our own.  Then you can petition the courts for custody of Shay, Shay can come and live with us, and we’ll be a family again.”

Jules, who always viewed herself as the more practical by far, shook her head.  “Are you out of your mind, Simone?”

That stung.  “I’m not stupid, Jules.”

“How can we afford an apartment?  I have no income and your little Burger King job won’t pay anybody’s rent.”

“We don’t have to get anything expensive.  Just a little one bedroom somewhere, that’s all.”

“Like where?  And I’m not living in no ghetto.”

“What difference does it make where we live?  The point is we’ll have Shay back with us.  They don’t care if you’re poor.  You just have to be old enough.”

“You are dreaming, Simone.  Nobody’s giving custody of a nine year old child to me!  Are you crazy?”  Then she exhaled.  “Besides,” she added, “Jeremy’s not about to let us leave him.”

“You’re eighteen, Jules, don’t you understand that?  It doesn’t matter what Jeremy thinks anymore.  You’re a grown woman now.  All you got to do is leave!”

“It’s not that simple.”

“It is that simple!  Yes, it is!  All we got to do is do it.  Sometimes you’ve got to just feel it in your soul and do it, Jules.  For Shay’s sake.  This is one of those times for Shay!”

Knocks were suddenly heard on their bedroom door and both sisters jumped at the sound.  Jules shook her head.  “See,” she said, “I told you you was too loud.”

  Jeremy, in his bathrobe, peered into the girls’ bedroom and then came on in.  “What’s going on in here this early in the morning?”

Jules looked at Simone.  Simone exhaled.  “I was wishing Jules a happy birthday.”

Jeremy looked at Jules and smiled.  “So my girl is eighteen today!”  He looked her up and down.  “Feel any different?” 

Jules shook her head.

“Why don’t you talk?” Simone angrily asked her sister.  “You always act so mousey around him!”

Jeremy’s smile left and he looked at Simone.  “And good morning to you too, Simone.”

Simone didn’t respond.  Jeremy laughed and then looked at Jules again.  “I’ve got a gift for you, baby,” he said to her.  “It’s on my bed.  Go get it.”

Jules threw the covers back, revealing her short nightgown, and with a grand smile dashed from the room.  Jeremy turned and looked at Simone, and his smile quickly vanished.

“I hate you, you know that, Simone?”

Simone stared at him.  “You hate me?” she said, taken aback.

“I hate you with a passion.  I wish you would curl up in a corner somewhere and do us all a favor and die.   You’re only taking up space in this world anyhow. So just end it now if you please.  For the whole world’s sake.  Then maybe me and Jules can have some peace.”

Simone was shocked, and hurt, by the harshness of Jeremy’s words.  There was no love lost between them, she knew that.  But to hear him say that he hated her and wished her dead, stung. 

“You heard me, girl?  Die.  Drop dead.  I’ll be so happy I’ll sing at your funeral.”

“I’ll be singing at yours first,” Simone said, although she knew it wasn’t true.  She despised Jeremy, but she didn’t hate him or wish him harm. 

“You’re so pathetic it turns my stomach just to look at you.  You’re like a horror movie.  That’s why your own mama couldn’t stand you.”  Jeremy could tell, by the way Simone’s eyes brightened, that he’d hit a nerve.  “Yeah, I know about that.  Jules told me all about it.”  He laughed.  “Girl, you must be something evil for your own mama to hate you.  It’s like you’re a big zero in this world.  It’s like your birth certificate isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.”

“Get custody of Shay, Jeremy,” Simone decided to say, to change the subject, the pain too jarring for her to say anything else.

“Will you quit with that?  I told you I wasn’t doing it.  I told you a million times!”

“Then let Jules get custody.”

“Jules?”

“She’s eighteen now.  She’s legal now.  She’ll do it if you say so.”

Jeremy smiled and shook his head.  “You’re crazy, you know that?  Jules is going to college, you hear me?  College.  She’s got a bright future ahead of her, unlike some I know, and she’s not about to take on any other responsibilities.”

“Where is she going to college, Jeremy?  Right here in Miami, isn’t she?  She’s going to college right here in town and she’s going to stay right here with you, isn’t that right, Jeremy?”

“What?”

“You’ve got her right under your thumb and you aim to keep her there for the rest of her life, don’t you, Jeremy?”

“Don’t you worry about what I’ve got with Jules.  You just watch your little black behind because I mean it; I am this close to getting rid of you for good!”

Simone glared at Jeremy and was ready to lash back, but he instead put on a grand smile when Jules ran back into the bedroom holding a beautiful, strapless red dress in her arms.  “It’s beautiful, Jeremy,” Jules said excitedly as she reentered the room.  “I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.”  Then she reached over and hugged his neck.  “Thank-you.”

“You’re welcome, baby,” Jeremy said, holding her around her waist.  “And you’ll going to wear it tonight, too, when I take you out on the town.”

Jules smiled greatly and looked at Simone.  Simone rolled her eyes. 

“I’ve got to get to the hospital,” Jeremy said as he released Jules.  “I’ll see you later.”  He smiled at Jules, glared at Simone one more time, and then left the room. 

Jules ran to the bed and plopped down on it, handing the dress to Simone for her inspection.  “Isn’t it gorgeous?” she asked.

“Very,” Simone said and looked at the dress.  For the two years they’d been with Jeremy, he always found time to buy Jules pretty clothes and jewelry.  And on her birthday he always did something special for her.  Simone’s birthdays weren’t even acknowledged by him.  Jules would acknowledge them, however, and would give Simone something Jeremy had given her, but Simone would never accept it.  “I don’t need a gift,” she would say to her sister.  “It’s the thought that counts.”  Of course she was lying.  It hurt her to her heart that her birthday wasn’t viewed as special enough for someone to actually go out and buy a gift for her and then take her “on the town.”  But what could she do?

“It’s very pretty,” she said of Jules new dress, feeling the wonderful silk material.  “But don’t you think it’s a little too. . . glamorous for an eighteen year old?”

“No, I do not,” Jules said as she removed her dress from her sister’s clutches.  “I think it’s perfect for an eighteen year old.  I’m grown now, after all.”

“He said no,” Simone said and looked at Jules.

“About what?”

“Getting Shay.”

Jules looked at her sister in horror.  “Why would you bring that up again, Simone?  He told you he wasn’t going to do that.”

“I told him to let you get custody of her, that you’ll do it if he said it was okay.  But he said no.   He said you’re going to college and you can’t take on any more responsibilities.”

Jules smiled.  “He’s just looking out for me, Simone, that’s all.”

“But who’s looking out for Shay, Jules?  You’ll our oldest sister.  You’re all we’ve got.  If you don’t step up to the plate. . .”

“Oh will you stop talking like that?  My life can’t become one of your crusades, Simone.  I’m going to college just like Jeremy said.  I’m going to be the first member of our family to ever go to college.  And Jeremy’s willing to help me do it.”

“He’s always willing to help you.  But what about me and Shay?”

“He’ll help you too and you know it.”

“Yeah, right.”

“He will, Simone, if you’ll only humble yourself down.”

Simone looked at her sister as if she’d lost her mind.  “Humble myself down?  You mean like you?  Like no way.  Jeremy’s got you so brainwashed, Jules, that it’s beyond sad, and you expect me to be like that?  Me?  Please.”