The Question (29 page)

Gail bit back a grin at her mother’s tactics. She was just as curious as Rachel, but didn’t want to admit it. “I really don’t know. I remember Crystal mentioning a prenup once, so it may not have been much.”

“Now you girls know I don’t like to get into y’all’s business, but that’s something you need to find out. Anything that affects you and the children, you need to know about.”

Rachel, Deb, and Gail exchanged disbelieving looks at the blatant lie and burst into laughter. Her mother was in her children’s business every chance she got. She didn’t trust them to handle their lives on their own for fear they’d mess up.

“It’s not important, Mom. I have plenty of money of my own.”

“Must be nice,” Deb muttered enviously.

“I’d give the money back in a heartbeat if it would bring Jason and Marcus back.”

Deb was instantly contrite. “Oh Gail, honey, I forgot. As much as Tim gets on my nerves, I wouldn’t trade him for all the money in the world.”

“You think she wants him back?” Rachel voiced the question Gail was thinking.

“Ain’t no man gonna take a woman back that walks out on him when he’s doing all he knows how to keep her happy.”

“I’m with Mom on this one. Besides, it doesn’t matter what she wants. He’s with Gail now.” Rachel pointed at her. “You better fight for your man. Don’t just hand him over. That Crystal always was a sneaky one. Watch out. When Rashid calms down, she may try to get him back.”

Gail didn’t want to discuss Crystal anymore. She initiated a change of discussion and heaved a sigh of relief when the conversation moved on to other things.

At one o’clock, they gathered in the den. Her father was designated Santa and he distributed the gifts under the tree. What followed was so loud and boisterous that she barely heard the doorbell when it rang. That no one else did was certain.

They’d given the staff time off for the holiday so she got up, picked her way over the mass of paper, boxes, and toys littering the floor and made her way to the door. It was Crystal. Gail forced herself to smile as she opened the door. “Merry Christmas. This is a surprise. Come in.”

“I brought presents for the babies.” Crystal beamed excitedly and held up the huge department store bags for Gail to see.

“Wow! Well, you’re just in time. We’re in the den opening our gifts now.”

They walked in silence. The joyous racket coming from the den echoed all through the house. The minute they stepped through the door, a hush fell until you could only hear the Christmas carol playing softly in the background.

“Mom, Dad, you remember Crystal?”

“Hello.” Their words were polite. Their expressions weren’t.

“Merry Christmas, Mr. and Mrs. Jones.”

“Crystal, I don’t know if you remember them, but this is my sister-in-law, Rachel, and her husband, my brother Frank, Jr. Over there is my brother, Tim, and his wife, Deb. Y’all this is Crystal.”

“Merry Christmas,” they murmured, almost in unison.

“Rashid, Crystal brought presents for the twins. Isn’t that nice?”

All eyes swung in his direction, awaiting his response. He looked up from his position on the floor where he was helping the twins open their gifts. Gail begged with her eyes.  Please be nice.

“Yeah.” And as an afterthought, “Merry Christmas.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. Now if everyone would just behave, they might just get through this. Crystal picked her way across the room and sat on the loveseat Rashid was using as a backrest. Rachel glared at Gail and pointed her head in Crystal’s direction. Gail gave a slight shake of her head. It was her seat but she wasn’t going to make an issue of it. She sat on the couch with her parents instead.

“Look babies, I brought presents.”

“They have names.”

Gail kicked her mother. “Be nice,” she hissed under her breath.

Crystal paused, looking disconcerted.

“Crystal, meet Jamilah Melek and Ahkeem Jamal.”

“Oh, what pretty names. Ahkeem, I have a present for you.”

Jamal looked from the gaily wrapped box in Crystal’s hands to his father, who was staring at Gail. She nodded at the present, indicating that Rashid should take it. He did, but his reluctance was obvious.

The box contained a fancy toy fire truck, complete with bells and whistles. Rashid accidentally turned it on when he set it on the floor. The flashing lights and siren scared Jamilah and she crawled for Gail as fast as her little legs would carry her. From the frightened look on his face and the way he gripped his father, Jamal wasn’t too crazy about it either. Rashid turned it off.

“Why did you turn it off?” Crystal reached for the toy to turn it back on.

Deb remarked sharply, “Can’t you see the noise is scaring them?”

Crystal glanced at Jamilah, who was huddled in Gail’s arms, to Jamal, who was as far away from the toy as he could get and still be in his father’s arms. “Oh, I see what you mean. I thought he would like it.”

“When he’s older, I’m sure he’ll love it,” Gail assured her.

Pacified, Crystal dismissed the issue and dug into the next bag. “I’m afraid I went a little overboard with little Jamie.”

“Jamilah,” Rachel corrected.

“Jamilah. Thank you. The dresses were all so pretty that I couldn’t resist.” She pulled out five or six frilly dresses that could only have been purchased from an expensive, children’s boutique. “I also got her matching socks and hair bows. I know she can’t play with the dresses, so I also got her this doll.” She reached further into the bag and pulled out a baby doll that was almost as big as Jamilah.  “Come see the pretty dresses, Jamilah.”

Jamilah stuck her finger in her mouth and leaned back against Gail, watching the strange woman from the safety of her mother’s arms. “Jamilah will have to warm to you,” Gail informed Crystal.

“Yeah, she don’t go to strangers,” her mother added.

Gail glared at her mother. “What mom meant to say is that Jamilah doesn’t go to very many people. Of the two, Jamal is the friendliest.”

“I said just what I meant,” her mother muttered.

Gail sent her another warning look. Then she noticed Jamilah rubbing her eyes. “What time is it? I’d better lay these two down for naps or there’ll be no dealing with them later. Come on, Jamal. Let’s go night-night.” She held out her hand to him.

He left Rashid and stumbled towards her.

“I’ll help you get them settled,” Rachel volunteered as she scooped Jamal up into her arms and flipped him over her shoulder. His high-pitched giggles almost caused Gail to miss what happened next.

“Rashid, can I speak with you privately for a moment?”

Everyone froze. Heads swiveled toward Crystal and Rashid as they awaited his answer.

“I think…” her mother began.

“Mom! Why don’t you go into the kitchen and prepare a snack for the twins. They’ll sleep much better with something in their stomachs. Deb can help…” and hopefully keep her under control. The last whispered in an aside to Rachel.

“Come on, Mom. The babies look sleepy. They’ve had a busy morning. We don’t want to keep them waiting,” Rachel added.

Gail could see the protest forming on her mother’s face. Her mouth opened and…

“Go to the kitchen, Martha, and check on dinner while you’re in there. I’m getting hungry again.”

Thank you, Gail mouthed to her father. He winked in return. Thwarted, her mother shot an angry look at her husband then rose gracefully to her feet. The three women standing in the doorway sighed in relief. Her mother might be pigheaded, but even she obeyed when Gail’s father spoke.

“We can talk in the study.” Rashid’s quiet voice broke the tense silence, adding another layer to it.

“Come on, Rachel. Let’s get these children into bed.” She hustled the women out of the den before anything else happened.

As she climbed the stairs, she mentally forced herself not to watch as Rashid and Crystal entered the study. There were enough eyes on them already. Rachel tripped and almost fell because she was watching them instead of where she was going. Her mother lingered in the kitchen doorway until Deb reached out an arm and yanked her inside.

In the nursery, Gail set Jamilah on the changing table and braced herself for what she knew was coming.

Rachel wasted no time. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Something. Anything. Why’d you even let her in the door?”

“I told you. She has a legal right to see the twins. I don’t like it but there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“That sucks. She didn’t even know their names. And those toys…what was she thinking?”

“She likes kids, but she’s not familiar with them. She has a lot to learn.”

“Why are you so understanding about all of this?”

“I don’t know what kind of trouble Crystal can cause for Rashid, nor do I want to find out. It’s just best not to antagonize her.”

“I can go along with that, but why didn’t you say something when she sat by your man?”

God, she was so sick of explaining herself. She threw the soiled diaper into the pail. “It’s different for you. Frank married you because he loves you. Rashid married me to be a mother to these little ones right here.”  She swung Jamilah off the changing table and reached for Jamal.

“It doesn’t matter why you said ‘I do.’ The fact is you did. That’s your man now and you’d better start fighting for what’s yours, or she’ll steal him right from under your nose.”

Gail closed her eyes and mentally counted to ten. “You don’t understand.”

“You’re right. I don’t. So enlighten me already.”

“One wrong move on my part and everything could blow up in my face. I don’t want to lose everything that matters to me. Not again.”

“Gail, look at me.”

She finished changing Jamal and disposed of the diaper before obeying.

“Is it the babies you’re afraid of losing…or Rashid?”

“Both,” she whispered, afraid to say it too loudly.

“You love him.”

“Yeah.” Gail sat in the rocking chair and watched the twins playing on the floor with their blocks.  “I wasn’t supposed to,” she continued. “This was about the babies. When Rashid said he wanted a real marriage, I didn’t argue. After all, not only are we friends, but both of us are young, healthy adults who happen to be sexually attracted to each other. I thought, why not?”

“But things changed.”

“I think if we hadn’t added sex to the mix, things would have gone on as before. But we did, and everything changed. It became…more.”

“I don’t remember who said it, but I heard that in women, where the body goes, the heart will follow. I guess for you it’s true.”

The nursery door opened and her mother and Deb entered with the twin’s snacks.

“Put them on the table.”

As soon as they saw the food, the twins rushed over to their activity table.

While she placed the food on the table, her mother said, “Gail, you should be in there with your husband. There’s nothing she can say to him that you shouldn’t be able to hear.”

“This is something Rashid has to handle. If he wanted me present, he would have said so.”

“I understand where she’s coming from. I go through the same thing whenever Ashley comes around.” Ashley was Tim’s ex-wife. “She has to be very careful. Some things the men just don’t want us involved in. Ex-wives are one.”

“Well, I’m the mother-in-law. It’s expected of me to meddle. I’m going back down there.”

“Mom, please. Please don’t interfere. Not in this. You’ll only make things worse.” Gail was close to tears.

Her mother visibly fought a battle within herself before nodding. “It goes against every protective instinct I have as a mother, but I’ll leave it alone. I just don’t want to see you hurt again.”

“I know, Momma. Neither do I.”

* * * *

Over an hour later, Gail knocked on the study door. “Rashid, it’s me.”

“Come in.”

He sat at his desk, studying the papers spread all over the desktop. There was no sign of Crystal.  “Where’s Crystal?”

“She left.”

“We’re getting ready to eat. Are you coming?”

“Not right now.”

“Oh.” She waited for him to say something else. Finally, with her shoulders slumped and head held down, she turned and opened the door.

A hand appeared out of nowhere and pushed it closed. He leaned in until he pressed flush against her back, and spoke into her ear. “Stop worrying. Crystal is out of my life for good. I don’t care what she says or does, that part of my life is over. Turn around.”

If she turned, he’d see the fear she was too upset to hide. She shook her head.

“Wife, turn and look at me. I want to see your face when I say this.”

Gail took a deep breath, braced herself and turned.

He cupped her face, lifting it to his own. “I didn’t marry you just to be a mother to the twins. My reasons were more selfish than that. I wanted you for myself. Your mother was right. Our friendship showed me what was missing in my marriage to Crystal. I made a vow to God and if she hadn’t left, I’d be with her today. But she did, and every day that she was gone, I realized how much I didn’t miss her. When you told me you were leaving, I was angry. I told myself it was on behalf of the children. Those three hours you were away were some of the worst in my life. You left and nothing mattered anymore. I realized then that I loved you. Do you hear me? I married you because I love you.”