Under the Cypress Moon (73 page)

Mark found nearly a dozen various research facilities and hospitals within Georgia, Alabama, and Florida that dealt with schizophrenia and other similar conditions.  He decided that giving to them, to help enable them to continue their work and hopefully, somehow, help people with conditions similar to Sara's, was the most practical thing that he could do with his newly found fortune.  He already had far more money than he needed, and keeping it all for himself seemed wrong.  Mark spent the better part of the day inquiring how he could make donations to the hospitals and programs, and after receiving explicit instructions for more than half of them, wrote each a check for one hundred thousand dollars, asking that any credit be given in the name of Sara Kenner. 

Meanwhile, Shylah was once again busy with Selma.  She wanted to make absolutely sure that on December thirteenth, there would be no surprises, nothing to shock her or make her leery of getting married.  She wanted to begin her new life with no struggles, no troubles, and no grief from anything or from anyone.  More than anything, she wished that the day would come much sooner.  Selma assured her that everything would be ok, that she would personally guarantee it.  Shylah trusted her and accepted her word as being as good as money.  So far, there was not a single sign of anything going wrong. 
It seemed that the day would come and pass with no interruption.

Day after day of this routine passed by, Mark going to work, Shylah going to Selma Simmons' office soon after.  Selma began to grow tired of Shylah's presence, but Shylah had so little else to do and offered to pay any price that Selma named.  Everything had been paid so far, but it all in all, the wedding, reception, and honeymoon were going to cost nearly forty thousand dollars in total.  Shylah feared letting this become known to Mark.  She knew that he said that cost meant nothing to him, so long as she was happy, but it still scared her more than anything else ever had.

Both the plant and the wedding plans were running far more smoothly than anyone had anticipated.  There were no ills of any kind to speak of, except for the occasional visits to various doctors for either Mark or Shylah.  Their home life was utterly perfect.  Mark's career seemed perfect.  He had so little to ever do yet his company was making the most money that it had ever made.  Nothing seemed at all amiss.  It was almost frightening how well everything had gone since coming back from Savannah.  Mark even began to experience far less of his headaches and body aches than usual.  He was walking better, less stiffened, feeling more positive and upbeat, always ready to do anything, even far more spontaneous and giving than he had been before the trip.

Even T.L.'s life was getting better.  It turned out that Tamia Jenks, the woman that T.L. met at the company barbecue, worked on his shift, though not under him, as much as he would have loved to have her under him. 
It was over the weekend that T.L. got his opportunity to ask Tamia on a date. 

On Saturday, luck would have it that Kayla Jones, T.L.'s cousin that worked in HR, happened to be in her office.  Though it was not a normal workday, she had nothing of value to do at home and wanted to catch up on paperwork.  T.L. found an excuse to go to his cousin's office, to beg that she find him a couple of more people for his line.  What he really wanted was to inquire about Tamia.

After making his request, T.L. could not help but bring up the subject that was so near and dear to his heart.  "Cuz, what's the story on that Tamia girl?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know what line she's on.  I saw her here today, so I know she works this shift.  I ran into her at the cookout.  What's her deal?  You think I got a shot?  Gimme her number."

"T.L. King, get your silly ass back to work.  You got people to supervise.  You know I cannot give you an employee's personal phone number, so stop askin'."

"You can.  You should.  C'mon, Cuz.  I need it!  I like this girl."  Though T.L. was adamant about his request for information on Tamia, he could see clearly that Kayla was not about to comply.

"I can't do that.  Plus, how would that look, you call her up and tell her you got her number from HR?  That's gonna look bad on you and keep her from sayin' yes when you ask her out, and it's gonna get me in trouble.  Just get back to work.  Maybe I can help you out some other way, if you really like this girl."

"I do.  I really do.  There's just somethin' about her!  If you help me with it, I'm gonna owe you forever!  I appreciate it, Kay.  Love ya, Cuz.  I'll get back now.  Just see what you can do."  T.L. marched out of the HR office, feeling triumphant, believing that, with his cousin's help, he might just have a chance of convincing Tamia Jenks to go out with him.

When Kayla went into the break room, she came upon Tamia, sitting at a table near the door.  She knew Tamia only from having interviewed and hired her but knew very little about her.  She wanted desperately to help her cousin and thought that if Tamia were a real woman, she would not mind hearing that a man liked her
.  Maybe, Kayla told herself, she could put in a good word for T.L. and let him do the rest of the work.

"Tamia, right," Kayla asked as she turned from the soda machine.  Standing in front of the table, opening the tab on her can, she didn't wait for a reply.  "You remember me, I'm sure."

"Yep and yep," Tamia responded, never looking up from her book.

"I'm Kayla, Kayla Jones.  I don't know if you remembered my name."

"I remember.  You hired me."  Still facing her book, Kayla gave only short, vague replies, caring very little about being spoken to by anyone.

"Could I ask you somethin'?"

"Sure."

"What do you think of T.L. King?"

"Who?"

"He said he talked to you at the company barbecue a while back.  Tall, black, pretty muscular, really nice guy."

"Oh yeah.  I remember him.  Yeah.  He's pretty nice and kinda cute."

"What if I said he was sweet on you, like sweet enough that you give him a toothache?"

"Oh really now?  I doubt that," Tamia added, chuckling to herself.

"He is.  He told me.  I just thought I'd relay that piece of info.  He's a great guy, a really great guy, better than most women could ever dream of meeting.  He's got a great job.  He'd do anything for anybody, never lets anyone down.  He's as dependable and loving as they come.  Just somethin' to think about.  I know he really likes you, and I've never seen him like anybody that much."

"You've known him a long time, huh," Tamia asked, finally lifting her head.

"I'd say so, since the day he was born.  He's my cousin."

"Oh.  If he's as nice as you say, maybe he should come ask me out then."

"I think he just might, if you're up for it."

"Yeah.  I'm not seein' anybody.  I suppose I could give him a shot.  It'd be nice to have somebody sweet for a change.  I've dated nothin' but total jerks."

"I know exactly what you mean, Girl.  Same here.  Believe me, you'd like T.  He's definitely worth the time.  Well, I know this is a little awkward for both of us.  I'm gonna go now.  Just think about what I said, and if you need anything, job-related or other, you can always find me in HR."  Kayla walked out of the room, can in hand, before Tamia could say any more to her.

It left Tamia with a lot to consider.  She found herself waiting for T.L. to come to her.  She thought it strange that so little could affect her so much, but she couldn't wait to hear T.L. back up what Kayla had just said.  Maybe, Tamia thought, he'll turn out to be the nice guy she said he was.

By the end of the day, Kayla found T.L. in the break room and told him of her conversation with Tamia.  "She's just waitin' for you.  If you ask her out, she's gonna say yes.  If you like her so much, go for it!"

The problem was that T.L. didn't see Tamia again that day.  He was struck with fear and anxiety until the next day when he ran into her, his first chance to speak to the woman in more than a week.  T.L. nervously went through with his plan, and to his amazement, Kayla was right.  Tamia seemed overjoyed to have T.L. ask her on a date.  She agreed that T.L. could take her out that very night.  Both would be tired from their long, twelve hour shift, but at least, they would have good company and good food.

All it took was the very first date, and Tamia was hooked on T.L.  She found herself thinking about him at every moment of the day, wondering what he was doing, dying to see him again.  Her heart was aflutter for the man.  Every phone call from him asking to do something together was like receiving a gift. 
She became strangely excited yet also frightened to learn that T.L. was best friends with the owner of the company.

Occasionally, T.L. and Tamia stopped by Mark's house for dinner or just to visit, but soon, the couples saw less and less of each other.  T.L. and Tamia began to spend every minute that they could at Tamia's home, twenty miles away.  They were as in love and as lost in sexual desire as T.L.'s sister and her fiancée.  Mark began to miss his friend so much that it seemed unbearable.  He was used to seeing T.L. at least a few times per week but now, in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, saw him very little at all. 

Thanksgiving was approaching fast, with little to no troubles whatsoever in the lives or relationships of the two couples.  It seemed that nothing could ever be more fulfilling or bringing of joy than was that time.  Mark was certain that not only would he and Shylah make it to the altar, but so would T.L. and Tamia, and before very long, the baby would arrive, the plant would have its entire hefty loan repaid, and it would be well on its way to opening a second location.  If the first of the major holidays could be surmounted, the rest would be completely downhill and come so quickly that nothing could stop any of it.

Darius and Pearlina King demanded that Thanksgiving dinner be held at their home, though it was small and would be cramped with the tremendous concourse of people invited, more than a dozen having guaranteed their participation.  It was the one time of year when Darius and his brother, Josiah "Josey Joe" did their utmost to get along and shared the responsibilities of head of the King family.  Darius was slightly younger than Josiah but felt, as the one brother that maintained the bond of family and had not had his tumble away before him, that more of the patriarchal duties were relegated to him.

It seemed that the one major difficulty of the day would be in T.L.'s splitting his time between having Thanksgiving with his own family and having it with Tamia's family.  They would be forced to spend only brief moments at one home and then quickly rush to the other.  Their relationship, though fiery and already the best that either had ever had, was still so new that concessions must be made.  Neither could argue with their own family to move the holiday meal to a later time of day.  Pearlina finally, though reluctantly and unhappily, accepted the furtive blow and made the allowance that T.L. and Tamia could arrive late, as long as it was not after two p.m.  She would do all that she could to hold everyone back, to keep the meal from commencing before that time.

Pearlina wanted to make things as easy as possible on her son but also on the rest of the family.  Conceding to one meant upsetting others, and it was not something that Pearlina ever welcomed.  She knew, right away, that she liked Tamia, that Tamia was a great person, though rather shy, and quite possibly, perfect for her only son.  The couple seemed as happy, as good together, and maybe even almost as in love as did Mark and Shylah.  Everyone welcomed the new union wholeheartedly, even Darius.  No one but Pearlina, however, wished to have their holiday interrupted or seemingly corrupted by said union.

Pearlina, Shylah, and Kayla busied themselves in the very small kitchen, cooking up a storm of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, both baked and regular, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, scalloped and regular, gravy, both country and brown, three kinds of rolls, cornbread, biscuits, collard greens, deviled eggs, fried chicken, fried potatoes, noodles, three bean salad, baked beans, black eyed peas, and five varieties of pie.  They were happy to do it, thrilled that they could make the men in their lives so happy, though the only men in Kayla's life, beautiful as she was, were her male relatives, namely her father, her uncle Darius, T.L., Mark, and her brother, James.  The men were quickly run out of the kitchen after they each, successively, attempted to steal food from the stove, countertop, or table. 

Mark was used as the first of the troops, sent to see what he could get away with, but after grabbing a piece of chicken and a roll, was swatted by Pearlina's mighty spoon and ordered to go back to the living room and watch
TV. with the other men.  Mark laughingly shared pieces of the food with the others but swore that he would not risk Pearlina's wrath any further.  Next was Aaron, thinking that he could engage his sister in conversation and take small extracts in the confusion.  This completely backfired on him as Pearlina turned just in time to see him pull a deviled egg and shove it into his mouth.

"Aaron, little brother, what you got in that mouth?  You best not have taken one of my eggs!  Open your mouth!"  Pearlina held up the very large, wooden spoon, waving it near Aaron's face as she spoke.

Aaron dared not to open his mouth and show his sister what he had done, but instead, attempted to stroll away, back to the couch.  Before he could get far, he was smacked, hard enough to cause a deep sting, on his backside, by Pearlina's apt and swiftly-moving hand.  After that, none of the men wanted to face punishment and remained where they were.