Aftermath (15 page)

When the eerie, doomsday-sounding doorbell finally did ring out, it sent chills up Octavia's spine.

She heard voices at the door and knew instantly that it wasn't her mother. The person at the door sounded downright pleasant, and as the voices came nearer Octavia didn't hear her mother. When Holly and her mom Rebecca came into view, followed by Toya, Octavia breathed a huge sigh of relief. Until then she'd been lamenting that the only person capable of preventing her mother from killing her that day was her late grandfather. Toya suddenly seemed like a good stand-in.

“Well!
Hello,
Octavia,” Toya said, locking eyes with the teenager. Her voice said so much more than just “hello.” It said,
Where the fuck have
you
been, Octavia?

“Hi, Miss Toya.”

Holly's mother, Rebecca, offered Toya a seat near Octavia, which she happily accepted. “May I get you something to drink?” Rebecca asked.

“Yes, please.” Toya nodded. “Do you have any wine?”

Rebecca smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. “Absolutely! I was just about to have some myself.” She needed to take the edge off after talking to Octavia. “Red or white?”

“Red, please.”

Rebecca scurried off to pour the wine and Toya turned her attention to Octavia. The only other person in the room with them was Octavia's friend Holly. Apparently, Holly's dad had fled the scene since Octavia's surprise visit.

“Where've you been all this time?” Toya asked her. She kept her voice low, so as not to alert any of the adults in the house. She spoke loudly enough for only the teenagers to hear. She glared at Octavia.

Octavia and Holly looked at each other. Toya saw that they were having a silent conversation and she mushed Octavia, shoving her roughly in the forehead with her hand. It caught both Octavia and her friend off guard, and Toya's smile faded into a sinister snarl.

“You better start talking, Miss Thang. 'Cuz when your mother gets here, she is going
off
! You'll want to have me on your side then, pleading your case. So what the fuck is going on, Octavia? And where have you been?”

Holly didn't look at Octavia, but prayed silently that she told the truth. This Miss Toya seemed like she meant business.

Thankfully, Octavia needed an ally so she started talking. “I've been staying uptown … in Harlem at my boyfriend's place.”

“Your
boyfriend
?” Toya asked. “What boyfriend?”

Octavia shrugged. “I'm not supposed to have one so I was keeping it a secret.” She shook her head, feeling like a complete fool. She looked at Toya, hoping for some sympathy as she spoke about her plight. “Then … I got pregnant and now I'm not sure what to do.”

Toya had been praying all along that this wasn't Octavia's big secret. She was all too familiar with this story, having seen it happen again and again to friends of hers back in high school. She sighed. “Octavia…”

The doorbell rang again. Surely, this time, it was Dominique. Rebecca rushed in, Toya's wine in hand, and gave it to her before rushing back out to answer the door. This time, the voices that mingled in the foyer were far more subdued and Octavia looked to Toya for consolation. She found none.

Toya shook her head at her and said, “This is the last thing your mother needs.”

Dominique walked into the room and the oxygen seemed to escape all at once. The air was thick with tension and Octavia glanced sheepishly in her mother's direction. Rebecca went and stood behind Holly and together they watched something better than reality TV.

“Octavia.” Dominique's tone was flat and held no emotion. She was happy to see her daughter but scared to death of what she was about to reveal. In light of Shane's recent revelation, Misa's first-degree murder charge, and Toya's newly uncovered past, it seemed that anything was possible. Numbly, Dominique walked toward her daughter and hugged her, happy to see that she was in one piece.

Pulling away, she looked at her closely, scanning Octavia from head to toe. “Have you been hurt?” she asked. “Why haven't you called?”

“I … w-was…” Octavia began to stutter.

“Dominique, why don't you sit down?” Toya suggested. Dominique was small in frame but was somehow looming large over her daughter at the moment. Toya gestured to the empty seat across from her. “Come sit down.”

Reluctantly, Dominique did as Toya urged. She took a seat and stared at her daughter, eager to get to the bottom of this.

“I can't keep tap-dancing around this,” Dominique said. She was perched, literally, on the edge of her seat. She looked at Octavia. “Tell me where you've been, why you haven't called, and why we're all
here
instead of at home where you belong.”

All eyes were on Octavia.

“I have a boyfriend.”

Toya looked at Dominique to see her reaction. Dominique didn't budge, her facial expression shifted only slightly. Toya looked back at Octavia. “Continue,” Toya urged the youngster on.

Octavia swallowed hard. “I was meeting him after school instead of going to dance class. We would go to his house … he lives in Harlem … and we would talk and get to know each other.”

Toya noticed that Dominique's breathing was getting heavier. She touched her reassuringly and smiled. “Just listen, Dominique.”

Octavia was so glad that Miss Toya was there. She looked at Holly and her mom and saw their rapt expressions. She had never been more embarrassed and ashamed in her life.

“We started having sex.”

Dominique didn't bother to hide her disappointment. She looked at Octavia, with her baby face and braces, her innocent eyes brimming with tears. This baby girl was having sex already. Dominique shook her head in disappointment.

“And now I'm pregnant.”

Dominique was silent then. She didn't move, didn't even seem to breathe. Everything in the room seemed to freeze and she wondered if she'd heard her daughter correctly.

Octavia had begun to cry. “I don't know what to do … because I told Dashawn about it.”

“Dashawn?” Dominique was frowning.

Octavia nodded. “That's my boyfriend.”

Toya looked at Dominique and noticed her right eye was twitching.

“He's a good person, Ma.” Octavia was speaking more confidently now. “And he said that he would take care of me if anything like this ever happened.”

That was when Dominique lost it. She lunged at her daughter, and Toya caught her in midair, toppling her onto the ottoman. Octavia had sense enough to get out of the way then. She ran toward the front door and Holly's mother blocked her exit.

“Don't do this here, Dominique!” Toya hissed at her friend. “I know you want to kill her. I do, too.”

That didn't make Octavia feel any better. She moved toward the door again, but Rebecca blocked her once more.

Toya continued to restrain Dominique. “But that's not gonna solve anything. Think about Misa.”

Holly, Rebecca, and Octavia all frowned, not knowing what Toya was referring to. But Dominique understood. She didn't want to end up in jail like her friend had. She stopped trying to wriggle free and closed her eyes in dismay.

“I don't mean to butt into your business,” Rebecca said. She looked at young, pretty, naive Octavia. “But I can't let you keep running. Your mother is here. She loves you, and that's why she's angry. This boy is not your boyfriend, Octavia.” Rebecca sighed and looked at Dominique. “Mrs. Storms, he told her that he loved her,” Rebecca explained. She turned her attention back to Octavia. “But that is not love at all, sweetheart. You told me that when you gave him the news of your pregnancy, he let you stay with him for a few days until his mother found out. And then they kicked you out. Just threw you out in the street with no place to go. That's not love, Octavia.”

Dominique hated another person having to school her child on what was so obvious. Toya wasn't feeling the vibe in the room, either. She looked at Rebecca. “Is there some place where Dominique and I can talk alone?” Toya glanced at Octavia.

Rebecca quickly sprung into action. “This way,” she said, gesturing toward her kitchen. Toya took Dominique by the hand and led her in there. Once they were inside and Toya felt certain that no one could hear their private conversation, she spoke to her friend in a hushed tone.

“You can't attack her right now, even though I know you want to,” she said. “Shit, I want to kick her ass myself. But for one thing, she says she's pregnant.”

Dominique squeezed her eyes shut hearing her friend say that. She opened them again and looked at Toya with tears in her eyes.

Toya felt so sorry for her friend who had already endured so much. Octavia's pregnancy was only the latest misfortune in Dominique's life. “For another thing, this ain't Big Mama's house from back in the days. You can't kick her ass in here without going to jail. Pull yourself together and help me convince Octavia to come home. She only called you to meet her here in order to protect herself. So make her feel safe, bitch. Then when you get her home, you give her the third degree.”

Dominique fought back tears. “How could she be so stupid, Toya? Did you hear her in there? Did you hear how pathetic she sounded?”

“That was you once, Dominique.”

Toya hadn't meant to hurt her friend's feelings, but the expression on Dominique's face said she had done just that.

“I'm not trying to put you down, but you have to see things clearly. She doesn't need you to beat up on her right now. She needs a hug, and some motherly talk, and a reality check. Right now you have a lot on your mind. You've been worried sick about her for a whole week, and you're still dealing with losing your father.” She took Dominique by the hand. “Let's just be happy that she's okay.”

Dominique managed a faint smile, nodded, and took Toya's advice. She put her game face on and went back out into the living room. She hugged Octavia, told her that she loved her and that she was going to help her figure out the right thing to do. She reminded her that she, too, had been a teen parent and assured her that she wouldn't bug out. Holly and Rebecca were happy, feeling that they'd done the right thing. The only person who remained unconvinced by Dominique's Oscar-worthy performance was Octavia.

Octavia looked at her mother and knew that this was far from over. She knew that when they went home, a million questions would be asked and what happened here at Holly's house was only the tip of the iceberg.

Still, Octavia had to hand it to her mother. She seemed awfully calm and far less tightly wound than usual. There was almost a smile behind her eyes as she assured Octavia that everything was going to be all right.

Dominique was actually devastated. She hadn't wanted her daughter to repeat the mistakes she'd made. She also blamed herself for Octavia's pregnancy, in part because of her preoccupation with Jamel and with her career and even with her father's death over the past few months. She had the weight of the world on her shoulders. But the way that Archie had soothed her just a few short hours ago helped her keep her sanity. It wasn't just the sex, it was the intimacy she had experienced for the first time in years. Archie had awakened her senses. As Holly and Rebecca smiled and reminded them that they were available to talk if Octavia ever needed them, Dominique flashed back to the scissor position Archie had twisted her into and had to suppress a smile. Toya noticed, but figured Dominique was just slowly losing her mind.

They left Holly's house and Dominique led the way to her car in silence. Toya took the opportunity to pull Octavia to the side.

“Whatever you do, don't
ever
run away again.” Toya's face was serious as she spoke and she gripped Octavia's hand tightly. “Your mother was worried sick about you and so was everybody else. She just buried her father—your grandfather. And she's doing the best she can to be a good mother to you, Octavia. Don't send her over the edge by running away again. You wanted to act grown and have a boyfriend when you weren't supposed to and have sex before you were ready.” Toya shook her head as if those were the dumbest things in the world. “So now you have to face the consequences like a grown-up and stop running away from your problems. Sit with your mother. Talk to her. And I'll come over in a few hours to make sure she hasn't killed you.”

They got to Dominique's car and Toya ushered the little girl inside. She turned to Dominique and sighed.

Dominique shrugged. “I'll probably never be able to repay you for everything you've done for me, Toya. Thank you so much.”

Toya waved her hand as if to stop her friend from gushing about it. She wasn't comfortable with emotional outpourings. “Girl, please! That's what friends are for.” She hugged Dominique and patted her reassuringly on the back. Looking her friend in the eye, she summed up her case. “Don't hit her, no matter how much you may want to. She's scared to death, and what she did was dumb. But she's safe. And she wasn't out there being hurt or God knows what. Just listen to her, talk to her. And I'll come over later and we'll all figure out what to do about her situation.”

Dominique smiled. “Okay.”

Toya frowned slightly as she watched her friend climb into her car and buckle her seat belt. If she didn't know any better, she'd think Dominique seemed more relaxed than usual. Toya chalked it up to her relief over having finally found her daughter. She yawned, eager to get back to her bed, and walked off toward her car as Dominique honked and pulled away from the curb. Octavia looked out the window as her mother drove her back to their Manhattan apartment in silence.

Regrets

“What are you doing here?” Gillian stood with her front door cracked, her body blocking her uninvited guest from gaining entry to her home.