Betrayed (33 page)

Mimi swallowed, not wanting Raf to see her anxiety…her fear. Yes, all that led up to Afrika's brush with death was now out in the open. What more was there to discuss? But she knew this moment would come, but she hadn't wished it to come so soon. She had yet to explain to Raphael that she was pregnant with Afrika when she met him, but how would she be able to explain that she didn't
pawn her baby off on him? Was it love at first sight, probably not, but it was close because she felt something the moment she laid eyes on him. And yes, she saw an opportunity in Raphael Bailey to legitimize her unborn child.

Grabbing her own cup, Mimi fixed a cup of coffee and sat opposite Raf. She looked into his brown eyes for a hint of hatred, animosity, but seeing none, she dropped her eyes. She looked up again when he called her name.

“Mimi, thanks for saving my ass last night.”

“You're my husband. I would do anything for you.”

Raphael looked away and then back at Mimi. He reached over and put a hand over one of hers. “You may not believe this, but I fell for you the first time I saw you. I said to myself, now that's a Black princess. You seemed different from the other girls…not fast…not slow, and you weren't wearing your top down to your navel. But maybe I understand it all now…now that I know that you were with child.

“But having said all of that, the odd thing was that you slept with me on that first day I met you…without protection. Was it all an elaborate scheme to punish…I'm sorry, to find a father for your child?”

Mimi pulled her hand back and stared at Raphael. His words cut deep and hurt more than she could have imagined. However his words brought the truth to the light, although she would never in her wildest dreams utter them out loud. But Mimi had also felt something for Raf. He was kind and gentle, not just a gorgeous face along with a jaw-dropping body who could articulate words that beckoned her to lay her mother's teaching aside and crawl into bed with the first man who barked. She and Raf had talked most of the afternoon, and she learned that he was a college student who had plans for his life, that he wasn't going
to waste it in the streets, he was going to be an officer in the Army and lead soldiers to battle and beyond. Those were the things he had shared with her that afternoon, and Mimi knew this was a man she could love. And so the decision was easily made when Raphael asked her to go to his room.

Mimi took a sip, put her coffee cup on the table and sighed. “It tears at my heart that we're at this crossroad.” Mimi slid her hand over Raf's and squeezed it. “You are my life, and I love you with all of my heart. You are my man and I'm your girl, and that will never change.

“Although I'm guilty of entrapment or presenting myself falsely, I can truthfully say that I was smitten the first time I saw you. It wasn't that you were the finest brother on that campus and you gave me your eye, you represented yourself well. I don't know if you remember what we talked about that afternoon; I do. You spoke of how you were going to be a leader of men—that you were joining the ranks of the Army and you were going to be somebody. That turned me on, Raphael. And while my conscious decision to make love to you that same day may have bordered on deceit, by nightfall, I realized that I wanted you. Yes, I wanted you. You had demonstrated to me how a woman should be treated, even in the throes of lust. I'm sure you just didn't fall in love with me all of a sudden.

“I thought about you night and day, and the more time we spent together, I knew you were the one for me. I'm sure you're saying that I had run out of time and I had begun to show. Maybe that was part of it, but the truth is I had fallen in love with you. Yes, my baby had a father when you asked me to marry you and I agreed, but even to this day, you
are
Afrika's only father. Victor's name was forever erased from my mind…that is, until Afrika insisted on going to college at NCCU.”

“Why didn't you tell me, Mimi? Don't you think I would have understood?”

“I wasn't taking any chances, Raf. After being with you those few months, I couldn't believe that God had sent me a good man. You don't understand the terrifying experience I endured with Victor. It was traumatic. I was violated. I didn't feel safe with anyone until I met you.”

“What about John? He was the man of your dreams. You couldn't wait to look him up once you got here.”

“That's not fair, Raf. Like we told you, I ran into John when I was out jogging. I haven't seen or talked to John in over nineteen years. I'm sure that you won't believe this, but John and I never had sex.”

Raphael cleared his throat. “You're right, I don't believe you; especially since I've caught him looking at your booty on a couple of occasions.”

“Raf, all men look at my booty. Didn't you?”

“But you gave me yours.”

“But I didn't give John any…ever.”

John tapped the coffee cup on the table.

“Don't scratch my table, man. You'll have to cough up fifteen hundred dollars to replace that marble.”

“Fifteen what? For this table, Mimi?”

“Yes, because my husband deserves a fine place to sit and talk to his wife.”

“Even if she's betrayed him?”

“Raphael, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you and…”

Brrng, brrng, brrng.
Mimi reached for her BlackBerry. She looked at Raphael. “It's Brenda.”

Mimi pressed the
TALK
button and said hello as Raphael took another sip of coffee and looked on. “What?”

Raphael put his cup down and cocked his head and waited for Mimi to say something else.

“Victor…Victor is dead?” Raphael's eyes became wide with fear while Mimi jumped up from the table, almost knocking over her cup of coffee. Her free hand grabbed the side of her head and then covered her mouth for only a second. “Oh my God. How? Are you all right? Hold on, Brenda; let me tell Raphael.”

Mimi placed her hand over the speaker and turned to Raf, who was now standing next to her. “Did you hear that? Victor is dead… he was murdered. It happened last night or early this morning.”

“I heard. Did Brenda say how and where it happened? Jesus, I was with him last night. Your car, Mimi.”

“Oh my God. Let me get Brenda off the line. Turn on the TV to see what they're saying about it on the news.”

“Okay.”

Mimi uncovered the speaker. “Brenda, Raf and I are both so sorry. If there's anything we can do, please let us know.”

“Mimi, I need you. I don't want to be alone.”

Mimi looked at the phone and across the table at Raphael. “Sure, Brenda. Let me put some clothes on and I'll come right over.”

“Hurry,” Brenda said and hung up the phone.

Mimi ended the call and looked at Raf. “Jesus. Brenda wants me to come over. I'm not sure that I'm up to that, Raf. I've never even been to her house, and now that Victor is dead, I certainly have qualms about going there. It would be like walking in the valley of the shadow of death.”

“What do you mean, Mimi?”

“It would be like walking into Victor's inner sanctum—the place where he came at the end of the day to rest his sorry ass. You said Victor was alive when you got away.”

“I told you, I knocked the gun out of his hand, kicked him, and
pushed him to the ground. After that, I took off running, Mimi, and that fool was very much alive. When I darted between Shirley's house and the neighbor's, I could hear someone running behind me—like they were following me. It may not have been Victor at all, but who else could it have been? All I know is he was not dead and he has your gun.”

“We've got to remain calm, Raf. Who else do you think would have killed him?”

“You knew him; I didn't.” Raphael turned to the small flat-screen that was mounted on the wall between two sets of oak cabinets. “Quiet, the local news is on. Let's see if they say anything about Victor.”

“Around ten-thirty last evening, the body of Victor Christianson, Director of Admissions at North Carolina Central University, was found dead near a set of railroad tracks in Durham by a couple coming from a late-night worship service. Upon receiving a tip, Victor Christianson became a person of interest in the shooting of one of NCCU's cheerleaders, Afrika Bailey, that occurred after a football game last Saturday. Mr. Christianson failed to report to work this week, giving further cause for the police to suspect that he may have been linked to the shooting of Miss Bailey.

Raphael turned the volume down and turned to Mimi. “Do you want me to go with you to Brenda's?”

“No, baby. Let me go alone. I'll drop you at the hospital to check on Afrika before I go. Brenda needs a sister-girlfriend to talk to.”

B
renda ended her phone call, tied the belt to her robe around her waist, and paced the floor as a nervous Asia rocked back and forth in one of the high-back chairs in her mother's bedroom. Tears shed earlier were now dry on Brenda's face and only thoughts of moving forward and getting on with her life consumed her. But in order to move forward, she had to close the lid on Victor and all of his garbage—his unfaithfulness, disloyalty, betrayal, and all of his countless other indiscretions. It was a shame that it was going to cost close to ten thousand dollars to shove all of it into the ground.

The realization of Victor's death hit her hard. It was so unexpected—a bad ending to a movie that started out so full of promise. And even as Brenda contemplated leaving him, knowing that she couldn't say goodbye on her own terms made it hurt much worse. And the first person she called was Mimi, her best friend, who always had a knack for soothing her disappointments.

As if she suddenly realized Asia was in the room, Brenda stopped pacing and looked at her daughter, who sat coiled up in the chair as if she was laced up in a straitjacket ready for the crazy house, her feet tucked underneath her body and her arms wrapped securely around her waist, wearing her red and pink cotton pajamas with the white hearts on them. Brenda went to Asia and knelt down on the floor in front of her, brushing her disheveled
hair that looked like tumbleweed on a Texas plain away from her face, and brushed her cheeks as well with the back of her hand.

“Hey, baby,” Brenda said in a soft voice, “It's going to be all right.”

Asia glanced at Brenda, turned away and then looked back at her again. “It's going to be all right for whom, Mother? You? You hated Daddy. Trevor told me that you all have been arguing and that you were going to leave Daddy. I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe all the lies and secrets you've kept from Trevor and me and then…and then to find out that Nikki is my sister.”

“Don't make this about you, Asia, because it isn't. I hate to speak ill of the dead, but your daddy was no saint by any stretch of the imagination. He was a whore.”

“Shut up, Mother. My god, he's dead for heaven's sake.”

“Heaven? Surely, your father will not be going there.”

Asia unwrapped herself from her cocoon and prepared to leave the room. She stopped under the doorway and turned slightly to look at her mother. “It's your fault Daddy is dead. I blame you.”

Brenda's hand began to fly. “Young lady, don't sass me; it doesn't become you. All of my life, I've done nothing but protect you and Trevor from your father's deceitfulness and the mockery he made of our marriage. I'm the one people painted as a fool because I stayed with your father when all the world knew that the great Victor Christianson was bedding and laying seed with all the women in Durham.”

“Mother, that's disgusting,”

“Yes, the hell it is.”

Asia rolled her eyes at her mother. “You're jealous of Daddy's success.”

“Listen here, Asia. You can try and disrespect me if you want, but his success was due to me. He was nothing on his own.”

“Why are you talking about him like that, Mother? I don't understand you.”

“Go sit down,” Brenda said, pointing to the chair Asia had vacated, “and I'm going to explain it so there will be no questions left in your mind.”

Asia stood still for a moment as if contemplating what Brenda had said. Then she turned completely around and plopped into the chair, placing her feet underneath her again. She stared at Brenda as if to say,
the clock is ticking. Talk
.

Brenda went and sat on the side of her bed, fluffed one of the decorative pillows with her hand, and looked at Asia. “You know that both your father and I loved you and Trevor unconditionally. That's what parents are supposed to do. You are our children. And in loving you, our job is to protect you from the elements by providing a roof over your head, food to eat, clothes on your back, and anything else to sustain life. And because we could afford to do so, we gave you more. In protecting you, it's also our job to keep you safe from the predators in the world—drugs, alcohol, and child molesters. In doing so, it may mean we have to protect you from family members or situations that may be detrimental to family survival—I'm sure you get what I mean.”

“Yeah, since you're talking to me like I'm a ten-year-old.”

Brenda looked at Asia and then dropped her eyes. “This is a sensitive issue for me, Asia. I can treat you as the adult you purport to be, but I'll break it on down for you if I need to.”

Asia looked up at her mother and smiled. “I'm sorry, Mom. This thing with Daddy…his dying…Nikki…it's so overwhelming. This kind of stuff happens in other people's family, not ours. I…I can't believe it's happening to my family.”

Brenda got up and rushed to Asia's side. Asia stood up and fell into her mother's embrace.

“We will get through this, baby,” Brenda said, rubbing her fingers through Asia's hair. “We will get through this.”

Then all of a sudden, Asia pulled away. She looked into her mother's eyes. “Who do you think killed Daddy?”