Borrow Trouble (6 page)

T
he Sunday following my breakup with Robbie, I brought Leon to meet Mama after she and my sister, Frankie, got home from church. We'd arrived at the little one-story gray shingled house that Mama rented on Maple Street just as she and Frankie were getting out of Mama's old Chevy, still clutching their hymn books. Mama had on a hat that looked like a small umbrella. She snatched it off and started fanning her face as soon as she spotted Leon and me walking toward her.

Frankie, who was as cute and as sly as a fox, stood behind Mama, with an amused look on her face. My sister had already made it her business to meet Leon. She'd come to my apartment several days earlier, interrogating him like he was a suspect. Once she realized how generous Leon was, she didn't waste any time joining his team. She didn't know that I knew she'd called Leon up at work two days ago and asked him for a hundred dollars so she could get her hair braided. I planned to speak to her about that later.

“That's a nice suit you got on, Leon,” Frankie chirped, trying hard not to look at me. To a lot of people, a spoiled baby sister was a thorn in the side. Frankie was no different. “Where'd you get it?”

“Don't be nosy and rude!” I snapped, glaring at Frankie, wondering why Mama was taking her time to speak. Especially since she was looking Leon up and down, shading her eyes with her hat.

Mama had told me more than once that she didn't trust men who wore suits outside of a church or an office. “Young man, did you just come from church or work?” she asked, looking at Leon out of the corner of her eye.

“Neither, ma'am,” Leon mumbled, giving me a sideways glance. “I wanted to make a good impression on you, ma'am, so I decided to wear my best suit,” he added. I had told him how my mother felt about suits.

“Oh,” Mama said, obviously pleased to hear this. “Well, I hope you don't spill nothing on it at my dinner table,” she told him, with a broad smile on her heavily powdered face.

Getting through dinner was tense. For a while, Frankie was the only one who seemed to be enjoying the turkey wings and greens that Mama had prepared earlier. After a few awkward moments, Leon really dug into the dinner, too.

Even though Mama was polite, she kept rolling her eyes at Leon and giving me suspicious looks. When Leon stopped the leaky faucet in the kitchen sink from dripping, Mama smiled for the rest of the evening.

“I done had two plumbers out here, and three of my nephews. Nary one of them could stop that leak,” Mama said, looking at Leon like he had just walked on water. “You, you take a pair of pliers to it, and five minutes later, it don't leak no more. Ooh wee, child!”

“And it won't ever leak again,” Leon assured Mama, patting her shoulder. “If it does, I will buy you a whole new set of faucets.” He was as slick as a used car salesman.

Mama was beaming. “Renee, run in the pantry and bring out that bottle of wine I been saving,” she ordered, with a huge grin. “Leon, I hope you like white wine.”

“Yes, ma'am. I sure do,” Leon lied. Other than beer and rum, he didn't drink any other alcohol. But it didn't take me long to realize what Leon's strategy was. He was the type of man who was willing to do and say whatever it took to keep people happy.

Everybody except Inez. The first time I saw him angry was when I told him that Inez wanted to be maid of honor in my wedding.

“No way! No way will I let that bitch be involved in my wedding!” he roared.

His words horrified me. “She's my best friend. I know she doesn't like you, and you don't like her. But I love you both, and I don't want to be in the middle of all this animosity. My wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event, so I want what I want.”

“What about what I want? This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me, too.” Leon had never been married before, but he'd lived with the mother of his daughter for eight years.

“Baby, she wants to be there for me. Until now, she didn't even want to be in the same room with you. If she can get to this point, can't you?”

“Why are we even having a church wedding in the first place? Can't we just go down to the courthouse?”

“We don't have to have a big church wedding. I didn't want that, anyway. That's all Mama's idea. And your mama's, too. If you want us to go to the courthouse, that's fine with me.”

“And anyway, every couple I know that had a big church wedding ended up getting a divorce,” Leon said.

“Leon, you can stop now. I already told you that getting married in the courthouse is fine with me,” I chuckled. “And if you change your mind later on, we can always renew our vows in a church.”

I avoided Mama, Inez, and everybody else for the next few days. I didn't have enough nerve to tell them that the big church wedding that they'd been wanting to experience wasn't going to happen. At least not with me.

I got Mama's answering machine when I called from the Hyatt Hotel in nearby Cleveland. That's where Leon and I had checked in right after we'd exchanged vows at the courthouse, six months after our first date.

Leon didn't believe in spending money on frivolous things, like the weeklong honeymoon in Niagara Falls I'd suggested. I didn't argue with him at the time, but I'd pouted behind his back. I decided that it would be to my advantage to keep our disagreements to a minimum until our marriage was more secure.

I didn't leave a message for Mama. But when I called Inez's house and got her answering machine, too, I didn't hesitate to leave a message telling her that Leon and I had “eloped.” Before I could hang up, Inez clicked off her answering machine and picked up the telephone.

“I'm here,” she said in a low, raspy voice.

“Please be happy for me,” I pleaded. “I love Leon, and he loves me. That's all that counts. I never said it, but I didn't want you to marry Vince. I was happy for you, anyway. Not that I didn't like Vince, but I honestly didn't think that he was the right man for you at the time.”

“Well, apparently Vince didn't think he was the right man for me, either,” Inez told me.

“Excuse me? Inez, tell me what's going on,” I demanded.

“I packed his shit and told him to get the hell out of my house before I threw him out. I filed for divorce yesterday.”

“Already? You're practically still a newlywed!”

“Better now than later. He wanted to change me. He started talking about how he wanted me to tone down my wardrobe, stop wearing so much make-up, and get rid of my blond weave. No man is going to change me.”

“Are you all right?”

“I am now. Some of my best friends are bartenders.”

“I'm sorry I wasn't around to…to talk. I swear to God, Inez, if I had known, I would have been there for you.”

“You need to be there for your husband now, baby girl. I'll be fine.”

“I'll stop by the shop as soon as we get home, day after tomorrow. We can go for drinks,” I suggested, feeling guilty because I was so happy about my marriage, and Inez's had just ended—again.

“Where are you?”

“We are at the Hyatt. Uh, Leon didn't want to go to Niagara Falls or on a honeymoon cruise.”

“Well if I was him I'd have chosen the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Cleveland over Niagara Falls, too.”

“Inez, please don't start that shit,” I said, blowing out a plaintive sigh. “You didn't want anybody to make fun of you when you married any of your…uh…
three
husbands.” There was a moment of silence before we both laughed. I didn't know about Inez, but I had to force myself to laugh. “So when and where do you want to hook up for drinks when I get home?”

“I'm getting out of town for a couple of weeks. I'll call you when I get back and we'll decide then. I booked a flight to Barbados this morning. As a matter of fact, the cab's out there now,” Inez said, talking fast. Inez had already seen more of the world than any other person I knew. Being her own boss, and having the kind of money she needed to do just about anything she wanted, it was nothing for her to jet off to some exotic location at the spur of the moment.

“Will you call me as soon as you get back home so we can get together?”

“I will. And, Renee, congratulations and good luck. I really mean it.”

I was surprised when I turned around and saw Leon standing a few feet behind me.

“That was Inez. She and Vince broke up. He's moved out, and she's already filed for divorce.” I shook my head and looked away. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw a cruel smile cross Leon's face.

L
eon was the one to break the news to Mama. I didn't even know he had done it until she called the hotel the day before we checked out.

“I don't care what that man do to you, you better stay with him. There ain't never been a divorce in our family,” Mama told me. “And your baby sister is mad because she spent her last penny on one of them throwaway cameras, which she bought to take pictures of the wedding with. I hope you know what you doing, gal,” Mama said in a gruff voice. I never got mad at my mother when she stuck her nose in my business. I didn't know too many women who didn't go through some of the same things with their mothers that I went through with mine. I usually listened to Mama, with respect and patience. After all, she had made a lot of sacrifices for me. But I was my own woman, so I always did what I wanted to do, anyway.

“I love Leon, Mama,” I purred. I had just come out of the shower. One towel covered my body; another one covered my wet hair. Leon was stretched out on the bed, in just the bottom part of the silk pajamas I'd bought him. “I'm never going to let him go,” I vowed, giving my new husband a playful kick with my damp foot. “Mama, can I call you when we get home Monday? I am still on my honeymoon.”

“And that's another thing. When you was a little girl, all you talked about was going to Niagara Falls for your honeymoon. It's a crying shame you ended up on a honeymoon in Cleveland of all places. Right in your own backyard!” Mama paused and clicked her teeth. “And with all that money Leon makes working for the IRS, the least he could have done was take you off somewhere romantic.” After saying such a mouthful, Mama had to stop to catch her breath. And it didn't take her long to do that. She had other things to say that I didn't want to hear, which she whispered. “I heard Leon was stingy. I bet he'll be shoving chicken gizzards down your throat for dinner three times a week. You better hope you don't lose your job at that schoolhouse.”

“Mama, I have to go now.” I hung up before Mama could get another word in. Mama was the only person I knew who could turn a dream into a nightmare. I tossed a pillow at Leon's head. “You could have waited until I got out of the shower. I wanted to be the one to tell her.”

“Well, I didn't. Now get dressed so we can go out and get something to eat,” he ordered, rising.

“Baby, wouldn't it be nicer if we stayed in and ordered room service? Don't you just want to lie here and…uh…you know.” I winked.

“Come on. We're going out to get something to eat,” Leon replied.

“What if I don't want to go with you?” I said, folding my arms defiantly, my bottom lip poked out like a five-year-old's. I couldn't believe we were already having our first disagreement as a married couple.

“You're going. Now get your lazy butt up and get dressed. Put on that lime green dress I like so much. Sisters with your bronze tone complexion look so damned good in green.”

I removed a pair of jeans and a beige silk blouse from the small suitcase that I had packed. Before I could get dressed, Leon snatched the clothes out of my hand and tossed them to the top of the dresser. With a mischievous grin on his face, he flipped open my suitcase and fished out the lime green dress he liked so much and tossed it on top of my head. I slid into the dress without saying a word. I was in too much of a romantic mood to argue any further.

I didn't like the fact that Leon was already making decisions without any input from me. Robbie Dunbar would
never
have done that. As strange as it seemed, I really missed Robbie. I knew that I was going to spend the rest of my days wondering what my life would have been like if I had married him. Poor Robbie. I prayed that he would find a suitable mate.

By the time Leon and I got to the Full Moon restaurant three blocks from the hotel, I had calmed down. Right after our stiff-lipped waiter dropped menus on our table, I excused myself to go to the ladies' room. By the time I got back to the table, Leon had ordered for me.

“I didn't want an omelet,” I protested, pinching his arm. “I wanted pancakes.”

“Well, the next time we go out to eat, I advise you to order before you run off to the ladies' room to primp,” he said, looking at his watch. “And hurry up. There's a game coming on in a couple of hours.”

I took a sip of water and forced myself to smile. It dawned on me that Leon was showing me another side of himself, and it was already making me uncomfortable. He liked to be in control, and that was one of the things that had drawn me to him. However, that quality had been a lot more subtle before I'd become his wife.

A cramp shot through my stomach like a comet. All of a sudden, I was concerned about my future with Leon. As much as I had always wanted a man who had more of a backbone than Robbie, I didn't want a man who made all my decisions for me.

Leon had made it clear that he was in no hurry to have another child. He had a nine-year-old daughter by a woman that he had lived with for several years. He loved his child, and he took good care of her, but even though she was only nine, Collette was a mess. Not only was she moody and materialistic, she had a hard time getting along with other kids. She had been kicked out of every elementary school in Butler. Leon had just enrolled her in a swank private school in Cleveland Heights. More than once he had told me that he was glad he had only one child to deal with.

But
I
wanted a child, and I wanted one soon. That's why I flushed my birth control pills down the toilet as soon as we got back to our hotel room.