Family of Lies (20 page)

N
OW THAT
S
ARAH WAS PREGNANT, SHE WAS DOWNRIGHT GIDDY.
B
UT
she was not any more annoying to me than she usually was. However, because her head was in the clouds, she was a whole lot easier to tolerate. I was convinced that I could make her putty in my hands as long as I kept my wits about me.

But Sarah’s pregnancy was not all peaches and cream. She quickly gained a lot of weight and didn’t like the way she looked. I didn’t like the way she looked either for that matter. Her skin glowed and her eyes sparkled like jewels. Everybody, even strangers on the street, commented on how beautiful she looked. When I was with her, it was like I was invisible. Nobody noticed how beautiful I looked, so I didn’t get the compliments that I had grown accustomed to. Sarah didn’t know how to take compliments. She always said something stupid like, “I’m so blessed—even with all this extra weight!”

I gloated in silence when she began to experience some of the discomforts of being pregnant. She had backaches, strange food cravings, and some days she would just bust out crying for no reason at all.

By her sixth month, Sarah didn’t feel so
blessed
. “I’ll be glad when I drop this load. I feel miserable and I’ve been eating like a cow,” she complained, gnawing on a smoked turkey leg. “And I must look like one by now.” That was true. She had already gained over sixty pounds. Most of the weight was in her stomach and ass, but her ankles and legs looked like tree stumps.

I thought it was to my advantage to convince her that she was as beautiful as ever. “No, you don’t! You look just fine, honey. I wouldn’t worry about gaining a few pounds if I were you. Besides, you’re young. After you have the baby, you’ll lose the weight and get your figure back in no time,” I told her, rubbing her back as she sat humped over like a bear in hibernation next to me on the living room couch.

“I miss not being able to have a glass of wine or a margarita,” she whined, poking her bottom lip out so far it looked like a second nose on her bloated face. “I hate all of these aches and pains that go along with being pregnant! Yesterday it was my neck. Today it’s my back.”

“Honey, you are still so blessed. In the long run, all of the discomforts you’re experiencing now will be worth it. But I can’t imagine how uncomfortable being pregnant must be! I’m so glad I never had to experience it.”

Sarah sat up straight and looked me in the eye. There was a look of sorrow on her face. I wasn’t sure if it was meant for her or me until she spoke again. “Is that why you never had any kids?”

Her question caught me completely off guard. I had to think hard because I wanted to make sure that what I told her was consistent with what I’d told Kenneth and everybody else. “I tried for years, though,” I said hoarsely. “Unfortunately, the good Lord hasn’t blessed Kenneth and me with a child of our own . . . yet.”

“Oh. Maybe you
can’t
have kids, huh?”

I gave Sarah a hopeless look. “I’ve been to several doctors and they’ve all told me there is no reason I can’t get pregnant.”

“Hmmm. Poor Daddy. He loves kids and I know he wanted more than one. He’s told me so several times.”

“Tell me about it,” I muttered, staring at the wall. I was being sarcastic, but she was too dense to realize that.

“Oh well. It’s way too late for you now anyway.”

I whirled my head around so fast to look at Sarah that my neck felt like somebody had just tried to twist it off my shoulders. “What do you mean by that?”

“Aren’t you like, uh, in your forties or fifties?”

“I’m sixty. That’s like the new forty,” I insisted.

“
Sixty
? You’re
that
old?” Sarah asked with a sharp gasp. You would have thought that I had just told her I’d sprouted a dick. “Yikes!”

“As much TV as you watch and with all the reading you do, you should know that women my age—even though it is extremely rare—can still get pregnant. Medicine has come a long way. They’ve come up with some interesting new ways for older women to have babies.” My voice was stiff and detached. It was a struggle for me to restrain myself because I wanted to slap the smug look off Sarah’s face. “So
me
getting pregnant is
not
impossible in this day and age.”

“Oh yeah. I saw something in the
Enquirer
or one of those other tabloids that run weird stories, about this real old woman that got pregnant. She was fifty-five, I think. But she went through something like that in vitro thing. Or that artificial insemination thing. Whatever it was, she didn’t get pregnant the normal way.” Sarah paused and yawned. Then she gave me a look of such extreme pity I wanted to slap that off her face too. I was the last woman in the world who wanted to be pitied. “Well, I would not want to be walking around pregnant if I was even close to forty. An older woman has to deal with a lot of aches and pains and arthritis and shit anyway, so dealing with pregnancy pains would be too much. I’m glad I didn’t wait too long to get pregnant with my first baby.”

I’m glad you didn’t either
, I thought.

I had to remind myself that I was partially responsible for Sarah getting pregnant and that it was all part of my plan. The thought of all the benefits I would eventually reap made it easy for me to smile at her now. “Well, to me, being a grandmother to your baby is almost as good as being a mother myself,” I told her. “Now, let’s go out and get some lunch. Barbecued ribs sound good.”

Sarah had been complaining a lot about how little time Bo spent with her. Like Kenneth, he had begun to spend even more time at the store. The fact that I had tolerated that from Kenneth for so many years was one thing. I didn’t want to be around him too much anyway. But I felt sorry for Sarah. She really loved Bo and wanted to be with him as much as possible. Every time she complained about it to me, I gave her my undivided attention because I didn’t want her to take her complaints to her daddy. It was a major sacrifice for me not to spend as much time indulging myself with my usual activities so I could spend more time with Sarah. But that’s just what I did. I had too much of a vested interest in her not to. Every chance I got to talk to Bo in private, I let him know in no uncertain terms how I felt about him being away from her so much.

“The girl is your wife now and she’s about to have your baby. The least you can do is spend more time with her. We have to keep her happy,” I told him. We occupied the same table in the same neighborhood coffee shop I took him to when we needed to talk. It was a Saturday morning in mid-December.

“I know, I know. After the holidays are over, things will slow down and I can spend more time with her. But she knows how demanding my job is and how important it is to keep her daddy happy,” Bo told me.

“You don’t even call her up from work or invite her to come meet you for lunch that often anymore,” I pointed out. “A wife needs attention, you know.”

“Oh yeah? It’s mighty strange I don’t hear you complaining about all the time Kenneth spends away from you.” I didn’t like the smirk on Bo’s face, but I chose to ignore it. “He’s with you less than I’m with Sarah.”

“That’s different. Kenneth is an old man and we’ve been together a lot longer than you and Sarah. There was a time when I resented him working such long hours, but I’m used to it now.”

Bo suddenly gave me a conspiratorial look.

“What’s the matter, Bo? Why are you looking at me that way?” I fished my compact out of my purse and checked to make sure I had not smeared my lipstick or that a sesame seed from the bagel I’d just eaten was not stuck to my lip or between my teeth.

“Vera, I know you better than you think. I
know
you can find a lot of things to do with all the time you have on your hands. If you know what I mean . . .”

I rotated my neck and blinked hard. “What do you mean by that?”

“You know damn well what I mean by that,” he chuckled.

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking,” I snarled.

“Are you going to take my advice and find a young stud and have an affair? Or have you already done so?” He paused and snickered for a few seconds. “Is that why it doesn’t bother you anymore that Kenneth is gone most of the day?”

I stared at Bo in mock slack-jawed amazement. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I squeaked. I was so flustered I caught my finger in my compact when I snapped it shut. “And let’s stay on the subject. We were discussing you spending more time with your wife.”

“Maybe I don’t want to spend more time with my wife right now. I like having my own space.”

“Maybe that’s why your ex divorced you.”

That remark really rattled Bo. He squinted his eyes in such an odd way, his eyebrows almost touched the top of his eyelids. “Except for what I told you, you don’t know a damn thing about me and my ex!”

“I didn’t mean anything by that. I’m sorry,” I apologized, waving my hand. “I know you were a good husband to her and you’re a good husband to Sarah.”

Bo swallowed hard and blinked a few times so that his eyes looked normal again. “I’m a man who loves harder than the average man. Before I met Gladys, I had only been with three other girls, and I never even thought about cheating on Gladys once we got together.” There was a tight-lipped smile on his face now. It made him look downright shy, a characteristic he’d once told me was a weakness when associated with a man. I guess he must have suddenly recalled telling me that because a few seconds later a much more serious look suddenly crossed his face. I was amazed at how fast he could shift from one display of emotion to another. “A woman can cause a man a whole lot of grief!”

“True. But that’s only when a man picks the wrong woman.”

“Bullshit! Women keep talking about not being able to find a good man. Well, not that I’m bragging, but I’m a damn good man! Not only do I treat my woman with a lot of respect, but I also don’t cheat on her. Other than Nelda, the girlfriend I left back in Houston, the only other woman I’ve made love to since Gladys dumped me is Sarah. And I will tell you here and now that I am
not
going to go through another divorce. I don’t care what I have to do. I will
never
let Sarah go.”

Bo’s ominous words sent shivers up my spine.

E
ACH DAY
I
FELT A LITTLE MORE BLESSED.
N
OW
I
HAD A GRANDCHILD
on the way. On top of all my blessings, I had more money now than I could ever spend in my lifetime. And since I couldn’t take it with me, I was going to leave my fortune to the people who deserved it the most. I had just set up an appointment with one of my attorneys to amend my will. I wanted to continue taking care of my loved ones from beyond the grave.

I really loved my wife and I wanted to make sure she was well provided for, should I die before her. But without her knowing it, I had already decided to make some special provisions for my child and my grandchild, and any additional grandchildren after my death. Most of my estate, including my beloved mansion and my business, would go to Sarah because I felt she was the one who deserved it the most. Even though I loved my wife with all my heart, I had made her very happy since we met. But my mama didn’t raise no fool. I was particular about
who
was going to enjoy my money after I died. Even with my busy schedule, I kept up with what was going on in the world. In addition to the
New York Times
and the
Wall Street Journal
, I read the local newspapers, I watched the news on a portable TV in my office, and some nights when I couldn’t sleep I watched some of those true-crime TV shows. But I didn’t need all of those sources to tell me that some people were out for everything they could get. My wife didn’t like being single, so she would remarry in a heartbeat upon my death. There were so many con men and tricksters on the loose; she’d be a sitting duck.

I had always been generous, even when I was a boy growing up with limited funds. I’d split a baloney sandwich out of my brown paper bag lunch with kids who didn’t have any lunch at all. The more I gave, the more blessings I received. That was why I was more generous than ever now.

And more blessings for me meant more blessings for my child.

I prayed that Bo and Sarah would spend the rest of their lives together. However, praying about my daughter didn’t stop me from worrying about her. But being a businessman, I had to be realistic. Anything could happen, even in the strongest relationships. I was well aware of the divorce rate in America. There was no guarantee that my daughter and her husband would stay together. Bo had already been married once and had endured a very nasty divorce. That was something I thought about almost every day since he and my daughter got together. I was worried that Bo might have a flashback and take out his frustrations with his ex on my daughter and divorce her. Then she’d be up for grabs and the hounds would come sniffing. My daughter could be victimized by some gold-digging scoundrel and so could my grandchild. I’d seen it happen in other families.

But the bottom line was, I had to leave my huge fortune to somebody. Had Sarah not come into my life, I would have left most of my estate to charity and enough to Vera for her to live comfortably. These were things that I didn’t like to think about too often because they were too disturbing. So I concentrated on all of the good things in my life.

I didn’t think anything could go wrong. Unfortunately, things were going so well that I got a little too comfortable too soon and I should have known better. A man my age should always be prepared for the worst, no matter how well things were going.

When I least expected it, I got a reality check that literally brought me to my knees.

About six weeks before Sarah was due to deliver her son, she lost him. And she lost him in the most horrific way.

It was a Friday evening, two weeks into the new year. Bo and I had taken an important client out for a two-and-a-half-hour lunch, and we had run from one meeting to another before and after that. When Sarah dropped by unexpectedly, we didn’t even know she was on the premises. Bo and I had almost concluded our last meeting of the day with one of my senior sales representatives around 4:00 p.m. when one of my cashiers burst into my office.

“Sarah’s in trouble!” Tami yelled.

Bo and I reacted immediately. We sprang up out of our seats at the same time. My sales rep, a heavy-set female who got hysterical quicker than anybody I knew over the least little thing, fell to the floor trying to get out of her seat so fast.

“What the hell happened?” Bo yelled, already running for the door.

“Some dude snatched a handful of batteries and ran out the door. Sarah was on her way out, too, and he knocked her down!” Tami reported, talking as she ran along with Bo and me and my sales rep. “It looks like she’s hurt real bad!”

I was huffing and puffing so hard I could barely breathe. I held my hand over my heart. It was beating so hard, it felt like it was going to pop right out of my chest. A small crowd had formed by the time Bo and I reached the front entrance.

“Mr. Lomax, please don’t go out there!” yelled one of the floor salesmen as he parted the crowd for us. “You don’t want to see your daughter the way she is!”

“Get out the way! I’m going out there to see my child!” I shouted. For an old man with a bad heart, I was very strong at times. I mowed down the salesman and two other employees who tried to prevent me from going outside. Sarah was stretched out on the ground by the entrance door with her eyes closed. She was writhing and moaning and rubbing her stomach. It was a sight that would haunt me until the day I died. The next thing I knew, I collapsed like a straw hut in a hurricane.

“My baby, my baby!” I managed. My hand was still over my heart. Massaging it didn’t do much good because it was still pounding like a drum. My blood pressure had shot up so high it felt like blood was going to spurt out of my ears.

Curtis Thompson, the new security guard that we’d recently hired, was leaning over Sarah, fanning her face with a magazine. The thief who had knocked her down trying to escape lay on the ground unconscious. A large ugly black bruise had already formed on his knotty bald head.

“I’ve already called for an ambulance, sir!” Curtis hollered, looking at me, then at Bo.

Bo stood rooted in his spot like a tree. It looked like he was in a trance. A split second later, he crouched down on the ground. He fanned Sarah’s face with his hand and Curtis continued to fan Sarah’s face too. She slowly opened her eyes, but she was still rubbing her stomach. “My baby, my baby,” she whimpered. These were the same words that I had just whimpered. A patch of skin had been scraped off one side of her face. Her shoes and the beret she’d been wearing, as well as her purse, had landed several feet away from her, right next to the batteries that the thief had attempted to steal. Tears were rolling down her face and I could see the large red stain in the crotch of her white maternity pants, which told me that she and my unborn grandchild were in serious trouble.

Curtis had coldcocked the thief. Two other employees stood guard over him. If I had not been present, they probably would have roughed him up even more. The cops arrived a few minutes before the ambulance. One of the officers had to slap the thug’s face to rouse him so they could cuff him and throw his sorrow ass into the back of the squad car.

Bo rode in the ambulance with Sarah and I followed them to the hospital in my car. My heart felt like it was on fire and I was so light-headed I had to stop twice along the way. I knew that when and if I made it to the hospital in one piece, I was going to need some medical assistance too.

I prayed to God that I would live long enough to make sure my child was going to be all right. Now more than ever, I knew that if something really bad happened to Sarah, I would die of grief.