Healing Inc. (21 page)

“Oh, she was indeed.”  Tyler assured her casting a love filled glance at his wife who returned the look.  The waiter came over and refilled their wine glasses.  “Thank you Charles.”

Cecile was no longer able to hold back what she was thinking.  “You know Dad, I’m glad we have Evy in the family now but if I had known that having sex would have made you more polite I would have pushed for it a long time ago.” 

Tyler nearly choked on his bread while Evy covered her mouth to avoid the attention her amusement would surely draw.   “Come on Dad, don’t give me that look!  All the times I’ve tried to get you to be nice to other people.”  Her eyebrow rose as her head shifted side to side with attitude.  Evy knew right then she would love this girl as if she were her own flesh and blood.

“My sex life, young lady, is no longer any of your business,” Tyler scolded, glaring at his daughter.  “We need to discuss why you’re refusing to go to your mother’s for Christmas.”

“Is she still tripping about that?”

“Yes, she is.  And she will not leave me alone about it.  I need you to talk to her directly.  I have a wife now, information I choose not to share with your mother because I don’t want to deal with it while I’m on my honeymoon.  It’s not fair to Evy to have my ex-wife calling me every day about our adult daughter,” he stated putting emphasis on the word adult.

“I’m sorry daddy but I don’t feel comfortable around her by myself.  There’s something wrong with that woman.  I don’t know what you were thinking when you got with that one.”

“Some respect young lady, she is your mother.”

“She ain’t my mama,” Cecile mumbled, burying her face behind a dessert menu thinking Tyler wouldn’t hear her.”

“I heard that Cecile.  Why is it so difficult for you to give her a chance?  I know she hasn’t been around but she’s trying now.”  He was genuine in his attempts to mend this bridge for Cecile’s sake, not Abby’s.  He didn’t want her carrying the heavy baggage of her mother’s abandonment and their divorce for the rest of her life.

“A chance, Dad?”  She placed the menu on the table and turned fully toward him to make sure she had his full attention.  “Look!  Perhaps you haven’t realized it yet but she didn’t leave you… she left me.”  She held a hand up to stop him from responding.

Evy continued to look over her dessert menu granting them an air of privacy.  “It didn’t take me long to figure her out after spending time with her prepping for that stupid debutant ball.  She left us because she couldn’t deal with having a child that was darker than her.  Rumor has it Ralph has another family stashed away that he plans on leaving his money to if anything should happen to him.  He won’t divorce her because then he would have to keep her and it would look bad for his blue blood family.  She’s only trying to get back in your good graces in hopes that you will do what you’re doing now; convince me to mend our bridges so she’ll have a fall back plan if you leave me your money.”  She turned back to her original sitting position letting him know she was done with her speech.

“Who told you that?  That doesn’t even make since, Cecile.  Abby’s parents are quite wealthy.  They’re worth much more than her husband,” Tyler stated trying to hide his concern over what his daughter just told him. 

“The staff… The staff knows all,” she answered from behind her menu.

“The staff!  You harbor animosity toward your mother, the woman who gave birth to you because of something the staff told you?”

“Think about this dad,” she said putting the menu down once again to face him. “If she had been spending time with me would I have had the opportunity to gossip with the staff?”  They held each other’s gaze for a moment.  Evy couldn’t get over how much they looked and acted alike.  “She doesn’t like black people, Dad.  Why would you think she’d be different toward me?”

Tyler wasn’t sure how to respond to that.  He knew his daughter’s last words rang true.  Abby’s mom was white and her father black but wrapped in the same tan skin she had.  It never occurred to him that she would be capable of being a bigot toward her own daughter.   At that moment, he hated Abby more than he had ever been capable of loving her. 

Evy saw the pain in their eyes and wanted nothing more than to take it away.  “I know it’s none of my business but maybe if you accompany Cecile to Abby’s for Christmas you’ll be better able to determine what’s going on.  That would give you both the chance to decide if you should continue your efforts to salvage this relationship or if it’s time to turn it loose,” she suggested.  She couldn’t believe that anyone wouldn’t like Cecile, especially her own mother.  The thought of delivering a nicely gift wrapped can of whoop-ass had crossed her mind as well but that idea she kept to herself.

“No way in hell am I going to spend Christmas away from my wife!” Tyler ranted.

“She could come with us Dad.  I’d love to rub it in Abby’s face that you found someone much better looking than her.”

“Cecile!” Tyler snapped, even though he agreed with her.  “Please try to mind your manners.  I don’t want her to know about Evy just yet.”

“Then you tell her whatever you want her to know when you pass on word of our impending visit.  I won’t go if Evy doesn’t; I’d rather be with her anyway.  You don’t have to worry about me telling her anything.  That last conversation before my birthday party did it for me.  I haven’t talked to her since, nor do I plan to,” she stated adamantly.  “Sorry Dad.”

Reluctantly, Tyler released an audible sigh of defeat.  He didn’t want to expose his new bride to his curse which was in the form of his ex-wife.  

“It’s okay.  I don’t mind going as long as I’m with you two,” Evy volunteered.  Part of her wanted to meet this woman for the potential entertainment value alone.  Besides, her presence would help bring this woman’s true character to the surface.  If Tyler happened to miss anything bizarre about her attitude toward her daughter it wouldn’t get past Evy’s ever observant eye.  She wanted to do that for her new stepdaughter because for some reason she believed everything the girl had told them was true.     

“We’ll talk about it later,” Tyler said wanting the discussion to be over.  “Right now we need to decide on dessert before they throw us out of here.”

As unusual as it was, snow fell in Chicago the Monday after Thanksgiving.  Marcus Cole sat behind his desk absentmindedly rubbing his bare upper lip.  He wondered how someone could have been tracking his every move without his knowledge and if they would be able to do it again.  Upon finding that out, he had put protective mechanisms in place but he knew that was never a guarantee. 

He was glad to finally have Miguel Vasquez helping him and answering his questions, and hoped that it would move the investigation along.  However, other than his suspicions that the three men present during the attack on her were out of New York he was no closer to knowing who was after Mindy Johnson, a.k.a. Rachel E. Stoneland, now going by the name of Evelyn Stone.  Her various names alone were enough to give him a headache. 

At least he had a good holiday.  His parents were more than happy to meet the granddaughter they never knew existed and had invited her to their home for Thanksgiving dinner.  Being a detective made it easy for him to find her.  He was still reeling over the whole story behind his brother’s death but it had become easier to deal with since they had found his remains and had given him a decent burial.  Saying goodbye had brought all those years of pain to the surface, but meeting his brother’s daughter had helped ease some of it.

He did find out why he was assigned the Johnson case.  Thomas Ratcliff and Raheem Jones had become more than friends while in prison.  After Raheem took his own life, Thomas was determined to let someone know that his lover wasn’t the only one guilty of the crime he had committed.  It was Ratcliff’s way of somewhat clearing Raheem’s name and validating their harmonious feelings for one another.  Thomas felt he owed the Cole family and made a deal to provide the information that Raheem had given him only if Marcus was given the assignment.  The dying man hoped this would help Marcus’s career.

He stood from his desk, swiping his hands over his low cut afro as he walked over to the coffee pot.  His mind drifted to his life and the sacrifices he had made to get where he was now at the tender age of twenty five.  He had no one…no wife…no girlfriend.  All of his spare time was spent at his parent’s house.  The stress of this new case wasn’t helping to remedy any of that. 

“Who hates you Mindy Johnson?” he said to himself. 

From what he gathered she had no enemies.  She had sang and danced on stage without disdain or spite toward others.  She even did back-up for other singers, which ruled out any form of jealousy.  An obsessed fan or fellow student was possible but unlikely after all this time.  He was running into dead ends and it was frustrating. 

Back at his desk, he started sifting through the information he had gathered.  He had numerous pictures of her with David, the band and various family members.  Suddenly, something in one of the pictures caught his eye.  Staring at it made him think that perhaps he had been working this case via the wrong angle.

***

Same Moment in England…

The week following their arrival in England had been stressful for both Tyler and Evy.  Unlike Italy, which was a bit more laid back, England was bustling night and day.  The sounds were bolder and the crowds larger.  This involuntarily amplified their sense of awareness, causing a slight tension within their living quarters. 

Adding to the stress was Nita who had conference called in through Tyler’s office to give Evy an update on Healing Inc. last Tuesday.  They were considering purchasing more condos in Oklahoma City and she wanted to inform Evy that a new one had just been placed on the market.  She could tell Nita was stressed, even with Jose there to help her, and felt guilty about it.  

When Nita finally told her about her recent engagement to Tony and the stress of planning the wedding, Evy could only sympathize with her friend.  Tyler and his new partner Anthony Sparrow, which Evy was thrilled to hear about, made plans to have the wedding at their hotel in Las Vegas.  They would then honeymoon in their branch on the main island of Hawaii. 

Nita was more than happy with this arrangement, but it still required a lot of planning since friends and family would have to be flown in and invitations sent out.  The whole thing was to take place during the week of Christmas.  Apparently, Tyler and Evy were going to meet them in Las Vegas for the wedding.  Evy would be the maid of honor and Tony’s brother, Eugene, the best man. 

It was Nita’s final request that really put Evy on edge.  “I want you to sing the first bride and groom dance song at my wedding.  Please?” Nita implored.  “I don’t care what the song is as long as you are the one singing it, mama.”  She had reluctantly agreed, unable to say no to her best friend on such an important occasion.

Tyler’s stress was somewhat of a different animal.  The Manager of his hotel in Mexico was giving him a hard time, demanding a raise when he was doing anything but a good job.  The hotel in England required more maintenance than he had expected prolonging their stay when they needed desperately to be in Mexico.  It was increasing his blood pressure dramatically.

Cecile’s proclamation about her mother was wearing heavily on his heart as well.  He felt responsible for subjecting his pride and joy to the callous bitch known as his ex-wife.  In his opinion, her conduct toward him during their brief marriage should have been an indication of what she was capable of.  Despite all this, he still held hope that he could bring the two women together, even though Cecile was now actually communicating with Evy more than either Abby or him. 

Concerns for Evy’s safety were also ever present in his mind.  Every time she left his sight a knot grew in his stomach.  He hadn’t completely ruled out chaining her to him physically as an option but reasoned it would undoubtedly raise her suspicions.  He very much wanted to avoid her bad side now that he had introduced her to fencing, the one good thing they had found the time to do while in England.  She took to it like a pro, even beating him in two out of seven of their matches.