Under the Cypress Moon (53 page)

In his mother's bedroom, Mark found a couple engaging in sexual intercourse.  This was the final straw for him.  "Get your asses up and off my mama's bed!  Get out of my house!  You got three seconds!"  Mark began to pound the baseball bat into his left hand, letting it make a very loud smacking sound as it hit.  "One!"  *Smack* "Two!"  *Smack* *Smack* "Three!"  *Smack* *Smack* *Smack*

The couple hurriedly jumped up, scurrying for their clothes, ducking past Mark as he banged the bat again, now aiming it at them as they went by.  Mark never planned to do any harm to anyone, but he felt a great deal of pleasure in making everyone think that he might.

After a careful search of the remaining rooms, Mark felt a basic assurance that all of the party guests had left.  Heading back downstairs, he met Sara as she walked by.  "I thought I told you to go!"

"You were serious about that, Mark?"

"Holy shit!  Do I have to spell it all out for you?  You hand me your key.  You grab your shit!  You pack your shit into your car!  You start your car!  You drive your car anywhere that ain't here!"  Mark rushed toward Sara, causing her to flinch in anticipation that Mark might hit her.  Mark quickly grabbed the beer out of Sara's hand and shoved her toward the stairs.  "Get upstairs.  Pack your bags, and get out!"

Sara could barely walk up the stairs, let alone do anything else.  She had a considerable beer buzz going and a pretty strong high to boot.  Mark guided her the entire way to her/Mrs. Crady's bedroom. 

"Do I really have to go, Mark?  I'm your sister.  Remember?  Don't make me go!  Please!  I'm sorry!"  Sara choked back a lump in her throat, but she knew that she didn't care at all about what she had done to the house or to Mark.  Her only concerns were not knowing where to go, despite her money, and not wanting to be alone.

Mark started to feel a little bad for Sara, but he knew that he had to stick to his guns.  "I'm sorry, Sara.  I really am.  I wish it didn't have to be this way, but I can't have you here.  You're too much of a mess for me.  You can visit, but only when I'm here.  I need your house key.  I can't let you stay here until you learn to respect me, respect this house, and most important to me, learn to respect Shylah.  She's my fiancée and the mother of my child.  She's not here cuz of you.  I gotta fix your messes now."

"Mark, you two got engaged?  How'd I not see that?  But why do you wanna be with a nigger, Mark?  You could find a decent and beautiful white woman to be with.  You can take care of your little nigger baby, but you don't need her.  Think about it.  What would our father say?!"

"You know, I was really gonna give you a chance to prove yourself here.  You've done it now.  Get your shit, and get out of my house before I pick you up and throw you out!  I can do it, too!  If I can pick up a grown man, I can sure as hell pick up a spoiled little bitty bitch like you!  If I ever heard you talk about Shylah or my child that way again, I will never speak to you again!  You got me?!"  Mark pushed Sara so hard into the bedroom that she slid across the floor and fell onto the bed.

"You're gonna regret this, Mark Crady! 
You should've never told me about how much the estate was worth!  I'm gonna sue you!  I'm gonna get this house and the company and everything you have!  You're gonna be livin' on the street with your nigger family!  You're disgusting!  You're a disgrace to every respectable white on the face of this Earth!"  As soon as she finished speaking, Sara spat at Mark, a considerable amount of the saliva landing upon Mark's face.

Mark nearly lost his temper and reached out to punch Sara, but he held back, clenching his fists with every ounce of strength and composure that anyone has ever had to muster.  He fell to his knees and prayed fervently for resolution to the troubles he now faced, most of all, to get Sara out of his life forever.

Mark continued praying until well after Sara had gathered her things and walked out of the room.  As she passed by Mark, Sara laughed at the sight of a grown man on his knees.  She said nothing to him and stormed off down the stairs and out the front door, though she did not leave her house key.  She intended to use it whenever she wanted and maybe take a few things of value that she had already been eyeing and had not managed to tuck away with her own belongings.  She assumed that if she were ever accused of anything, she could produce the key and claim that Mark had given it to her and never asked for it back.  She would say that she had been told that she would always be welcome to come and go as she pleased.

Mark, upon opening his eyes, could not accept that Sara was gone, not because any part of him wanted Sara to stay but because it seemed a far too great thought to behold, so amazing that it could not be true.  Mark checked throughout the house and peered out of the front door to where Sara's car had been.  Seeing nothing there, he threw his face and hands upward in gratitude to the Almighty.

Mark immediately locked the front door and headed to his truck.  He knew that he had to see Shylah right away and convince her to come home with him.  When he arrived at the King house, he was surprised to see that there were a large number of people at the house.  He worried that something bad might have happened to someone, but quickly finding T.L. in the yard, he learned that they were having a family barbeque and had invited as many of the Kings and the Joneses as possible.  Mark knew nearly half of the people that he saw wandering around and emerging from the house, yet so many others were completely unrecognizable. 

Mark forced his way through the thicket of people and into the house, the only white face anywhere on the property, except for the spouse of one distant cousin of Darius'. 
Mark looked painstakingly through the house for Shylah but could not find her anywhere.  Finding Mrs. King, Mark asked where Shylah was and learned that she was concealed in her room and that she had not been feeling well.  Mark felt a deep dread consume him, thinking that, perhaps, Shylah had experienced something wrong with the baby.

Mark knocked lightly on Shylah's bedroom door and awaited an invitation to enter but heard nothing.  He slowly opened the door to find Shylah asleep in her bed, looking wondrously beautiful, perhaps, more so than she had ever looked at any other moment.  Mark stood in awe, thinking that that was the real beauty of a woman, not in presenting her naked body to a man she hardly knew, not in throwing herself aimlessly at others, but in her rare, awe-inspiring, natural look and demeanor and in her ability to not care what others thought when they saw her.

Mark lovingly sat beside Shylah and nudged her, slowly waking her.  When she saw that it was Mark waking her, Shylah rolled over to ignore him, only muttering, "Get out of my room!"

"Baby, please hear me out.  Please."

"What do you want?  Was the other girl not enough for you?  You come to me lookin' for seconds?  Get out!"

"No, Baby!  I'll tell you everything.  I promise.  Nothing happened, not a thing.  I swear it!  As much as I hate swearin' by the things of God, I'll put my hand to the Bible!  I'll risk damnation for you!  What good is havin' a soul if you can't have the only woman you've ever really loved?!"

Hearing Mark's words, Shylah was intrigued.  She wanted to know more and gradually turned to face her fiancée.  "So, what happened then?"

"Ok, so you know how I asked you to go away with me?  After a while of not hearin' from ya, I went off and went down to Tampa.  I was hangin' out on the beach, ALONE.  So, this girl comes up and starts talkin' to me.  I ended up talkin' to her for a good spell and went to a bar with her and her friends.  I got drunk, and she helped me get back to my hotel room.  I was NEVER gonna do a thing with her, never!  I guess she did stay there in my room, but I passed out as soon as I got inside.  I just thought she was makin' sure I got back. She did come onto me some, but I told her again and again about you, that I could never hurt you like that!  I swear nothin' happened!  She wanted it to, but nothin' ever did.  I wouldn't do that to you!  I don't know if I can expect you to believe me, but maybe this'll help.  It all made me see what I'd been doin' to you, so I raced home to see you.  I got home, and found the house a wreck!  Sara was havin' a huge, wild party!  I had to run everybody out, includin' her!"  Mark felt such a weight off of his shoulders that even if Shylah would not take him back right away, at least, he had the comfort of knowing he had done the right thing.

"Wait," Shylah sluggishly stammered, "You actually kicked Sara out of the house?"

"You bet your sweet ass, Baby!  That girl ain't nothin' but trouble!  I damn near threw her out!  I told her if she didn't go, I was gonna pick her up and throw her out the door!"

"You got rid of your own sister?  That's good, I guess.  I wish you did it for me, though," Shylah stated, and dark as it was in the room, Mark could see that Shylah's eyes were beginning to water.

"I did do it for you.  Well, for me, for you, for both of us, but yeah.  I told her she was disrespectin' you and treatin' you like a dog.  I am so sorry, Baby, that I didn't see it sooner.  I should've opened my eyes!  I am really sorry, sorrier'n you could know. 
You wouldn't even believe the stuff she said after that, some of it about you.  I wanted to punch her in her lyin' little bitch face!"  Mark felt a great deal of his anger flooding back into his veins and almost wished that Sara were there so that he could do just that, punch her.  It might teach her anything, Mark knew, but it would sure give her something to think about and give him immeasurable joy.

Shylah laughed so heartily that Mark thought he was falling in love with her all over again.  She looked breathtaking, lying there in her thinly-strapped tank top, her hair tangled around her face, her eyes nearly welled with tears.  Mark leaned down and kissed Shylah with every ounce of passion in his soul, letting her know exactly the feelings he still had for her.  Shylah did not try to stop him but instead, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him even closer. 

Shylah gave Mark a look that said everything that he could need to know.  Mark sprung from the bed and gently closed the bedroom door the rest of the way, hurrying back to the bed, sliding in beside Shylah as she scooted over.

"We have to be quiet, Baby," Shylah informed her lover.  "We can't let anybody know what's goin' on.  Ok?"

"Ok, Baby.  I'll be as quiet as a church mouse.  Now, let's get those clothes off you!"

The love making was so tender, passionate, and loving that any shred of doubt that either Mark or Shylah might have possessed about each other or about their relationship completely vanished in that intertwining moment.  There no longer existed any sense of uncertainty of the future.  Both knew that they must rekindle everything and devote one hundred percent of their energies to the other. 

The couple remained so long in the bedroom that people began to wonder.  T.L. and Pearlina King knew that Mark was at the house, not to mention that both of them told this to Darius.  Eventually, several cousins knew of it.  Pearlina told T.L. and Darius not to bother Mark and Shylah, that they had making up to do.  This upset Darius terribly.

"What you mean they got makin' up to do?!  You know they're doin' in there!  That boy is comin' into my house and violatin' my daughter under my very own roof?!"

With a gentle laugh, Pearlina sought to set her husband straight.  "Oh.  Now, Darius, you know that the girl is already with child and is set to be married to the man soon enough.  I don't think it matters much what they do now.  They already done everything there is.  And you know how me and you were when we were that age.  Did we wait til we was married?  No, we did not!"

"I don't like it, Pearlina," Darius snapped back.  "I don't like it one bit!"

"Hush, Darius.  Eat you somethin', and mind your own business."

Mark could not believe how blessed he was, having Shylah back in his life, being able to put aside all of the difference, all of the troubles, all of the doubts and worries.  He and Shylah were one once more, and he would allow nothing to come between them again. 
When all was said and done, Shylah once again rested her head on Mark's broad and hairy chest, stroking through the dense fur as she listened closely to Mark's heart beating ever so fast.

"Baby," Shylah asked, thinking over so many things that had happened and over her stupendous happiness.

"Yes, Beautiful?"

"Do you think we can keep this up?  Can we stay like this forever?  I don't wanna ever lose you again!  I wish I could've just stayed that day!  I just couldn't be there around you know who any longer."

"I know, Baby," Mark said, kissing the top of Shylah's head.  "And I think that we can be like this forever and a day if we just try.  We can't let things stop us.  We have to work together.  We're partners in all this.  From now on, we look for each other, no matter what."

"I know, and I was tryin' to," Shylah protested.

"No, Baby.  I know you were.  I'm talkin' about me!  I didn't protect you like I should've.  I should've listened to you.  I trusted her too much and you not enough.  It's not your fault.  Don't blame yourself any."  Mark rejoiced as he kissed Shylah's head again and again.  It felt unbearably wonderful, perhaps, even better than had the sex moments earlier.

"Yeah, but you never got to have a sister.  You only ever had your older brother, and he's been gone so long.  You just wanted to believe she was as good as she seemed.  You were pretty stupid about it, though, you gotta admit."

"Ok.  You don't have to keep rubbin' it in.  I'll have to spank you!"