BOMAW Vol. 10-12 (49 page)

"Where's mama Angela? Is she down here?"

"No, isn't she upstairs?"

"No." Crystal answered, "I thought she was going to cook."

"The meat was laying here on the counter, I thought I'd put it on for her. All of this stuff was here too, looks like she started to cook." Ben commented carrying on.

"Maybe she went to the store for something?" Angela suggested.

Crystal walked to the table with the boys clothes to dress them wondering about that. "She didn't say she was going to the store for anything."

"Angela, go see if the limo is out front." Ben directed, putting the ribs in a pan so they could grill them outside.

Angela was instantly off to see.

Crystal sat dressing Darren and thinking about the discussion she had upstairs with her mother, and then a while ago, her mother standing at the glass doors staring at her. Angela ran back, "The limo is still out there. You check in the bathroom upstairs Crystal?" Angela asked.

"Yeah, she's not up there."

"Where would she go without the limo? I thought she'd never been here before." Ben questioned.

"This is our fist time. I've upset her, I know I have. She would not have left that food out that way and just taken off without saying anything if she weren't upset about something."

"Well ... what upset her?" Angela asked.

Crystal felt her heart speeding suddenly, she looked at Ben and then pulled Darren onto her lap. Angela asked again, "What upset her Crystal?"

"Something I said, something I wish I'd never said."

*

"Okay, what do you think, look good? Everything as it should be?" Deidre asked her ever present bodyguard.

"Oh we bad! Tol'yah didn't I? Paying out all that damn money; shit, do it yourself, your way. And it looks good."

"Fantastic, I'm gonna take your word for it Charlie. Now, we only have four more rooms to go."

"Oh no no no, I'm done Dee-Dee, I look like an interior decorator to you? I'm your bodyguard, you do not pay me to hang pictures on the wall, hell, what you think? White folks thank you slick, gone try and get two for the price of one. I was just showing yo' butt you could do it yourself, I ain't sayin' I'm gone help."

Deidre couldn't believe it, she threw her hands on her hips and said as close to the way Charlie talked to her as she could, "Hell wit'that shit! You helpin' me dammit!"

Charlie rocked back shouting out in laughter, cracking up so she had tears in her eyes, "Look at Dee-Dee, tryin' to get all hostile and shit! All right Dee-Dee, don't start actin' a fool! It ain't pretty for rich white women to behave like that."

Deidre stood smiling, realizing how crazy she was starting to act being around Charlie all the time, "Okay, I'll pay you extra for helping me with the other rooms."

"Na'uh, I ain't interested girlfriend."

"Charlie!" She stomped.

"I don't feel like it! House too goddamn big, them rooms too goddamn big, shit don't make no sense. I get bored with shit like that Dee-Dee."

"Oh just great! Well listen here chick - you're helping me with those other rooms!"

"No I ain't!"

"Yes you are!"

"You gone pay me extra?"

"I already pay you - girlfriend, damn well I might add!"

"Yeah but not for that."

"Hang on here Ms Charlene Carlton - what did you say to one of those movers? Don't let your mouth write a check, yo'ass can't cash? Is that what you said?"

Charlie was rolling with laughter, "Wooo, Dee-Dee - you on a roll girl, yo'ass just gettin' out'ah hand!" Charlie was dying.

"Say what you will missy, but know this, your mouth lost me my help, so your ass will be cashing that check by helping me with decorating those other rooms!"

"Dee-Dee, you just all out'ah control, damn! See how hangin' around me get you to actin'? Ain't nobody gone be able to do shit with you pretty soon, gettin' all cocky and shit. I'm tellin' you now Dee-Dee, don't no black man want no white woman with all that attitude. They go to ya'll to get away from attitude. So you bes' behave yourself if you gone end up with Mr. Chocolate Perry Mason."

"All I have to say to that is, he's the one that brought you to me, therefore, he has no one to blame but himself. Now, let's go visit my daughter, we have enough done that she can invite her friends over for a slumber party if she wants."

"Lord, I can hear it now, a bunch of giggling, twee lil'white girls all talking valley girl, squealing and carrying on. That's gone run you extra Dee-Dee, my life course has been to get as far away from that whole domestic scene as I could get, I can't stand Martha Stewart or the Brady Bunch."

"Oh come on Charlie, you were once a little girl too."

"Nope, don't remember." She denied walking along side Deidre towards the garage and cars. Arriving there, Samuel was busy wiping down the car, checking it over. "Most work I've seen you do all week." Charlie started in at him right away.

"That's because you're too busy running from me, hiding. Stick around for once-..."

"Stop while you ahead! I don't run, I don't hide! But neither do I waste my time, put your shirt on, we're going to the condo to see the kid."

Deidre made no comment when it came to these two, it was best, she decided to stand back and stay out of it. They all loaded into the limo and headed for Shawn's condo. As they came into the area of it, they were stopped at a light. "Hey, Dee-Dee, isn't that your ex's wife, Sylvia right there?"

Deidre looked up to see her standing and waiting to cross at the light.

"Why in the world is she out walking alone? Samuel, please turn here and cut her off, pull up there."

Following her instructions, Samuel blocked Sylvia's progress. Because she didn't know who it was, her face showed her displeasure at being cut off until Deidre's window rolled down to show who it was.

"Sylvia McPherson, what in the world are you doing out walking all alone?" She asked.

Sylvia smiled right away, before she could get a word out, Samuel was there, opening the door for her to get in, she hesitated, "I'm out for a walk, that's all."

"By yourself?! And Shawn let you?"

"He's not home right now-..."

"I believe that, I know him - there's no way he'd appreciate you out walking alone, now get in here."

Sylvia sighed, "I'm okay, really I am, I just needed to get out, maybe find the park, enjoy a little time alone."

"Why didn't you take the limo I left you? Well, sorry, there's nothing you can say that will make me leave you out here alone, we're holding up traffic."

Sylvia groaned with a slight whimper, but Deidre left her little choice, she stepped to the vehicle and got in.

"Okay, let's hear it, what's wrong, I know something must be to have you out here, no purse, no phone - as far as I can see."

Sylvia looked down, inspecting herself and realized she was right, she'd left the house with nothing to contact anyone just in case, and no purse or money for that matter. She looked up at Deidre, feeling a bit down but she couldn't really talk to her about it.

"You're not doing another runner are you? Something Shawn did?" Deidre asked gently.

"Nooo, nothing like that." Sylvia returned as the car pulled away from the curb and back into traffic, "Where were you going?" She asked Deidre to shift the attention from herself.

"I was on my way there, to see Angela."

"Oh Deidre, just drop me off at the nearest park so you can spend time with your daughter."

"I will not just drop you off somewhere! Shawn dislikes me enough, I'm not interested in making it worse."

"Well, you need to see your daughter and I - I just need a breather."

"She's not bothering you is she, I mean-..."

"Absolutely not! I love that baby, she's right where she belongs, no - nothing to do with her - don't even think that."

Deidre shifted a bit uncomfortably hearing that, she couldn't help but glance at Charlie.

"Then what's with the haunted look in your eyes?" Deidre asked. "The baby okay?"

Sylvia smiled, "The baby is fine."

"Okay, I'll tell you what, obviously, whatever it is, you're not wanting to talk about. So, seeing that I'd planned to have a day with you, how about that day be this one? We can start it by me showing you my new home, which by the way, the grounds surrounding it, pretty park like, how about it?"

"You'd planned to see Angela." Sylvia reminded her.

"Another day, another evening, I'll be fine, come on - check out my new pad."

Giving in, Sylvia agreed, "Okay, I'd like that."

Back at the new mansion, Charlie left the two women alone.

Deidre showed Sylvia around the grounds first, talking about her plans for it. She wanted to install a greenhouse and build up a palatial garden to rival the greatest known. From there, they entered the mansion from the conservatory off the downstairs dinning hall and completed the tour of it in the last rooms that needed decorating. The final room was the brightest of them all, sporting massive windows from floor to ceiling that opened a view onto the gardens.

"I like this room the best. So bright - sunny - its breathtaking in here. What will you make this room?" Sylvia asked standing in the window, looking out over the gardens.

"If it were you, what would you do with it?"

"I'd make it my own personal room for me and me alone. It would be my all room, I'd decorate it just for me - to relax in, to be creative in, just to - get away, hide. And I'd, fill it with only pretty things, joyful things - so that no matter where I looked, there'd be something to make me smile." Tears came to her eyes, she sniffed, looking at Deidre and then out of the window over of the gardens. With her throat clogged, she swallowed fighting back more tears, wiping at the ones that escaped.

"What's wrong Sylvia - come on, you can tell me."

Sylvia stood, sniffing, "You and I - we're not - all that different."

"What do you mean?" Deidre asked coming up beside her.

"Just that, well - it's so hard you know, so hard being a good mother, one with no regrets. Because if you don't do it right, it comes back to haunt you. It comes back to crush you."

"Sylvia you're a perfect mother, look how you are with Angela, look how much she loves you. She'd rather be with you, over me - any day."

"Nooo, it's not just me. It's everyone else as well, her father, his family, my kids, my - daughter."

"Even so, she loves you Sylvia. So, uh, I know then it's not about her."

"No."

"Is it, your own daughter, Crystal?"

Sylvia nodded and could not hold back any longer she burst into tears.

"Oh Sylvia, I'm so sorry for prying, oh please don't cry. Wait a minute, let me run and get you some Kleenex, oh Sylvia ... it'll be all right." Deidre tittered nervously, rushing from the room and down the hall to her bedroom, grabbing the box and then dashing back to the room where Sylvia stood sobbing and sucking back, trying to stop it before she found herself unable.

"I'm sorry, please ... this is not your problem and I shouldn't be here laying it on you." Sylvia blew her nose, trying to explain herself.

"Excuse me, but as far as I can see it, this is the least I can do for you. Allow a place for you to get away from it all to just, breathe. To unload when you need to unload, and share with me, anything you wish, I mean that Sylvia. You're always welcome here, whether you're laughing, or, crying." She stood awkwardly by, and then, bent down and gave her a quick hug, so unaccustomed to doing things like that, but she meant it, standing straight again, she pat her shoulder, smiling. "I know how to cheer you up, come on." Deidre turned grabbing her hand and pulled her out of the room and headed down the stairs to her grand lobby where her piano sat. "I'll play the piano for you, have a seat, relax here by the fire and I'll play."

"You can play the piano?" Sylvia asked, surprised.

"Since they could get me to sit on the bench and reach the keys. Relax now, put your feet up, lay your head back and just let me play for you."

Deidre went to the bench, sat and relaxed a bit and then began to play the jazzy version of, 'I can't give you anything but love, baby.' The moment Sylvia heard the first stance, she knew it and popped up rushing to lean on the piano, smiling brightly, "I love that song, I can't believe you're playing that."

"Know the words?"

"I sure do, do you?"

Instead answering her with a yes, Deidre began singing in a very strong Broadway, stage voice, 'I can't give you anything but love, ba-a-aby, That's the only thing I've plenty o-o-of, ba-a-aby - Dream a while scheme a while -..."

"Oh my god! You're incredible, I love it! No wonder your daughter wants to sing! She's like her mama!" Sylvia cheered her. "Have you ever done this with her?" She asked her.

Deidre's fingers froze over the keys in thought, "You know, I never have, she doesn't even know that I can play."

"Oh Deidre! You have to correct that, you have to do this with her, show her this side of you."

"You think she'd like to hear me? I mean, I hated to play when I was little, hated my lessons, I just thought that she-..."

"She would love it! Promise me you will."

"Okay, I'll give it a try, promise. Now come on, sing with me Sylvia! Dry those tears and sing!" She began to play again.

Sylvia laughed out, as Deidre went back to the beginning, and they started together, singing, laughing, doing that song and a few others as well, drawing an audience as they did so. When Jeremiah, Charlie, Samuel, her butler and a few of the house servants entered quietly observing, Sylvia was sitting on the bench next to Deidre; singing an earthy, rendition of Billie Holidays, 'All of me.' - Deidre stopped singing and continued to play because Sylvia's voice was so bluesy and smooth that all she wanted to do was listen. Sylvia's head and shoulders swayed as she sang, her mind so far away from all that had only hours earlier made her feel so low, down and out, now, she sang and for the moment, was on top of the world. Their combination was so amazing with Sylvia ending the song so perfectly to Deidre's last few jazzy keys that their audience clapped and whistled, surprising both women.