BOMAW Vol. 10-12 (69 page)

"Why? This is plenty for me."

"And when you're pregnant?"

"Jake!" She gasped, eyes wide looking at him and then gesturing towards Kevin and Paul.

"What?! They know my plans! They're not in the dark, got nothing to hide here. You - need to eat more, that's not enough food."

"I'm just fine Jake."

"And when you're knocked up - then what?"

"Well of course I'll eat more then, but I don't need to right now, do I?"

"My dad likes his women more robust Vivian." Kevin supplied.

"So I've heard." She answered.

"And what's wrong with that?! I don't think women were made to be so skinny."

"I'm not skinny!" Vivian rebuked.

The look Jake gave her stated he didn't agree with her on that, "A woman needs extra because she reproduces and feeds another off of her body, or should."

"Well I'm not reproducing yet Mr McPherson, so there."

"You will be, and soon - and then, I'll expect to see more on that plate."

Vivian looked at him as if he'd lost his mind.

Paul, deciding they needed to change the subject, asked Vivian, "Did dad tell you, Ben got a DNA test, to see if Shawn, or my dad was his?"

Vivian looked to Jake, "Has it come back yet?" She asked gently.

"Yeah ... he's ah, Shawn's."

"Oh baby," She reached over and squeezing his hand in sympathy, "You okay?"

"I have little choice in the matter. What's done is done, he chose Shawn."

"Dad, come on man, he didn't choose, Shawn." Kevin spoke up to defend him.

"Oh yeah, well, where is he now?"

"So what dad, so what! He went to L.A. - it's his life. He didn't choose to make things the way they are, they just are. Why can't you just accept that, you still have me, you still have Paul, or, aren't we good enough for you."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Jake demanded.

"It means your glass is half full dad! Not half empty! You've been moaning about it all the way down here!" Kevin argued.

"Hey, leave him alone okay?"

"I'm just saying, quit acting like you're the victim here dad."

Jake sat stunned, at a loss for words.

"Hang on here, I'm going to have to apologize ahead of time for putting my two cents in, but - he did go twenty-two years being a father to Ben, is he supposed to just turn all of that off?!"

"Well, it depends on what you interpret as, being a father. Let's face it, Quincy in fact, was really our father, you stepped in when it was convenient for you to, when it was fun. So turn it on and off, yeah - he's done it before." Kevin stated heatedly.

"Quit being an asshole Kevin! He was still our father, we always knew who we were and where we belonged! So you're pissed because he loved Ben, and still does! I can't-..."

"Paul - stop. He's had his say - he's right. I wasn't around all the time, not for you, Kevin, or Ben - so ah, I'm the last person who should feel - as he put it, the victim here." Jake's appetite was suddenly gone. They were all quiet at the table. Vivian was steaming. She didn't care how right Kevin was, she didn't care for the hurt on her man's face right then. He was picking at his food, something he never did. To her, that was the equivalent of being gutted. She couldn't help herself, her eyes rolled up across the table at Kevin and the look she gave him was definitely a dirty one.

Catching it, he dropped his fork, "What? So I'm the bad guy now, would you like me to leave?" He asked, his face burning. Part of him felt ashamed for bringing it all up and there before her of all places, and part of him couldn't stop it. They were there for him, why couldn't he just be happy that he had them, he felt.

Answering his question, Vivian leaned forward stating, "Did I ask you to leave?"

"No."

"All right then, when I desire something, I let it be known, I verbalize it, by saying, -
You need to leave.
Since I didn't - it's not required unless
you
wish to do so."

"So what was the look for?"

"You'll have to forgive my look, or not - that's up to you. But I get like that, when I see someone I love, being hurt, kicked in the stomach for being human."

Again, uncomfortable silence at the table once more, "Since I've obviously ruined the meal, I better head out-..."

Jake reached over and grabbed his wrist, "Don't - I don't want you to go..." Jake froze, stuck - unsure of what to say next. His eyes welled up as his jaw tensed.

Vivian couldn't stand to see him that way, rather than go off on his son, she stood and left the room, leaving them to work it out.

Jake's eyes followed her from the room, he took a deep breath, pulling his hand away from Kevin. He looked at both of his sons, "I'm..." His voice broke, "I'm sorry ... I'm sorry - if I could - go back and - undo it - I would. I can't go back." He cleared his throat, looking back down at his plate. "I don't know what else to say, other than - as inept as I was at it - I did and I do ... love you guys. All three of you. It's up to you, if - you wanna go - but you don't have to." Jake turned back to his food, determined to finish it, even if he had to stuff it down his throat. She'd cooked it, and he was eating it. He wiped his hand over his face, to clear it, "VIVIAN! Come back and eat." He called out to her.

Kevin sat a moment, looking at his brother. Paul was watching him, shaking his head, he was not happy. They waited, no Vivian.

Kevin pushed his chair back and went to their room, tapping on the door. "Vivian, my dad - we - want you to come back and eat."

In the room, Vivian sat on the bed, praying for him that they work it out, when he called her, she'd leapt from the bed, checking herself in the mirror. Then came the knock, and Kevin's voice. "Come on Vivian, I'm - I'm sorry for, ruining it, honest - no one is leaving."

Vivian opened the door. They stood, each searching the other. He'd gotten a haircut, she hadn't commented on it when they first arrived. "Nice haircut." She softly complimented to break the ice.

He smiled, running his hand over the back of his head, "Thanks, it was about time."

"It suits you."

"Come back to the table now please? I promise to behave, I act up again, you guys can send me to bed without my dinner." He grinned, his father's grin.

Vivian smiled, "Remember, you said it. Okay."

He stepped away from their door and all went back to eating, quiet, and then Paul, "So dad, we're going by that old man's first thing in the morning? I want to get started right away."

Jake looked up at Paul, smiling, nodding, "Yes son, right away." His eyes went from Paul to Kevin, again he smiled, and last to his fiery dream come true. Their eyes met, he winked.

She winked back.

*

Saturday...

The smell of fresh brewing coffee wafting and tickling her senses made Vivian blink, turn over yawing and wonder what time it was. It was dark in their room. It took a moment for all of her senses to engage, but she could hear the low murmurs of men's voices. She sat up, yawning again, realizing that she was in bed alone. Reaching over, she clicked on the bed side lamp, and looked at the clock. It was 5:30 in the morning. She sat staring at it a moment, still trying to wake up. After a moment sitting and staring, she threw the covers off, climbed out of bed, fingering her afro, pulling on the flattened portions of her hair to re-round it decently. Grabbing her robe off of the chair, slipping it on, wrapping the belt around her waist, she came out of her room and went to the bathroom, still listening to them talk in the other room. After using the toilet, splashing her face, brushing her teeth and fixing her afro, she came out entering the kitchen.

"Good morning, you guys are up early." She smiled.

"Yep, we have a busy day a head of us, I'm fixing breakfast - I find that I do that pretty well." Jake commented from the stove, flipping eggs. Kevin and Paul were already eating theirs. "How do you want your eggs baby?" He asked with a smile.

"I - I have fruit for breakfast on the weekends, I stay away from fatty foods because I'm not active enough to burn it off."

"Oh, you'll be active today. I may need you as my gofer. My suggestion, get some food down'ya'!"

"Babe, I'll be fine. So what's the plan here?"

Paul spoke up excited, "All week from home, I've been on the phone and Internet locating the places where we can pick up materials for little or nothing, even free. Locations where if we go in and clean it up, we can get building materials for free, all we can carry off. I have three locations on here for us to check out this morning. But we have to get moving, because other's may be doing the same."

"Oh, wow ... look at you. Okay then, I should get dressed huh?"

"Yep, get a move on!" Jake called to her.

Vivian went and put on an old pair of patchy jeans, a t-shirt and zip up hoody. Socks, All Star gym shoes and she was ready. In the bathroom, she put her hair into two thick French braids, one down each side. Brushed down a few soft baby hair tufts around the edges, and tucked the braids under. Once more, she looked incredible that way, her face fit pretty much anything she did with her hair. When she came out of the bathroom, "All ready." She announced.

Jake looked up at her, stared a moment and finally shook his head. "You look 14 years old, Vivian."

"No I don't." She denied.

"Kevin, Paul - how old does she look?"

They both looked at her, smiled, "Yeah, you do, you look like a little girl, I would say - 14 too." Kevin agreed.

"Well I'm not!"

Jake shook his head, finishing off his food, "Don't get me pulled over by the police, Vivian, questioning me and why I have a minor in my company, they sure as hell won't believe you're my daughter!" He grumbled.

She laughed, "You need to stop being so crazy,
as if
they'd pull you over. White men can do anything they want to a black girl; now if the shades were reversed, you all my color and me yours, you'd be pulled over baby, lickety split!" She walked to the refrigerator and took out an assortment of fruit to fix in a plastic Tupperware bowl that had a lid to it, attached and hanging off. Blueberries, strawberries, cherries, slices of kiwi, wedges of ripe mango and star fruit, with a banana sliced within, then topped it with fresh, real, plain yogurt. Took her all of ten minutes, including clean up. With a spoon in hand, she turned eating it and stopped, noticing how they looked at her. "What?" She asked the room at large. Neither wanted to make comment on what she'd just said - but there was a sad acceptance from them as they faced that truth.

Jake sighed, avoiding the subject by looking at what she was eating.

"That's not going to stick with you all morning." He warned.

"I'm ready, let's go. I can eat this on the way."

The boys stood, placing their plates in the sink, Jake followed along doing the same with his, still eyeballing Vivian, his focus and disapproval was for her food. She ignored him. They locked up and left in the truck to the places that Paul had found. It took them all morning and most of the afternoon, with two trips that had to be made. The second trip out, they had to ask Lydia for permission to store the materials in her garage. She gave the go ahead after hearing what they were doing. After they unloaded everything, Vivian went into the house, to wash her hands and fix them all a hearty lunch, re-heating leftovers as well as putting a pizza in for the boys. Also, though she played it off, she was ravenously hungry, shaking in fact from all the sorting, picking and loading they did. It was hard work, work that Jake kept telling her to go back to the truck and leave them to do. But she wasn't about to just stand around and watch, so she pitched in and helped where she could. Getting a few splinters, breaking two nails, and almost stepped onto a nail that was sticking up out of a board, which would have gone into her sneaker and thus, her foot if Jake hadn't been watching her and where she was stepping; he snatched her towards him, growling, "In the truck, before you really hurt yourself, we're almost done." Making a face, she finally did what he told her, only because she had run out of steam. Now, that they were back at the house, she was inside laying food out and eating as she went, she was so hungry.

They came in talking loud and happy with what they'd accumulated. They had enough materials to do quite a bit to the man's roof Paul was so eager to fix for him, and a few more if they wished. Vivian laid out the chips, sodas, pizza and leftovers and made a fresh salad to go along with it all as well, between the three, they polished off everything - leaving nothing behind, Paul even carried out one of the bags of chips to eat on the way to the man's house.

She couldn't believe it. Trying to clean up the mess, Jake called to her, "Leave it until we get home later, we'll help you clean up then, come on, times wasting, we need to get by there while we have good daylight time left."

Vivian whimpered, she hated leaving her place in a mess, but she dropped what she was doing and headed out the door, following them back to the truck. They'd packed it up with everything they imagined they'd need for roof repair.