Gold Hill (45 page)

Captain Ferguson turned in
place and walked back into the station.

“
I’m not leaving without
Yvonne,” Rodney said.

“
Our best chance of
helping her is by getting to the meet up,” Colin said.

“
He’s right,” the lawyer
said. “The only reason they would have kept us in that room is if
that’s where they wanted . . . no
needed
us to be stuck
right there. We can do more if we’re out of here.”

Rodney thought for a
moment. He looked from Colin to the lawyer and then
nodded.

“
Let’s go,” Colin
said.

~~~~~~~~

Friday mid-day — 12:05
p.m.

“
Delphie?” Her voice
slurred by her wired jaw, Tanesha wasn’t sure if Dephie had heard
her.

“
Tanesha,” Delphie yelled
into her cell phone.

“
Are you yelling?” Tanesha
asked. “Is everything all right?”

“
Oh.” Delphie chuckled. “I
always forget how these things work.”

“
I thought I would call
you
first
this
time instead of . . . worrying,” Tanesha said. “Are
my parents home yet?”

“
No,” Delphie
said.

“
Are they in
trouble?”

“
At this moment?” Delphie
sighed. “No.”

“
But they’re going to
be?”

“
They might be,” Delphie
said. “This is another one of those situations Tanesha where things
can go one way or the other. Your mom and dad have roles to play
here. They have to do their part. No one knows what will
happen.”

“
Oh,” Tanesha
said.

“
I’m sorry, I know it’s
not what you want to hear.”

“
Are they going to be all
right?” Tanesha asked.

“
I hope so,” Delphie said.
“And you should too. Those words, the ones in a traditional
marriage ceremony, ‘What the Goddess has joined together, let no
man tear asunder.’ They fit for your parents. We must trust the
Goddess to avenge their love.”

“
Trust,” Tanesha said.
“I’m not very good at that.”

“
I know,” Delphie said.
“Me too. Anyway, finish up. Jeraine will meet you at your last
class. Try not to dilly dally and come straight to the
Castle.”

“
Why?”

“
I don’t know,” Delphie
sounded amazed. “Honestly, I don’t have any idea.”

“
Sounds like things have
turned for the better.”

“
I think they have,”
Delphie said. “Gosh, I need to get going. So much to do! See you
soon.”

Tanesha looked at the phone
when the woman hung up. Shaking her head slightly, she went to find
a place to lie down before her next class.

Chapter Two Hundred and
Fifteen
Yvonne

Friday mid-day — 12:05
p.m.

Yvonne looked up from her
crocheting. She glanced at her lawyer and the agent standing near
the door before turning her eyes on the young people in front of
her. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been in this room, but she
could tell that it had been a while. They were starting to get
nervous. Something had slowed down the progress of their
plan.

If she was going to get
them out of here, she had to start now. It was time to work on her
young captors.

She shifted to look at her
lawyer. Samantha Hargreaves was beautiful and knew it. Yvonne
remembered meeting her father and mother at a fundraiser when she
was a secretary for the DA. This woman had clearly received the
best from both of her parents – looks, smarts, strength. Yvonne
could feel Samantha’s strength of will and her intelligence. And,
while she looked very pregnant, Yvonne bet she was the kind of
woman who looked farther along than she was. Like all newly
pregnant women, Samantha kept touching her belly as if to say ‘My
goodness, I’m big!’

“
How far along are you,
Ms. Hargreaves?” Yvonne kept her voice sweet and non-threatening.
“You look like you’re due any day.”

Samantha looked up from the
papers she was reading. She gave Yvonne a quick assessing
look.

“
Next week,” Samantha
lied.

Yvonne could hear the lie
but knew the young people would miss it.

“
It’s very possible I
might have the baby in this room,” Samantha looked at the young
people.

“
And the father?” Yvonne
provoked the agent to see what he’d do. “I bet he’d be pretty mad
if you had your baby without him.”

“
Sperm donor,” Samantha
said.

“
It’s hard to find a good
man,” Yvonne said.

She glanced at the handsome
agent. He nodded to her as if he agreed with her. Something about
the nod encouraged Yvonne to continue.

“
Do you think you’ll have
more children, Mrs. Smith?” Samantha asked.

“
Can’t,” Yvonne said. “Mr.
Alvin got so angry the first time he showed up and I was having my
monthly. He beat me and had me anyway, hurt me so bad my keeper had
to take me to some white doctor. He paid that doctor to take out my
uterus right then and there so that Mr. Alvin wouldn’t be troubled
by my monthly.”

“
I thought he wanted you
to have his child.”

“
Oh no,” Yvonne chuckled.
“That man would never let me have another child. No way. No how. A
child would take away from the time I should spend with him. Such a
needy man. Always wanted this or that, something special for this
day or that day. After twenty years, you’d think he’d run out. But
he always found another humiliating way to get his needs
met.”

Still watching the young
people, Yvonne turned her attention back to her crocheting. Her
best chance was to turn the women to her side. She saw one of the
women shift her head as if she was listening to them.

“
I was only eighteen when
I had Tanni,” Yvonne said.

“
Eighteen?” Samantha
asked.

“
We got married young,”
Yvonne said. “I guess I wasn’t yet twenty when Rodney was taken and
Alvin forced himself on me the first time.”

“
Sounds
horrible.”

Yvonne calculated what
story would wake up these girls. She couldn’t lie. They’d spot a
lie. No, Yvonne had to tell the absolute truth, and not be a whiney
victim, for these children to see that they were on the wrong side
of this.

“
The first time, second
time, hundredth time – always horrible,” Yvonne said. “He had to
break me down so that I would do what he wanted. Tanni was there. I
feel the worst about that – the things he did to
Tanni . . . ”

To Yvonne’s surprise, the
young man looked up at her. Keeping her eyes on her crocheting,
from the top of her eyes, she saw his face shift from passive to
curious. One more step.

“
He would trick me into
thinking I’d gotten away,” Yvonne said. “I’d move to another motel
or stay with a friend. I thought I was safe, but if I left her for
even a moment to use the toilet or get some ice
or . . . He was there to hurt her. Every job I took,
he’d find her while I worked. Got to the point that I had to choose
– keep her safe or work. The worst thing was he told everyone, even
my momma, that I wanted to be a prostitute, chose it.”

She gave an indignant snort
and turned her full attention back to her crocheting. Time to back
off a bit or they’d catch on to her game.

“
He sure knew he had to
break me down,” Yvonne said. “Growing up in Alabama, we saw it a
lot. People break down cows or horses
or . . . ”

“
People,” the agent said.
“I saw it done growing up in Queens. Break their will.”

“
That’s exactly right,”
Yvonne said. “Break them down; take away their will, so you can
control them. A broken cow doesn’t give great milk, but she is
passive. That’s what he wanted. Well, what he really wanted was for
me to love him, but that wasn’t ever going to happen.”

Not wanting to push, she
fell silent and focused on her crocheting.

~~~~~~~~

Friday mid-day — 12:45
p.m.

“
Hi,” Jill said when Jacob
came into the loft. She’d been reading by the gas fireplace in
their living area. “What are you doing home?”

“
Making sure you didn’t
run off with some prince,” he smiled and she laughed.

“
Would you like lunch?”
She got up to hug him. He kissed her and they held each other.
“Lunch?”

“
Sure.”

“
Why are you here?” she
asked.

“
Oh right,” Jacob smiled.
“You wipe every thought from my head.”

She smiled and walked to
the kitchen.

“
The stained glass guy
left a message saying the windows were done,” Jacob
said.

“
Jim?” Jill asked. “I
didn’t know we had any orders out with him.”

“
That’s what I said when I
called him back,” Jacob said. “It’s for the chapel.”

“
The chapel?” Jill asked.
“Wow, I forgot all about it.”

“
Me too,” he said. “I
mean, it’s gone back together one tiny piece at a time.

“
Floors, walls, light
fixtures . . . ” Jill counted on her hands.
“Wow, I guess you’re right. I guess I thought you had more to do
there.”

“
I thought you had more to
do there,” Jacob said. “And it was one thing after another, one
more thing to wait for.”

“
Crazy,” Jill shook her
head. “Sandwich? Soup? Salad? What sounds good?”

“
You?” Jacob smiled. She
hugged him.

“
I thought Jim was
coming,” Jill said.

“
Jim came and went,” Jacob
said. “I’ve never seen a team put in windows so fast. They put them
in, added the extra pane to support and protect the new windows,
and were gone in less than a half hour.”

“
I’ll call Rosa and ask
her to clean,” Jill said.

“
Rosa was waiting for me
in the kitchen,” Jacob said. “Delphie called. Told her that I
needed her help. She’s cleaning the chapel right now
and . . . ”

“
MJ and Honey’s home,”
Jill said. “We’re done with that too?”

“
By tonight,” Jacob said.
“I just have to put the showerheads on.”

“
Wow,” Jill said. “They’ll
be thrilled.”

“
Rosa’s cleaning there
too,” Jacob said. “I asked her to put sheets on the beds and
towels. They should be able to sleep there tonight.”

“
Just in time for their
baby,” Jill said. “That was really nice of you.”

“
I figured it was my mom
who made it work out.”

“
Well, you did the
work.”

“
I’m merely a slave to the
women in my life,” Jacob bowed and Jill laughed. “You seem less
miserable.”

“
One week down, seven to
go,” she said. “Plus, there’ll be a wedding tonight.”

“
God, I hope so,” Jacob
said.

“
How about lunch?” Jill
asked.

“
Sure,” Jacob
said.

Jill easily made sandwiches
and fruit. He carried them out to the small patio off their
bathroom which overlooked the garden. For the next hour or so, they
had lunch and enjoyed the day.

~~~~~~~~

Friday mid-day — 12:45
p.m.

“
And Tanesha, Mrs. Smith?”
Samantha broke the silence. “What does she think?”

“
She doesn’t blame me for
what happened,” Yvonne’s lovely face flushed with emotion and her
eyes welled with tears. “She’s . . . my Tanni,
she’s . . . ”

Yvonne fell silent while
she sniffled. While she was upset about Tanesha, and did think she
was an amazing child, Tanesha would kill her for fussing like this
in front of strangers.

“
Wait,” one of the young
women said. “You’re Yvonne Smith. Is your daughter Tanesha
Smith?”

“
That’s right,” Yvonne
said. “I call her Tanni but I’m the only one who does. Do you know
my daughter?”

Smiling, Yvonne dared to
look in the woman’s face for the first time. The young woman
glanced at the woman seated next to her.

“
Is she married to Jeraine
Wilson?” the other woman asked.

“
That’s right,” Yvonne
said.

The women glanced at each
other.

“
So she’s Misty?” the
first woman asked.

“
Her Daddy called her
‘Miss T’ when she was a baby,” Yvonne said. “Jeraine, why he’s my
friend Dionne’s baby. He used to touch my belly and say, ‘I can’t
wait until your baby is born.’ Her Daddy would say, ‘Why is that?’
Jeraine would say, ‘Cuz she’s gonna be my best friend.’ Gosh,
Jeraine must have been three years old.”

Yvonne laughed.

“
He was the cutest child,”
Yvonne said.

“
But now,” the woman said.
“Is she Miss T now?”

“
Oh,” Yvonne said. “I
don’t know. I don’t remember things very well now. I hurt myself to
get Mr. Alvin to stop raping Tanni
and . . . ”