Hidden Memories (21 page)

“What!”
Her eyes flashed open.

“Get out, Edwinna! I don’t want you.”

“Yes you do, baby. I can see it in your eyes.” She arched her back upward and spread her legs.

“No!”

“Oh, yeah, you’re excited!”

“Get out of my house, Edwinna. Understand me? I don’t want you.” He resisted the urge to yank her off the bed and physically throw her out of his house.

In a haze of shock and disappointment, she regained her senses, her face sinking into a frown. Edwinna reached for her fur coat, lying on the floor next to the bed. As she put it on, she frantically tried to think of something she could do or say that would make him change his mind. “I’ll tell Sage that we had sex, that I was in your bed.”

“Tell her anything you want, Edwinna. But get the hell out of my house! I’m going to change the locks so you can’t get back in here.”

“So you think you’re going to play me like that?” Edwinna asked, moving quickly down the hall.

“You played yourself. I never lied to you or misled you.”

“You’re going to regret this, Ramion. I swear it,” she threatened before opening the front door.

She ran down the stairs, down the driveway and around the corner to her car. Fumbling for her keys, she finally got the door open and climbed inside. She put the keys in the ignition, turned on the car and drove off. She picked up her cellular phone and dialed Savannah’s number.

“He put me out, Savvy. He started to make love to me, but he never intended to finish it. He just wanted to humiliate me,” Edwinna sobbed.

“I told you to leave him alone,” Savannah said.

“I need you.”

“Come on over. I’ll take care of you.”

* * * * *

Fifteen minutes later, Edwinna was ringing Savannah’s doorbell. Savannah opened the door, wearing silk pajamas. Her silky black hair hung loosely down the middle of her back.

“I’m so hurt. One minute he was kissing me, and then he stopped. He played me, Savvy. He humiliated me,” she said bitterly.

Savannah pulled Edwinna into her arms, gently hugging her, and then wiped the tears from her face. She helped Edwinna take off her coat, tossed it on the sofa and led Edwinna down the hall into her bedroom. “I told you, men ain’t shit. All they do is bring you pain.”

Edwinna sat down on the bed, her head hung low.

Savannah stood in front of her and slowly ran her fingers down the sides of her neck and her shoulders. She cupped Edwinna’s chin with her hand and kissed her on the lips. “I know what you need,” she whispered.

Savannah stroked Edwinna’s breasts and then took a breast in her mouth, licking her nipples until the sensation singed the both of them.

Edwinna leaned back on the bed, moaning, “Savvy, Savvy.”

Chapter Eleven

Ramion rang the doorbell at Sage’s house, hoping she would immediately answer the door because it was an unusually cold night for Atlanta, with temperatures dipping into the teens. He’d left his heavy coat in the car and stood at the door with only his suit jacket on.

He impatiently rang the doorbell a third time, wondering if Sage was intentionally ignoring the peal of the bell. He was turning to leave when Ava opened the door.

“It’s about time,” he said, embracing the warmth of the foyer as he went inside.

“Hey, Ramion,” Ava greeted him with a mud mask plastered all over her face.

Ramion stepped back, feigning fear. “A monster!”

“This is how I stay beautiful!” Ava said. “I’m surprised Sage didn’t hear the doorbell. She must be asleep.”

“Well, I’ll go wake her up.”

“The flowers you sent her were beautiful. All the girls in the office were raving.” With one foot on the stair, she asked, “So what did you do, Ramion?”

“What do you mean?”

“Men usually send flowers when they do something wrong. Since it wasn’t her birthday or Valentine’s Day, you must have done something wrong.”

“When did you become such an expert on men?”

“I wasn’t the only one to think that.”

“You clucking hens need to mind your own business.”

“I know something’s wrong. Sage has been so grouchy.”

“I know,” Ramion said. “She’s got a lot on her mind.”

“I knew I was right,” Ava said. “I’ll leave you to go kiss and make up,” she taunted before hopping up the stairs. “Good night.”

“Good night,” Ramion said, heading toward Sage’s bedroom.

Ramion found Sage asleep on the bed, coiled in a fetal position with the comforter tossed across her body. The hunter-green paisley-printed comforter coordinated with the toga valances hanging from the windows and the fabric covering the nightstands. Her laptop computer, several file folders and loose papers were scattered across the king-sized bed. She held an ink pen in her hand, almost touching her face.

Ramion was struck by her beauty, just as drawn to her inner loveliness as her physical appearance. He swept away the hair covering her face and softly kissed her cheek.

She stirred slightly, her eyelids flickering open. “Ramion,” she whispered, when she saw him looking down at her. Feeling tired and disoriented, she closed her eyes again.

“Hi, baby,” Ramion said.

His deep voice always struck a chord inside her, and whenever he said “baby”, it played a melody inside her heart. She opened her eyes again and gave Ramion a soft, sleepy smile. “You woke me up.”

He raised the comforter and teasingly asked, “Do you always sleep with your clothes on?”

“I fell asleep.”

“I can see that,” Ramion said. “You work too hard.”

“I’m guilty,” Sage said with a yawn, stretching out her legs before rising up from the bed. She gathered the files and papers scattered on the bed and closed her laptop computer, placing them on the desk. “The flowers were lovely, Ramion.”

He sat on the chaise lounge across from the bed and removed his jacket and shoes. “You didn’t call me to let me know that you got them.”

“I didn’t want to talk to you.”

“I waited for your call.”

“Don’t even try it, Ramion. You were in court all day.” She gave him a piercing stare. “I didn’t call because I was mad at you. Still am.”

“I know you are. That’s why I’m here. We can’t resolve anything not talking to each other.”

Sage reached inside a dresser drawer and pulled out a knee-length purple sleep shirt. “What is there to talk about? You know how I feel and you know why I feel the way I do, yet you still are going to represent your slimy uncle.” She went into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.

Ramion stood at the bathroom door. “I really don’t know what happened. Parts of your past are closed, sealed tight like a steel drum. You won’t talk about it.” When he heard water running, he moved away from the door.

Ramion stripped down to his underwear and climbed into the bed. He scanned through the channels, looking for local news, not realizing how late it was until
The Tonight Show
appeared on the screen. Checking his watch, he saw that it was 11:45 p.m.

He hoped she would understand his desire to help his uncle. He had given his father his word that he would help Walter, and he couldn’t go back on his word.

Sage came out the bathroom smelling of toothpaste and musk-scented perfume. Arching her eyebrows dramatically, she asked, “Who invited you to stay?”

“Sage, don’t be like that.”

“It’s my bed.”

“Well, if you want me to leave, just say the word,” he said in a defensive tone.

She glared at him for several seconds, then reluctantly said, “That’s okay,” sliding into the bed beside him. “So how are we going to work this out?”

“I don’t know exactly why you feel the way you do.”

Pressing her arm against his shoulder, she said, “Yes, you do, you just don’t know the details.” She looked away from him and was silent for a long time.

Ramion turned down the volume on the television.

“You know my stepfather raped me,” she said, meeting his curious gaze. “You know it hurt me deeply. It was the most devastating thing to ever happen to me. I’ve buried it inside because that was the only way I could survive. I guess you could say that I even tried to hide the memory from myself. I buried it real deep, and I don’t want to dig it up.”

“But it’s coming up anyway, isn’t it? When we were at the restaurant, you had this sad faraway look in your eyes like you were remembering something.”

“Yes, I thought I had this tight lid on my memories. But now the lid’s come loose, and it’s all starting to leak out.”

“Baby, you know I don’t want to cause you pain. I don’t want to do anything to hurt you.” He stroked her arms and entwined his feet with hers.

“I know. At least part of me knows. The intellectual side of me understands that you have to help your family and, in a way, that’s what hurts me the most. My mother didn’t help me.”

“What do you mean?”

“She took my stepfather’s side.” Her voice was rigid. “She believed I seduced Aaron. And I felt betrayed. I
was
betrayed.” Passionate emotions strangled her voice. “I’m her daughter, her flesh and blood,” she said, patting her chest with her hand. A painful lump had lodged in her throat. “But she believed him over me.”

“What else, baby? I know something else happened.”

She bolted up from the pillow and leaned over Ramion. “Don’t you think her betrayal was enough? She threw me out. I was only seventeen. If it weren’t for Aunt Maddie, I would have had no one.”

“I have a feeling there’s more to the story.”

Sage touched her right shoulder, where the ugly iron mark was hidden beneath the short-sleeved gown. “I don’t want to discuss it,” she whispered. “I can’t talk about it.”

Ramion gently stroked Sage’s cheeks and tenderly kissed her forehead and lips. “Okay, but I’m here for you, baby, whenever you want to talk about it.”

“He’s dying, Ramion. He’s dying, and I’m glad. I feel so guilty, especially when I think about Ava. She’s going to be crushed when he dies. So will Aaron. And I want to rejoice with happiness.”

“Ava doesn’t know, does she?”

“No, she doesn’t know what her beloved father did to me.” She paused. “My Daddy used to call me Butterfly, and after he was gone I used to wish I was a butterfly so I could fly away from Aaron.”

“How old were you when your mother married him?”

“Nine. He was okay for a long time. He didn’t start looking at me that way until I was twelve. When I started to develop, that’s when everything changed. He stopped looking at me as a daughter and began staring at me like a woman. I didn’t feel comfortable around him anymore.”

“Nobody noticed?”

“Oh, yes, my mother did, but she pretended she didn’t.” She sighed and leaned her head in the crook of Ramion’s shoulder. “What he did ruined everything. Even my memory of my father.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Aaron made me angry with Daddy for dying, for leaving me. If Daddy hadn’t been killed, then Aaron would have never touched me.”

* * * * *

“I’m exhausted,” Ava complained wearily to Tawny. They stood by the food court of the Georgia World Congress Center surrounded by soon-to-be brides and grooms attending the Bridal Expo. They’d spent the last three hours following Sage through the maze of booth exhibits of wedding gowns, bridesmaids’ gowns, shoes and veils, along with wedding invitations, registry services, catering services and exotic honeymoon packages.

“So am I,” Tawny said, eyeing the tables in the food court, for a place to sit down.

“Oh, let’s grab those seats,” Ava said, pointing to an unoccupied table in the crowded food court, already off to grab the seats before someone else did.

“We’ll be here all day, with Sage talking to everybody,” Tawny said.

“They see that huge rock on her finger and dollar signs appear. Everybody wants a piece of the wedding.”

“At first I thought she was crazy to hire a wedding consultant. An expensive one, I might add,” Tawny said. “But there’s so much to do, I understand why she wanted help.”

“Yeah, and she can’t make up her mind about her gown,” Ava said. With an elbow on the table, she leaned her head against the palm of her hand. “I swear we’ve already looked at a zillion.”

“She’ll probably look at a zillion more before she decides,” Tawny said.

“We’ve got five more months of this madness.”

“So do you really think we can surprise her with a bridal shower? You know how nosy she is. She’ll know we’re up to something.” She slipped out of her black-and-red suede jacket, and said, “I’m burning up in here. I feel like coming out of this sweater,” she said complaining about the green appliquéd sweater.

“I hear ya,” Ava said, as she removed her black leather coat, revealing a blue-jean jumpsuit with silver studs dotting the collar and bodice. Silver earrings and bracelets dangled from her ears and arms. “We’ll just trick her. Tell Miss Planner what day we’re going to have the shower, but give it the week before.”