In Times of Trouble (22 page)

Lisa hung up the phone, horrified.

“Was that Chanelle?” Olivia seemed on edge.

“No, it was my nephew, Bryan. He said that Callie's in the hospital. She tried to commit suicide.”

“Oh my!”

“I-I need to get there as soon as possible.” Lisa pulled out the iPhone that Olivia had given her last Christmas and frantically searched for her boss's number. “I'll call and leave Neil a message. I'll call Megan, too. Hopefully, she can handle things while I'm gone. I need to get out of here. I don't know how I'm going to tell Mama about this. She's already worried to death about Chanelle and now Callie. . .It seems like my family is suddenly falling apart,” she cried.

Olivia reached across the table and grabbed her hand. “Why don't you go talk to your mother now. Don't even worry about calling Neil or Megan. I'm going in for the board meeting in the morning so I'll talk to both of them for you.”

As tears dripped onto her friend's hand, Lisa smiled. “Thanks, Liv.”

“Now go 'head and get out of here. I'll call you tomorrow.”

Lisa took her friend's advice and ran out of the restaurant. Already in a panicky state of mind, Lisa called RJ and asked if he'd come with her to her mother's house, sharing with him for the first time Callie's positive diagnosis in addition to the details of Bryan's call. RJ stepped up to the challenge without hesitation, meeting her at her home. They then rode to her parents' apartment together.

As expected, her mother broke down in tears when Lisa disclosed Callie's secret and suicide attempt. “You were right about Marvin all along, Mama,” Lisa admitted. For years, their mother had professed that Marvin was “different.”

“I wish I wasn't,” she sobbed uncontrollably. Lisa watched as her father held back his own grief and wiped her mother's tears. He appeared gentle, not at all like the alcoholic monster that had beaten her to a pulp.

From what Lisa was told, he had been sober since the incident last summer and was even attending church with her mother. Time would reveal if, in fact, he really had changed.

Escorted by RJ to the airport, Lisa and her parents were on the first available flight out to Sacramento that same evening. “Will you call and let me know how she's doing?” RJ asked.

Lisa nodded affirmatively.

“If I hear anything else from Chanelle, I'll tell you.”

“Thanks for everything.”

It was extremely late when their plane arrived, so instead of taking them to the hospital that night, Bryan took them all to Callie's home where they planned to stay. The three-hour time difference between California and Ohio had already taken a toll on Lisa's parents and they were soon off to bed, but Lisa and Bryan stayed up to talk for a while in the living room. Though Lisa was only about seven or eight years older than Bryan, they
really weren't all that close, more likely because of the geographical differences than anything else. That night they both needed emotional support and thus, leaned on each other.

Bryan, who lived almost six hours from Sacramento in L.A., had been notified of his mother's suicide attempt by EMS. Apparently the mailman had spotted her seemingly lifeless body through the window. “I had no idea that she had even come back. I would call her cell phone and she pretended to still be in Ohio with you. I just feel so bad. I should have made it a point to contact you on a regular basis, but Mom was so adamant that no one knew about her condition I was afraid I'd somehow tip you off.”

“It's not your fault. I should have been more attentive. I picked up funny vibes with her, but I've been so wrapped up in my own affairs that I sort of just ignored her. I mean, I prayed for her and all, but I never really sat down and gave her the attention that she probably needed. The night before she left we got into this huge argument and, in the heat of the moment, she told me that she was HIV-positive. I woke up the next morning and she was gone. I've been trying to call her ever since, but she wouldn't answer my calls. In retrospect, I should have called you as well, then you would have known that she was back and maybe this whole thing could have been avoided.”

She and Bryan continued talking about Callie for a while, both feeling at fault. Lisa finally broke the cycle when she asked him how his wife, Tyra, and their baby girl, Naomi, were doing.

“Naomi's great.” His face shone with pride as he pulled a picture of her from his wallet. Lisa's heart melted at the photo of the newborn dressed in a “Daddy's Girl” T-shirt. “This was taken the first day we brought her home from the hospital. She's ten weeks now. Tyra's got some new photos of her. She was supposed to have sent them off by now. Did you get one?”

“No, not yet. I did get one of the newborn pictures taken at the hospital. By the way, thank you for that.”

“No problem. I'll remind Tyra to send you a recent one.”

“When are they coming to see Callie? I'm looking forward to seeing Naomi in person.”

Bryan sucked his teeth. “I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. Honestly, Lisa, Tyra and I have been having problems.” Pain peered through his eyes as he shared how Tyra insisted that Callie leave their house because she didn't want her to spread HIV to the baby. “I couldn't believe how ignorant she acted.”

“It boils down to a lack of education.”

“No, it was stupidity. The doctor even told her that there was no risk to the baby, but she listened to her ghetto cousin's boyfriend who said he saw on the news how this woman got HIV from drinking from a glass that an infected person had recently drank from. The glass had been washed, but supposedly traces of HIV were still on the rim.”

“That's ridiculous. By now everyone should know that HIV can't be contracted that way.”

“I tried to tell Tyra that, but she wouldn't listen.”

“Give her some time; she'll eventually come around.”

“We'll see. I need to call her. Part of me feels bad because I was pretty mad at her when I found out about Mom's suicide attempt. I really let her have it and I said some horrible things.”

“Your emotions were running high. I'm sure when you call her she'll understand.”

“Anyhow, the last thing you need to hear right now is about my marital woes. Congratulations, by the way. Mom told me that you are engaged.”

Lisa laughed. “Boy, do I have a story to tell you.”

Amazingly, Callie was in good spirits the next morning and pleasantly surprised to see Lisa and their parents since Bryan hadn't told her they were coming. After tears were shed and “I love you's” exchanged, Callie asked for the latest update on Chanelle. Eventually everyone settled in for what could be considered a “normal” hospital visit, under the circumstances. Their mother fussed at Callie for not eating, Callie complained about the hospital food, Lisa maintained the peace between them as best she could, and Bryan and their father talked about everything from sports to politics.

The next day was much of the same and on Thursday, Callie was released. Lisa had planned to go home first thing Saturday morning, but her parents were staying another week. Concerned that she hadn't really gotten any alone time with her sister, on Friday Lisa asked Bryan to take her parents out for a while so she and Callie could have some time together.

Callie was sitting on her bed reading her Bible when Lisa walked into the room. “You got a minute?” she nervously asked.

“Of course, I do. What's up?”

“I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for everything that I said to you the night—”

“Girl, don't even worry about it. I said some harsh things myself, so I'm sorry.”

Lisa bent down to hug her. “I love you, Cal.”

“I love you, too.”

Seconds passed before their embrace ended. “I'm sorry for being so consumed with my life that I haven't been there for you. I love you,” she repeated, making no effort to mask her quivering voice. “I will never let you down again.”

“Girl, stop getting all mushy on me and making promises you won't be able to keep,” Callie teased, but Lisa saw the water in
her eyes. “Chances are you will let me down again, and I you, because we're human. But more than that, we are sisters and that's a bond we've both foolishly disregarded.
I
never want that to happen again.” She smiled and her tears finally fell.

“Ditto,” Lisa said in agreement. “So, then can we call a truce?”

“Yes, of course,” Callie beamed, wiping her cheeks. “Now that we both got that off of our chests, what's up with you and Eric? I noticed you're not wearing your engagement ring. What happened?”

Callie laughed until she cried as Lisa unfolded the tale of Minister Eric Joshua Freeman and his mother, Mrs. Henry Freeman. Lisa had never told her sister about how her trip to Sandusky, Ohio to meet Eric's mom went. It seemed like each time Lisa told the story about Eric flipping out on her, the funnier it got. She and Callie laughed so hard that their stomachs hurt. “Oh my goodness,” Callie continued bursting with laughter. “Can you imagine what he must've been like as child? That man didn't become crazy overnight. This has been a long time coming, and I'm sure it was his mother's fault. Somebody ought to put Precious and his mama on medication.”

In all thirty-eight years of her life, Lisa could not recall a single time when she and her sister had shared such a joyous and intimate moment. “I'm going to make it a point to get out here and visit more often,” she said.

“I was just thinking the same thing.”

“I still remember the day Mama and Daddy brought you home from the hospital. I was like ‘Finally! I have a sister.' My only regret was that they waited until I was nine to have you. It would have been nice for us to actually go through the same stages of life together. Regardless, though, you were my pride and joy. Somewhere down the line, life started getting hard for me and I got bitter. I think in many ways I resented you because you were
everything that I didn't think I was. You were,
are,
beautiful—so slender and thin; and I'm so wide and fat. You seemed to have everything and I had nothing. The more life kept screwing with me, the more I resented you. I wanted children so bad, but because of what happened, I was unable to have any; and you were pregnant with Chanelle by age twenty.”

“Girl, Bryan adores you.”

“I know. . .and I him. For years, I'd dealt with the fact that my life was what it was and I moved on, but finding out I'm HIV-positive was a blow that even I wasn't ready to take. It definitely came from left field.”

Callie began sharing with Lisa about the day her world fell apart. That day she had had a full teaching schedule. She had been at the college since seven that morning, lectured in five classes, and still held office hours for students who wished to speak with her.

It was about six in the evening when she left the campus. It was days like this when Callie appreciated all the more living within a ten-minute drive of the college and being able to take the back roads instead of the congested freeway.

“Let's have breakout sessions on various topics like single parenting, ways to enhance your marriage, life after menopause, etcetera,” she'd brainstormed aloud to Sister Ellis, her co-chair for the church's Women's Retreat, while in route.

“That's a great idea! There are going to be women from all walks of life attending. It will be better for us to offer enough workshops that will minister to various needs. Do you have any speakers in mind for these sessions?”

“Yeah, I do, but I'm going to have to call you back. I just got home and I have company waiting for me.”

Callie pulled into her horseshoe-shaped driveway, parking
behind the gold Chevy Avalanche that belonged to her late husband's best friend, Kelsey. He was sitting on her front steps when she got out. “Hey, Kelsey, I haven't seen you in a while. Come on in. What brings you by?”

Kelsey didn't budge. “I need to talk to you about Marvin.”

Kelsey had taken her husband's suicide as hard as she did. He and Marvin had been friends since shortly after she and Marvin married. Having no family of his own, Kelsey had been adopted into theirs. “What about him?”

“I think I know why he killed himself.”

Sweat immediately broke through her pores and her heartbeat flared up. Marvin's suicide note left no clues and the haunting question of “Why?” had been nipping at Callie's conscious and unconscious mind. “What are you talking about?”

Kelsey chewed his bottom lip before speaking. “I think he was positive?”

His explanation didn't immediately register in her mind. “Positive
about
. . .”

“Positive like in test results. I think Marvin had HIV.”

Callie shook her head in disbelief. “Kelsey, why in the world would you make such an accusation? His death has been hard enough on me without factoring in this insane possibility.”

“Callie, listen to me. I recently found out that I'm positive and I haven't been with anyone else since Marvin died.”

Dizziness immediately began to circle around her. She willed her mind steady enough to ask for clarification. “Please say you're not telling me what I think you're saying? That you and Marvin were—”

“In love. . . We were for many years. He could never find the courage to leave you because of Bryan. I was faithful to him, but it's obvious that he wasn't to me. He wasn't to either one of us.”

Hearing the word “us” brought with it so much pain that Callie physically became ill. She couldn't believe that she and this man, whom she'd welcomed into her family, had intimately shared her husband. She leaned over in the bushes to vomit as thoughts of the countless fishing trips and hunting getaways Kelsey and Marvin took several weekends a month filled her head. What she had thought were general male-bonding outings had most likely been homosexual
Brokeback Mountain
rendezvous. The more she recalled the many nights she'd slid into lingerie to properly welcome her husband back home, not knowing that he'd already given or received of the same, the more her stomach ached and the faster its contents hurled from her body.