Lost Daughters (22 page)

V
IRGIL CALLED MAUREEN BACK A FEW MINUTES LATER. “CORRINE WAS
close by so I couldn't say much,” he explained, taking a long pause before continuing. “I been real worried about you ever since I told you what I . . . you know . . . about what Mama Ruby done.”

“I was hopin' I'd wake up this mornin' and realize that everything you told me yesterday was just a bad dream,” Maureen told Virgil with a dry laugh. “If you took it all back and told me that it was a joke, I'd believe you. We'd never mention it again.”

“Everything I told you was the truth, Mo'reen. You know I don't play games. At least none this damn serious.”

“I know you don't, and I'm sorry I even thought this was a joke at first.”

“I wish to God it was,” Virgil said firmly. “I . . . I just need to know one more thing, though.”

“What?”

“Do you not want to talk about this again, or is this somethin' we need to talk about from time to time? Another thing I thought about was, maybe you should do what Jay done. If he ever takes one of them publishers up on a book deal, he'd be set for life. I'm talkin' about some real big money. Think about it.”

Maureen gasped. “You mean I should think about goin' public? I thought we both agreed not to tell anybody else.”

“I know we did, but if you change your mind ten years from now and want to do newspaper and radio interviews or talk shows, the media folks might not be interested. I wouldn't want you to hold that against me because I told you we shouldn't tell nobody. I know that a lot of people would love to hear about what happened to you. Look how they all over Jay. Maybe you should strike while the iron is hot.”

“Oh HELL no!” Maureen said quickly, looking around to make sure Loretta and Mel were not close by. “I don't want a bunch of meddlesome reporters and other busybodies all up in my business like they are with Jay. Not after the way it's messin' with his mind.”

“Well, I guess I can understand why you don't want this made public. Besides, your life
and mine
would never be the same again if you do that.”

“That's already the case,” Maureen pointed out. “Even with just you and me knowin', our lives won't ever be the same again, Virgil. We have both been livin' a lie all this time!”

“Yeah, I guess so. We can't change that. Anyway, it could cause problems between me and Corrine. Me not tellin' her before now wouldn't sit too well with her. What about you gettin' some coun-selin'?”

“I'm not crazy,” Maureen quickly insisted, sounding offended. “I can handle my case on my own.”

“I sure hope so, Mo'reen. I wouldn't know what to do if you lost your cookies and ended up in some asylum.”

“Well, with the Lord's help I won't.”

“I didn't want to bring this up, but we need to look at this from every angle.”

Maureen hesitated for a few seconds. “What other angles do we need to look at this from?” she asked, her voice low and weak.

“Well, Mo'reen, I don't know much about the law in a situation like this, but the man could come down real hard on me, you know.”

“
You
didn't kidnap me!”

“It don't matter. I knew about it from the get-go. Yeah, I was a child myself when it happened, but some sharp prosecutor might find some kind of loophole that'll cook my goose for good. After everthing I been through already, all I want is a peaceful life. So . . . I'm happy that you don't want to go public with this.”

“Virgil, I'm goin' to be just fine. Please don't worry about me.”

Maureen was glad that Virgil couldn't read her mind. Maybe it would have been better if he had not told her about her kidnapping after all, she thought. What if this situation eventually made her snap? Oh what a mess Mama Ruby had created and left for Virgil and her to sort out! Even from beyond the grave, Mama Ruby was wreaking havoc in Maureen's life. But, Maureen reminded herself, would she even be alive if Mama Ruby hadn't kidnapped her? She could have perished in that fire with Othella's other kids. No, she wasn't going to go crazy over this. She couldn't bear the thought of being put into an asylum and leaving Loretta and Mel to fend for themselves. How would they get along without her?

“Well, if you ever change your mind about gettin' some professional help, I'll be with you all the way. If you don't mind me sayin', it probably wouldn't hurt. If I had not talked to a couple of professionals about that mess I went through in 'Nam, I might be in a nuthouse by now.”

“Well, if I ever do think that I need some help, I'll get it.”

“You didn't answer my question regarding us not talkin' about this ever again. Do you want to talk about it every now and then?”

“Virgil, I can't answer that right now. That's somethin' I need to think about some more. But . . .”

“But what?”

“If somethin' happens to you or Corrine, or Mel, or Lo'retta, I won't have anybody else in the world. No family. I don't remember much about the kinfolks in Louisiana that Mama Ruby took me around when I was a little girl. But maybe . . .”

“Listen, I really think we should take a trip to Louisiana as soon as we can. You feelin' all right about things right now, but who knows how you'll be feelin' down the road. Gettin' more familiar with your real mama's kinfolks might do you a world of good,” Virgil suggested.

“Yeah. I need to do that for my own peace of mind, I guess.”

“You remember Cousin Lee? You met him when Mama Ruby took you to Louisiana that one time when I was in prison in 'Nam. The last time I talked to him, he told me that one of his friends is married to one of Othella's nieces. Guess what? Her name is Mo'reen too.”

“I remember Lee all right. If I don't meet any of the other folks, I'd like to meet his friend's wife. Us havin' the same name must mean somethin', huh?”

“It must,” Virgil agreed. “I'll make our travel arrangements as soon as I can.”

The following morning, shortly after Virgil got out of bed, he called the airline. He wanted to keep things moving rapidly so he wouldn't change his mind. He made reservations for himself and Maureen on the first available flight from Miami to Shreveport, which was the following Friday evening.

 

“How long will you and your brother be in Louisiana?” Mel asked. He stood by the bedroom window drinking from a can of beer as he watched Maureen pack her suitcase.

It was a few minutes past 8:00 p.m. the night before her trip. Maureen had eaten dinner with Mel and Loretta at a nearby Italian restaurant. She had not felt like cooking since Virgil had dropped that bombshell on her a few days ago.

“This trip is kind of sudden,” Loretta commented, sitting on the side of Maureen's bed with her freshly waxed legs crossed. “I thought all of our folks back there died a long time ago.”

“No, we still have a few that are livin',” Maureen said to Loretta. Then she turned to Mel. “I'll just be gone for a few days. I don't even have vacation or sick leave accrued at the nursin' home yet, so I won't get paid for the days I'm gone.”

“Baby, we are not hurting for money. Your salary is pocket change compared to what Loretta and I are bringing in,” Mel said with a smirk.

Maureen was proud of the fact that her daughter was making so much money, even more than Mel. Loretta was not only generous to her, but also she put most of her earnings in the bank in a joint savings account that she shared with Maureen. What Maureen didn't like was that Mel often rubbed it in her face that her daughter was the main breadwinner in the house. Because she had too much on her mind right now, she didn't respond to the tacky remark he'd just made about her salary, but she did give him a look that was stern enough to make him flinch.

“I didn't mean anything by that,” Mel said, laughing nervously.

“I know you didn't,” Maureen said in a python's whisper that made Mel's spine tingle.

Loretta didn't even notice the tension in the room. “So what's wrong with this sick cousin in Louisiana?” she asked Maureen, curling a lock of hair around her finger. “Is he goin' to die and leave us a bunch of money or somethin'?”

“Cousin Lee is not dyin'. And he's only forty-one but he thinks he's a old man so he wants to see me and Virgil before it's too late.” Maureen looked at the floor before continuing. “Even after he passes, I don't think he has anything to leave anybody anyhow. Like you need it!” Maureen teased, tossing a pillow at Loretta. Then she gave Mel a serious look. “You can send Lo'retta over to Catty's house if she gets on your nerves or if you need to go out of town or somethin'. Fast Black said you can send Lo'retta to her house, too, if you need to.”

Mel was amused by what Maureen had just said, but Loretta was absolutely horrified at the thought of spending one minute alone with either Catty or Fast Black. “I wouldn't be found dead in Catty's house or Fast Black's!” Loretta said through clenched teeth. “Now, Mama, you ought to know better. You know I can't stand either one of those two heifers. All they do is gossip and stir up mess in other peoples' lives. I wish you would find some better friends and get rid of those bad news bears anyway.”

“Lo'retta, I was friends with those ‘bad news bears' before I gave birth to you,” Maureen declared. “I love them like family. I love all of my friends, and if you don't have friends worth lovin',
you
need to find some new friends.”

“I guess that means you love Jay, too, huh?” Loretta teased.

“What's that supposed to mean?” Maureen asked. She didn't want to look at Mel to see his reaction, but she heard the exasperated groan he let out.

“Jay's your friend too,” Loretta quipped.

“Yes, Jay is my friend and I care about him a lot,” Maureen said, slamming her suitcase shut. She left the bedroom in a huff, but Loretta and Mel stayed behind. They didn't speak until they heard Maureen turn on the TV in the living room.

“You didn't have to say that about Jay,” Mel told Loretta, shaking his finger in her face. “That's so not cool!”

Loretta dismissed his comment by placing one hand on her hip, rotating her neck, and snapping her fingers ghetto-style. “You're her husband. You need to be a little more concerned about her relationship with another man. Or do you
still
not care that Mama is not in love with you?” There was a devilish gleam in her eyes.

“I don't care what she says or does. She does care about me . . . in her own way,” Mel grumbled.

“So do I. I will show you just how much I care about you as soon as she leaves tomorrow,” Loretta said, grinding her groin against Mel's.

M
AUREEN HAD SPOKEN TO JAY ONLY ONCE SINCE HER MEETING WITH
Virgil in Ronnie's bar. Jay had told her that another one of his “long lost relatives” had contacted him and had already booked a flight to pay him a visit, which he was not looking forward to.

Jay also told Maureen that he planned to visit his hometown within the next few days. He wanted to know more about his roots and what effect his true identity might have on his future. She was glad that their trips were happening around the same time, but she was not happy they were happening for basically the same reason. She couldn't tell that to Jay, though.

Maureen had told Jay the same story she and Virgil had concocted to tell everybody else: They were visiting a sick cousin in Shreveport. That was all they needed to know. Her moving forward with her life was going to be difficult enough. Even though she was happy to hear that she had a real family, she was concerned about what else she might find out once she met them.

She didn't sleep much the night before her trip. She had so many things on her mind to sort out she didn't know where to begin. One was that she was concerned about her future with Mel. He was her husband, but she couldn't tell him what Virgil had told her and that bothered her. What if Virgil got drunk or loose-lipped during one of his Vietnam flashbacks and told Mel everything that he had told her? Maureen shuddered just thinking about that scenario. Would Mel want to stay married to a woman with that kind of baggage?

Another reason Maureen couldn't get to sleep was because Mel felt obligated to make love to her before she left to go on her trip—even though she had tried to get out of it by claiming she had a headache. But he was horny and Loretta was on her period, so he whined until Maureen gave in.

After Mel had rolled over and gone to sleep, she got back out of bed and went into the living room. She sat on the couch in the dark for two hours. She wanted to cry some more, but for some reason the tears wouldn't come. She was sad, but she also felt somewhat like a prodigal daughter. She was going “home” . . . but to what? Her answer to that question was to get a better understanding of the biggest mess that Mama Ruby had ever initiated.
Mama Ruby, I'm so sorry. I know you didn't ever want me to know that you kidnapped me, but I'm glad I finally found out. Now I know just how much you really loved me and why you was so damn determined to keep me to yourself.
Maureen sniffed for a few seconds before she resumed her thoughts about Mama Ruby.
I hope you can hear my thoughts because I want you to know that no matter what happens when I meet Othella's folks, especially the one with the same name as me, it won't change how I feel about you and Virgil. You and him will always be my family. Nothin' in the world is ever goin' to change that
.

When Maureen returned to bed, the last thing on her mind before she fell asleep was the fact that Mel was so understanding about her going out of town without him. He had even encouraged her to stay as long as she wanted. She promised herself that she would be extra nice to him when she returned. She would cook all of his favorite meals, buy him some new camera equipment, and make love to him like she'd never made love to him before. She would even organize a romantic getaway and treat him to a weekend in South Beach. Mel would enjoy that and it would certainly lift her spirits. She knew that her relationship with Jay could go no further, so she had to make do with the man she'd married. If Mel left her someday, she could live with that, but she would never leave him.

 

Even though Maureen was glad that she and Virgil had occupied different rows on the plane, she held his hand in the cab from the airport to Cousin Lee's house in Thelma City, the same district in Shreveport where Ruby and Othella had grown up.

“This place looks the same as it did when Mama Ruby brought me here when I was a little girl,” Maureen said, looking out the window with misty eyes.

“I wouldn't know. After Mama Ruby left home, she kind of drifted away from her family. She didn't even write to them much until after I left for the army,” Virgil responded with a sad look on his face. Maureen had not seen him smile since before his confession in Ronnie's bar. “If some of Mama Ruby's family hadn't come to Florida for her funeral, I probably never would have made this trip. This will be my first time visitin' Louisiana.”

Maureen gave Virgil a thoughtful look. “Virgil, one thing I don't understand about Mama Ruby is, if she was so into family, how come she didn't visit her folks more often, or write letters to them on a regular basis, or even make me and you do so? You would have thought that she would take a trip home at least once a year.”

Virgil shook his head. “Mo'reen, Mama Ruby had a whole lot of demons on her back. She knew she had done wrong by takin' you. She wanted to isolate herself from the people who might figure out what she done. Besides, knowin' the way Mama Ruby's mind worked, she didn't want to be nowhere near the place your real mama came from and where you had blood relatives. It would have been too much for her to deal with emotionally. She didn't want nothin' or nobody to come between you and her.”

“Tell me about it,” Maureen quipped.

“She didn't ever want to let you go, not even to have a life of your own.”

“Tell me about that too. I will never forget the way she carried on that day I finally moved out of the upper room. Yellow Jack was drivin' me to Miami. Mama Ruby chased that old car of his, runnin' behind us up the hill like a wild woman.” Maureen paused and shook her head. “She wanted me to spend my whole life sleepin' in that lumpy bed in that damn upper room. As long as Mama Ruby was alive, I was not goin' to have a normal life.”

“Well, Mo'reen, you can have a normal life now,” Virgil assured her. “I don't like to get too personal, but I advise you to have some more kids. I would like to know that you will have more family in Florida, especially after I'm dead and gone. . . .”

“I wish you wouldn't talk like that!” Maureen hollered. “You ain't but forty-seven years old. You ain't goin' no place no time soon. You might outlive me! As far as me havin' more kids, well, I've been thinkin' about that myself. I'm goin' to talk to Mel about that one day before I get too old. I'm sure Lo'retta would like to have another siblin', especially a sister.”

“So would I,” Virgil rasped. “Another sister, too, I mean.”

“Well, brother, it's too late for you to get another sister.” Maureen smiled so hard her cheeks ached.

 

Lee Sampson, the son of Mama Ruby's deceased older sister Flo-dell, strolled out onto the front porch of his two-bedroom house as soon as Virgil and Maureen piled out of the cab. Maureen squinted her eyes to look at her “cousin.” With his graying hair and heavily lined face, it was no wonder he thought he was so “old,” Maureen thought to herself.

“Virgil? Oh Lord! Boy, it's good to finally meet you! And, Mo'reen, you done growed into a fine-lookin' woman!” Lee said, looking her up and down, amazed at how well she had filled out—and that all of her body parts were still where they were supposed to be. It was the same way he had looked at her the last time she saw him, the day he had shown her eight-year-old eyes his smelly thirteen-year-old penis and made her touch it. “My, my! It's so good of y'all to come visit me! Every time I thought about comin' out to Florida to visit y'all, I got a new ailment.”

“You look mighty fine and healthy to me, cousin. As robust as a ox!” Virgil exclaimed. He set his suitcase on the ground, gave Lee a bear hug, and clapped him hard and repeatedly on the back.

“Well, I was lookin' better last year before I had my gall bladder removed. As soon as I recovered from that, I had a mean bout with hemorrhoids big as a hen's eggs. Then I had shingles for a spell. After that I had a mild stroke, as y'all can see by the way my jaw is all twisted up. It's a wonder I'm still alive!” Lee enjoyed talking about his various physical malfunctions and was sorry that he didn't have a few more to report.

“I think you look fine now, too, Cousin Lee,” Maureen lied. Lee was one of the homeliest creatures she had ever laid eyes on. He was built like a toad and he had large bulging eyes and a jawline that resembled a lantern. Maureen was surprised to hear that he had been married four times. However, he must not have been the lover he thought he was because none of his wives had remained with him for more than a year or two. Now he was all alone with just an overweight hound dog to keep him company.

“I hope y'all hungry. I got a possum bakin' in the oven,” Lee said, licking his lips.

“I'm glad to hear that. All they served us on the plane was some pretzels and soda pop,” Maureen laughed, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, looking over Lee's shoulder wondering when he was going to invite them into the house.

“Pretzels? Now that's a damn shame! I don't know what this world is comin' to,” Lee snarled. “Well, I'm goin' to feed y'all like kings. Possum today, pig ears tomorrow, and hush puppies with every meal, includin' breakfast. Virgil, you can sleep on the couch in my livin' room. Mo'reen, you can sleep in my bed. I'll sleep on a pallet in my back bedroom since I ain't got no bed in there no more.”

“We won't be here but a few days. We can go to a motel. I saw quite a few on the way from the airport,” Virgil said, looking to Maureen for confirmation. She nodded.

“No way,” Lee insisted. “This might be the last time we see one another for a while, and I ain't goin' to let y'all out of my sight much while y'all here.”

“Excuse me, cousin. I don't mean to be antsy, but do you mind if we go in the house and sit down? That plane ride, and havin' to change planes twice, was so long and uncomfortable,” Virgil said, forcing out a heavy sigh and a yawn.

“Oh! Y'all come on in the house!” Lee hollered, snatching Maureen's suitcase out of her hand. “I'm so happy to see y'all I forgot my manners.” He gently kicked open his front door and waved Maureen and Virgil into his living room.

Lee set Maureen's suitcase on the floor and motioned for her to sit down on his plaid couch. As soon as her butt hit the seat, Lee plopped down next to her with his arm around her shoulder. Virgil fell into a wobbly bamboo chair facing them. “Girl, you look like a film star! Diana Ross better watch her back!” Lee boomed, looking at Maureen like he wanted to eat her. “I bet you have to beat the men off with a stick. I bet you got dudes comin' in the front door and dudes goin' out the back door at the same time!”

Maureen shook her head. “Not since I got married,” she said, smiling shyly. “I'm a happily married woman,” she added with a proud sniff.

“That don't mean nothin' when it comes to romance. I was a happily married man to four different women, but that still didn't stop other women from chasin' after me,” Lee boasted. “I'm a rare man. No matter how old or afflicted I get, women can't leave me alone.”

“You said in your last letter that your wife ran off with a musician a few months ago,” Virgil reminded.

“That heifer sure did! She snuck her funky tail off one day while I was on the lake fishin'. She didn't even leave me no note and she didn't even take all of her clothes. I was beside myself. For all I knew, that hussy had been kidnapped—”

“Well, I hope you didn't take her runnin' off too hard,” Virgil interrupted.

Maureen shuddered.
Kidnapped
was the last word she wanted to hear right now. It had become the most frightening word in the English language to her. From the grimace on Virgil's face, he must have felt the same way about that word too. If he had not cut Lee off, Maureen would have done it herself.