Married Men (52 page)
Authors: Carl Weber
“Yeah, well, I changed my mind. Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Wil said sternly.
“Okay man, if that’s what you want. All we gotta do is—” Wil raised his hand, cutting Jay off.
“I don’t wanna know what you’re gonna do. Just do it, okay?” Wil wiped away a tear. “Get my family back for me, Jay. I’m begging you. I don’t care what you gotta do. Just get them back.” Wil grabbed Jay’s arm and started to squeeze until Jay nodded his head.
“Hey, Wil, relax. I’ll take care of it. Trust me on that. But it’s not gonna be pretty.”
“I don’t care if it’s pretty. I just want my family back.”
“Okay, you got it.” Jay patted Wil on the back confidently.
“Thanks, Jay. I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.” Wil finally sounded at ease as he wrapped his arm around Jay and smiled at me. The two of them embraced in a brotherly hug that reminded me just how much we all meant to each other.
“Come on, dawg, what are friends for?” Jay said.
“Speaking of friends? Y’all seen Allen?” I decided it was time to change the subject before our male bonding session had us all in tears. There’d been way too many tears lately.
“No, but I been looking for him,” Wil replied. “I haven’t seen him since I left the church.”
“Me neither.” I was a little worried now.
“You know they still haven’t caught those boys who shot Ma Jackson?” Wil blurted out.
“Well, when they do, they don’t need to send them to jail. Just let me have about fifteen minutes with ’em. I’ll save the city a whole bunch of money on a trial.” Jay slammed a fist against his palm.
“Yeah, just make sure you save some for me,” Wil added. His face was red with anger. “You know they shot her for ten fuckin’ dollars? She went to the ATM, took out twenty, and spent ten on groceries. All she had was ten fucking bucks in her purse.” Wil’s voice was shaking.
“I’ll tell you what. The cops better find ’em before I do,” Jay stated flatly.
“What we need to do is find Allen,” I interrupted.
“I’ll find him. Hold up.” Wil walked over to a group of people and grabbed Rose, who was accepting their condolences.
“Rose, where’s Allen?”
“He’s in the den with the baby.” She pointed to the den. “Do me a favor, Wil. Go in there and make him come out here. All he’s doing is sitting in there talkin’ to himself. I know he’s upset, but the least he can do is come out here and say thank you to these people for bringing all this food. Some of them came all the way from down South.” Wil looked at me, then at Jay. Without saying it, we all knew what we had to do. We had to go in there and show Allen he wasn’t alone. That it was possible to go on with his life now that his mother was gone.
“Yeah, we’ll talk to him,” Wil nodded, then headed for the den.
When we opened the door, poor Allen never said a word. He just sat there in his mother’s recliner holding a framed picture of her in one hand and a manila envelope in the other. I felt sorry for him. He looked like the world was about to come to an end, and I guess for him it had.
“Hey, Al, sorry about your mom, bro.” I grabbed hold of him then let him go, and Jay took my place, squeezing him tight.
“You know I really loved her, right?” Jay sniffled, and Allen nodded.
“She was like a mom to all of us, Al.” Wil wrapped his arms around Allen when Jay stepped away.
“Yeah, I know,” Allen said sadly. He tried to smile, but it just wasn’t working. “She loved you guys, too. She even left you in her will.” He lifted the envelope as the three of us sat down.
“She did?” Jay’s eyes widened.
“Yeah, she did. Three grand each.” I suppose we were all surprised by the news, because none of us said a word until Allen finally spoke.
“I tried to be a good son to her, y’all, but all I ever did was fuck up. She only asked me for one thing before she left this earth and I couldn’t even do that right. Dammit!” He slammed the picture down on the table next to him and the frame broke. Jay and I looked at each other, then at him. As far as we were concerned, he was talking crazy. He’d been a better son to his mom than any of us had been to ours, and Wil made sure he knew it.
“You’re being kinda hard on yourself, aren’t you? You were a good son to your mom. Better than I could ever be.”
“I wish you was right, Wil.” Allen stood up, throwing the envelope on Wil’s lap. He walked over to the portable crib and gently picked up his sleeping son. It was amazing he hadn’t woken up when his father slammed that picture down. “What’s the only thing my ma ever asked me for, Wil?”
He kissed Jonathan then stared at Wil, who shrugged his answer. Wil never even looked up because he was reading whatever was in that envelope.
“What about you, Jay? You remember?”
“I don’t know.” Jay gave him a puzzled look.
“Kyle?” He looked at me and I ran my finger over my mustache. Truth is, I didn’t know what he was talking about, but after watching the way he held on to his son, I decided to take a stab at it.
“She always told me she wanted a grandchild of her own.” I had to chuckle as I thought about how Ma Jackson used to always bitch and moan about not having grandchildren. “Y’know, I think she was jealous that we all had kids and you didn’t.” I looked at his boy and smiled. “Thank God she had a chance to spend time with Jonathan before she passed.”
“Yeah, too bad he’s not her grandchild.” He let out a pathetic laugh and my smile became a frown. I couldn’t believe he’d just let that shit come out his mouth. If I didn’t know he was grieving, I swear I would’ve smacked the shit outta him right there. ’Cause there was no need for him to talk about his mother or his son that way.
“Look, Al, I know you’ve had a rough couple of days, but that shit ain’t funny.” I tried to control my attitude, but it wasn’t easy.
“Do I look like I’m laughing, Kyle? I love this boy.” The sarcasm was gone and his voice was dead serious now. He kissed the baby again then looked at us solemnly. I’m sure he was seconds away from tears. “I love him, but he’s not my son.”
“Yeah, right. Then whose kid is he?” Jay laughed sarcastically. I shot him a dirty look, hoping to shut him up, but there was no need. Allen took care of him with a sharp tongue.
“He’s got a better chance of being your son than mine, Jay. Didn’t you have a cousin that died of sickle-cell?” I still didn’t have a clue about what he was talking about. I watched him place the baby back in the crib then wipe away tears.
“Allen, what makes you think he’s not your son?” I sat back in my chair, confused but willing to listen.
“I don’t think, Kyle, I know.” He swallowed hard and took a deep breath before he explained the events that had unfolded at Johns Hopkins Hospital the day of his mother’s death. The way he told the story there was no doubt in my mind he was telling the truth. But even so, I couldn’t help but peek in the crib and look at the baby to search for some resemblance to Allen. I mean damn, shit like this didn’t really happen, did it? Besides, how the hell did Rose think she was gonna get away with something like this? Sooner or later the truth would have to come out.
“Wait a minute, let me get this straight. You don’t have the sickle-cell trait at all?” I could hear the frustration in Wil’s voice as he looked at Allen, then back to the papers he was holding.
“Nope, and they must’ve tested my blood five times.” Remarkably, Allen looked like he felt better now that he’d gotten this off his chest. I guess that was his first step toward healing, ’cause all of a sudden he looked much closer to his old self.
“This is unbelievable,” Wil groaned. He lifted his head from whatever he was reading, and I’m not sure if he was talking about what Allen said or about the papers in his hand. “Okay, so he’s not your biological son. What are you gonna do now?”
“He’s gonna kick that bitch Rose to the curb, that’s what he’s gonna do!” Jay jumped up out of his seat.
“No, Jay, he’s not gonna kick her to the curb.” Wil shook his head at Jay. “He’s going to think this whole thing through like an adult. That’s what he’s gonna do.”
Jay twisted his face. “What the fuck is there to think about, Wil? The baby’s not his!”
“Kyle, will you please talk some sense into this guy?” Wil looked at me for support, but this time he was on his own, ’cause I agreed with Jay. No way in hell would I stay with a woman after she did some shit like this.
“Sorry, Wil, but he’s right.”
“No, he’s not, Kyle! You need to read this.” Wil slapped the papers he’d been reading across my chest then walked over to Allen, who was trying to settle down the baby. He’d started hollering when Jay screamed. “You really love him, don’t you, Al.”
“Yeah, I do. That’s what makes this whole thing so fucked up. She don’t give a shit about him.”
“Don’t worry, man, we’re gonna get through this. We just gotta be there for each other.”
“Holy shit!” I screamed. “Is this shit for real?” I waved the papers in the air.
“Yep,” Wil frowned. “Now you see why I said we have to think this through.”
“Damn, what the hell was she thinking about?” I sighed.
“What are y‘all talkin’ ’bout?” Jay demanded.
“Ma Jackson. She left Rose a two-hundred-thousand-dollar life insurance policy.”
“Get the fuck outta here. Ma Jackson wouldn’t do that.” Jay snatched the policy out my hand.
“Yes, she would. I was there when she signed it.” All six of our eyes were on Allen as he began to pace the room, holding the baby.
“Why would you let her do a dumb thing like that?” I was pissed. No wonder Rose was so eager to put on a first-class funeral for Ma. Once it was over, she was gonna get paid 200 gees and maybe more if the double indemnity clause kicked in.
“At first I thought it was a bad idea too, and I fought Ma on it. I swear I did, but then she gave me this speech about the baby needing security in case something happened to me. And about how she would have never made it if it wasn’t for the life insurance policy she had out on my dad. Then she started to go into this whole thing about cancer running in my family and about how my dad died so young, and his father died young. After a while, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Rose was about to be my wife. Why shouldn’t she have security?” He continued to pace, then laughed out loud. “Funny thing is, after we found out Jonathan had sickle-cell, me and Ma had a long talk at the hospital. Ma was real pissed off that Rose had gone outta town and wouldn’t come home to be with Jonathan. She swore up and down that she was gonna have that policy changed to my name first thing Monday morning.” Allen stopped pacing, then looked at us sadly. “I guess she never got around to it.”
“Damn, Al, what you gonna do now?”
Allen smiled evilly.
“First I’m gonna make sure she spends every dime of that insurance money before I divorce her ass.” He kissed the baby. “Then I’m going to figure out a way to get her to sign away her parental rights. I’m not gonna let her get Jonathan. She doesn’t deserve him.”
“Amen to that,” I whispered, my eyes opening wide as a thought came to mind. “Hey, Allen, you sure Ma was robbed?”
“Yeah, that’s what the cops told me.”
“Why?” Wil folded his arms, studying my face as if he was trying to read my mind.
“No reason,” I sighed, shaking my head. I tried my best not to make eye contact, but he wasn’t going for it.
“No, Kyle, why?” He wouldn’t stop staring at me.
“It’s nothing, Wil. Look, I don’t wanna start no shit. We just buried Ma.” I gave him a look to end the conversation, but he didn’t take the hint. Now Allen and Jay were staring at me too.
“No, it’s not okay,” Wil insisted.
“Look, Kyle, if you know something, I wanna know what it is,” Allen demanded.
“Look, man, it’s probably nothing, but did you ever think of the possibility that Rose might’ve had something to do with your ma’s death? I mean, two hundred thousand is a lot of money.”
“To be honest with you, Kyle, I did. I even went to the police and told them about the policy.”
“You did? What’d they say?” Jay was all up in it now.
“They said they appreciated the information but they were sure that this was a robbery-related shooting and that there had been at least three other killings or robberies of elderly women in Ma’s neighborhood in the last few weeks.”
“Then how come they haven’t found them yet?” Wil demanded.
“Well, I guess that takes Rose off the hook—” A loud crash interrupted what I was about to say.
“What the fuck was that?” Jay shouted. A few seconds later, Allen’s cousin Malcolm popped his head in the door.
“Yo, Jay, that girl you came here with is out here fighting,” Malcolm laughed, and I could see the embarrassment on Jay’s face.
“Shit!” Jay ran out of the room, followed by Wil. I was about to follow them myself when Allen grabbed my arm.
“I need to talk to you about something.”
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