Something to Talk About (21 page)

Alicia’s mouth was open and her heart was pounding.
Madre
de
Dios, what a story!

Now
Leah and Jose were listening with rapt expressions on their faces. “Well, I guess you did have an unusual weekend,
chica.
What did Adam say when you told him all this?” her mother wanted to know.

Alicia made a mournful face and scratched the
Westies
in the special spot behind their ears
that they loved
. “That’s the problem,
Mami
.
I didn’t tell Adam. I didn’t know how to tell him, for one thing, and for another, they made me promise not to and you know how I am about a promise. And there’s more; when Benny left town, his mother got so distraught that she committed suicide right in
Idlewild
Lake where her son drowned. Her husband was so broken up over it he sold the club and moved to Grand Rapids where he died of a heart attack a couple of years later,” Alicia said in a sad voice.

“And
to top it all off
, Big Benny finally found out about their deception years later, and he found out in the worst possible way. He ran into that Cassandra woman and he couldn’t forget how heartbroken he’d been, so he let her have it and she told him it was all lies. It was terrible because he was now married to Adam’s mother and had four children, so it wasn’t like they could pick up where they left off. And she’d never married anyone. Benny was the one love of her life and she never had another one. Isn’t that the saddest thing you ever heard?”

Jose looked puzzled and asked how the aunts knew this.

“Because Benny confronted them about it.
He went to
Idlewild
and told them to their faces that he never wanted to see them again and he no longer considered them family and he never went back after that. A mess, isn’t it?”

Leah looked at her husband and back at Alicia. “That’s an understatement, dear. What does Adam plan to do with the information he does have about the family? Is he going to talk to his father about it?”

“That’s the plan. He’s not going to say anything to the rest of the family until he’s talked to his father, but he knows how those old ladies would love to
meet them. They were so excited
Mami
,
you would have thought Denzel Washington had dropped in for tea
They
were so happy to meet him, and so eager for news about the rest of the children. And you know, Benny may have talked a good show about never wanting to see them again, but he sends them money every month so they don’t want for anything. He’s taken care of them in some ways for years, even though he can’t seem to forgive them.”

Alicia continued to stroke the
Westies
while she mulled over what she’d told her parents. “I don’t know if I should say anything to Adam or not
.
It’s
really not my place to bring it up, after all. But on the other hand, I think it’s something he should know. What should I do?” she asked helplessly.

Her father grinned and said, “It’s not your cat,
mija
;
leave it alone.”

Alicia laughed in spite of her distress. When she was a small girl, she had been pestering her mother for a Barbie doll or some such and her mother was staunch in her refusal to buy it for her. Leah was driving down a busy street and Alicia was pouting with a vengeance when suddenly a cat fell out of a tree into traffic. The cat looked dazed for a second, then leaped up and started racing across the road avoiding two cars and dashing under a moving
semitruck
, emerging unhurt on the other side. Leah had gasped and said, “Alicia, did you see that
?  Wasn’t that
something!
”
To which Alicia replied with a small child’s disdain, “It’s not
my
cat.” The phrase had become a family joke.

Jose stood up and leaned over to give Alicia a kiss on the forehead. “It will be fine,
mija
.
You’ll know the right thing to do when the time comes.” He clapped his hands to let the dogs know it was time for their walk, leaving Alicia alone with her mother. She got out of the armchair and went over to the sofa, dropping down next to her for a comforting hug. Leah put a finger under her chin and looked at her full in the face.

“It’s not so easy to say ‘not your cat’ when it’s someone you love, is it?” she said
quiedy
.

Alicia didn’t try to be coy and deny her mother’s words, she just nodded unhappily. “I do love him. I love him so much I couldn’t stand it if he got hurt because of this. I just hate the thought of him being upset over all this, and I know that at some point he will be.”

Leah kissed her on the cheek and gave her another hug. “You always were my sensitive child, the one who would cry when someone else was hurting. I had to stop you
from giving away all your toys because
you were so softhearted and generous. But you can’t prevent the pain, sweetie. Pain is part of being human, part of being an adult; you know that just as I do. He’s going to get hurt, bet on it. But he’ll have you there in his corner to comfort him and give him support and he’ll be just fine.” Suddenly her face turned mischievous and she asked a pointed question. “So when did you two decide you were more than friends, hmm? I’m assuming that this feeling is quite mutual,” she teased.

Alicia smiled happily and leaned comfortably against her mother.
“Very, very mutual.
I’m in total bliss. It’s so wonderful,
Mami
,
I can’t wait to see what happens next.”

Leah surmised that a wedding would be in the works very soon, but she didn’t mention it. “So how did you leave it after the weekend? What are your immediate plans?”

“Well, Adam took me home and said he needed to talk to his dad, so I guess that’s next.”

***

After taking Alicia back to the condo and seeing her in, Adam had kissed her sweetly and told her he’d call her later. He went to the loft first, to take his belongings in and plan his next move. Despite the unset
tl
ing weekend, Adam was a creature of precise habit and he had to take his things in, unpack, dispatch his dirty clothes to the laundry, and put everything away. His orderly mind couldn’t tolerate disorder, and the routine helped him think. He did more talking than thinking on
the way home, which was unusual,
especially since Alicia was uncharacteristically quiet
.
The drive home was much longer than the ride up to
Idlewild
due to the horrendous traffic on 1-75 South. Everyone was headed back downstate after the long weekend and the cars were lined up for miles, barely moving. Adam didn’t mind the traffic, because his mind was so completely on the last couple of days.
 
He had brought with him a big manila envelope of pictures that he promised to have copied and returned.

“Go ahead, dear,” Reba told him. “I’d scan them for you but my scanner isn’t working. I’m going to have to get a new one this week.”

It still knocked him out that his great-aunts were savvy in computer matters. When he told her he’d send pictures of the family, she said he could e-mail them if he had them downloaded to his hard drive. At his look of amazement she’d just laughed. “Yes, dear, we have all the modern conveniences up here, although I know your cell phone stopped working before you got here. There’s only one tower up here and it’s owned by our local company.”

True enough, as soon as they’d reached Chase, Michigan, no cell signal was available or he’d have called home on the spot when Reba found him. As it was, he had to wait un
ti
l he returned to Detroit and now here he was. He finished the last of his compulsive straightening and consulted his watch. The gala cookout should be over, but there were still two things at the Palmer Park house he needed. One was an amazing array of leftover food, and the other was his father. No, make that three things; Benita was sure to be there and he would definitely need to talk to her and his brother Andrew at length. They were the oldest children and he had always conferred with them about anything of importance. He picked up the keys to the Range Rover and headed out the door.

He laughed to himself on the way over, thinking about how easily he’d driven Alicia to the loft when they returned to town. She had looked at him with a puzzled expression when he announced that they were home.

“Um, Adam, this is
your
home. My home is on Chateau
LaFontaine
, or did you forget that?”

The fact was, he
really
had forgotten. He’d been in love with her for so long and she was such a vital part of his life that the new passion they’d shared over the past few days had just served to
imbed her more deeply in his heart. It didn’t seem logical for her to be going somewhere else, sleeping some place other than his arms. He’d rallied at his gaffe, but he knew then and there that they would have to make other living arrangements and soon.

As expected, everything was put away except for the big white tent in the backyard that would be collected the next day from the rental company. He knocked on the back door and then entered, calling out as he did so, “It’s not a prowler; it’s just me.”

Sure enough, the house was still full of relatives, as he’d surmised from the number of cars in the big circular driveway. In short order he was attacked by the BLKs, his nephews Malcolm and Martin, holy terrors belonging to his sister Benita
. They were adorable sturdy littl
e boys with curly black hair and deeply bronzed skin that bore a deep tan all summer long from their endless roughhousing in the outdoors. Their long eyelashes and deep dimples didn’t fool him for a minute; he knew them to be domestic juggernauts whose expl
oits were legendary. As he wrestl
ed with them in the kitchen, their older brother, Clay
ton II
I, known as Trey, joined them. Trey was the image of their father and showed the same kind of laid-back demeanor that was his father’s hallmark.

“What’s up, Uncle Adam?” he said with a smile.

“What’s up
with you, man
? You’ve grown about a foot, man,” Adam said admiringly.

They went into the family room, Trey leading the way with Adam following, burdened with Martin on his back and Malcolm riding one of his long legs. Adam was surprised at the level of intensity he felt in the room. Benita and Clay were there, as well as Andrew and Renee and Donnie, and they all looked serious.
 
Trey
sensed the mood immediately and bullied his brothers into going upstairs to watch a movie with him. They obeyed him instan
tl
y as they were well acquainted with his older-brother methods of ensuring acquiescence.

“What’s going on?” Adam asked.

Benita was the first to respond and she didn’t answer his question, she got up from where she was sitting to give him a big hug. “Adam, sweetie, it’s been too long since I’ve seen you. And you cut your hair! You look so handsome, but I have to say it’s a shock. What made you do it?”

Clay gave a deep laugh and said, “He probably got tired of looking like a hippie, that’s all.” He rose to give his brother-in-law a brief, manly embrace.

“Aw, here
you go.
Don’t even try it;
I still remember the mullet you were wearing when you met Benita. You better be glad she gave you the time of day, bro.”

After exchanging greetings all around, Adam took a seat and repeated his earlier question. “So what’s going on around here? From all the long faces it looks pretty serious. Is someone going to fill me in?”

Odd glances passed among the siblings and finally Benita spoke. “Daddy gave us some interesting news about his past on Saturday and we’re still trying to decide what to do about it. Apparently there’s a lot about his history we weren’t aware of and it’s all coming home to roost,” she said with a wry twist of her mouth.

“That’s a coincidence. I found out some very interesting things myself over the weekend and I wasn’t sure how to bring them up. Looks like this could be as good a time as any.”

“So where were you this weekend anyway? Pop wasn’t too pleased you weren’t here; he wanted to hit all of us with the same bomb at once,” Donnie said.

Adam smiled;
a private smile that was genera
ted by his memories of the erotic
, passion-filled parts of the weeken
d. “I was with Alicia,” he said with an obvious touch of pride
.

Donnie’s eyebrows lifted and he laughed out loud in happiness.

Benita looked from one brother to the other, wondering what they were talking about. “Okay, so you were with Alicia. As I recall, most of your waking hours are spent with her, so what’s the big deal?”

Donnie corrected his sister. “He was
with
Alicia, Benita. The scales have fallen away from his eyes and the shackles from his heart. He and Alicia, if I’m not mistaken,
are
an official couple now,” he gloated.