“I told her to get an abortion, I would pay for it and give her some money but she won’t, babe. She won’t do it.”
I was disgusted by him.
“Reese, before you say anything, please . . .” He reached his hand out to take mine across the table. I looked down at what he was doing. I was motionless. “Baby, please tell me you won’t leave me. Please don’t take my family away from me, don’t take my boys. I need you, Reese.”
I didn’t deserve a man like this. I had given him me. I’d been faithful and loyal. I had his back, even when he made me look foolish and this was what I finally got: him having a bastard baby with some chick? And to top it all off, he put me in danger! He didn’t know that chick or any of the others he had been with. He was out there unprotected, doing him, not ever once thinking of me. This was not a marriage. It was a joke! I could’ve caught a disease believing him.
I had to decide what I was going to do about this marriage. Was I going to continue going through all this heartbreak that Julius was causing me? Or was it time to leave him? I sat there and thought back to better times with him, and then I thought about how many years I had been crying from something he had done to hurt me.
I blurted out, “Three years of marriage and this is what I get? What’s done in the dark comes to the light.” I covered my mouth with my hand and realized I had cried almost every day for the last year. Every day there had been some type of problem, infidelity, and issue. Either he was caught cheating, or he was putting me down. Not to mention he had become a control freak. He was never pleased with anything I did. I was always incompetent in his eyes. Nothing I did was good enough for him. I felt like I was in a prison cell in my own house when he was there. I couldn’t cook right, I had a funny look on my face, something was always wrong in Julius’s eyes. We could never just be at peace.
“What you say that for?” he asked, but I never answered.
I realized our life together must come to an end. Julius was not my problem. It was time to get my boys and begin a new life without him.
“Baby? Baby? Answer me. Say something.”
I looked at him, grabbed the water I was drinking from the table, and threw it in his face. “See you in court!”
Chapter 5
In His Arms After All
From the moment I got up to leave the restaurant I was planning my next move. I got in my car and sat there a few minutes, replaying everything Julius had confessed and remembering him crying and hollering my name as I ran out of there. Everyone in the place watched and, I was sure, wondered what happened to the nice young couple we used to be. I caught a glimpse of a couple of the waitresses standing near the entrance whispering. It was awful. I felt so humiliated.
What happened? All I wanted was a happy marriage, a strong bond that nobody could break. I wanted us to trust in each other, and that would make us a force to reckon with. But, after years of trying, praying, and forgiving it was over. I thought Julius and I would conquer the world one day, but I guessed not. I didn’t understand it.
I reached in my purse and grabbed my cell and called my girlfriend from college, Eva. Eva lived in Columbus and she was my best friend. We became best friends in school when Julius and her ex-boyfriend played ball together.
She came from California with her boyfriend. She was a pretty and very smart girl. Tall, brown skin tone, flawless, and always, and I did mean always, wore a good weave. She stayed modeled up, meaning she wore every brand there was that was expensive. From her clothes to her car to her jewelry and accessories, she had it all and never was she seen without makeup, eyelashes. She never had a man who didn’t have a big-bank account and who didn’t spend that bank on her. Material Girl should’ve been her name!
Eva married some big-time attorney. When I heard it, I was not surprised. Any and every guy in college had proclaimed their love for that girl so it was no surprise she had finally been caught. We talked frequently but hadn’t seen each other for about a year.
“Eva, what’s going on with you?” I sadly stated.
“Hey, Reese. What’s goin’ on? Haven’t heard your voice in a few days. Girl, I’ve been calling you, but no luck! Where you been?” She chuckled.
I was silent for a second.
“Reese? What’s wrong? I can tell something’s wrong. What is it?”
I couldn’t pretend anymore. “Eva, I’m divorcing him! He has a baby on the way.”
I heard her sigh out a long, saddened cry for me and what I was going through. “I am so sorry, Reese. Oh, honey, what happened?”
I thought for a minute and remembered something I heard Bishop Jakes say one time; then I blurted it out. “The wedding has run out of wine.” That was it; that’s exactly what happened.
“Huh? What you mean?” she questioned.
I didn’t have any answer for her. All I knew was I was getting my boys and leaving Cleveland today. “I will be in Columbus in a few hours. I have got to get out of here.”
“I understand. Well I’m here. You and my god babies come stay with me,” she demanded.
I could tell she was trying to make me feel better. “I’m okay. Really, I knew something was going to happen. It had to. He has been living so carelessly for a long time.” I looked in my rearview mirror at myself and touched the bags under my eyes with my finger, shaking my head. “It was bound to bite him on the behind.”
“Yeah, you right about that, girl. I just don’t think you need to be alone, Reese. Come to my house. There’s plenty of room.”
I didn’t wanna stay with anybody. I just wanted to go to a nice hotel, order room service, and relax with my boys. Just love on them and hold them. She must have felt me because she didn’t mention it again.
“You got a lawyer? We gonna take that Negro for everything he got!” She screamed through the phone. “I can’t believe him! I’m so mad. I told you not to marry that fool!”
“I know you did, I know,” I agreed.
“Reese, my husband is in the car with me. I’ma put you on speaker so he can advise you,” she said.
I wasn’t ready for that. I had made up my mind to divorce him, but, I didn’t feel like talking to an attorney right then. Eva, however, stayed above it, meaning she was always finding a way to get an increase in revenue. And I knew she knew I was going to get paid! I believed her intentions were good. She didn’t want anything. She just wanted to get him.
Julius and Eva didn’t care for each other. Ever since college they had a problem with each other. Julius would say, “Don’t trust that skank! She will stab you in your back if she could.” Then Eva would come back with some statement about Julius being a dog and how I deserved better. There was a rumor when we were all in college that Julius and Eva had messed around before. I asked both of them and they both denied it. I recalled driving to one of Julius’s practices and waiting outside until they finished.
When he came over to my car I smacked him in the face in front of all his boys.
“You been messing around with my best friend? Huh? Have you?”
All his boys laughed and some hollered out, “Man, you grimy if you did that!”
“Come on now, man,” he answered them. “I ain’t do nothin’ like that!” He looked at me. “Reese, I’m tellin’ you the truth. That never happened and never will! I love you too much to do somethin’ so grimy to you.” He picked me up and said, “Baby, I love you. I would never mess with one of yo’ girls. You got my word on that.”
He put me down, stared me in the eyes, and said, “Reese, for real, yo’ girl grimy. She tried me, babe.”
