Changing Faces (22 page)

“Do you want me to pull in behind him?” Whitney asked when we were in front of his house.

“Absolutely,” I said, and then opened the car door as soon as she stopped.

My future husband stepped out of his vehicle and I could tell he wanted to die.

“What’s going on, Cameron?” I asked immediately, and then saw a gorgeous white woman and two handsome little biracial boys getting out on the passenger side.

Cameron dropped his head and didn’t answer me.

“Cameron? Did you hear what I asked you? What the hell is going on here?”

“Cindy, please take the boys in the house,” he said.

“Why?” the woman asked. “And who is this person?”

“This
person
is the woman Cameron has been dating for the last two years and who he has finally decided to marry,” I said.

“Cindy, please,” he said. “Take the boys in the house and I’ll be in there in a minute.”

The woman clearly wasn’t happy about this whole scenario but she closed the car door and led her children into the house the way Cameron had asked her to.

“Taylor, why don’t you sit back in the car so I can talk to you,” he said. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“Excuse me? No, Cameron. I want to know who that woman is and I want to know right now.”

Whitney came up behind me and rested her hand across my back, I assumed supporting any weakness I might experience.

“Tell me, Cameron!” I screamed.

“She’s my wife, Taylor. Okay? She’s my wife and those two boys are my sons.”

“What?” Whitney and I both mouthed the word in unison.

“It’s true. We separated over two years ago but we never got divorced. And then on Thursday she brought the boys here to see me.”

“She brought them from where, Cameron?”

“Seattle.”

“You know what?” I said, raising my hand. “This is way too much for me to deal with. This is crazy,” I said, laughing like a lunatic because it just seemed like the only plausible thing for me to do.

Then I turned toward Whitney’s vehicle and told her I wanted to leave.

“Taylor, I’m really sorry, but I have to think about my boys,” he said, trailing behind me. “They’re eight and nine and they’ve gotten to an age where they really need me.”

I was so close to using the F word that I could hardly stand the temptation. But instead, Whitney helped me into the car and then went around to the driver’s side. Cameron was still yapping, trying to make me understand, but Whitney drove away in a hurry.

She went straight to the restaurant as planned but we never said a word to each other. I was sure she wanted to ask a few questions but didn’t know how, and I was still trying to recover from the shock. I’d been standing right in Cameron’s driveway and had seen his little family, but I still didn’t want to believe it. Yes, it was true that I’d started thinking that he might be up to something, but a wife and two children had never entered my mind. There just hadn’t been any reason for me to think that way, so I hadn’t. Call me naïve, but how does any woman suspect that the man she loves is already spoken for when she’s had a key to his house and car the whole time? And the killing part was that he’d never gotten any strange phone calls whenever I’d visited him. Although now that I thought about it, Cameron was famous for forwarding all of his calls to voice mail, claiming that he didn’t want to be bothered with sales calls—specifically in the evenings and on the weekends, all the times when I was there with him.

My God, what a mess this day had turned out to be.

But as bad as it was, I still asked myself that dreadful question.

What could possibly happen next?

Chapter 31

C
HARISSE

C
HARISSE SAT
on the end of the pew, trying to stay involved in the service, but she was having a very tough time doing so. Brandon and Brianna were sitting right next to her but she was starting to feel like she was the only person sitting in the church. Partly because she’d been in such deep thought ever since the start of devotion and partly because her mother’s voice kept drowning out everything.
I wish you had been the one who had died and not my sweet Johnny
. Charisse heard the words over and over, time and time again, and they wouldn’t stop. No matter how she’d tried to ignore them. And then there was this thing with Whitney. The argument they’d had on Friday as well as the one they’d had in Taylor’s room yesterday. It had seemed as if Whitney couldn’t wait to get something started and it was the reason Charisse had left when she had. Charisse had decided that she couldn’t and wouldn’t stoop to Whitney’s level at her own place of employment.

But on top of that, there was still the whole Marvin factor. This whole idea that Marvin had pulled rank on her, had moved out of their bedroom and was still threatening to call Mattie Lee. It was almost as if he’d become obsessed and even intrigued by his ability and willingness to blackmail her. But then Whitney was doing the same thing as he was. Her fat ass was threatening to tell Marvin about that thing Charisse had done fourteen years ago, one year after she and Marvin were married. No one knew about that, not even Taylor, and now Charisse was sorry she’d ever confided it to Whitney. But the thing was, Charisse had never thought in her wildest imagination that Whitney might find the courage to deceive her. It just hadn’t been something that Charisse had expected to happen, and now she knew that she’d terribly underestimated Whitney. It was the reason Whitney was on her list of people to take care of, the same as Marvin and her mother.

Although the problem she had was figuring out whom to deal with first. She’d played some ideas and scenarios around in her head, trying to organize her agenda, but she still didn’t know exactly where she should begin. So, once again, she laid the facts down in order. Whitney was threatening to tell Marvin some things that he would never forgive Charisse for and that would definitely force him to go to her mother. Marvin, on the other hand, was threatening to tell her mother about the way Charisse had treated her brother and also about that insurance policy. But her mother had ruined her life since the day she was born. So, now she wondered if it was better to start from the top and work her way down or do it vice versa. She just couldn’t be sure one way or the other. Although she had to admit she was leaning toward handling Whitney right away because it would buy her some time with Marvin. If she could silence Whitney, Marvin would have no urgent reason to do anything foolish. He would keep what he knew to himself and would continue using it as a means to control her. But then there was the fact that she wanted so desperately to yank him down from his high horse. She wanted to show him who he was messing with and that she really could make life unbearable for him. And in all honesty, the only thing that had stopped her up until now was the compassion she had for her children. She just hadn’t been able to see taking their father from them. Not when they loved him so much. But now that was basically the least of her worries. She’d decided that she was all her children really needed. And now that she and Brianna were building a more solid relationship, Brianna probably wouldn’t care what happened to Marvin. Maybe at first, but eventually she would learn to adjust the same as all children did when divorces occurred. And of course, Brandon had always been a very strong individual. Even from the time he’d been born, he’d shown a certain level of strength and confidence about himself. So, there was no doubt that he would be fine in the long run.

Charisse abandoned her thinking and looked over at her daughter and son, who were sitting next to her. They looked so happy considering they knew their parents couldn’t stand each other and that was even more confirmation that they didn’t need Marvin. It was confirmation that maybe he should be the prime target because what good would Whitney’s news be to him if he was gone?

But then again, she couldn’t simply let Whitney get by with the way she’d been speaking to and disrespecting her. Charisse had never allowed or taken that kind of treatment from anyone except her mother, and she was at the point where she was going to stop her mother from belittling her, too. It had gone on for much too long and it was finally time she had a talk with her mother. Charisse was the only child her mother had left in this world and the only person her mother could depend on. That is, besides Charisse’s father. So, maybe it was just a matter of Charisse going back over to visit her mother and then apologizing for everything she’d ever done. She would apologize for everything she’d done as a child and even for situations that had happened over the last few years. She would explain that she was going to be a much better daughter and how she would make her mother proud. She would make her more proud than her sweet Johnny had done.

As soon as they’d left the church grounds and started on their way, Brandon and Brianna began laughing about one of the church members. Brandon was in the backseat and Brianna was sitting in the front with her mother.

“B, did you see that humongous hat that woman sitting in front of us had on?” Brandon said to his sister, who was cracking up.

“I could barely see Pastor Damon when he got up to preach. And it was some ugly orange color, too,” she said.

“She looked like some overgrown pumpkin,” Brandon said, heartily enjoying his own joke.

“And she even had the suit to match it.”

“Mom, I sure hope you don’t make us sit in back of her again,” Brandon said.

“It’s not nice to leave church badmouthing people,” Charisse said.

“I know, Mom, but you know she needed to quit with that outfit.”

“Still, it’s not nice. God doesn’t want us criticizing or judging other people. Right?”

“Right,” he said.

“Pastor Damon gave a good message this morning, didn’t he, Mom?” Brianna said.

“That he did,” Charisse answered, but she knew she hadn’t heard more than a couple of words of it. Although she did know the subject of what he’d been preaching about because he’d told her about it yesterday morning. She’d gone to meet him at his condo right after she’d left from seeing her parents, and they’d had another memorable sexual encounter. Pastor Damon had yelled out some ungodly words, right when he’d had his orgasm, and he’d told her that it was time they saw each other on a regular basis. He’d told her that he was willing to make time for her whenever she needed him to and that all she ever had to do was call him. But Charisse had told him in no uncertain terms that it just wasn’t going to happen. She’d told him that every now and then was still the proper protocol and that was all she’d ever be able to commit to. He hadn’t seemed too satisfied, but Charisse knew he would get over it eventually.

“What are we eating for dinner?” Brandon asked.

“What do you want?” Charisse said.

“Can we go to Applebee’s?” Brianna chimed in.

“Okay.”

“What about Dad?” Brandon asked.

“I’m sure he’s probably already eaten,” Charisse said, and she could tell Brandon was disappointed.

“I’m sorry that things are not good between your father and me, but it won’t always be this bad. There will come a time when you’ll get used to the way life is for us now and you’ll be just fine.”

“But can’t somebody help you with your marriage?” Brianna wanted to know.

“There’s counseling, but right now your dad doesn’t want to do that. He did once upon a time, but he’s not interested in that anymore,” Charisse said, figuring it was time she started blaming Marvin for everything. It was time she turned the children completely against him so they wouldn’t miss him when he was gone.

“Well, maybe if you ask him again?” Brandon begged. “Maybe if Brianna and I ask him, too, he’ll go.”

“I don’t think so,” Charisse said. “Your father has decided that he doesn’t want me anymore and there’s nothing any of us can do about that.”

“But Daddy was always so in love with you, Mom,” Brianna said. “He always did everything you told him.”

“I know, but now he’s changed,” Charisse said, deciding to take her plan even further. “And as much as I hate saying this, your father is the reason you and I weren’t getting along with each other.”

“Why?” Brianna said.

“Yeah, why?” Brandon added.

“Because he had me thinking that Brianna didn’t like me and that she wanted Taylor to be her mother. He used to tell me that all the time, even when Brianna was a baby.”

“He did?” Brianna said.

“Yes. And the other thing he’s doing is trying to turn your grandmother against me, too.”

“Is that why she doesn’t like you?” Brianna asked.

“That’s part of it. Your father never liked Mama, and because I stayed married to him, she started hating me for it. But I stayed with him because I didn’t want the two of you to have to be without your father.”

“I can’t believe Dad!” Brandon said. “And I can’t wait until we get home.”

“No, honey. For now, this has to stay between the three of us. We have to stick together until we figure out what move he’s going to make next.”

“Like what, Mom?” Brianna asked. “What do you think he’s going to do?”

“Leave us for another woman and take all the money we have in the bank.”

“I hate him!” Brandon said. “I hate him for doing this to you, and now I know why you used to treat him so badly.”

“I’m sorry that we’ve both made your lives so unhappy,” Charisse said.

“But it’s not really your fault, Mom,” Brandon hurried to say.

However, Brianna didn’t say anything. Meaning it was pretty evident that it would take a few more dramatics and a few more lies to convince her of whose side she should be on. But Charisse had no problem waiting. As a matter of fact, it was the least she could do.

Charisse drove a few more miles and then turned into Applebee’s parking lot. The place was packed but so would most other restaurants in the area be at this time of day. So, they got out of the car, got in line, and were told there was a forty-five-minute wait to be seated.

As they stood there, Charisse decided that after they ate, maybe she would take the children by her mother’s house the way her mother had asked her because it would also give Charisse an opportunity to talk to her. Her mother sometimes treated Charisse just as horribly in front of the children, but it was never as bad as when Charisse came to visit without them. Charisse wasn’t sure why, but Mattie Lee did love her grandchildren. Which was strange coming from an evil woman like her, but she cared about them a great deal.

Then again, nothing was normal when it came to her mother. Never had been and probably never would be, but Charisse was still going to try to make peace between them. She would try to build a new relationship with Mattie Lee the same as she was now doing with Brianna.

She would try because it was the one thing she had always wanted from her mother but had never gotten.