When a Man Loves a Woman (Indigo) (17 page)

A.J. nodded as his mind flashed back to that afternoon in his kitchen.

“Well, Valerie mentioned the name Gotti to me,” Zach told A.J. “I’d heard the name once when DEA brought Oakland police on the case. I contacted Agent Givens, and we figured the ringleader had to be located somewhere here in Oakland. The problem was figuring out exactly who Gotti was.”

Agent Givens nodded. “After Lieutenant Tate informed us of this, it was actually his suggestion to stage Valerie’s death, but only if we could guarantee him that she could get into the Witness Protection Program. We pinned our hopes on the fact that if the ringleader found this out, that they’d surface sooner rather than later. Valerie’s in the program now and there are only a handful of people outside of this room that know she’s still alive.”

A.J. chuckled. “But Zach, you didn’t find out about Jenkins’s car until after you decided to fake Valerie’s death, right?”

Zach chuckled and shook his head sideways. “Actually I knew ’bout it before then. Everything you and Baby Girl witnessed that night at the hospital, brother-in-law, was staged. Wouldn’t never thought about faking Valerie’s death until I found out about ya plan to fake a quarantine with Baby Girl here.” His gaze drifted to Vic. “And then y’all decides to up and elope, and Caitlyn ups and wants to host the shower for you, and include Valerie.” He shook his head. “Y’all threw my timing off. We’d planned to stage Valerie’s death the day after I found out you and brother-in-law had eloped.” He chuckled out loud and slipped his thumbs underneath his suspenders. “This here is one time I’m glad my baby talks a lot.” He thrust his chest out proudly. “She keeps me informed.”

Agent Givens nodded. “I’d already been ordered by Jenkins to kill Valerie and had to stall until your shower was over. After Lieutenant Tate told us you planned to surprise Valerie by bringing her children to see her, I couldn’t spoil that reunion. Later that night, we put our plan into action.”

“And Valerie,” Vic said anxiously, her gaze going back and forth between Zach and Agent Givens, “Valerie’s okay, right?”

Agent Givens nodded and smiled. “Mrs. Baptiste, she’s wonderful. It took a lot of courage for her to do what she did.” She glanced between Vic and A.J. “If the two of you hadn’t shown her the support you did, I doubt she would have ever agreed to this plan. But once she knew her babies would be taken care of, she agreed without hesitation.”

Vic extended her hand to Agent Givens. “Thank you so much for helping out Valerie.”

Agent Givens nodded. “Thank you for helping us crack this case,” she replied, winking at Zach, “even if it was a little unorthodox.”

“Well, Zach,” Vic said, after Agent Givens left the room. A long rush of breath escaped from her mouth. “Baptiste and I are in the wrong profession. Maybe we should come to work for you.”

Zach shook his head. “Uh-uh. Right now the only place the two of y’all is going is to a jail cell.”

“What?” Vic exclaimed with her hands on her hips.

“Zach,” A.J. pleaded.

“Nope,” Zach said, shaking his head. “Neither one of y’all is gonna get any pity out of me today.” He looked sternly at both Vic and A.J. “Brother-in-law, I warned ya to stay out of this and let me handle it.” He tossed a sharp look at Vic. “And you. When ya called me all frantic and told me what ya had discovered brother-in-law was up to, I told ya to stay home and don’t move. But do the two of y’all listen to me?
Oh no!
Maybe if you spend a few hours locked up, you’ll take me seriously next time I tell ya I got the situation under control.”

A.J. chuckled. “Well, Marcel, Ray, Alex, and Lincoln were involved. What about them?”

Zach nodded. “I know, and ya can say hello to em when ya see em. They locked up, too.” He looked over the uniformed police over and cracked a slight smile. “Lock em up.”

A.J. was headed toward the door when he stopped in mid-stride and turned to Vic. “You did remember to feed Harry and Sally, didn’t you?”

Vic chuckled. “Hush, man. I remembered.”

Epilogue

Eighteen months later

“They’re our babies now, right, Honey?” Taylor asked, placing her hand atop Vic’s rounded belly.

Vic nodded with tears of joy. “They’re ours, sweet pea.”

With the court filled with family and friends as witnesses, Vic and A.J. signed the documents making them the legal adopted parents of Brianna and Chloé. After Valerie agreed to the arrangement, Vic and A.J. were more than happy to oblige. For Vic, the feeling was no less different than it was when she became Taylor and Tyler’s adoptive mother months earlier.

“And you love this baby, too, right?” Tyler asked.

Vic nodded happily. “The same way I love the four of you,” she replied, glancing at her four daughters. “Y’all are the babies of my heart, and this one,” she said, rubbing her stomach, “is the baby of my tummy. I love you all the same.”

Ray walked up and placed two small, black velvet boxes on the table. He smiled when Vic opened them and gasped at the tiny tea-cut diamond studs and shrugged. “Well, ya got em in designer labels. Figured it won’t hurt to top it off with a little bling-bling. Can’t have Baptiste women running around raggedy, now.”

Vic clutched both hands against her stomach and panted as a hard contraction made her belly constrict. Everyone sprang into action with their pre-assigned responsibilities. They swiftly exited the courtroom.

A.J. walked back in moments later and carefully assisted Vic out her chair. “Woman, will you come on here?”

Another sharp contraction hit Vic and literally stole her breath away. “Baptiste, when this is over,” she panted, “I’m gonna kill you.”

* * *

Vic was asleep fourteen hours later, exhausted from a long labor and the C-section that followed when the baby refused to cooperate. A.J. looked down at Vic and thought he hadn’t seen a more beautiful sight, despite the dark circles under her eyes. Until the day he died, he’d never forget the moment he placed the results of their belated honeymoon inside Vic’s arms.

Walking around the room, A.J. carried his sleeping daughter, who had curly black hair and hazel eyes that he had finally managed to get a glimpse of when he provided her pediatric assessment immediately after birth.

Zach stuck his head in the door. “Brother-in-law,” he whispered softly, “how Baby Girl doing there?”

A.J. glanced over at a sleeping Vic. “Tired. She had a tough time.”

“Hell, I bet she did.” Zach chuckled and nodded at the baby in A.J.’s arms. “Little Mama checked in at ten and some change.” He held his arms out. “Here, let me hold her.” With expert care, he cradled his niece against his chest. “Got a room full of kinfolk that can’t wait to see ya.” Glancing back at A.J., he asked, “Does Valerie know she’s here, yet?”

A.J. nodded. “Agent Givens arranged for me to talk with her a couple of hours ago, and she’s thrilled.”

“Ya know, brother-in-law, Valerie is wise beyond her years. As a parent, she made the ultimate sacrifice.”

A.J. nodded in agreement. Despite being in the Witness Protection Program, Valerie didn’t want to take any chance that her past would somehow come back to haunt her and possibly put Bébé and CeCe in danger. That was the reason he and Vic agreed without hesitation to adopt them. Smiling down at his daughter, he moved in close to Zach. He hated that his brother-in-law had to miss out on the adoption signing, but knew he was across the street at another courthouse for the conclusion of Carmen Jenkins’s trial. “How did it go today?” he whispered softly.

Zach smiled back. “We got her. Jury brought back a guilty verdict, and I don’t believe friend will ever make it out the jailhouse.” He winked. “Seems like me and brother-in-law,” he teased, referring to Marcel, “is the only ones making baby boys in the family.”

A.J. shrugged. “Hey, it’s just my first shot.”

“Trust me, you won’t get another, either, if they’re all this big. All she needs is a backpack and she’s ready for kindergarten.” Vic grimaced from the pain, but managed to shift up in bed and hold out her arms. “Here, let me have her.”

“What’s her name?” Zach asked. “Y’all done had us in suspense for months.”

Vic trailed her fingers down her daughter’s soft cheek and thought back over the past few months, especially of two wonderful women: one she’d come to love, and the other, even though she’d never met, she wanted to honor.

“Valerie Angelique Baptiste.”

About the Author

LaConnie Taylor-Jones,
a native Memphian, is a health educator consultant and holds advanced degrees in community public health and business administration. Married, she is the mother of four and resides with her family in Antioch, California. She is also an active member of the Contra Costa Alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the African American Community Health Advisory Committee, Black Women Organized for Political Action, and the San Francisco Area and Black Diamond Chapters of Romance Writers of America.