Chapter 2
License to Marry
Gamba and Elyse traded places. Now he was driving them away from the boulevard. The more they drove, the more she wished to distance herself from Nate, from the near car wreck, from everything. But it was tough. The day had been quite overwhelming. When she thought about how she could have actually mowed down her brother-in-law with a big truck, run over him the way a stream roller is used to level a crooked surface, Elyse slouched back in defeat. She dabbed at her eyes with the backs of her hands. She craved peace, normality, and refuge from her disastrous world.
“Elyse, you all right?” Gamba asked. “Why are you crying?”
“I’m not crying,” she claimed. She quickly patted her tears dry. Feeling self-conscious, Elyse coughed and cleared her throat. “Nate was right. I think I may be sick. I’m coming down with a cold or something,” she lied as she sat stiffly in her seat.
“Elyse, we need a break. I think it’s time that we go see your people.”
“See them? Like who? No!”
“Definitely not Burgundy. But what if I take you back home?”
“No, Gamba! Not Lita. If she knew Nate followed us, she could get him killed.”
“Looks like you were the one trying to kill Nate.”
“No,” she stated, again not wanting to imagine that a murderer could live inside of her. Murderers were bad. “I wasn’t trying . . . I-I just can’t drive big trucks. Told you dat. You didn’t believe me.”
Gamba couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, you did try to warn me. I’m sorry I pushed you too hard, Elyse. Just trying to help.”
“I know,” she replied. “It’s all right.”
“But what happened back there is a cause for concern,” he continued. “We don’t want this guy to continue harassing you. And I think Alita would want to know about this,” Gamba insisted as they traveled down the road. “In fact, I know she would,” he said with a laugh.
“No, no Lita. We can go to my other sister’s. Coco’s. Let’s go there.” Elyse promptly gave Gamba orders, telling him where Coco lived.
Gamba secretly watched Elyse from the corner of his eye. She had wiped away her tears. Her jaw was rigid with determination. He liked what he saw, the beginning signs of strength.
Soon they pulled up to the house where Coco lived with her kids Cadee, Chloe, and Chance. She was a big woman with a protruding belly, due to give birth in a couple of months.
“Say what?” Coco said as soon as she opened her front door and saw Gamba with Elyse. “Y’all two been thick as thieves for a minute now. What’s up with that?”
“Nothing.” Elyse was tight-lipped.
“Oh, don’t give me that. The family ain’t seen you hang out with a man like this in what? The fifth of never.”
“Well, you better be glad she’s hanging with this man,” Gamba said and pointed to himself as they all stood outside the house. “Because that other man that we got her away from is steadily trying to provoke her.”
Coco eyed him warily. “Who you talkin’ ’bout?”
“Who else?” Gamba asked.
Coco frowned in distaste. “My brother-in-law is such a fool. Horny ass . . . that man is married. Why’s he hounding Elyse? She don’t want him, do you, Sis?”
Elyse looked appalled. “You ask me that? Really?”
“Yes, really. No one in their right mind would want a man like him. But Burgundy lets all his coins blind her. She knows he’s up to no good, and she still ain’t filed on him. I know you can’t stand her ass either, right? If you still have love for that woman, you’re out your mind too. Hell to the naw, naw.”
At that, Coco waddled away with one hand lodged against her hip. She was a sassy, beautiful woman. At nearly twenty-nine years old, her main goal in life was to keep tabs on her baby daddy, Calhoun Humphries.
“Y’all come on in before Nate does a drive-by and finds you at my spot. I’m not trying to deal with his drama ’cause Lord knows I got enough of my own right now. I’m about to drop my last baby, and after that it’s a wrap. No more scallywags for Coco!”
Gamba and Elyse entered the dining room and were met by the strong aroma of food sitting in pots on the stovetop. Coco’s house shoes slapped against the tile floor as she walked.
“I cooked if y’all want something to eat. Pork ribs smothered in my own barbecue sauce, mustards and turnips with ham hocks, mac and cheese, fried corn, and a bowl of fresh salad is in the fridge. Anyway, wash your hands first. I don’t play that nasty hands shit. You smell like old motor oil, both you and Elyse. What kind of freaky shit y’all be into?”
Gamba grinned at her in appreciation. “You got jokes, huh? How about you, Elyse? You want me to fix you a plate? Coco, let me tell you, we’re tired and hungry. Been through a lot this afternoon.”
Gamba washed his hands and had Elyse do the same. Then he prepared Elyse a plate and fixed one for himself. Everyone sat together at the dining room table while Gamba filled Coco in on the recent drama with Nate.
“And now,” Gamba said, “things are popping off to the point of being seriously dangerous.”
“He’s lost his damn mind,” Coco said with a frown. “He shouldn’t have to know every time my sister punches in or out at Morning Glory.”
“I think Elyse should quit her job,” Gamba concluded.
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about Nate trying anything at his restaurant. Burgundy and her hubby try to act like they’re aristocrats, but they really just some damned scammers. They’re not stupid enough to do anything to mess up their two-bit hustles.”
“I don’t like him,” Elyse muttered as she ate. “He scares me.”
“As long as you’re with me, you’ll be safe,” Gamba assured her. “But if I run, you run.”
Coco laughed aloud, happy that Gamba was concerned enough about Elyse to protect her. Lord knows she did not have time to run behind her baby sister.
“Elyse, don’t be scared of him. You don’t need to run from anybody,” she replied. “Knowing Nate, that man is all talk.”
“Can you guarantee your sister’s safety, though?” Gamba asked.
“I sure can. Nate’s a whack job but he ain’t a total crackpot. The most he can get away with is lusting after my baby sis like the perv he is.” She paused. “Did he ever expose himself to you? Whip out his dick like it was a prize?”
Elyse stared quizzically at Coco.
“I’m just saying, that’s what men like him do. Get their kicks off the fact that they got money and a penis. Or muscles and testosterone. I call it MPT. Muscles, penis, and testosterone. And he’s the type of man who thinks he can rule women just because he’s got all that.”
“That’s it,” Gamba said in anger. “She shouldn’t be subjected to that type of behavior. She should quit on him with no advance notice.”
“But see, like I said before, you don’t have to worry about any of that. My sister Alita always has her eye on Nate. She’ll pop in that restaurant every chance she gets when she knows Elyse is working. On top of that, from what I heard, Burgundy never lets Elyse work at Morning Glory when she’s not there.”
Gamba eyed her wearily. “Burgundy! The one that knows what’s happening but hasn’t done much about it?”
“Yep, that’s B. I don’t know what she sees in him. But like I said before, Burgundy acts sophisticated, but she’s a fool like the rest of us. We are a family of fools, except for Dru,” Coco said with a warm chuckle. “Any other woman would have left Nate’s dirty ass by now.”
“You talking?” Elyse said, finally interrupting. “Way you put up with Calhoun but you still with him?”
Her clapping back like that was such a rare occurrence that Coco couldn’t help but be shocked.
“Lord, have mercy. Good one, Elyse. I see this Gamba got you all gassed up. You cracking on me? This is a side of you I ain’t never seen before. Hell, you need to pop off at Alita when she gives you all kinds of hell over nothing. Keep me and my man out your mouth. We doing just fine.”
Elyse shrugged as if Coco’s business with Calhoun really did not concern her.
“So, if you two are doing that well,” Gamba said as he wolfed down his food. “Does that mean we’re about to get a wedding invite?” Alita had told him all the family business, including how stuck Coco was on Calhoun.
“I dunno,” Coco replied. “Maybe you ought to see Calhoun about that. Because I sure as hell won’t be asking no man to marry me.” She paused. “Plus I’ve asked him a dozen times already.” Coco gave a boisterous laugh in spite of herself. She rose up from the table and waddled over to check on a cake she’d been baking.
Right then seven-year-old Cadee and four-year-old Chloe raced into the room. Chance, who was two and a half, stumbled in behind them. Cadee and Chloe were Calhoun’s kids, but Chance was her “in-between” baby whom she gave birth to during a brief breakup. She never wanted anyone to know the identity of Chance’s biological father.
“Sit your little asses down,” Coco yelled at the kids. Her children were adorable, but a handful. Chance refused to take his seat, and Coco ended up chasing behind her son, who enjoyed running in circles till his mom was out of breath.
“You better listen to you mama.”
“No,” Chance yelled and ran some more. Then he came to an abrupt stop. He wobbled around on his feet then slumped to the floor. His eyes rolled to the back of his head.
“Stop playing and get up, boy. I’m not in the mood for your silliness.”
But Chance just lay there; his skin looked ashy and yellowish like he hadn’t washed up in a good while. “Why you look all pale? I know I gave you a bath last night and you this filthy already?”
Gamba set down his fork and went to see about Chance. Within seconds the little boy seemed to recover. Gamba asked Elyse to bring Coco’s son a glass of water. He stayed next to Chance and watched him drink until he knew he felt better.
“You’ll be all right, little man. Hang in there,” Gamba said.
Watching Gamba with Chance, Coco thought about the words she’d spoken to her son. She had recently been reprimanded by her sister Dru, who told her she needed to stop yelling at her kids so much. Dru told her that children were a gift from above and that she needed to shower them with love, not annoyance.
Feeling guilty, Coco stared at all of her kids then opened her arms wide. The girls raced into her bosom. But when Chance stood up, instead of running to his mother, he tried to climb in Elyse’s lap.
Forgetting just that quickly, Coco snapped at him. “Leave her alone, little man. She’s tired and don’t want you hanging off her like that. She ain’t like me. She’s free and single.”
“You single too,” Elyse said. “Just like me.”
“No ma’am, Pam,” Coco disagreed in a huff. “We may be sisters, but I’m nothing like you. I’ll bet my life on that.”
Coco then turned around and continued offering her kids some much-needed love and attention. She generously gave to others what she hungered for herself.
* * *
January came and went. And now it was several days before Valentine’s Day. Calhoun Humphries took his time getting home to Coco’s that Friday night.
Coco was waiting for her man the second he walked through the front door.
He said hello to her then proceeded to the kitchen.
When he looked around, he saw the gas stovetop bore no pots or skillets. No pilot lights were on. Calhoun frowned and peeped through the window of the oven. Seeing nothing, he dramatically sniffed the air as he gave Coco a hardened look.
“What?” she snapped at him. “You trying to tell me something?”
“What the fuck, Ma,” he said. “You know I’ve been working hard all day—”
“Like hell I do! I don’t know what you been doing, Calhoun.”
“Don’t even try it. I texted you a copy of my schedule this morning. You know I had to do fifteen deliveries today. Do you understand how long it takes to go back and forth all across town driving my truck and dealing with this Houston traffic just so I can get these sodas to these grocery stores?”
“Poor baby. If your job is that hard, then quit.”
“What?”
“You don’t need to be working there anyway,” she said in a soothing voice. “Instead of risking your life driving on these dangerous roads, you can just stay home with me and the kids.”
“Yep, you’re a fool.” He sighed. Sometimes he felt like Coco did not know him well. Calhoun was young, just in his mid-twenties. He had a lot of male friends who had bagged sugar mamas who gladly offered to foot all the bills. These women would buy the men clothes, let them drive around in their cars, they’d pay for it all. But Calhoun wasn’t that type of guy. He had big plans and even bigger dreams.
“Babe,” Coco reminded him, “I get Social Security checks.”
“That little bit of pocket change ain’t enough to take care of three kids plus another one that’s on the way.” Just the thought of him having all these kids at such a young age made the veins in his head pulsate.
“I know that the kids and lack of money must be stressing you out.” She squirmed. “But maybe I can get my sister Burgundy to start paying me under the table. Hell, I’ve been doing a lot of her errands. Running back and forth to the post office and picking up things for the barbershop. I’m like an employee, and she needs to start paying me instead of telling me ‘family first.’ That nonsense pays none of my bills.”
“You damn right it don’t. As much money they got, they ought to be putting you on payroll. But you think they’d be down for that?” Calhoun asked. He knew that Burgundy and Nate Taylor were well off and always acted like candidates for a Black Enterprise feature. But Calhoun also knew how much of a tightwad Nate could be. Calhoun hated rich people who had clenched fists. Why have all that money if it wasn’t going to be spent?
“I swear to God, if I had money like your people, I’d be balling out big time.” Calhoun’s eyes glistened. Luckily, he’d had a tiny taste of how it felt to have money due to his winning cash from a couple of lottery tickets.
Ever since then, he’d been hooked. And Calhoun wanted more.
“All I know is I’m sick of working hard like a dog and barely making any funds, Ma,” he complained. “Seems like I work just to take care of the kids.”
“Well, what else is there?” she asked.
“I’m not complaining,” he replied, not wanting her to grow suspicious. “I love the kids to death, but I also gotta have a life.”
“What you mean by that, Calhoun?”
“Nothing.” He shook his head. “Nothing.” He sighed.
“Looks like I got to go out and spend some money again for some dinner since you didn’t love me enough to cook for me. I don’t get why you been neglecting your man. That ain’t like you, Ma.” Calhoun made a quick move toward the front door.
“Wait a second, hold up,” Coco pleaded as she tried to reach him before he left. “I’m down for you, baby, you know I am.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
She pointed at her belly. “This pregnancy is wearing me out!”
“No one told you to have that child.”
“What? I don’t believe you said that. How could you say that, Calhoun? We’re talking about your seed.” She rubbed her round belly and talked to her unborn child. “Your daddy did not mean that at all. He’s just stressed. We all are, but we do love you, baby.”
Instantly Calhoun felt foolish and had a change of heart. He extended hands in apology, and he hugged her. “Damn. If you had a gun and wanted to shoot my ass, I would not blame you one bit. I’m sorry for saying what I said. You forgive me, Ma?”
“You know I do.”
Relieved, he kissed Coco’s forehead. She let him. Then her pouty lips found his mouth, and she forced him to kiss her as she sucked his tongue. God, why did she have to be so in love with this man? They were like most other couples. Some days it seemed they just weren’t working, and nothing fit together. Other times, when he held a nice after-work drink in his hand and had a decent meal in his belly, he’d be gentle, peaceful, and kind, just the way she wanted him to be.
As Coco released Calhoun from her lips, she could not help herself.
“I think,” she whispered, “the only way to make this thing work the way love is supposed to work is to make things—”
He stiffened. She felt it.
“Why you freeze up?” she asked.
“Ma, don’t flip. I’m tired.”
“I’m tired too. And the way to get things right, to get my mind in a better, normal state is to just go on down to the courthouse.”
He said nothing. But she couldn’t stop talking. “See, baby, you know that there ain’t no other man in this world for me.” She felt her heart beat wildly against her chest.
“Is that right?”
“Shut up, fool. I ain’t checking for no man but you, and you know it. Crazy as it sounds. Plus, we ain’t getting any younger. And if we can just put on our grown-up drawers, and go get that marriage certificate—”
“A piece of paper? Really, Coco? What good will that do?”
“Huh? You got something against marriage?”
“Nah, Ma.”
“Then what?”
“Why you been hounding me about becoming a wife?”
“See, it’s like this. I’ve been talking and telling you what I want for what, two years now? Talk is cheap. And I don’t want to give you no ultimatum. But I will get you to take us to the county clerk’s office, and we could take that first step. Because real couples don’t just talk about it. Real couples that’s real, they be about it.”
He nodded, eyes glazed. “Go on.”
Excited, Coco continued. “And see, all you gotta do is bring them that seventy-two dollars. Bring your driver’s license. You don’t have to have a witness or anything like that. It would be just us. I could get Dru to watch the kids. It won’t even take that long either if we go first thing in the morning. And we can just get that paperwork out the way, you see what I’m saying?”
“Hmmm.”
“We’re already together all the time when you’re not working or in the streets. Plus I love you and I know you love me or you wouldn’t be sticking around this long.”
“Hmmm.”
“Stop answering with ‘hmmm.’ Calhoun, tell me what you think?”
“Once we get that license, then what happens?”
“Then,” Coco happily explained, “we got ninety days to get married or else it expires.”
“How long can you get married after you get the license?”
“Pretty fast. Within three days. So, it could happen quickly, or we could take a little time and wait a few weeks.” Just the thought of finally getting hitched made Coco want to shriek with happiness. So far she’d felt her life had been tough. Having kid after kid wasn’t easy. She yearned to catch a break, to be in a legitimate marriage and not just be a baby mama.
“Calhoun, baby, if you can just do that one little thing for me. Go on down to the county clerk’s office with me, that way I’ll know you mean business.”
“I see,” he told her.
“‘I see’? Is that all you got to say?” He did not respond. “Why you so quiet, Calhoun? What you thinking about?”
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, right, Calhoun. I know you.”
“If you really knew me, Ma, you would never have to ask that question.”
Coco heard what her man said, but why didn’t her heart agree with his words? She secretly and sometimes openly envied Alita. The girl was a man hater, but at least she knew how it felt to have been married at one time. And then there was Burgundy! Coco was tired of watching other women live their married lives.
Although one time Alita had warned her that things changed once a couple gets married.
“How so?” she asked.
“The fighting gets more brutal, even violent,” Alita had said. “So, you better think long and hard about if you believe you two can make it for the long haul. ’Cause if you decide you don’t want him anymore and try to leave him, he may try to kill you. And the kids. Don’t think it hasn’t happened. Look at the news.”
Coco knew she could not argue, and it gave her something serious to consider.
“Yeah, Sis, take it from me, once shit gets legal there is more at stake, more to lose. Just thinking about that makes some people act the fool. ’Cause in the game of love, it’s all about winning. Nobody likes losing, Coco.”
Even if everything that Alita claimed were true, Coco prayed that her situation would turn out different.
“Baby,” she finally replied to Calhoun after thinking things through, “we’ve been tight for so long, had a few ups and downs, but we still got back together. So I want to think that I do know you pretty well.”
“Okay then, if you know me like you think you do, then you know I ain’t about you staying on my ass like a fucking pit bull. Got enough pressure as it is.”
“I know, baby. I know. I can’t forget that you’re under tons of stress because of your job and maybe even due to the kids. I can be a better woman to you when it comes to that. I honestly don’t want to add to your problems.”
“Then why do it?”
She was silent. The truth was too much of an embarrassment. Could there ever be such a thing as loving someone too much?
“Are you gone answer me, Ma?”
“That’s just me. When I get stressed you gone be stressed too. I share my shit. You know how I do.” She shrugged as if that small gesture would explain her feelings.
“Whatever you do, it always makes things worse, so just stop it, all right?” Calhoun’s voice cracked, a rare thing coming from him.
When he got like this, Coco’s first instinct was to correct the issue and smooth things over. She was tempted to say more, but she was afraid. She knew she had to play her cards right. She had to handle this “love” thing with utmost care because she couldn’t imagine facing the world alone.
Coco knew that to have her man’s kids, but not have him, would truly devastate her.