Chapter Thirty-one
“What do you mean she’s not coming home? That she’s been arrested?” Lorain couldn’t believe what Unique’s attorney was telling her from the other end of the phone. “But I was just there. I saw the judge say she was free to go.”
“What you heard the judge say,” Jawan explained, “was that the current charges against her had been dropped. This is a new charge, the one involving the incident that caused her to be put in solitary confinement.”
“Do you mean that knife or whatever it was they found?”
“Yeah, that one got by me.” It was clear in Jawan’s tone that she felt as though she’d failed Unique after all. “I wasn’t prepared for it. Considering all that the State put her through, I had no idea they would add salt to the wound by pulling something like this.”
“She must be devastated.”
“Devastated is not the word.”
“When can I see her?”
“I’m still waiting to see her. I’m at the jail now. I’m going to get to the bottom of things. I promise you that.”
“I know you will. You haven’t let us down yet.”
“Yeah, well, I feel like I have. I let this one get by me,” Jawan repeated, shaking her head in dismay. “Unique doesn’t deserve this. She just doesn’t.”
“I know. But we’ll keep praying on our end that God shows her favor and she gets to come home to us soon.”
“Prayer works. That much we know. The system might not always work, but prayer does.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Martinez. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.” Lorain ended the call and just stood there dumbfounded.
“I put the flowers in water so that they won’t be wilted by the time we get to the gravesite,” Eleanor said as she exited the kitchen of her home carrying a vase full of flowers.
On the way home from court, Lorain had stopped off at Floweroma to pick up some flowers to place on the boys’ graves. Korica might have had her favorite meal over there ready for her, but Lorain knew the first thing Unique would want to do was to visit her boys’ graves. That meal would have to wait. Lorain was going to get first dibs on Unique.
Lorain felt guilty that at a time like this she was competing with the woman who raised Unique. Playing tit for tat wasn’t her style, but somehow she knew she couldn’t sleep on Korica and anything she might have had up her sleeve. Lorain was no fool. She knew Korica had a much stronger influence over Unique than she did. After all, Unique grew up with the woman. Lorain couldn’t compete with just three years of being in Unique’s life with how much time Korica had put in. But she’d be darn if she didn’t try her best, no matter how unchristian-like things might get. That would have to be something Lorain faced and dealt with later. Right now, all that mattered were her daughters—all three of them.
“What are you looking all pitiful for?” Eleanor asked as she set the flowers on the table. “Your daughter is about to come home from a jail she had no business being in. I’d think you’d be ecstatic.”
“She’s not coming home,” Lorain mumbled, shaking her head while staring at her cell phone that was still in her hand.
“What?” Surely Eleanor had not heard her daughter correctly.
“She’s not coming home, Ma,” Lorain repeated, looking up from the phone and into Eleanor’s eyes. “They’ve arrested her.”
“Fo’ ... For what?” Eleanor was so beside herself, she had to sit down at the dining-room table before toppling over.
“For that incident that happened in jail with the knife. You know, when they sent her to the hole.”
Eleanor closed her eyes and rested her face in her hands. “This is a nightmare. I can’t believe it.” She looked back up at Lorain. “Are you going to go see her? Go ahead. I’ll stay here with the girls. Besides, they’re sleeping good right now. Unique needs you. I’m sure she’s going crazy if the good Lord ain’t keeping her mind.”
“I can’t. The attorney said something about they have to reprocess her. I don’t know.” Lorain went over to the couch and flopped down.
Standing, Eleanor asked her, “So what are you going to do? Just sit there and wait?”
“What else can we do besides wait on God, Ma? You want me to go bust her out or something?”
“Waiting on God,” Eleanor said mockingly. “You Christians are always using that as an excuse to do absolutely nothing!”
“Pardon me?” Lorain said, twisting her neck to get a good look at her mother, making sure Eleanor hadn’t lost her head or something. “It’s not an excuse to do nothing. And what do you mean by ‘You Christians’? You’re a Christian too.”
“Yeah, but not that kind. Not the kind a lot of you who are sitting up in the church are. Humph, I bet that other mother ain’t sitting around waiting on God. Bet she’s going down to that jailhouse right now and throwing her weight around as a mother and going to see about that baby.”
That did it for Lorain. Her blood had never boiled or risen so high in her entire life. “How dare you.” Lorain stood up from the couch. “How dare you question my concerns as a mother to Unique. I love her, and God knows I do. Heck, I thought my own mother knew that I loved her too. I would never just leave her there for dead. What kind of mother would ...” Lorain’s words trailed off as what she was saying really sank into her head. Once upon a time she had left Unique for dead. Literally. Tears spilled out of her eyes at just the thought. “You’re right, Ma. You’re right. I’ve done her wrong since the day she was born. I threw her in that dumpster, and then went back to school and sat there and did nothing, just like I did a minute ago. I guess a leopard never changes its spots.” Feeling weak, Lorain fell back to the couch.
“Oh, baby, I’m sorry.” Eleanor rushed over to Lorain’s side. “I didn’t mean it. I didn’t. I know you love Unique and want nothing but the best for her. I guess I’m just so angry at this entire situation. It’s such a letdown. One minute you run in here talking about she’s free and is about to come home. The next minute you’re telling me she’s not. I know it’s not your fault, and there’s nothing you can do about it. I’m sorry I took my anger and disappointment out on you.”
“No, Mom, you’re right. I bet that heffa Korica is trotting down there using that ghetto mentality of an attitude to get exactly what she wants, which is her daughter.” Lorain quickly regained her composure, sitting upright on the sofa. “And I’m sure she’d use it to get her granddaughters too.” That last thing Lorain said more so to herself than Eleanor.
“Huh, what do you mean?” The comment had gone straight over Eleanor’s head.
“What? Huh? Oh, nothing,” Lorain said as she stood up and scrambled for her purse and keys. “Look, Ma, I gotta go.”
“Go where?”
“To the jail,” Lorain answered her mother as she rushed toward the door.
“But you said they won’t let you see Unique,” Eleanor called out just as Lorain hit the doorway. “I don’t mean for you to go down there and get yourself in trouble trying to see Unique.” Eleanor had a worried look on her face.
“Oh, don’t worry, Mom,” Lorain said right before exiting the house. “It’s not Unique I’m going to see.”