Charlotte spooned out a helping of cheddar cheese potatoes and set it on his plate. “So how was school today, Matthew?”
“Fine. Tomorrow is the deadline for this month’s newspaper, so we had a lot of work to do. That’s why I had to stay so late after my last class.”
Curtis cut into his slice of prime rib. “Did you hear anything from your coach about the camps?”
“No, but David said he’ll find a good one near him, so I thought we could just wait for that.”
Charlotte and Curtis looked at each other.
“When did he tell you that?” Curtis asked.
“When he called me this afternoon. He called me on my cell to see if I wanted to spend the weekend with him at his house.”
“And what did you tell him?” Charlotte said.
“That I had to ask you and Dad. So can I?”
“Actually, Matthew, Alicia called me this afternoon to say she’s coming home this weekend and that she’s going to spend all day Saturday with just you.”
Matthew looked disappointed, and this bothered Charlotte because for as long as she could remember, he’d never thought anything was more important than being with his big sister.
“David can see you next weekend,” she said. “And anyway, your dad and I want to spend some time with you, too.”
“But you and Dad see me every day.”
“Yeah, but we still want to do things with you on days when you’re not in school.”
Matthew drank some of his lemonade but didn’t look at either of his parents.
Charlotte glanced over at Curtis and she could tell he was at a loss for words.
Then Matthew looked up. “So can I?”
“Don’t you even care that Alicia is coming here to see you?”
“She’s coming to see you and Dad, too, and I can see her next time.”
“She’s really going to be disappointed if you’re not here,” Curtis tried to explain.
“I think you can stay home this weekend and you can see David on the next one.”
“Can I be excused?” he asked.
“Why?” Curtis said.
“I’m not hungry anymore.”
Charlotte set her fork down. “Sweetie, I know you don’t understand, but sharing you with someone else hasn’t been all that easy.”
“Yeah, but David says we’ve lost so much time that we have to work hard to make up for it. He says he wants me to visit him every single weekend, and that’s what I want, too.”
Charlotte could kill David for saying these things to Matthew without their consent. It was one thing for him to contact her about it last night, but he had no right discussing anything so crucial with Matthew.
“We think it’s a good thing for you and David to spend time together,” Curtis said. “But not every single weekend.”
“But why? He’s my father.”
Charlotte watched Curtis lean back in his chair and she could tell his feelings were hurt. She could also tell that Matthew regretted his last comment.
“I didn’t mean anything by that, Dad, because you’re my dad, too. But I think it’s unfair for you and mom to say I can’t be with David. He doesn’t want to take me away. He just wants us to spend weekends together.”
Charlotte wanted so badly to tell him that David was in fact threatening to take him away. She wanted to explain to Matthew what full custody actually meant and how his father was threatening to file for it. But she didn’t.
“Mom, Dad, please. Can I go stay with him until Sunday?”
“No,” Charlotte said matter-of-factly. “You heard your dad say that Alicia is coming here, mainly to see you, and that’s that.”
Matthew frowned. “I wanna go to my room.”
“Then go,” Charlotte told him.
Matthew left the table in a hurry and never said another word to either of them.
“Curtis, what are we going to do?”
“Baby, I don’t know. Things are worse than I thought, because I had no idea David was already talking to him about this frequent visit thing.”
“He really has a lot of nerve. And I don’t care if he is his biological father, as far as I’m concerned, he has no rights. None.”
“I know you feel that way, but by law he does. And that’s what worries me.”
“This is just crazy.”
“Well, if you think that’s crazy wait until I tell you what happened tonight.”
“What?”
“I stopped at the Mobil on Aventura, and guess who pulled up next to me?”
“Not Tabitha?”
“Yeah.”
“What did she want?”
“To apologize and to ask me why I won’t return her calls. She called multiple times today, and then left a message.”
“She’s never going to give this up.”
“It seems not.”
“I think it’s time we called the police, because the next thing you know, she’ll be showing up here.”
“I hate having to get them involved, but I do agree that this is starting to spin too far out of control. I never expected her to start following me, but if she knew I was at the gas station, she had to be.”
“No, what she’s doing is stalking us. She showed up at my salon yesterday, and then I didn’t tell you that she called here this morning.”
“Saying what?”
“Everything. And she definitely believes you’re going to leave me for her.”
“But you know that’s not true, right?”
“All I can do is hope.”
“No, you don’t have to hope anything. I know I messed up in the past, but the only way you and I won’t be together is if you make that decision. But it won’t be my choice.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that, and I need you to keep saying it.”
“I told you, I’ll do whatever you need me to do to reassure you.”
Charlotte and Curtis finished their meals and then she removed everything from the table, including Matthew’s plate, which was still half full.
But then, without warning, they heard a window shattering and then a loud thud against the floor.
Curtis rushed into the living room area and Charlotte hurried behind him. Then they dashed over to the door and Curtis opened it. A car screeched away and while it appeared to be some sort of dark-colored, compact car, they couldn’t make it out exactly. Curtis shut the door, turned on the light, and Charlotte saw a palm-size rock lying on the carpet.
“Baby, look,” she said.
Curtis grabbed her into his arms and now Matthew ran into the room.
“Mom? Dad? What was that?”
Charlotte reached out to him and her son hugged her. “We don’t know. It looks like someone threw a rock through one of the front windows.”
Curtis started out of the room. “I’m calling the police.”
“Mom, who would do something like this?”
“I don’t know,” she said, but her intuition told her that Tabitha’s name was written all over this.
Curtis hung up with 911 and within minutes, the doorbell rang.
“Thank you for coming, Officers,” Curtis greeted them. “Please come in.”
Both men in blue did a quick investigation and then took a seat in the kitchen. Curtis, Charlotte, and Matthew did the same.
“Do you have any idea who might’ve done this?” the muscular officer asked.
“No,” Curtis said. “We don’t.”
Charlotte gazed at Curtis and wished she could tell them exactly who she thought it was. She wanted to tell them how Tabitha had been harassing them and how she was the only person they were having problems with. That she was the only person angry enough to vandalize their property. But she didn’t. Instead, she kept her mouth shut and found peace in knowing that Dooney would be in town in less than twenty-four hours. She was happy to know Tabitha was finally going to get what was coming to her.
When the officers finished the report, they examined the window and the rock again, and then took a look outside.
“I don’t think you can get this fixed tonight but if you call any of the top glass companies in town, they’ll at least send someone out to cover it for you,” the second officer suggested. “That way, you won’t have so much cold air blowing into your home.”
“Thank you. We’ll call right now.”
“The report will be available downtown in a couple of days but please call us if you have any more trouble.”
“We will.”
“Also, we’ll check with your neighbors to see if by chance anyone saw who did this, because with your house sitting quite a few feet away from the street, there’s no doubt the perpetrator would have had to step outside of their vehicle in order to throw something through your window. It looks like there are only four or five other houses in your subdivision, but maybe someone saw the car leaving and can give a better description of it.”
“Maybe.”
“We’ll let you know.”
“We appreciate whatever you can do.”
“You folks have a good evening.”
“You, too,” Curtis and Charlotte said.
“Man, just wait until Jonathan and Elijah hear about the police being here. They’ll love it,” Matthew said, heading toward the stairway.
“Honey.” Charlotte stopped him. “Let’s just keep this to ourselves for right now, okay?”
“Why?”
Curtis locked the door. “Your mother is right. Let’s not talk about this to everyone. Maybe family and close friends, but that’s it.”
“But Jonathan and Elijah are my close friends. They’re my best friends.”
“I know,” Charlotte said. “But—”
“It’s fine, Matthew,” Curtis interrupted. “Go ahead.”
“Thanks, Dad. And Mom, are you okay? You look upset.”
“I’m fine, honey. You just go ahead and call your friends to tell them about your big crime story.”
“I will. I’m telling you, they’ll love this.”
Matthew skipped stairs on his way up and Charlotte looked at the glass on the carpet. “What made you change your mind about him telling his friends?”
“Because that’s what any other child would do if a rock was thrown through their window, and the only reason you and I didn’t want him to say anything is that we’re always worried that something is going to get out to the public and then get twisted around.”
“Exactly.”
“But it’s probably going to make the news anyway, just because of what I do for a living. You can bet someone will be calling here before the night is out.”
Curtis called the glass company and just as the officer had mentioned, they couldn’t fix it until tomorrow, but someone did come out to cover the window with very sturdy plastic and secured it with thick tape.
“You know Tabitha had something to do with this,” Charlotte declared after she and Curtis had gone up to their bedroom.
“I don’t know. I’m not defending her, but any woman who would be out this late with a baby and tossing rocks through windows is a bit insane.”
“I’m not saying she physically did it, but I’ll bet she had someone do it for her.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“I’m telling you, baby, if Tabitha keeps calling here or calling your cell or if any other strange incident takes place, we have to report her. I know you don’t want your affair with her to go public, but after tonight, my concern is for our safety. Either one of us could have been near that window and could have gotten hurt. And I don’t even want to think about anything happening to Matthew.”
“You’re right,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “Baby, I’m really sorry about this.”
“What happened, happened, but now we have to stick together.”
“That we do.”
“And hey, did Elder Jamison or the attorney hear anything from Reverend Tolson?”
“I forgot to tell you, but he turned down the two years of pay and we haven’t heard anything from him since.”
“Really? Do you want me to talk to Vivian? She’s such a nice woman. She’s seems a bit timid, but still, she’s his wife and maybe she knows why Reverend Tolson is acting this way.”
“Maybe if we don’t hear anything in a couple of weeks or so, but for now, let’s just wait to see if he changes his mind.”
“Gosh, it’s so strange. Although, the more I think about it, Reverend Tolson did seem real comfortable running things when you were on the road. Sometimes he seemed drunk with power, but he was always nice to everyone. The whole congregation liked him and so did I.”
“I liked him a lot too, that’s why I chose him to fill in for me. But maybe it’s the loss of power that has made him so angry. Once upon a time, your own husband used to be drunk with power, too. Remember?”
“How could I forget? That’s why I was so drawn to you when I was only seventeen.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“You know it’s true. I would have done anything to be with you and I did.”
“Maybe, but as much as I hate to admit it, I’m not proud of that.”
“Of what? Robbing the cradle?” she teased.
“Yeah. Although now that you’re thirty-one and practically over the hill, it really doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”
“Okay, that’s enough of that.”
“That’s what I thought. But you know I’m just kidding, right? Because even at thirty-one, you’re still just as young and vibrant as ever. You’re a beautiful woman, and I’m glad you’re my wife.”
“I love you, too,” she said, and Curtis kissed her.
They held each other closely and Charlotte felt safe.
Safe and content.
At least for now.