Cheryl

“I don’t care what you think, Randy; someone framed me.”

Randy looked down at his clasped hands, then back up at Cheryl, whose red eyes were so swollen they couldn’t produce or hold any more tears. “Cheryl, you know what? I actually want to believe you. But even if somehow someone did get past the doorman and into our apartment to plant a packet of birth control pills, how in the hell did they fix it that your urine and blood shows you’ve been taking the pills? And we’ve been to two different labs, Cheryl. Both of which you picked.”

Cheryl rubbed her hands over her uncombed hair, then clutched her head and once again broke out in sobs. “I feel like I’m going insane. I don’t know, Randy. I love you, and now I’ve lost you, and not because of anything I did wrong.”

Randy slowly stood up, walked to the closet and pulled out a suitcase. “How can you say taking birth control pills behind my back all this time without telling me isn’t wrong, Cheryl?” He started throwing unfolded shirts, pants, and underwear inside.

“But I’m not on birth control pills!” Cheryl started pounding the bed on which she was sitting. “I haven’t used any contraceptive since we married. I swear.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Cheryl. Like I said, I want to believe you, but at the same time, I can’t let you play me like some country hick. Because I come from Alabama doesn’t mean I don’t mind being played the fool.” He snapped the suitcase shut. “Even by a beautiful woman like you.”

Beautiful? She thought back to the evening she and Randy had first met—the $3,000 Dolce & Gabbana white lace mini, diamonds dripping from her ears, and every hair in perfect place. Yes, she was certainly beautiful then. Cheryl looked up at the mirror on the wall opposite her. Her eyes were red and so puffy they were almost closed, her face was raw and swollen, and her hair was all over her head. She met him like that and he was leaving her like this? No. She shook her head furiously. He’s not leaving me. He can’t leave me.

But what could she do to stop him? And how the hell did all this happen? It had to be Sexy who put the birth control pills in her night table, but how could she prove it? And Randy was right; how was it that traces of the contraceptive were found both in her urine and blood? It wasn’t like Sexy could have bribed someone at the lab; they didn’t even know what lab they could use until looking a few up on the Internet. How did Sexy pull it off? She buried her face in her hands. That damn Sexy had finally snagged Randy for herself.

“Randy, can’t we talk about this?”

“I don’t think there’s anything to talk about, Cheryl. I’ll call a lawyer tomorrow to see about starting divorce proceedings.”

Divorce? We haven’t been married a year. We’ve not even celebrated one damn anniversary. “You know who did this, don’t you?” she said, walking over to Randy who was throwing sneakers in a duffel bag.

Randy looked up at her, but said nothing.

“Your little innocent girlfriend, Sexy Sanchez,” Cheryl said, venom in her voice. “Somehow that little bitch managed to get in here.” She looked at Randy through narrowed eyes. “I bet she stole your key and made a copy. She planted the birth control packet.”

Randy laughed. “And then she stole the keys to every diagnostics lab and clinic in the city, and coated every single test tube with some concoction that, when mixed with your blood or pee, would show you were on birth control, huh? Do you know how dumb you sound, Cheryl?”

“How dumb I sound?” Cheryl looked at Randy while slowly shaking her head. “Did you actually say that to me?” She walked over to Randy and eased down on a chair. “You never would have talked to me like that before, Randy. I can’t say it feels good to hear you talking to me like that now.”

Randy shrugged. “Sorry if I hurt your feelings. That wasn’t my intention. But now maybe you know how you made me feel.”

“What?” Cheryl screwed her face up. “When have I ever made you feel dumb?”

“Oh, how about you when you insisted that I go learn how to talk? I have a Southern accent, but it doesn’t mean I don’t know how to talk.”

“The diction lessons?” Cheryl sucked her teeth. “We talked about it and you agreed with me, Randy, and you know it! Neither one of us wanted you to sound as if you didn’t know how to put together a sentence when talking to the media or making personal appearances.”

“Yeah, well, some folks find the way I talk quite homey,” Randy said sullenly. “In fact, some people think I talk like T.I.”

“Well,” Cheryl said, rolling her eyes, “if your only goal is to sound like a former drug dealer and second-rate rapper who’s forever in and out of prison, then sure, the money we spent on diction was a waste.”

“T.I. is not a second-rate rapper,” Randy snapped.

“Oh, well, excuse me,” Cheryl said with a smirk.

“And it wasn’t money we spent on diction; it was money I spent on diction,” Randy sneered. “I don’t remember you contributing any money to the cause.”

Cheryl’s head jerked back in surprise. “Are you serious?”

“Oh, yeah, very serious! Like it was my money that bought all this.” Randy waved his arm around the room. “It was my money that paid for this furniture, wasn’t it? I don’t remember you using any money from your modeling gigs to buy even the curtains. Or am I wrong?”

“Randy—”

“And who paid for this fancy apartment, your car, your clothes, for you to get your hair done, your furs, your jewelry—”

“Randy,” Cheryl said through clenched teeth, “in case you don’t remember, I had a place to live, my own car, my own clothes, jewelry, and furs before you met me.”

Randy walked over and bent down so that his face was only inches away from hers. “But none were anywhere’s near as nice as what you got now, right?”

Cheryl was speechless for a moment. Was this really the same man who swore he would love her forever? Who said he would never hurt her? Who said he wanted a woman like her whom he knew wasn’t after his money? But then again, this was the same man who said he wouldn’t cheat on her. And exactly how had that turned out?

“Randy,” Cheryl said finally. “Maybe my things weren’t as nice then as they are now, but they were mine. And I hate to remind you, but you were the one who didn’t have a car, a real place to live, and barely more than the clothes on your back when we met. But I fell in love with you anyway. Or, should I say, the person I thought you were.” Cheryl stood up and walked over to the window and looked out onto the city street. “If the person I thought you were met the person you turned out to be, he’d beat the hell out of you.”

She was so lost in her thoughts that it took a good five minutes before Cheryl realized that her last words had hit a mark. That’s when she realized that she no longer heard Randy talking, or moving around. She turned back toward the room to find him sitting on the bed staring at her. “What’s wrong, now?” she asked wearily.

“Nothing. I . . . I . . .” He hung his head down. “I don’t know. I can’t figure out how we got here, you know?”

Cheryl gave a small smile. “I know.”

“You didn’t marry me for my money, Cheryl. I don’t even know why I said that.”

“I do. Because Sexy suggested it, right? She also said she liked your homey style and that I was trying to change you because I was ashamed of you, right?”

“Cheryl—”

“And, it was Sexy who first made you suspect that I was taking birth control pills behind your back, wasn’t it?” Randy said nothing, confirming Cheryl’s suspicions. “But,” she continued with a sigh, “even though I wasn’t, there’s no way I can prove it. Sexy’s winning this one. In fact, I’d say she’s hitting it out the park.”

Randy shook his head, but said nothing.

“Somehow, Sexy has arranged everything. What a smart little skank.”

Randy bit his lip. “Cheryl, don’t.”

“Want a drink?” Cheryl stood up without waiting for an answer. “I want a drink. Scotch, in fact.” She went in the living room and returned carrying a tray with a bottle of scotch, ice, and two glasses.

“Are you moving in with her?” Cheryl asked after she poured them both a drink.

“I don’t know,” Randy said in a low voice.

“You don’t know. Hmm, that’s interesting.” Cheryl took a sip of scotch. “So, where, may I ask, are you heading to from here?” She shook her glass so that the ice tinkled against each other. “And tell me the truth, baby.”

Randy downed his scotch in one gulp, and then lay down on the bed, his hands crossed behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. “Yeah, I told her I’d stay with her a couple of nights.”

“I see.”

“But, that ain’t right, is it? I don’t know what’s wrong with me, lately,” Randy said dismally. “I’ll call her and tell her I’ve changed my mind.”

“You’ve changed your mind?” Cheryl asked hopefully. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, it’s only right.”

“Oh, Randy. Thank you, baby.” Cheryl put down her glass, scooted closer to Randy and stroked his head. “Thank you.”

Randy pulled her down to him and softly kissed her. “Cheryl, I’m so sorry I hurt you.”

“And I’m sorry for any and everything I’ve done to hurt you, Randy.” This time she kissed him—long and hard. “Randy,” she said when their lips finally parted, “I would really like you to make love to me.”

Randy swept Cheryl into his arms and carried her into the bedroom. As if she were capable of breaking, he gently laid her on their bed and slowly undressed her, and then removed his clothes. He embraced her, and Cheryl made a breathless sound, almost a whimper when their mouths touched. Lips and tongues fused, he caged her beneath his hard, muscled body, his soft lips and moist tongue now trailing down her neck while he gently squeezed her breasts. Cheryl’s flesh tingled beneath Randy’s soft kisses, and she gasped as she inhaled his familiar scent, so wonderfully masculine it made her dizzy with need.

“Oh, Randy, I miss you so much.”

He didn’t respond with words. He didn’t have to. He released a groan as he buried his face in her bosom, rubbing his cheek against her dewy skin, kissing and licking her nipples until they tightened into hard knots of desire.

Cheryl clung to him, writhing and whimpering as the heat from his skilled hands warmed her. All the while, his erection pressed into her shaven mound with an insistent, grinding rhythm.

She held her breath until she could bear it no more and then let out a long moan as he touched her intimately. “I want to feel you inside me,” she pleaded, aching to be filled with his hardness.

Lavishing her with all the tenderness he possessed, Randy caressed her face and whispered that he loved her as he gingerly entered her an inch at a time.

Cheryl’s body clutched possessively at every delicious increment, and when he was fully inside her, she cried out, calling his name over and over as ripples of pleasure coursed through her. He made love to her slowly and with a gentleness that spoke volumes. Randy loved her as much as she loved him. His love was evident in every thrust—in every deep stroke, and the sensation that Randy was giving was unbearably intense.

Despite his deliberate and slow movements, Cheryl didn’t last long. Pleasure throbbed through every limb, and to her fingers and toes. She seemed to be in an entirely different universe of dazzling sensations and powerful emotions. After receiving only a few excruciatingly pleasurable strokes, she felt an earthquake beginning to erupt inside her. And then, quite surprisingly, there was a catastrophic explosion that caused her to convulse and cry out in unbridled passion.

Eager to join Cheryl, Randy quickened his pace. “It feels so good to be inside you, babe. I love you, Cheryl, and I miss you like crazy.”

He sucked in a shallow gasp, and then his body went momentarily rigid right before a blast of molten lava spurted, causing him to howl a torturous sound that seemed to emerge from the very depths of his soul.

*  *  *

It’s all going to be okay, Cheryl thought as she dozed off to sleep. It’s all going to be fine. Sure it wasn’t going to be easy to get her marriage back on an even keel, but she’d put in the work. The way she figured it, God had decided to punish her for selling the baby by sending Sexy to destroy her life. But then God had taken pity on her when he realized how much she really loved Randy, and how much he loved her. And she was going to make things right. No, she wasn’t going to tell Randy that she had sold a child, nor tell Sexy that she was her mother. And there was no use lying; she had zero maternal feelings for the girl. But she was at least going to try to be friendly to Sexy, and maybe become a good influence on her. After all, it was apparent the girl needed guidance. Imagine, seventeen years old and spreading her legs for anything in pants. Yes, she was going to take Sexy under her wing, and become a role model for the girl. God had saved her marriage, so it was the least she could do.

She didn’t realize she’d fallen asleep, but she awoke when she went to snuggle closer to Randy and discovered he wasn’t there.

“Randy?”

His clothes were changed, his face newly shaved, and he smelled like soap. And he sat down next to her and placed his hand on her face.

“I’m not sure how these things work, Cheryl. Divorces, you know? I, uh, guess until it’s all done and final we’ll be considered separated. I don’t know how long or anything, but of course, you don’t have to go nowhere. The apartment is bought and paid for, and even though it’s in both of our names, I don’t mind you having it.”

Cheryl’s eyes widened. Separated? But didn’t Randy say he had changed his mind?

“Um, I know some guys do stupid things like cancel their wives’ credit cards and stuff, but you know you don’t have to worry about anything like that, right?”

But wait, Randy said he was going to call Sexy and tell her that he changed his mind. I know he did.

“I’ve called and made reservations at the Plaza Hotel, babe. You can reach me there if you need me, okay?”

He changed his mind about staying with Sexy, not about the divorce. She felt as if she’d been punched in the stomach, but she struggled to stop tears from falling once again or springing to her eyes. She’d begged. She’d pleaded. She’d tried to explain. If he was going to leave, then he wouldn’t be leaving a groveling wimp; he’d be leaving the proud sophisticated woman he married.

Randy leaned down and kissed her, then stood up, picked up the suitcase and duffel bag, and headed for the door. Right before walking out, he turned around and looked at her. With tears in his eyes he said in an undeniably sad voice: “Bye, Cheryl. I want you to know I’ll always love you.”

“Bye, Randy. I hope she makes you happy.” Cheryl responded. “And by happy, I mean I hope she gives you syphilis.”