Chapter 19

The end of the cobbler and the strawberry turnovers marked the end of the party. Nicole, Riana, and Isaac were the first to leave, then Gus and Bill departed, promising to visit again soon.

Chelly wanted to stay to clean up, but had made some calls and found a locksmith. Brenda left with her, as did Chelly’s friends from the acting company. Miss Minnie Eva walked Kelvin into his bedroom and stayed with him for a while.

Sean was cleaning the kitchen when she came out of Kelvin’s bedroom. “He had a big day and needs rest. I want you to know I’ve never stopped praying for your father.”

Sean offered an appreciative glance while he carried dishes to the sink. “Thank you, Miss Minnie Eva, and thank you for the turnovers. They were excellent.”

“You’re welcome. You and Chelly make a good couple. I’ve always liked her.” She washed her hands and began wrapping food to put away while he loaded the dishwasher. “I met Chelly after the tragedy, maybe two years after it happened, when she was still so depressed and just going through the motions. You know what I mean?”

“Yes, I do.”

“She used to come to church and sit long after service ended, staring at nothing. I told her, in the words of that hymn, sometimes, after you’ve prayed and cried, there’s nothing left to do except let the Lord see you through.”

Sean realized he didn’t know anything about Chelly’s spiritual beliefs. What did it mean that he could love someone and not know something that basic about her? He wasn’t without his faults, but spirituality was important to him.

“Did you hear me, Sean?”

Sean’s mental digression ceased as he rejoined the conversation. “Sorry. What did you say?”

“I said Chelly’s used to going it alone, so you might have your work cut out for you. Her parents grew up here, but after they divorced, Brenda moved south and her dad moved to the West Coast. Chelly chose to stay in Grand Rapids.”

Sean nodded. “Her independence is one of the reasons I’m attracted to her, but I’ll do my best to support her in every way I can.”

“Good. That’s good. I sure wish she’d come renovate my house and you could help me decorate it.” Miss Minnie Eva laughed.

“You live close by?”

“A couple of blocks down, but I rent. Live in an apartment complex called Candlewood.”

“Candlewood?”

“Yes, Nicole lives in one building. I live in the other.”

Finished loading the dishes, Sean began washing the champagne glasses by hand. “Do Nicole and Isaac live together?”

“Yep. And I didn’t know that child could sing like that. Tried to get her to go to church with me, but ‘that’s not her thing,’ she said. “How could God not be her thing?”

Sean shrugged and shook his head.

“I’m not going to give up, though. That voice has got my choir written all over it.” They laughed. “I’m sure my church could put your musical talents to work, too.”

“That reminds me. I met your pastor, Miss Minnie Eva. My father thought maybe—um.” He folded a dish towel while he forced the words out. “My father wants his funeral held at your church.”

Miss Minnie Eva patted Sean’s arm. “Put your mind at rest. We’ll have Kelvin’s funeral there.”

“Really?”

“I’ve been going to Metropolitan my whole life. I can arrange it.”

“Thank you.”

She shook her head and frowned. “That man!” she exclaimed. “Kelvin knew he could ask me, but he’s thinking he doesn’t want to be a burden on anybody. I said to him, ‘Kelvin, why else did God make a world full of people if we’re not supposed to depend on one another when times get hard?’ The good times are easy. Where’s the love in that?”

“Excellent point.”

“I had your father coming to church for a while before he got sick. He hadn’t stepped a foot into a church for fifteen years, and I got him to come.”

“That’s pretty amazing.” Sean wiped down the counters and the kitchen table.

Miss Minnie Eva switched topics. “Back in the day, your father used to date Rosemary, Nicole’s mother.”

“I know. He wanted to invite her to the party, and that’s when Nicole told us her mother was in prison. What’s she in for?”

“Distribution. Drugs. Nicole had to just about raise herself. She’s got a few cousins around here, but she was forced to grow up fast. No father.”

Sean used an SOS pad to scrub the cobbler pan, wondering why neither he or Miss Minnie Eva commented on the outrage drugs had wrought in the community. Their effects were so commonplace, it was like—what else is new?

Over Sean’s protests, Miss Minnie Eva swept the kitchen. When she finished she looked around and announced, “Okay. Kitchen’s in good shape. Thanks for everything, Sean. I’ll see you soon.”

* * *

While the locksmith changed the lock, and Brenda changed her clothes and rested, Chelly phoned Jaden. Burning a path in the living room floor, she hissed at him to keep from screaming. “Did you give me the wrong key on purpose?”

“No. I gave you my sister’s key by mistake. I had them both on the same key ring, and I pulled off the wrong one.”

Right. Had he always been a consummate liar? She didn’t believe the sister bit for one second, just like she hadn’t believed the dead phone story earlier. “And when you found this out, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I just found out today, and I apologize. I couldn’t resist snooping around your place. I was curious about this guy you dumped me for. I hit the jackpot.”

“Yeah, so I hear. And what is it you were hoping to find at my place?”

“Details. I’ve found in this business it’s always better to have information you may never use than to be caught short. It wouldn’t be the first time an adversary tried to use a female to gain the upper hand in a political race.”

“A female! It was bad enough when you reduced my identity to the African American woman you dated. Now all I am is a female?”

“Well, that may have come out wrong.”

“Never mind. What on earth could be in my apartment that would be of interest to this adversary?”

“The most innocuous things can come back to bite you. All you need is an over-ambitious reporter scrounging up a non-story. Voters are fickle and easily swayed. With the election next month, I can’t risk it.”

“Jaden, why didn’t you just ask me before invading my home like that?”

“What if they had turned you against me?” he asked.

“They?”

“Yes, ‘they.’ The political beast. The political machine. Just how naïve are you?”

Chelly scoffed and rolled her eyes toward the ceiling.

“I didn’t invent the rules, and I’d be a fool to ignore them. I’ve put a lot of time and energy into this campaign. Too much to have it stolen from me. So when do you want to meet to go over this guy’s dossier?”

“Dossier? What? Oh, so now we’re talking about Sean rather than your conniving, self-serving snooping?” She grunted her discontent. “I told you that I’m not interested. Anything I need to know about Sean, I’ll ask him.” She slammed the phone down.

Jaden called right back. “What are you afraid of? If there’s nothing here of interest to you—I think there will be—but if there’s not, what’s the difference?”

The validity of his argument couldn’t be denied. What harm could there be in verifying everything Sean had told her? Did he rent a house in Maryland? Did he graduate from Johnson and Wales? Was he single? She bit her lip and continued pacing in silence.

A background check on Sean would be an affront to him. It would make a mockery of everything they had shared to this point. Still, she wavered. Even though she cared about Sean, realistically she knew that after Kelvin died, Sean would become another memory. Happily ever after didn’t exist in their future. Good and decent men like Sean deserved a houseful of kids, something she could never provide. In that case, what harm could come from looking at the report on him?

Shoot! Kelvin was right. Being on the fence sucked. She stopped pacing, decision made. “Jaden, listen carefully. Don’t make me change my phone number. Don’t call me back.”

“Suit yourself, but let me share some Native American wisdom. It’s impossible to awaken a man who’s pretending to be asleep, or, in this case, a woman. Good luck.”

She stared at the receiver, listening to the dial tone. “You always did have to have the last word.”

Chelly paid the locksmith $75 and spent some time reconciling her checkbook. Brenda came out of the bathroom, primping her hair. She’d showered and changed into jeans.

“Are you all right, Mother?”

“Yeah, just needed a little down time. It was a good day, but long. How are you?”

“I’m fine. Kelvin had a really great time. Thanks for all your hard work.”

“You’re welcome. Who was that on the phone?”

“It was Jaden.” Chelly filled Brenda in on the key and the background check.

“I see. Do you want my two cents, Chelly?”

“You mean I have a choice?”

“Of course you don’t. Come sit down on the couch next to me.”

Chelly put her checkbook back into her purse and did as requested.

“This Sean is either a gem or a scheming low-life. If I were you, I’d want to be sure who I was spending my days and nights with.”

“A background check is a violation of trust, pure and simple.”

“I don’t see the problem. Eventually you two will share STD status and get tested, right?”

Chelly sat mildly stunned, not that she wasn’t used to her mother’s bluntness, but still.

“I mean, that’s the only practical thing to do nowadays, right?” her mother persisted.

“Yes, Mom. What’s your point?”

“The background check Jaden is offering is less invasive than a medical test. If Sean has your best interest at heart, he’ll understand. You’ve known him two weeks. How can you be so trusting?”

Chelly ran her fingers through her hair. “I know what I feel about him.”

“What do you feel?”

“Well, actually I haven’t sorted it all out yet, but I’m happy. I’m happy and I don’t want to do anything to change that.”

Brenda stood and pulled Chelly into her arms. “Honey, don’t you think I know that? I can see you’re happy, sweetheart. This has been a long time coming. But, part of me is waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’m so scared for you, I can hardly breathe. If you open your heart to this man after all these years and he hurts you, I may have to kill him, and you know prison orange doesn’t do a thing for me.”

They laughed. “Mom, Sean senses Maya.”

Brenda stepped back, her eyes huge. She gripped Chelly’s forearms with both hands. “How do you know?”

”You know how there’s always a chill around her. He alluded to that. He detected it here before, and today in the kitchen.”

“In the kitchen?”

Chelly explained about the spilled ice water earlier.

“Really?” Brenda cocked her head as if she couldn’t quite believe what she heard. “So after six years, someone else besides you can sense Maya? Why would Maya reveal herself to Sean and not to me?”

The strand of jealousy in her mother’s tone amused Chelly. Her mother never believed in Maya’s veracity, but had the nerve to want to be the one Maya showed herself to.

Chelly pressed on. “This is a sign of something positive, even though I know this isn’t long term. Sean and I will have some laughs and he’ll leave. I’m prepared for that.”

“Chelly, I know you. For the first time in years, your heart is letting you hope.”

Chelly wasn’t ready to admit the truth to herself or anyone else, so she didn’t answer.

“Have you explained Maya’s visits?” Brenda asked.

“No.” Chelly sat back down. “Not yet. So maybe I’ll keep my secrets and he can keep his for a while.”

“I have the perfect solution. Let Sean be angry with me. I’ll read the information Jaden collected about Sean, and then I’ll tell you if it’s something you need to know. If Sean finds out, he’ll think I arranged with Jaden to research his background.”

“Oh, wow. That’s pretty devious, Mom. I wouldn’t feel right about it.”

“It’s devious, but brilliant. I’ve already accused Sean of being interested in you for your settlement money. Me doing a background check on him won’t surprise him in the least.”

“What? You mean the blood money I gave away? How could you accuse him of wanting something I don’t have?”

“Well.” Brenda found a trace of something to piddle with on her shirt. “What you gave to your father and me, we’ve invested well. Someone could find that out and think you had money or would inherit it.”

“What are you saying? You and Dad are rich?”

“Let’s just say we bought heavily in AOL and sold at its highest, and we’ve continued to be fortunate with Starbucks, Amazon, and Google, to name a few. Your father has a knack for the market, actually. If I could just keep those gold diggers out of his pocket…well, but then he wouldn’t be having half as much fun. Anyway,” she tapped Chelly’s thigh. “You have a lot of money at your disposal whenever you stop associating it with death.”

“That will never happen. I’m practical enough to be glad for you and Dad, but that’s where it ends.”

Brenda shrugged. “Maybe you’ll change your mind. A tract of homes…a scholarship, even a theater dedicated to them…I never understood what was wrong with that.”

“I’ve never grieved the way you wanted me to, Mom, so why would you understand?”

Brenda held up her hands, signaling her unwillingness to argue. “Fair enough. You do what you have to do, and I’ll do likewise.”