CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MOSES RAMSEY
I spoke into the phone. “Dad, I need to speak with you. Is Mom around?” I paced my office nervously. I needed to get something off my chest, and my father was the only person I knew who I could trust with this information.
“She’s in the kitchen.”
“Good, what I have to say is for your ears only. Later you can decide whether to share it with Mom. Could you take me off speaker phone so she doesn’t come into the room?”
“Moses, I don’t keep secrets from your mother. Secrets are little lies that can ruin a relationship.”
“I know, Dad, but can you just indulge me for a moment? I need to speak to you man to man.”
“Sure, son, but I must say you have me concerned.”
I waited while he took me off speaker and left whatever room he was in.
“Okay, son, go ahead. Your mother can’t hear anything we say.”
I released a sigh of relief. I didn’t want to have to explain this shit to my mother and my dad. My mother would make a big deal about it.
“Dad, I fucked up and I could use some advice.”
“Fucked up how? And you know I don’t like that foul language.”
“Sorry, Dad, but there is no other way to say it. I fell in love with a woman who was already married, and she worked for me.”
“Son, didn’t I tell you never to shit where you work?”
I could tell he was disappointed with me because he almost never cursed. It didn’t take many words from my father to make me feel like a child all over again. “Yeah, you told me ... but in the heat of the moment, I wasn’t thinking straight. She was so beautiful I couldn’t help myself. If it makes you feel better, she actually came on to me. I didn’t have the willpower to turn her down.”
“Better? How is that supposed to make me feel better? I thought I taught you better than to let your dick do the thinking for you.”
I knew I would have to eat a slice of humble pie, but I wasn’t prepared to eat the whole damn thing. If he was going to lecture me the whole time, then I’d just wasted my time. I didn’t call him for a lecture, I needed advice on how I was going to deal with a wife, and a baby who most certainly wasn’t mine.
“Dad, I know I messed up. I didn’t call you to confirm it for me. I need your help, so can you please hold your opinions to yourself until I tell you the rest of the story?”
“I’m sorry. You know I only want the best for you. Your mother and I are worried about you being in Atlanta by yourself.”
“I got that, Dad. After this is over I may even move back home, but I’ve got to get through this.”
“Damn, sounds serious.”
“It is. The woman I am involved with is Latino.” I wanted to let this information settle in before I continued. My parents were very proud of their heritage and did not condone interracial relationships.
“Shit,” my dad said. His outburst caused my heart to leap.
I didn’t mean to ever hurt my parents, and judging by the way he was cussing, I could tell he was hurting. “Dad, I’m sorry. I didn’t choose to love her, it just happened.”
“Son, your mother is going to have a duck-plucking fit.”
“I know. That’s why I haven’t told her. There’s more.”
“Oh, shit.”
“She got pregnant. At the time I believed the child was mine. Remember when I called and told Mom I was having a baby?”
“Yeah, your mother and I argued about that for two days! I told her she was only hearing things she wanted to hear. Because of you, I couldn’t get any for over a week.”
“I wasn’t lying. Her name is Verónica, she said I was the father. Dad, she changed my life, and I wanted to be that child’s father. I was trying to persuade her to leave her husband and marry me.”
“Oh, Jesus.” He blew out a deep breath. I could tell he was smoking, which was something my mother forbade him to do.
“She said she loved me, Dad, and I loved her. To me it was simple, but she said it was more complicated.”
“Okay, I got all that, what happened?”
“Dad, I have to tell this my way. I need for you to understand that I wanted to be there for my child just like you were there for me. But she was committed to someone else and it was driving me nuts.”
“Father God! Don’t tell me you did something stupid and had him killed.”
“No, I said I was in love, not psychotic.”
“Thank God.”
“I’m sorry, Dad. I haven’t done things the way you wanted me to but at least now you know I’m not gay.”
“Under normal circumstances I would’ve been happy to hear that, but this mess you’re involved in—”
“Have you ever had a woman in your face who did it for you on every level every day? I couldn’t help myself when she came on to me. Shit, what was I supposed to do?”
He said, “Things have changed since I was a young man. When I met your mother, she wouldn’t let me get with her until I married her. I realize things have changed, but why a Latino woman? Why not a black queen?”
“Dad, you know as well as I do that you can’t control who you love. It was just something about her; it wasn’t meant as a slight to black women.”
“Okay, I can respect that. So what’s the problem? Her husband found out and he wants to kill your dumb ass?”
I didn’t appreciate the way he was making light of the situation. I needed him to care about it as much as I did. “It’s a long story, but her husband was murdered.”
“Whoa, you said you didn’t kill him. Should I be worried?”
He didn’t know the half of it.
“It was pretty intense at the time. I will go into it in more detail the next time I see you, but I have to get the rest of the story out before Mom comes looking for you.”
“You got that right. I’d better put out this cigar.”
“Verónica told me the whole time she was carrying the baby it was mine. I believed her, Dad.”
“Wait, hold the fuck up. You said she was married, son, so how the hell could this child be yours?”
My dad was hopping mad—I heard it in his voice.
“Dad, I know you’re upset but hear me out, please. She said she wasn’t having sex with her husband and that he was incapable of having children.”
“Son, that’s the oldest line in the book. I can’t believe you fell for it.”
“I did, hook, line, and sinker, and to make matters worse, I married her.”
I heard his phone hit the floor. “Holy Mother of God,” he shouted.
I could hear the pain in his voice. I was his only child, and I hated being a disappointment to him.
“She lied to me, Dad. The baby is white. I feel like such a fool for believing her.”
“Whether the baby is white or purple, if you love this woman it shouldn’t make a difference.”
“But what about the lies she told me?”
“Your whole relationship was built on a lie. So now the only question that really remains is, what you are going to do about it? Her husband is gone. Are you ready to abandon her?”
My father had a good point. While I was still hurt that the baby wasn’t mine, a part of me still loved Verónica .
“I guess I’m going to make a go of this marriage.”
“Good, and you’re going to have to make an effort not to hold the sins of the mother against your child.”
“I’m going to work on it; I really love her. Thanks for hearing me out, Dad.”
“So are you trying to tell me we are grandparents?” my mother asked.
“Mom, how long have you been on the phone?” My stomach sunk. If she didn’t hear the whole conversation, I was going to have to start all over again. Once was enough. If she did hear the conversation, I knew she was going to want to see the baby and see him quickly.
“I picked up as soon as your father left the room. He’s no good at keeping secrets from me and he knows it.”
My dad laughed. When I realized that she wasn’t mad, I started laughing as well.
Mom said, “So when can I see my grandchild?”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
VERÓNICA RAMSEY
Moses came into the kitchen and tossed his key on the counter. “Hey, sweetheart, did you have a good day?”
I stopped stirring the tuna salad I was making and looked around to see who Moses was talking to. I assumed he was on the phone because he hadn’t called me sweetheart in over months. My first thought was,
who is this man and what have you done with my husband?
“Uh ... actually I did. The baby slept good today, hopefully, he’ll sleep through the night. How was your day?”
Moses gave me a happy-meal smile and it made me nervous. “It was very enlightening.”
I didn’t know what he meant by that, and I was afraid to ask. For some reason he was in a rare mood and I didn’t want to ruin it. He leaned over and gave me a gentle kiss on the lips. An electric shock passed between us, which made us both jump.
“Ouch, hot stuff coming through.” I pressed a finger to my top lip.
He kissed me again and this time I felt no pain, only passion. “Sorry I shocked you. Was that better?”
“Mmm, I’ll say it was.” I closed my eyes and savored the moment.
We didn’t share moments like this often. His kiss was tender. I could actually feel the love it represented. As he moved away, I felt the air conditioner cool my now warm face. I opened my eyes but he hadn’t moved. He was still smiling at me, and it was kind of creepy because I didn’t recognize him. He reminded me of the man I fell in love with.
I said, “Moses, what’s going on? I’m not complaining, but you have me confused. When you left this morning you barely looked at me, and tonight I get not one kiss but three.”
“Can’t a man kiss his wife?” His smile lingered on his face but I was still uneasy.
“I wasn’t complaining. I just wanted to know what happened so I could make it happen more often.” I laughed it off, but I’d never been so serious in my life. I was sick of all the fussing and arguing we’d been doing. It wasn’t good for me and it damn sure wasn’t good for the baby.
“Where’s your father?”
I froze. Something was definitely wrong. “Who are you and what have you done with my husband?” I grabbed a knife from the countertop. I’d been through that subterfuge bullshit before, and I was not about to go through it again.
“Sweetheart, put down the knife. Everything is okay. I just came to some conclusions today and they have changed my outlook on this.” He reached for the knife and I allowed him to take it from my hand, but I still wasn’t sure things were on the up and up.
I frowned. “What kind of conclusions?”
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head. Just know that things are going to be different around here—starting tonight.”
He unknotted his tie and left the room. I sunk down on the closest chair. Despite Moses’ assurances, I did not feel relieved. I felt like I did when my uncle entered our house and pretended to be my father. I was certain the man who entered my house today was my husband, but that was as far as I was willing to go with that. I heard the shower running and I looked at the clock. It was already five and I wasn’t done preparing dinner.
“Where did my day go?” I jumped up, dismissing my insecurities about Moses, and put some effort into finishing dinner. As I opened the refrigerator I heard LM whimpering through the child monitoring system we’d installed throughout the house.
I grabbed a bottle of breast milk from the refrigerator. From under the sink, I got a small pan to heat his bottle. To his credit, Moses had purchased a top-of-the-line bottle warmer. As far as I was concerned, though, it took more time than it was worth trying to figure out how to use the damn thing. Some things didn’t need modernization. I placed the bottle in a little water and turned on the burner of the stove.
LM’s whimpers were gathering intensity, so I turned up the heat and was careful to shake it every few seconds so it wouldn’t have any hot pockets. The water had just started to simmer as LM began to cry in earnest.
“Hey, big guy. What’s all the noise for?”
I heard Moses talking to his son. LM immediately quieted. I froze—total state of shock. Moses had never once gone to check on the baby when he was crying.
“What the hell is going on here?” I mumbled to myself as I edged closer to the monitor.
“Let’s go see what’s taking your momma so long with your milk.”
I broke out of my trance, but I still felt like I was walking through a cloud as I walked around the kitchen in circles. Moses met me halfway and took the bottle from me. He gave me a sexy smile, which almost made my knees buckle, and he winked at me. He turned around and went back upstairs. I watched them until they disappeared at the top of the steps. Something very strange was happening in my own house and I didn’t know what it was. I’d prayed that Moses would take an interest in my child, but I never thought God would’ve moved so quickly.
When Moses returned to the kitchen, he had changed into some jeans and a T-shirt that showed off his muscles. My heart swelled with love but I was still confused.
“Where’s the baby?”
“After I burped him, he went right to sleep. I changed his diaper, so he should be good for another few hours.” He took the paper off the kitchen table and winked at me again.
I gave him an uncertain nod as he walked into the family room.
“Where did you say your father was?” Moses asked again.
“Ah, he said he had some errands to run. He’s been gone all day.”
“Come here for a minute.”
Nervously, I walked into the room expecting the worst. He was lying on the sofa. The paper was on the coffee table. Untouched.
“Come sit your sweet pussy on my face,” he commanded.
“What did you say?”
He laughed. “You heard me.” His baritone voice sent a ripple down my back straight to my pussy.
“What about my father?”
“Then I guess you’d better hurry up.”
It drove me crazy when he spoke sexy to me. I still had on my panties, but Moses took care of that. He roughly pulled them to the side and put his face between my thighs. I exhaled. He pushed his tongue into my pussy. I was thirsty for his love. I wanted to come deep in his mouth.
“Ah ... that shit feels good.” I ground my pussy against his face without a care in the world. He fondled my breasts. He stuck his finger in my pussy as he gently sucked on my clit. I was close to a climax and we’d just started.
“That’s it, baby, that’s my spot.”
He didn’t respond because his mouth was full, but he heard me because he increased the pressure on my clit. His arms were wrapped tightly around my thighs, holding me in place. But he really didn’t have to hold me, I wasn’t going anywhere.
I said desperately, “Fuck me, baby.” I had a lot of regrets in my life, but loving Moses wasn’t one of them. This man took me to heights that I didn’t even know existed.
He pushed me away long enough to breathe, my juices dripping off his face. “You like that?” he asked as he drove his face back into my pussy.
How did he expect me to answer when he was pleasing me like this? “Ah,” I moaned with pleasure. If he was trying to drive me fucking crazy, it was working. All my insecurities were forgotten. “I’m cumming!” I squirted in his mouth.
My entire body shook with an intensity I’d forgotten existed. He pulled my body down and rammed his dick into my pussy. My walls wrapped around his dick like a warm blanket. He was such an energetic lover. I grunted when I felt his dick hit my wall.
“Oh my God,” I moaned. “Oh, Lord,” I shouted.
“Damn, baby, this shit is good. I’ve been dreaming about your pussy all day long.” He rammed his dick inside me again. His brow was creased and his lips were pulled back. His eyes were wide open like windows to his soul.
“Don’t stop.” Technically, we should’ve waited. I had a difficult delivery and the doctor advised us to wait on sex for two more weeks, but I couldn’t tell this man no. He just turned me on.
“Back that shit up for me then.” He was asking me to back my ass up so he would fuck me doggie style and he only had to say it once.
“I got you, give it to me.” I bent over and looked at him over my shoulder.
That was all he needed to hear. He pushed his dick so far up in my shit, I had no choice but to come on it. His weight fell on me as he came; it was cool, I needed the rest.
“Damn,” he said.
“You got that right. That was awesome.” He went to sleep; and for a minute, so did I.
However, LM made sure we didn’t sleep long.