Everything is Everything Book 2 (14 page)

She needed to back off, like he said.

She got out of bed and tipped downstairs to the living room. But Scotty wasn’t there. She looked out the living room window and saw that his car was gone.

Vanessa went to speak to a lawyer the next day. The consultation cost her fifty dollars and that was hard to give up when they were watching every penny. But Vanessa intended to make damn sure that Scotty had good representation even if he was too damned stubborn to see it for himself.

Attorney J. Alexander Rosenthal was a top lawyer in Cincinnati. He even had a catchy commercial that would assure that he was a visible fixture in the tri-state area of Southern Ohio, northern Kentucky and South Eastern Indiana. And because of that, he had seen a great deal of court time.

J. Alexander Rosenthal stated that with luck he might get Scotty ten to twenty, but it was his opinion that there would be no Justifiable Homicide.

Scotty was going to serve time. How much was the only question.

Vanessa was deep in thought when she finally returned to Miss Gloria’s house. Scotty was at the front door before she could even close it. His face was dark and angry.

“Where were you?” His voice was even despite the expression on his face. Vanessa gave him a surprised look. She hadn’t had much of an opportunity to explain her intent to see the lawyer since he had decided to run off. But this she kept to herself. If circumstances were different, if she wasn’t faced with losing him than she would have told him just that. She would have been all in his face.

Instead she closed the door. “We need to talk,” her eyes flitted to Ginger, who was watching them in open curiosity. Five-year old Ty was trailing his older brother and Scotty looked down at him. He didn’t know what she wanted to talk about but he was afraid—even more afraid then he had been a minute before she walked through the door and he had envisioned every terrible crime possible befalling her.

“Tyrone, go with Ginger. Vanessa and I are going outside for a while.” He said.

“Can I go with you and Vanessa?” Ty asked innocently. Tyrone, along with Beady were products of a union between Tracy and the child molesting Mr. Johnny. Luckily for Tyrone the man had spent zero time with the child before succumbing to AIDS only months after receiving his diagnosis.

Tyrone was smart, could already read scriptures from the bible and with his cocoa brown skin, light eyes and unruly dark curls he was sure to grow up to be as handsome as his half brother Phonso.

Scotty bent done until he was on eye level with his brother.

“Not right now, Buddy. We’ll go for a ride tomorrow. We haven’t seen Mom in a while.”

Ty nodded solemnly and then he was the one to take Ginger’s hand and lead her back to the living room where the television was loudly playing the movie of the week.

Scotty’s eyes scanned Vanessa’s weary face and then he lead her outside. They sat down on the stairs next to each other and Scotty felt her lean her head against his arm. Wordlessly he placed his arm around her shoulder and they sat that way as he waited for her to speak.

Maybe she would tell him that he was an asshole and she was leaving him. And if that were the case he would find a way to agree. He would find a way not to show his emotions—the same way he had shielded his pain and anger when she had described what Donald had done to her that fateful night.

“I saw a lawyer today,” she whispered. “I didn’t believe you. But you were right. That lawyer on television, Alexander Rosenthal, he agreed that you were going to serve time.” She swallowed past the lump in her throat, surprised that she could still speak so calmly.

“He said we could get ten to twenty but he doubted if there was a chance for anything less than that.”

Scotty nodded. He rubbed her shoulder.

“We have to talk about the future,” he said quietly.

“What’s going to happen with your brothers and sisters? Miss Gloria?” She looked up at him and Scotty was proud of the look of strength she displayed. He knew that she was falling apart inside but she was strong. They were strong. She would get through this.

“I talked to Miss Gloria and she’s going to apply for subsidized housing. I already told Erica and EJ that once that happened they’d probably go into foster care.”

The twins had taken the news well and Scotty realized that they had been just waiting for that inevitable ending all along. He thought EJ would hate him for their circumstances but instead the boy had given him a hug in an uncharacteristic move.

Erica had told him not to worry about them anymore. And then she had told him she loved him and had rushed out the room with EJ following his sister, trying to catch up to her.

“I’m going to wait to tell Ginger and Tyrone. Miss Gloria said she’d keep them both.”

Vanessa suddenly liked the woman more than she had one day before. She wasn’t a saint, she was just a human being. But she was a lifeline for this family and for that Vanessa would always respect her.

Scotty stroked the soft curls of her hair. “They will be okay. We Tremonts’ are pretty damn tough.”

Her arms slipped around his waist. “Yes you are.”

“But we have to talk about us.”

Her eyes locked onto his.

“I’m not going anywhere Scotty. I’ll wait for you-“

He shook his head and cupped her face in his hands. “Oh babe, please don’t say that. I want you to listen to me very closely sweetheart.

“When I was a kid I knew that I would never be like the people on television—people who had a mother and father and a comfortable home. I knew that I was going to sell drugs. I didn’t have any dreams of being anything different.”

Vanessa covered his hands on her face with her own.

“Then I met you Vanessa—just another little sister that needed to be looked after. But you were different. It’s not something I can describe because it’s not just because you had a beautiful singing voice. Vanessa, you were different. Like … we had some type of connection that allowed me to see inside of you. I’m pretty sure that you could see inside of me as well.”

“You’re my soul mate,” she said with no hesitation.

Scotty nodded. Yes. That was what he felt as well. “There is something in you that makes you stand out. And it’s what makes you good.” He frowned. “Maybe I had that too. But I lost it-“

“Scotty-“ she tried to interrupt but he touched his forehead with hers and continued to speak.

“It came back, once I met you. What made me good came back. You brought it back in me. I think that’s your gift Vanessa. You can touch people with your heart and if you put your heart in your singing or your acting than I have no doubt that you will be a success at it.

“But if you sit here in the projects of Winton Terrace you will lose it, too Vanessa. You will lose your opportunities to use your gift.”

“Scotty.” Vanessa pulled back, her hands still on his as they cradled his face. She saw that his eyes were bright with unshed tears. “If you think that I’m going anywhere than you’re wrong! I can’t. I can’t let you go! It doesn’t mean that I can’t act and sing. I can still be your woman-“

Scotty shook his head and kissed her lips and nose. “You can’t be my woman because I can’t be your man. Not when I’m in prison. Nothing would hurt me more than knowing that you’re barely eighteen years old and have set your entire life with someone who can’t be there for you.”

“Scotty-“

He pulled back and looked into her eyes. “Listen. Hear what I’m saying. Your lost possibilities will haunt me. Don’t you know that about me, yet? Don’t you know that I’m not just giving you lip service? If you become a prison fiancée, than you’re not doing it for me but for yourself. Every time you visit me I’ll be reminded that you are somewhere you should never be!”

Vanessa pulled his hands free of her face. She looked out into the night. “You want to break up.” She finally said.

He looked out into the night along with her. “I want to let you go.”

Scotty quit his job at the pizza place and though he didn’t give Vanessa a reason, she knew that it was because he had given up hope and was preparing to serve time.

Wanting to spend as much time with him as possible, Vanessa quit her job as well. But she felt hurt by his desire to push her away. Sometimes she wanted to curl up in his arms and stay that way—and other times she wanted to retreat with her tail between her legs like a wounded animal.

Knowing that he was most proud of her when she was strong, she showed him her strength and tried to subconsciously share her belief that the attorneys were wrong. They could not separate them after she’d waited so long to find him.

And as far as him letting her go—she would have none of it! She told him that he was hers and she had so little. She would never give up something so precious.

Never.

Things between them remained strained with Scotty fearful of not just his own prison sentence but the one that he was sure to heap upon those that he loved.

Vanessa felt relieved when Scotty told her that he was going to take Ty to visit their mother. She needed time to get a grip on her own emotions. She told him that she would spend the time turning in her uniform and picking up her last paycheck. Also the post office had some mail for them that hadn’t been forwarded.

Scotty knew it was a lot that he was laying on Vanessa and wanted to give her some time alone. Also, he wanted to spend some time with his little brother. Tyrone loved riding in the Beemer and Scotty needed to say goodbye to his mother. By the time he got out of jail Tracy would probably no longer be alive.

Scotty had accepted the fact that he would be spending some hard time in prison. He tried not to think too hard about it, about how close he had come to gaining all of his dreams. No one needed to know that deep down he was barely keeping it together. Deep down he was afraid, angry and so sorry that he had let everyone down.

He buckled his brother in the passenger seat and then drove them to a Kwiky Mart for candy. Afterwards they went to the care facility that his mother had been living.

Tyrone had no memory of going hungry and having dirty diapers that didn’t get changed because his mother was always either out prostituting or too high.

Tyrone’s memories were of living with his grandmother and having hot meals and a warm bed to sleep in. He went to church and was taught with loving care by someone who did it out of love and not just necessity.

But Scotty knew that one-day Tyrone would want to know who the person was that had given birth to him. And by the time he was old enough to make the decision on his own to visit her she would be long dead of the AIDS virus that was now ravaging her immune system.

When they were buzzed into the building Tyrone took Scotty’s hand. The small boy liked to pretend to be big like his brothers—and in so many ways he was, but he didn’t like coming here. He didn’t know the scary woman that they visited even though he realized that she was their mother. He didn’t understand a lot of things like why his mother was white and he was black and his brother was white and his grandma was black. It didn’t make sense but he accepted it as fact. He accepted that once every few months he had to visit the scary lady.

Scotty signed them in at the receptionist desk while Tyrone clutched the bag of candy instead of his brother’s hand. The lady—their mother liked candy. Scotty took his hand again and Tyrone felt relieved. They boarded the elevator with two ladies who were wearing doctors’ clothes. One looked at him and winked and he responded with a solemn nod of his head.

When they got off the elevator, the two brothers came to another nurse’s station where Miss Jennings, the nurse on duty told them good morning and talked to Scotty for a minute about their mother.

They walked down a corridor that looked like one that would be found in an apartment complex. There was even faded but clean grey/blue carpeting that had seen better days. Scotty knocked on one of the doors before letting them in.

It smelled like hospital in the room and Scotty released his hand as he ushered Tyrone inside. It was cool and he could hear the sound of a window fan.

The room they had entered resembled a small efficiency apartment. There was a beige couch and a matching reclining chair with matching end tables. A television set was on top of a table that contained a VCR and stereo. It opened up to a galley kitchen that had room for a dinette table, a narrow refrigerator and a small two-burner stove.