Forever. (This. Is. Not. Over. Book 3) (18 page)

“Just give me a second
,” I say to my father as I take a sip of bourbon.

“You look shitty
,” he says as he sits down on the barstool and faces me.

“And better yet, I feel shitty.” I raise my glass of bourbon to him and then take a sip.

“You know, son, you could be married to much worse than Winnie Yates,” he says as a glass of bourbon and a saucer of roasted duck get pushed in front of him. “Trust me.” He takes a sip of his drink, his eyes still on me.

“I saw Jasmine today.” My father is the only person besides Malcolm, Cadence and Nat that I’ve told about Jasmine. Two months ago, I was home doing
obligatory wedding shit with my mother. I had just gotten out of the shower and was getting dressed in my room when my father walked in and noticed a year-old back tattoo of mine: a ‘J’ with a royal crown hanging off of the top. “Nice. King Jacob?” he asked as he inspected it. “Queen Jasmine,” I answered back. Fuck it. I wanted out of this engagement with Winnie. “Interesting,” my father said as he took a seat on my bed, “let’s start at the beginning, shall we?” Thus began the conversation of who the hell Jasmine was.

“And? Did you give her the pearls?”
my father asks.

“I did.” A couple of days ago, I took Cadence with me to pick and approve them.

“And she took them, I suppose?”

“She did.”

“Did she say anything?”

“Not a word.”

“Where were you when you gave them to her?”

“Her condo.”

“Did anyone see you go up there?”

“I brought Mac.”

Dad nods and takes another sip of his drink. “You love her,” he says, placing the glass back on the countertop.

“I do.”

He pats me on the arm. “You know, I wish you could’ve been with her. Some men marry for power, some for love. I married for both. I won’t lie to you. Your mother was the package deal for me. Still is. I wanted her
and
I needed her. Still do.” He smiles and then gives me a light slap on the face.

“Lucky you.” I take a sip of bourbon.

“I gave you a way out, Jake.” He leans in and whispers to me. “You didn’t want to take it. I said I’d call it off.”

“I need her.” I take another sip of bourbon.

“Yeah you do.” He smiles. “If you don’t want me helping you after you get that law degree.”

“I don’t.”

“Then Winnie’s the way to go.” He takes another sip of his drink. “She loves you.”

“I know.” I take another sip of mine.

“She’ll be loyal.”

“I know.”

We sit in the silence as we both sip our drinks, ignoring the sizzling sounds of kitchen grills and waiters rushing from one side of the kitchen to the next with champagne trays held high. God. Why did I marry her? Why did I do it? I close my eyes and run a hand over my face. Why did I do this?

“I’ll stop the paperwork
,” I hear my father say. I open my eyes and see that he’s taking a bite out of his roasted duck.

“What?”

“The wedding was just a ceremony; it meant nothing.” He shrugs and waves the nuptials off. “What counted was that sheet of paper Father Frankfurt made you and Winnie sign over dinner. He’ll take that and mail it to the state department in the morning. Without filing that paper, you and Winnie aren’t legally married. So I’ll get the paper from him. No big deal. I’ll get the paper, you’ll go back to law school, you’ll graduate, you’ll start your firm, you’ll do some shady shit to make it big, Nat will go with his father and brother because, as we know, when it comes to business, the Marchs are too good a people to fuck around with the shady ass Blairs, and you’ll marry Jasmine. It’ll be you, Cadence and Malcolm in business together. Cadence already has Lola and Malcolm will marry Laura. Hopefully he’ll be able to put that father of hers under his thumb because Cadence sure can’t. And before you know it Carlo Rossi will be your star client. Eventually you’ll get more.”

“And while Malcolm wines and dines Rossi, what the hell will I be doing?”

“Watching him do it,” my father smiles. “Malcolm has Laura, so he’ll get her connections. You have Jasmine, you’ll just get her.”

“What is this, reverse psychology?”

“No, it’s seeing where your heart lies.” He takes a sip of his bourbon. “Because this isn’t about loving Winnie or Jasmine. This is about power. That’s what you love.” He takes another bite of roasted duck. “So just give me the word. Do you want me to get the paperwork from Father Frankfurt?”

“Well there you two are!” I hear my mother, Pamela, say before she walks over to my father and me, her tan ball gown floating behind her, her hair in one of those Dena buns, her gold earrings looking like they weigh a ton. “Winnie’s looking for you, Jacob. Isn’t she just beautiful tonight
in that backless wedding gown that scoops all the way down to the top of her tailbone? And don’t you think it’s marvelous how she has that back tattoo of your name showing? And she’s so sweet! Always smiling, always doing some dance she calls ‘The Wop’. Oh, and to put the icing on the cake, I just caught her taking a picture while throwing up the ‘black power’ sign with one of her sorority sisters. By the way, I’m so glad Winnie demanded a DJ along with the band. And I’m even gladder that he’s playing the latest rap music! How wonderful!”

“Cut it out, Pamela
,” My father says as he tries to suppress a smile. She exhales loudly.

“I just keep telling myself that the Yates are an
old family with long ties.” She looks between my father and me. “What’s going on in here? A family meeting that your sisters and I aren’t privy too? I’ll deal with you two later. I just really need to vent about Angie right now.”

“Pammy, Angie’s been doing her best to stay a hundred yards away from you
,” my father says as he stands. “I know this because I’ve been seeing her counting. Now leave her alone.”

“I don’t for the life of me understand why Wynston married that woman. Do you think they’re going to work out?”

“Pammy, they’ve been married for twenty-four years, have two sons and currently live in London where Wynston is the Ambassador of the United Kingdom.”

“Is that a yes or a no?”

“Mom, leave Aunt Angie alone,” I say as I take a sip of my bourbon. The hatred will never end with those two. Supposedly their arch rivalry started over a corned beef recipe they both claim to have created.

“I just hope that she doesn’t think she looks amazing tonight because she doesn’t. Yes, I know that gown is Chanel but it’s obvious that she
needed
a Chanel because let’s be honest here, she’s horrible looking. Yes, she cleans up well but she is naturally one of the ugliest women—dead or alive. How she bore those beautiful boys of hers is beyond me. That Cadence is such a charmer, he waltzed me around just now quoting Shakespeare. Jacob, why can’t you be more like Cadence? And that Malcolm is such the gentleman. Mom walked in front of him with her cleavage hanging out—can you believe my mother is seventy-four and still has her cleavage out?—and Malcolm gave her a wink. I smiled at Malcolm; that was so sweet of him. I told him so when Mom sashayed away. And do you want to know what he said to me? ‘Come on, Aunt Pammy, I’m never too good to make a pass at somebody’s mother. That’s just how I was raised’. Jacob, why can’t you be more like Malcolm? Anyway, this all goes back to my corned beef recipe because—”

“Pammy, come on
,” my father says as he links my mother’s arm in his. “Let’s give Jacob a minute before he has to return back to his wife.”

“Oy
,” she says as she rests a hand on the side of my face. “His wife … well just a minute, Jacob. We don’t want to incite rumors.” My mother smiles up at my father who looks her over and then raises an eyebrow. She giggles as he leads her away.

“Jake
,” he says over his shoulder.

“Yeah?”

“Just give me the word.”

Jasmine

(
that
.
night
.)

Malcolm dropped me off at the door of my hotel room and said he hoped he’d see me tomorrow. But
now that he’s gone I feel lonely. So many memories in one night are making me nostalgic for the past. And not just the past that involved Jacob, but all of it.             

There’s a wedding reception going on here at the Ritz. The Ritz is where Marlon and I married and had our reception. Every member of The Board came,
as well as a boatload of fraternity brothers, sorority sisters, out of town family, Philadelphia society, Boston family, college friends … just everybody. Philly and Boston unite! We were crossing state lines and merging two empires. God, that was such a fun night. I look into the reception hall at another couple’s wedding and think back to my own wedding day.

Among other things, I remember that
Marlon and Matt were stepping with their frat brothers on the dance floor to “Atomic Dog”, sweat pouring from their faces. Their bodies flowing to the beat, as everyone crowded around them clapping and cheering them on. By this time Marlon’s bow tie was undone, his tuxedo jacket was off and the top button of his shirt was open. I was standing between Rena and Danielle, clapping, shouting out Marlon’s line name, which is Spooner, as in ‘silver-spooner’. Rena was shouting out Matt’s line name, which is Roxy-boy, as in ‘Roxbury’. Jon, better known by his line name of Seven Footer because of his height, was noticeably missing. Danielle was smiling but there was something wrong with her, I could tell. It was no secret that she starting to give Jon a lot of grief for being a hardworking black man. She didn’t like that at all.

Earlier that evening Jon had left and
was yet to be seen again. But that was normal; Jon wasn’t a stepper. You’d never see him standing in a line stomping to an organized dance routine. “Where’s Jon?” I asked Danielle after I couldn’t take it anymore. Nosiness was getting the best of me. “Have you two talked?”

“He’s in his hotel room with Marla
,” she said with a smile that had hurt written all over it.

“Danielle,
no
!” I remember saying.
You drove him away
, I remember thinking. She expected too much out of him, was too hard on him, wanted him to be perfect in everything. But he was human; he excelled in some things and struggled in others like everyone else. He was a great father; he was a challenging husband. But what did that matter? The next guy could be a great husband and a crummy dad. You can’t expect anyone to be completely perfect in everything they do. It’s just not possible. Sometimes you have to learn to compromise.

“Stop it
,” she said as she fixed a stray piece of my hair. “Watch your man, he’s dancing for you.” She immediately returned her attention back to the fellas and started smiling; she would hear no more of it. She wasn’t going to let her broken relationship with Jon, Marlon’s best friend, ruin my moment with Marlon.

Before I had a chance to respond, Marlon
came out of nowhere and pulled me onto the dance floor. The cheers got louder as he wrapped me in his arms and we slow danced to “Atomic Dog”. I was happy. Genuinely happy. And quite honestly, there were no thoughts of Jacob that night. Because, let’s be frank, my reception would have been totally different had I married him. We would have had a live band instead of a DJ. He, Malcolm, Cadence and Nat would not have been stepping to “Atomic Dog’; they belonged to their own white frat and weren’t about to dance around with their brothers. The entire night wouldn’t have been about me, it would have been about networking. Beautiful but impersonal.

“I have no regrets, Jasmine Harlow
,” Marlon said to me in my ear. “You’re the girl.”

“I better be.” I wiped the sweat from his face and then wrapped my arms around his neck. He was it. He was the man I was supposed to marry. There was no one in the world but him. Fate pushed me into his arms
, and boy, was I glad it did.

Marlon was it. No regrets.

The music was beginning to fade out so Marlon turned towards the DJ and shouted, “Play our song again! I wanna dance with my girl!”

The DJ began playing
our wedding song again, Roberta Flack’s, “Let It Be Me”. And there we were, in the middle of the floor, in complete and utter bliss. Couples had paired off, Matt had joined Rena and Danielle was walking back to the wedding party table alone. I forgot how bad I felt for her.

“Just so you know, I plan on giving you anything you want
,” Marlon said to me, breaking my attention away from Danielle.

“A long life with you, a few kids, and membership on The Board. That’s it
,” I said to him before giving him a soft kiss on the lips.

“Done.” We smiled at each other and continued to dance. I remember feeling that
this love was the real deal and every other love was an imitation. I couldn’t imagine anybody loving each other more.

As much as I hate to admit it, that night I wasn’t concerned about anyone but Marlon and me. Not only had I not thought of Jacob, Winnie was the furthest thing from my mind
, and even Danielle’s unhappiness came second to my own. I wasn’t thinking about how she felt, I was just thinking about being happy with Marlon. That was it.