Forgiven (22 page)

“Forget all that nonsense you talking. I know
what I’m doing.”

JT didn’t respond, he just kept driving. He
pulled into Jay Pontiac Buick GMC. GM was closing some of its
dealerships, so JT wanted to do his part in making sure that people
bought American. They got out the car and walked around the lot. JT
pointed out a Black 2008 Chevy Impala, that and a 2007 Buick
LaCrosse. Both were selling for thirteen thousand. But Lamont
wasn’t interested.

He walked straight over to a 2008 white
Cadillac Escalade that was selling for twenty-seven thousand. JT
shook his head as he walked over to Lamont.

“I know what you’re going to say, but I can
really see myself in this car. I’m sure I can talk the dealer down
to twenty-five thou.” Lamont said while running his hand across the
hood of the Escalade.

“Boy, with the taxes and fees that are going
to be assessed, you’ll still be spending thirty thou.”

“I didn’t think about the taxes,” Lamont
answered honestly.

JT’s cell phone rang. He looked down and saw
that it was Cassandra. He looked back at Lamont and said, “You
better think about it.” Then he stepped away from Lamont and pushed
the talk button on his phone. “What’s up, baby?” he said in his
most seductive voice. He was determined to get the home fires
burning again. He just didn’t know what to do to make her happy
these days, but he was still going to try.

“Where’s the money, JT?” Cassandra screamed
through the phone.

“What money?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. I’m at the bank and
the money is gone.”

“That money wasn’t ours, Sanni. I transferred
it into Lamont’s account this morning.”

“I want it back right now. Do you hear me,
JT? Get that money back or I’m going home and packing me and the
kids up.”

“Why are you talking like this? You knew I
was going to give the money to Lamont.”

“That’s it. I’m sick of everyone else coming
before me and the kids. I’m not just going to sit by and watch
Diane take Lily from us, when I know she doesn’t care anything
about her. We’re leaving, JT.” Cassandra hung the phone up.

JT was shocked. Had his wife really gone to
the bank to steal Lamont’s money? But then, hadn’t he done the same
thing to Jimmy after they’d lost Sarah and he’d stopped trusting
God. He turned around and saw Lamont talking with a car salesman.
JT rushed over to them and grabbed Lamont by the arm and said,
“I’ve got to get home. I’ll bring you back here tomorrow.”

“Naw, JT, I want to drive that beauty off the
lot today,” Lamont told him.

The salesman stepped forward with a big grin
on his face. “We can make that happen for you, young man. Just say
the word.”

JT turned to the man. “His money won’t even
be available in his account for three more days. Just give him your
card and we’ll be back to see you in a couple of days.” JT got
behind the wheel of his car while Lamont took the business card
from the eager salesman. Lamont was saying something to the
salesman as he pointed at the Escalade. JT honked the horn.

Lamont jumped in the car. “What’s up, man?
Something wrong with one of the kids?”

“No, something’s wrong with my wife,” was all
JT said as he drove home like a man about to lose everything that
mattered.

***

Cassandra was frantic as she drove toward the
house. She came to a red light and then hit the steering wheel with
her fist. Tears were streaming down her face as she asked aloud,
“How could JT do it? Why would he take that money now?” The money
had been sitting in their account for five months and neither one
of them had touched it. But on the exact morning that she was to
give that money to Diane, JT pulls it out of their account.

Her cell phone started ringing. Cassandra
looked at the caller display and got a headache. Rolling her eyes,
she pushed talk on her cell phone and kept driving. “Yeah, what is
it?”

“You know what I’m calling about? Where do
you want to meet?” Diane asked.

The fact that this woman was willing to give
up her baby for money showed Cassandra just how unfit she was to
parent a beautiful child like Lily. There was no way that she would
ever turn Lily over to Diane Benson. “I’m on my way to the bank
now. I’ll give you a call after I get the money and we can meet up
then.”

“Okay,” Diane said and then hesitated a
moment before saying, “Look, Cassandra, I know I have no right to
ask, but I need you to do me a favor.”

Cassandra scoffed, “You already slept with my
husband, Diane. I’m all out of favors for you.”

“It’s just a small one. I just want you to
bring Lily with you when you bring the money. If I’m going to give
her up, I just want to hug her one last time. That’s all.”

Taken off guard by Diane’s show of interest
in Lily, Cassandra didn’t know what to say. She pushed the end
button on her cell phone and kept driving. She looked through the
rearview mirror at Aaron and Lily as they sat in their car seats in
the back of the car. Jerome had been sleep when she left home so
she left him with her mom.

And as Cassandra thought through her
troubles, she realized that her mom was the reason for all the
stress she was going through. If Mattie had not lied on her in
court that day, she wouldn’t be so worried about losing Lily. And
if the judge believed what Mattie had said, what’s to stop him from
having children’s services take Jerome and Aaron. “I’m not going to
let them win,” she promised Aaron and Lily as she glanced in the
mirror again.

JT wanted to be noble. He was Mr.
Do-The-Right-Thing at the wrong time. She would show him. She was
going home to pack her children’s clothes and get as far away from
this town as possible. She loved JT and wanted to make their
marriage work, but she couldn’t do that if she lost her children
because of his foolish behavior.

As she pulled up to the house she saw JT’s
car in the driveway. Good, she thought, he could kiss his kids
goodbye before we leave.

Perfect timing, JT thought as he turned off
his car and then watched as Cassandra pulled in the driveway behind
him. As he and Lamont got out of the car, he could see that Aaron
and Lily were in the car with Cassandra. He looked over at Lamont
and said, “You grab Aaron and I’ll get Lily.”

The two quickly moved to the rear doors of
Cassandra’s four door sedan. They flung the doors open and both men
grabbed a child.

Cassandra jumped out of the car screaming,
“No, leave them alone. You don’t care anything about us. Just leave
my children alone.”

JT had Lily on his hip. He turned to
Cassandra and noticed that she had a crazed look in her eyes. He
tried to speak calmly. “Come in the house with me so we can discuss
this.”

She put her hands on her hips as she
defiantly stood in front of him. “Did you ask him to give us the
money back?”

JT glanced at Lamont with a look of
embarrassment on his face. He then turned back to his wife and
said, “No, Sanni, I can’t do that.”

She reached for Lily. “Then give me my baby.
We’re getting out of here.”

JT stepped away from her as he held Lily a
little tighter. He began walking toward the house. Cassandra tried
to pull Lily out of his arms, but only succeeded in making Lily
cry.

“I’m sorry, baby. I wasn’t trying to hurt
you,” she said as she turned her sights onto Lamont. “Give me my
baby,” she said as she charged into the house after Lamont.

JT shook his head as he handed Lily to Lamont
as well. “Take the kids to the basement, man. I’ll explain all this
later.”

Cassandra leaped toward Lamont like a lioness
after her cub. But JT grabbed her arms and pulled her close to him.
“Get off of me, JT.”

Lamont was frozen in the front door. JT was
holding Cassandra with both hands so he had to nudge Lamont with
his shoulder. “Go on, man. And lock the door from the inside. I’ll
let you know when things are under control.”

Lamont held the kids like they were footballs
as he ran down the hallway toward the basement.

“Let go!” Cassandra struggled to get away,
but it was no use, even in her current state of anger, JT was too
powerful for her. She couldn’t break free.

“I can’t let you go, Sanni. Don’t you know
how much I need you?”

“We can’t stay here, JT. Without that money
everything is lost. Diane is going to take Lily. And because of the
things my mother said about me, we might even lose Jerome and
Aaron. Don’t you see that I have to leave?”

“S-st-op!”

Cassandra and JT both heard the broken word
and turned to see Mattie leaning against the wall in the hallway
leading to the living room.

Mattie looked so frail, holding that cane and
leaning against the wall for support with such a pained looked on
her face. He was sure that she’d heard Cassandra accuse her of
being the reason they might lose their children. Since he had just
as much to do with it as the lies Mattie had told, he wanted to go
over there, hug her and let her know it would be all right. He
released Cassandra’s arms. And it was as if she and he were finally
on the same page.

Cassandra walked over to Mattie, put her arms
around her and said, “I’m sorry, Mama. I shouldn’t have said
that.”

Tears ran down Mattie’s face as she attempted
to talk again. But she sounded like a twelve month old child trying
to form words.

“Let me help you back to your bed, Mama.”
Cassandra took the cane out of Mattie’s hand and attempted to lock
arms with her so she could walk her back to her bedroom.

But JT could tell that Mattie had expended
all of her energy just walking to the living room. He picked her up
and carried her back to bed, then gently pulled the covers up to
her chest and fluffed her pillow to ensure that she was
comfortable. “You need to rest, Mattie. Please don’t get up again
until your physical therapist comes this evening.”

But Mattie had fear in her eyes as she
pointed at Cassandra, who was standing behind JT. She then pointed
at JT and then mimicked loud talking by repetitively pressing her
thumb against her fingers like a mouth opening and closing.

JT looked back toward Cassandra and then
turned back to his mother-in-law and leaned closer to her as he
said, “Yes, I do need to talk to Cassandra. But I promise we won’t
yell anymore. Okay?”

Mattie laid her head against the pillow and
closed her eyes. JT straightened to his full height and was about
to walk away from Mattie when she grabbed his arm. He looked back
down at her and saw the tears roll down her face again.

Very slowly, Mattie said, “I… was…
wrong.”

JT understood her words as clearly as he
understood when she told him and Cassandra to stop a minute ago in
the living room. He just wasn’t sure if she was saying she was
wrong about the lies she’d told on them in the courtroom, the way
she’d treated Lily, or the hateful things she’d done and said to
him. He wanted to ask for clarification, but then he realized that
he didn’t need it as he looked at her like a man acquainted with
repentance and said, “All is forgiven.”

“Th-ank… you,” she said in her broken English
and then she turned over and fell asleep.

JT grabbed Cassandra’s hand and whispered,
“Follow me.” He took her upstairs. After opening the door to Jerome
and Aaron’s room and seeing that Jerome was sound asleep, he walked
into their bedroom, closed the door and then sat Cassandra down on
the bed. “Now, please tell me what got you so upset.”

“Why do you think I’m upset? You gave our
money way,” she shouted in his face as she stood up and put her
hands on her hips.

“Please lower your voice so we don’t wake
Jerome or worry your mother any further.” He sat down on the bed
hoping that would encourage her to sit down also.

“Why’d you give him the money, JT? You knew I
didn’t want you to do it,” she said, still standing.

“I’m just trying to be the kind of man you
asked me to be, Sanni. You’re not always going to like my
decisions, but I need you to trust that I’m just trying to do right
by you and the kids.”

Cassandra stood in front of him with her
hands on her hips. Her neck was twitching as she asked, “What are
you talking about, JT?”

Had so much happened since that day he’d come
home, when Cassandra decided to trust him that she’d forgotten what
she’d said to him? “Don’t you remember, Sanni? When I came home
after visiting Lamont in the hospital? We were right in this room
when you asked me to be more than just an ordinary man? You wanted
me to be God’s man.”

Recognition flashed in her eyes, but then she
turned away from it. “I take it back. I need you to be my man right
now.” She sat down on the bed next to him and held his hand. “I
need you to go downstairs and ask Lamont for that money back. Or at
least a hundred thousand of it.”

“What’s going on, Sanni. Did something happen
that I don’t know about?”

She lowered her eyes but didn’t answer.

JT lifted her chin and asked again, “Is
something going on that I don’t know about?”

“All right, okay.” She stood up and paced the
room. “You want to know what’s going on. I’ll tell you. I had
everything resolved. Diane was going to drop her case against you
and not try to take custody of Lily. All I had to do was give her a
hundred thousand dollars.” She lifted her hands and then let them
plop back down against her body. “It’s all ruined now. Why’d you
have to do it, JT? Why did you give him the money?”

He was sitting there watching his wife speak,
but he honestly couldn’t believe these words were coming out of her
mouth. “Cassandra, do you hear yourself?”

“I know how it sounds. But the end justifies
the means. And we could have paid Lamont back eventually.”

“Okay, Sanni. Let’s say we did it your way.
What’s to stop Diane from taking that money from us and continuing
the lawsuit? It isn’t like we could tell the judge that we gave her
bribe money, if she refused to hold up her end of the bargain. And
believe me, Sanni, that woman would not have held up her end of the
bargain.”