Nookie's Secret (Nookie 2) (Nookie Series) (12 page)

When she closed her eyes, the moment Kevin and Aminah walked in the visiting room replayed through her head, she couldn’t help herself. She felt the pain grow inside.

Joy knew she couldn’t face her time after seeing what she could have had on the outside. So many ideas ran through her mind. She thought to escape but forgot her current crippled condition.

Hours passed and she still couldn’t come up with anything that would help her. That night she couldn’t sleep. She sat in the dark and thought about her little girl. She imagined that she was there with her. That she was in her life from the beginning. Joy realized that she had to change and she could make that happen.

The next morning, after breakfast, she used the phone to call her father’s lawyer, Mr. Greco. She knew that he would sympathize because of how she lost her mother and father and her being paralyzed.

She told him about the accident that landed her in wheel chair and in jail. She explained how a man was killed when hit by the car. Leaving out the part that she was responsible for all of it, she made herself come off as a victim. He was silent. Joy wasn’t sure he even listened but she continued.

“When I found out I would never walk again I didn’t try to fight the charges against me. I wasn’t driving the car,” she pleaded.

“Wow. I don’t know what to say,” he said when Joy was done.

“Do you think you can help me get out of here?”

“I have to call around and get someone on your case. I’m only an estate lawyer. It may take a while but I’ll get back to you.”

Joy hung up the phone feeling a more hope than before the meeting. She wanted to change and become a better person, but she had to commit this one last act of her former self to get out of jail.

A few weeks passed and Joy had not heard anything from Mr. Greco. Then one day she was called down for a visit with her lawyer. She was surprised to see Mr. Greco sitting at the table along with a light skinned black woman. She was thin, pretty and she sat straight up in the chair. She looked very uncomfortable like she didn’t want to be there.

She pushed her glasses closer to her face and spoke first. “Hi Joy. My name is Karen Brister. I’ll be your lawyer through your appeal. Do you have any questions so far?”

She waited for Joy response; Joy shook her head no.

She continued, “I need to know everything that happened the night of the accident.”

Joy looked at Mr. Greco. He slouched in his chair silent. He nodded at Joy to begin talking.

“Well, I don’t remember much of what happened.”

“It’s okay. Just try to tell me what you do remember.”

“I went with Wayne to his house. We had dinner and then we both became sleepy. I remember we went into his room and before I knew it, I was asleep.”

“At what point did you leave the residence?”

“I woke up first and went into the living room. I looked through the DVD’s for something to watch. I came across some homemade videos. I looked through them and noticed they all had the names of different women written on them.” Joy paused and lowered her head. They both were looking at her with extreme intensity. Joy had to take a minute because she had to be believable. When she lifted her head, she had tears in her eyes.

“Take your time Joy.” Mr. Greco said.

“I found one with my name on it. So I put it in. I watched as he laid me down in the bed. I was passed out. He raped me,” she said, breaking down.

Mr. Greco came over to Joy and rubbed her back. “Joy then what happened?” he asked, his voice just above a whisper.

“I took the tape and woke him up. I demanded he take me home. I didn’t tell him I knew about the tape until we were in the car. That’s when he flipped out and crashed the car. He blamed everything on me. I plead not guilty but I barely paid attention to what was going on. I gave up.”

“Joy do you still have the disk? Ms. Brister asked.

“It should be with my clothes and the other stuff I brought in here with me.”

“First I want to do some more research into what happened in the case, then I see where to go from there. I’m going to see if I can locate the disk. When I know something I’ll get back to you within the next couple days,” she gathered her stuff and walked out the room.

Mr. Greco patted Joy’s shoulder, giving her a feeling of hope before following Ms. Brister out the door.

Two months passed by. Ms. Brister kept contact with Joy letting her know the what she was doing and the progress she’d made; which wasn’t much. Joy was beginning to get discourage. She decided to give up, and go with plan B.

She waited for lights out. She took out the razor she kept for protection. The plan was to slit her wrist; giving her enough time for her to bleed out before anyone can come and find her. By morning, she still hadn’t find the courage to slit her wrist.

Another plan formed in her head as she watched the guards walk the block. She was focused on one in particular. CO. Pierce. He was short and stocky. He was light skinned, with a baldhead. He had beady eyes and a wide face that made him resemble a snake.

Joy decided to skip breakfast and stay on the block to talk to the CO. When she seen him walk back by her, she called out to him.

“Is there a problem Williams?”

“No. I was wondering if you could do something for me.”

“It depends on what I get in return,” he said, a goofy smile on his face.

“I need some sleeping pills. What will that cost me?”

“It’ll cost you some head.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah, but I want to watch you swallow my nut.”

Joy was disgusted by the thought but she agreed.

“Put in a request to go to the hospital tomorrow. I will be the one to take you. We can do everything then,” he said and disappeared.

Joy spent the rest of the morning in deep thought. Late in the afternoon, she got called down to meet with her lawyer. Her heart pounded harder and harder in her chest as she made her way down there.

When she saw Ms. Brister sitting at the table alone. Joy couldn’t read her expression and thought it was bad news because Mr. Greco wasn’t with her. Ms. Brister told her that she would receive a new trial and be released to a half way house.

Tears of joy ran down her face. She learned that she would leave tomorrow morning. She didn’t know how she was going to make in the real world again, especially in a wheel chair.

Chapter One

The van picked her up outside the jail and dropped her at the halfway house. It wasn’t as bad as Joy thought it would be. The lady that ran the house was nice, she explained the rules. It was easy for Joy to get around and she had a room on the first floor, the bathroom down the hall. Joy could do everything herself. She could lift into bed or into her chair. There was a shower chair for her to shower. She felt better knowing she still could do things for herself. Joy was one of many in a wheelchair that lived at the house, a ramp built off the side of the porch.

For the first couple of days, Joy got used to living on the outside. When she figured how to get around on the bus, she went out. Curfew was at 7pm. Joy got up early the next morning. The bus picked her up down the block and she was off.

The bus took little time to drop her at the destination. Everything was still the same, but Joy hadn’t thought through a plan, she couldn’t get up the stairs in her wheelchair. She didn’t see Kevin in the shop.

She climbed out her chair onto the first step. She pulled herself up the stairs until she was at the top. Her arms were tired and she could barely lift them to knock on the door. After giving herself some time to rest, she knocked.

A tall white man answered the door. “Yes how can I help you?” he asked, looking down at Joy with a look of confusion. He looked down at the wheelchair at the bottom of the stairs, “Are you okay? Do you need help?”

“No. Someone I used to know lived here. I thought he still lived here.”

“I started renting the store and apartment. Nobody lived here for a while before I moved in.” He continued to stare at Joy.

“Do you need help getting back down?”

“No. I’m sorry to bother you. I can get back down.” Tears streamed down her face. She wasn’t sure she could make it back down; she’d never done it before.

“You sure?”

“Yes.” Joy said, in a low whisper.

The man stood there a few seconds longer before he went back inside. Grabbing the rail, Joy pulled her body to the edge and dropped down to the next step. She continued until she was four-steps from the top. As she dropped down to the next step, her hand slipped and she slid down the steps. She grabbed the rail but fell forward and tumbled down the remaining stairs.

She could do nothing but lay there. The man that answered the door came running down the steps with a phone to his ear. She watched as he felt for her pulse but she didn’t feel his touch; her entire body was numb. He shouted something at her but she couldn’t hear. Soon after, an ambulance came and took her to the hospital.

The doctors and nurses worked fast as soon as they surrounded her. Finally, the doctor gave her something for pain and knocked her out. When she awoke, the nurse who was changed her IV exited the room and returned with the doctor.

“Hi Ms. Williams. It’s nice to see you’re with us. I’m Dr. Robertson. Your surgery was successful. We removed a piece of bone from your lower back. It was pressed against some nerves in your back, causing your inability to walk. At the time it was seen as detrimental to remove it because of the risk it posed to causing further damage. It seems to have broken off and away without causing any additional damage.”

“So, can I might walk?” Joy interrupted.

“Well, only time will tell. We still have to wait for the swelling to go down and for your staples to be removed. Let me take a look.” he said, removing the blanket away from her legs.

“Can you move your toes?”

Joy looked down at her toes. She concentrated on moving them but nothing happened.

“Shit,” Joy screamed, mad for getting her hopes up to began with.

“Don’t get discouraged. It’s going to take some time. Once you heal, you’ll start physical therapy. For now, try not to worry and get better.”

The doctor continued to examine Joy’s legs and feet. He took a look at her staples and had the nurse change her bandages, then left.

Joy called her lawyer and let her know what happened. Ms. Brister told her she would handle everything at the halfway house.

Chapter Two

Recovery took eight months of pain and hard work but Joy was able to walk again. She had a slight limp and needed to use a cane. Her new trial went smoothly. Joy was found not guilty on all counts. The prosecutor was upset but there was talk of going after Wayne for the charges and the added rape in the first degree. The DVD helped Joy look like more of a victim.

Joy got her GED and obtained a bachelor’s degree in Behavior Health. Using the money she had left, Joy started a center for single parent families. The center hosted an after school program, parenting classes for teen parents and cooking classes. Counselors helped people addicted to alcohol, drugs and sex to overcome abusive relationships. Joy wanted to do everything in her power to help those with mental illnesses.

The center was successful in the community that Joy received thousands an additional $100,000 in funding to keep it running. Joy received media attention from the local news stations.

βββ

Joy sat at her desk looking over her notes about the homeless shelter when she heard a familiar voice.

“I didn’t believe it when I saw you on television. Did you really do all this?”

“Yes,” Joy managed to get out before her face flooded with tears. She looked at Kevin standing in the door way and thought she was dreaming. Since the day she last saw him and their daughter, not a day went by she didn’t think of them.

“And you can walk?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s all you have to say?”

Joy wiped her tears and her face became wet again. She looked into Kevin’s face and he smiled. He stepped forward and for the first time Joy noticed Aminah was hiding behind him.

“I have someone who wants to meet her mother,” he said, moving over so Joy could see Aminah. She looked at Joy with a shy smile and waved

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