The Fight Within (56 page)

Sean sat in
one of the hundreds of folding taupe metal chairs in the wedding reception hall. Asia, dressed like a lily of the valley and her face twisted up into a knot, leaned in close to him and whispered, “My Aunt Jasmine has been married three times before!” She spoke behind a cluster of giggles, gossiping in the way young girls do. Sean smirked at the young lady, getting a kick out of the revelation all the same.

“Well,” he shrugged, “some people have to keep doing the same thing over and over till they get it right. She’s an optimist, I suppose.”

“An optimist? What’s that?” The girl’s brow rose as she leaned back from him, waiting for an explanation.

“It’s a person who looks at the bright side of things” He slumped a bit in his seat. “Like, something bad might happen, ya know? But they’ll find the good in it. Like say, for instance, you fall off your bike and skin your knee, right? But while you’re on the ground, you notice a five dollar bill lyin’ there. Instead of focusing on the pain, you think how lucky you are to have found that money…things like that.”

“Ohhh, yeah, I get it!”

Brian plopped down on his other side like a gray cloud about to shit turds of despair. The boy had been in a foul mood since they’d entered the place. He’d been torn away from a Saturday evening of glee and trouble, the kind that only a sixteen-year-old boy could enjoy. Nevertheless, there he sat now at his mother’s insistence, hating every minute of it, and making no secret of his extreme dismay.

“What’s up?” the boy stated without looking him in the eye as he toyed with his cell phone, scrolling through various pictures on some social media site.

“Nothin’ much.” Sean grinned. “What’s up with you?”

“Just waiting for this damn thing to be over…boring as hell.”

“Awwww, come on! It’s not every day your Aunt Jasmine gets married!” he teased.

“Yeah it is. She gets married every other year.” Brian snorted, causing Asia and Sean to laugh right along with him. “Here comes Mama.” The boy looked up to see Treasure approaching, her arms full of crimped, teal ribbon.

“I don’t know how I always get roped into this!” she blurted gloomily as she plopped down in one of the chairs behind them. The poor woman’s head lulled back while she closed her eyes, seemingly exhausted. “So glad this wedding is over. I should’ve never volunteered to help the wedding coordinator… Now I’ve got to clean all this stuff up.”

“No, we’ll help you, Mom.” Asia jumped up from her seat, pulling Sean’s hand as if she wanted to slow dance. “We first have to get all these chairs folded and placed up against the wall,” she instructed.

“You know the drill, huh?” Sean laughed as he started with his own, causing a loud banging noise.

“All the guests are in the other room eating cake. You guys abandoned me.” Treasure smirked.

“I told you we’d be right back. Asia said her head was hurting from all the noise so we just walked in here for a breather is all,” he explained while folding another chair.

“They won’t be in here anymore. We can at least start up so we aren’t here for an eternity. Then, we’ll finish after people begin to leave.” Treasure looked about the place, as if making assessments on time management. “Jasmine wants me to take this ribbon home. She plans to keep it and do some scrapbooking with it… Yeah,
right
!” Treasure rolled her eyes. “I didn’t have the heart to argue with her. There are literally four or five boxes of this mess.”

“Look, let’s make this a bit easier. I’ll back my car up so we can put some of this stuff in there,” Sean volunteered. “This door right here, it’s okay to open it, right?” He pointed across the way to a side door with ‘Exit’ written on it in vibrant red letters.

“Yes, I already saw the coordinator go in and out of it a few times this afternoon, and the caterers, too. Good idea. Thanks, baby.” She grabbed him, brought him close and landed a kiss on his cheek. Out of the corner of his eye, he witnessed Brian rolling his eyes and twisting his lips in faux disgust, but he soon let that go and sported a half smile, revealing the truth of his feelings about the whole display. Pulling away from the woman, he folded another chair, then stacked it against the wall.

“I’m gonna go ahead and get the car… be back in a sec.” Treasure nodded and gripped the back of a chair, while Brian and Asia followed suit.

He let himself out of the place. The door slammed abruptly behind him as he headed into the vast parking lot that was filled to capacity. Jasmine had quite the fan club, and it was of no surprise, for the woman happened to be as gorgeous and charismatic as Treasure, and had married a recently retired baseball player from the Yankees. She was Treasure’s ex-husband’s sister, yet she and Treasure remained friends, still quite close after the divorce, much to her ex’s dismay. Sean relished a moment to himself, to sort his thoughts. He released a thankful sigh for the solace and continued his trek. He’d had a damn good time meeting Treasure’s extended family, all of them hospitable and kind, with the exception of one.

Treasure warned of possible family drama and perhaps an off-putting racially driven comment or two by Jackson’s family, but none of those fears materialized, much to their relief. The cool night air invigorated him as it blew lightly across his face, ruffling his hair just so. He slicked his hand in his pocket and removed his keys, which jangled in his grip and created a special song with each step he took as he drew nearer to his vehicle. Putting pep in his step, he continued to replay the evening in his mind. But, before he could unlock his car door, a deep, low voice boomed from a short distance.

“Mr. Mahoney!”

Sean immediately stopped dead in his tracks and looked over his shoulder, squinting just so, trying to make out the man that yelled his name.

“Yeah?”

A tall figure drew closer, his steps purposeful. The man kept balling up his fists and unfolding them, over and over, as if itching for a brawl. Sean took a deep breath, got into a fighter stance, prepared for whatever the bastard was trying to serve.

“I think I need a word with you,” the man uttered, staring him down with nothing short of malevolent flames dancing in his eyes…

*

“Mom.” Asia grabbed
two bulky bags while the wedding coordinator spoke loudly on her phone in the background. “Are you gonna marry Sean?”

Treasure didn’t miss the smile on the girl’s slightly reddened face. Pausing, she placed her hand on her hip. “What would make you ask me that, baby?”

The girl shrugged and blushed as she gathered more ribbons that lay here, there and everywhere along the wedding aisle runner. The muted tune of ‘Fantastic Voyage’ from Lakeside played in the background.

“I dunno,” she said, shrugging once again. “I like him spendin’ time with you…with us. He’s nice.”

Treasure picked up another few pieces of renegade ribbon and rolled the shimmery things around in her hand, mulling over her daughter’s words.

“I like him, too.” She smiled. “I love him. And he likes and loves you, too.” She winked at her.

“Yeah, he’s nice,” the girl repeated, then sighed as she continued on, treating their task like a scavenger hunt.

“Brian, what time is it?”

The boy loitered in the corner of the room, almost blending in like some mechanized fixture as he bobbed his head to the music and messed around on his phone.

“It’s almost twelve…”

“That late?! It shouldn’t have taken Sean this long to get the car.” She sighed. “He’s been gone a while.”

“Mama, he might be making room in his hooptie or something. Cut the man some slack.” The boy smirked. Treasure rolled her eyes and bent low, picking up more shimmery pieces of tinsel and ribbon from the carpet. The shit had landed everywhere, as if an industrial fan had been on full blast, swirling it all around in a torrential frenzy. Instead of rice, everyone had thrown the damn things in the air and left it to Jasmine to think that was a good idea. Her mouth kinked in a smirk as she kept on about her duties. Regardless, she was happy for her sister-in-law—for the entire evening, actually. She had divorced
Jackson
, not his family.

Sean got to meet some of her friends as well, and no one cracked an ill-suited anecdote or made a lewd remark, not even her mother who had sat stone-faced the majority of the evening. She wasn’t even going to entertain the woman, go down that road. Although she didn’t give a shit the woman was present, she wasn’t surprised she’d come. Still, this was Jasmine’s day, not Mama’s, and she refused to engage with the lady, allow her to ruin it. Sean, as usual, had people cackling and in no time flat. The man knew how to work a crowd that was for damn sure. He was accepted with open arms, and that made the evening all the richer, in fact, even more than that…

It was picture perfect…

‡

“Y
ou know.” Sean
paused, seething, and looked off into the dusky distance before settling his fiery gaze back at Jackson, guarding his words just so. He scratched the side of his temple. “When Treasure pointed you out in the crowd to me, she was concerned you’d cause a scene. You didn’t do anything.” He lowered his gaze to his shoes, shook his head, then stared back into the cold eyes of the man before him. “And the night was going good. I should’ve known you’d try to pull some shit like this.”

“And why should
you
have known this?” The tall man grimaced as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You don’t
know
me. She’s told you a bunch of bullshit about me, right?”

“She’s told me things, Jackson, but from the way I’ve had to hold her, and kiss her pain away, I highly doubt it’s bullshit.”

Steely silence stretched between the two, growing and growing, until it burst from the pressure.

“Let me explain something to you, Mr. Mahoney. You have walked into the lives of my family, for what reason, I’m not sure but I—”

“It’s not up to you to know or understand. All you need to recognize is that
I’m
with Treasure now, and I mean your children no harm. Matter of fact, I want what is best for them. Anything outside of Asia and Brian is none of your damn business.”