The Perfect Mistress (32 page)

“I asked her,” he said firmly. “Because whether you want to admit it or not, you need her. And she needs her mother. Can you try to be her mother?”

“So you're turning against me now, too, trying to tell me I'm not a good mother?”

“You were a good mother, an excellent mother—to me.” He touched her hand. “Go be a good mother to your daughter. Can you do that for me?”

Joyce didn't know why—Ernest's death, her diagnosis, her years of hurt—but suddenly, she burst out crying.

Julian immediately embraced her. “Shhh, don't cry. Everything is going to be all right.”

She heard his words. She just didn't know how much she believed them.

H
er mother was coming to live with her.

Lauren had tossed and turned all night, but she had still been unable to process that information. No, this wasn't going to work. Lauren didn't care what Matthew or Aunt Velma said, she didn't need this drama in her life. Not now. Julian had to step up at long last.

Lauren glanced at the time on the kitchen stove. She knew her brother's flight had gotten in late last night, but it was 10 a.m. and he was a military guy, so he had to be up already. As she pulled her phone out of her purse to call him, it dawned on her that maybe
he
wasn't who she needed to be talking to.

Lauren took a seat at Matthew's kitchen table and swiped her contacts to get to her brother's name. She hoped to have this conversation before Matthew returned from getting them coffee.

She pressed the home number for Julian.

Lauren waited as the phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Rebecca.”

“Who is this?”

Her tone caught Lauren off guard. “Umm, it's Lauren. Julian's sister.”

The hostility dropped away and her voice softened. “Sorry, Lauren.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, ah, um, I'm okay.”

She didn't sound okay.

“Your brother isn't here,” Rebecca said.

“Actually, I wasn't calling for him,” Lauren replied. “First of all, how are the kids?”

“They're fine. Outside playing.” Rebecca usually sounded warm and inviting, but although she didn't sound angry like she did when she'd first answered, her undertone was tense. Probably the twins stressing her out.

“Well, I won't hold you long. I just needed to talk to you about something,” Lauren began. “I don't know how much Julian has filled you in on what's going on with Mama.”

“Yes, he told me she was in treatment. I've called to check on her a couple of times, but I can't ever seem to catch up with her,” Rebecca replied.

“Well, it's taken a big turn for the worse. And the doctors have said there's nothing left for them to do. They've only given her a few months to live. And naturally, she just doesn't want to spend her last days in that facility. So, the doctor thought it would be best if she went and lived with a family member.”

Silence filled the phone. Lauren had expected that, and she started speaking quickly to convince her sister-in-law.

“I know you have your hands full, but Mama could actually be a big help to you and the twins. She really loves those boys and she'd—”

“Lauren,” Rebecca said, cutting her off, “I don't know how much you know about what's going on with me and Julian.”

“I know you guys have the perfect family. It's just me here. I can't take care of Mom by myself. And you know how much my mom adores Julian.”

“Yeah,” Rebecca harrumphed. “Because she thinks he walks on water.”

“I just think it would be better if Mama went there,” Lauren said.

Rebecca made a strangled sound, then said, “Lauren, Julian and I are separated.”

Lauren almost fell out of her seat. “Separated?”

“Yes, and I will be filing for divorce.”

“Are you kidding me? Why?” She couldn't think what could possibly be wrong in their picture-perfect marriage.

“Your brother is a cheating jerk,” Rebecca huffed.

“Cheating? Not Julian.”

“Yeah, Julian got y'all fooled,” Rebecca said. “Everybody. His superiors, his family, his friends, they all think he's this super great guy, but he is just a low-down dirty dog.”

Lauren was still trying to process what her sister-in-law was saying. Surely, this woman was talking about someone other than her brother.

“And if it's one thing I don't do,” Rebecca continued, “is stay with a cheating man. It wasn't the first time, either. Fool me once, shame on him. Fool me twice, shame on me. He won't get a third chance.”

Lauren was speechless. Her self-righteous brother, who had blasted her father for cheating, had turned around and done the exact same thing?

“I am really sorry to hear that,” Lauren managed to say.

“Yeah, well, so goes life,” Rebecca said sarcastically. “Sorry I can't be much help, but I'm trying to figure out the next step for me and my kids.”

Lauren couldn't help but admire Rebecca. She thought her brother had gone and found the most timid white woman he could find, but he messed around and got someone who had more strength than any black woman she'd known.

“Well, no, I definitely understand,” Lauren said. “Take care of yourself.”

They said their good-byes and Lauren hung up, dumbfounded. She couldn't believe her brother had followed in her father's footsteps.

At first Lauren debated whether she should call and confront him, but she knew he had to be hurting, and they had enough going on that she didn't need to be rubbing salt into his wounds.

She'd made the decision to wait before bringing it up with him when her phone rang. Julian's number flashed across the screen.

Lauren pressed
ACCEPT
. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey.” His voice was soft, like a kid who'd just been busted at the cookie jar.

“I just talked to Rebecca,” he said.

Lauren didn't say a word.

“She told me she told you.”

“What I don't understand is, why didn't you tell me?”

Julian sighed. “And say what, Lauren? Yeah, you know our father who I berated all my life, I'm just like him?”

“Julian, I'm shocked. You cheated on her?”

“I can't believe I did it, either,” he said. She'd never heard her brother sound so despondent. And he'd just been here and given no indication that anything was wrong on the home front.

“She said you did it twice.”

Julian was sad as he replied, “I did. It was just something that happened. These women around here throw themselves at the army men, and I . . . I just messed up, Sis.”

“How did she find out?”

“The first time, I confessed.”

“What did you do a dumb thing like that for?” Julian had definitely not learned anything from her father. Vernon Robinson's motto had been to deny, deny, and deny some more.

“I was so ashamed of what I'd done, and she could tell something was wrong. So I came clean. The second time, I just . . . I don't know. I had too much to drink, which is no excuse, but I let Amaya—that's the woman's name—talk me into going back to a motel. But it was all a setup. Amaya had called Rebecca, hoping she'd show up, leave me, and then Amaya and I could be together.”

Lauren felt like there was more to that story. Amaya wouldn't have been scheming ways to break up his marriage unless their relationship had been going on for a while. But Lauren felt like it didn't matter. No need to rehash all of the details; the deed was done, and Julian was about to lose all he had.

“Why couldn't Rebecca be like Mom?” Julian said. “She forgave Dad all the time.”

“And you hated her for it. And she hated herself for it,” Lauren reminded him.

“I know that,” he said quietly. “I messed up. Bad. Now Amaya is threatening to go to my superiors. You know adultery is grounds for them to kick me out of the military.”

And yet, you risked it all,
Lauren thought.

“You'll be okay,” she said. No need to beat him up, since he was doing a pretty good job of that himself.

“Please don't tell Mama. I'm begging you.”

Lauren thought about his request. A year ago, it would've given her great pleasure to burst her mother's Julian-is-perfect bubble, but now she could only ask herself, what purpose would it serve? Her mother was in her last days. The only news she needed was positive.

“I promise, I won't say a word,” Lauren said.

“Thanks,” he said, relieved. “Look, I'm sorry I let you down.”

“You didn't let me down. We both have made some bad choices in life.” Just then Matthew walked into the room and Lauren smiled. “The beautiful thing about life is our past doesn't dictate our future.”

As Matthew handed her her coffee and lightly kissed her on the lips, Lauren believed that statement from the bottom of her heart.

M
atthew was right about the limelight. A girl could get used to this. Lauren was loving the perks of being the front-runner's fiancée. She could only imagine what it would be like to be the president's wife. This was where she was supposed to be. Standing proudly by her soon-to-be-husband's side. Usually she shied away from attention. But this she could get used to. Even though it was strange to her, these people were treating her like royalty.

She'd been by Matthew's side during an alumni reception this morning and Lauren had felt like a dignitary, the way everyone was catering to her.

“Told you, these people don't play about their university,” Matthew whispered.

He was on point about that. Some woman who said she was Miss Carolina State in 1952 said she looked forward to working with Lauren to do their part “to take our beloved university from number three to number one.”

Lauren didn't know exactly what she was supposed to do, but she was looking forward to doing her part.

Just six months ago, this all would've seemed like an implausible dream. But now she was wondering should she channel Michelle Obama or Jackie O.

Matthew gave her a kiss on the cheek as he took her hand and led her onto the stage. They'd left the reception and come straight to this press conference, where the prestigious Alumni Association was announcing its unyielding support of Matthew for the next president of the university. The vote by the Carolina State board was in three weeks, and the association wanted to go on record.

Dr. Laurence Stephens, the president of the Alumni Association, took the stage.

“Thank you all so much for coming out,” he began. “To say we are thrilled to be here would be an understatement. As you know, we are very serious about our beloved institution.”

“That would be the understatement,” someone mumbled from the crowd. That elicited some light chuckles and a smile from Dr. Stephens.

He continued: “So you know we have vetted, dissected, discussed, and settled upon someone we think is the perfect fit for Carolina State. We hope that the board will take our wishes into consideration. In fact, we called you here today because we wanted to share with you the amazing plans that the association has and introduce the man we hope will help us in the execution of those plans.”

This seemed unconventional to Lauren. Who touted the candidate in the press before he officially got the job? When she'd mentioned it earlier, Matthew said the association had wanted to go on record because the state board had a way of trying to circumvent their desires.

“. . . At this time, we'd like to bring Dr. Matthew King up to say a few words.” Dr. Stephens stepped aside, looking like a proud father as he motioned for Matthew to take the podium.

Matthew launched into the speech they'd worked and reworked last night. It was brief but on point. Lauren had never been more proud.

“At this time, we'll take questions,” Dr. Stephens said, once Matthew was finished.

A few reporters tossed out university-related budget questions, which Matthew answered with impeccable skill, like he'd been studying for them all of his life.