Ties That Bind (15 page)

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Authors: Brenda Jackson

BOOK: Ties That Bind
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When Randolph didn't say anything, Ross continued. “You and Noah were right. There is no passion between Angela and me. But I've accepted things as they are, Rand, since I don't need love and passion anyway. But you do. You need love and passion and you need Jenna. I hope you can work things out with her. She's been dealt a bad hand. Grandmother Julia had no right to do what she did.”
Randolph nodded in agreement as he closed his luggage.
 
When Jenna reached the dorm the only thing she wanted to do was go to bed and cry. Although the Weavers hadn't been deliberately mean, they had practically ignored her during the entire trip.
She was glad she was alone. Leigh was probably spending the night over at Noah's and she figured Ellie was someplace with Tyrone.
She had barely settled into bed when the phone began ringing. She placed her pillow over her head to drown out the noise. She refused to answer it in case it was Randolph. She wasn't ready to deal with him yet. Tears rolled down her face as the telephone kept ringing. Ignoring it, she closed her eyes and forced her mind into sleep.
 
The next morning Jenna had just finished brushing her teeth and washing her face when the phone rang. Feeling like she was in a better frame of mind to deal with Randolph, she picked it up. “Hello.”
“Are you alone?”
She recognized his voice immediately. “Yes.”
“Are you dressed yet?”
She lifted a bemused brow and said, “No.”
“Then put on some clothes, I'm on my way over.”
Jenna's heart began beating rapidly. “On your way over? Aren't you still in Virginia?”
“No, I came home last night. Did you think I wouldn't come after you, Jenna?”
She closed her eyes. Deep down she should have known that he would. “I just assumed you would wait.”
“Well, you thought wrong. Put on some clothes. Or if you prefer
you can keep them off. Either way I'm on my way over.” And with that last statement he hung up.
Jenna nervously licked her bottom lip after placing the phone back in its cradle, thinking that was the angriest she had ever heard Randolph sound.
 
Jenna was fully dressed when she opened the door for Randolph less than ten minutes later. He walked past her and entered her dorm room, closing the door behind him. When he turned to face her his features indicated he'd had a very sleepless night. His features also indicated he was indeed angry.
“How dare you let my grandmother do this to us, Jenna! We had an agreement that no one would ever come between us,” he said in an irritated tone of voice.
“Randolph, don't be mad, please. She only made me realize I would never fit into your world. And she's right.”
He said nothing for the longest time, then he took a step toward her. With shaking fingers he reached out and captured her face in his hand. “Don't you know by now that you are my world, Jenna? Don't you know that the only way I can be happy is with you? We've pledged our lives together. You are already mine in every sense of the word. In my heart you are already my wife. I chose you a long time ago and in my heart and in the eyes of God, I made it official last week on Glendale Shores. It doesn't matter what my grandmother wants for me. The most important thing is what I want for myself, and I want you.”
Tears sprang into Jenna's eyes. “Oh, Randolph.”
He leaned down and kissed her wet cheeks. “I love you, Jenna,” he said in a voice thick with love. “Don't ever doubt my love for you and don't ever think that something will come up between us that we can't work out. Don't let my grandmother, or anyone, come between us.”
Jenna hesitated only a second before she nodded and said, “I won't.”
He then leaned over and kissed her deeply and thoroughly. She
readily accepted the thrust of his tongue and her body arched against his. When he lifted his head, he smiled and said huskily, “Besides, it's not definite that you aren't pregnant, is it?”
Jenna shook her head. “No, it's only been a little over a week and too soon to tell. But like I told you, I feel certain that I'm not pregnant.”
He nodded. “And if you are, I meant what I said, Jenna. We're getting married with or without anyone's blessings. All right?”
She gazed at him with so much love in her heart. “All right.”
She didn't hesitate going into his arms when he devoured her lips again. The need to be connected to him in the most elemental and primal way was what she wanted, and she could tell from the way he kissed her that it was what he wanted as well.
Knowing it would be later that day when Leigh and Ellie came home, she began walking backward and pulled Randolph down on the bed with her. In Randolph's arms was where she would always want to belong.
As Jenna predicted, she had not gotten pregnant during the week they had spent at Glendale Shores, and since she and Randolph would be apart during the summer months, she decided to wait until returning to school in the fall before going on birth control pills.
With less than two months left before the school year ended, Randolph and Jenna spent most of their time studying and working on various reports they had to turn in. They had put the episode involving his grandmother behind them. He still had not returned home to Virginia, too angry with his grandmother to see her. Although Jenna wanted him to forgive her and put the incident behind him, he hadn't yet found it in his heart to forgive nor forget.
On April the fourth Jenna turned nineteen and Randolph became
twenty-one. They celebrated their birthdays together in the privacy of a hotel room in an upscale area of Washington. He gave her a beautiful charm bracelet and she gave him a nice set of cuff links. Their relationship was going smoothly. They enjoyed the time they spent together and since they had become intimate, were closer than ever before. It was obvious to anyone who was around them for any length of time that they were truly in love.
The same held true for Leigh and Noah. Leigh was to return to Miami during the summer to work in her mother's beauty salon, and Noah planned to join Ross after graduation and volunteer his time and services to assist Martin Luther King, Jr. in the voter registration drive. Both Noah and Ross decided that although they opposed the war, they would enlist instead of waiting to be drafted. If they enlisted as law school graduates they could enter the armed services as officers. Noah had his eye on the air force and Ross was looking at the marines.
Noah made a decision not to mention his military plans to Leigh yet. He knew the thought of him going off to war was something she would not be able to deal with right now. After losing her brother she would go bonkers if he went anywhere that would place his life in danger.
News about the war for the past few months hadn't been that encouraging. The air war had increased and the ground war was still reporting a high number of American casualties. Demonstrations against the war were held on a number of college campuses. Howard University had held one such demonstration. Led by a group that called themselves BOTTW—Blacks Opposed To The War—it had been a peaceful demonstration of over two thousand students. Noah and Leigh, as well as Randolph, Jenna, Ellie and Tyrone had all participated.
With so much emphasis being placed on the Vietnam war, the Black Panther Party continued their fight to bring an end to police brutality and the murder of black people on the homefront. The organization was growing in numbers and was still under close watch of the FBI.
Both Jenna and Leigh received their first letters from Johnny. In his four-page letter, he told them he was living in Oakland and was doing okay. He also told them that he was now an official member of the party. His letter went on to read:
I've met the Panthers' founders, Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. The two met as students at Oakland Merritt Junior College and were working at a city antipoverty center. They are good guys and nothing like the media has made them out to be. They are against police brutality of our people in the community, and are working to put an end to that. Please don't believe the negativity you hear in the media about the group.
There are certain parties working hard to discredit us.
Although Johnny's letter indicated he was doing fine, Jenna couldn't help but still be afraid for him.
It was the last week in April with only two more weeks of school left. Noah and Ross were preparing to graduate from law school and Randolph was graduating from Howard's School of Business and would return in the fall to attend law school. Noah planned to accompany Leigh on the train back to Miami. He would stay with his parents for two weeks before joining Ross in Atlanta where they would be given their assignment, finding out where they needed to go on Reverend King's crusade to increase the number of black voters.
April twenty-fifth was Leigh's twentieth birthday. Noah borrowed Ross's car with plans to take her to dinner and to a movie. Noah had a lot of studying to do for his finals but knew Leigh had been uptight a lot lately about the war, and decided to spend time with her to ease her mind.
“Where are we going?” she asked after he had picked her up from the dorm.
He looked over at her and smiled. “It's a surprise.” He had reserved them a room at a nice hotel in a well-to-do area of Washington. It was a very old and grand hotel that only recently began opening its doors to black patrons.
“Oh, Noah,” she said a while later, stunned when they pulled up in front of the hotel. “It's beautiful.”
After opening the car door for her, he gestured toward the huge swinging glass doors and said, “Tonight when we go inside, for their benefit, we are a newly married couple, okay?”
She smiled and nodded. “Okay.”
They registered as Mr. and Mrs. Noah Wainwright. Although the hotel clerk looked at the two of them, doubtful that they were married, he didn't bother asking for identification verifying their claim.
Leigh felt like a princess when she and Noah caught the elevator to their room. Everything around them looked elegant, rich and luxurious. And she was in total awe when Noah opened the door to their room. The furnishings were exquisite and on such a grand scale it took her breath away. After taking in her surroundings, a huge smile spread across her face and she turned to Noah. He stood across the room, leaning against the closed door. He had watched her reaction to seeing the room and was pleased that she liked it.
He slowly walked across the room to her. Without saying a word he reached out and pulled her to him and began kissing her passionately, conveying in his kiss just how he felt about her. Leigh melted against him as she returned his kiss. A slow sizzle began working its way up from her toes to settle in the middle of her stomach. When they finally ended the kiss, a little smile curved the corners of Noah's lips. “I think I'd better order room service. I want to make sure we have the strength to handle tonight.”
“Hmmm,” Leigh moaned as she placed little kisses along Noah's jaw. “Do you have something pretty taxing planned for tonight?”
Noah chuckled. “Yes, you could say that,” he said, placing a quick kiss on her lips.
“Then what if I were to ask for a sample of what to expect,” she said, dropping her hand to his waist. She begin fumbling with the belt on his pants then eased down his zipper.
He gulped when she stuck her hands inside the opening of his pants to fondle him. “Then I'd warn you to be careful what you ask for because you just might get it,” he said huskily, mouthing the words
against her lips while at the same time placing his hand beneath the short skirt she wore to cup her bare hips. The skirt, although a shorter length than he was use to seeing her wear, really wasn't short enough to be called a miniskirt. However, Leigh had a gorgeous pair of legs and they were a complete turn-on. When he had picked her up at the dorm he hadn't been able to take his eyes off her.
“It's good to know I'm getting what I want,” she said in a sexy voice.
“Baby, you're definitely going to get what you want.” Dispensing with preliminaries, he quickly undid his pants and underwear and when they fell to his ankles he stepped out of them. Reaching out he pulled up her skirt, bunching it around her waist. His hands then went to her panties, tugging them down and giving her time to step out of them before lifting her into his arms. “Wrap your legs around my waist, Leigh.”
She did as he instructed and placed her arms around his neck as well. She felt him maneuver his sex in a position to enter her body while she did so. The tighter her legs wrapped around him, the deeper he went inside of her. When he was buried deep to the hilt, he walked over to the nearest wall, one that was not connected to another room.
“I don't want to disturb anyone with all our bumping and grinding,” he explained in a hoarse voice when her back touched the wall's cool surface.
“Oh,” was all she managed to say before he began pumping into her in a frenzy, giving her just what she had asked for and then some. She kept her legs wrapped around him tight as he thrust in and out of her, bumping and grinding her body against the wall in a fast, steady rhythm that made her want to holler out her pleasure.
Each time he retreated she flexed her legs around him to force him back—not that he was going anywhere—but just the feel of him going in and out of her nearly drove her over the edge. When she couldn't handle the pleasure of it anymore, and she felt the scream she knew was about to come, she clamped her mouth down on his and took his tongue into her mouth and nearly sucked it raw when an explosion burst inside of her. Then he took control of their kiss at the same time she felt his release flood her insides with hot, molten liquid. She then
did what he had taught her to do—milk him to the ultimate limit. She tightened her legs around him and flexed her inner muscles in a way that pulled everything out of him she desired.
Long moments later, when the both of them were completely drained, he slid her down his body until her feet touched the floor. He then picked her up into his arms to take her into the bathroom so the two of them could get cleaned up for dinner.
Later that night after they had eaten a delicious dinner that room service had delivered, and had made love in the king-size bed a couple of times, Noah presented Leigh with her birthday gift—a beautiful solitaire engagement ring.
“Will you marry me before the summer ends? You won't have to quit school. I'll work and support you while you complete your last year at Howard.”
Tears sprang from Leigh's eyes and covered her cheeks. She looked at the ring Noah had slipped on her finger. For the longest time all she could do was cry and nod her head. He left to go to the bathroom to get some tissue to wipe her eyes. When he returned she hugged him and told him she loved him about fifty times.
He held her tightly in his arms, knowing that soon he would have to tell her about his plans to enlist. But there was no way he would leave for the air force without first making her his wife. She would finish her final year of college at Howard as Leigh Wainwright. Unknown to her, he had spoken to her parents about his intentions when they had gone home for spring break. They had given him their blessings.
“You still haven't given me your answer yet, Leigh,” he teased as he continued to wipe the tears from her eyes. “Will you marry me, baby, and become Leigh Wainwright?”
“Yes!” she said, hugging him. “Yes, I'll marry you. Oh, Noah, you have made me so happy. This is the best birthday I've ever had.”
 
Weeks later, Jenna, like most of the students, had packed her belongings with plans of going home to get a summer job. Everyone was looking forward to returning to school in the fall, especially Leigh, who was planning a summer wedding, and with plans to return to Howard
as a married woman. She and Noah would marry in a beautiful church wedding in Miami during the middle of August.
Jenna felt honored when Leigh asked her to be one of her bridesmaids. Everyone was happy for Leigh except for Ellie. It was obvious she was jealous that Leigh was engaged and she wasn't.
The graduation ceremonies for Noah, Ross and Randolph had ended in a celebration. Leigh and Jenna gave the three a small party at a local restaurant. To everyone's surprise, Angela came and stuck close to Ross' side the entire time. Although she had been invited, Julia Fuller gave some excuse why she couldn't come, however her husband as well as the Denisons were in attendance.
The night before everyone would be leaving campus, in a dark hotel, room on the other side of town, Jenna lay in Randolph's arms, both regretting the time they would be apart over the summer months.
“I'm going to miss you, sweetheart. I love you so much,” he said quietly, as he pulled her closer into his arms. They had just finished making love and his voice was warm and tender in her ear. He pulled her closer into his embrace, loving every single thing there was about her. He had never loved anyone like he loved her. He loved being close to her and the way she made him feel. She had brought so much meaning into his life. He was going to miss her so much over the next three months. September seemed like such a long way off.
“And I love you as well.” She turned in his arms to meet his gaze. “Oh, Randolph, I wish …”
He smoothed her cheek with his finger when she didn't complete her sentence. “You wish what?”
She sighed deeply. “I wish the war was over and you and I could be together.”
“I know, sweetheart. Things will be a lot better for us when we come back in the fall.”
Jenna nodded, knowing that was true. For starters, he would be moving off campus into the house Noah and Ross would be vacating, which meant that although he would have a housemate, with separate bedrooms she would be able to sleep over at his place every once in a
while. “I will get to see you later this summer at Leigh and Noah's wedding, won't I?”

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