Troublemaker (20 page)

A
lexandria knew her brother was a lot of things, but until now, she'd never thought that stupid was one of them. But he'd just proven her wrong because not only had he hooked up with a complete stranger whom he'd met last night; he'd brought the woman to the house. And if that weren't bad enough, he was now parading her in front of the family—both of them half-dressed—like it was no big deal. She knew drugs could make people do things they'd normally never dream of, and this was definitely the case with Christian.

Alexandria took one look at her mother's face and could see that Victoria was livid. And she couldn't say that she blamed her one bit. She knew that her mother wasn't a prude by any measure, and that she was fairly liberal and open minded about most things. But this situation with Christian was about a matter of simple respect, and as her mother had said many times, carrying oneself with pride and protecting your family.

Alexandria knew that her mother had put up with a lot of things from Christian over the years, from him sneaking out the house during his teenage years to hang out in clubs, to him getting in trouble for trying to buy alcohol with a fake ID. But now his life was out of control. This wasn't teenage rebellion; it was him playing Russian roulette with his life.

As she looked around the room, she could see that everyone was visibly upset, except Chase, who was looking at the young woman's shapely thighs, which Christian's shirt barely covered. Alexandria shook her head at the hot-blooded teenager. If the situation in front of them weren't so potentially disastrous, she'd tell Chase and his parents the truth about his possible paternity. But right now she had to focus on the drama her brother had just created.

Alexandria couldn't believe that Christian had the nerve to stand in front of everyone as if what was happening was perfectly okay. Aside from the fact that sleeping with a complete stranger and bringing her into the house was in poor judgment and taste, the woman could be a stark raving lunatic for all he knew. Alexandria was pissed that Christian had taken it upon himself to invite the woman to sleep under the roof of the house their family was sharing, not even thinking or caring that he could possibly put others in danger, all for the sake of his own pleasure.

Between his behavior yesterday afternoon, last night, and now this morning, Alexandria had had enough. She was tired of her brother always causing or being in the middle of trouble, and she was now ready to give him a piece of her mind. “You know you're wrong, don't you?”

Christian reared back his shoulders and stuck out his chest. “I know there is a host of things that I can't do right in your book, so you're gonna have to be a little more specific.”

“You're such an ass.”

PJ was poised to say something, but Ted stepped in. He folded his arms across his chest and looked at his son. “Since you've put all of us in an uncomfortable situation you're about to get it back in return.” He paused and looked at Christian's friend. “Young lady, what is your name?”

Alexandria swallowed hard because she knew her father was getting ready to bring the thunder, lightning, and rain.

“Brandy,” the woman said with a chipper smile.

This isn't going to go well . . . at all
, Alexandria thought to herself. Whenever the vein in her father's temple pulsated, it was a clear indication that he was pissed, and right now it was pumping. As she looked at the young woman—whose happy expression was oddly inappropriate and much too cheerful, given the uncomfortable stares she was drawing from everyone other than Chase—Alexandria began to get a strange vibe from her, as if she knew this woman. And not just from seeing her standing next to Christian when they'd been at the festival last night. She felt as if she'd met Brandy before.
Our paths have crossed, somewhere, somehow,
Alexandria thought to herself.

Ted cast his eyes back on his son. “You and Brandy need to leave, right now.”

Alexandria wasn't surprised when Christian didn't react. Instead, he just stood there as if their father had asked him if he preferred sausage or bacon on his plate. She looked into his thoughts and could see that this morning he'd taken several Valiums, and instead of acting jittery he was now relaxed to the point that he appeared to be floating.

“Why, Dad?” Christian had the nerve to ask.

“Because you've disrespected your great-grandfather's house and everyone in it. I don't know anything about Brandy,” Ted said, not even looking at the young woman, “and I suspect you don't either. Yet you chose to bring her under the same roof where your family is sleeping. And now you're standing here in front of us, not even dressed, either one of you, acting like you don't know that what you've done is unacceptable.”

”What you did yesterday was foul,” Samantha said, “But this right here . . . it's just straight up wrong.”

“That's right,” Victoria chimed in, taking a step forward, planting herself right beside Ted. She looked at Christian and pointed her finger. “I've tried to be patient with you. I've tried to get you help over the years. I spent yesterday afternoon trying to make sense of the fact that you came here to try and steal this property and a lot more. But I just can't take any more. You know you have a problem but you won't admit to it. Meanwhile, everyone around you suffers, and I for one am tired of it.” Alexandria wanted to second that, because, in fact, she knew it to be true. “And you,” Victoria continued. “Young lady, how can you even stand here in a room full of strangers wearing practically nothing, and still feel comfortable? I can only assume that it's because you're on drugs to and just as messed up as my son.”

“Excuse me?” the woman said, craning her neck as she stared at Victoria. “Bitch, who you think you talkin' to?”

Alexandria felt as though she were having an out-of-body experience. The air in the room was quiet and yet still full of energy; the bad something's-about-to-pop-off-up-in-here kind of energy. Everyone was on alert. Victoria put her hand on her hip and leaned forward, the vein in Ted's temple roared, PJ adopted a defensive stance, Tyler's eyes bulged, Samantha started taking off her earrings, Chase blinked his eyes rapidly, and Uncle Maxx said, “What the hell!”

Alexandria took in the entire scene with lightning-quick speed, which at the same time seemed to play out in slow motion. In that instant, she knew exactly why she felt she knew Brandy. It was because she indeed did.

“Yes, baby girl,” Allene said softly as she floated into the room. “She's exactly who you think she is.”

Alexandria looked to her right and saw Allene standing close beside her. She was relieved to know that her grandma was in the room to guide her in this situation, because just like yesterday, she was going to need it.

“That's right. I'm here to help you, so don't be afraid,” Allene said with a gentle smile.

Instead of talking to the vacant space beside her, which would have added another layer of disruption to the room, Alexandria communicated with Allene through thought. She could feel Allene telling her not to jump into the situation, but instead stay calm and watch it play out.

But this heifer just called my mother a bitch!
Alexandria seethed.
And seeing what I just discovered about Brandy, it's going to take Aunt Samantha and the rest of us to handle her.

“Let him do it,” Allene said.

Alexandria wondered who the him was, but a split second later, she found out. She was caught off guard when Christian suddenly showed an outburst of emotion. He turned his body toward Brandy, aimed his eyes on her, and let loose.

“Have you lost your mothafuckin' mind?” His angular nose spread as if he were breathing fire. “No one talks to my mother like that!”

In one quick move, Christian took Brandy by her elbow in an attempt to escort her out of the room. But he soon saw that she wasn't going without a fight.

“Get your mothafuckin' hands off me!” Brandy growled. “I'll say whatever the hell I want to say.”

“Not in this house you won't!” Samantha jumped in, taking a step forward. She tossed her earrings on the counter and leaned forward, ready to exchange blows. “I see that you need to learn a few things, and I'm definitely the one who can show you.”

Tyler reached for his wife and held her back. “Sam, control yourself.”

“Get the hell out!” Christian shouted to Brandy.

“What? I don't believe this!” Brandy yelled back. “You the one who invited me here, and you said this house is practically yours 'cause your mama's gonna sign it over to you this weekend, and when you turn it into a bed-and-breakfast I can run it. Now you gonna turn on me and kick me out?”

Christian's face knotted into a ball of fury. “I should've never brought your low-budget ass to this house to begin with.”

Ted raised his hand in the air and boomed, his voice so loud it sounded as though it was bouncing off the walls. “Everyone needs to calm down and be quiet!” He looked directly at Brandy, this time in a no-nonsense, “this is your last warning” kind of way. “You're going to sit on the bench in the foyer while my son gets your clothes from upstairs, and while you're doing that, I'll call a cab so you can leave. Now I don't want to hear another word on the matter. Are we clear?”

Alexandria could see that her father was about to reach his limit, and she knew that Brandy could see it, too. The young siren let out a defeated huff and rolled her eyes. “Yes.”

“Good, now before you leave, you owe my wife an apology.”

It was clear to see that Brandy didn't want to comply, but she knew from the seriousness of Ted's tone and the stern look in his eyes that she needed to straighten up. She looked at Victoria, then held her head down. “I'm sorry.”

Alexandria thought it was the poorest excuse for an apology she'd ever heard, but she also knew that this was a big deal for Brandy, given what her vision a few moments ago had revealed about the woman.

Brandy lifted her head, straightened her shoulders, and glared at Christian. “Go get my things and don't keep me waiting.” She turned on her bare feet and started toward the foyer. But after a few steps, she twirled back around and smiled. “Hope y'all have a good day. Enjoy the festival tonight.”

The young woman's smile was sinister and her tone was still confrontational. Alexandria exhaled and tried to stay calm. She could feel a million thoughts running through her head at once, and she was trying to keep them all straight. There were so many dynamics she was trying to process. Every person in the room was dealing with an issue and their collective energy was coming at her all at once.

She knew she had to concentrate and let most of what she was feeling fall by the wayside because there was very little she could or should do to change it.

“Listen to your gut,” Allene whispered. “Only take on what you know is right.”

Alexandria nodded, knowing what she needed to do. “I can never go wrong doing right.”

A
llene shook her head at the big mess brewing in front of her. When she'd seen Brandy last night, strolling up the walkway with a spring in her step and mischief in her eyes, she had known exactly who the young she-devil was, and what she was up to.

Even though Brandy was taller, a little thinner, and slightly darker than her grandmother, Allene could see the resemblance in looks, and unfortunately, this young woman had a far worse temperament. “Umph! She's a lot like her grandmamma,” Allene had said. “But this child is sneakier, more connivin', and nothin' but trouble.”

It was amazing to her how much Brandy looked like Mary-Marie Jackson.

Mary-Marie was a voluptuous, seductive woman with whom John Small had enjoyed dalliances before he'd started dating Elizabeth. Even though Mary-Marie had been living with her boyfriend for years, each time John came home to visit from New York, the two would enjoy lust-filled nights in his hotel room, fueled by passion and raw attraction. Though that was as far as the feelings went for John, Mary-Marie had seen things differently.

Mary-Marie had wanted John so badly that she'd been willing to have him under any conditions, which was the reason she'd maintained their secret rendezvous every time he came to town. But John had grown tired of sex for sex's sake, and had started aiming his eyes on something more meaningful, which for him meant a future that included a wife and children. Unfortunately for her, Mary-Marie wasn't included in those plans.

When John came home one weekend to help celebrate Maxx's thirty-second birthday, that time proved to be a pivotal turning point in Mary-Marie's life, as well as John's and Maxx's.

Over those three days, Mary-Marie had been confronted with the disappointing and hurtful fact that not only did John not want to be with her, he'd met someone else and had fallen in love. But even with that knowledge, Mary-Marie had still held out hope that they could have a future together, especially after she'd come to John's rescue. She'd used information she had on Madeline King, John's deranged and scheming girlfriend, to help thwart the crazy woman's trap, which could have landed John in a world of trouble.

Even though John had appreciated Mary-Marie's help, he still hadn't wanted to build a future with her because his heart and love lay with another woman. He'd been up-front and honest, not wanting to hurt Mary-Marie, but not wanting to lead her on, either. Still, Mary-Marie had refused to take to heart what John had told her. It wasn't until she'd shown up at his house unannounced, during the middle of his family's Sunday dinner, that she had been forced to accept the situation.

Allene shook her head again when she thought about what she'd had to do in order to make a believer out of Mary-Marie. “Some women's got to learn the hard way,” she said to herself. She'd hated to have to use her gift in the way she had, but she knew that tough times called or rough measures.

But just as Allene's favorite saying went, good things had sprung forth from bad that weekend. John had become reacquainted with Maxx's younger sister, Elizabeth, and had fallen in love at the first sight of her. Their whirlwind courtship had defied conventional wisdom, produced a beautiful daughter, and provided them with over fifty years of married bliss.

For Maxx's part, his weekend had been full of drama, too. He'd been celebrating his birthday in grand style at the nicest nightclub in town when his scorned girlfriend had shown up, toting revenge and a loaded pistol. She'd shot Maxx in his backside, leaving him with a permanent limp that he carried to this day. But that moment had sobered him up, and although he'd run the ladies until his legs got tired, he'd never again lied or misled another woman about his intentions.

Now, in the present, Allene thought about that eventful weekend from long ago, and she couldn't help but feel nostalgic about how life truly did come full circle. Many of the people from the past were still living on in the form of their offspring. But unfortunately, Brandy was the result of a bad seed from the past that had sprouted up in the present.

As Allene watched the young woman swish her shapely hips from side to side, out to the foyer, she noticed that young Chase wasn't the only one who couldn't take his eyes off Brandy. Maxx was looking at her, too.

“Ol' Maxx ain't never gonna change,” Allene said. But then she realized that Maxx's glare wasn't rooted in lust or attraction; it was steeped in knowing.

“There's somethin' real familiar 'bout that gal,” Maxx said as he stared at the back of Brandy's head while she was leaving the room. He took a moment, rubbed the thin, white strands of hair on his head, and thought it over until it came to him. “I know 'xactly who she reminds me of.”

Allene could tell by the disturbance in Maxx's voice and the concerned look in his eyes that he'd made the connection to the past.

“Who does she remind you of?” Alexandria asked.

“Way back in the day before your granddaddy ever started datin' your grandmamma, he used to fool around with this girl named Mary-Marie. She was a nice enough young lady, but she was what y'all would call a stalker today. She was crazy 'bout John.”

“Yes, I heard Daddy was quite the ladies' man back then,” Victoria said. “And you too, Uncle Maxx.”

“We was somethin',” Maxx chuckled. “But the weekend I had my thirty-second birthday party taught both of us a lesson.”

“The party where you got shot?” Victoria asked.

“Yep. The very one. John was datin' a crazy woman named Madeline King, and he brought her down wit' him for the weekend. Well, that woman put him through some changes, and even ended up draggin' Slim into it.”

Victoria nodded her head. “I remember Daddy telling me about it. And Percy said his father talked about that night until the day he died.”

“I bet he did. That crazy woman beat up her own self and then tried to say Slim did it, all so she could get back at John and trap him. I done a lotta livin', and I still ain't met nobody crazy as Madeline King was in all my life.”

Ted shook his head. “Sounds like it was one hell of a weekend.”

“Yeah, I reckon it was,” Maxx said. “But I got to give Mary-Marie credit. If it wasn't from her, poor Slim and John woulda ended up in a big mess. From what I heard, she had some dirt on Madeline and threatened to tell it if she didn't leave John alone. It musta been real bad because the crazy woman packed her things and left town on a bus before John could even say good-bye. Yep, I'll never forget that weekend long as I live.”

Allene nodded her head in agreement with Maxx, thinking he'd never spoken truer words. She'd never forget that weekend either, because it had been the first time she'd seen what the other side of her gift could do if she used it while she was angry—and she'd discovered that firsthand when she'd confronted Mary-Marie on the doorstep of the very house she was standing in right now.

Yes, that weekend had been filled with many challenges, and it was a time when Allene had lost and gained what mattered to her most—her family. It was the last time she had laid eyes on Susan Jessup during her days on earth, and that loss had been hard. But had also been a new beginning because, along with the darker side of what she'd realized her gift could do, she'd tapped into the infinite possibilities and the hope it could bring. She'd been able to look into the future, contact her yet to be born great-great-granddaughter, and communicate with her in another time and place. Allene still didn't understand how she'd been able to do it, or how their times had merged into one, but she was grateful she'd had the experience.

Maxx shook his head. “Even though her grandmamma was a nice enough woman, I can tell by lookin' at that gal that she nothing but trouble,” he said about Brandy. “And outta all the people Christian could take up with, who'da ever thought it would be wit' somebody who look just like the woman his granddaddy used to fool 'round wit'. I mean, she the spittin' image of Mary-Marie.”

“I hope Brandy's not a stalker like that woman was,” Victoria said.

Maxx shook his head. “Me too, but if that gal's anything like I think she is, Christian's done met his match.”

“I don't know what I'm going to do about that son of mine.” Victoria let out a loud sigh.

Ted put his hand on her shoulder. “There's nothing you, I, or anyone can do. Christian is a grown man and he's going to have to start taking responsibility and acting like one.”

“I don't know about anyone else, but I'm starving,” PJ said, looking at the food spread out on the table.

Allene could see that was PJ's way of steering the subject away from Christian. She knew he'd had a hard time not confronting Christian about his rude and disrespectful behavior, and she was glad PJ hadn't punched him liked he'd wanted to.

“I'm with PJ,” Ted said in agreement. “Let's rewind to ten minutes ago and start over.”

Victoria smiled. “Okay, I'll try this again.... Everyone, dig in!”

As the happy group filled their plates with food, Allene noticed that Alexandria was quiet, sitting on her bar stool in deep concentration. Her eyes closed and opened quickly, signaling the telltale signs of what Allene knew was a glimpse into something.

What should I do, Grandma?
Alexandria asked.

“You had a vision. You know who she is, and you know what's gonna happen, don't you?”

Yes, and I'm not sure if I should intercede or let things play out. What should I do?
she asked again.

Allene sighed. This was part of the blessing and the burden of having the gift. “Baby girl,” Allene said, “Don't think too hard on it. Trust in what you feel and know that you have the gift for a reason. Let your gut guide you.”

Alexandria nodded her head. “I'll be right back,” she said to PJ and the others.

“I thought you were hungry. Where're you going?”

“I've got to take care of something. I'll be back before you butter your biscuit.” She gave him a kiss on his cheek and walked out of the kitchen.

Allene smiled to herself. She was happy, nervous, and cautious all at once. Just like that drama-filled weekend Maxx had talked about many, many years ago, she knew this weekend was going to prove just as eventful. And reminiscent of that time, this one would present deep losses as well as joyous gains.

“Yes, Lord,” Allene said. “You truly do know what's best.”

Allene's vision told her that Sunday was going to be a day of blessings, not just because it was a holy day, but because wrongs would be made right and the past would surely be buried as new beginnings started for everyone.

As Allene floated down the hall, following Alexandria toward the foyer, she knew this was the first step in what was about to unfold.