Pred. & Preach. Daughter - Ch. 11
Marcos finally got a chance to talk to Chasity alone after all of the other guests were gone, after he and Lee beat the pants off of Jaleel Jr. and Juan in basketball. Although he knew that Chasity had stayed until the very end because she wanted to spend as much time as possible with their daughter, he couldn’t help trying to carve out a little of her time as well.
“May I take you back to your hotel tonight?” Marcos asked, after she’d returned to the den from helping Marjorie tuck in the little ones upstairs. He was sitting in the same chair that he’d been in last weekend.
One thing about this man, he definitely doesn’t give up easily, Chasity thought, fighting not to frown at his politely asked question. In fact, Marcos was so courteous about it that one would have thought that this was his first time ever asking her that question, as if she hadn’t turned him down about the same thing just last weekend.
“No thanks,” Chasity replied in a much calmer tone than the way she’d answered him the last time he asked her that question. She would not let Marcos get to her like he had before. There would be no repeat of the couch incident. Chasity would make sure of that by not sitting down in his presence tonight at all. Instead she remained standing and began to look at the multiple family photos on the wood-paneled den wall, searching for any pictures of La’Charity as a baby. Chasity would ask for copies of those pictures so that she could add them to the new photo album she was starting now that she was back in her daughter’s life.
“I take it you’re a very independent woman now,” Marcos inquired, making polite conversation, hoping that he could somehow change her mind. She’s even sexier from the back, he mused, recalling how he used to lick a sensual trail from her middle back upwards and then across each shoulder blade all those years ago. In all honesty, he’d like to do that now.
“Yes, I’ve become a very independent woman since our college years. I not only can fend for myself pretty well now, I like fending for myself. Besides, I’ve already called my taxi while I was upstairs,” she stated, chancing a backwards glance at him only to find him staring again as he’d done throughout the day hours.
Why does he always watch me like that? Chasity thought irritably, noticing how Marcos seemed to devour her features every time he looked at her. And right now, he was perusing her frame from head to toe, as if trying to see beyond her clothes. The man gave new meaning to the phrase ‘watch you like a hawk’. But then again, he was only acting like the predator that he was.
“How did you get that scar on your left leg?” Marcos asked, abruptly changing the subject. Not only had he noticed something on Chasity’s body that wasn’t there before, he wasn’t about to go into why she’d become so fiercely independent over the years. Especially since he’d been partly to blame for her having to work so hard to make a success of her life.
He’d heard from Marjorie how Chasity refused the Deweys’ money and also refused her father’s money after the birth of their daughter. Yet if she’d only give him the opportunity, Marcos would gladly make up for those years of hard labor by using his sizable inheritance and the significant income from his profession to give her the life of luxury that she deserved.
Chasity looked down at her leg and then back up at Marcos. What ‘doesn’t’ he notice about me? she mused, before answering him. “I broke my leg as well as suffered a deep cut to my knee last year at work. If I hadn’t, I would have been here as soon as I heard about the Deweys’ demise.” She turned back to the wall, instantly noticing a picture of La’Charity around the age of three and making a mental note to ask Marjorie for a copy.
“It looks like it healed up pretty good, otherwise you wouldn’t be wearing those stunning heels,” Marcos replied, taking note of the sexy, golden high-heeled sandals she wore today. Inwardly, he wished that they were suspended up in the air in the throes of passion. But he would not go there now. After all, he needed to take some time to get to know Chasity outside of the bedroom again. However, Marcos definitely was not going to wait a whole year to get to know her inside the bedroom like he’d done before.
“So you’ve known about La’Charity’s whereabouts for a whole year?” Marcos asked when Chasity remained silent about the stunning heels compliment and kept her back turned to him so that he couldn’t see her blush.
With all blushing aside now, Chasity turned to Marcos with a slight smile. “I’ve known about La’Charity’s whereabouts since she was born. I kept up with the Deweys from afar through newspapers, Internet articles, and any other source that would give me insight into how my daughter was being raised. Through those sources I saw the announcement of her christening, her ‘child of the week’ photo, and various mentions in numerous publications where her adopted parents credited their happiness to God, their marriage, and to their precious daughter. And then I saw the Deweys’ obituaries.” She frowned with sadness at that point. “I liked Patrick and Sheena. I was sorry to hear that they’d died.”
Marcos nodded. “Yeah, they were good people. I met them when I first moved here almost five years ago. They were not only excellent parents to La’Charity; they were excellent friends to my sister and her husband. In fact, Jaleel still works for the paper that Sheena started after college and made into the success that it is today. Margie used to work as a legal secretary for Patrick from time to time when she wasn’t busy having or adopting kids.”
Chasity smiled again and turned to run her fingertips along a happy photo of Patrick and Sheena each holding one of La’Charity’s hands as they walked along the beach. She would ask Marjorie for a copy of that picture as well. “I had a feeling they’d be good to our daughter, that’s why I choose them. That’s also why I vowed never to contact La’Charity directly until she was eighteen or unless something happened to the Deweys. I believe I’ve kept that promise.”
Marcos drew the brief smile she gave him into his heart and held it in a sacred place as he became reflective, remembering the love they once shared. “Would you have ever contacted me?” He rose to his feet and came to stand beside her in front of the photo wall.
Chasity shook her head and looked him directly in the eyes. “What we had was over, Marcos. Plus, you’d already made it plain that you didn’t want a baby, so, no, I would not have contacted you. However, just like I would have waited for La’Charity to turn eighteen with the Deweys before contacting her, I would have left the choice up to our daughter to contact her birth father once she knew the whole truth. By the way, does La’Charity know that she was adopted?”
Marcos’ gaze faltered a bit as he forced himself to push past the deep hurt he’d felt from Chasity’s words. After all, he was the one that hadn’t wanted the child, so why should he be so troubled about not being told about his daughter? Yet a part of him was very bothered by the whole thing. If Marcos had known that Chasity decided to have the baby, that would have been sufficient reason for him to search her out and possibly reconcile at some point. It would have most definitely been enough reason to give her the financial support that she needed. He would have made sure that she and their child were well taken care of.
“Yes, Patrick and Sheena were very honest with La’Charity about her birth. Especially when it became obvious to her and a few of her school friends that she didn’t look anything like her mother or her father. The bronze skin, honey-colored eyes, and wavy auburn hair were a bit too different from the deep mahogany skin, dark eyes, and kinky hair her parents had.” He pointed to the obvious physical differences in the beach photo Chasity’s fingers had paused over.
Then Marcos turned to face Chasity with a tender smile on his lips. “By the way I’m glad our daughter looks so much like you. It’s no wonder I was so drawn to her. She’s beautiful, just like her mother.”
And has an outgoing personality just like her father, Chasity thought, blushing again despite herself. This time Marcos was able to plainly see how he was affecting her.
“I…um…” Her next words were interrupted by the sound of a taxi horn in the distance. Chasity looked towards the sound and then back towards Marcos. “That’s got to be for me. Goodnight, Marcos.”
“Wait, Chasity. Let me at least walk you out,” he replied, grateful that this private conversation had ended on a better note than the previous one had. Tonight he would engage in the first cold shower he’s had since he was a thirteen-year-old hormonal teenager who didn’t know what to do with himself after discovering his very first girlie magazine under his father’s bed.
Marcos had no idea that Chasity was thinking along those same lines as he walked her to her waiting taxi and held the car door open for her. In fact, to ease her hormones down Chasity would also take a body cooling shower, followed by a long, reflective phone call to Tennessee. After that, a long time of prayer on her knees.
I hope Yashika ain’t too tired tonight, Chasity mused, recalling that her friend had gotten a second job recently. She couldn’t wait to talk to her former roommate about the fact that Marcos was starting to get underneath her skin again. After all, Yashika had not only been Chasity’s roommate in her time of need, she’d also become a valued friend.
Marcos smiled and waved goodbye to Chasity as the taxi proceeded down the street. Then as he made his way across the Irelands’ well-trimmed front lawn, he failed to notice a waving Karis as she stood in the bay window of her living room, trying to get his attention. She wanted him to come over there since she couldn’t leave the house right now because her daughter was still in the bathtub.
But Marcos didn’t see Karis waving and he definitely didn’t see her snatch the wine-colored curtains closed because he’d ignored her attempts to get his attention. He had too many stars in his eyes from watching Chasity all day and for most of the night to notice any other woman. The fact that she’d let him walk her outside put even more stars in Marcos’ ebony eyes and encouraged his heart that he was wearing her down.
********
Another person that neither Marcos nor Chasity had noticed was the little girl in the white footies and long turquoise nightshirt who had stood in the corner of the brown carpeted stairwell listening to them as they’d conversed in the den.
Nakiya had come downstairs for a glass of milk and had failed to do the right thing and announce herself like the Irelands had taught her to. Now she had information that she had no idea how to process correctly.
Uncle Marcos and Miss Chasity are La’Charity’s real parents? Now she’s really gonna get more stuff than me, Nakiya thought, feeling hot flashes of envy flow through her slender body. After all, everyone knew how rich Uncle Marcos was. There was that big house of his. A house that he not only designed, but also had built from the ground up. It was talked about by everyone that ever visited it, children and adults alike. Everyone especially loved his dome-covered pool that could be utilized in all seasons.
Forgetting all about the milk now, Nakiya tiptoed her way back upstairs to the room that she shared with La’Charity. I bet she’s gonna get lots of presents for Christmas, too, she mused, wishing that she could share in her roommate’s good fortune, unmindful of just how blessed she already was and of how wrong it was to covet her newest stepsister’s or anyone else’s blessings. After all, Nakiya’s life had never been this good before and she ought to have been more grateful for what she now had.
“May I take you back to your hotel tonight?” Marcos asked, after she’d returned to the den from helping Marjorie tuck in the little ones upstairs. He was sitting in the same chair that he’d been in last weekend.
One thing about this man, he definitely doesn’t give up easily, Chasity thought, fighting not to frown at his politely asked question. In fact, Marcos was so courteous about it that one would have thought that this was his first time ever asking her that question, as if she hadn’t turned him down about the same thing just last weekend.
“No thanks,” Chasity replied in a much calmer tone than the way she’d answered him the last time he asked her that question. She would not let Marcos get to her like he had before. There would be no repeat of the couch incident. Chasity would make sure of that by not sitting down in his presence tonight at all. Instead she remained standing and began to look at the multiple family photos on the wood-paneled den wall, searching for any pictures of La’Charity as a baby. Chasity would ask for copies of those pictures so that she could add them to the new photo album she was starting now that she was back in her daughter’s life.
“I take it you’re a very independent woman now,” Marcos inquired, making polite conversation, hoping that he could somehow change her mind. She’s even sexier from the back, he mused, recalling how he used to lick a sensual trail from her middle back upwards and then across each shoulder blade all those years ago. In all honesty, he’d like to do that now.
“Yes, I’ve become a very independent woman since our college years. I not only can fend for myself pretty well now, I like fending for myself. Besides, I’ve already called my taxi while I was upstairs,” she stated, chancing a backwards glance at him only to find him staring again as he’d done throughout the day hours.
Why does he always watch me like that? Chasity thought irritably, noticing how Marcos seemed to devour her features every time he looked at her. And right now, he was perusing her frame from head to toe, as if trying to see beyond her clothes. The man gave new meaning to the phrase ‘watch you like a hawk’. But then again, he was only acting like the predator that he was.
“How did you get that scar on your left leg?” Marcos asked, abruptly changing the subject. Not only had he noticed something on Chasity’s body that wasn’t there before, he wasn’t about to go into why she’d become so fiercely independent over the years. Especially since he’d been partly to blame for her having to work so hard to make a success of her life.
He’d heard from Marjorie how Chasity refused the Deweys’ money and also refused her father’s money after the birth of their daughter. Yet if she’d only give him the opportunity, Marcos would gladly make up for those years of hard labor by using his sizable inheritance and the significant income from his profession to give her the life of luxury that she deserved.
Chasity looked down at her leg and then back up at Marcos. What ‘doesn’t’ he notice about me? she mused, before answering him. “I broke my leg as well as suffered a deep cut to my knee last year at work. If I hadn’t, I would have been here as soon as I heard about the Deweys’ demise.” She turned back to the wall, instantly noticing a picture of La’Charity around the age of three and making a mental note to ask Marjorie for a copy.
“It looks like it healed up pretty good, otherwise you wouldn’t be wearing those stunning heels,” Marcos replied, taking note of the sexy, golden high-heeled sandals she wore today. Inwardly, he wished that they were suspended up in the air in the throes of passion. But he would not go there now. After all, he needed to take some time to get to know Chasity outside of the bedroom again. However, Marcos definitely was not going to wait a whole year to get to know her inside the bedroom like he’d done before.
“So you’ve known about La’Charity’s whereabouts for a whole year?” Marcos asked when Chasity remained silent about the stunning heels compliment and kept her back turned to him so that he couldn’t see her blush.
With all blushing aside now, Chasity turned to Marcos with a slight smile. “I’ve known about La’Charity’s whereabouts since she was born. I kept up with the Deweys from afar through newspapers, Internet articles, and any other source that would give me insight into how my daughter was being raised. Through those sources I saw the announcement of her christening, her ‘child of the week’ photo, and various mentions in numerous publications where her adopted parents credited their happiness to God, their marriage, and to their precious daughter. And then I saw the Deweys’ obituaries.” She frowned with sadness at that point. “I liked Patrick and Sheena. I was sorry to hear that they’d died.”
Marcos nodded. “Yeah, they were good people. I met them when I first moved here almost five years ago. They were not only excellent parents to La’Charity; they were excellent friends to my sister and her husband. In fact, Jaleel still works for the paper that Sheena started after college and made into the success that it is today. Margie used to work as a legal secretary for Patrick from time to time when she wasn’t busy having or adopting kids.”
Chasity smiled again and turned to run her fingertips along a happy photo of Patrick and Sheena each holding one of La’Charity’s hands as they walked along the beach. She would ask Marjorie for a copy of that picture as well. “I had a feeling they’d be good to our daughter, that’s why I choose them. That’s also why I vowed never to contact La’Charity directly until she was eighteen or unless something happened to the Deweys. I believe I’ve kept that promise.”
Marcos drew the brief smile she gave him into his heart and held it in a sacred place as he became reflective, remembering the love they once shared. “Would you have ever contacted me?” He rose to his feet and came to stand beside her in front of the photo wall.
Chasity shook her head and looked him directly in the eyes. “What we had was over, Marcos. Plus, you’d already made it plain that you didn’t want a baby, so, no, I would not have contacted you. However, just like I would have waited for La’Charity to turn eighteen with the Deweys before contacting her, I would have left the choice up to our daughter to contact her birth father once she knew the whole truth. By the way, does La’Charity know that she was adopted?”
Marcos’ gaze faltered a bit as he forced himself to push past the deep hurt he’d felt from Chasity’s words. After all, he was the one that hadn’t wanted the child, so why should he be so troubled about not being told about his daughter? Yet a part of him was very bothered by the whole thing. If Marcos had known that Chasity decided to have the baby, that would have been sufficient reason for him to search her out and possibly reconcile at some point. It would have most definitely been enough reason to give her the financial support that she needed. He would have made sure that she and their child were well taken care of.
“Yes, Patrick and Sheena were very honest with La’Charity about her birth. Especially when it became obvious to her and a few of her school friends that she didn’t look anything like her mother or her father. The bronze skin, honey-colored eyes, and wavy auburn hair were a bit too different from the deep mahogany skin, dark eyes, and kinky hair her parents had.” He pointed to the obvious physical differences in the beach photo Chasity’s fingers had paused over.
Then Marcos turned to face Chasity with a tender smile on his lips. “By the way I’m glad our daughter looks so much like you. It’s no wonder I was so drawn to her. She’s beautiful, just like her mother.”
And has an outgoing personality just like her father, Chasity thought, blushing again despite herself. This time Marcos was able to plainly see how he was affecting her.
“I…um…” Her next words were interrupted by the sound of a taxi horn in the distance. Chasity looked towards the sound and then back towards Marcos. “That’s got to be for me. Goodnight, Marcos.”
“Wait, Chasity. Let me at least walk you out,” he replied, grateful that this private conversation had ended on a better note than the previous one had. Tonight he would engage in the first cold shower he’s had since he was a thirteen-year-old hormonal teenager who didn’t know what to do with himself after discovering his very first girlie magazine under his father’s bed.
Marcos had no idea that Chasity was thinking along those same lines as he walked her to her waiting taxi and held the car door open for her. In fact, to ease her hormones down Chasity would also take a body cooling shower, followed by a long, reflective phone call to Tennessee. After that, a long time of prayer on her knees.
I hope Yashika ain’t too tired tonight, Chasity mused, recalling that her friend had gotten a second job recently. She couldn’t wait to talk to her former roommate about the fact that Marcos was starting to get underneath her skin again. After all, Yashika had not only been Chasity’s roommate in her time of need, she’d also become a valued friend.
Marcos smiled and waved goodbye to Chasity as the taxi proceeded down the street. Then as he made his way across the Irelands’ well-trimmed front lawn, he failed to notice a waving Karis as she stood in the bay window of her living room, trying to get his attention. She wanted him to come over there since she couldn’t leave the house right now because her daughter was still in the bathtub.
But Marcos didn’t see Karis waving and he definitely didn’t see her snatch the wine-colored curtains closed because he’d ignored her attempts to get his attention. He had too many stars in his eyes from watching Chasity all day and for most of the night to notice any other woman. The fact that she’d let him walk her outside put even more stars in Marcos’ ebony eyes and encouraged his heart that he was wearing her down.
********
Another person that neither Marcos nor Chasity had noticed was the little girl in the white footies and long turquoise nightshirt who had stood in the corner of the brown carpeted stairwell listening to them as they’d conversed in the den.
Nakiya had come downstairs for a glass of milk and had failed to do the right thing and announce herself like the Irelands had taught her to. Now she had information that she had no idea how to process correctly.
Uncle Marcos and Miss Chasity are La’Charity’s real parents? Now she’s really gonna get more stuff than me, Nakiya thought, feeling hot flashes of envy flow through her slender body. After all, everyone knew how rich Uncle Marcos was. There was that big house of his. A house that he not only designed, but also had built from the ground up. It was talked about by everyone that ever visited it, children and adults alike. Everyone especially loved his dome-covered pool that could be utilized in all seasons.
Forgetting all about the milk now, Nakiya tiptoed her way back upstairs to the room that she shared with La’Charity. I bet she’s gonna get lots of presents for Christmas, too, she mused, wishing that she could share in her roommate’s good fortune, unmindful of just how blessed she already was and of how wrong it was to covet her newest stepsister’s or anyone else’s blessings. After all, Nakiya’s life had never been this good before and she ought to have been more grateful for what she now had.
© 2006 Suprina Frazier
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