Jamal avoided the angry Lloyd Sable and moved behind a chair.
“Mr. Sable, let me explain,” Jamal said, with his hands in the air.
“What did I tell you Jamal?” Lloyd bellowed.
Lorna approached her father. “Daddy, stop, please! It’s okay.”
Lloyd looked down at his daughter. “Why are you crying and why do you look like you haven’t slept?”
Touching her face, Lorna replied. “Because both are true,”
His angry gaze swung back to Jamal. “You did this?”
Jamal nodded and moved from behind the chair. “Yes sir, I upset Lorna.”
“But he’s come to make it right,” Lorna said quickly.
“How?” Lloyd demanded.
Jamal cleared his throat. “I’ve asked Lorna to marry me on Christmas.”
Lloyd’s gaze flew to Lorna. “You’re pregnant?”
“No!” Jamal answered. “Lorna’s not pregnant and that’s not why I asked her to marry me now. I love her, I always have.”
Seeing his daughter’s face, Lloyd lifted a brow. “You’re not pregnant Lorna?”
Lorna lowered her head. “I don’t know Daddy.”
Jamal frowned. “Lorna! You told me you weren’t.”
“I told you what I thought you wanted to hear,” Lorna said, turning to Jamal. “Honestly, I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
It was Lloyd’s turn to frown. What the hell was going on with these two?
“You just lied to me?” Jamal asked, hurt.
“I didn’t want you to be worried, and I didn’t want to lose you,” Lorna confessed.
Jamal shook his head. “You don’t know that it doesn’t matter to me?”
“It didn’t fit into your plan,”
“There is no plan without you, Lorna. I thought you knew that.”
Lloyd and Lorna watched him walk out of the room, before she blinked and felt liquid drop to her cheeks. She looked at Lloyd.
“What do I do now, Daddy?”
He took her into his arms. “You don’t lie to a man you love, Lorna.”
She closed her eyes. “Will he forgive me?”
“Give him a little time,” Lloyd said, then looked down at her. “Go home and get some rest.”
Lorna sniffed. “I’m fine.”
“Go home and get some rest.” Her father repeated sternly, and she nodded.
Lloyd walked Lorna out of the office and down the hall. She saw Lena at the desk along with a small arrangement on the counter. Lorna looked around, until Lena said, “He’s in the dining room, placing he centerpieces.”
Lorna nodded and kept walking to the front door. Outside, she saw Jamal’s work van and slowly walked past it to her home. Inside, she went straight to her bed and grabbed a pillow. Holding it against her body, she let her tears flow.
She’d known the moment those false words had left her lips, that she would regret them. Now, Jamal would never believe anything she told him, which is why Lorna made it a habit to not lie. She closed her eyes and eventually fell into some much needed sleep.
******
Jamal slowly placed the flowers on the tables, oblivious to everything around him. His only thoughts were on Lorna and the fact that she’d blatantly lied to him about the possibility of them having a baby. Of course, he’d known it was definitely possible from the many times they’d made love without the benefit of protection, but he’d never thought that he would make her feel that she couldn’t be honest with him.
“Hey, are you here to put out flowers or stare into the distance?”
Jamal looked down and saw Mrs. Langston. “Sorry, I’m distracted.”
She glanced around. “How are you distracted and the girl isn’t even here?” Mrs. Langston frowned. “As a matter of fact, where is she? I haven’t seen her.”
Jamal went back to his task. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” she asked, hearing his tone.
“I don’t work here, Mrs. Langston,”
The older woman stared at him. “Let me tell you something. Whatever you did to that girl, get your ass out of here right now and go make it right!”
He paused. “Why do you think I did something?”
She gave him a look.
“She lied to me, right to my face,” he told her, hotly.
Mrs. Langston’s eyes narrowed. “What did you do to make her lie?”
“You’re really going to make this my fault?” Jamal asked.
“I helped raise that girl and if she lied to you, you made her feel that she had no choice,” Mrs. Langston preached.
He shrugged. “Well, whatever the reason…she did.”
Jamal moved to another table and the woman followed.
“And you’ve never lied to her?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t say that.”
“You ran all around this town with that little thing, causing mayhem and mischief. Yet, Lorna waited patiently for you to grow up, and stop acting a damn fool.” She grabbed his shirt. “And now you’re mad because she told you a lie?”
Mrs. Langston released his shirt. “Well, let me tell you some truth…you don’t deserve that girl. All she’s done to help you with your business, dealing with that other woman, and the town gossiping about her. You should be glad that all she’s done is tell you one lie, in all the time you’ve known her.”
She looked him over. “You know you’re wrong. I can see it in your face. Finish my tables…”
Jamal stood still, as she walked back into the kitchen. He sighed, now intent on completing his job as quickly as possible. He didn’t want to run into anybody else, wanting to talk about Lorna. On his way out, he passed the desk and Lena raised a brow at him.
“Bye, Lena.”
“Bye, Jamal.”
Out at his van, Jamal loaded up his equipment and closed the doors. He heard his name and paused.
“Hey, Jamal!”
“Hey, Russ.”
Russ smiled. “Uh, I got my schedule wrong and I’m here on the wrong day. Can I get a lift back into town?”
Jamal nodded. “Yeah, get in.”
Walking to the driver’s side, Jamal looked out at Lorna’s house in the distance. Shaking his head, climbed inside, taking the seat next to Russ.
He started the van, and Russ looked over at him. “Is Lorna okay?”
“Why do you ask?”
Russ shrugged. “I saw her leave earlier and she was crying. Did Cassidee do something?”
As Jamal drove, he glanced over at the young man. “Why would you think Cassidee did something to Lorna?”
“I need to tell you something, Jamal.”
Jamal stopped the van on the road and cut the engine. “What does this have to do with Lorna?”
Russ sighed. “I didn’t forget that this wasn’t my day to work. Cassidee asked me to do her favor.”
Anger immediately rose in Jamal. “What the fuck is you doing?”
Russ shook his head quickly. “I know, and when I saw Lorna crying, I knew I couldn’t go through with it. She’s like the sweetest person on earth, and I knew that Cassidee was just trying to hurt her.”
“What did she want you to do Russ?” Jamal questioned.
Russ pulled an envelope from inside his coat. “She wanted me to leave this in Lorna’s office.”
Jamal slowly took the package. “What is it?”
Russ looked away. “Old pictures.”
Opening the envelope, Jamal did indeed find pictures of him and Cass.
There were pictures of the two of them, hanging out at her house and places around town. In each picture, Jamal could now see how she’d looked at him. In every one, she’d had a hand on him, his arm, his shoulder, his chest…
Back then, he’d paid no attention to her advances, brushing them off as nothing more than an unrequited crush. His heart had always belonged to Lorna and always would. He looked at the photos again and saw how Cass had smiled at him in every snapshot, and to the outside observer they could appear to be a happy couple. She even had a few shots of him sleeping and her lying next to him.
Placing them back in the envelope, he looked at Russ. “Thank you for not delivering these.”
“I thought Cassidee was cool, you know. She hooked me up with a few gifts and some change, but now I see, she wanted to use me to get to you,” Russ explained. “The Sables have been too good to me, to this whole town, for me to do anything that would hurt them.”
“I don’t want Lorna to see this,” Jamal said tossing the envelope aside. “You’re right, Cass just wanted to hurt her. Even though, they’re old pictures, they make it seem like it was more than what it actually was.”
Russ stared at him. “So you and Cassidee?”
Jamal shook his head. “No, we were friends who got in trouble together. Nothing more…but she always wanted more.”
“What are you going to do?”
Starting the car, Jamal began to drive. “That’s already in motion.”
Jamal drove Russ home and turned to him. “If you hear from her again, let me know.”
Russ nodded. “I got you.” He climbed out of the truck and Jamal drove to his gardens and saw a delivery truck outside.
He met the driver at the door.
“Jamal Winston?”
Jamal nodded. “That’s me.”
“Package for you.” The man handed him his clipboard and had him sign, before giving him the box.
“Thanks,” Jamal said as the driver walked away.
Looking at the sender’s name, Jamal smiled. This is just what he needed today and it had arrived much earlier than expected.
******
Lorna awakened from her slumber and stretched before rubbing her eyes. Climbing from the bed, she headed to the bathroom. When she looked in the mirror, she frowned at her reflection.
“Girl, get it together.”
She relieved herself, then washed her hands and face. Lorna fluffed out her hair that was flattened from her impromptu nap and added some moisturizing butter to her face. In her socks, she walked across the wood floors to the kitchen. On the table was he bouquet of flowers that Jamal had left for her at the Inn this morning.
Turning quickly, she saw him sitting on a chair in her living room and her hand went to her heart. “What are you doing here?”
He watched her. “Lana let me in. You were sleeping and I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Why are you here?”
Jamal clasped his hands in front of him. “This is where my life is…”
Lorna looked away. “I was wrong to lie,”
“I was wrong to make you feel like you had to,”
She shook her head. “There’s just been so much happening…”
“I know,”
Lorna connected her gaze with his. “I don’t know what to do now.”
Jamal stood and Lorna held her breath as he walked to stand in front of her. He reached out and touched her face, causing her eyes to close from the warmth of is touch.
“Lorna Sable, forgive me for taking you for granted.”
Her damp lids lifted to meet his serious expression. “Jamal…”
Lowering his head, he kissed her slowly and she closed her eyes again, tasting his love for her on his lips. When she felt him move away, she opened her eyes then looked down to where he was on his knee.
“I tried this earlier, but I didn’t have the most important thing,” he said quietly, then opened a small box to reveal a stunning ring.
Lorna put a hand to her mouth. “You bought this today?”
He shook his head. “It was my mother’s. I took it to Detroit, because Lance knew a jeweler who could make it more modern for my Beauty. I told him what I wanted and it came today.”
“You had your mother’s ring altered for me?”
He nodded. “I wanted to combine the only two women I’ve ever loved.”
She wiped her cheek as her tears spilled down onto his face.
“Lorna, will you marry me on Christmas?”
“Why on Christmas?”
Jamal took her hand. “Because you are the greatest gift I’ve ever received.”
“Jamal, I might not be pregnant…”
“Doesn’t matter to me,” he said, cutting her off. “Just like it doesn’t matter to you, if I’m a millionaire.”
She smiled down at him, then watched as he removed the ring from the box and placed it on her hand.
“You haven’t answered me,”
Lorna cradled his jaw. “I’d marry you on any day…”
He stood to his feet and pulled her into his arms. “No more crying,”
“Only happy tears,”
Jamal looked into her face. “I love you so much…”
“I was going to die without you,” Lorna told him.
Their mouths connected in a sweet union until he lifted his head. Lorna saw his serious expression and became concerned.
“I have to tell you about Cass…”
******
Cassandra heard the knock on her dressing room door in Chicago, and turned.
“Come in,” she yelled.
One of her assistants poked their head in the door. “There’s someone here to see you.”
“Who?”
“He has a badge.”
Cassandra felt her heart begin to beat. “Okay…”
The handsome man in a dark suit walked in, and she stared at him. “Miss Riddick?” he asked.
“Cassidee,” she corrected.
“Also known as Cassandra Riddick.”
She frowned. “What do you want?”
He slid a hand into his pocket. “I understand that you have a lot of secrets that you tried to run away from, by changing your name and your looks.”
Cassandra turned back to the mirror. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Really?” He nodded. “Does Grayling Michigan, ring a bell?”
She shrugged. “I lived there with my father as a teenager.”
“I know.”
“Then what do you want?” she snapped. “I have a show in an hour.”
The man shook his head. “You may be performing shows behind bars.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m a private detective, Malachi Roberts.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Who hired you?”
He smiled. “A friend of a friend…”
“If you had anything, you’d have gone to the police.” She began brushing the ends of her hair extensions.
“Just because I haven’t gone to the police doesn’t mean that I don’t have anything.”
Cassandra smirked. “Would you like an autograph before you leave?”
“Larceny, grand theft auto, possession, and last but not least and drug trafficking.” He laid out.
Her eyes widened. “I was a juvenile, those days are over.”
“Oh, but I’ve discovered that they really aren’t.”
“See, I’m from Detroit and I found a dude named Andre Perkins. You know him as Dre’.”
Cassandra turned to face him. “And Dre’ had an interesting story about running drugs from Detroit to Chicago with stops that included Grayling.”
She remained silent.
“See, he met this young girl who used to purchase weed from him, but then she wanted more. So she started selling weed and cocaine, then to cover her dirty money, she became a ‘singer’ in conjunction with her drug dealing ‘producers’.” Malachi explained.
“She even tried to pass off some of that dirty money to an old flame, but luckily, he was smart enough not to take it.”
Cassandra swallowed as he continued.
“Dre’s grandfather, found out about his grandson’s dealings and washed his hands of him, leaving the dude out on his own. He’s down in Detroit now, sitting in a cell…and guess who they’re coming after next?”
“Get out!”
“Even if Dre’ doesn’t snitch on you. I have everything that I need to send your ass away for a long, long, time.” Malachi warned.
“What do you want from me?”
“Stay away from Grayling, Jamal Winston and Lorna Sable.”
Her face became angry. “They did this?”
“Oh, and Russell Taylor, too.” Malachi added. “In fact, just stay the hell away from everybody in Grayling.”
“So you’re going to keep your mouth shut to protect them?” she demanded.
Malachi shrugged. “Hey, it’s not my job to bust drug rings. I was hired for another purpose and besides, your dirty deeds will catch up with you soon enough.”
He walked to the door. “But if you fuck up, trust, it will be sooner.”
Cassandra watched him open the door before he turned back to her and said, “You Da One.”
Malachi laughed and walked out of the dressing room. He heard something crash against the door, and shook his head.
******
Lorna and Jamal sat on her sofa and she stared at him.
“She was trying to use Russ?”
He nodded. “She sent some old pictures from when we used to hang out together, and wanted him to plant them in your office.”
“I hate her…”
Jamal took her hand. “Lance assures me that she’s not going to bother us again.”
“How is he involved?”
“He used one of his contacts to dig up some information on her,” he explained.
“Like what?” Lorna asked curiously.
Jamal shrugged. “They didn’t tell me all that.”
Lorna looked at him. “What was in the pictures?”
“Something that I hadn’t paid attention to before and something that Cass wanted you to see.” He paused. “In the pictures, you can clearly see that she was crushing hard.”
“What did you do with them?”
“Made a nice little fire,”
She smiled. “I was crushing hard on you back then, too.”
He gathered her into his arms and settled her on his lap. “I finished the application and submitted it today,” Jamal told her quietly. “Thank you for all the work you put in.”
“I want you to live your dreams, baby.” Lorna replied.
“I don’t have dreams that don’t include you, Lorna.”
She kissed his face. “Neither do I…”
“So our first Christmas as a couple will be our wedding day?” he asked.
Lorna nodded. “We have two weeks.”
“The Inn is already decorated,” Jamal pointed out. “All we need is our family and friends.”
“Since we were already hosting the Christmas dinner, we’ll have just about everything we’ll need.” Lorna agreed.
“What about a dress?” Jamal asked.
She frowned. “I don’t know if I can have a dress in two weeks.”
“We can drive into the city,” he offered. “Or back down to Detroit, or even to Chicago.”
Jamal kissed her cheek. “Whatever you want, we’ll make it happen,” he promised.
Lorna returned his kiss. “Are you going to live here with me?”
“I wouldn’t ask you to stay at my place,” he agreed. “But when I’m stacking, we’ll build a place between here and the gardens.”
“I can work with that.”
Jamal looked into her pretty face. “You know I never meant to hurt you.”
“And I promise, I won’t lie to you again.”
“That’s why I told you about Cass because I don’t want secrets between us. I started to just destroy the pictures and keep it to myself, but I knew that wouldn’t be right. I can’t hide things from you just because I don’t want to tell you,” Jamal confessed.
“I may not like everything you tell me, but I want you to be able to tell me anything. If it affects you or us, then I want to know,” Lorna told him.
“I understand that,” he said, nodding. “I also talked with your father and we’re cool.”
Lorna sighed. “Thank goodness! I hate seeing my Daddy angry, especially when I’ve caused it.”
“It wasn’t your fault,”
“It was both of us,” Lorna corrected.
Jamal conceded. “It was, and Mr. Sable pointed that out very concisely.”
“What did he say?”
“He reminded me of his promise years ago and that he was more than ready to act on it,” Jamal told her.
Lorna bit her lip. “That wasn’t good.”
“Nah, it wasn’t.” Jamal said, stroking her lip. “But I expected it, when I went to see him.”
“I love how you face things head on.”
He lifted his shoulders. “Hiding only makes things worse. I’m a man and I should be able to deal with my mistakes, especially with people who care about me.” Jamal looked at her. “I’m probably going to make more…”
“Me too, so we can make them and face them together,”
He smiled at her. “So, are we having a baby now nor nah?”
“I lied when I said that my cycle had started, it hasn’t…but I don’t know what that means yet,” she said quietly. “I promise that you will be the first to know.”
“In the meantime, can you call the sexy police?”
Her eyes darkened. “Have you been a bad boy today?”
He nodded. “Yes… and I think she needs to search me for a very dangerous weapon.”
Lorna wiggled on his lap. “Is that what I feel in your pocket?”