Trish handed the baby to Marquita. “Don’t leave. Sit in here with Jon-Jon and let him visit with the baby so I can talk to Dwayne.” They now knew that the baby belonged to Jon-Jon, but Marquita was dealing with another issue that Trish couldn’t ignore.

  She grabbed Dwayne’s arm. “I need to speak with you about something.”

  Leading him into their bedroom, she gave a rundown of Marquita’s situation before voicing her idea.

  “No! Uh-uh, no way.” Dwayne waved his hands in the air as he shook his head so hard dandruff fell out.

  “Dwayne, be reasonable. We have to let Marquita stay with us. She has nowhere else to go.” They tried to talk as low as possible because sound traveled easily in their home, especially yelling.

  “That’s not our fault.”

  “It would be our fault if we let that girl walk out of our house and something happened to her and the baby.”

  “Didn’t you hear how she talked to us when she dropped the baby off a few days ago? You really want to deal with someone as disrespectful as she is?”

  Trish got it. She really did. But as a Christian, she couldn’t see someone in need and not try to help. “The girl has no home training. I told you that. But come on, Dwayne, you can’t honestly be comfortable with Marcus sleeping in that car?”

  He didn’t respond. It looked like he was mulling it over.

  Dwayne paced the floor in front of the bed, then rubbed his chin. “Tell me this, Trish. Where is this girl going to sleep? We only have three bedrooms. I’m in one, Jon-Jon is in another, and you have moved yourself into the third.”

  Trish grimaced as the corner of her mouth turned up. Dwayne had played her. He had her where he wanted her and they both knew it.

  “How bad do you want to help this girl, Trish? Would your Christian duty allow you to move back into our bedroom so we can make that third room available to that mouthy girl?”

  She turned her back to him and crossed her arms around her chest. Things had not been good with Dwayne for months. Trish didn’t want to be married to a man who acted as if her thoughts and feelings didn’t matter. But if she was honest with herself, Dwayne hadn’t been so horrible these last few days. He’d been on her side on quite a few things rather than disparaging her at every turn.

  Dropping her arms to her side, she waved the white flag. “You win, Dwayne. I will move back into our bedroom. Now can Marquita and Marcus stay with us?”

  Dwayne clasped his hands together. “Yes, but she can’t stay here indefinitely. We can give her a couple of months to find a job and get another apartment, but that’s it.”

  Trish exhaled. She couldn’t wait to talk to Marquita. The girl seemed like a handful, but having her here just might be helpful. She’d see where Marquita’s head was, then she’d know if things might be changing for the better around here. “Let’s go talk to her.”

  Dwayne shook his head. “You go talk to her. I’m going to move your stuff back to our room.”

  “Missed me that bad, huh?”

  “You’ve laid next to me for almost twenty-five years, Trish. I still remember how we used to be, and I want it back.” He walked out of their bedroom, heading straight for the guest room.

  Trish didn’t know for sure what was happening with her and Dwayne, but he was making her feel some kind of way. Good vibes . . . good vibes.

  While Dwayne was moving her stuff from the guest bedroom back to the master suite, Trish went back to Jon-Jon’s room and signaled for Marquita to follow her. She and Marquita went to the living room and sat down. “Let me ask you something, Marquita. Do you really want to go to that shelter?”

  Marquita lifted her hands, then let them flop back in her lap. “I’m all out of choices. I was sitting in Jon-Jon’s room thinking about my son and how I want so much more for him. But . . .”

  The girl looked so dejected that Trish wanted to cry for her. “You know what, Marquita. I think you and I can help each other.”

  “How can I help you? I don’t have anything.”

  “I don’t want anything from you. Well, maybe just a bit of your time.” Trish leaned forward in her seat as she explained. “Dwayne and I just talked. We want you to stay here with us while you find a job and save up enough money for another apartment.”

  Shock exploded in Marquita’s eyes. “What?”

  “You heard me. You and Marcus don’t have to worry about where you’re going to sleep tonight, because we want you to stay with us.”

  “I don’t understand. I thought you might take Moochie for a few days. But . . . Why are you doing this?”

  Those sad eyes of Marquita’s seemed to question why anyone would help her, as if no one had ever extended her kindness. A tear escaped Trish’s eyes. She closed them to stop the dam that threatened to break. “We want to help you and Marcus.”

  “And this is for real? You’re going to let us stay here, in your nice home?”

  “I don’t know what I have to do to get you to believe me. Marcus is our grandson. You are the mother of our grandson, and we want what’s best for the both of you.”

  “I don’t have any money. I wouldn’t be able to pay the rent.”

  Trish nodded. “Thank you for your honesty, Marquita. We know you won’t be able to pay the rent. You have to find a job—and that brings me to how you and I can help each other.”

  Marquita was at the edge of her seat. “Tell me. Whatever you want. If I can help, then I want to do it.”

  “I quit my job so I could care for Jon-Jon. It has caused a huge financial strain, so it would help me to have someone at the house who could sit with Jon-Jon for about four hours a couple days a week. That way I could teach at a night school.”

  “Jon-Jon told me that you are a teacher. That’s cool.”

  “So, what do you say, Marquita? Can we go to the car and bring your things to your new room?”

  Hesitant, but only for a moment, Marquita asked, “How long can we stay?”

  Trish stood. “I’m not going to lie to you. Dwayne doesn’t want this to be permanent. He’s okay with you staying a few months, long enough for you to find a job and save some money. Will that work?”

  For the first time since she met Marquita, the girl smiled and her brown eyes brightened. She had a beautiful face. Trish could see why Jon-Jon had been attracted to her. “Dwayne and I will help you bring your things in. Then we’ll go over the house rules.”

  Chapter 16

  “Mom, Mom, guess what?” Ethan knocked on his parents’ bedroom door.

  Alexis’s eyes were slow to open. Just as she recognized that Ethan was at the door, Michael sat up, put on his house shoes, and opened their bedroom door. “Are you okay, Ethan? Is anything wrong?”

  Ethan ran past his father. “Everything is wonderful! Mom told me to come get her if my superheroes started fighting in the air again.” He pulled on Alexis’s arm.

  No, no, no. Alexis’s hand flopped across her eyes. Hopping out of bed, she put on her housecoat and ran out of the room with Ethan. She hoped that Michael was still sleepy and had laid back in bed.

  “They were flying again, Mom. I swear they were. Come see.”

  “I’m right behind you, Ethan. Just calm down, okay?”

  Michael followed them. “What is he talking about, Alexis?”

  “Go back to bed, Michael.” She kept following Ethan. When she stepped in the room, Alexis watched Ethan closely. Please don’t let him see anything. “I don’t see anything, honey. Do you still see them?”

  The gleeful expression left Ethan’s face as disappointment weighed down his shoulders. “What happened, Mom? I knew I shouldn’t have left my room. They’re gone again.”

  Michael brushed past Alexis, got on one knee in front of Ethan, and wrapped his hands around Ethan’s arms. “Are you okay, son? What did you think was flying in here?”

  “Captain America and Thor were fighting. Then Iron Man jumped in, so the Hulk pounded on all of them. It was a really cool fight. Then I remembered that Mom told me if it happened again, she wanted to see it, too, but now they’re gone.”

  Michael glanced up, looking at Alexis. Then he turned back to Ethan. “Again? When did you see them fighting before?”

  “Last night when Mom came into my room, but she didn’t see them then either.” A puzzled looked crossed Ethan’s face. He turned to Alexis. “Maybe they don’t want to fight in front of girls, Mom. They might be hiding until you leave.”

  Putting a gentle hand on the back of her son’s head, Alexis told him, “You bumped your head when you fell into the pool a few days ago. I’m thinking that you’re seeing these things because of that, but Mommy needs you to get dressed so I can take you to the emergency room, okay?”

  “Why do you look sad, Mom? I might have super-seeing powers now. That’s nothing to be sad about.”

  Michael stood back up. With a stern expression on his face, he asked Alexis, “Can I speak with you in our bedroom?”

  Sighing, Alexis patted Ethan on the head and then left her son to go deal with his father.

  “I distinctly remember asking you if Ethan was okay last night,” Michael said as he closed their bedroom door.

  Alexis went into her closet to grab a jogging suit. “He is okay.”

  “He’s hallucinating,” Michael said, in a whisper, “like your mother.”

  Alexis’s eyebrow lifted. She knew he would go there. “I act like my mother, Michael. She and I have similar hand gestures. I hear her when I laugh. And I see her when I glance at myself in the mirror.”

  “You know what I’m talking about.” He put a finger to the side of his head and twirled it. “She sees things that aren’t there. Now my son is doing the same thing, and you didn’t tell me about this.”

  “I was going to talk to you about it today, but I wanted to see if he had the same issue this morning. I’m taking him back to the hospital to make sure he doesn’t have a traumatic brain injury. I’m just as worried as you are.” She took off her gown and threw on her jogging suit.

  “Are you? Because it doesn’t seem like you’re worried. I know you grew up with crazy and you work with all those crazy people, but I don’t want my son like that.”

  “Stop it. Just stop it. I’m not doing this with you.” She brushed her teeth and then rushed Ethan to the car. She had no words for her husband at this moment. She had never wanted to do harm to her husband. He had always been her prince, but, so help her, she wanted to slap some sense of compassion in his head. He married her knowing that her mother dealt with mental illness. How dare he stand in her face and degrade her mother after all these years.

  Michael didn’t want anyone to know that mental illness was in their family, so he demanded that Vivian be put into a nursing home. She’d always assumed that Michael’s strong feelings against mental illness were because he thought her mother’s condition would hurt him professionally. Now she wasn’t so sure.

  For Michael, everything had to be right, look right, and appear right or Michael wasn’t happy. She’d spent the last thirteen years ensuring that Michael’s world was just the way he wanted it, but she wasn’t concerned about her perfectionist husband right now. Alexis’s concern was for Ethan.

  The drive to the hospital wasn’t as traumatic for her as the other day. Her son was alive. Now she just needed to make sure he didn’t have a brain injury. She hadn’t told Michael about it last night because she feared he would associate Ethan’s hallucinations with her mother’s. She just didn’t know he would be so cruel about it.

  They parked in the emergency room parking lot and walked into the hospital. She informed the intake nurse about her concerns. After a short wait, they were taken to a room and then Ethan was given a CT scan. The scan came back normal.

  The ER doctor offered reassurance. “Mrs. Marshall, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Ethan hit his head when he fell in the pool. Sometimes patients deal with hallucinations after an event like that. He might have a concussion. But at any rate, this should go away, but if it keeps happening, bring him back in or take him to his family doctor for more tests.”

  Alexis took Ethan to get an ice cream cone, then they went home. Michael was in the kitchen waiting for her. When she told him the CT scan was normal, he said, “Oh, thank God.”

  She wasn’t moved by his sudden show of relief. She tried to walk past Michael, but he took her hand and held onto it. She tried to pull away, but he stood in her way and moved closer.

  “I’m sorry for what I said earlier. I was wrong. Your mother has nothing to do with this, and I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

  “It would just kill you if Ethan turned out to be like my mother, wouldn’t it?” She did manage to snatch her hand away now.

  “He’s not like your mother.” Michael backed up a step, putting a hand in his pocket. “I shouldn’t have expressed my thoughts the way I did. I know how sensitive you are about that subject.”

  “What subject, Michael?” He couldn’t even say the words. “Are you talking about the fact that my mother suffers from mental illness or the fact that you don’t want anyone to know that?”

  “I’m only concerned for our family. I don’t want anyone looking at our kids and wondering if mental illness will pass down to them.”

  “And what if it did? Would you love Ethan any less?”

  “No, Alexis. I promise you. I wouldn’t hold any mental issue against Ethan. He’s my son, and I will always love him.”

  Alexis believed Michael when he said he wouldn’t hold it against Ethan, but as she walked away from him, she wondered if he would hold it against her. Would he think it was her bad genes that had caused these problems and then wish he had never married her?

  Before Alexis met Michael she didn’t know how to dream of better days. She existed only to get up, go to her waitress job, help her mother pay the bills, and try to keep her mother out of trouble. Falling in love with Michael changed her whole world. She hated being mad at him and hated not being on his side, but she had to protect Ethan and get her son all the help he needed, whether his hallucinations were a result of his head injury or if it turned out he had developed a mental illness. She would not, could not, let Michael hide their son away like an embarrassment to Michael’s perfect family fantasy. Alexis would never wish the way she grew up on anyone, but if Michael had experienced just a taste of what she grew up with, everything wouldn’t have to be so perfect all the time.

  * * *

  Two days later, Ethan ambled his way into the theater room, hands in his pockets and head hanging low. They were getting ready to watch a movie for their family night. Ethan normally loved family night, but he was acting as if someone stole his favorite toy.

  “What’s wrong, Ethan? Do you want to watch a movie tonight?” Alexis asked.

  “I do. I’m just mad.”

  Michael was reclined in his theater seat, relaxing. “What are you mad about?”

  Ella walked past her brother and took her seat. “Just ignore Ethan. He’s been complaining all day about his superhero figures.”

  Alexis’s eyes closed tight, and she wished they could skip this moment and just watch the movie already. She didn’t want to see Michael’s disapproving glare or hear what Michael might say if Ethan had indeed seen another vision of superhero figures fighting in his head. Alexis reached for the M&M’s bag, took two handfuls of the chocolaty candy, and dumped them in her mouth.

  Ethan continued. “It’s not funny, Ella. Those superheroes were fighting, but now they won’t do anything unless I bang them together myself.”

  Michael shot up in his seat. “Your toys aren’t fighting anymore?”

  “No! Not even when I try to use my super-seeing powers.” Ethan plopped down in his theater seat. He waved a hand toward the big screen. “Well, let’s get this movie going so I can go to bed already.”

  “Wow, I hope those sour grapes won’t last through the entire movie.” Alexis was kidding with Ethan, but in truth, she was overjoyed because his words brought her peace. The ER doctor thought the hallucinations wouldn’t last, so she prayed this was the end of it.

  Michael took her hand and squeezed it. She looked over at him; he was smiling. Ethan would be all right. She believed it, and Michael’s reaction showed her that he believed it too. She squeezed his hand and smiled back at him.

  Michael turned on the movie. Tonight they were watching A Question of Faith. Alexis had grown up watching Kim Fields’s reruns of The Facts of Life, so she was happy to see her now in this family movie. She leaned back in her seat, pulled her blanket over her legs, enjoying family night with the kids as they passed popcorn and nachos to each other.

  Joy soon turned to heartache as she watched a young Black boy get hit by a car and saw how horridly the parents suffered as their son lay dying in a hospital bed. A feeling of unease pricked her. Ethan’s accident had helped her to see just how quickly a family could deteriorate when dealing with the illness of a child. Now this movie was making her think about the Robinsons. She wondered how the family was dealing with their son’s injuries.

  She leaned over to Michael and whispered, “Did the attorney set the court date with the Robinsons yet?”

  Michael kept looking at the movie screen. “It’s been postponed.”

  “Again?”

  “Yeah.” He popped some popcorn in his mouth, eyes still focused on the big screen.

  “What about the arbitration you mentioned?”

  Fixing his eyes on Alexis, Michael said, “I told you the dad is being difficult.”

  “Mom, Dad, you’re making too much noise. I can’t hear the movie,” Ella complained.

  Alexis quieted, but not because Ella shushed her. As she watched the boy in the movie die, Alexis thought about John Robinson. Then she wondered how his mom was doing.

  Alexis hadn’t taken Ethan’s accident well. The mom on the screen was devastated by her son’s death. John Robinson didn’t die from the accident, but he was paralyzed. How could Alexis ever make amends for what she had done to that family? She desperately wanted to visit the young man to check on him, but she wondered if the family hated her.