Jail's Bait: Parole's Victim (Book 4)

Chapter 13

"Two days left before Marquis's graduation, and she drops under the radar now," Lamar grumbled to Malik.

"This might be a blessing in disguise, 'Mar," Malik replied, baby Jamara laying in her crib, fast asleep.  "Let's hope she decided to go on back to where she came from," he added hopefully- but he knew it was a futile wish.

After the press conference Malik had come back to HT to find Lamar, fresh from his roundtrip business trek to Chicago, standing in their new favorite hangout spot- the nursery.  By this time everyone involved had gotten in touch with them both to discuss their contributions towards Marquis's graduation party- everyone except Lamar's mother Claire.  "I mean it, Malik," Lamar said in a harsh whisper, as to not wake the baby- "that ...woman is Marquis's godmother... if she does anything to disappoint or disrupt this day for him-"

"Man, calm down," Malik soothed in a low voice, putting one arm across his best friend/ lover's shoulders.  "Claire, or Umfana, or whatever the hell she calls herself these days, can’t disappoint Marquis.  He doesn’t expect anything from her but drama by now; so if she does act appropriately, that may shock him even worse."  He regarded Lamar.  "Why don’t you tell me what the real problem is- you seem to be more resentful towards your mother today than usual."

Lamar looked at the love of his life, and a wan smile crept across his features.  "You're right, of course," he sighed, looking down at their sleeping daughter.  "You know, I look down at her, sleeping so peacefully, and she's so beautiful... and I can’t ever see myself leaving my child for anything under the sun- not even for you," he said, looking up at Malik seriously.  "It's just that... for my own mother to walk out on me like that, and not look back, no regret or anything... it’s not right, is all."

Malik was solemn as he leaned over and kissed Lamar on the nape of his neck.  "Baby, you know that your story isn’t all that rare," he said then.  "My own grandmother did it to my old man.  Left him just like that, once she found out her husband cheated- but my dad got the ill end of that stick.  Sad to say, but sometimes mothers DO leave their children behind."

"I know," Lamar agreed, "that's one of the true horrors of this world- but at least your grandmother stuck to it, and never came back; she didn’t return after years and years and just try to pick up where she left off with Joe- that is extremely confusing.  I don’t want to hate my mother, but I... don’t know how to feel about her.  I guess I keep hoping she'll do the right thing for once."

"Well, at least you had your father with you, and he was the best dad I ever heard of," Malik said then, smiling at Lamar.  "You know that I love my mother, but you also know who my mother is, not exactly parental material, that one.  When we were growing up you used to talk about your father like he was the sun and the moon; I always envied that, even though I hadn't had a chance to meet him myself until-"

"-Until you needed a PO," Lamar said, grimacing.  "That was a crazy time, finding out that my dad was your PO, and ...well, that other stuff too."

"I'm still sorry about all that," Malik said, grimacing himself; "it wasn’t cool that I cheated on you like that.  But we're even; I never put you in the hospital from pistol-whipping you..."

"Very funny," Lamar said, poking Malik in the ribs.  "I didn’t mean to- well, I DID mean to hit you with the gun- but I didn’t mean to put you in the hospital.  And I didn’t PISTOL-WHIP you- were you in the same bedroom I was in..?"

"The POINT, baby," Malik said, turning Lamar to face him, encircling him in his arms, "is that you don’t have to worry about me or yourself leaving Jamara.  She's ours legally, free and clear- and we as her fathers will take care of her and protect her forever- until she's at least old enough to think for herself.  That would be around 45, don’t you think..?" he added, looking down at the sleeping infant.

"I was thinking 50, myself," Lamar said, also smiling down at their daughter, putting his head on Malik's shoulder.  "Where's Sophie," he asked then.

"It's one of her volunteer nights," Malik replied.  "She's doing come hospital work, I think."

"What does she do at the hospital? Nursing... candy striping?" Lamar wondered.

"Physical Therapy- she told me she's board certified," Malik answered.  "Come on, let's go sneak in the kitchens and find out what the cook is making for us tonight."

"Now you know he threatened us with a meat cleaver the last time we tried that," Lamar reminded Malik as they crept out of the nursery.  “You had to have a chef from France- he can’t even speak English.”

"I know, but what's life without risk..?" Malik said, flashing a surprisingly sneaky, Joop-like grin.  "Come on."

*****

 Dinner that evening was one of Danny’s old favorites; mashed potatoes, broccoli, hot rolls, white wine- and, of course, Chicken L’Orange, with Danny’s special L’Orange sauce… main ingredient: Cayenne Pepper.  He stood at his kitchen stove, stirring the sauce during the final preparations of the evening meal, suddenly saddened as he realized that Trey never lived long enough to taste Danny’s best meal.  And yet, if everything went as he hoped, this dinner might give Danny a reason to try running another DNA test…

“How’s it comin along,” Ray whispered right behind him, making Danny jump.  “Whoa,” he said then, laughing as he put both hands on Danny’s shoulders.  “Calm down, its only me-” and he put his arms around Danny’s waist, pulling him back into an embrace.

“You caught me thinking back to the last time I cooked this meal,” Danny admitted.  “It was for my boys and my ex.  It didn’t exactly turn out so well.”

“Well, let’s hope dis time ya have a better memory of da meal,” Ray said then, holding Danny tightly from behind.  “I know ya have to finish cookin but I don’t wanna let go, this feels soooo good,” he said, squeezing Danny tightly, bowing his head into Danny’s hair.

I know what you mean, Danny said, closing his eyes and enjoying the moment, being held in the arms of a man who really wanted him, who HE really wanted… it felt almost like heaven.

*****

 “This is good,” Ray said in between large wolfish bites of Chicken L’Orange.  “Tasty!” And he smacked his lips, making Danny laugh as  Ray reached for the gravy bowl filled with L’Orange sauce, pouring it on his mashed potatoes, the leftover chicken, the vegetables, the half-eaten roll- everything on his plate.  “This almost tastes good enough to put on ice cream,” Ray said, grinning at Danny.

“My son thinks the same thing,” Danny replied with a smirk.  “How about the Cayenne Pepper- is it… too much..?” he asked nonchalantly, staring intently at Ray.

“Naw, partna, I lovez Cayenne Pepper,” he replied, breaking off another piece of chicken and dipping it into the running sauce on his plate and plunging the whole piece into his mouth.

It was fifteen minutes into the meal, and with that left the last piece of Danny’s hope that Ray might be Trey’s identical twin; unlike true Hill men, he didn’t have a reaction to Cayenne Pepper in the slightest- on the contrary, he was almost inhaling it down like water.  Danny had to finally bow to reality, and concede in his heart that it was just a set of strange coincidences that led him to Ray- Ray, who was a dead ringer for and had the same birth-date as his Trey… his fifty-plus years on this earth taught him that anything was possible; maybe meeting a doppelganger was just another one for the ‘Weird Files’-

“Danny-boy!!”

Danny looked up out of his reverie to stare at Ray, who had stopped eating and was staring at him with concern. “Did you say something..?”

Ray simply looked at him. “Are ya okay? This is the second time I find ya day-dreamin tanite.  Clue me in on it, partna.”

“I-I don’t think that I should-”

“Now looka here, partna,” Ray said then with some heat; “if we gotz a chance in hell at this thing we tryin here, ya gotta keep me in da loop. I aint gonna be mad, cept if I feel that ya gotz secrets. Then I’m outta here,” he said seriously. “But I don’t wanna go, so fess up…”

Danny looked at him, and then told him the truth of what the dinner was all about. “...and so I figured that if you WERE a Hill, you’d have a reaction to the Cayenne Pepper…” he concluded, looking at Ray helplessly.

Ray said nothing for a minute; then he looked at Danny. “Ya sonuvabitch.”

Danny was shocked.“Wha-what do you mean,” he asked then. “What did I do..?”

“The men in the Hill family have allergies against Cayenne Pepper, and since ya think I might be one, ya purposely was gonna poison me ta see if I broke out..!” Ray stood to his feet. “Ya stole my hair, then ya try to give me a rash… what else are ya gonna do to see if I’m a carbon copy of your dead lover..?”

This was not going the way Danny had hoped. “No, no, you’re jumping to the wrong conclusion,” Danny said, standing up. “I wouldn’t have tried to poison you, if I knew that Cayenne Pepper kills the men in the Hill family… I was only trying to see if.. if you would… get a little rash,” he faltered, knowing how that sounded-  but the look on Ray’s face silenced him.

“See, SEE!!!  Ya WAS gonna give me sumthin on purpose, ta see if I broke out,” Ray said then, fire flashing in his eyes as he turned from the table and stormed off and up the stairs.  “I guess I wasn’t good enough for ya, just ME, for me- but I see that I’m only what ya want- if I’m yo lover’s brother…” he shouted behind him.

“Ray, WAIT,” Danny called after him desperately.  “You said you wouldn’t get angry…”

“KEEP AWAY FROM ME RITE NOW,” came the reply drifting down from the stairway.  Seconds later a door slammed shut upstairs.

Danny sat there at the table, feeling completely stunned and ashamed.  After a few moments, silently he got up, cleaned up the dinner plates, re-set the dining room table, took out the garbage and went upstairs.  Passing the closed door on the left, he went quietly into his own room and closed the door behind him.