Page 51 of Happy Is On Hiatus
At ten minutes after two, Rita’s cell phone rang, and she answered the moment she saw the caller’s name on the screen.
“Hey, stranger,” she said and settled back in the chair across from her bed.
“Margarita,” he replied.
“Don’t play.”
Benny laughed, a sound Rita hadn’t heard in far too long. Her older brother was currently living in Virginia, where he was attending seminary. Having already held both the trustee and deacon position at NVB, becoming a minister was the next natural step. Their parents had been bursting with pride the night Benny had preached his trial sermon, but it was when he announced he was going to seminary to complete his biblical studies there and become ordained that their father’s chest had puffed out, and he’d begun planning Benny’s takeover of the church. Rita had been more than happy to escape that type of attention from their parents.
“How’ve you been? And when are you coming home for a visit?”
“I’ll be there next weekend, don’t worry. Mama’s already called me a dozen times reminding me of the cookout y’all are throwing.”
“It’s summertime,” she said. “We’re always having a cookout.”
“That’s the truth,” he replied with more laughter.
It was so good to hear from him. She missed him much more than she’d allowed herself to believe.
“So what’s going on? I heard about you and Nate.”
One thing about having a big family—secrets were never kept for very long, at least not the ones a person wanted to remain a secret. “Who told you? Mama?”
“Nah, Ivan called me. Said he was worried about you and Sharae.”
Ivan, Tariq, and Benny were older than Sharae, Rita, and Jemel, but only in the three-to-five-year range, so the six of them were the closest of all the Johnson cousins. Of course, the guys had always been protective over the girls, and as was the norm, the girls hated them for that overprotection—while secretly appreciating it when they deemed it was warranted. Rita had thought about calling Benny when things hit the fan with Nate, but she’d quickly dismissed that because she didn’t want her brother coming home to handle her problems.
“You should’ve told me,” he continued. “And you should’ve said something sooner than just a few weeks ago.”
She rolled her eyes because she knew there was no one here to see her do it. “What did Ivan tell you?”
“That some woman called to tell you she’s carrying Nate’s baby.”
“Okay, well, there was nothing to tell you sooner than that,” she said.
“Don’t try to lie to me, Rita. You know you were never good at it.”
He was right. Of the six of them, Rita had been the worst at lying. After her was Ivan and then Benny. The other three could lie their way into a government position if they chose to.
She sighed. “What was I supposed to do? Report all my suspicions to you? Then what? You were gonna hunt my husband down and threaten him.”
“I would never threaten Nate,” Benny said. “I’d promise to beat his ass if he hurt my sister. As a matter of fact, I did make him that promise the day he married you. So he’s got it comin’.”
“Stop it,” she said, hating the serious tone of her brother’s voice. “It’s not that big a deal.”
“Oh yeah, it is, and I told Ivan and Tariq it was too. They wanted to handle him, but I told them no. You’remysister.”
“And you’re a minister, Benny.”
“I’m a man first. A brother second.”
She sighed again. “I shouldn’t have been surprised.” And yet she had been. Never in all that Nate had done to her had she thought he would be stupid enough to get another woman pregnant.
“You shouldn’t have had to accept that as the norm. If he’s been cheating for years, you should’ve told me.”
“It’smymarriage, Benny. I didn’t owe anybody any explanations about it. What I decided to accept was my business.” And she’d carry those decisions with her for the rest of her life. They weren’t regrets, she couldn’t afford regrets, not when her time with Nate had produced her beautiful daughters.
“Well, I’ll be home next week, and I’ll deal with him then.”
