Authors: Bettye Griffin
Chapter
25
“
M
arcus, why didn’t you tell me Monet was your sister?”
It was seven o
’clock. The sun had set an hour earlier, and with that the pleasant seventy-degree day had turned distinctly chilly and their guests began to leave. The barbecue had been a big success. The children were all delighted to see each other after the previous day’s party, the Hudsons were in good spirits, and Ava’s mother surprised everyone by showing up with a date, a man who had recently relocated to the area after the death of his wife. But now that everyone had left, Ava sought an answer to the question that had been on her mind all afternoon. She was careful not to sound gentle rather than accusatory.
“
I was scared,” Marcus replied after he recovered from his shock.
“
Scared of having a sister? I don’t get it. Why?”
“‘
Cuz if you knew there were two of us you might not want me. And I liked being with you and Khufu.”
“
Oh, Marcus. I do wish you’d told me.”
“
What’s going to happen to Monet, Aunt Ava? If Ms. Linda and Mr. Neil take Gabby and Shane to live with them she’ll be all alone.”
They sat together on the couch in Hilton’s dining room, Ava holding his hand.
“Well…I’m sure your grandparents can manage with just one child. And she can spend some time here with us, too. That way I can get to know her better. I’d like to,” she added softly.
Hilton
’s voice filled the room. “Marcus, why don’t you go upstairs with Max? Aunt Ava and I need to talk.”
When they were alone Ava turned to him expectantly
. “It’s been quite a day. I haven’t had a chance to tell you I think you did a wonderful thing.” She laughed. “Actually, more than one thing. When did you make all these arrangements?”
Hilton sat in the spot that Marcus had just vacated.
“Marcus himself gave me the idea for the apartment when he and Max were helping me paint it last week. He said it would be perfect for his grandparents. As far as placement of the kids is concerned, naturally I thought of Linda and Neil as prospective parents Marcus told us about his aunt’s letter, but then I thought three kids would probably be more than they wanted, so I forgot about it. Then yesterday I found out Monet was Marcus’s sister.”
“
How’d you find out?”
“
At the party I asked if she and Gabrielle were twins. Gabby’s a little bigger and she’s taller, too, but since they’d be fraternal rather than identical there’s nothing unusual in that.” He shrugged. “They told me they were cousins. Gabby said Shane is her brother, and then Monet said Marcus is hers.”
“Incredible,” she marveled.
“I saw the wistful look in Neil’s eyes as he helped Shane work the controls for one of those games at Chuck E. Cheese, and once I realized only two kids were involved I thought he might be interested. But I wanted to talk to him about it alone, in case…in case he felt like Cliff did.”
Ava understood. Hilton wanted to make sure Neil had no reservations about
raising children not related to him by blood.
“
While we were leaving the party yesterday I asked Neil to meet me at Robinson’s. He went for the idea right away. This afternoon Linda told me they’re delaying going home so they can meet with the Hudsons tomorrow and formulate a plan. She said she thinks it would be best if the Hudsons come down to West Palm for a few weeks so they can all get to know each other better. After all, Neil and Linda are essentially strangers to them, and they live hours from here, so Mr. and Mrs. Hudson will want to make sure everything’s on the up and up before they allow Neil and Linda to take care of their grandchildren. Neil agreed and said he would put them up in a hotel nearby.” After a pause he said, “A
real
hotel, not a fleabag like the Avalon.” Then he asked, “Now, what about Monet, Ava?”
“
Well, like I said to Marcus—”
“
I heard what you said to Marcus,” he interrupted roughly. “Are you saying you don’t want her?”
“
I’d love to have a little girl around, but this is different. I haven’t had a chance to get to know her first like I did with Marcus. With him the sequence of events was natural. Now I feel like it’s being forced on me, and it feels anything but. Of course, if he’d told me about her I would have included her, at least part of the time. Then there are the financial considerations. Caring for two kids is going to be somewhat of a stretch for me.”
“
I’ll help you with the financial end. And I agree you shouldn’t feel forced into taking on a second child. Start by having her spend the weekends with you. Marcus can stay with Max and me if you want to have some time alone with her to get acquainted and do girl stuff. That child needs you, Ava.”
She needs both of us.
Her mouth dropped open in surprise. “That is so incredibly sweet for you to offer to help me with the expense. No wonder I love you so much.”
He leaned forward to plant a kiss on her mouth. “As much as I’d love to sit here and kiss you, we’ve got to get this worked out first.”
She nodded.
“I think having Marcus around will make Monet more comfortable. I’m a stranger to her, Hilton, and she’s pretty young to be around someone she doesn’t know.”
“
I think she’s already comfortable, as comfortable as Max is with you. She might not have been around you a lot, but she’s been hearing about you for weeks. At the party I could tell how much the other kids envied Marcus. Monet barely took her eyes off you.”
Ava recalled the guilt she felt when she visited the senior Hudsons at
the Avalon and both Monet and Gabrielle had silently pleaded with their eyes for her to get them out of there, but still she was confused. “She barely spoke to me, Hilton. She was much more interested in playing with Colleen.”
“
Doesn’t matter. She was looking at you. Every kid is different, Ava. Take little Gabby. She might only be seven years old, but Neil said the minute he and Linda approached her she wanted to know which of the children were theirs. When they said none, she asked them if they didn’t like kids.” Hilton chuckled. “Monet is quiet and content to look. But I guess Gabby figured that if Marcus had found you, she’d see if she could find someone she and her brother could go live with among your friends.”
“
I guess so. Linda told me Gabrielle asked her if she would be her new mommy. It just about broke her heart at the time, because she thought it was just an unhappy child asking for help, not someone she actually could take care of. But Hilton, you don’t suppose that the mother can return down the road and insist on getting the kids back, do you? That would kill Linda, and even Neil would be brokenhearted. They’re not looking to be foster parents; they want children who will belong to them forever.”
“
Neil asked to see the letter Sandra wrote her parents. I read it, too. She clearly stated she wasn’t coming back and instructed that if they weren’t able to take care of the kids to put them in foster care and maybe someone would adopt them. I’m no lawyer, but that sounds like an acceptable power of attorney to me, and to Neil as well. But Neil has excellent counsel, and they’ll make sure it’s legal. Neil told me that if everything works out after the Hudson’s initial stay in West Palm, he’d like to have an official agreement drawn up for them to sign laying out an extended trial period that includes twice-a-month visits to Palmdale so the children can see their grandparents while he and Linda make sure it’s a good fit.”
“That makes sense. Adoption is a big step.”
“Yes. It might give the kids some anxiety, knowing that Neil and Linda can decide not to go through with it. And the kids’ mother can blow the lid off everything if she changes her mind and comes back for them.”
“But if everything works out and the private adoption is final?”
Ava asked.
“Once that happens,
there’s nothing she can do. I’m not sure an adoption will even be possible if she can’t be found to sign away her rights. That letter to her parents might not hold up for a permanent placement of the kids. And if she should come back at any time before everything is final, the courts usually favor the birth mother, even in cases of child abandonment. The Hudsons could carry some influence if they were willing to testify about their daughter’s character flaws, the drug use, her being mostly an absentee mother, stuff like that.” Hilton punctuated his words with a series of nods, silently underscoring the difficult situation Mr. and Mrs. Hudson could find themselves in. “It’s a tough call, but personally, I don’t think they’d hesitate if it came to that, no matter how much it would pain them to go against their own daughter. They care more about what’s best for their grandchildren than they do about hurting their daughter’s feelings, and they also know they won’t live forever.”
Ava sighed.
“Sounds like it could get ugly. I’ll pray that everything works out between the kids and Neil and Linda, and that Sandra doesn’t come back and complicate things until the adoption is final.” Then another potential problem occurred to her. “Hilton, how long did you say the Hudsons will be down in West Palm Beach?”
“
A couple of weeks at least, maybe a month. Neil and Linda are going to put them up in a residential hotel. Why?”
“
What about their new apartment? The landlord might rent it to someone else if they don’t move in right away.”
“
No, he won’t.”
“
How do you know?”
Hilton
’s gaze was firmly fixed on her face. “Because
I’m
the landlord.”
“
You! I thought you just did the building maintenance for the owners.”
“
I wasn’t completely honest with you, Ava, but I’m going to set it straight now. After I explain it, you’ll understand my reasons.” Hilton leaned forward with his forearms resting on his thighs and his hands clasped, then cleared his throat in preparation for a speech. “You see, about seventy years ago my mother’s father got hold of enough money where he was able to begin selling life insurance policies. Nothing grand, just enough to guarantee coverage of funeral and burial expenses, plus mourning clothes for the families. It cost something like a quarter a week. He covered most of the southeastern part of South Carolina and the northwestern part of Georgia while his wife answered the phone in their office and typed up premium statements and envelopes for people to mail in their payments.
“
My grandfather was a brave man to go on the road in those days,” he continued. “It was a dangerous thing to do, especially in rural areas, because of the racial climate of the times. Black people weren’t supposed to have life insurance, because an inheritance meant they could become better off financially, which was a no-no as far as the white establishment was concerned. More than once he was threatened with death and run out of town. And this was with just offering burial insurance, which gave little to no extras beyond the costs for a funeral.”
Ava, mesmerized, nodded mute
agreement. Spencer’s grandfather had been a brave man. It made her nervous just thinking about it.
“
It was hard, but he persevered, and soon every day my grandmother was opening dozens of envelopes with quarters taped to the statements. After a few years they were able to offer better insurance, the kind that would provide for the survivors as well as get you buried. They began advertising in black newspapers, and eventually my grandparents became wealthy.
“
Unfortunately, my grandmother died soon after. When she passed my grandfather threw himself into his work. He bought a funeral home, then another, and eventually he started a chain. The Tucker Corporation is still in business today, offering all kinds of insurance, annuities, you name it, as well as the funeral homes. My brother runs it. Even though I’ve never been involved, my grandfather left most of his estate to my brother and me, since my mother was his only child and he…” Hilton choked a little bit—“he outlived her. So you see, Ava, I’m a little more than the proprietor of a small home maintenance and repair business.”
She spoke slowly
. “So I guess it was silly for me to worry about what you were spending on dinners out, entertainment and flowers during your slow season.”
“
That was sweet of you, but the truth is I’ll never have to worry about money the rest of my life, unless I go out and start acting the fool and spend like there’s no tomorrow. I believe in living simply and reserving my inheritance for big things…like the Hudson’s rent. Because I own the building, I’m able to charge them less, an amount that will allow them to live comfortably on their disability income.”
“
That’s incredibly generous of you…but why didn’t you tell me before?” As quickly as she asked the question, Ava answered it herself. Janelle had seen Hilton as a cash register, and Max was her ticket to make sure the drawer would open again and again. He probably wanted to avoid a similar situation.
“
I’ve been burned once, and I knew that the next time I wanted someone who would love me even if I were a carpenter, to quote a highly appropriate lyric.” He chuckled. “I’ll bet you wondered why Janelle wanted to put the squeeze on someone who only made a policeman’s salary instead of a hotshot surgeon or chemical engineer.”