Just Wanna Testify (10 page)

The ease of interaction between Aretha and the models allowed Serena and Regina to stand off to one side and informally discuss the details of the portfolio assignment throughout the afternoon. By the end of the day, Regina had received an offer larger than Aretha could ever have imagined, a promise of complete creative control,
and
an assistant.

Serena had emphasized again and again that they never presented themselves in a traditional style. Their portfolios were always art projects as well as marketing tools.

“It’s her vision we want,” Serena said. “First and foremost, she’s an artist.”

And after this assignment, a very well-paid artist
, Regina thought, stacking the last of the dishes in the sink and going to the foot of the stairs to check on the princesses.

“Anybody need any help up there?”

Her daughter popped out of her bedroom door and into the hallway. At four years old, Sweetie had her mother’s bright smile and her father’s amazing blue eyes. She was wearing a frilly, pink princess dress and a golden crown balanced delicately on top of her head right between her old-school Afro puffs.

“We’re coming, Mommy,” she said. “We have to find one to fit Joyce Ann.”

At six, Joyce Ann had already outgrown most of these pastel confections and passed them on to Sweetie, but Regina had said they could dress up for a trip to the Baskin-Robbins if they ate all their vegetables at dinner, so they were happy to improvise.

“Try the white one with the wings,” Regina said, forgetting which character the outfit represented. “I think it’s a little longer than the others.”

“Okay, Mommy,” Sweetie said, and disappeared into what Regina
knew was a cloud of scratchy net and pseudo-satin costumes flung everywhere in an effort to find one that did justice to Joyce Ann’s rank as the senior princess.

There was no reason to rush them. Aretha was on her way, but she was coming from midtown, so it would be another fifteen minutes before she’d burst in with the details of her dinner with Serena. She was too excited to talk and drive, so Regina had no choice but to wait for some specifics. When Serena first extended the dinner invitation, Aretha had declined since it was already after five o’clock and she was just packing up the truck. She had to pick up her daughter by six. But Regina jumped in without hesitation, offering to pick up Joyce Ann and take her home with Sweetie, where Aretha could pick her up later.

Serena had said time was of the essence, and as far as Regina was concerned, all that remained before they could seal the deal and sign on that very lucrative dotted line was to see if Aretha and Serena could work together—as members of the same creative team. Aretha was a lone wolf and Serena was an alpha bitch if she had ever seen one, Regina thought, smiling at the canine images that popped into her mind. If those two could figure out a way to work together, she had no doubt the pictures would be amazing. If they couldn’t, there was no need to belabor the process. They could finish up this shoot for
Essence
and call it a day, but Aretha hadn’t sounded like a woman about to call anything a day. She sounded like a woman who had just glimpsed a whole new set of possibilities.

Regina glanced at her watch. It was almost eight and she knew Blue would be home any minute. She headed for the front door to turn on the porch light just in time to see the big black Lincoln pull up to the curb in front of their house. Upstairs, she could hear the princesses gathering their scepters and amping up the squeal factor.

“Daddy’s home!”

Regina opened the door and Blue saw, framed in the light, his daughter and Joyce Ann in full princess regalia—one pink, one white with wings—waving like mad. Just behind them, his wife was wearing her best “Welcome home, baby” smile. It was one of his favorite moments of the day, but tonight he felt the smallest twinge of guilt.

Blue wasn’t accustomed to hiding things from Regina, but now he had told two people about the vamps, and she was still standing in the doorway, smiling and waving, completely oblivious. He had to tell her, no matter what her reaction might be. He owed her that much. Henry had taken it really well, Blue thought. He seemed surprised—who wouldn’t be?—but he didn’t freak out. He had listened to what Blue had to say, taken a big swallow of his cognac, and asked for instructions.

“For right now, all we want to do is keep an eye on them,” Blue
had told him. “When we have more information, we’ll know whether or not we need to make a move.”

“I’ll be ready,” Henry had said quietly. “You just say the word.”

Blue had wished he could just say the word, but that would mean he had decided on a course of action, an appropriate response, and the truth was, he hadn’t. Not yet. That was no excuse, of course. He hadn’t promised Regina infallibility. He had promised her the truth. Withholding it, for whatever laudable reason, was just another form of lying, and he knew it.

The princesses were already hopping up and down as Blue headed up the walk to greet them.

“Daddy, we’re going for ice cream! Can you come, too?”

“I don’t think so, darlin’,” Blue said, leaning down to kiss her cheek. “How you doin’, Miss Joyce Ann?”

“I’m fine,” she said, taking the hand Sweetie wasn’t already clutching. “I don’t have the right shoes because I didn’t know we were going to dress up, but you can hardly tell, can you?”

“Never noticed it at all,” Blue said, leaning forward to accept Regina’s kiss. She hugged him briefly around the neck and he grinned, prevented by the princesses hanging at the end of each arm from hugging her back.

“Where’s your princess dress?”

“They didn’t have one to fit me!” she said, laughing.

He raised his eyebrows, his eyes glowing softly in the hall light. “Well, we’ll have to work on that.”

“Work on what, Daddy?”

Sweetie was skipping along happily by her father’s side and he was reaching to close the door and answer the question when Joyce Ann dropped his hand. “There’s my mom!”

The happy announcement brought both princesses back outside to repeat their welcome wave for Aretha’s arrival.

“Mommy!” Joyce Ann called, wanting to share the good news first. “We’re going to get ice cream! Can you come with us?”

Aretha practically skipped up the front steps. “Not only will I come, it will be my treat!”

The girls released Blue’s hands without a backward glance and danced around Aretha, their new best friend. Blue laughed, immediately reaching out a free hand to encircle Regina’s waist and pull her close as they all headed back inside. “I guess that shows me who my real friends are!”

“Don’t worry,” Aretha said, twirling the princesses effortlessly around as she spoke. “With all the money Regina and I are going to be making, we’ll buy you some new friends.”

Joyce Ann frowned. “You can’t buy people, Mommy!” she said, sounding concerned.

Aretha laughed. “Oh, no, baby! Of course you can’t!” And she leaned down to pat her daughter’s cheek. “Mommy was just acting silly.”

“Can we go now?” Sweetie said, gazing up at Aretha with a look of such hopeful anticipation that Regina laughed.

“We’re going, Sweetie,” she said. “You two go upstairs first and get your sweaters and put on some socks. It’s a little cool out there.”

The two walked upstairs slowly, holding their dresses out before them carefully to avoid catching a toe in the fragile, flame-retardant fabric and ripping the skirt off at the waistband. After such a disaster, the skirt would never hang right again, no matter how many attempts were made to repair it. This was a tragedy with which both princesses were familiar and they were not eager to relive it any time soon.

“Look at them.” Aretha shook her head. “We might as well bind their feet!”

“But not tonight,” Regina said quickly. “At least not until you tell me how it went with Serena.”

Blue felt a little shiver of discomfort. He wished these vamps would hurry up and finish with their Atlanta business and get out of town. They made him feel uneasy and he didn’t like it one bit.

Aretha grinned. “You are a genius. It’s definitely a go!”

Now it was Regina’s turn to let out a high-pitched squeal. “You’re sure?”

“I’m positive! I have officially sold my soul to the devil!”

Then they both started hugging each other and jumping around in the middle of the front hallway like two maniacs. Blue waited for them to remember that because of Regina’s prohibition on unsolicited mind reading, he had no idea what exactly they were celebrating.

“She said you two can work out the final agreement over the weekend, we’ll finish the shoot on Monday, and start storyboarding the new piece on Monday.”

Regina raised her eyebrows. “Storyboarding?”

“I told her I wanted to think of it like a film,” Aretha said, turning to Blue excitedly. Her long silver earrings were bobbing around like they were excited, too. “I’m going to storyboard the whole thing before we shoot a single scene. I don’t want any repetition of that craziness outside the chapel this morning.”

“Sounds great,” Blue said, wondering what craziness, “but I’d probably enjoy it a whole lot more if I knew what we were celebrating.”

“Oh, Lord,” Regina said, laughing apologetically. “I didn’t even have a chance to tell you the good news.”

“Drumroll, please!” Aretha said.

“Our favorite photographer …”

“Yours truly …”

“Has just received a huge new assignment and an obscenely large commission to create a brand-new portfolio for the hottest group of models in the world today.”

Blue willed his eyes to remain impassive and fixed his smile in place to hide his surprise, but not before Regina saw the flash of annoyance—or was it something else?—flicker across his face.

“The ones you’re shooting for
Essence
?”

“Those are the very ones,” Aretha said happily. “Weirdest bunch of women I’ve ever seen, but I have to admit, the challenge of shooting
them on my own terms, without the need for all that high-fashion hoopla, does appeal to me. Plus, the money is insane. I may never have to throw myself on your tender mercies again!”

“When did all this happen?”

“Ask your amazing wife,” Aretha said, draping her arm around Regina’s shoulders. “While we were shooting, she was making Ms. Mayflower give up the goods
big time
. She’s a natural-born agent. Just ask her!”

“So you’ve been out doing deals behind my back,” Blue said, teasing her gently.

“This is my first,” Regina said, “but if it’s always this easy, I’m hooked.”

“Me, too,” said Aretha. “I’m going to pay off all my student loans, every credit card I owe, pay Joyce Ann’s tuition, and still be able to buy that Leica I’ve been lusting after for two years. It’s amazing!”

“Did she smile when you told her you’d do it?”

“Fat chance,” Aretha said. “I don’t think they have it in them.”

“You should see these women,” Regina said to Blue. “They never change expressions.”

“I know,” he said. “I met one this morning.”

Regina was surprised. “You did? Which one?”

“Serena Mayflower. She came to pay her respects since they were going to be working in West End for a few days.”

“I told her it was customary to check in with the godfather,” Aretha said, as Joyce Ann appeared in the upstairs hallway.

“Auntie Gina, I can’t find my sweater.”

“It’s probably buried under all those costumes they tried on,” Regina said. “Hang on a second.”

But Aretha reached out a hand to stop her. “I got this. See if you can talk your handsome husband into coming out to celebrate with us.” She took the steps two at a time and disappeared into Sweetie’s room.

Regina turned to Blue. “You didn’t tell me you met Serena Mayflower.”

He smiled. “I just walked in, remember?”

He was right, but Regina was still looking at him like any loving wife looks at her loving husband when she stumbles upon something in conversation that she feels like she should already have known. The specific information didn’t really matter. It was the surprise factor that gave her pause. That and the fact that Serena hadn’t mentioned it, either.

“What did you think of her?” Regina’s tone wasn’t nearly as neutral as she hoped it would be.

Blue could hear Sweetie and Joyce Ann making their final wardrobe decisions with Aretha, and he knew it would be only a minute before they would all come down, demanding milk shakes and double-dip, mint chocolate chip ice cream cones. There was no time to go into what he thought and what he knew about Serena Mayflower.

He smiled at Regina and reached up to loosen his tie. “I thought she could use a little more meat on her bones. Didn’t you?”

“Of course I did.” Regina relaxed a little and walked over to him close enough to rest her hands against his chest. “But spending the day around a bunch of women who get paid for being beautiful can take its toll on an ordinary woman’s self-esteem.”

“Well,” he said slowly, resting his hand on her behind lightly, “since you are an extraordinary woman, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Good answer, Mr. Hamilton,” she said. “And for that, you do not have to join us at the Baskin-Robbins, but promise me one thing.”