Lost Daughters (27 page)

“H
MMM. THAT'S STRANGE. MA'AM, CAN YOU CHECK ANOTHER
schedule? Maybe they took a later flight,” Maureen said to the representative. “Maybe I wrote down the wrong time.”

“The flight you're inquiring about was the only flight to the Bahamas on that day,” the woman said in a very sympathetic voice. “Maybe they gave you the wrong information.”

“Uh, I don't think so. I discussed everything with them several times. I checked and rechecked with them several more times before they left. Is there somebody else I can talk to?”

“Ma'am, they'll tell you the same thing I just told you. The two individuals you are calling about did not book a flight on our airline to the Bahamas or any other destination.” The woman didn't sound so sympathetic now.

“There must be somebody else I can talk to!” Maureen yelled, almost in tears. “A supervisor? Or somebody who would have been on duty durin' the time they were supposed to leave?”

“I'll transfer you,” the woman said. She clicked off before Maureen could say another word.

As soon as Maureen heard a different voice, she repeated what she had said to the first representative. Before this woman said anything, she put Maureen on hold.

Maureen's heart was beating like a bongo drum. She had heard and read so many grim stories about some of the bad things that happened to Americans in foreign countries. Her hands were shaking so hard she almost dropped the telephone. She only had to wait a few minutes for the representative to get back to her, but it seemed like an eternity.

During those few minutes, every mother's nightmare had run through her mind. What if some island sex maniac had knocked Mel out and kidnapped Loretta and was going to sell her to one of those brothels that one of the cable channels had featured on a documentary last month? The world was a dangerous place for girls as beautiful as Loretta. The thought of her child being a kidnap victim, too, was more than Maureen could bear to think about! She had other thoughts that were just as unbearable. Such as, maybe some unscrupulous island cabdriver had decided to rob them on the way to the time-share! What if he had killed them and left them dead or dying in a ditch or a jungle for the jackals to eat?

“There are no reservations on any flight with this airline for those two parties,” the representative told Maureen.

“Maybe they booked reservations on a different airline,” Maureen said hopefully.

“Maybe they did.”

“Ma'am, I'm sorry but this is my daughter and my husband. There is no reason in the world for them not to have called me by now. Don't you think that's strange?”

“Yes, it is strange, but we don't have any information to share with you.”

“Is there somebody else I can talk to? Like the police?”

“Ma'am, if you feel this is a police matter, I suggest you call them.” This representative sounded so abrupt and impatient that Maureen thought she was going to hang up on her.

“I don't want to call the police if I don't have to. I just . . . I just thought that maybe you could help me figure out what happened.”

“Have you checked with any of the cruise lines? Or a private carrier?”

“Huh? Oh. No, I didn't think about that,” Maureen mumbled.

A cruise ship or some private carrier? Wouldn't Loretta and Mel have told her if they decided to go to the Bahamas on a ship or a private plane? Maureen had dropped them off at the airport in front of American Airlines like they had told her to.

What the hell? She had to find out what was going on and she had to find out soon. But she didn't even know where to begin to look. She didn't know who else to call. Just as she was about to open the telephone book, the telephone rang.

It was Loretta. “It's me,” she said. Her voice was so low Maureen could barely hear her. Maureen had never experienced an overseas telephone call before, so she didn't know until now just how odd and far away the caller's voice would sound.

“Lord have mercy, girl! I'm about to go crazy!” Maureen hollered, rubbing her aching chest. She exhaled and collected her thoughts. “You need to talk louder. I can hardly hear you. Can you hear me? Do you want to hang up and have the overseas operator connect us? Maybe we'll have better reception.”

“I don't need the overseas operator, Mama,” Loretta said with a sniff, speaking loud and clear this time. Now she sounded like she was calling from the next room.

There was complete silence for several seconds. The only thing Maureen could hear was Loretta's heavy, nervous breathing. It sounded like she was breathing through a tube.

“You still there?” Maureen asked, her heart thumping and a lump forming in her throat.

“I'm still here,” Loretta said quickly.

“Where are y'all? I was worried sick!”

“Mama, shut up and listen.” Loretta stopped talking.

“I'm listenin',” Maureen said in a tentative voice. “You goin' to tell me what's goin' on or what?”

“Mama, if you ain't sittin' down, you better do so because I need to tell you somethin' that you probably won't like. Uh, it might even shock you. . . .”

Those words alone were enough to make Maureen's legs wobble. She flopped down onto the couch and waited for Loretta to continue. “I'm listenin'.” The next few moments were agonizing because Loretta was taking her time getting to what she had to say next. “Lo'retta, please talk to me. You know I don't like a lot of suspense.”

“Mama, me and Mel . . . uh, we didn't go to the Bahamas.”

“Well, if y'all changed your plans, I wish one of y'all had called me up and let know before now. I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown until you called me. Where is Mel? Where are y'all if you didn't go to the Bahamas? And why didn't y'all go to the Bahamas? After all the fuss you made about goin' down there!”

“Mama, please shut up and listen! We . . . we . . . are in New York,” Loretta blurted.

“We who?” Maureen's thoughts suddenly got so jumbled, she couldn't think straight. First of all, when Loretta said “we,” Maureen thought she meant her and some of her classmates. She knew that Mona and that Warren boy and that gay boy who had escorted Loretta to the prom were also supposed to take that trip to the Bahamas. Did they all decide at the last minute to go in a different direction? If that was the case, where was Mel?

“Me and Mel are in New York,” Loretta said, almost spitting the words out.

Maureen gulped so hard her eyes watered. “New York? You and Mel went to New York?”

“Uh-huh.”

“How come? Did y'all take some out-of-the-way flight or the wrong flight that rerouted y'all through New York first? Last time I checked, the Bahamas was in the opposite direction of New York, so why . . .” Maureen stopped talking and cleared her throat. Until she had all of the facts, she wasn't sure what to say next.

“We didn't get on the wrong flight.” Loretta stopped speaking too.

“Lo'retta, talk to me,” Maureen ordered. “What in the world is goin' on, girl?” Maureen tried not to think the worst, like her daughter being caught up in some weird kidnapping mess—her ultimate nightmare—but that seemed as reasonable as anything else. If that was the case, why would a kidnapper take Mel too? “Baby, are you or Mel in some kind of trouble?” Maybe Mel owed the wrong people some money, or maybe he had said or done something to piss off somebody. Models and photographers associated with all kinds of people. Maybe some hoochie-coochie woman's gangster husband or boyfriend got jealous of her relationship with Mel and wanted to get rid of him. If that was the case, why would they involve Loretta? “Lo'retta, I asked if you or Mel was in some kind of trouble?” Maureen was frantic. Poor Mel. He had had such a hard life. It was bad enough that he was estranged from his family and that his first wife had run off with another man. “Has . . . has somebody hurt Mel? Is he—”

“Hold on! I'll . . . I'll let you talk to him,” Loretta stammered, cutting Maureen off in midsentence.

“Hello, Maureen. I hope you are sitting down and I hope you don't go off on me,” Mel said in a cautious tone of voice. “Now, we don't want you to get too upset. These things happen.”

“These things?
These things
don't happen to me! For your information, I'm already upset! If one of y'all don't tell me and tell me fast what the hell is goin' on, I am goin' to get even more upset!” Maureen shrieked. “GODDAMMIT!”

“Do you want to talk now, or do you want us to call back after you calm down? I am not going to try and talk to you with you hollering and screaming like a banshee.”

“Look, Mel. You and Lo'retta were supposed to go to the Bahamas. Y'all ended up in New York—and I don't know why! How can I not be upset? I need to know what the hell you two are up to. If you changed your minds about goin' to the Bahamas, why didn't you tell me before now?” Maureen hollered. “You better have a damn good story when you get home!”

“Loretta and I are not coming back to Florida,” Mel said, speaking so fast it sounded like one long word. A second later, he repeated it. This time talking more slowly and pronouncing each word like he was talking to an idiot. “Loretta. And. I. Are. Not. Coming. Back. To. Florida.” His voice was disturbingly hoarse.

Maureen's tongue began to flap like a flag at half-mast. She couldn't even speak again for a few moments. She held the telephone away from her ear and looked at it in stunned disbelief because she couldn't believe what she had just heard. She wanted to hear it again just to be sure she heard right.

“Mel, did I just hear you say that you and Lo'retta won't be comin' back?” Maureen asked.

“That's what you heard!” he said defensively.

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“It means just what I said. We are not coming back.”

“Why the hell not? Put my daughter back on this telephone!” Maureen heard a voice shout. A voice that sounded so strange and hollow she didn't recognize it. But it was her voice, and she sounded like an idiot. “Wh-wh-wh—” She had to stop trying to talk because gibberish was the only thing coming out of her mouth. She held her breath long enough to pull herself back together, or something close to that. “This is a nightmare and I must be losin' my mind!” It was a nightmare all right, but Maureen was not losing her mind. Just her husband.

“I'm real sorry,” Mel went on, his voice cracking like he was about to cry. “I'm so sorry, Maureen.”

“W
HAT THE HELL
?
SORRY FOR WHAT
?
”
MAUREEN YELLED. “SORRY
you ain't comin' back? Sorry you lied to me about where you were goin'? What? What?”

“I'm sorry that I'm . . . with Loretta now,” Mel said finally. “She's my woman.”

If a trunk had dropped onto Maureen's head and smashed it to pieces, it wouldn't have hurt as much as what she'd just heard. This was what real pain felt like, she realized. But she was a fighter and a survivor, so she was going to go into this battle with both guns blasting. “SORRY IS RIGHT! YOU ARE ONE SORRY-ASS BASTARD!” Maureen roared. Her breath caught in her throat and then she almost threw up. “Melvin Asshole Ross, you put my daughter back on the goddamn telephone right now!”

“I don't think she wants to talk to you right now. You need to calm down first—”

“This is about as calm as I'm goin' to get until I know what the fuck is goin' on! I said, you put my daughter back on this telephone and you put her on right now, Melvin Ross!”

Loretta let out an impatient sigh as soon as she got back on the telephone. “Mama, you better calm yourself down. You makin' this harder than it needs to be,” she said condescendingly. “See, he's all mine now.”

Maureen had never thought she would ever hear something so incredibly unbelievable. She got so agitated she couldn't remain seated. She stood back up, but a spasm gripped her leg and she toppled to the floor like a bowling pin, knocking the lamp off the end table. She dropped the telephone, then retrieved it and sat back down on the couch within a matter of seconds.

“Mama, what in the world was that ruckus I just heard? Aw, shoot! I hope you ain't havin' a heart attack,” Loretta said, actually sounding concerned.

“Don't worry about me havin' a heart attack. You should have thought about that before. I just want to know one thing—HAVE YOU LOST YOUR DAMN MIND, GIRL?!” Maureen shrieked.

“No, I have not lost my mind—”

“You must have! Mel is my fuckin' husband—”

“Well, so what? The bottom line is, he's with me now. He just told you that—and you can't do a damn thing about it. I'm in love with Mel and he's in love with me.” Loretta paused and pressed her lips together and kept them that way for a few seconds, as if she was afraid to let more words come out of her mouth.

“How . . . when . . . Lo'retta, you can't be serious,” Maureen said, wondering how she was able to speak in a calmer voice now. “What I want to know is
why
?”

“What do you mean ‘why'? You don't love him and you never did. You even said so! Mel needs a woman who loves him like I do. He's everything I ever wanted in a man.”

“Lo'retta, let's start over. Now, you need to tell me what the fuck is really goin' on with you and Mel,” Maureen ordered. “I need to—”

“Don't play dumb, Mama,” Loretta interrupted. “Didn't I already tell you what's goin' on? I love him, Mama. I always have. And he loves me and wants to be with
only
me now, not you. I will love him until the day I die!”

“You just hold on a doggone minute, girl.” The hair on the back of Maureen's neck stood up like quills, as if she'd just been spooked by a ghost. But this was no ghost talking to her. This was her only child, the same child who had sucked so hard and often on Maureen's right breast when she was a baby that to this day Maureen had to put a Band-Aid on the nipple of that breast at least once a month to keep it from aching. “None of this is makin' any sense at all to me!” Maureen screamed.

“Mama, the real reason Mel married you was so he and I could be together more.”

“Is that what he told you?” Maureen threw her head back and laughed long and loud.

Loretta waited for her to stop laughing. “No, he didn't have to. I always knew he did and—”

Maureen laughed again.

“I'm glad you think this is funny, Mama. I didn't think you'd take it this well,” Loretta snarled.

It took a lot of effort for Maureen to compose herself. She had laughed so hard, tears were streaming down the sides of her face. “So you and my husband have been fuckin' each other right up under my nose, huh?” she asked as she wiped off her face with the palm of her hand.

“The way you say it makes it sound so cheap and tacky. We've been
makin' love
, Mama,” Loretta insisted.

Making love?
Maureen almost laughed out loud again. If a girl
fucking
her mother's husband wasn't cheap and tacky, what was? She was glad that Loretta was not in the same room with her. She would have stomped her into the floor by now. “We didn't have sex until after I turned eighteen. Honest to God.”

“I'm supposed to believe that? You just turned eighteen three months ago. Do you think I'm stupid enough to believe that you and Mel just started screwin' around
now
?”

“You can believe what you want, but it's the truth. Mel is no fool. He wasn't goin' to risk goin' to jail for sleepin' with me while I was underage,” Loretta pouted. “Besides, like I just reminded you, you said from the get-go that you didn't love him. How do you think that made him feel all these years? Especially after you got all gaga over that Jay!”

“Why, Lo'retta?” Maureen asked. She was in pain all over, but the pain from her neck up was excruciating. The inside of her mouth burned with each word. Her ears rang. Her head felt like somebody had mauled it with a brick.

“Why what?”

“Why did you do this to me? How could Mel let this happen? Did he get you drunk and take advantage of you? Is that how this mess got started?”

“Mess? The only mess in this matter is you and your old-age attitude. With all that I got goin' for me, you had this wild notion that I was goin' to hang around Goons and end up like you—just a housewife sittin' on a porch! I'm surprised you don't have a cat yet to sit on the porch with you! You were wrong to think that I'd settle for so little, Mama.”

“Lo'retta, I'm your mother. You got my blood and I—”

“Well, I'm nothin' like you!” Loretta cut Maureen off.

“You got that right. I would have never done somethin' like this to Mama Ruby!”

Loretta cackled like a witch. “I guess not! That's so funny. Even you wouldn't have wanted any of those baboons Mama Ruby screwed around with.”

“What do you mean by sayin' you didn't want to end up like me? I have a good job, a decent home, family, and friends that love me. I've accomplished things that any mother would be proud of—and you should be too. Because everything I ever did was so I could provide a better life for you!”

“Well, you didn't do enough! For my ninth birthday, all I got was a Happy Meal at McDonald's. I never got over that!” Loretta paused and let out a long, loud, exasperated breath.

It gave Maureen time to think about all of the money she'd spent on Loretta over the years, and here she was still mad because she didn't get special treatment on her ninth birthday? What was the world coming to?

Loretta interrupted Maureen's thoughts with more ridiculous comments. “Now I got almost everything I ever wanted, and I am goin' to get even more. I will be one of the most successful models in the world, and Mel is goin' to help me get there,” Loretta vowed. “There is nothin' you can say or do to make me come back home.” Loretta paused again and let out another loud breath. “And another thing, Mel will be sendin' you the divorce papers as soon as we get settled.”

“Tell him not to bother. I will be filin' divorce papers myself as soon as I can get to a lawyer's office!” Maureen blasted.

“I hope you are not thinkin' about cleanin' Mel out.”

“You tell that son of a bitch that he won't have to worry about that. I don't want a damn thing from him!” Maureen hissed. She had to stop to catch her breath. “If you want me to pack up the rest of your shit, and his, send me the address where I can send it. Otherwise, I'm goin' to throw out everything y'all left here into the trash where it belongs!”

“We took every goddamn thing we wanted, so you can trash whatever the hell we left behind anyway,” Loretta said with a smirk. “Anything else you need to say? If not, I'm goin' to get off this fuckin' phone and go take care of my man.” Loretta hung up before Maureen could get another word in edgewise.

This was not Loretta talking, Maureen thought. Either it was an imposter or Loretta had been playing a role her whole life. The real Loretta had never used profanity before, at least not during her conversations with Maureen. Here she was now cussing like a sailor!