Second Chance at Love (Love Conquers All) (22 page)

Karen took a sip of her wine spritzer, wanting to change the subject because she didn’t want to think or talk about her in-laws any longer. The cool beverage sliding down her throat was a reminder that she and Dom hadn’t made a baby. Though she was disappointed, it was for the best with everything that’s going on. Shaking off her momentary blues, she told them all about Kyle and Ashley’s scheming to get her and Dom to fall in love.

Shaking her head, Starr laughed. “Girl, they called me on January second wanting to know when they could come back over to spend the weekend with us.”

Ava and Summer both sat up like Jack in the boxes. “They called me too!” they both said at the same time.

“Kyle said he wanted to come over and play with NJ. And Ashley wanted to bake cookies with Autumn.”

Ava jumped in, saying, “They asked if they could come spend a weekend with Zoe so they could go to the Smithsonian.”

Karen wagged her finger at Ava. “Oh don’t think Miss Zoe is innocent. She had a little hand in the scheming, too. Dom told me she called your parents asking them if they could bring the kids with them to pick her up.”

“I’m not surprised.” Ava said, laughing. “She sort of let it slip that she was going to be real cousins with your kids. When I asked her what she was talking about she gave me that deer caught in the headlights look.”

“And we were ready and willing to help them, too.” Donna chimed in from the doorway of the bedroom.

She walked into the room, followed by Janet and Joan. The grandmothers and their husbands had taken all the children to an afternoon movie to see Cars 2 and then to Chuck E. Cheese’s.

The younger women stood to greet them with hugs and kisses. After their greetings Janet confessed how she had overheard the children’s plan.

“And as soon as Janet filled me in on what those babies were up to, we decided to join them.”

Joan chuckled. “Y’all didn’t have to help those babies.” Sitting down next to Karen, she went on to say, “Truth be told those babies didn’t have to do all that matchmaking.” She flashed Karen a smile. “The way that young man was looking at you the night of Ava and Langston’s wedding, I thought he was gonna catch a fire from all that lust burning in his eyes.”

The room erupted in laughter. Karen’s face was burning up with embarrassment. Joan Stiles didn’t know the meaning of being subtle. She didn’t stop there either. “Chile, you still a young woman. ‘Tant no need for you to dry up like an old woman. You better let that young man have his way with you. That boy looks like he got a strong back. Whew Lawd!”

“Joan!” Janet and Donna shouted, feigning utter shock, which of course they weren’t. The women had soon come to learn that their friend was blunt and wickedly amusing.

Joan put her hands on her full, round hips. “What? These gals ain’t no babies. They grown women with babies of their own.” Joan smacked her lips. “And we all know how they got those babies.”

The younger women sat there trying hard not to snicker. Amused, they stayed quiet as church mice watching the wiser, older women.

Janet smoothed her hands down her maroon dress slacks. “Well, you do have a point.”

“Of course they’re grown,” Donna confirmed, her voice dropping as if she was telling a secret, “but you don’t have to be so, so—”

“So what?” Joan asked, raising a brow. She loved Donna, honest she did, but the woman needed to loosen up a bit.

“Blunt.” Janet finished for Donna, shaking her head while laughing. She was close with her daughter and they talked about everything…well almost everything. Her sex life with her father wasn’t one of them. Joan, however, had no problem letting it all hang out.

“I know the two of you ain’t standing here like we don’t talk about our men and what they—”

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Now! We don’t want to hear about you old folks’ sexual exploits.” Summer shouted, the whole while laughing.

“Old!” Janet, Donna and Joan echoed, rather indignant.

“Mmm-mmm. You in trouble now,” Karen teased, cutting her eyes at Summer.

Before Joan or any of the other older ladies could get started on Summer for her little dig, Karen tooted out her lips, cutting her eyes at her mom. The grin on her face was downright impish. “Mommy, what you and Poppa Patrick be doing down there in those woods?”

Donna eyes became as large as saucers. No her child wasn’t getting all up in her personal business.
And in front of everyone at that
! Putting her left hand on her hip, she pointed her right finger at Karen. “Stay in your lane, little girl.”

Why oh why, did her girls want to torment her? She pierced Starr with a look when she sensed that she was about to add her two little cents. Starr wasn’t fazed. “You know what they be doing,” Starr said to her sister. Standing up, she began swaying her hips to the music in her head, then next came the lyrics to a popular song from the eighties. “They be stroking.” Still swaying her hips she did a little dip. “They be stroking.”

Everyone whipped around to the doorway, speechless. Nita was doing a dance from way back called the rock, as she was, singing some of the other lyrics to the song. “Stroke it to the east, stroke it to the west…I be stroking.”

Screams of laughter bounced off the wall, especially at the expression on Beatrice’s face as she clutched the pearls at her neck. She and Nita heard the lively conversation as they approached the opened door. But never in a million years had she thought Nita would start gyrating and singing such lewd, God-awful lyrics. She had never in all her fifty-something years witnessed such a thing. Women her age didn’t behave as such…did they?

“What’s the matter, Beatrice?” Ava quipped, humor twitching at her lips. This was just too much fun to pass up. Beatrice, in all her sophisticated splendor, nervously shuffling from one Chanel clad foot to the other.

“Well…N – nothing’s wrong,” she stuttered, her face flushing in embarrassment. “I just never knew,” her eyes darted between the mature women in the room, “women our age did those things.”

Nita let out an exasperated sigh. “Beatrice, did you ever have
any
fun?” Hearing about the woman’s past behavior, Nita immediately disliked her. But as the woman slowly revealed the layers of herself, Nita came to the conclusion that she hadn’t lived a full life, at least how it really mattered. Sure she had money, the finest clothes, jewels, a beautiful home, and took lavish vacations, but she had never experienced living as the other women had. So what they had grown children and were even grandmothers. Every now and again, it was fun to let their hair down and have a little fun with their daughters. It certainly kept them feeling youthful.

All eyes on her, she felt a bit put on the spot. Just this once she wanted to fit in, wanted to really be a part of the in crowd. Hitching her chin up she challenged, “Since I’m lacking in the ways of
fun,
why don’t you ladies teach me a thing or two?”

Joan was the first to cackle. “I guess she told you Nita.”

Nita wrinkled her nose at Beatrice. “Humph, I guess she did.”

“Road trip! Road trip! Road trip!” The younger women chanted.

“What a wonderful idea,” Janet murmured, putting a manicured finger to her bottom lip as if in deep thought. “It can double as showing the old girl how to have fun and as Karen’s bachelorette party.”

She turned to Donna, making sure that she hadn’t crossed any boundaries since she was the soon-to-be mother-in-law, not the mother of the bride. “If that’s all right with you, Donna.”

Janet sat on the arm of the sofa next to Karen. Hugging her, she gushed, “I already love her like a daughter. My Dom is so lucky.”

Karen blushed, hugging her soon-to-be mother-in-law back.

Beaming, Donna showed off dimples identical to her daughters’. Both of her girls had chosen well. “No problem, as long as I pick the place.”

The mothers smiled at one another. Janet said, “You have yourself a deal.”

Nita clapped her hands together. “Now that that’s settled, Beatrice and I came up to let you know we had arrived. And that the caterer is finished setting up.”

“Oh, good because I am starving,” one of them said as they all filed out of the room, chattering.

Starr tugged on the back of Karen’s shirt. “Wait a second. I need to talk to you.”

After everyone had left the room Starr stared at her sister, tears forming in her eyes. There was so much she wanted to say to her. Growing up they had always been there for each other. Karen had been there when Starr’s ex-boyfriend Marcus dogged her out, destroying her credit, and financially ruining her. And Starr had been there when Gregory suddenly died, helping Karen out with the children.

Starr was just as stunned as everyone else when she found out all the ugly things her brother-in-law had said and done. She couldn’t even get angry with her sister for not sharing that part of her life. She understood all too well the embarrassment and humiliation that came along with a messed up relationship. Except for in her case, she didn’t have to go through her drama raising two children.

After marrying Kevin, she knew what it felt like to be truly loved. She knew what it was like to have someone make you feel like you were the most important person in the world. She knew what it was like to know your man would lay down his life if it meant saving yours.

She also knew her sister had found the same crazy love in Dom. Every time she saw him look at her sister, she knew Karen had found her true soul mate.

Becoming alarmed, Karen grabbed her sister’s hand. “What’s wrong, Starry?”

Oh boy,
she thought when Starr wrapped her arms around her and started to cry. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“Nothing. I just love you so much.” Hiccup. “And I’m just so happy for you.” Hiccup. “Dom is such a good man.”

Karen hugged her sister close. Tears began to sting her eyes. In so many ways their lives had mirrored each other’s when it came to love. They both had unselfishly given their hearts to men who hadn’t appreciated them. And they both had been given a second chance at love.

“Oh, Starry he is a good man.” Hiccup. “And he loves Ashley and Kyle so much.” Hiccup. “I love him so much.” Hiccup. “And I love you, too.”

The sisters stood there hugging each other just a little longer. Starr hadn’t said all she’d meant to say. She wanted to tell her big sister how proud she was of her, how she was making the right decision letting Dom into her life. She wanted to tell her how although she was a grown woman, she still looked up to her and admired her. But then she became emotional and the waterworks started.
I knew I should have written a letter. I’ll write it later.

Karen took a step back. At the same time they reached up and began to dry the other’s tears. Starr smiled at Karen. This wasn’t the first time they’d dried each other’s tears. “Just like when we were little,” Starr said.

Karen smiled back. “Except this time it’s happy tears.”

Taking her sister’s hand as they walked down the hallway, Starr said, “Yup, happy tears.”

Walking through the completed site, Dom smiled with satisfaction. The business complex had been completed on time as scheduled. The weather had cooperated; no major snowstorms to slow down progress.

As Dom continued his leisurely stroll, he reminisced about the impromptu engagement party thrown for him and Karen at Nick and Summer’s home in Chestnut Hill. Instead of the couples mingling, somehow they went their separate ways. The guys ended up in Nick’s man cave in the finished basement. And what a man cave it was. Plush leather furniture, seventy inch flat screen with surround sound, pool table, card table, a bar, cabinets stuffed with snacks, and a fridge full of ice cold beer occupied the space.

The afternoon started off with the younger men playing a competitive game of pool. After much trash talking and ribbing one another, the talk turned to their women. Dom appreciated the other men’s candidness about their relationships and how they’d all sworn off serious relationships and marriage. That is, with the exception of Langston. A tiny smile curved Dom’s full lips. His brother-in-law had been a goner the first time he laid eyes on his sister.

It felt good to be able to unload his fears and concerns where Karen and the kids were concerned. As he was telling Nick, Kevin, and Langston about the Johnstons threats, his father, along with Henry, Patrick and James walked in on the conversation. Immediately, retired federal judge Henry Stiles whipped out his cell phone, walked over to a corner, and placed a call. Ending the call, he slapped Dom firmly on the back. “Son, I just gave you an early wedding gift.”