Chapter 26
Staci could barely keep herself from crying as she watched the home health nurse attempt to feed Miss Cora. She'd stopped by to visit her mother-in-law before heading to the office. After a few small bites of toast, Miss Cora refused to eat and sent the nurse away. She beckoned for Staci to come sit on the hospital bed next to her.
“Staci, you don't have to put on a strong front. I know it won't be long now.” She patted her daughter-in-law's hand. “Me and the Lord had a talk awhile back. I told Him I wanted my children saved before I left.” Miss Cora smiled. “Keisha called Sunday to say she got saved, and you already know about your husband. I told you he would come around. God wasn't going to let him get too far gone.” Miss Cora leaned slightly forward. “Did you make him beg like I told you?”
Staci smiled slightly and nodded. She couldn't tell Miss Cora she and Derrick were divorcing. She'd let Miss Cora take her hope to the grave.
“Staci, I've always appreciated you for how much you love my son. At first, I thought you were a little crazy for loving him so much.” Miss Cora laughed, but Staci wanted to cry. “What I figured out was, you loved him the way the Bible says. Patiently, kindly, and Lord knows, you suffered long.” She squeezed Staci's hand. “But aren't you glad you didn't give up on him?”
Staci didn't know how to answer her mother-in-law. She moved her mouth to answer, but no words would come.
“I'm sure glad she didn't.” Derrick's voice startled Staci. She turned her head to see him entering Miss Cora's room. “I thank God every day for blessing me with this beautiful woman that I in no way deserve. Thank you for not giving up on me,” he added after squatting down beside Staci and taking her free hand in his.
Staci wasn't prepared for his sudden appearance and even less prepared for the words he'd spoken. She turned her attention back to Miss Cora, whose smile resembled the Kool-Aid mascot. She couldn't break the dying woman's heart, but she would tell her husband off later. Maybe wash his mouth out with soap for lying.
Derrick turned to his mother. “Mama, do you need anything?”
“Son, I have everything I need now.”
The three made small talk for a while before Staci kissed Miss Cora's cheek and said good-bye. “I love you, Miss Cora.”
“Love you too, baby.” The lethargic voice pulled Staci's heartstrings.
Why must Miss Cora's life be cut short?
Without Staci asking, Derrick walked her to the car. As if knowing she would have some choice words for him, Derrick opened the door and sat inside the passenger seat of her Mercedes. His assumption proved correct.
“I thought you were saved. How could you lie to your mother like that?”
“I didn't lie to my mother. Everything I said was the truth,” Derrick answered calmly.
“Yes, you did. You made your mother think you and I are back together, and you know that's not the case. Did you forget I asked you for a divorce last night?” she yelled.
“Sweetheart, did you forget I told you I don't want a divorce? I know things aren't good between us now, but I know eventually they will be. It's true, I don't deserve you. I was speaking in the future.”
“It doesn't matter in what tense you choose to speak,” she snarled. “The shell of a marriage we had is over. And don't call me sweetheart.”
Derrick sat quietly for a moment, determined not to crawl back into his shell. “Staci, will you have dinner with me tonight? I need to talk to you.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “Some things never change. You didn't listen to me when we lived together, and you're not listening to me now. Unless you want to discuss the divorce, we don't have anything to talk about.”
Derrick bowed his head and mumbled something Staci couldn't make out before addressing her again. “Staci, at some point, we're going to have to talk. There are some things I need to say to you. I'm not running away this time. I'll wait as long as necessary and do whatever I have to do in order to make things right between us. So for now, I'll play by your rules. I'll make an appointment with Chloe for next Wednesday.” With that, he got out of the car and walked around to the driver's side and knocked on her window.
“Your tires are worn. I'll pick up your car this afternoon and have a new set installed,” he announced, then left before she could refuse him.
While backing out of the driveway and onto Skyline Boulevard, Staci suppressed the hope stirring inside of her. He was right. After last night, she'd expected him to shut her out like always, but he wasn't doing that.
Maybe I will talk to him next Wednesday,
she pondered and merged onto Highway 13.
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When Marcus met Staci in her office for their meeting three hours later, he was excited. Staci figured it had something to do with Shannon and his unborn twins.
“Another ultrasound today?” she asked.
“No. I'm excited about the developments in your life. I'm still not happy with your husband, but if you're happy, I'll tolerate him,” Marcus explained.
“Marcus, I'm not happy with my husband either, so what are you talking about?”
“Well, at least he's on the right track. He's back in church, and I know you can feel the difference at home.”
Staci twisted her face. “Derrick and I are not back together,” then added flatly, “and we're not getting back together.”
Marcus was confused. “I assumed since you're driving his SUV, you two were living under the same roof again and trying to work things out.”
Staci had forgotten Derrick had arranged to pick up her car. “He's changing my tires; that's all. The only things we have to work out are the details of our divorce,” she explained.
Marcus frowned at that statement. He, along with the rest of the family, assumed now that Derrick had straightened out his spiritual life, the two of them would work on their marriage. Marcus disliked Derrick for deserting Staci, but he didn't want his sister to divorce him. In his opinion, that would be a major mistake and said as much.
“You're getting a divorce?”
Staci sighed. “Eventually. Right now, Derrick doesn't want one.”
“Neither do you,” Marcus said frankly.
Staci rolled her eyes at him before asking, “How do you know what I want?”
“Because I know you and I know Derrick. True, he made a major mistake, which I'm still mad at him for, but he does love you. And you love him despite how bitter you've allowed yourself to become.”
Staci stood, and Marcus waited for the hand on the hip and neck rolling, along with the pointing of the finger to start. His sister didn't disappoint him.
“Marcus, you need to stay out of my business! You don't know how I feel. Let Shannon walk out on you after you've given her everything and see if you would welcome her back so easily!”
“I never said it was easy, but you owe it to him to forgive him and give him another chance. You do remember the vows you took, don't you? Oh, that's right. Your vows said for better only, not for worse.”
Staci glared at her brother; she hated when he was right.
“Don't get me wrong. I don't agree with what he did, and right now, I don't agree with you pushing for a divorce. I think it's a rash decision, one which you will live to regret. You haven't done everything right yourself. If you had, you wouldn't have married him when you did. But you refused to wait, and now, you want to make him pay for your impatience.”
Every word spoken by Marcus flowed through Staci's veins and filled her with rage. She slammed her briefcase on top of her desk and grabbed her purse.
“Marcus, I don't care what you think or what you say! You're my brother, but that doesn't give you the right to stick your nose in my personal business. I don't work for you so you can tell me how to run my life. In fact, I don't work for you at all. I quit!” she yelled and stomped toward the door.
Marcus stood and followed. “Quitting won't change the fact that you're wrong,” he said before she slammed the door in his face.
Marcus walked into the reception area and instructed Chloe to reschedule Staci's remaining appointments for the following day.
“Sure thing.” Chloe knew as well as Marcus that Staci would be back. In the last year, she had quit at least eight times after an argument with Marcus, only to return the next day.
Once in the parking garage and in the confines of Derrick's SUV, Staci admitted her brother was right. She was bitter and part of the blame for her shambled marriage could be attributed to her impatience. She felt strange sitting in the SUV. The vehicle reminded her too much of Derrick, and she started to feel a longing for him. “No! I can't do this!” she screamed.
The still voice answered.
“Yes, you can.”
“No, I can't!” she answered back. She placed her key in the ignition and shifted into reverse, but her cell rang before she could back out. She shifted back into park, then checked the caller ID. It was Malcolm. She didn't want to answer it, but she needed a distraction.
“Malcolm, what do you want?” she answered plainly.
“Hey, beautiful, how's your day?”
Staci shook her head and wondered what she was doing. Why couldn't she cease to communicate with Malcolm? She had no problem dismissing her husband.
“Malcolm, I don't have time to talk.”
She could hear him breathing heavily. “Are you with him?”
“If you're referring to Derrick, no, I'm not. But I still don't have time to talk.”
“I'd like to see you tonight, if that's okay with your husband.”
“Would you like to call and ask him?” she retorted, knowing Malcolm was afraid of Derrick. She didn't miss the fear in his eyes yesterday.
“I don't want to talk to your husband. I want to see you.”
“Malcolm, I need to see you too. It's time for things to change between us.”
“Staci, I couldn't agree more.”
When she heard the smile in his voice, she knew they weren't on the same page. It didn't matter, though. After tonight, he'd have a clear understanding.
“I'll meet you at the Mexican restaurant at six.” She pressed the red End call button without saying good-bye. She then turned the engine off and went back upstairs to MS Computers Corporate Offices to resume her meeting with Marcus.
When she stepped into Marcus's executive office suite, he started talking about the grand opening of the Corte Madera store like she'd never left, then offered her half of his sandwich. From time to time he would stop and write down words and musical notes on a pad.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I'm writing a song about waiting on God,” he answered. “I'm going to entitle it, âMy Baby Sister.'” He laughed.
“Do it and die,” she warned.
At the end of the day Staci returned to the parking garage to find Derrick not only had new tires installed on her car, but he also had it washed and waxed. The inside detailed complete with a new vanilla air freshener. The silver E420 looked brand new. On the way to the restaurant to meet Malcolm, she called Derrick's office to thank him, but he was in with his last patient, so she left a message. That worked out better because she really didn't want to talk to him anyway.
Malcolm was already seated in a booth and had taken the liberty of ordering her a virgin strawberry daiquiri. The closer her steps got to him, the more she wondered how he was going to handle what she had to tell him. Settled inside a booth with the appetizer she'd chosen as her meal, Staci decided not to delay the inevitable any longer.
“Why haven't you touched your drink?” he asked.
“I'm not in the mood for a daiquiri tonight, but thanks anyway.”
He leaned closer. “Just what are you in the mood for?”
She leaned back. “Malcolm, it's time I made some changes with our friendship, relationship, or whatever you want to call it.”
The frown that instantly appeared on his face told her that he wasn't going to like what was coming next.
“This relationship consumes too much of my time and right now, I need space so I can clear my head and make solid sound decisions about my life.”
“What are you taking about? I've given you your space these last two weeks.”
“That's only because I made you after you almost seduced me,” she pointed out. “But it wasn't your fault entirely. I should not have been at your loft in the first place.”
“Admit it, Staci, you liked the way I made you feel.”
She didn't miss the smirk on his face. “I did like it,” she admitted, “but not for the reason you think. And I'm glad I left when I did.”