Love Knows No Color Pt. 07

Shavonda held Barbara, letting her cry on her shoulder. She knew she had nothing to do with the hatred. The ease with which Barbara had mingled with the other guests said everything. She and I were the only white adults there. Like me, she was totally at ease. If she'd had the same attitude Rose had, she'd have been very uncomfortable around these people. Barbara had been around black folks before, very close. I didn't know her history, but I wondered if it had anything to do with Rose's bad attitude.

After dinner, Barbara and Shavonda joined several of the other ladies in putting away the leftovers, and cleaning up the dishes. The rest of us gathered in the living room, where the football games were just ending on tv. I asked about Tamika and Brian, as I hadn't seen them there.

"Oh, she'll be around," James laughed. "She's got two Thanksgiving dinners to eat now. Think she can handle it?" Evidently, she was having dinner at Brian's parents and would be by later.

WE all sat around and talked about a little of everything. I had a blast. But after a while I missed my queen and set off in search of her. What I saw warmed my heart. There were 6 women sitting around the Kitchen table with a couple bottles of wine, playing cards and having a blast. Barbara was seated between Althea and Shavonda, and seemed to be having the time of her life.

I stopped to ponder this for a minute. I'd thought I was a laid back, open minded person, but Althea had just shown me something new. I'd learned an important lesson. I'd assumed that Barbara was, deep down, just like Rose, with the same fears and prejudices. She was not. I'd prejudged her, and gotten it wrong. Althea, and Shavonda both had a big enough heart to invite her here. They'd saved this woman from a cold lonely Thanksgiving without the ones she loved. They'd taken her in with open arms, and she'd responded. And here she was, getting drunk on wine, playing cards with people her daughter would never associate with. And fitting in like she belonged there.

I'd assumed that Barbara, having raised Rose as a single mother, had taught Rose the hate that got the better of her. I could see now that nothing was further from the truth. I felt bad that, but for Althea's intervention, I would have denied Barbara the warmth of a Thanksgiving meal in a house full of love.

Shavonda noticed me standing in the doorway, and slurred, "Come in here baby boy. Ladies, this man is the love of my life. He takes care of me like nobody else. He'll break his back for me, if I ask. I finally got a good one."

"Amen to that," said Barbara. I was surprised. "After what he's been through over the years, he deserves a woman who will love him the way you do." I stood in the doorway, 6 pairs of eyes on me, face turning red.

"Come in here boy and sit down." Shavonda was feeling no pain. She definitely wasn't making the drive home tonight.

"Mmmmm, you got him well trained," Velma said. Everybody laughed. They found me a chair and cleared a space for me next to Shavonda. The next game they dealt me in, and I played cards with them the rest of the night. I refused the wine though. I had a Commercial Driver's License, with the much lower blood alcohol level to get a DUI. I wasn't taking any chances.

That night, Shavonda, drunk, was all over me. She sang in the car to whatever song was on the radio, and the kids loved it. They sang too. I was surprised they were still awake after the long day. We put them to bed, and soon they were asleep. As soon as we closed the door her hands were on my belt, loosening it. Reaching inside, she grabbed me by the penis and led me to the bedroom. She pushed me back on the bed and quickly shed her jeans. "I'm not wearing any panties," she said. "I've been thinking about this all night." She quickly straddled me, blouse and bra still on, and inserted me into her tight wet hole. She rode me hard, making no effort to slow down or be quiet. I hoped the kids didn't wake up. She was riding with such enthusiasm, neither of us could hold out, and we came together, me still fully clothed, and her half clothed.

She collapsed on top of me and was soon asleep, snoring softly on my chest. I was still inside her and made no effort to move her. We'd just have to sleep like that. I did, however, remove her shirt and bra, difficult as it was with her laying there. At least I could fondle her titties as she slept. I could fold the bedspread and blankets over our bodies before I, too, fell asleep in her arms.

Since I was off work for the next three days, we were in no hurry to get out of bed the next morning. Shavonda had a hangover from the night before, and I lay there and held her until the kids got up.

I made them scrambled eggs and pancakes for breakfast. It was obvious that I was going to have to go grocery shopping soon if they were staying. I had very little food little kids liked. I was going to have to get juice boxes, apple slices, and other things I didn't normally eat. Eventually, Shavonda wandered in, wearing one of my tee shirts and a pair of panties. She looked beat. Her straightened hair was a mess, poking in all different directions. She looked like a wild woman. I guess she was, the past two nights. I thought she looked beautiful anyway.

"Can you eat?" I asked. "Are you able to keep your food down?"

"Yeah," she answered. "I'll be ok. What you making?"

"What you want?" I asked.

"Whatever you're having will be fine," she said, plopping wearily in a kitchen chair. I made us a couple of egg burgers. These were like sausage egg and cheese biscuits, except that I substituted a hamburger patty for the sausage patty. "This is pretty good," she said, biting into it.

"It's kind of my specialty," I said. "I made these all the time before I met you."

"Why did you stop?" she asked.

"You are so much better than I am at cooking," I said earnestly. "Besides, we didn't eat a lot of breakfast in the first few months."

After breakfast, she wandered off to the shower to get herself cleaned up. Soon she returned, looking none the worse for wear. I thought to myself, if the way she looked this morning is the worst she ever looks, I'm in for a long blissful life.

Later that day, Barbara came over and played with the kids for a while. Since it was an uncharacteristically warm, sunny day, Shavonda and I sat on the front porch. Mrs. Zucchero came over to talk. She'd been the one who reported Rose vandalizing my Jeep, and had taken the photos now in evidence against Rose. We told her about what had happened to Shavonda's new store.

"What's this world coming to?" she complained. "And you say it was the same person?"

"Yes, both times, it was my kids' mother. That's why we have them full time now," I replied.

"Well good for you," she said. "Not many fathers would step up the way you have. But what's gotten into that woman. She didn't want you. Shavonda does. Why should that bother her. Why doesn't she just grow up?"

December came, and with it the first custody hearing. Rose still hadn't made bail, so it was just me and Shavonda testifying. We told the hearing officer what she was in for, and that we were the victims of the crimes. The officer agreed to let us keep the kids until the date of the actual hearing on permanent custody. He also ordered that, since the child care was part of Rose's benefit package, she be responsible for child care costs. He suspended my child support order until the hearing, but did not order Rose to pay me support. "That's a matter for the permanent hearing," he decreed. I didn't care. We'd won another round.

Two days later, Rose got out of jail, and returned to work at the nonprofit. She was not happy about the change in custody to say the least. But, legally there was nothing she could do about it. I was beginning to doubt the wisdom of keeping the kids in child care where she worked, but left them there anyway. At least, I reasoned, they'll get to see their mother a little every day. This would prove to be a bad move.

Everything went fine until the week before Christmas. One day, Shavonda went to pick the kids up in the evening and only Brittany was there. Ethan, she was told, had to be taken to the emergency room with injuries to his legs.

I was on the way home from work when Shavonda called me. She met me at the emergency room. Rose was there in the waiting room with an evil smirk on her face. I asked the desk nurse about seeing Ethan and was referred to a child welfare case worker who was sitting in the waiting room. She led me to a vacant consulting room, stopping Shavonda at the door.

"Where I go, she goes," I said. The caseworker relented and let her in the room. "What happened?" I demanded.

"Ethan was admitted with severe bruising to the legs. When the doctor asked him what happened, he told her you hit him."

"That's insane! I don't hit my kids!" I was angry. I knew something was up. And I knew whatever had happened, had happened at that child care facility. I didn't hurt my son, somebody else did. And I knew Rose knew who did.

Shavonda spoke next. In light of my agitation, she thought it best to handle things while I cooled down. "When was he brought here, and by whom?" she asked.

"He came in about 4:30, and his mother brought him," the caseworker said coldly. "Who are you and what do you know about this?"

"I am Jason's girlfriend, and I dropped those Ethan off at 9:30 this morning. He was fine then. No injuries. Now, after entrusting him to this preschool, we find that he's been hurt! Who reported this?"

"The mother, Rose Waite, brought him in, and the doctor who is treating him is required by law to report his injuries to us," she said.

"If he was dropped off at the preschool at 9:30 in the morning, and I supposedly injured him, why did it take until 4:30 in the afternoon to get him treatment? His mother works in that facility. She would have known about it the minute he was brought in, if he'd really been injured while in my care," I said calmly. Inside I was seething. First, she attacks my queen, now she hurts my son? Where does it end?

"Your son told us that you hit him and made those bruises. He's in a lot of pain, so I can't you see him." The child welfare worker was adamant. Why could she not see the timeline just didn't add up?

"Ethan is four years old," I said. "He's easily impressionable. He will tell you what he thinks you want to hear. I pointed at Brittany, who was holding Shavonda's hand. "That's his sister. She was in the same daycare after kindergarten." I turned to Brittany and asked her, "Was your brother hurt before Ms. Von dropped you off at the school bus? Please tell this nice lady the truth." I almost choked on the word nice.

"Brittany, was Ethan hurt this morning before you got on the bus?" the caseworker asked.

"No," Brittany said. "Ethan was running around playing before we got in the car."

"Told ya," I said. "You need to find out what happened in that school, because whatever happened sure as hell didn't happen on MY watch. Seriously, if I'd hurt him bad enough to require a trip to the hospital, do you think I'd send him to the one place I knew would report it?"

I turned to Shavonda. "Von, baby, when we get out of here, we have to get them out of that daycare."

"We will investigate this fully. The school should have video of Ethan being dropped off. You did walk him into the building, didn't you Ms..." The caseworker paused, not quite sure what to call Shavonda.

"The name is Shavonda Jenkins. And yes, I did walk him in. He was fine then. Any video would show that," Shavonda seemed truly concerned. I wondered why, given that available evidence tended to clear us of wrongdoing.

"Look, I'll cut to the chase here. Abuse has occurred, the child says that you did it. If the evidence shows you didn't, fine. But we are still going to insist on parenting classes for all parties concerned. And we also need at least one meeting with a child psychologist to observe Ethan's interactions with you and your girlfriend. Don't worry, we will also order the same for the child's mother as well. But I can't let you see him tonight. You can pick him up tomorrow if our investigation clears you. Otherwise, he goes back to his mother."

I understood Shavonda's concern now. Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, we were in the system. And that couldn't be good. We'd have to prove our innocence in a country where innocence is presumed until proven otherwise. Somebody had gotten to Ethan and they had him lying to cover up what had really happened.

With nothing left to do we left the hospital with Brittany. My poor baby was going to spend the night alone. Rose was not in the waiting room when we left. Good thing for her. I don't know what I'd have done. She or somebody she knew had hurt my son, and blamed it on me. There was going to be hell to pay.

To be continued...