Love Knows No Color Pt. 19

"What is Juneteenth?" I asked.

"It celebrates the day we were forever freed from slavery, almost 150 years ago. Jason, you know both sides of my family came from the south. My ancestors were slaves on both sides, one family in Alabama, the other in North Carolina. You also know I am proud of who I am, and where my roots are. I may not know where they originally came from, but I do know where they were in this country. Juneteenth celebrates my history, and I am honored they wanted me there."

"I will help in any way I can," I said.

"Good," Shavonda smiled. "Because the other event I have booked us at is the train show in Monroeville in July. I figured you'd like that. Between you and Kenny, we have enough good photos that we can sell there. You two pick out your favorite ones, and we'll have 8x10s made of them. If we do well at this show, I'll book us for others."

I smiled. My queen was thinking ahead as usual. We'd hit a plateau in sales, because we were limited on how much jewelry could be made with the employees we had. Shavonda was looking to branch out. I should have known something was up when I saw the latest Love Knows No Color poster she'd done. Shavonda had taken our wedding photo, the week by week photos of her pregnancy, and a photo of the two of us with Miracle shortly after she'd been born. The wedding and family photos were in opposite corners of the poster, large enough that their corners touched in the center of the poster. The remaining photos were much smaller, and arranged in sequence in the leftover space. The effect was a profound celebration of love creating a new life.

Another thing she'd done recently was to add two cd racks to each store, labelled Shavonda's picks and Jason's picks. We made a list of our favorite albums, and Shavonda stocked them in the stores, filing them in the appropriate racks. Since the stores catered to the offbeat and eclectic, she wanted to see if our musical tastes would sell to the hipsters and college kids who frequented the stores.

The next morning, when Edie and Kenny got up, we headed for West Virginia. Shavonda had read on the internet about bald eagles nesting in the Smokehole Canyon near Big Bend. We spent the day wandering the canyon looking for the nests. Eventually, we spotted one near the ghost town of Ketterman. There was a mass of what looked like debris high in a tree on the cliffside, and it was obviously too big to be there naturally. Sitting quietly, the four of us waited until finally an eagle soared overhead, spiraling in and eventually landing in the nest. Shavonda passed her binoculars around so we could all get a good look, and I shot quite a few pictures with my zoom lens. It was a moving experience, and I was glad she shared it with us. We'd know exactly where the nest was for future visits.

On the way back, we stopped at a diner. Shavonda ordered a small bowl of applesauce, and we took turns spoon feeding Miracle. It seemed the baby liked the taste of applesauce. Shavonda had ordered it only because it was the only thing on the dinner menu suitable for the baby. But now that we knew she liked it, we'd be sure to have it on hand at the house.

We decided to stop off at the Wal Mart about 2 miles from the motel. Shavonda wanted to get some applesauce for the baby, and some outfits for her as well. Miracle was growing so fast. Before we walked in the front door, Shavonda pulled Kenny aside. "We are going to demonstrate what Jason explained about how we are treated. Edie and I will walk in together. You and Jason walk in after us, like you don't know us. Follow us around the store discretely, watching the other shoppers. I bet you'll notice a plainclothes guard following us. Jason usually follows the guard around for a while, then embarrasses him. When they watch us like that, they aren't doing their job. They aren't paying attention to anybody else, that's how you can sneak up on them. Jason, when you decide to confront the guard, call me and put the phone on speaker. I want to hear what he says when you embarrass him."

With that, the ladies entered the store, Miracle on Shavonda's hip and Edie pushing a shopping cart with a baby seat on it. First they went to electronics, where they looked to see if there was anything interesting in the CD racks. There wasn't, so they moved on to the grocery aisle. On the way, they picked up a tail, which Kenny and I secretly observed. Shavonda knew she was being watched, and put an extra sway in her hips as she walked around the store.

They made their way through the women's clothing section, where they each picked out a couple of sun dresses, then made their way to the baby section. They were picking out outfits for the baby when I called her. Shavonda had her Bluetooth headset on, so she could listen discretely to the call. "You ready, boo?" I asked. Shavonda wiggled her hip in answer, and her stalker looked on intently.

"Showtime," I said to Kenny as we walked up to the store guard. I discretely sidled up to him. "I noticed them too," I said to the man, enjoying the surprised look on his face. "They sure look good. Which one is your favorite?"

"The tall one with the baby," he said. "Just look at that ass."

"Yeah, she's fine as hell. She's my favorite too," I replied, baiting him. Shavonda bounced Miracle on her hip as she listened in on our conversation. She bent over the cart, putting Miracle in the baby seat in preparation for her introduction to the guard when I finally clued him in on who she was.

"She looks damn good for nigger pussy. But I feel sorry for whoever knocked her up. Can't be easy on your rep to have a black child," the guard remarked. I watched Shavonda's back stiffen.

"Oh, shit!" Kenny exclaimed. Shavonda straightened up, turning around to face us. She had her finger in the air and her mouth open as if she was going to say something.

"Dude!" I exclaimed as Shavonda headed towards us. "She heard you! Now you're in for it. And by the way, that's my wife." The guard turned beet red as he realized he'd been had, but it was too late.

"I ain't no nigger pussy!" Shavonda said angrily. "How many people been stealing stuff from this place while you been following me staring at my ass!" The guard stood there dumbfounded as Kenny started to laugh. A withering look from Shavonda shut him right up. "Come on, Jason!" she snapped, "Follow me!"

I turned to the guard, "You just pissed off the most loving woman in the world. Hope you're happy!" I followed Shavonda to the customer service desk where she demanded to speak to the manager on duty. After a short wait, the manager, Linda, came out asking what she could do for us.

"Do you have somewhere we can talk in private?" Shavonda asked. We followed the manager back to our office, leaving Miracle in the care of Kenny and Edie. Once behind closed doors, Shavonda opened her purse and handed Linda her business card. "This is so you get an idea of what I'm about," Shavonda said.

The manager looked at the card. "Shavonda's Creations." She read. "Handcrafted jewelry, and assorted art. Shavonda Waite, proprietor. Hey, I remember you!" Linda's eyes lit up. "You have a booth at the fall festival."

"That's me," Shavonda said.

"How can I help you?" Linda asked.

"You can tell your undercover guard to keep an eye on the store instead of my ass!" Shavonda said angrily. "He was oblivious to the world when he was stalking me. That's how my husband was able to sneak up on him. Do you have a problem with drug abuse around here?"

"Painkillers and heroin, yes we do."

"And I bet the addicts steal you blind," Shavonda laid out her case methodically.

"We do have our shrinkage," Linda conceded. "That's why we have security as well as cameras all over the store.

"Your guard wasn't doing his job," Shavonda said. "Your camera footage will show that he tailed me for about 10-15 minutes all over the store. My husband and his cousin followed your man without ever being spotted. Isn't he supposed to keep an eye on all the customers? And when Jason said something to him, he called me 'nigger pussy.' I realize there aren't a lot of people out here who look like me, but that was disrespectful. On top of that, who knows how many other people were stealing stuff while he was stalking me. I am an honest businesswoman. I don't need or want to steal anything you have. We have more than enough money between the two of us to buy anything we need. I realize that to some extent I am going to be profiled wherever I go. I am used to that. If I had merely been followed, Jason would have said something to embarrass the guard, and mentioned watching the other customers as well. And that would have been the end of it. But he chose to denigrate both my ethnicity and my sexuality. I have to say something. What if I'd have been a secret shopper? Your store would have been roasted in their report. In addition, this man also insulted my husband. What did he say, Jason?"

I answered truthfully, "He called you nigger pussy, and said he pitied me for fathering our baby. I feel bad for whoever knocked her up, I believe those were his exact words."

Linda stared at us dumbfounded for a minute. Then she spoke. "I apologize for the way you were treated tonight," she said. "Believe me, that man will be reprimanded for what he did. What he said to you both was uncalled for. We give our loss prevention people a lot of autonomy, but I can see I am going to have to set some ground rules. None of our legitimate customers should ever feel uncomfortable in this store. I can offer you a ten percent discount on your purchases today, for your trouble."

"That won't be necessary," Shavonda replied. "We didn't come to see you looking for charity. We only came to alert you to a problem."

"Well, thanks for letting me know what went on," Linda said. "I can see we're going to have to retrain our security personnel. I hope this incident won't keep you from shopping here in the future."

"We come to Bedford often for weekend getaways. All we want is to leave the bullshit behind for a couple of days. I realize that to some extent it is going to follow me wherever I go because people don't know me. But when I get insulted I have to bring it to somebody's attention. Thanks for listening."

We all shook hands, then rejoined Edie and Kenny. "Well?" Edie asked.

"It's all good," Shavonda replied. "Dude's going to get his ass reamed out, if not fired."

"What exactly happened?" Edie asked. She obviously didn't know the whole story.

"Dude called Von the n word, and said I was an idiot for 'knocking her up.' He insulted the whole family in one sentence," I explained.

"Are you serious?" Edie was mad now.

"Don't worry, Edie. It's over. And Kenny, now you see exactly what I was telling you about." I shook my head sadly. "It doesn't happen every day, and you may go months between incidents, but it's out there. Just remember, it isn't you and it isn't her. It's them. Don't ever let the idiots put a wedge between you. When they do something like this, hold Edie close and tell her how much you love her."

Back in our motel room, Shavonda let the baby nurse. She let me finish what the baby didn't drink, holding my head against her breast with a contented sigh as she ran her fingers through my hair. "Jason," she said, "You better enjoy that while you can. When the baby turns a year, I am going to wean both of y'all. You want more milk, you better put another baby in me." Obviously, I took her up on the invitation, and did my best to plant my seed in her womb. We made love twice before falling asleep. In the morning, Shavonda woke up with my head between her legs, well on the way to her first orgasm of the day.

Reluctantly, we packed the Jeep and checked out of the motel. On the way back to Pittsburgh, Kenny remarked how much he liked the motel. "That's where we spent our honeymoon," Shavonda told him. "We spent 9 days there."

We arrived at Althea's house for the Memorial Day picnic amazed to find that they'd set up our amps and instruments on the patio. While Shavonda's cousin would be DJ as usual, they also wanted us to play a few songs for the guests.

James met us at the door, and after staring at Shavonda for a minute, he held his arms wide and embraced her. He shook my hand, and said, "We really need to talk, the three of us." After greeting everybody who had already arrived, we followed James to a quiet room, where he closed the door behind us.

"Look," he said. "I am really sorry about the way I came at you two last weekend. Jason, you stuck up for my daughter without hesitation. You earned a lot of respect from me when you did that. If you're willing to take me on, you'll take on anybody for her. And that's what family does. It was your natural reaction, and it showed me just how much she means to you. I appreciate knowing Von is in such good hands."

"Shavonda Marie," he continued. "I let my shock at the magazine photos blind me to what really happened. You went through a traumatic experience, once with the officer, and again when you testified. I can't imagine how frightened you must have been. But you approached it level headed. The system worked for you. I am glad. I can't imagine how you must have felt facing him in court, and having that magazine thrown in your face. Seeing yourself spread naked for the whole world to see. It must have been horrible. Yet you never wavered. I read the transcript. I heard your defiance in your words. You too, Jason."

"It was hard, Daddy. I was scared. Jason told me I didn't have to testify if I didn't want to. All I could think about were the other women who weren't as lucky as me. The ones who didn't have anybody who cared about them. They got torn apart in court. They were the brave ones. They stood up knowing nobody would believe them. The jury convicted him for what he did to me, but they acquitted him for the others." Shavonda had tears in her eyes. She continued, "I had Jason to support me. They knew that, and that's why they found that magazine. They wanted to get him to turn on me, and he didn't. They wanted to fluster me, and they didn't."

"Your mother stressed to me how hard it was for you. She told me she knew about it for a long time. And that Rose set it in motion. She also told me about what you did to Rose. We taught you better than that. But at least you got her to back off. It's a tragedy what happened but you two came through the fire together. I had no idea how strong you two were."

"Would it have made any difference if you'd known then?" I asked, then answered my own question. "Everything would have been different. You'd have tried to go after that officer, wouldn't you? And though we'd all have understood, attacking him would have been attacking the system. He hid behind his badge. You wouldn't have been attacking him, you'd have been attacking the police. Instead, we kept you out of it, and let the police themselves handle it. We have friends in the department, and they'd kept us informed of the investigation. We knew they were trying to set the guy up, but we couldn't tell anyone. It would have blown the whole investigation, and people would have lost their careers. They took a huge risk by even letting us know what was going on. Did you meet Ramona at the anniversary party? She was the one who took him down. She risked her life to pose as a prostitute so they could get him on record doing his crime."

I turned to Shavonda, resplendent in the gold dress I'd bought her so long ago. "I called Ramona last week, and Ziggy too. That transcript that your dad got in the mail is different from ours. Our transcript has all the objections and parts of the trial that aren't in the official record. His didn't. It had to have been taken from the audio recording of the trial, because ours was the only court reporter in the room."

"So that transcript was the official one," Shavonda finished. "And it wouldn't have been available to us or the defense."

"Right, so it must have come from somebody inside the department or DA's office. I suspect the magazine was also the one used in court. Ziggy is checking to see if it is still in the evidence room. And if not, who was the last person to sign it out."

"You have that kind of connections, Jason?" James was amazed. "Now I understand why you didn't want me to get involved."

"Yes, I do. When he picked on Von, he chose the wrong woman. He stole my queen, and tried to hurt her. I wasn't some john caught in the act and afraid to speak up. I was a man fighting for the woman I love above all else. And I knew people. I was at the station filing a complaint before he got there with Von. And he had no good explanation why he took her to a secluded spot instead of directly to the station for booking. Honestly, I will protect Von against anybody, anywhere. But I try to be smart about it. Sometimes, direct confrontation works. Sometimes, you have to bide your time and wait for the opportunity to present itself."

It was good to know that James wanted to patch things up. I had no doubt Althea was the driving force behind it.

We rejoined the party guests, who were still arriving. Kenny and Edie had taken the Jeep to get Edie's mother. They arrived back about an hour later. Barbara was in the door with Brittany and Ethan a short time later. "Mama Von!" they exclaimed excitedly, running for her and giving a big hug. I was a little jealous that she was the first one they went for, after all they were my offspring. At the same time, I was proud of my queen for loving them as her own, and happy they loved her back.

Barbara pulled us to the side. "I talked to Rose about the court hearing. She says thanks for the heads up, and she appreciates that you are willing to forgo the child support. She is grateful that she won't have a huge support bill hanging over her head when she gets out of prison."

"We had a long talk about it," Shavonda said. "We really can't see what purpose it would serve to let the support pile up while she serves her time. It's not like we need the money. I just hope that we've given her a little more breathing room, and that when she gets out she will be able to put her life back together."

The DJ had started the music, and people started to dance on the patio, Shavonda handed Miracle to me. I watched as she took Brittany by the hand and led her to the patio. She was teaching my little girl how to dance, the same way she'd taught me. Balancing Miracle on my hip, I quickly made my way to the Jeep and retrieved my camera. I set the baby down in the grass, and zoomed my camera lens in on Von and Brittany, snapping several quick photos. When I looked down again, Miracle was not where I'd set her. I quickly found her, crawling away in the grass. "Von!" I yelled. "Miracle's crawling!"

Shavonda hurried over to me, Brittany and Edie close behind. Miracle continue her jerky crawl across the grass. I stepped in front of her and picked her up, saying, "That's a good girl!" Miracle let out a wail of protest, pumping her arms and legs furiously. By now, a crowd had gathered around us, and I gently set the baby back down in the grass. Much to everybody's delight, she began her crawl again. I reached in my camera bag and quickly changed lenses, getting several close-up shots of Miracle crawling towards me. Her outfit now had grass stains on the knees, but nobody cared. As proud parents, we let her explore to her heart's content, keeping a close eye on her and intervening when she grabbed a handful of grass and tried to put it in her mouth.

Miracle became the center of attention. Everybody called her cute and said how pretty she was. James and Althea stood proudly smiling. After all, their granddaughter had just reached a major milestone. We had been expecting her to crawl at around 7 or 8 months of age, but here she was, just a few days past 6 months. Our baby amazed us every day, and it was clear that she was highly intelligent and curious about the world around her. I was glad we'd gotten the playpen last month. We were going to need it now.