Good Woman Blues Read Online Free

announcing she was a grandmother.
He’d gotten some woman in a nearby town pregnant and somehow kept
it from her. For a damn good reason. Brandon knew what her reaction
would be. Who the hell asked him for that? Her sister’s impatient
foot- tapping on the vinyl floor broke into her own offspring
angst.
    “Well?” Roz demanded.
    “Erikka won’t go into detail, but I know
she’s worried about a lot of things. The way you and Craig are
tripping, for one. It’s a wonder Jaci isn’t on some therapist’s
couch, too.”
    “Jaci is doing just fine. She’s only a few
hours from her master’s at—” Roz started to go on to list her
youngest daughter’s accomplishments.
    “That’s all well and good, but we’re talking
about Erikka,” Darlene cut her off.
    “You brought Jaci into this discussion,” Roz
snapped.
    “You wanna hear about Erikka or not?” Darlene
said calmly.
    “First explain what you meant with the remark
about Craig and me.” Roz crossed her arms and went into her
defensive posture.
    “Forget it. None of my business anyway.”
Darlene had no time to deal with the Queen of Denial.
    “The word divorce hasn’t even come up,” Roz
announced with force. “No matter how much my evil mother-in-law
bums black candles on us. After twenty- one years you’d think the
old she-devil would give up.”
    “I didn’t say anything about—”
    “That’s exactly what was on your mind.” Roz’s
foot went crazy as her whole right leg bounced. Perched on one of
Darlene’s breakfast table chairs, she twisted her thirty-inch gold
necklace with one hand.
    “All I’m saying is Erikka is crazy about her
stepfather. Even adult kids are affected by di—” Darlene broke off
the word when Roz huffed angrily. “I mean, tension between
parents.”
    “We’ll work through it. We always have.” Roz
stared hard at Darlene as a warning she’d best agree.
    Darlene obeyed. “True.”
    She didn’t want to hurt Roz with straight-up
reality, not just yet. Roz was genuinely scared and puzzled about
Erikka. Still, Darlene wondered how long it would last. There could
only be so many times a marriage could bounce back. She could
testify on that score.
    Roz’s expression relaxed. “Damn. It’s strange
having grown children. Can you believe Erikka is going to be thirty
in a few months?”
    “I can still remember the day you dropped
that bomb on Mama and Daddy.” Darlene laughed, and Roz joined
her.
    “Sure wasn’t funny then. Seventeen, head
cheerleader, and had one foot out the door to Spelman College.”
    “And pregnant,” Darlene tossed in.
    “Mama cussed in English and Creole French.
I’d never heard those kind of words come from that little woman.”
Roz shook her head. “Daddy was so mad he couldn’t speak.”
    “He might have been talking, but nobody could
hear him with Mama screaming,” Darlene said.
    “A nightmare.”
    ‘Tell me about it. Daddy practically locked
me up for the next three years,” Darlene replied.
    “Their strictness probably kept you from
making the same mistake. I was dumb enough to believe I was Troy’s
one true love. What an idiot.”
    “Sure. I didn’t act a fool over a man until I
was grown.”
    Darlene grimaced at the memory of life with
Brandon’s father. She’d quickly followed that doomed two- year
marriage by enjoying the single life. Malik’s father had swept her
off her feet and right into the maternity ward of Lourdes Hospital.
Both women were quiet for a few minutes, reviewing past
mistakes.
    “Speaking of Troy, maybe he could help.”
Darlene looked at her sister.
    “He tried in his own weak-ass way to be a
father in the last few years. But Erikka thinks of Craig as her
daddy in the real sense.”
    “Yeah, they’ve always been close.” Darlene
got up and went to the sink. She rinsed out their glasses and
washed a few dishes.
    “Erikka won’t listen to me.” Roz sighed and
let her head tilt back. “I’ve tried so hard to understand her. I
re-ally