Family Ties

 

 Family Ties

 

So, while Claudette was occupied with her plans on destruction and mayhem aimed at her friends, they were going about their lives in a normal everyday fashion. They were busy with ordinary things, dealing with old family issues that had recently resurfaced, and simply "living" without a clue about what she was up to. Mainly because they hadn't gotten together as a group since the last time at Alexis' house when they planned this year's vacation getaway, and Claudette began to put her own plans in motion.  That was several weeks ago.

Of course they had all spoke to each other several times a week since then, as was their custom. They were after all...best friends and that's what best friends do. Bonnie had dropped by one weekend to show off her new grand baby, and Alexis had met her for drinks one evening and they'd laughed and chatted about a shopping trip to buy a few new things for their trip. All of this took place as if nothing was amiss.

She had not purposefully avoided Helena, but it just turned out that they'd had minimal contact mostly because Helena was dealing with another of Myranda's crises. Which was fine with her. And Claudette had played her role to perfection; never once in the past several weeks had she let anything slip, or allowed her true feelings to surface while in their presence or talking on the phone. Her poker face was set, and to her friends (and her own family) she was nothing less than her usual self.

Bonnie Powell was still gaga over the birth of her newest grand baby. Her daughter Kaycee was exhibiting serious signs of postpartum depression but baby Sterling was flourishing as a newborn. This presented a whole new set of problems on the horizon that Bonnie would have to eventually deal with. Alexis Martin was now officially disentangled from the Vanderberry-Merrick murder case, and her entertainment/special occasion planning business was back on track after the hiccup it suffered from the murder case fallout. And Helena Clayton was preparing to go back into the courts for permanent custody of her grandchildren.

Although Myranda Rice (Helena's former drug addict daughter) was showing signs of remarkable progress in her twelve step program, she still had a long way to go. Helena and her husband were resolved not to allow Palmer Rice's parents/stepparents get custody of Sasha, Kirk and Trey. Both of Palmer's parents had remarried. Steve and Macey Palmer were living a laid back retired lifestyle and three young children did not fit into it. Linda (Palmer's mother) and her husband Barry Major still worked part time and lived a less than sedate lifestyle. They owned a business together that involved a lot of traveling and "entertaining" so neither did they seem a good choice for raising these kids.

But, all eight people were set on making it difficult and were not willing to concede to the other. There had been a lot of name calling,finger pointing and blame assignment from all sides. Financially, either couple could handle it. Everyone was prosperous and financially stable, but of course since Helena and Stanford were the maternal grandparent they automatically assumed they would be the beer suited. And since they also had the best legal connections; they'd probably assumed correct.

It would come down to that of course; the best legal team would win the case for custody. Sadly...no one of the eight adults pursuing this would be considering the children and what was best for them. It had already started out as a pissing contest, and it would end up an enormous ego trip for the "winning" couple and a tremendously tragic outcome for Sasha, Kirk and Trey Rice. No one thought about or considered for a hot minute that these precious children had already suffered enough. They had witnessed and stood by helplessly while their mother went through her own private hell.They had heard whispers about them as a family at school, and at friends houses during sleepovers.

Palmer, Myranda, Sasha, Kirk and Trey Rice. Happier times from the past.

Neither did these grown folks who all thought they knew what was best dream that children could perceive and understand more than they received credit for. It was all about them and in the end the children would be the biggest losers.

On the Road to Perdition...The Rescue

Spirituality teaches believers that just before you hit rock bottom, and think that there is no help or alternatives left for you in this life...then a breakthrough is right around the corner. This may well be true, but try convincing a drug- addicted prostitute that it applies to her too. If she hasn't become totally devoid of hope or completely De-sensitized from living a life of decadence and depravity there might be a chance in hell she'll buy it.  She might grab hold to the promise of these few powerful words and start to believe she can be rescued from perdition. And her soul could be saved even if her life has been destroyed.

Miracles still happen in this modern day world. Years later, Myranda Clayton Rice will stand in front of various groups of people and represent a miracle. She will be a living example of the power of salvation and the people who taught her how to live again as a whole, and as a well human being.
Justin Reid found Myranda lying in the doorway of a vacant Salvation Army store in a dangerous and run down part of the city. She was alone and totally zonked out from smoking crack-cocaine.

Her clothes were dirty and torn, and her body reeked of an awful pungent mixture of stale sex, cigarette smoke and plain old body odor. He could smell her from five feet away. She looked like she hadn't bathed in weeks, and at first he thought she was dead. He came closer and without touching her, he could hear her raspy gasps for breath and see the drool running out of her open mouth. His first thought was "pneumonia" if not worse. Under all of the filth and drool Justin could see soft feminine features and a face that had once probably been quite beautiful, but was now ravaged and hard.

Her feet were bare (she'd probably sold her shoes for a fix) and her long hair was a tangled matted mess. But despite this, there was a certain...presence about her. She had a presence and he looked forward to learning her story. Her breath was coming harder and raspier now, and her arms started flailing about almost involuntarily. She needed help and she need it now.

No use in trying to call 911 in this part of town. They would not respond anyway, so Justin pulled out his cell phone and punched in the number to his friend and partner Marcus Sisto. Five years ago, Justin himself had been in almost the same situation as this young woman lying here in this sad and pathetic condition. Marcus Sisto had rescued him. His wife Noelle ( who is lovingly called "Pink" by family and close friends) had taken him in, cleaned him up and gotten him into a comprehensive drug rehabilitation program that had worked.

Whenever he had wanted to give up or turn back to the streets, Pink would show him tough love and sit up with him til all hours of the morning talking and talking and talking...until his urges had subsided and he could once again function within his resolve. Marcus was a retired cop turned advocate turned father image. His gruff manner and street smarts coupled with a strange sort of compassion made him the ideal father figure to other guys like Justin. So many guys and women owed their lives to Marcus and Pink.

He had vowed when he became clean and sober that he would give back. So, it was part of his ritual to make his nightly rounds through this particular part of the city where he would most likely find someone in need. Here there were plenty of dark places to hide, and virtually no chance of being found until perhaps someone might pass by when daylight came. He dropped down on his haunches and looked at the woman closer while he was waiting for Noelle to show up. She'd told him that Marcus was in a counseling session with a potential suicide and that she'd be there as quick as she could get there.

The two of them would take her back to the six bedroom house that was co-owned by the three of them and another partner; Jeremiah Cummings. They provided a clean and safe place to the people they rescued until a place became available in a rehab center. Then, the person would have to enter of their own accord and 90% of the two hundred and thirty-five men and women they'd helped over the past three years did just that. The rest went out on their own thinking they could lick their addictions by themselves, and a small part of that ten percent had relatives or loving and supporting parents who reached out to them.

Because Justin fully believed in the good causes the Sistos and Jeremiah Cummings fought for, he had no compunction about investing his life savings into becoming a full partner with them. Each partner had invested a large portion of private funds, and they had been the beneficiary of a few endowments, but they always managed to keep up the Haven House with comfortable furnishings, plenty of food that Pink prepared all on her own mostly, and medical bill payments for those who needed immediate help.

The woman moaned a few times and screamed out loud. He bent over to her and tried to talk to her...to penetrate through the dense drug-induced fog in her mind. When he tried to touch her, she kicked him and tried to scramble away from him. With a harsh laugh, Justin could recognize these signs...she needed a fix ...bad. When she got up screaming and trying to run away, he actually tackled her to bring her down and he sat on her to keep her still. All the while he was talking to her telling her she'd be okay, she'd make it ; just calm down...calm down...calm down.

Whether there was something in his voice or divine intervention he did not know but grateful that she began to hear and listen to him. By the time Pink and Jeremiah drove up, the woman had become limp in his arms and her screams had subsided to pitiful whimpers. He was rocking her in his arms. He was thinking about how this one seemed different from others, how he felt a strange unexplained tenderness toward her already. He held her close and whispered for her to hold on;  that help had come.

A Relative Position

It had been a wonderfully enjoyable and romantic trip. The past year had been very good to Helena and Stanford Clayton Sr. They both had so much to be grateful for; as a couple and as individuals. Their marriage had gone through a severe trial as a result of a variety of contributing factors that conspired them to ultimate ruination. But, by the mercy of God, and divine intervention the marriage had survived and not only merely survived...it was thriving and they had never been so happy. It was almost like they rediscovered each other and recognized that they were two people independent of each other; yet still a couple.

In other words, after many years of ignoring the critical signs of marital breakdown, and refusing to address the problem areas of their marriage, Helena and Stanford were tremendously blessed to salvage the remains of a tortured and disintegrating union. After the domestic disturbance they experienced, no one expected them to be able to carry on. The almost total meltdown of them as a married couple had literally been a saving grace.

All of their children and grandchildren were prospering nicely with the exception of Myranda. Myranda Clayton Rice was the middle child, and quite frankly she was the one least expected to be the problem child. If Helena and Stanford would have had to name a child out of the three offspring, it would have been Stanford Jr., (the oldest) that would have been expected to ...well...have issues. Myranda and her husband Palmer had lost quite a bit of money a few years back in a pyramid scheme. Probably one of Palmer's biggest faults was his love of money. He was always looking for ways to turn an easy buck, and not all of these avenues had been exactly above board. His real vice was when he dragged his wife into it and convinced her to invest some of her own private funds into whatever cockamamie thing he was up to at the moment. And at that particular moment, he was into the so-called fast easy money making pyramid scheme.

Myranda knew it was the wrong thing to do when she married Palmer Rice, but she was hell bent on defying her parents. At the end of a brief courtship (she and Palmer dated for six weeks before getting married) they ran off to tie the knot to the dismay and the disappointment of both sets of parents. Palmer bore the brunt of the burden of the illegal scam, and subsequently the worst of the punishment that had been doled out to the four scammers. Philip Dover and Connor Woods were partners in crime with Palmer and had both received the same sentence. Jacob Hearn (who was married to Myranda's sister Regina) and also a pyramid partner had gotten off with the lightest of the sentences. He had to serve three years in a minimum security facility that was more of a "state run country club" than a correctional facility, but whereas he may have gotten off lightly as far as the law was concerned, his ultimate cost came at the dissolution of his marriage. Regina Hearn sued him for divorce the day he went off to "prison" and promptly put him out of her life.

With the financial aid of her parents, she was able to make a fresh start for herself and her twin sons; Eric and Eli. Not only did she set out to recoup her losses (which she did) but she actually made more money through hard work and dedication than she had thought she would. While Regina pulled her life out of the toilet and handled her business like a woman, Myranda on the other hand, used the situation to dig herself further into a hole. Her two children Julia and Kirk were already disadvantaged by the fate of their father, and she only made it worse by just about abandoning them in pursuit of her own worldly pleasures, being selfish and feeling endowed at the same time. When Palmer went off to prison, Julia was only a year old, and Kirk was just turning three. Helena had kept them at her home for nearly a year, providing a full time nanny and giving them both the love and support her wayward daughter could not seem to find the time or the inclination to give.

Now, it is a few years later, and although Myranda has come a long ways from where she was at one time, there was still quite a bit of road remaining to travel. The most important thing to come from her rehabilitation was that she had reconciled to be a better mother to Julia and Kirk. She was making remarkable progress in that area, but her weakness for men was still her personal demon and a wound that didn't want to heal.

Stanford had rescued his beautiful, smart, sexy wife from being a mother of three adult children and grandmother to four lovely and wonderful kids. He took this wife and grandmother away for a long, relaxing vacation; but here's the thing...he left going on this vacation with his wife. He spent the vacation with his woman. His desire was to leave the wife behind and release the woman within to be free to be all that she could, would and should be during the two weeks they spent on the French Riviera. It was a great life and it was filled with doing incredible things.

They were blessed and would never, ever forget it.

It's a Family Affair

Meantime, while Alexis Martin was experiencing one; no...the scariest and tense moments she had ever been through, on the other side of town her best friend Bonnie Powell was having a Kodak moment. Bonnie's daughter Kaycee had just given birth to her second child. It was a beautiful, and memorable event. Kaycee had a normal  delivery and she gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Bonnie was present at the birth along with her granddaughter Jillian (who has just become the "big" sister), her daughter's husband Devan and his parents.

At first, Bonnie had been slightly turned off at the idea of being in the room with her daughter when she gave birth, not to mention watching the whole thing with her son-in-law and his parents! It had seemed like so much like a spectator sport thing or something. Women from her generation did not invite others to witness such a private moment.

But, actually it had all occurred in good taste and it was not nearly as graphic as she had expected it to be. Kaycee and Devan were actually behind a privacy screen for the delivery, so she was able to maintain her modesty while sharing this important event with her family. Surprisingly, Kaycee's labor had not been overly long or unbearably painful. She had a natural birth, and Devan had been a loving, patient and encouraging coach. The Lamaze classes they had attended as a couple had proven to be well worth the money and the time they had invested. Proper breathing techniques, ice chips, soothing music, and having her wonderful and handsome husband right beside her had done absolute wonders for Kaycee. She  was all aglow with the whole experience, and when the baby was born, Bonnie looked at her daughter and thought that she had never looked more beautiful!

Of course, Jillian was not present during the labor and delivery. Her father's sister had taken her for the day, and when the call came that Jillian was officially a big sister, Auntie Nickie had brought Jillian to the hospital. By the time they got there, Kaycee and the newborn who was immediately given the name Sterling had been cleaned up and were sitting up in bed looking fabulous and ready to receive visitors.  And after making Jillian comfortable in a big chair near her mother's bed, the new Dad carefully laid baby Sterling in her big sister's arms. The look on Jillian's face as she held her new baby sister was one of pure joy. Bonnie and Bernadette (Devan's Mom) had both cried at this beautiful moment.

So, naturally while Bonnie was happy and joyous over the new birth, and so very grateful that God had brought her daughter safely through her labor and delivery, and given them this precious bundle...Alexis and Claudette had no intention of intruding on a family moment. No, it could and it would wait until later. By then, they would have the whole story...hopefully and maybe the shock would have worn off.

Or even better...Alexis would open her eyes and wake up from this terrible, terrible nightmare. One could always hope.

She Works Hard for the Money

It had been intended to be the event of the year. Hours and hours had gone into the planning and many, many weeks had been filled with endless frustration and a seemingly never-ending task list of things to do. Then, there was the hard-to-deal with prim a-donas who were the dress designers, the flower designers, the caterers and the list went on and on...and on. All of them were always right and no one was ever wrong! And not necessarily at the end of that list were the people in the bridal party. Talk about selfish, egotistical and just downright bitchy!! Alexis had never met a more tiresome and irritating group of women.

But what was she to do? This was her first gig as a newly minted Wedding Planner and Developer. This new career move had been in the works for a couple of years. After she had graduated and received her degree, she then had to deal with the exhausting process of a new business start-up. She had worked closely with her son to create a workable and doable business plan, she had secured financing for the suite of offices she rented, hired her assistants, met with advertisers networked with other entrepreneurs and business people who would be invaluable as both promotional and operative support. Every single detail had been carefully executed and nine months ago she opened for business!

Almost immediately after she advertised her grand-opening she had booked her first wedding. Of course, there had been plenty of up front advertising, and she had hosted a couple of meet and greet cocktail parties with local women's organizations to help get her name out there, so it was no real surprise that she hit the ground running. Her confidence as an extremely capable and efficient designer/developer was in place. She had no qualms about getting busy with her first official job, and from start to finish it had been a true accomplishment.

The brand-new custom tailored wardrobe Alexis had secured was stunning. Each item of clothing had been designed and made just for her, and each item was a work of art. Now mind you; she didn't get couture fashions...that was out of the question, but she was fortunate enough to have been able to afford a basic business wardrobe consisting of mix and match separates. In addition, there was a selection outfits ranging from formal to business chic to be worn at the weddings she hosted and other social affairs as required.

Her good fortune was the result of being in the line of someone else's blessings. To be accurate, a very dear friend of hers had been the recipient of a huge financial windfall, and had been extremely generous with Alexis. And to top it all off, her new digs were the work of a fabulous new up and coming designer whose name was already on the lips of some pretty influential folks.

So this wedding...her debut project was set to take place in two days. She had been over her final-final-final check list with her assistant at least three times and could not find any action items that had not been completed. The plans were in place and all was ready with the exception of two minor details that were scheduled to be taken care of the next day, and Sunny was going to make that happen. She was on the books at her favorite spa for a full day of beauty and relaxation the next day and frankly she couldn't wait.

She logged off of her laptop, and turned off her iPad. No use of any electronic gadgetry except her phone was allowed for the rest of this night! Tonight she was entertaining a gentleman friend and she needed to change her clothes and make herself beautiful for her date. It had been a long time since they had seen each other and she was excited about being with him tonight. Although she didn't expect any physical intimacies beyond first base, it was still exciting to prepare for an evening with a handsome and viral member of the opposite sex; especially when you knew you'd have a good time.

Smiling to herself, and singing off-key a popular R&B song, off she went to her boudoir to do her thing.

And then...it happened...