His Last Wife

Tyrian had already climbed out of bed and was getting the iPad from the dresser. He handed it to his mother. He told her to press play.

Kerry listened in horror as recording after recording played on. Tyrian had taped three of Thirjane’s drunken nighttime breakdowns. Four of her meetings with the man in the park, who sounded like her hit man. She’d given him money even after Kerry had been released from jail.

Once Tyrian was dressed and Kerry had called for a car to come and get them, she took his hand and started leading him out of the house.

With all of the noise in the house, Thirjane showed up in her doorway with her bathrobe on right when the car pulled up outside and Kerry and Tyrian were about to descend the steps to leave the house.

“What’s going on out here?” Thirjane asked.

“We’re going home, Mama,” Kerry said.

“Tonight? You can’t take that boy out of this house in the middle of the night. He’ll catch cold.”

Tyrian hid behind his mother.

“You don’t need to worry about that. I’m his mother. It’s my decision,” Kerry said.

Thirjane noticed that Kerry had been crying. She could see the trail of old tears on her cheeks and the wetness still in her eyes. “What’s going on?” she asked. “You—are you okay? Why do you all have to leave now?”

Thirjane stepped out of the room. She already knew what this was. That the time would come. It wouldn’t take long. She’d wanted to tell Kerry herself, but how do you come up with those words?

All she could say was, “I can explain everything.”

Kerry was unmoved by this proposal. “Tyrian. Go downstairs and wait by the door.”

“No! Wait! Don’t send my grandchild away from me. He’s all I’ve got,” Thirjane cried.

Kerry pointed downstairs and Tyrian waved his little hand good-bye to his grandmother before following his mother’s orders.

“Anything you say will only make this worse,” Kerry said when she knew Tyrian was no longer in earshot. “I need to tell you that you have been the biggest problem in my life. The biggest pain. The biggest issue. I don’t think you have the capacity to be a mother. You never did. And all I ever did was make excuses for you.”

“I tried to—”

“Shut up and listen to me! I made excuses. Do you hear me? I made excuses for why you were so horrible to me. I let you come between me and Jamison. I let you belittle him. I let you ruin my marriage. I let you believe you could kill him and get away with it.”

“He was never good enough for you. Can’t you see that, Kerry? He wasn’t ever good enough for you,” Thirjane said.

“No, you weren’t good enough for me. That’s what I see. That’s what I know.” Kerry went to go down the steps, but Thirjane grabbed her arm. “You touch me and I’ll go straight to the police. I’ll turn your ass in and you won’t ever see your grandchild again.”

“No,” Thirjane cried out, pulling her hand back from Kerry’s stiff arm. “Please don’t.”

Kerry walked out of the house without saying good-bye.

It was probably the first fight she’d ever really won against Thirjane. It should’ve felt good.

It didn’t.

Part 3

Chapter 14

Sandwiched between a chatty Baba Seti and fidgeting Tyrian, Kerry was sitting in an uncomfortable upright chair at the DeKalb-Peachtree Airport. It took her a few days to organize the private flight that would require two stops before her party would be allowed entry into Cuba, but through all of the paperwork, she got it done and was sitting there, still wondering if she’d made the right decision. She’d called Val every day, begging her to come along, and though Val kept saying she’d think about it, but didn’t sound like she would, she’d purchased Val two tickets and left them at the check-in counter.

Baba Seti must’ve sensed her hesitation, because he kept calling her “sister” and assured her that she was doing the right thing, but this little action, expensive and bold, was nothing like Kerry. She felt like a fish who’d flopped out of the sea and was lying on the sand. Something wonderful could happen. But her gut was telling her it wouldn’t be the case.

She’d only told Tyrian they were going on a vacation. She wasn’t sure about what was waiting in Cuba, but she’d promised him she’d never leave him alone again and she intended to keep that promise.

“Is there a beach there?” Tyrian asked, clicking through his apps and games on his iPad between watching planes take off from the gate where they’d been waiting for their pilot to arrive.