It was closing time but Monique had to stay behind to sign all of the payroll checks and make sure the paperwork balanced out. She waved goodnight to Will and Mark as she tossed the last load of laundry into the dryer. She did a final walk through to make sure all of the lights were off before checking the door one final time before she started on her accounting task. She made her way to her office checking her watch before shrugging off the fact that Nikki was not there when she said she would be. Nikki had promised to stop by to cosign the payroll checks for the salon so that Monique could pass them out first thing in the morning.
She had just started printing the checks when Velle came unexpectedly dragging in. She figured Nikki must have sent him in her place, because he hadn’t said anything about stopping by when she talked to him earlier. He looked as if there were a lot on his mind, as he kissed her on the cheek before sitting in one of the unoccupied chairs on the other side of the desk. He sighed deep before washing his hand over his face in an attempt wipe away the fatigue that was more than evident in his every move. His mood seemed to mirror that of his twin’s from the past week or so, distant and inattentive. Monique had begged him all week to tell her what was bothering him but he had just said that there was nothing was wrong and that she worried too much. By this time, she had given up on him finding out what was really going on with him figuring that he’d tell her in his own time.
Monique had a mountain of work to do to ensure that everyone got paid on time so she didn’t really have time to delve into just what was at the bottom of his unhappiness, so she just continued to work as he sat in silence watching her. Quite a few minutes had gone by with Velle fidgeting in his seat, shuffling papers on her desk and finally sighing deeply when Monique reached her limit with his antics and asked, “So, do you want to tell me what’s bothering you or do you want to keep on acting like a baby?”
As if he’d been waiting for her to ask he quickly responded with a question of his own, “Have you ever done something that you thought was going to help someone, but it actually ended up causing the person more pain than if you would have just stayed out of it in the first place?”
“What?” Monique replied, not sure if she fully understood what she was being asked. She continued, “No, I try to stay out of people’s business, because I want them to stay out of mine. Why are you asking?”
Velle continued, uneasy in his movements as he rested his forehead on her desk, “I did something really bad Momo. Really bad.”
“What did you do?” She asked, fear that she may be the person that he was talking about hurting made her palms sweaty and her mind race.
“I talked to my mama a couple of weeks ago, and she wanted me to break up Nikki and Justice.” He paused unsure if he should confess anymore, as he was unsure in how Monique would react. He took a deep breath and continued, “and I did it.”
Monique’s heart sank to the pit of her stomach as she asked, “How did you do that?”
“I know something that Justice doesn’t want anybody to know, so I told him that if he didn’t stop seeing Nikki then I’d tell her, as well as, the other people who are involved and don’t know about it.” He held his head up to see Monique’s disapproving face staring back at him.
“Why did you do that?” she snapped. She couldn’t believe that Nikki’s own brother was the source of all of his sister’s newfound misery. This was the missing piece to the puzzle that she and the other girls couldn’t find. Velle had threatened to tell Jay about the baby if Justice didn’t back off from Nikki and there was absolutely no way Justice could let that happen. It would ruin his family. As she stared at Velle she couldn’t believe that he would do something like that to Justice and especially to Nikki.
Neither could Nikki, who had let herself in before making her way quietly to Monique’s office. She’d seen Velle’s car in the parking lot and didn’t want to walk in on them having sex again, so she tiptoed in, that way she could just sneak back out if they were in the middle of something intimate. After hearing her brother confess that he was the one who had ruined her relationship she was livid. “Yes! Why did you do that Velle?” She said as she stormed in the room making her way over to the desk. There was more than enough shock to go around, as Nikki stood in front of her brother ready to snatch his soul for what he had done to her.
“Nikki, I can explain if-“ Velle started but was interrupted by a full out open handed slap to the face. He was stunned but not angered by her action because he pretty much expected a violent retort from her. Nikki’s temper was often paired with some kind of violent outburst and he had been the target of many of her temper tantrums. He calmly replied to her violence by trying to say, “if you will just listen-“
“Shut up! I don’t want to hear your explanation. How could you do this to me? Huh? You couldn’t find the words to tell me that my fucking husband was cheating on me but you can find the words to take away the little happiness I finally had! What happen to staying out of each other’s relationship? Tell me that, Nicholas! Say something! Don’t just sit there looking stupid now!” Nikki barked.
Velle cringed at the sound of her addressing him by his first name because that meant that she was extremely angry and that she was in no state of mind to hear anything that he had to say. She just wanted to fuss and scream until she got all of her angry feelings out but again he tried to answer her and again he was interrupted before he could finish. He started, “Mama said-“
“Mama said?” Nikki questioned, as she knew anytime those two words fell off his lips that it spelled trouble or heartache for her. Whenever Velle did something amazingly insensitive, their puppet master of a mother was always somewhere in the background pulling his strings. She continued, “Please don’t tell me that you destroyed my happiness because your mother told you to.”
Velle paused for a second, the look on his face giving her the answer that she expected. He was such a mama’s boy; anything his mother asked him to do he’d do it. “Nikki, I was trying to protect you. There are something about Just that you don’t know about and I was trying to spare you anymore pain and embarrassment.”
“What? You mean the baby.” Nikki replied, “Or that he could be the father of Robin’s little girl? Is that what you’re protecting me from cause I already knew that and I don’t give a shit? In case you and your nosey ass mama have forgot, I have a daughter too and if he’s willing to be with me with all of my Ricardo drama why can’t I be there with him through any of his?”
“Wait, you know,” Velle replied shocked by his sisters revelation. He asked, “How?”
“I heard you and Justice talking about it when I came to visit you at school. I was right in the other room lying down with Muffin while you two were talking about Robin being pregnant and him thinking it was his…everything.” Nikki said as she rolled her eyes and folded her arms.
“Well, why didn’t you say anything about it?” Velle asked.
“Cause it wasn’t any of my business. Does mama know?” She snapped.
“No!” He responded defensively. He continued, “She asked me if I knew a way that I could separate the two of you without you knowing and I told her that I could.”
“How did she even know I was seeing someone?” Nikki asked her irritation with him evident in her tone of voice.
“She asked me if you were seeing someone and I told her that I thought that you were seeing Justice.” Velle said rubbing his forehead as he listened to himself confess to telling details of his sister’s private life to his mother.
“Why the hell does she care?” Nikki asked, determined to have all of her questions answered before she went on her warpath.
“She wants you to give Ricardo another chance.” Velle said and before the look of disgusted disbelief could wash completely over her face he continued, “I didn’t want any part of that and I wasn’t going to try to help her do that either. It’s just when I was listening to her talk about how you could wind up being embarrass by another bad breakup and then knowing what I knew about Just…well, it just made sense at the time.”
“It made sense? Me giving Ricardo another chance made sense?” the rhetorical questions infused with the venom of sarcasm singed Velle with guilt, as his logic didn’t even make sense to him as he listened to himself explain it out loud. Nikki placed her clutch bag on the desk before she took a seat on the corner of the desk and said, “A year and some change ago, before you and Ms. Ladybug, here, got together; back when it was more that evident that the two of you were feeling each other. Your mother came to me and said and I quote ‘I think that little tramp that manages the salon for you is trying to weasel her little way into your brother’s pockets. She acts like she’s not interested but every time he comes around she’s all over him smiling and giggling. I want you to keep your eye on her because she’s up to no good and she’d certainly not the kind of girl we want with your brother with having a baby and no husband.’” Nikki paused for a second to gauge the responses to her story and they were just as she expected. Monique looked as if she were ready to hit the roof while Velle was embarrass because he had undoubtedly heard the same words come from his mother’s mouth. Nikki continued, “Now, I could have gone along with your mother to avoid an argument but even though I didn’t know a lot about Mo; I knew she wasn’t some gold digging tramp looking for a man to take care of her. I knew she had turned the salon around and was making money for me. I knew she was a good mother. I also knew she was a widow, whose husband had died protecting your mother’s right to judge people before she even knows them. Above all else, I knew that she could really make you happy which she has done. I hardly even knew Monique but I knew enough about her and the kind of person she was to tell your mother that she should stay out of your business and the Mo was a good girl, with good intention and that you’d be lucky to find anyone half as good to give a shit about you. Are you telling me that Justice is one of your closest friends and you couldn’t think of one reason to tell your mother that he would be a good catch for me?”
“Nikki, I didn’t think about it like that.” Velle said, “I just thought…I don’t know. Like what you’re saying is making sense right now; what mama was saying was making sense right then.”
“Let’s see how much sense it makes when she tells you that you are getting too serious with Mo and that you need to break it off. Let’s see how easy it is for you to just get rid of the person you love.” Nikki said, her tone calm but deeply saddened. She stood up, grabbing her clutch from the desk. She walked around the desk to kiss Monique, who had sat quietly through their entire exchange, on the cheek before saying, “Velle, will sign those checks for you. I gotta go.” She then walked over to her brother who rose to say something to her before she left, but she stopped him by placing her index finger over his lips before he could speak. She straightened the lapel of his jacket, tightened his tie, and dusted away imaginary specks on his sleeves before looking him in the eye and saying, “I will never forgive you for this Velle. Never!” Her movement from the office was swift and she could hear Velle pleading for her to stop as she made her way down the hall but she was technically on her official warpath so she needed to leave her brother’s presence before she said what was really on her mind. She turned her key in the lock but was kept from exiting by her brother holding the door shut with his hand over her shoulder.
“Nikki, wait,” he said, “I can fix this. Just give me a couple of days. I’ll talk to Just and I’ll make everything back like it was. Just don’t leave like this.”
Nikki just stood silently for a moment as she realized what was happening. It was the most surreal moment of her life, as she remembered having seen her parents play out this exact scenario throughout her entire childhood. Her mother would find out about a new mistress and her father would beg for a chance to make it better, which she would give him until the next time he was caught with his pants down. She had made sure to give no second chances when any of the men she had been involved with had done her wrong, but it was the most important men in her life who had been involved in the cause of her pain in some way or another. Awestruck she said, “No, no you can’t.” She turned to look at him and grimaced as she saw her father’s face staring back at her. “You can’t fix this because I’m not going to let you. You have been involved in every hurtful thing that has ever happened to me. And rather it be because you thought you were helping me or because you were just too stupid to see what was really going on, you have always ended up right where you are right now…begging me to let you make it right. What? Are you going to buy me another business? Another car? Another vacation somewhere far away so I can pretend like nothing ever happened? We have the same fucked up relationship as mom and dad. No man, not even Ricardo has caused me more pain than you Nicholas and why should I give you chances that I don’t give other men?”
“Because I’m your brother. I’m not some guy off the street out to hurt you.” Velle said completely confused by everything Nikki was saying, “What are you talking about? Brothers and sisters fight…they argue…and then they forgive each other. That’s the difference in family just regular people walking down the street.”
“Then, I guess we’re not family because I’ll never forgive you for this!” She said before she turned and pulled the door open as hard and quickly as she could. The sound of her heels clacking across the pavement as she stomped quickly to her car drowned out the sound of her brother calling her name. In a matter of seconds she was gone, the sound of her tires screeching out of the parking lot telling how angry she truly was.
As if his night could get worse, a disgruntled Monique pushed passed him on her way out. “I left the checks on the desk that you need to sign,” she said as she tried to breeze pass him.
Velle caught her quickly by the waist saying, “Wait, where are you going?”
“I’m leaving,” Monique replied. She was upset to find out what his mother truly thought of her and she angry at him for what he had done to Nikki and before she had time not to she told him what was on her mind, “And you can tell your mother to find someone else to do her damn hair. If I’m not good enough to date her son then I’m not good enough to touch her hair.”
“She doesn’t feel like that now. She says that kind of stuff about anyone I date. It’s just her way. She didn’t mean anything by it.” Velle said trying to put her mind at ease.
“Well, this is just my way.” She said snatching away from Velle’s grasp. She continued, “Justice is a good man and the only reason your mama doesn’t like him is because his aunt and uncle aren’t some wealthy movers and shakers in her upper class world, but they are good hardworking honest people who raised two brilliant boys…granted Jay is a cheating dog, he’s a good daddy with a good job and Justice is going to come back here and take this town by storm…and with Nikki they’d be like the ultimate power couple or something. As for me, I don’t need you or your money. I was doing just fine before you and I”ll be doing just fine after you find someone worthy of your mother’s approval.”
“Baby, you are letting what Nikki said get you too upset.” Velle said softly not liking where Monique’s anger was taking them.
“Damn, right I’m upset. It’s like Nikki said; what will you do when your mother says that you’ve carried on this thing with me long enough? Nikki’s your sister…your twin sister and if you can hurt your own flesh and blood like that, especially one that you shared a womb with…where does that leave me? What happens when you YOU decided that it’s in MY best interest not to see you anymore? What then Velle? I’ll just take a page from your book and do what I feel is in your best interest now. I don’t want to see you anymore. In order to save you a great deal of pressure and pain in the future, I’m ending our relationship now so that you won’t have to sit around finding excuses to do so later.”
Her words came so quickly and seemingly out of nowhere that Velle didn’t know what to say at first. She started towards the door but he wrapped his around her shoulders, squeezing her tightly as he possibly could without hurting her he whispered in her ear, “You don’t mean that Mo. Baby, tell me you don’t mean that.”
Monique was stubborn if nothing else, so when her mind was made up it was made up. She had put up her walls of defense so his words were bouncing off the concrete of her determination. She was completely repulsed by everything about him at that moment so it was easy for her to say, “Yes, I do. I do mean it and I’d thank you to get your hands off of me.”
“I can’t have both my favorite girls mad at me at the same time. You trying to leave me, Nikki don’t wanna talk to me.” He said, as the lost of control in his personal life became all too real for him.
“You should have thought about that before you made the choices you made. Besides you still have your mama. I’m sure she has someone in mind to take my place. Now, I have to go.” Monique said, her stubborn will made it easy for her to appear unmoved and unconcerned, while inside she could her heart asking her why she was doing this. She pulled herself from his grasp to turn and say, “This is what’s best for both of us.”
“Mo, I made a mistake. You acting like I did this on purpose. Like you looking for a reason to end this. I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody. It was the exact opposite…and I can’t change the way my mama feels. She just feels like she feels but that don’t have anything to do with how I feel about you.” Velle replied. He didn’t know what to say and by now, he wished that he had gone straight home like he’d started to in the first place.
“Have you told your mama that you love me?” Monique asked hoping that his answer would be yes.
But his hesitation before his answer of “No, not yet,” hurt her feelings more than she thought it would.
“Uhm, you tell my aunt that you love me all the time,” she said. She wanted to ask why but she didn’t want to know the answer. She had been wondering why he hadn’t taken her to any of his family functions or even to dinner with his parents for months now but she hadn’t wanted to do anything to spoil the bliss she’d found with him. She had let him into her life completely while he still kept her secret from his world and until now she was willing to accept that as long it the waters stayed calm between them. Maybe he was right. Maybe she had been looking for a reason to end things while praying for a reason not to. She shrugged her shoulders and said, “I love you Velle, but its over” before she turned and left the salon almost as quickly as Nikki. She would cry in the car the entire drive home.
Across town, Nikki’s car screeched to up to the front door of her mother’s estate with such urgency that it brought out both Amelia, her mother’s housekeeper, as well as Mr. George, who did everything from yard work to errands, from the house. Nikki purposely parked in front of her mother’s doorsteps. She slammed her car door and yelled for her mother before she could even click the button on her keychain to lock her car doors. Her mother opened the door and made her way onto the front porch.
She was highly upset by where her daughter had chosen to park her vehicle so she said, “Nicollette, stop yelling like that and move that car to the back. You know, I don’t like it when you park there.”
“Mother, I don’t care what you like.” Nikki snapped, as she met her mother on the porch. She had only stopped by to give her mother a piece of her mind before she went home, so she continued, “I don’t like when you keep trying to get involved in my business, but you keep doing it!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, first of all and second you’d better lower your tone and calm down when you are talking to me young lady. I’m still your mother.” Her mother snapped back.
“Whatever, mother,” Nikki said with no change to the tone of her voice, “You know good and well that you put Nicholas up to splitting Justice and I up. I just want you to know that I don’t appreciate it! I am a grown woman who can make her own decisions. I don’t care what your friends or anyone else thinks. I love Justice and we are going to be together whether you like it or not. My marriage with Ricardo is over! There’s nothing you or anybody else for that matter can say to change that! The next time you try to pull some little trick like this; you can consider it the last time you see me or Muffin. I’m tired of your meddling and your uppity ass attitude, like you’re better than everybody just because you have a little money. If you want to spend your life loving your status and material possessions to cover up the fact that the man you’re married to loves the fact that he can have you and any woman he wants on the side as long as he says he’s sorry then be my guest. I want real love and I’ll be damn if I let you or anybody else ruin that for me, mother.”
Her mother wanted to say multitude of things buy Nikki didn’t give her the chance. She stormed off the porch and off the property with the same urgency as she had arrived in. Nicollette Williams was not her mother’s daughter, right now she was the bad little girl with a dirty mouth that she’d attend to later
