sipped more wine. “For a bit.”
“I’ve got to tell you, Vanessa,” my sister began, “when I saw the news earlier, I nearly crapped my pants.”
How did you respond to that? I decided not to.
“It was so disturbing—seeing the cops all over the crime scene, hearing the gruesome details, hearing your name in association with that creep…I had to turn the TV off. I didn’t want my boys seeing that.”
“Right,” I said absently.
“Didn’t I tell you?” Nikki demanded. “Didn’t I tell you that Eli was going to hurt you sooner rather than later?”
“Nikki—”
“Not only did the jerk have a girlfriend on the side, he still had a wife.”
I reeled backward, caught off guard. “What?”
“I turned on the TV five minutes ago and there was a news crew outside Eli’s wife’s house in Atlanta. They were hoping to get a comment from her or something.”
Suddenly, I understood what was going on. And leave it to my sister to find a way to rub salt into my wound without trying to decipher fact from fiction. Nikki had a way of getting under my skin without much effort. She never approved of any guy I dated, nor most of my decisions as a parent. When I got pregnant and found myself alone, she’d chastised me for having dated Byron in the first place, instead of offering me comfort over my predicament.
Nikki married the only man she’d ever slept with, her high school sweetheart, had two children with him, and was a stay-at-home mom. I was single, parenting without any help, and couldn’t find a decent guy to save my life.
Compared to her, I was a failure. At least that’s the way she made me feel.
“Eli’s ex-wife,” I corrected her.
“Why would they be at her house if she’s his ex?” Nikki asked.
“You know the damn media. The juicier they can make this story, the better. Besides, Eli was married while he played for the Braves. I’m not surprised they would want her comment, given what’s happened.”
“You sure he didn’t lie to you about her?”
I felt a surge of anger, but drew in a deep breath to keep it under control. “Of course I’m sure. I did an Internet search when Eli and I got serious. I saw with my own eyes the articles about his marriage breaking up. Apparently it was a bitter split. And that was back in 2002.” The various archived article headings in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had all proclaimed the same thing—that Eli Johnson and his wife of six years were headed for divorce court. The headlines were all I could scan without paying a fee to read the full stories, but that had been enough. I wasn’t interested in seeing the entire articles and reading about Eli’s love affair with another woman, even if it had gone sour.
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure, but my sister sounded disappointed. “Even if he didn’t lie about being married, I knew he was a player as soon as I met him. That’s probably why he and his wife got divorced. Former professional athlete. Did you need a bigger clue than that?”
I rolled my eyes.
“Do you know how many women guys like that sleep with?”
“Nikki—”
“You remember that one basketball player—the one who bragged about sleeping with more than ten thousand women? Vanessa, you’d better get an AIDS test. Like, yesterday.”
“Nikki!”
“I say we go together tomorrow. If you’ve got AIDS, you need to know.”
“Nikki!”
She finally stopped. “What?”
I exhaled sharply. “Why can’t you just call and tell me you’re sorry that Eli’s dead? Sorry that I’m going through this? Why do you have to preach to me like you’re my mother? I’m a grown woman.”
“A grown woman who keeps making colossal mistakes with men. You worry about penis size and pretty-boy looks. That has gotten you nothing but heartache.”
“Ahh, now I get it. Morris has got a small penis. No wonder you’re so damn uptight!”
I couldn’t help the words that came from my mouth. My sister’s phone call was doing more to send me into a deep depression than to help me out of my funk.
“Fine. Lash out at me. I’m not the one who screwed around on you.”
“Do you take special pleasure in telling people ‘I told you so’? Because my fiancé just died. My fiancé. I don’t need a lecture from you. I need…” My voice broke, croaking with emotion. I did my best not to cry; she’d probably get some warped sense of satisfaction from it.
I heard her sigh. “You’re right. And I’m sorry. I…I was out of line.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s just that I love you so much. And when I see you heading for disaster—”
“Nikki,” I said firmly.
“Right. Okay, no more lectures. And I am sorry this happened to you. I might have had my doubts about him, but I really was hoping that Eli was the one.”
“So was I.”
“What have you told Rayna?”
“Nothing. I don’t know what to tell her.”
“The good thing is she’s young. She’ll bounce back from this in no time.”
“You think so?” I asked. “Because I’m so worried that she’s going to be scarred. One minute, she’s got a daddy. The next, he’s gone, and she won’t understand why.”
“She’ll be fine,” Nikki said. “Not that she won’t be upset at all, or confused, but this won’t have a lasting effect on her. She’ll grow up and not even remember Eli.”
Such a blunt statement, and yet a valid one. “I guess that’s a good thing,” I said. “Even if it doesn’t exactly sound like it.”
“I’m not trying to be crass. Just letting you know that she won’t be scarred emotionally because of this. And hopefully you’ll meet someone great who’ll become a fabulous daddy for her.”
“I can’t even think beyond the moment, much less consider the idea that I might meet someone else.”
“I know. I’m just saying—”
“I know what you’re saying. You’re actually trying to make me feel better.” Score one for Nikki.
A moment of silence passed. Then Nikki asked, “You had no clue he was stepping out on you?”
“You think I’d stay with him if I knew he
