No Turning Back (The Traveler)

  “Gabrielle Stevens was a fine, hardworking woman, who gave her all in service to the Louisville community and to the state of Kentucky. She was a tireless agitator for social good, a working mother, a diligent lobbyist, and a loyal friend to everyone who knew her …”

  As the mayor continued, attorney Christopher Burnett shifted in his stance, feeling uneasy. He had received an unexpected visit at his law office toward the end of the week that had unnerved him. He looked around, wondering where his unforeseen visitor was standing amongst the crowd. He had assumed the woman would attend the burial; he figured he had just not located her yet.

  The distracted attorney peered over his right shoulder and quickly swiveled his head forward. In the crowd behind him, he had spotted who he was looking for: a striking African-American woman. She had visited him at his office that week and had scared the professional life out of him. And she had plenty of legal information to validate her cause.

  Standing tall and stately, two rows back, she blended into the crowd in her black suit and heels. She was the same athletically built woman who had bought a Mary J. Blige CD from Gary’s record store a week ago. Taylor and Gary hadn’t notice her or nearly anyone else in the crowd. But Burnett couldn’t stop himself from thinking about her.

  Who the hell is she? he pondered.

  She seemed overly physical at his office, and she crowded his buffer space with a message that “protective eyes” would be watching over him to make sure he handled Gary’s estate properly. She had told with such poise and authority that he was forced to take her warning seriously. Then she had left him standing there with no name, phone number or anything.

  “… and although Gabrielle will surely be missed by us all, may the spirit of her work continue to guide us and set an example of community service for years to come,” the mayor concluded in his speech.

  Gabrielle’s coffin was lowered into the ground amidst a barrage of colorful roses that were thrown onto her descending coffin, but her son was still unmoved by it.

  Standing beside him, Gary’s aging Tennessean grandmother took a deep breath and wiped her tears with a small tissue. She was nearly seventy with thick gray hair and the hard, lined face of a stern woman. She observed her tall and sturdy grandson and nodded to him. Although he appeared rugged and independent, she still regarded him as a young man in need of family love and guidance.

  “Well, I guess now we can finally get you back down to Jackson and have you get acquainted with all of your relatives,” she commented as they returned to the black limousines and Lincoln Town Cars that had brought them to the burial site. “We all couldn’t make the trip up here this weekend, you know,” his grandmother added.

  She was obviously a strong matriarch of the family. No one spoke before she did. She seemed to make all of the rules too.

  Gary’s grandfather Stevens walked beside her, a tall and rugged man himself of a few words. His stiff gait made him look uncomfortable in his black suit and dress shoes. He looked more like a blue-jeans- and short-sleeved-shirt-wearing man who preferred a pair of comfortable and worn boots. He might have even worn a cowboy hat over his full head of striking gray hair. He served as a prelude to what Gary could look like in fifty years.

  Gary’s Tennessean aunts, uncles and cousins all followed behind them. But he was too unfamiliar with them to know who they all were. He figured he had a lot of catching up to do.

  In the middle of the departing crowd, Burnett continued to scan for the mysterious woman, but she had disappeared.

  Back inside the limousine of immediate family members that included Gary, Melissa and Taylor, Gary was addressed by his most familiar aunt. Mary Anna was the oldest of six Stevens children and was the next in line to power, where Gabrielle had been a defiant third. Gary assumed his oldest aunt would become the next matriarch of the family after his grandmother passed. Mary was already more boisterous than her easygoing husband.

  She said, “So, Gary, when are you planning to come on down to Tennessee to see us?” Before he could answer her, she sized up Melissa. “And who is this here—your girlfriend? Well, she’s pretty enough.”

  Melissa smiled and said, “Thank you.”

  “Now y’all gon’ do the right thing and get married before ya have kids, am I right?”

  Melissa looked at Gary in shock. She had no idea the question was coming or how to respond to it.

  Taylor held back his laugh. Melissa was far from ready to handle Gary’s straight-shooting family. Their Tennessean candor was a family strength that Gary and his mother had benefitted from with their own independence and willfulness. One couldn’t afford to be bashful in the Stevens family, or at least not with the women. The men all seemed to be more doers than talkers, a direct contrast to Gary, who loved to talk.

  “We’re not quite there yet,” he told his vicarious aunt.

  His grandmother eyed him sternly. “Well, don’t you make that mistake when you get on down on that road, you hear? Now we don’t need this to happen to another generation. It’s already bad enough that you’ve been away from us for this long.”

  Melissa looked into Gary’s green eyes and could feel the oxygen being sucked out of the limo. No wonder he had been so uninterested in his family. If she had learned anything about Gary, she understood that he wouldn’t allow anyone to dictate his plans. From what she could establish from his family’s conversations, his mother had obviously broken from their ranks, and they were dead set on pulling Gary back into the fold.

  Gary read Melissa’s look of concern and grinned at her. He figured he could handle himself just fine. He looked over at his grandfather, his uncle-in-law, one of his younger male cousins, and even his friend Taylor, and he presumed that he would never be the silent man who obediently went along with someone else’s agenda, including his family’s.

  Gary thought, I still don’t know who my father is, but I don’t believe it’s in my genes to be like these mules over here. And my mother didn’t raise me to be like them. So I’ll be glad to disappoint them all.

  He spoke up and said, “I’m not thinking about getting married at all, to be honest with you.” He added in jest, “I’m thinking maybe I’ll just have Stevens babies all around the world. I can make sure to spread our Tennessee seed from here to Australia.”

  Taylor was ready to explode with anxiety in his seat. Jesus Christ! He’s still crazy!

  Melissa cracked a smile. She didn’t necessarily like Gary’s joke to sire numerous offspring around the world, but she did respect his determination to uphold his independence. It was his way of remaining true to himself at his family’s expense. Expecting him to accept anything less would be a violation of his constitution. So Melissa felt proud of him, even though his indomitable liberty would be in opposition to her own intentions for family.

  To Gary’s surprise, the Stevens men regarded his off-the-cuff remarks as amusing. The three of them grinned, guardedly, inside of the limo, from his grandfather down to his younger cousin. It was a fervent man’s unfathomable dream to sow his seed across the globe, even for them. So to hear their bodacious relative claim it-even in jest-was an unspoken victory for them all.

  However, Gary’s grandmother was quick and fierce to shoot down his absurdity.

  “I can’t believe you even said anything like that for everyone to hear,” she told him. “Is that how my daughter raised you to speak out around women? You keep that whoremonger talk to yourself or you save it for the men’s locker room. But I not gonna stand to hear that kind of talk around my daughters and granddaughters. Do you hear me, Gary?”

  Gary grinned. “Yes, Ma’am.” He didn’t see the point in a further confrontation with her. He had already said his piece, and he decided that he would go nowhere near his roots in Tennessee. As far as he was concerned, he was Kentucky born and bred and he vowed to keep it that way.

  “I can’t say I blame you for not wanting to get close to that family,” Melissa admitted back at Gary’s loft that evening.
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  He was stretched out on his king-size bed with her, still dressed in their formal clothes from the funeral. But Melissa’s company was more sweet than sexual. She wanted to let him know that she supported him without ulterior motives. She accepted him for who he was now.

  “I really do appreciate you guys looking after me this past week,” Gary said, then added with a chuckle, “You even took off a few sick days from work.”

  Melissa smiled, softly. “Yeah, anything you need.”

  Gary wished it could that simple, but it wasn’t. He actually needed some time alone, but how could he tell that to a beautiful woman who was draped all over him in bed?

  “Yeah,” he moaned as she continued to hold on to him in bed. “But I ahh … really need to clear my head alone for a minute, if you don’t mind. It’s been a long day and a long week.”

  It took a lot out of him to tell her that. He could feel Melissa’s heart against his chest, but needing space alone was how he really felt at the moment.

  Melissa nodded into his arm and shoulder. “I understand. But you call me if you feel an urge to talk to someone, okay? About anything.”

  Gary nodded back to her. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”

  Once Melissa climbed out of his bed and left him alone with his thoughts, the absence of his mother finally began to sink in on him.

  What in the world am I going to do without you, Mom? he asked himself. I’m sure you left me with more than enough in your estate to live for a few years. But without you …

  He stopped and shook his head. He surely didn’t plan to settle in with his family in Tennessee. That was not going to happen. He was already set in his own ways.

  And Melissa … ?

  She’s beautiful and very supportive of me; I just don’t want to hurt her. And unfortunately, I can’t make her any promises that I won’t.

  He remained in bed and stared up at the tall ceiling, considering everything. He had inherited his mother’s four-bedroom house to care for in St. Matthews. But he could barely keep his one-room loft in order. He figured he would hire a cleaning service to maintain the house. He even pondered selling it, but he feared that his mother would roll over in her grave.

  I bet Melissa would love it there, he assumed. She didn’t even get a chance to meet my mother.

  As he continued to mull over his pressing issues concerning his estate, attorney Christopher Burnett called him on his iPhone.

  Gary read the number and exhaled. “Okay, what does he want now? He just won’t let all of this paperwork go.”

  He decided to ignore the call until the attorney rang him a second and third time.

  “What the hell?” Gary snapped before he finally answered his cell. Irritated, he barked, “What is it, man? I’m still mourning over here, for crying out loud. What do you want from me? I haven’t read the paperwork yet, all right?”

  The attorney paused and remained calm. He said, “It’s not about the paperwork, Gary. It’s actually about your father.”

  Gary went silent with a paused.

  “What about him?” he asked. “Well, a woman walked into my office before the funeral this week. And she had an awful lot of information on you and your mother—information that only an insider would have.”

  “Okay, so what are you saying? You think she has something to do with my father?”

  “I believe so. She’s obviously representing a very discreet client, and she said that they’ll be watching us,” the attorney answered him. “She was sent to me on very specific terms regarding your future.”

  “My future?”

  “I’ll let her explain it to you,” Burnett commented. “She wants to meet you tomorrow morning at my office at eleven.”

  Gary thought about it. “And what if I decided not to meet her?”

  Burnett paused over the line. “I don’t think she’s going to leave me alone until she speaks to you. In depth,” he added. “She even showed up at the funeral today. You remember seeing a tall black woman alone in her thirties? She looks like a very attractive soldier or an athlete or something, just very well built and physical. She just fills out the room when she’s in it. And not just physically, but mentally. She’s very sharp, very confident.””

  The woman had obviously sunk her teeth into him, and he respected her threat.

  Gary thought before he answered him. Could it be? He imagined the same woman who had bought an album from his record store, who he remembered from the Louisville weight room. She fit the description—a tall, attractive, and athletic black woman of physical presence and power.

  Nah, he’s not talking about her, he decided. I didn’t see her at the funeral anyway. But I wasn’t looking for her.

  “No,” he finally answered the attorney. Gary had not paid attention to a lot of people at his mother’s funeral that morning, and he had met tons of strangers, including his own family members. He had no time to notice one person. He had taken in entire groups of people that morning.

  “Well, she wants to see you,” Burnett commented. “And she seems all business. So I would advise us both to make the necessary arrangements to get this out of the way. After all, you do want to find out more about your father, right?”

  It was an obvious question. How many children would deny information about a parent who had been missing in action for twenty-six years?

  Gary stalled again with his answer. “How do we even know that this woman’s for real? I mean, what is she, a private investigator or something?”

  “I don’t know, but she seems important,” Burnett remarked. “Who knows who she’s working for? But she carries herself very professionally, and she knows her facts about you.”

  Gary was at least curious about it. “So, what’s her name?”

  “Jonah Brown. But she told me to call her J.B., like the black football announcer from Fox. I’m willing to bet that’s not her real name though.”

  Gary deliberated for another minute. There was no way he would turn down an opportunity to learn more about his father. He also wanted to appear hard-boiled and ready for anything.

  “Okay, you tell Jonah Brown that I’ll meet her at your office then. And tell her to make sure he has something good to tell us, especially if she can’t wait until Monday morning.”

  “Agreed,” the attorney told him.

  As soon as Gary was introduced to Jonah Brown at the law office, he immediately recognized her as the woman who had been in his store and the Louisville University weight room. Gary wasted no time boring into her with his questions.

  “Okay, so what, you’ve been following me all this time? What are you—a stalker? Who do you work for? Do you know my father?”

  He was grilling her harshly and was pressed for answers. And Burnett was right: In a woman’s dark-blue suit, she took on a commanding presence.

  She remained calm in her chair and crossed her legs, wearing sheer stockings with low, dark heels.

  She said, “I understand how emotional this must be for you. But I’m only here to help.”

  Gary read her concerned face and asked her the obvious question: “Why?”

  “Because I’ve been asked to. It’s my job,” she answered civilly. “But now I feel that you really need it. You’ve been through a lot this past week.”

  She had a familiar confidence and stateliness about her, as if she had known him for years.

  Gary took in her words and her calm demeanor and began to believe in her immediately. He was now certain that she was no fly-by-night woman. Burnett was right again. She knew things, and she played a strong game of poker herself. There was no bluffing her hand.

  “So, you do know my father,” he stated, confident himself.

  She nodded to him and carefully folded her hands in front of her chin. “Yes. I know your father very well.”

  Suddenly, both men were all ears. How did she know his father and in what way were they connected?

  Jonah read their masculine and sexual assumptions and quickly corrected
them.

  “No, I don’t know him like that, I know him as a business man,” she stated firmly.

  Gary grinned. “Like father, like son,” he quipped. He would have surely come on to Jonah sexually had he been an older man. He liked her as a younger man, he and Taylor. But it was obvious that she would never respond to their flirtations. She seemed to be about business only.

  She looked at the smiling attorney and added, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to speak to him in private a minute.”

  Burnett was stunned. “You’re asking me to leave my own office?”

  Jonah didn’t bother to even answer him.

  Gary eyed the attorney and said, “Come on, man.” He could tell that she wouldn’t budge. He already knew her type. It was her way or nothing. He could read it in her determined eyes.

  Burnett got the point from both of them and stood up to leave. Gary could be as determined to have his way as the stranger was. They were both spoiled.

  Yeah, they deserve each other, he thought with a grin.

  “All right, I’ll go out and grab a sandwich or something.”

  Once he cleared out, Gary asked her, “Is it that serious? What’s so secretive about him?”

  Jonah didn’t flinch or smile. She took a breath and answered, “Yes, it is. Your father’s a very important man who likes to keep his privacy.”

  “Is that right?” Gary responded sarcastically. He felt more comfortable with her in private, and he spoke his mind as always.

  But his frequent sarcasm vexed her. She said, “I know how much you like to play hard ball, but how smart can you be? Now, I’m here to give you some important information, but I need you to be ready to receive it. Are you?”

  Gary chilled out and nodded. “Okay. Tell me something I don’t know,” he told her. “Who’s my old man?”

  Jonah nodded back to him. She asked, “Have you ever stopped to wonder how your mother was able to afford so many of your extracurriculars?”

  “Yeah, she loved me, and she worked hard for it,” Gary answered.