CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

When they arrived back in Philly, Charles showered in a guest room bathroom downstairs and then made his way upstairs to Jenay. Out on the upstairs balcony off from the bedroom designated as their own personal suite when Mick first had the house built, she was relaxing on a lounger. Charles stood at the French door, in jeans and a sweatshirt, and watched her, without her seeing him, for a prolonged time.

With earbuds in her ears she was, he was certain, listening to her music. She loved music. All kinds of music. It was her happy place. And she looked so serene and at peace out on that balcony. He didn’t have the heart to tell her what had to be done next, but he knew it had to come from him.

For the past few years with her bouts of hospitalizations, they’d been on a rollercoaster that didn’t need any additional energy, but it came anyway. In the form of that shooting. That death notice. And then, the joy of her return. But even in the joy of her return, it was still a lot.

But he couldn’t fall apart. He had to be strong for her and Mick too. He had to do what he had to do to get Gloria back home. There were no two ways about that with Charles.

He inhaled, exhaled, and then went out onto the balcony.

When Jenay saw that he had returned in one piece, she smiled and removed her earbuds. “You’re back!” She reached her arms out for him the way she used to do when they first got married, and he gladly went into those arms. They kissed first, and then embraced. And then he lifted her off of that lounger, sat down himself, and then with her back to his front, she leaned against him. He wrapped his arms around her from the back. And they just sat there.

But when he didn’t say anything, she leaned her head up and to the side, and looked back at him. The older he got, she believed the better looking he got. She’d never met a man more attractive inside and out. “How did it go? Is Gloria okay?”

Charles didn’t immediately respond. Jenay knew what that meant. But instead of losing her own cool, which wouldn’t help his distress one bit, she turned back around and relaxed against him again. Then she waited for him to speak.

“Aristotle has Gloria,” he said.

Jenay’s entire body tightened. But she said nothing. She knew her husband. She knew there was more.

“In exchange for Gloria’s safe return, he wants Bella.” Jenay held her breath. “And me,” he added.

Jenay turned back around quickly when he said those two words. That news rocked her. “ You ? Or did you volunteer to take Mick’s place?”

Charles shook his head. “He doesn’t want Mick. He wants me.”

“But why, Charlie?”

“I don’t know why. How would I know why, Jenay? We don’t know what his fucked-up mind is thinking.”

“But is he that professor Oz was talking about?”

Charles nodded. “Yes. We went to his house in Tallahassee. It exploded.”

“ Exploded ?”

“None of us were hurt, thank God, but yes.” He didn’t tell her how close a call it was. “He said Glo trusts him, which was further evidence that Aristotle is the one. Then he phoned Mick, while we were still on the scene, and made his demands.”

“Did you contact FSU to get any intel on him?”

Charles nodded. “Mick did that on the plane.”

“And?”

“His security chief provided us with all the names of the professors in the History department. Oz didn’t remember his real name, but when he saw the list, he recognized the name right away. But when Mick’s security chief text over the face of the name Oz recognized, the face didn’t match. Which meant Oz either had the name wrong, which he insisted he didn’t, or more likely Aristotle was pretending to be somebody he knew would check out on background. There was no picture of the professor he chose online anywhere. We only got the pic through Mick’s channels. But that’s probably why Aristotle chose who he chose. Because he knew Oz or Glo would run background, and it had to check out.”

“But why would a man like him, who’s supposedly the richest man in the world, spend two to three months tutoring Gloria and going to all those lengths just to kidnap her? Why didn’t he just kidnap her?”

“The same reason he would rather torment Mick than take him out. We don’t know why,” Charles admitted. “The only thing I know is that Gloria has to come home to the family. Safe and sound.”

Jenay continued to stare at her husband. “But Charlie, you’ve been through enough. We’ve been through enough. You can’t.”

“I have to, Jenay.”

“But maybe if they--”

“No, babe. No. There’s no other way. Our children come first. That’s been the guiding star of my whole life, and it’s not going to change now because it’s inconvenient. We’ve got to get Gloria out of that madman’s clutches. Period,” he added.

They stared at each other with a look of regret on their faces. Deep-seated regret.

“When?” she asked him.

“Tomorrow. We don’t know the time nor place yet.”

Jenay turned back around and leaned her back against his front as tears began to appear in her eyes. She married an honorable man. And that was what honorable men did.

She swallowed her fear and spoke again. “You do what’s right,” she said to him. “That’s what the man I took a chance on and married would do.” Then she turned and looked at him. “I got you.”

Charles smiled and she smiled, even though both of them were in agony. And then she turned back around.

Charles pressed the button on the side table that took her music from her earbuds to be heard in the entire space. And it was The Pretenders singing the Steinberg/Hynde/Kelly-penned I’ll Stand by You :

“Oh, why you look so sad?

Tears are in your eyes.

Come on and come to me now.

Don’t be ashamed to cry.

Let me see you through.

Cause I’ve seen the dark side too.

When the night falls on you.

You don’t know what to do.

Nothing you confess.

Could make me love you less.

I’ll stand by you.

I’ll stand by you.

Won’t let nobody hurt you.

I’ll stand by you.”

Charles turned Jenay around and pulled her into his arms, holding her as tightly as his devastated eyes were closed. It wasn’t that he was afraid to go. That wasn’t it at all. But he was afraid to leave Jenay. After all she’d been through, she needed him. And what being without her all those months also taught him: He needed her more. But duty called Charles once again. And like the story of his life since he was a kid raising his younger siblings, and then raising his sons as a single parent, he had no choice in the matter.

“I’ll stand by you.

I’ll stand by you.

Won’t let nobody hurt you.

I’ll stand by you.”