Ricardo had always been Mama Williams’ favorite of any boy Nikki had ever brought home. His parents were good people; the son of a prominent female realtor, who even though she had been a single mother for the better part of his life had met and married a very prominent doctor, thus cementing her position in the community. He, himself was as charming as a man could ever want to be and the way he doted over Nikki while in her presence assured her that he was truly in love with her daughter. He was a brilliant father to her granddaughter, not to mention that he was more than attentive to his mother-in-law; there wasn’t a thing that she asked him that he wouldn’t do. He was very attractive and before Nikki became so spiteful, he was well employed with a growing Network Security firm, so it was no wonder that these desperate single women were all over him. He was what every woman wanted, good looking, employed and heterosexual. Every man had wandering eyes and she, herself had dealt with her own husband’s infidelity a time or two in her thirty years of marriage. It was just something a woman had to come to terms with. All men cheated at one time or another but that was certainly no reason to throw away the life that two committed people were trying to make with each other.
Mama Williams was very old school and even though she had tried to raise her daughter think the way that she did, Nikki was a totally different kind of woman. She didn’t believe in second chances for cheating partners and though she was a daddy’s girl, she made no secret about how she felt about her father’s extramarital affairs. She also minced no words when expressing how naïve she thought her mother was to believe that all men cheated and that that belief alone should serve as an excuse for being fool enough to overlook his indiscretions. Nikki believed whole-heartedly that a man would only do what the woman in his life allows him to do. If a man cheats on a woman once and she turns a blind eye to it or even worse continues the relationship with no recourse for the man, then the man knows that he can cheat again with no fear of any kind of repercussions. There were always repercussions when it came to a man cheating on Nikki and it always involved something that not only embarrassed the man in question but also her mother who was bombarded with questions about whatever over the top revenge Nikki had taken out on the poor guy.
Yes, Nikki and her mother had two entirely different takes on love and marriage but they both saw eye to eye when it came to family so in hopes of keeping her daughter’s family in tact, Mama Williams had called Velle to discuss just how to do it. News had trickled back to her about how the truth had finally come out that Ricardo was not the father of his mistress’ child, which meant that it would be that much easier for Nikki to forgive him and repair their marriage for the sake of their daughter. But she had also gotten wind of Nikki’s relationship with some unknown man and she knew that if anybody knew who this man was that it was her son, Velle. She knew her children shared everything and even though her daughter had been tight lipped with her about who the man in her life was; she knew without a doubt that her son would know which meant she was about to find out.
Velle was a good boy, so when she called she knew he would come with no questions asked. He showed up for lunch with his mother promptly at one o’clock at her three hundred year old plantation home, just as he had been asked. She frowned as he had parked his car in view of the main entrance, leaving it in full view anyone driving by the estate, which was one of her many pet peeves. She decided to overlook it this time because she had a task to set him on but she would surely bring it up after he had done her bidding. He moved up the walk way like silk stockings over a freshly shaven leg. Smoothly. He was his father’s boy, no doubt about it, calm, confident and force to be seen. He had always been a handsome boy, now a handsome man, with a charming personality and the obedience that only a mother could appreciate. In fact, as a child he had done several print ads for everything from diapers to grape juice; an accomplishment that as an adult he preferred she keep completely quiet about.
Yes, she and her husband had created some beautiful babies, which was the only thing he had asked of her in their thirty years of marriage. She on the other hand had been full of demands and short of patience, which had made for some volatile times in their relationship but she had been able to hold onto the marriage, not to mention the social standing she'd worked so hard to obtain. As far as social standing and just who had how much clout within the community, the only person with more pull than her was Melody Montgomery and it was so small that she wasn’t too bothered by it, though she was bothered. Besides, her daughter had managed to stomp over several longtime social climbers as she made her way to the top of the social latter. There weren’t too many people who didn’t know who Nicollette Resont-Williams was and who more importantly, who had given birth to her. Still, a woman with social aspirations needed to have her family life designed a certain way, such as, a well-employed husband with well-rounded children. A career-minded, dating, single parent divorcee was not anywhere in the design she had created for either of her children’s lives. She was only tolerating Velle dating this single parent because he was a young man sowing his primal oats.
“Hey Ma,” Velle said as he made his way of the steps to meet his mother who was standing just outside the door of her colonial estate.
She cringed at the sound of him calling her “Ma”, a habit she had been trying to break since he ever started talking. She was his mother, not his Ma. She snapped, “I told you about calling me that. I’m your mother. What is a Ma? I don’t even know what that word means and neither do you before you try to explain.” She raised her hand in an attempt to close his mouth before he could school her on his dialect.
Not feeling like starting a futile war of words, Velle conceded by simply giving his mother a kiss on the cheek and saying, “Sorry Mother. You said had something important that you need me to do.” She smiled at her son’s willingness to please her. He was a good boy. She had no doubt that he’d do whatever she asked of him and it is that faith in him that would have her ask him to betray his sister in a way he never would on his own.
He was free and clear to pursue his ex-wife. Ricardo figured he would just use the same boyish wit and charm to win his Nikki back that he had used the first time. He’d just stroll in her office, unannounced of course, and lay down the sweetest game a player could conjure on her. His teeth were gleaming and the waves in his hair were spinning. He was wearing her favorite cologne and his best designer labels, which he was able to afford again due to an act of kindness by his estranged wife. She had talked her uncle into giving him his old job back at slightly lower pay, but still she had taken the time to help him become re-employed with a company that gave him a title and more importantly the ability to pay his bill, so there had to be some kind of feelings there.
He had come at a time when he was sure that her assistant would be out to lunch, not able to cock block as she had been notorious for doing over the last several weeks. Even though charming his way passed the front desk receptionist had been a breeze, he still dreaded the sight of seeing Nikki’s trollish gatekeeper, keeping watch outside her majesty’s door. He exhaled a sigh of relief at the sight of her empty desk, outside of Nikki’s office. Her deserted post afforded him the opportunity to literally stroll right in an unsuspecting Nikki.
“Let me go. Ricardo just walked into my office. I’ll talk to you later, Boo. Can’t wait to see you either! Bye Baby.” Nikki said wrapping up her conversation on the phone before even acknowledging Ricardo’s presence. She hung up the phone before settling back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest, ready to listen to whatever bull Ricardo had dragged in from the pastures today. He just showed up at her job unless he wanted something, but what else did he want from her? She had already rescued him from that hellhole of a job at the cable company, so more could he want from an ex-wife? She cocked her head to one side and smugly asked, “What is it now, Ricardo? What are you doing here?”
“Who was that on the phone?” Ricardo asked, somewhat upset by the idea that the woman he was no longer married to may possibly be dating again.
“Uhm, that’s none of your business.” Nikki replied feeling no need to communicate the details of her life to a man that she no longer had any romantic ties to. There was a point in time that she would have been turned on by Ricardo’s inquiry into the “who” and “where” of her life but that time had long since passed, so now she just found his questions intrusively rude. She rolled her eyes as she again inquired into his being in her office unannounced saying, “What are you doing here? What is it? You can’t take Muffin this weekend because if that’s it that’s fine because she wants to go to a sleepover at a friends house this weekend anyway, so don’t worry about it.”
“No, this isn’t about Muffin. This is about us…you and me…getting back together.” Ricardo said unsure if he should even be saying the words to her after hearing her little exchange on the phone with some unknown person but it was most definitely a man. Was she dating? It sure as hell sounded like it just from the tell end of the conversation that he had been able to catch.
Nikki’s laughter sounded cruel as it filled the room with the joy of a thing called Karma. She could hardly pull herself together, she was so tickled by the words and the sheer audacity of this man to stand in her office and even suggest that there would be a chance that the two of them would get back together. Ricardo had burnt the bridge to the utopia that was there “love” to the ground a long ago and in his absence a new one had been erected by a more worthy prince charming. The look of rejection on Ricardo’s face made her feel badly about her response to his comment, so she gathered herself together, stopping her laughter but still with an enormous smile on her face she said, “I’m sorry, that was uncalled for.”
“What so damn funny?” Ricardo demanded. He was embarrassed and again somehow Nikki had made him feel like a clown, without so much as a word. He resented her ability to do that. He was there to put his family back together not to provide comedic relief for her, but he could see that he may be a little to late to salvage any kind of emotional relationship with her. He still wanted his questions answered so he continued, “And who was that on the phone? Are you dating somebody? You better not-“
Before he could finish his statement Nikki chimed in saying, “Yes, I’m dating someone. What? Did you think that I’d be sitting here waiting on you to decide what was best for me? You made that decision when you cheated on me with someone who was supposed to be my friend. Now, I don’t want to talk anymore about who’s right and who’s wrong because at this point, I really don’t care. When we first separated, I was hurt to my heart so I wanted you to hurt like I was hurting, which is why I tried to take everything I had ever given you back but I was wrong for that…and for that I’m sorry. But, I’m not sorry that we are no longer married because I realized a long time ago that we weren’t meant to be. Our time together is done but we have a beautiful baby girl to show for and for that to you I am truly grateful, but I would never want to be Mrs. Ricardo Resont again. It wouldn’t be what’s best for either of us.”
“Nikki, how do you know it won’t work if you won’t even give it a chance? I made a mistake…I made a serious mistake but; Nikki I’m only human. Don’t I deserve another chance?” Ricardo replied not willing to give up just because she had made her little speech. He was trying to hang onto his dream of an ideal family with a woman that afforded him everything that he could have ever wanted financially.
“What you deserve is to find someone who loves you as much as my man loves me or better yet to love someone as much as I love this man. It’s a beautiful thing, baby boy; a beautiful thing.” Nikki said feeling the love for her man in every word she spoke.
“Nikki, I did love you…do love you. I know that you were upset about that baby thing, but that kid isn’t even mine. So-“ Ricardo started.
Nikki wasn’t a girl to blame anything on a child so she quickly took offense to her husband trying to use the baby as the reason for their breakup. She again interrupted in a more stern voice, “Wait a minute! You are not about to sit up in here and put the deterioration of our marriage on an innocent child. It was the infidelity of the parents that put the nail in the coffin that was our marriage. This marriage was over whether the child was yours or not. Even if I would have taken you back, the trust was gone so we would have never made it. Just prolonging the inevitable. You’re a great father, Rico; one of the best daddies a girl could be blessed with but you’re not a good husband.” She waited for a minute, not sure what or if she should say anything else. She knew how much the “ideal” family meant to him but she also knew that his father not being there was the root of desire to stay married no matter what. She just wanted him to see that being a good father had nothing to do with being married to the mother of your children or hanging onto a person you could really care less about. She stood up planning to go over to him to offer him some kind of comfort but before she could get up from her chair completely, Ricardo turned and abruptly stormed out of her office without so much as a “goodbye”. Nikki sat back down feeling a little queasy. She believed whole heartedly in Karma so she hoped that she had handled that situation the same way she would want it handled with her. Karma was a bitch…one even more vicious than herself.
