Betrayed by Suzetta Perkins Page B

other.”
    â€œJohn, you’re telling a big, fat lie. I probably wasn’t gone two minutes before you dismissed me and were on your way to your next conquest.”
    â€œNo, I beg to differ. It was five minutes.” They laughed. “At any rate, I moved on with life. My first marriage was to a girl that I went to high school with. We dated off and on, kept in touch, and when I finished college, I got my first job with a pharmaceutical company, got married, and had a son whose name is Julian. He’s attending Xavier…wants to practice medicine.”
    â€œGood for him. And what about your second wife?”
    â€œWell, she was my rebound bride. My first wife had an affair with another guy who also went to high school with us. She left me for him. At first, I was devastated. I was truly in love with that woman, Mimi. I thought it would last forever, but apparently I was wrong. So Deborah, my second wife, scooped me up, baggage and all. It was destined for failure. But I’m a better person today. Don’t think I’ll do the marriage thing again.”
    Mimi smiled and looked away, letting go of some faraway thought.
    â€œSo what about you, Miss Setrine Allen, better known as Mimi, the girl with the golden voice?”
    Mimi dropped her head momentarily, then brought it up and smiled. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you decided to get married. I’ve often thought how life with you would have been. Don’t get me wrong; I do love my life now. After leaving Central, I went to Virginia and finished my degree at Hampton. That’s where I met my husband, Raphael. He was an ROTC cadet. We got married in the winter of my sophomore year and I became Mrs. Setrina Bailey. Raphael was commissioned as an Army officer right out of college and immediately, I became a military spouse. We have one daughter, and her name is Afrika.”
    â€œDifferent, pretty,” John said. “I like that. So did you ever do any singing? I thought for sure you were going to record on some big record label and give Whitney and Mariah a run for their money.”
    â€œI…I thought about it, but my life as an officer’s wife was somewhat demanding.”
    â€œHold up. Had your husband not heard your voice? Girl, you know you had some pipes on you. Any man who’d stand in the way of you realizing your dreams is a fool.”
    â€œNo, it wasn’t like that at all. Raphael was behind me, if that’swhat I had wanted to do. At first, he was a little reluctant, but I had the green light. I was offered a contract with Arista Records… but I turned it down.”
    â€œMimi, were you on drugs? You could’ve been living large.”
    â€œI have everything I need—a wonderful husband and a beautiful daughter. I dote on them.”
    â€œThat’s why I liked you,” John said, staring at Mimi as if he’d just discovered who she was. “You were simple but elegant. You didn’t need a lot to make you happy. Now, I would’ve pushed you into that recording contract. And, Mimi, you would’ve had ten platinum records hanging in the den by now. But this ain’t about me.
    â€œSo besides being a mother and an officer’s wife, what else did you do? What was your degree in?”
    â€œMy degree was in elementary education. I taught elementary school for a while, but later, when my husband moved up in the ranks, I stopped working. It was somewhat taboo for an officer’s wife to work. You supported him and the wives of his command. I was busy volunteering for this and that, and believe it or not, I rather enjoyed it. Plus, I had Afrika to take care of, and when she went to school, she was involved in everything from A to Z.”
    â€œSounds like a cozy environment.”
    â€œIt agreed with me,” Mimi said and smiled. “And I love my husband.”
    John seemed to soak in Mimi’s words as he went from talkative to quiet.