God Don't Make No Mistakes by Mary Monroe Page B

through this with as little pain as possible. I don’t know what the hell you want me to do or say now. I can’t change what’s already happened. But I don’t see why we can’t continue to move forward with our plans to repair our marriage. I still love you, and I always will. Ain’t no woman in the world ever goin’ to take your place.”
    â€œDon’t make me laugh!” I guffawed, long and loud. “Hello? Another woman has already taken my place,” I snapped. I thought about the comment that Muh’Dear had made about Lizzie possibly giving Pee Wee the son he’d always wanted. It made me want to scream my lungs out. “I don’t know why you keep acting like it’s business as usual between us. After what you did, things are never going to be the same between us again.”
    â€œSay what? Now, you hold on there, woman! After what I did? In the first place, I didn’t bust up our marriage by myself. Don’t put all of the blame on me. Don’t forget that you are the one who started messin’ us up first!”
    â€œListen, Romeo, as far as I’m concerned, this conversation is over.”
    â€œWe can finish it at the café.” Pee Wee sounded like a man twice his age. It suddenly dawned on me that he would be close to his late sixties by the time Lizzie’s baby finished high school. And so would I. That thought turned my stomach.
    â€œWe are finished. There is nothing else to say. Don’t bother going to the café, because I won’t be meeting you there this time—or any other time. Now that I know Lizzie is pregnant, I know what I have to do. You’ll be hearing from my attorney.”
    â€œWhat? I—I—what do you mean by that? Annette, all I know is that the woman is pregnant. I don’t even know if that baby really is mine! I won’t know until Lizzie has it, and I can get a blood test done. That’s supposed to be pretty accurate.”
    â€œWhat if you find out the baby is yours? Then what?”
    Pee Wee hesitated; then he said: “I’ll love that baby and treat it as good as I treat Charlotte.”
    Pee Wee was the most successful black barber in Richland. And he had inherited a few properties from his late grandparents in Erie, Pennsylvania. We had both invested wisely over the years, so our estate was quite impressive. Since it looked like Charlotte was going to be our only child—well, my only child—there was going to be quite a lot left behind after Pee Wee and I passed on. The thought of Lizzie’s child taking half of my daughter’s inheritance made my flesh crawl!
    â€œIf Lizzie’s baby is mine, I will adjust my will, and set up child-support payments through the court,” he declared.
    â€œI have to go,” I choked, struggling to hold back my tears. “You do what you have to do, Pee Wee. From now on, you don’t have to bring over the money for Charlotte. You can send mine through the court, too... .”
    â€œAnnette, I will still be comin’ to that house to see my child. I can bring the money with me then. Don’t make this no harder than it already is!” he boomed.
    I hung up before he could get another word in edgewise. I was so angry, I was about to explode.

CHAPTER 15
    S OMEHOW, I MADE IT THROUGH THAT SATURDAY WITHOUT falling apart. But I experienced a lot of anxiety and apprehension throughout the day. Around three that afternoon, I called Rhoda again and told her that I would visit her at another time. I was glad that Pee Wee didn’t call back, and I had no desire to call him again anytime soon.
    Now I had to deal with the situation downstairs. My daddy loved to reminisce about any and everything. That alone was bad enough. He liked to repeat everything several times. I lost track of the number of times he regaled me and Lillimae with stories about his civil rights activities during the 60s, and all of the times