Free Forgiven by Vanessa Miller Page B

situation to her. She was willing to give him
the benefit of the doubt since she figured out that it had been
Diane playing on her phone last night and not some other woman JT
had started fooling around with. But that benefit was only going so
far. If he had been talking to Diane behind her back, Cassandra was
prepared to move out.
    When she got home she went straight upstairs
and put her purchases on her bed and then found her cell phone
charger and plugged it into her cell phone. She went back
downstairs and found her mother and all three children in the
family room. Jerome and Aaron said “Hi” to her as she walked into
the family room, then continued watching cartoons. Lily was in the
playpen, and as soon as she saw Cassandra she started crying and
holding her hands out, begging to be picked up. Cassandra gave her
mother a knowing look. Lily had probably been left in the playpen
the entire time, receiving none of the attention that Jerome and
Aaron had received from their loving grandmother.
    “Hey sweetie,” Cassandra said as she picked
her up. She bounced her around and gave her a big hug. And then
kissed her on the cheek, hoping that would make up for the
affection she hadn’t received this afternoon. She sat down with
Lily on her lap and said, “Sorry, I took so long. I had this urge
to buy something at the mall. I would have called, but my cell was
dead.”
    “So that’s why.” Mattie said, more to herself
than to Cassandra.
    “That’s why what?”
    “Oh, nothing. Did you find something pretty
while you were out?” Mattie asked.
    Cassandra smiled. “I sure did. I’m ready to
kiss winter goodbye, so I purchased two spring dresses. JT is going
to be mad because we’re not supposed to spend any money for the
next two months, but he’ll get over it.”
    “Girl, I don’t know how you put up with that
broke man. I mean, when the boy had money, I could at least tell
folks that you didn’t care nothing about that flim-flam man. I told
them that you were a gold digger.”
    “Mother!”
    “Well I did. Now what can I say? I’m stuck
for the reason my daughter is stupid enough to stay married to such
a… a-”
    “Once again, I must remind you that you’re
saying this stuff in front of my children. Could you please
stop?”
    Mattie rolled her eyes as she said, “Y’all
got too many rules in this house. Don’t want nobody truth talking,
so I’m just gon’ shut up.” She put her fingers to her mouth and
acted as if she had a key and was locking her lips.
    “You are such a drama queen,” Cassandra said
while shaking her head. “Anyway, did anybody call while I was
gone?”
    Mattie looked at Cassandra but didn’t
respond.
    “Mother, did anybody call me?”
    Again, Mattie did not respond.
    Cassandra got up from the couch and took Lily
upstairs with her. She turned her phone on so that she could check
her messages while it was charging. That’s when she noticed that JT
had called her five times already. She listened to the messages and
could tell that he was angry. His last message even accused her of
avoiding his calls. When she finished listening to all five of JT’s
messages she hit end on her cell phone and started to dial his
phone, but then realization struck her.
    Diane must have sent that photo of her and
Dr. Clarkson to JT. Cassandra stood up and paced around the room.
Could her husband really believe that she was cheating on him? What
was she supposed to do? Call JT back and tell him that she’s not
cheating, but seeing a therapist? She was uncomfortable about going
to a therapist anyway, and she never wanted anyone to know that she
had to talk to someone other than God about her issues.
    She couldn’t just let JT think she was a
cheater, could she? Cassandra paced back and forth as she decided
her course of action. What she really wanted to do was to go find
Diane and beat some sense into that woman. Hadn’t she done enough
to her when she slept with her husband and had a baby by him?