Chapter THREE

 
Five years later Gran's Coconut Muffins was a multimillion dollar business. She had also kept the clinic but turned it into a place for AIDS patients to get their checkups and medication Free of cost. She changed the name from her husband's to the boy’s names. Her mom had since died and as she stared into the beautiful eyes of her four year old, she knew she made the right choice. At 31 years of age she was ready to date again. She had been refusing dates while she raised her daughter but she was getting lonely not to mention always horny. She was in her best years and she wanted to get back in the game. She started dating a guy she met while doing business overseas and whenever he came to Barbados, they would spend 2 weeks together. He had suggested that she expand overseas and she took the advice and she was now exporting to the US and the UK. Benjamin decided he needed a change in his life and he wanted to be with her. After 2 years of 2 week escapades, he wanted something more.
 
"Marry me Roz, I'm so lonely without you."
 
"I'm not sure if I am ready to be married again. I'm still raw from the disaster my husband created."
 
"We have both had loss in our live bella but we can't let past hurts stop us from finding happiness. I love your daughter as if she were mine and I would love to have a baby with you, if you wish but I want you as my wife not just a two week here or there. I will move here if that will convince you."
 
"Let me think about it."
 
"You have 5 days until I return to Miami. If you say no you will never see me again."
 
"Okay. Make love to me now please."
 
"As you wish.
Roz was now 36 with two children. She had remarried again and was living the good life. Her daughter was now nine and her son was now two. Her husband travelled a lot and Roz never minded until now. She was pregnant again and she was always sick. She didn't tell Benjamin as yet and she planned to take him to dinner and leave the children with a sitter. She was on her way home from headquarters and she swore she saw her husband going into a hotel with another woman. She parked quickly and crossed the road and went into the hotel lobby. She went to the reception desk and asked if Benjamin Weekes had a room booked there. The clerk, didn't want to give out that information and when she turned to call security, Roz realised she was pregnant.
 
"Wait, how far are you?"
 
"About 5 months."
 
"I have 2 children of my own and one on the way, if my husband is cheating I need to know. You won't get into trouble I promise you."
 
The clerk felt sorry for Roz and gave her the information she wanted.
 
Benjamin had been coming there for two years with several women and he always took the same room. 506. The clerk, secretly gave her the room key and pretended she was booking a room for the weekend. Roz took it and made her way to the elevator. She imagined how this scene would play out. She would unlock the door and they would be in bed and she would catch them red handed. He would say it's not what it looks like and would beg her forgiveness. She would yell and scream for a bit but she would forgive him and they would go back to being the happy couple they once were.
 
When Roz silently unlocked the door, the scene didn't play out as she thought it would. First of all, she heard three voices and one was a man's and it wasn't Benjamin’s. They were laughing and she could hear kissing sounds.
 
When Roz pushed the bedroom, everything in the world came to a pause. Nothing prepared her for what she saw. A woman was laying on her back on the bed and Benjamin's head was between her legs giving her oral sex. What took the life out of Roz was that the man she heard was firmly seated between Benjamin's legs from behind and he was stroking his life away. No one heard or saw her. Roz backed out of the room, ran to the door and kept running. She ran down the stairs, across the foyer and into the street.
 
Four days later Roz, was discharged from the hospital and she took a taxi home. When the taxi reached the house she did not know what she would say or do. She just wanted to see her children and let them know how much she loved them. Roz unlocked the door and much to her surprise, the house looked as if no one lived there. Roz screamed and ran to the children's bedrooms, their things were still there and the children were still asleep.
 
"I don't understand what's going on. Why isn’t Benjamin here with the children?"
 
She dialed his cell and got voicemail, she tried his office number and got voicemail. She was on her way to the bedroom they slept in and saw an envelope in the middle of the now empty room.
 
She opened it and began to read.
 
'Hello Roz,
 
As you can figure out by now I have left you and the children. I'm broke and I sold most of the stuff we had and left the country. My partner and I are going to start a new business together. I was told you found out about him and me but I don't care, he has always been in my life, even before I met you but I needed to have a wife for societal purposes and you fit the bill. I'm sorry you lost the baby but I didn't want any more so I guess that was for the best. I don't want anything from you and don't expect anything from me. Good luck.
 
Benjamin.'
"Okay, so I have to pick up the pieces and start all over again. No problem, I still have my two babies and we will be just fine."
 
She would put the six bedroom house on the market and would get 2.5 million for it. That would go into the children's trust fund and a smaller cozier home for them would be the order of the day.
 
She sat on the living room floor and waited until the children woke up.
 
"Mom? Dad didn't tell us you were coming home."
 
"Hey baby girl, I've missed you and your brother so much."
 
She held out her arms and both children ran to her."
 
"Where's dad?"
 
"He left us sweetie, I'm all you've got."
 
"Good riddance, he came home the day you got into the accident and claimed he had to sell the things in the house to pay your doctor bill. Then some man slept here two nights and he was looking at Brad funny. I took a knife from the kitchen and told him if he ever touched my brother I would slice his nuts off."
 
"Mellani!! How awful, to use a knife, a pitch fork would have been better suited for his kind. I'm selling the house and we are going somewhere smaller."
 
"Are we broke?"
"Never, I made sure Benjamin signed a prenuptial agreement in case something like this happened, that's why he could only take the things in the house. The bakeries are doing well so not to fear, momma has got your back. Now go take a shower, I will bathe your brother, we are going house hunting."
 
Roz, looked at her two children while they ate. Mellani was the rambunctious type while Brad was the quiet type. They had found a house near the head office and close to their school which worked out perfectly, she paid in full by cheque and put the house in the children's names and hers. They were out having lunch and she was watching Brad nibble on a sandwich and she saw a familiar face.
 
She waved to the young woman and when she came over, the woman's face changed into a frown.
 
"You made me lose my job."
 
"I can fix that easily, you can come work for me until the baby's born then when you are ready you can come back."
 
"Doing what?"
 
"Answering the phone, typing letters, nothing strenuous."
 
"I guess I can do that. When are you due?"
 
"Due?"
 
"You were pregnant when you came into the hotel, you told me."
 
"I lost the baby when I got hit by the car. No one told you?"
 
"No, your husband came down and saw the commotion outside and he ran when he saw you. He came back the next day with his friend and threatened me. The manager overheard and took his side without even asking me and I got fired. I'm sorry about the baby."
 
"Spilt milk. This is the address, come by as soon as you can."
 
"Gran's Coconut Muffins is your company?"
"Yep, my first husband's grandmother gave me the recipe."
 
"Oh wow. Thank you for giving me the job, my parents were furious as they are supporting us right now."
 
"I can do one better, I just bought a house, it has 4 bedrooms, and you can stay with me and baby sit when I have late meetings to go to. I don't need rent and I have one rule, the only man who can visit is the baby's father, no one else. I have a daughter and son to protect. What's your name?"
 
"Jacinta."
"Stick to my rules and we won't have problems."
 
"Understood."