When the Fairytale Ends Read online

  “Yes, you do, babe,” he said, nodding emphatically. “What about the time when they ran away and eloped? Cheyenne had kept it a secret until Jonathan got shot the first time, and you almost killed yourself. Literally. I had to wake you up with smelling salt.”

  She leaned back in her chair and stared at him as she reflected on the day that Cheyenne had told her that her last name had changed.

  Cheyenne had just finished telling Shania about an argument Jonathan and another guy had outside of the movie theater. The guy followed Jonathan and Cheyenne back to Jonathan’s grandmother’s house and shot Jonathan.

  That wasn’t all. She then admitted that she and Jonathan had eloped. An invisible vacuum had sucked the air out of the room. Shania had felt as though she couldn’t breathe. She had to get out of there. She got up from the couch without saying a word and sprinted to her bedroom faster than South African teenager Caster Semenya during the world championships.

  “Shania, come here!” her sister had called out after her.

  But Shania ignored her and continued running until she was in her bedroom with the door shut firmly behind her. An anxiety attack threatened to consume her. She felt the same way she’d felt that day when her phone had rung and she’d answered, only to find out that her parents had been wiped out of her life forever.

  Without notice, Shania bellowed a gut-wrenching scream, and the sound echoed off the walls, mimicking her, taunting her. Her soul ached, and she felt a migraine coming on. As she held her head, her knees buckled. Next thing she knew, she was sprawled out in the middle of the floor, crying.

  The hinges squeaked as the door opened, and she didn’t have to look up to know that Cheyenne was standing in the doorway. She figured she must’ve looked like a two-year-old throwing a temper tantrum, but she didn’t care. She felt as if someone had sucker punched her in the gut and stabbed her in the heart.

  She felt Cheyenne’s hands on her shoulders and she shrugged away her sister’s touch. “Sister, please! Calm down. Pull yourself together,” Cheyenne had pleaded. “Why are you acting like this?”

  “Leave me alone, Cheyenne! How could you do this to me?” she had cried. “Just get out!”

  “To you?” For a moment, Cheyenne stood there, looking dazed and confused. “I didn’t do anything to you. I did something for me. And you’re supposed to be happy for me.”

  Shania stopped rolling around on the floor and said, “Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone? Why are you still here? Get out!”

  Cheyenne opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but nothing came out. She turned and walked away, leaving Shania to wallow in her misery.

  The look of pain on her sister’s face made her want to run after her, but she was so disappointed in Cheyenne that she couldn’t stand to be around her. There was no telling what she might have said. So instead of chasing her sister down, Shania remained on the floor, crying and weeping until she found strength enough to pull herself to her feet.

  She went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. When she looked into the mirror, she didn’t recognize the person staring back at her. Her eyes looked like they had been doused with hot sauce. She had an intense headache, and she could see the veins pulsating at her temple. The thought crossed her mind to call Greg and tell him what happened in hopes that he could make sense out of the entire situation, but all she wanted to do was sleep and get rid of her headache. She pat dried her face with a hand towel, then searched her medicine cabinet until she found a bottle of Tylenol P.M. Two handfuls of sink water helped ease the pills down her throat.

  While waiting for the pills to take effect, Shania crawled into her bed without even bothering to take off her clothes. Pulling the covers over her head, she closed her eyes. Just as quickly as the hot tears escaped, she wiped them away. She continued to do that until she fell asleep.

  It seemed like she had only been asleep for a few hours when she felt someone shaking her so hard, it almost gave her whiplash.

  “Shania, wake up!” Greg had said as he continued to shake her like a rag doll. “What did you do? What did you do?” he repeated.

  “Greg?” she said groggily as she tried to awaken from her deep sleep. At first, she had thought she was dreaming.

  He pulled her close to his body, hugging her tightly. “Thank God you’re all right. I was so worried about you.”

  She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and covered her mouth as she yawned. The smell of her breath made her turn her head when she spoke. She didn’t want Greg to catch a whiff of it. “What are you doing here? What time is it?”

  She looked at the clock, which read 6:30 P.M. Doing a quick mental calculation, she figured that she must’ve been asleep for two hours. As her brain finally caught up with her body, she remembered the falling-out that she and Cheyenne had, and she felt her blood boil and her head begin to ache all over again.

  “What are you trying to do, kill yourself?”

  Shocked by his statement, Shania stared up at him, a deep crease lining her forehead. “Greg, are you crazy? What in the world are you talking about?”

  “Do you know how long you’ve been asleep?”

  For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why he was so angry, or why he was yelling at her with such intensity. She glanced at the clock again to make sure she had read the time right.

  “Yeah, for two hours, roughly. What’s the big deal?”

  He frowned at her. “What did you take, Shania?”

  “Why?”

  “Why?” he repeated. His eyes were bulging, and there was a vein popping out right in the middle of his forehead. “You haven’t been asleep for two hours. You’ve slept for an entire day.”

  Shania’s jaw dropped, and she glanced at the clock again, trying to make sense of the situation. How in the world could she have managed to sleep for an entire day? Then she smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand, remembering that a while ago, she had put sleeping pills in her empty Tylenol bottle. If that was the case, she definitely would’ve been asleep longer than a couple of hours. Somehow the fact that she had fallen asleep in the evening and the fact that it was the evening again threw her for a loop.

  “Oh my God.” As she realized that she could’ve overdosed and badly hurt herself, she started to cry. She had been so distraught by Cheyenne’s announcement that she hadn’t paid attention to what she was doing. “I accidentally took sleeping pills.”

  “Yeah, well, you could’ve killed yourself,” he reprimanded her, wagging his index finger. “I called you last night, and Cheyenne told me you were sleeping. When you didn’t call me back, I got worried. I came over to check on you, but you were still sleeping. We decided to let you get some rest. Your sister told me you were upset, but she didn’t tell me why. So, I left and called you first thing this morning, and you were still sleeping. But when Cheyenne called me and told me that she tried to wake you up, but you wouldn’t budge, babe, I thought you were dead.”

  The anger in his face dissolved, and she stared into the eyes of a man who had been tortured by his thoughts, expecting to barge into her home only to find the worst.

  She reached out and held his cheek. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”

  He turned his face in her hand and nuzzled her palm. “The only thing that stopped your sister from calling an ambulance was the fact that you had a normal pulse. I left work early to come straight over here. God, I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  He held her close and kissed her until her lips were sore.

  Once he stopped kissing her, Shania sniffed and wiped her nose. “Where’s Cheyenne?”

  “She went to the hospital to visit Jonathan. She hasn’t been gone that long. I promised to call her to let her know how you’re doing. What’s going on with you?”

  She extended her arms. “Come here. I need a hug.”

  He sat back down and held her. “Talk to me.” He softened his tone.

  “I don’t even know whe
re to begin.”

  He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Try the beginning.”

  Shania inhaled deeply, then exhaled toward the ceiling. “I’m emotionally tired, Greg.” She lowered her head to his chest. “I hate to admit this, but a part of me is tired of loving Cheyenne.”

  “Don’t say that. She’s your sister, and you love her.”

  “That’s the problem. I love her, but I’m not sure she loves me.” Shania raised her head off his chest and looked at him. “You know how disappointed I was when she dropped out of college. And now”—she shook her head—“she ran off and eloped. Our parents are probably flipping in their graves.”

  “What? She married Jonathan?” He massaged his temple.

  “That’s why I was so upset. I feel so betrayed by her. She’s been making bad decisions for a long time now, and I just . . . I just . . .” Shania scooted back on the bed until she felt her back press against the headboard. She then folded her legs and wrapped her arms around them. “I’m hurt that Cheyenne acts without any regard for anybody else. She’s so self-absorbed.”

  Greg moved on the bed until he was sitting beside her and he laced his fingers through hers. “I understand how you feel, babe. And I agree with you. I think she’s too young for marriage.” He tightened his hand around hers. “But she’s grown, Shania, so you have to let her learn and grow and make her own mistakes. Their union doesn’t necessarily have to be a mistake. It doesn’t have to be the end of the world. You could look at this from a different perspective.”

  “How so?” She tilted her head and gave him her full attention.

  “You raised her with morals and values.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Through the years, you’ve been a great role model for her. Maybe seeing you so happy and in love has made her want it for herself. Be thankful that she’s not acting like a lot of girls her age. Your sister actually holds the institution of marriage in high esteem. Marriage is honorable in the eyes of God. At least she’s not being promiscuous.”

  Shania rubbed her fingers across her lips, then finally nodded. “You’re right, Greg. It’s just that I thought she would’ve finished college, fell in love with someone who had . . . who had something going for himself. And then got married, later. Much, much later.”

  “Yes, Shania. That’s what you wanted. That was your plan for her life. This is her life. Let her live it.”

  “I don’t have a problem with letting her live.” She didn’t mean to sound defensive, but she was. “My problem with both of them is that they don’t have their priorities set. He dropped out of high school and she dropped out of college. That tells me that neither one of them has the commitment to finish what they start. Neither one of them has a job, so how are they going to live? They’ve got another thing coming if they think they’re going to live here with me.”

  “If they both get jobs, you could help them get an apartment.”

  “I could do that. But I still think Cheyenne has made things more difficult than they need to be. Her husband has a criminal record and no education. What kind of job is he going to be able to get?”

  Greg sighed, released her hand, and stood up. “You know what? It’s not for us to worry about. The best thing we can do is pray for them. Pray that he becomes the best husband he can be and that she becomes a wonderful wife. Instead of discouraging them, we need to support them.”

  “Support them?” Shania couldn’t force her mind to comprehend the concept. She turned up her nose.

  “Don’t turn your nose up at me,” he said. “I’m serious. I know you don’t want to hear this, but lots of people get married young. Not all of those marriages end in divorce, either.”

  “Okay.” She uncurled her legs and stretched out across the bed. “We can do things your way. But what happens when she pops up pregnant?”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” he sighed.

  Shania got out of bed and gave him a hug. “I’m about to freshen up. Would you wait for me downstairs?”

  “Sure. You want to order a pizza?”

  She smiled. “That sounds good. I’m famished.”

  “You should be, Sleeping Beauty.”

  Shania laughed. “Would you order it, please?”

  “Yes.” He left and closed the door behind him.

  That’s when Shania had first come to realize that she needed to get a grip. Worrying about Cheyenne had never helped anybody, especially since she never seemed to be worried about herself. Not to mention the fact she was a grown woman. Shania had already raised her. Her job was done. Although it still stung at times, she had to admit that Greg had been right all along. She had to let go of her little sister.

  Shania shifted her thoughts back to the present and noticed that Greg had left her sitting alone in his office. She licked her dry lips and got up to pour herself a glass of water, then went in search of her husband. She found him in the media room, on the phone with their pastor. She quietly returned to the living room, picked up her phone, dialed the number, and listened to the phone ring.

  She cleared her throat when the operator answered. She then asked for Jonathan’s room. Shaking her leg and nibbling on her nails, she waited for the call to connect.

  “Hello?”

  Shania inhaled. It was now or never. “Jonathan?”

  “Yes, ma’am, Ms. Shania?” His voice changed, and she could almost picture him trying to sit a little straighter in bed.

  “How’re you feeling?”

  “Okay, I guess.” He let out a nervous chuckle. “Just ready to get out of here and go home.”

  “I bet so.” She exhaled, then took a deep, steadying breath before saying, “Jonathan, I want to apologize for how I acted the other night. I was completely out of line, and there is no excuse for my behavior. I’ve already apologized to Cheyenne, so now I’m offering an apology to you. Will you please forgive me?”

  She held her breath while she waited for him to respond, and, boy, did he take his sweet time in responding.

  “Ms. Shania,” he finally said, and his voice sounded heavy and serious, “I will forgive you under one condition.”

  She cocked her eyebrow and frowned. “And what’s that?”

  “I will forgive you if you allow me to love your sister and give her my whole heart for the rest of my life.”

  His words filled her throat with tears, and she’d never felt so humbled before in her life. She was so overcome with emotion, she wasn’t sure if she could speak. Finally, she nodded her head and choked out, “It’s a deal.”

  After Shania ended the call, she felt a hundred pounds lighter—even though she knew with her appetite as of late, she would be putting on a few pounds soon. She went in search of her husband. Thankfully, he was off the phone. She bribed him with some loving in exchange for him to go on a treasure hunt for a plate of fast food that her stomach could actually hold down. He protested at first, but when she finished pleasing him, he slouched in his chair, let out a content sigh, and said, “Make sure it’s not greasy, right?”

  She grinned and replied, “That’s right.”

  Alone with her thoughts, she reflected on her conversation with Jonathan. He had sounded so mature. She wished she could get a good read of him. Was he for real? Was he sincere? Did he really love her sister? Only time would tell.

  Sixteen

  Greg got on his bike and went on the impossible mission of finding food that wasn’t greasy or smelly. That alone ruled out most fast-food restaurants. He passed by an establishment that he knew served delicious grilled chicken salads that Shania loved, so he parked his bike and went inside. He ordered a salad for Shania, and the smell of chicken influenced his decision to order hot wings for himself. He drove home quickly, hoping the food would still be piping hot when he got there.

  He pulled into his driveway and went inside to find Shania stretching and yawning on the couch. She glanced at him and turned her yawn into a smile when she spotted the bags. He could tell that she mus
t’ve been pleased by his food choices.

  He sat the bags next to her on the sofa while he went into the pantry to get two serving trays for them to place their food on. When he returned, Shania had already removed her large salad from the bag. He extended the legs of the trays and placed one in front of Shania. Removing the clear plastic lid covering the salad, she poured honey mustard dressing on top.

  “Glad you remembered to tell them to hold the fried onions,” she said as she mixed the chicken strips, lettuce, and dressing.

  He bit into a spicy wing, savoring the delicious food while he listened to her chat about apologizing to Jonathan, then about the couple who had called, asking her to cater their wedding.

  While Shania was talking, Greg’s cell phone rang loud and shrill.

  “Go ahead and answer it,” she said.

  Greg nodded his thanks, licked the tips of his fingers, and wiped them off with a napkin. He retrieved the phone from his pocket, and when he saw that it was his pastor calling, he frowned. They had just gotten off the phone less than an hour ago. Why was he calling back so soon? Frowning, he answered the call.

  He tilted his head back and stared at the high ceiling when he heard his pastor say that the tumor in Mother Washington’s brain ruptured, and the doctors couldn’t stop the bleeding. Mother Washington had died, and he wanted Greg to perform the eulogy.

  Something collapsed on the inside of him and the spicy chicken he had placed in his mouth suddenly tasted like a piece of salted cardboard. He spit the chicken into a napkin and wiped the taste off his tongue. On the inside, he felt cold and sterile, only able to mutter the words “I gotta go.” Then he hung up the phone.

  “What’s the matter?” Shania asked.

  Unable to speak, Greg got up and went upstairs, where he got on his knees in prayer. While he prayed, his eyes emptied a bucket of tears down his face. With the back of his hand, he hurried and wiped his damp skin. He didn’t like to cry, especially not around other people, because he thought it showed weakness.