“I don’t understand. From what I saw on that videotape of him and what she’s said to me about him, it doesn’t sound like he respected or loved her,” Maverick said. “Why didn’t you tell her the truth? That he was hiding something from her? You don’t strike me as a man who’d stand for it.”
“Not because I wanted his damn money, that’s fa’ sho. I had failed her when I stood back and let her marry the phony. She was pregnant and the happiest I’ve ever seen her. I didn’t want to blow her life apart. Charles knew that and played me. I knew I was being played, but I had to have some hope that this time I was protecting her.” Henry shook his head at the pathetic confession. “Sometimes a man don’t realize that respect and love aren’t the same things. Charles didn’t. I didn’t believe in my own marriage. Sometimes, a man doesn’t know their mistakes until they fear losing the woman they love. All of a sudden, respecting her is something they hurry to understand, and most times it’s too late,” Henry said. “I’m seventy-three-years-old.”
Maverick eyes stretched. The guy looked to be in his sixties. He only thought of him as an old man because of his silver hair and beard. But he looked young virile to him.
“I was forty-seven when I met Delores. We tell everyone that there’s a ten-year difference between us. It ain’t. More like a twenty-year difference. Had to have her when I saw her. So pretty and sweet. Don’t get me wrong, she was always a firecracker but nice to me. She worked at Mayfair in domestics, and I took a job on that mountain to do some drilling and renovations. The job brought me out of Carolina and paid me well. I lied to her about my age.” Henry chuckled. “She was pissssssed when she found out. You know they say black don’t crack.”
Maverick smirked. “I think I’ve heard that.”
“Well, it cracked all over the face when she found out how dirt poor and old I really was. I told whatever lie I needed to get her attention, even bragged that I was the head foreman on the construction job and was up to be promoted into the corporate office. I lied and lied,” Henry chuckled; Maverick laughed with him. A shared laugh over the games men plays that actually only snag them deeper into their woman’s web. “Delores wanted to go to school, be a schoolteacher. She had gone to Mother Abigail to apply for a scholarship. That old witch rejected her. Got her a job as a maid instead,” he said with bitterness. “And she was a maid for many years before I met her. So she wanted to be free. And I wanted her on sight. Kind of how you said it is for you and Delilah after you come here and away from the courts, but different. I was a bit desperate about my feelings for her, because like you, I was lonely.”
“I didn’t say I was lonely?” Maverick interrupted.
“You said your wife died. That your girlfriend died after. Sounds like you was lonely to me.”
Maverick thought on it and realized his life in his trailer had reduced him into a man who settled for loneliness. So he nodded in agreement.
“I knew in my heart she was going to be my wife and the mother of my children. She was going to fill that loneliness up with all her fire to the brim. See, I was married before. I never had any kids as a longshore fisherman. Wife slept with everything moving when I was out to sea. And I made sure to stay out to sea to be far from her. Delores was the first woman that just melted my insides. Way out of my league, but so damn special I became obsessed with her. Anyways, let me get back to the story. I came here from Carolina for work after the divorce. Met Delores, six months later, she was pregnant. Delores was born and raised here. She had no desire to move to Carolina with me to be the wife of a fisherman after I lost my job. So she went back to that Mother Abigail and begged her for help to find me work. That’s how I got a job in sanitation.” Henry toasted the days of him being a garbage man. “I took the job happily because Delores was mine. Married her at First Baptist. Mother Abigail paid for the wedding.”
“Huh? Why?” Maverick asked.
“Why what?” Henry asked.
“Why did Delores keep going to Mother Abigail?”
Henry frowned. “That old crow is the town matriarch. Everyone goes to her. Anyways, I lied to Delores's father about my age. Her mother died when she was young. Delores was all he had left. He loved her like I love my Delilah. Her father told me what I eventually told Charles the day he came to seem and tried to convince me he would do right by my girl. He told me what I’m going to tell you today.”
“What’s that?” Maverick asked.
“If you love her, you better show it, every day, and in every way, because the day you don’t, and I find out. It’ll take the hand of God to keep me off you,” Henry smiled.
“I respect it,” Maverick said.
“You better. These feelings you got for her, she feeling the same?”
“She hasn’t said so,” Maverick said.
“You two connecting, huh? I seen it, and this is why I understand it. Charles told me when he saw Delilah for the very first time, he couldn’t look away. Had a helluva fight with his mother to convince her that he wanted to marry her. Defied her wishes and pursued Delilah when she was just seventeen. Then forged consent forms and eloped with my daughter in Vegas. Bet Delilah didn’t tell you that?” He chuckled.
Maverick was shocked. She left that part out of the story.
“Yep. She and the other two musketeers went to Vegas with Charles, and she got married.”
“Who?” Maverick asked.
“Her best friends. Goodiva and Queen. The three of them have been best friends forever. Well, when Charles came back and announced it to all of us, I was furious. But my wife was happy. Part of me thinks she knew about it.” Henry shook his head.
“And Mother Abigail?”
“Oh that crow, was worried about the scandal. She planned a wedding and made it seem like she was some kind of hero for letting her son marry the daughter of a garbage man. Mother Abigail couldn’t separate them, so she controlled them her way.”
“Wow, Delilah didn’t tell me all of this,” Maverick said.
“Not many people will tell that story, son. It’s buried deep with all the other secrets of this town. I’m going to give you a chance to show her mother and me that you want to do right by her and Noah. We all deserve a chance.”
“Thank you, Henry. Because you’re right. It was love for me the moment I saw the woman she is. Love at first sight. For her and Noah.”
“Welp. I sure would like another beer,” Henry burped.
Maverick chuckled. “Coming right up.”
LATER THAT EVENING
Noah cried. It was what toddlers do. Despite his son's distress, the bath went fine. Maverick made bubbles and let him splash and play all through the bathing. Afterward, he tried to get him to sit on the pot. Noah kept standing. It never worked. So he put on his pull-up and dressed him for bed. Maverick read two books to him and tried his best to make his son relax. Nothing he did or said kept calm for long. Every time he tried to make Noah lay down, Noah’s head popped up, and he began to cry again, asking for his mother. It was approaching 8:00. Delilah had told him that bedtime was seven for Noah. Her father had left, and he was on his own. When he thought all was lost, she arrived.