Chapter 35

K.C. wondered what else they didn't know about him too as Graham Hall walked away from him to join his family.

He stood alone in a growing sea of friends and family of the Halls' that were gathering for Gabrielle's birthday and felt utterly alone for a moment.

He hadn’t made an attempt to find out anything about his mother’s past but he was going to make a trip to the library the first chance he got to check out the archives. He had always sensed that there was something she wasn’t saying and for that matter his Uncle Frank too.

He had Googled his mom once since getting to the island and it was as if Frederika Leon-Whitfield had appeared in Florida out of nowhere at age eighteen and there was nothing about her life before.

Whatever it was K.C. would do everything in his power not to upset his mother or make any waves but it didn’t sit well with him that his parents didn’t think he could be trusted with his mother’s past.

He realized he was frowning when he kept getting concerned looks and he dropped his gaze to look at the Heineken bottle he held in his hand. He threw it in the garbage and Bryan came over and clapped him on the shoulder.

“You okay man?” he asked and K.C.  looked at his concerned face.

“Yeah, I just hope Gabrielle likes her surprise.” He told the other man looking a little sheepish.

“I don’t know how she could fail not to like it. It’s not Andrea’s birthday and she was over the moon and so were Cam and Georgie. If I didn’t think you were an all right guy I would hate your guts for all of these smooth moves. Lucky for me Andrea’s birthday isn’t until November and I’ve got time to work on her present.” He said with a big grin on his handsome face.

Georgie and Michael had arrived together around the same time as Cam and Jarrod who was taking pictures for the party. Rielle was very honored that he would do something so personal for her and gave him a big hug which embarrassed him no end.

People had slowly started to arrive and Gabrielle was surprised that by 2:30 most people were there, island time was not a joke on St. Sebastian.

The men set up dominoes tables, and soon the ivory tiles were slamming, horse shoes were being thrown, kids were running around and the smell of some really good food filled the air as well as happy laughter. K.C. teased her that the fact that it was her birthday had nothing to do with that, it was the lure of great, free food, good music and company that had drawn people in.

She playfully slapped at him oblivious to all of the eyes that watched them as they laughed together, the closeness of the couple indisputable.

The food was plentiful and roast pork was just the start, chicken, beef ribs, swordfish, a tropical fish named Wahoo and even tofu were on the grill. The menu included various vegetables; whole corn and eggplant and fruits like pineapple and mango for a salsa and a fresh salad with local lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes with avocado, curried rice with red beans.

There were also baked pates which were normally fried filled with seasoned ground beef, saltfish or shrimp and for dessert little tarts filled with guava, pineapple and coconut were wrapped in cellophane. 

K.C. was impressed with the variety of local food and not surprised when Gabrielle told him Mrs. Gwen's daughter was the caterer.

“This is just a little bit of what you’ll see in July during Carnival. We have a whole day for the Food Fair on the Wednesday before the Children and Adult parades." Rielle said to K.C. as they sampled a few more dishes.

“I talked to Alex and he’s coming down on Wednesday and will leave on Sunday so he’ll get to see what Carnival and the island is about.” He replied happy one of his best friends was going to meet his girlfriend. He went to get another lemonade for her and Georgie and Michael came over.                         

Andie showed up a little later and it didn’t occur to Gabrielle to wonder why. The big mischievious grin on her face should have been a sign, but she was having such a great time showing K.C. around and greeting her guests that it slipped her to wonder why the other woman had been so late. The music that had been blaring quieted down in a heartbeat. 

“All women should be treated like the queens they are but I understand there’s a young lady here by the name of Gabrielle Lopez-Hall who is to be treated like royalty for her birthday.” a voice over a microphone said.

The voice had a distinct Jamaican accent and seemed familiar and Gabrielle caught the mischievous look on her friend’s faces as they looked at her. There was silence for a moment among the gathered crowd and then she heard a few high pitched squeals from some of the women around her and a lot of whispering.

 Rielle had been talking to Michael about his diving experience and stopped when she heard her name called unable to believe it was true.

A grinning Michael bodily turned her around and she saw the dreadlocked figure with glasses in an orange shirt on a small raised stage. She had been a little curious about it but not given too much thought to the platform after the guests had started showing up.

People gravitated toward the stage but a shocked Gabrielle couldn’t move as the music began playing and everyone started swaying as Tarrus Riley began dancing while the intro for ‘She’s Royal’ started to play.

She was so surprised, and her heartbeat had sped up as she clapped her hands over her mouth or she would have screamed like one of those obsessed teenage girls.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t met famous people before, but for the most part she led a normal life now except when she went to do the commercials for the sportswear company. Rielle had never had anything like this happen to her and she was speechless.

“Wow that is some birthday present even I’ve heard of him and I don’t like a lot of the new music.” She heard her Grandma Carmel say and Gabrielle turned to see her bobbing her head and smiled.

Her grandparents could be very hip sometimes and this was one of those times as she saw everyone jamming to the great music. Her eyes sought out K.C. who looked back at her with a grin but she was pulled forward by her Grandmother before she could go to him to thank him.

This whole weekend had been so outside of her normal realm of experience from the orchids, to the yacht to a huge singing star like Tarrus Riley coming to her party all had been the work of someone who had given some thought to what she might really like.

Gabrielle was in awe of the talented singer/songwriter as he sang several songs including ‘Love’s Contagious, and  Start Anew’ and she did giggle like a schoolgirl when he pulled her up on stage and had her sing a few lines with him.

K.C. won the approval of a lot of the women by one very smart move after the performance was over and Magdalena knew then that there was nothing she could do about the relationship.  

“K.C., do you mind if I dance with your lovely lady?”  Tarrus asked as the music began again. He didn’t even have to think about his response.

“That would be Gabrielle’s decision to make seeing as she is a queen, who knows her own mind.” He said evenly as blue eyes met green.

He had no real problem with her dancing with the other man as it was not up close and Tarrus was respectful as they danced to ‘Ladies Night’ by Kool and the Gang while K.C. stood on the sidelines watching with sharp eyes. 

K.C. finally interrupted when ‘Kiss of Life’ by Sade came on and he twirled a laughing Gabrielle on the wooden platform that was filled with dancers of all ages. They danced to all kinds of music and he was happy he had been forced to take those dance lessons by Grandma Rae as he kept up with her through everything from ‘La Salsa En Mi’ by Bernie Williams to ‘Come Over’ by Sean Paul and Estelle .

They totally missed the ribbing the guys gave each other when Musiq Soulchild’s ‘So Beautiful’ had the couple staring into each other’s eyes.

Chris had to intercede before Graham could do it and if the cat wasn’t out of the bag and screeching before it was now. They were practically making love to each other on the dance floor, once again in their own little world of two.

‘Happy Birthday’ was sung and Rielle cut the lemon cake with white fondant and purple orchids sprinkled over it to much teasing. She made her wish and took it as a sign when the first person she saw when she opened her eyes was K.C.

The party broke up around midnight and Gabrielle would have tried to help clean up but her mother grudgingly told K.C. to take her away.

"I want a birthday like this for my fiftieth." Magdalena said laughingly as she sat on one of the loungers near the pool.

"You'll get this and more." Graham and Chris assured her as the troops started to clean up.

 “How did you manage to get Tarrus here?” Rielle asked as they were driving back to her place.

“I actually met him at the airport in Miami. He was going to a concert in the U.S. Virgin Islands and I told him about you and he said he would be willing to perform for your birthday. He’s a pretty humble guy and it was nice talking to him while we were waiting in the first class lounge. So I guess you liked your surprise?” He asked her as they made their way out of Portsmouth.

“This has been the most amazing birthday I’ve ever had. I know the two of us on that huge yacht wasn’t exactly environmentally sound and went against your principles but I really loved the experience. This was even better than when I got the kitty I begged for when I was five.” She said with a grin and K.C. frowned over at her.

“Aren’t you allergic to cats?” he asked taking his eyes off the road for a second.

“Yes, we found that out after but I really wanted that kitty.” She said in the cutest little girl voice with a pout on her lips and a sad look in her big eyes. K.C. saw how she had conned her parents into getting her the cat from hell.

“You little devil.” He said affectionately chucking her under the chin as he caught her grin.

They arrived at Gabrielle’s house twenty minutes later and she pulled him through the front door after her while planting a big kiss on him and she barely got the door locked behind K.C. before he chased her into her bedroom.

He was loathe to leave Gabrielle early the next morning and when she snuggled into his arms sleepily telling him not to go it was like bamboo shoots were being put under his fingernails.

“I’ll call you later ok?” he d kissing her on her forehead before forcing his feet to walk out the front door.

As early as it was however he couldn’t help it as he looked across the street he saw a figure standing on the upstairs balcony and K.C. didn’t need two guesses to know it was Chris.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their obligations took over their lives as they both got busier and June went by quickly, Gabrielle became more involved with volleyball practice, working at Tropical Delights, the summer program and spending time with her visiting grandparents.

K.C. was being consumed by the Tropicana project that was now picking up steam and his search into his mother’s past sat on the back burner.

Dealing with the planning board to get the permits finalized was a bit of a headache and he needed to take a break from dealing with the red tape so one day he just walked over from the government offices to the library located across the street.

K.C. looked up at the building for a moment before walking in to the old brick and concrete building. He leaned against the desk as he chatted up the librarian who was about his mother’s age but this woman was showing her age unlike his mother who could pass for her mid forties although she was in her late fifties.

He began asking her about the island’s history and his ears perked up to hear that only three high schools existed back then.

“You wouldn’t happen to have the year books from those schools would you? I’m always interested to see the history of a place and what better way than through its students.” K.C. said with a persuasive grin.

The older woman blinked at him before shaking herself out of the trance she had fallen into.

“Yes we do. It’s a practice that we started and thankfully we also have the microfilm from forty years ago too but we have been converting everything to the computer since last year.” Joanne Wells told him.

He took the yearbooks to a secluded corner and began to pour over the pictures and found what he was looking for in the second book and ran his finger over the impossibly young image of his mother.

Frederika had gone to Churchill High School graduating co-valedictorian, as one of the most popular students out of two hundred and twenty-five. She had graduated at seventeen and he read not only her desire to be an engineer but her entire class and teachers’ well wishes.

He flipped to see who had been the other highest ranking student and saw a male student named Patrick Roebuck who had been the captain of the football team. K.C. could see the smirk on the kid’s face in the picture and he frowned.

He went back to the librarian and waited while she dealt with a little boy who wanted to take out a book but had too many out already. He smiled sympathetically at the frazzled expression when his turn came up and asked if he could use the microfiche machine to check out the newspapers.

“Depending on what year you are looking for it may be computerized all ready.” She said waiting expectantly and he had no choice but to answer her.

Her expression didn’t change but he felt her pull back from him and he thought for a moment she would refuse his request.

“That information was converted to the computer. I’ll show you how to operate it Mr., I’m sorry what did you say your name was again?” she asked formally.

“Mr. Whitfield. My name is K.C. Whitfield.” He replied with all the manners his mother had taught him.

If she connected him with the Tropicana Hotel project he wasn’t sure but she showed him how to access the information and then left him to it.

Unfortunately the machines were in the center of the room and he could feel her dark eyes on him the entire time. He surfed through the material quickly and found what he was looking for and had to steel himself not to change his expression.

K.C.’s eyes were blazing by the time he was done and he had to read the newspaper article a few times before the words really penetrated his brain. 

K.C. could feel the tension building between his shoulder blades. His eyes blurred for a moment and he blinked several times as the blood rushed from his head. He wanted to throw up as he got cold and then hot as he felt rage take over and he wanted to find Patrick Roebuck and beat the shit out of him. He got up and went to stand near one of the big windows, knowing he could not look at the words on the monitor any longer.

That son of a bitch had almost destroyed his mother’s life not to mention his Uncle Frank's and he knew that his mother had suffered. He was going to have a long talk with both of his parents as well as his uncle when he went home on his next trip in August.

This was too sensitive a subject to broach over the phone or internet and he wanted to look into his mother’s eyes when he told her that he knew. She needed to know that she had his love and support and nothing from her past could change that fact.