June 1981

Henry sat by the window and looked out.  It was a beautiful spring day, but he couldn’t go outside because of his allergies.  His nebulizer was beside him and he wondered what it was like to live a normal life, what it was like to breath normally.   He heard his bedroom door open and his mother walked in.

“Henry, you should be resting” she said.  “Why are you staring out of the window?”

“I wish I could go outside” Henry confessed. “I’m tired of being in the house all the time.”

“Henry, you’re too sick to go outside” his mother replied.  “The pollen will send you right into an asthma attack.”

Henry didn’t respond.  He had heard it all before.  He continued to stare out as he watched the gardener working in the yard.

“Have you done your homework?” his mother asked when he didn’t say anything else.

“Yes”

“Alright then.  I’ll have Minnie bring you some lunch.”  His mother said before walking out of his room.

It wasn’t long before Minnie came in with a tray and sat it beside his bed.  She had been his nanny for as long as he could remember.  Minnie looked at him sitting in the window.

“What you looking at Henry.”  She asked. 

“Minnie, what’s it like not to be sick all the time” Henry asked coming over to the tray.

“Well Henry, everybody’s got something going on, if it ain’t sickness, it’s something else.”  Minnie replied. “It’s not always going to be this way and just remember that there’s always someone worse off than you.”

Henry smiled.  Minnie always made him feel better and she didn’t talk down to him.  She was an older black woman who wore a short mixed gray wig and had the warmest smile he had ever seen. She gave Henry hugs and kisses, something that he didn’t receive from his own mother.  Minnie  sat on the bed and put her arm around Henry..

“No use feeling sorry for yourself Henry.  Won’t make things any better.”  She said.  “Come on eat your lunch.”

Henry grinned and bit his sandwich and Minnie ruffled his hair. 

“If you eat all of your lunch, I’ll give you a surprise” Minnie promised.   “You’re way too thin.”

Henry wolfed down the sandwich and the skim milk.  He grinned at Minnie with a milk mustache

“I’m  finished”  he said proudly.

Minnie chuckled and slipped him a peppermint patty.  Henry loved peppermint patties, but his mother was very strict…no sweets, no fried foods.  She had Henry on a special diet so that he wouldn’t become overweight due to his lack of exercise. Strenuous exercise induced his asthma, but Minnie would make him do stretching exercises when his mother wasn’t around..

“Now I want you to do them stretching exercises like I showed you.”  Minnie commanded getting up off of the bed..

“Yes, ma’am” Henry said stretching his arms above his head and then he bent forward and touched his toes.

“That’s good” Minnie said nodding. “Now bend to the left and then to the right with your hands on your hips.”

Henry did as he was told, grinning at Minnie. 

“Henry!”  His mother said walking into his room.  “What do you think you’re doing?”

“The boy needs some exercise” Minnie replied. “These won’t do him no harm. He stays in the bed way too much, Mrs. McDermont.  He’s not an invalid!”

“He needs his rest!”  his mother snapped.  “Henry, get in the bed this instant!”

“But I’m not tired!”  Henry protested.”It’s only two o’clock in the afternoon!”

“You need to stop babying that boy!”  Minnie replied. “It’s not good for him.”

Emily glared at Minnie.  Minnie had been with the McDermont’s since Henry was a baby and Emily knew that Minnie who was a nurse, loved her son.  They had paid good money for her to give one hundred percent of her attention to Henry and quit the agency that hired her.  Emily knew that she was worth every cent.  Because of her superior nursing skills, Emily normally deferred to Minnie’s judgment, but it worried her to see her son exercising.  She didn’t want him to have another asthma attack.

“He’s my son Minnie and I will do what I feel is best for him!”  his mother replied.

June 1988

Henry could not believe what his mother had just told him.  She had convinced his father not to allow him to start his freshman year of college.

“It’s much too soon” Emily McDermont declared.  “Even though the doctors believe that your asthma has gone into remission due to the chicken pox, you can never be too sure.”

“Mother, I’ve been accepted to the University of Maryland.  I want to go” Henry protested.

“The University isn’t going anywhere Henry.”  His father replied.  “I know you’re disappointed and you’ll be starting college a year later, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“I don’t know why you have to go away to school anyway.”  Emily replied.  “The University of Maryland is too far from home.  Why couldn’t you attend a school here in Maine and live here at home.”

Henry’s father interrupted.  “Now Emily, the boy needs to grow up.  You’ve babied him enough as it is.  Henry wants to go to the University of Maryland and I’m with him on that.  Now, I’ll keep him home one more year to give you peace of mind, but that’s it.”

Henry was disappointed that he would be starting college at nineteen, but at least he would get to go away. His mother was beginning to suffocate him.  She watched him constantly even though he hadn’t had an asthma attack in months.  He just wanted to live a normal life and do the things that other teens did at his age.  He had never even been on a date!  He went to his room and spotted the dusty nebulizer in the corner.  At least he was breathing normally now.  One more year at home couldn’t be that bad. He decided to take a few classes at the community college to keep himself occupied until he could go to the University next fall.

He looked up as Minnie came into the room.  Her job of being his nurse and nanny had come to and end and he knew that he was going to miss her terribly.

“I gather you’re a little disappointed about how things turned out, huh?”  Minnie asked sitting next to him.

“Yeah.” He replied unable to hide his disappointment.

“Well, I believe that there’s a reason for everything Henry.  There’s a reason for you to be held back one year.  Who knows? “Minnie said kissing his cheek.  “Maybe there’s a mean professor  at that school  now that’ll be gone next year or even perhaps a special friend that’s going to be there next year that’s not there now.”

Henry nodded in agreement.  “Maybe.”

Henry now stared out of that same window in the same house he had grown up in.  Minnie had been right.  If he had gone to school that year, he may not ever met Vanessa who was a year younger than he was. The house that was once his prison was his now, since his parents had moved to Florida.

Minnie had long since retired and he would go and see her from time to time as she now lived with her son not too far from his home.  Sometimes it felt as if Minnie had been more of a family than his own parents had been. She always listened to him and he could talk to her.  She had been his only friend.

It had been Minnie’s arms he had cried in when he came home after his first year at the University of Maryland.  She had left the McDermont home after he went to the University, and he had sought her out.  He had held it together when he faced his parents after he returned home for the summer, but with Minnie he could be himself…with Minnie he could share his pain. 

She had listened to him talk about Vanessa and the abortion and how he wished that he had been able to stand up to his parents and been able to take care of himself.  Minnie hadn’t said much but let him cry it out as he lay his head in her lap, something he had done since he was a boy.  When he was done, he sat up and looked at her, finding her face grim.

As he now looked out of his bedroom window, he thought back to the conversation they had had, the conversation that caused him to take his first step of independence from his parents.  It was the point that he realized that he was still acting like a boy when he should have been behaving like a man.  It was that day that Henry learned about racism and classism and prejudice.

“Let this be a lesson to you, Henry” Minnie had said calmly.  Her voice which had always been filled with warmth was now cold, which surprised him.

“You are not a child anymore, you are a man.  If you want to be a man, you have to take control of your own life. It’s not wrong to cry, but a man knows that crying don’t change nothing. A man has to stand up for himself! “

“I wanted to” Henry replied “But-“

Minnie cut him off grabbing him by the shoulders, shaking him hard.

“You’s weak, Henry.  Your Mama made you weak and your daddy let her! You’ve been babied all your life!  You come here for sympathy, and I love you like my own, but you gets none from me.  Look at me Henry!”

Henry stared at her stunned by her behavior. Minnie had never spoken so harshly to him before.

“I’m a black woman.  Did you ever think about that when you came here to tell me your story?  Did you?’

She shook him hard again, watching as his eyes grew big with confusion.

“No…no ma’am” Henry gasped.  “I don’t see why that should matter, Minnie”

“That’s cuz you is color blind, Henry.  That’s good in a way, but it’s bad in a way.  Your parents are racists.  I knew that when I went to work for them, but they paid good and I thought that I could be a good influence on you.  I guess I did my job.  You fell in love with a black girl and left her with your baby in her belly. You gave her money and told her to kill that baby.  That’s gonna haunt you for the rest of your life.”

“I thought they did it because we’re so young…not because she’s black” Henry protested. “They never said anything against black people.  They never told me not to date black girls.”

“They are too polite to say anything out loud. They’d like you to think that it was because you are young, but if the girl was white they wouldn’t have sent her money like that.”  Minnie responded.  “Wake up and open your eyes, Henry.  I told you that you have to be a man now.  You ain’t no boy no more. This is a cold cruel world, Henry. Your mother sheltered you so that she can control you and keep you ignorant of the real world.  That’s why she didn’t want you to go away.  She doesn’t want you to be independent!”

Henry stared at Minnie.  His parents never told him that they rejected his plea to marry Vanessa because she was black.  They said that at 19 he was too young.  Vanessa was only 18.  He believed them when they said it was because of his age.  He remembered now that when he told Vanessa that she had looked at him as if he was stupid when he told her his parent’s reasons for being against his request.

“You were raised in that bedroom of yours all your life.  You don’t know nothing about the real world, Henry.”  Minnie said shaking her head.  “If you want to survive, you better open your eyes, boy.  You better learn how to be independent and take care of yourself.”

“I was learning that at school.”  Henry replied.  “Vanessa taught me a lot…how to make my own bed, how to cook some. I liked being independent and living on my own.”

“That’s a start” Minnie replied.  “But you better learn how to handle your own money so that no one will ever be able to do to you again what your parents did.  They knew you couldn’t survive on your own, so they used that against you.  Never let them do that to you again or you’ll always be weak.”

After leaving Minnie’s, Henry went home and confronted his parents.  He had asked them point blank if they had rejected his plea to marry Vanessa because she was black.

“That’s partly true” his mother had admitted.  “But you are too young for marriage anyway, Henry.  When you’re older there are acceptable women that you can marry.  I knew letting you go to the University of Maryland was a bad idea.  That girl probably threw herself on you just because you are a McDermont.  I know how those people think.”

“What do you mean, ‘those people’. “  Henry asked staring at his mother as if seeing her for the first time.

“I mean, black girls are loose.  Everyone knows that!  You don’t know for sure if that baby was really yours or not!  God Henry, you’re so naïve! That’s why I wanted you to go to school here so that we could watch over you.  I should have known something like this was bound to happen!”

Henry had stared at his mother and the conversation with Minnie played though his mind.  Minnie had been right.  It was time for him to grow up.

His parents had him transferred to the University of Southern Maine.  Henry had vowed that this would be the last decision they would make for him.

While Henry loved his parents, he had grown distant from them, never really forgiving them for their part in the worse decision he had ever made.  A part of him could not accept that they had rejected Vanessa because she was black.

While at school, Henry threw himself in his studies with a double major in accounting and business.  When he graduated, he graduated with honors, but it meant little to him.  He gained access to his trust at twenty five…millions of dollars that any other twenty five year old would have ran out and bought a car or took a trip.  Henry didn’t touch a dime of it for years and worked as an accountant for the Children’s Hospital in Maine.  He moved away from home and into his own place as soon as he finished college.

When his father suggested that he date so that he could find a wife and carry on the McDermont name, Henry thought of Vanessa and how she must loath his very existence.  No woman would ever replace her in his heart.  No other child would come from his loins, he had vowed after killing his first born. He was going to be the end of the McDermont line, a fitting punishment for his sins.   He deliberately chose Sabrina because he knew that she was gay.  They both were in similar situations and their marriage had been a sham from the very beginning.

After the divorce, he wouldn’t even talk to his parents about his private life.  His anger was always apparent to them and they had finally let him be.  When he became sick with cancer, he felt that it was a just punishment for what he had done to Vanessa.

Now he was in his empty home after visiting Vanessa on New Years Eve, trying to figure out his next move.  He would win her back.  He had to.    He was not going to give up until she and Henrietta were back in his life or he’d die trying.

He left his home and drove the three miles to Minnie’s house.  He walked up to the door, hoping that she was home and rang the bell.

Minnie opened the door grinning.  “Henry!”

“H Minnie” he said kissing her cheek.

“Come on in here, boy!”  she said laughing.  She led him to the living room.

“Are you home alone?”  Henry asked looking around.

“Yeah, my son’s at work” Minnie replied.

“I found her, Minnie” Henry said as she sat next to him on the sofa.

“Found who?”  Minnie asked looking at him curiously.

“Vanessa…you know…my girl.”  Henry replied blushing.

Minnie stared at him.  “You mean the mother of the girl that gave you the bone marrow?”

Henry nodded.  He had told Minnie about how his daughter had saved his life by donating her marrow even though she knew that he was the father that abandoned her.

“What she say?”  Minnie asked.  “Is she married now?”

“No…she never got married.”  Henry replied.  “Needless to say…she was surprised to see me.”

“I bet” Minnie said nodding.  “Did she throw you out?”

“Uh..no…not exactly”  Henry replied not meeting her gaze, thinking about the night he and Vanessa had spent together.  “I told her that I wanted my family back.”

Minnie scoffed.  “Your family?  You’re a mite late for that, boy.”

“I know…but I have to start somewhere, Minnie.  I still love her…and I know she still loves me…but Henrietta, my daughter….well that’s another story.”

“Boy you crazy as a loon if you think that girl of yours is going to welcome you back with open arms!”  Minnie snapped.  “She ain’t even supposed to be here if it was left up to you!”

“Not to me.  I wanted her!”  Henry protested.

“But you didn’t fight for her.  You didn’t stand up to your parents and tell them to go to hell!”  Minnie said pointing her finger at him.  “You were weak, Henry !”

“I know” Henry admitted. “I want to make it right.”

“Well then, you have to fight for her.  Do you think you have a chance?”  Minnie asked.

“I mean…me and Vanessa…it was almost like it was before…like we never were apart.”  Henry said slowly.  “She says that I need to work on my relationship with Henrietta and that she doesn’t want to see me again until things get better between me and my daughter, though she said we can talk on the phone.”

“Well, you got your answer then” Minnie replied.

“She hates me” Henry said sadly.

“Who hates you?”

“Henrietta.”

“If she hated you, you’d be dead, boy” Minnie cackled.  “She don’t hate you, but you’re going to have to work hard for her trust and love.”

“She’s gone back to school.  I was thinking about flying down to Charlotte and visiting her.”  Henry replied.

Minnie patted his hand.  “You do that.  I want to meet your baby before I leave this earth, boy.  I’m seventy years old now so don’t take too long, you hear me?”

Henry got up and followed her to the front door.

“Yes ma’am” he replied kissing her.

((***))

Henry checked into the Doubletree Hotel which was on the campus of Johnson and Wales where Henrietta attended school majoring in Hotel Management.  He half hoped that perhaps she would be working the front desk, but she was not.

He went to his suite and called Vanessa and told her that he had arrived.  She gave him Henny’s number and dorm information and he took a deep breath.  He walked across the campus taking in the scenery.  He then braced himself and called Henrietta.

“Hello?” 

“Hello, Henrietta.  This is Henry” He wasn’t about to start things off badly by saying ‘her father’.

“Hi Henry.  What can I do for you?”  she asked formally.

“Uh, I’m here and I want to talk to you.”  Henry confessed.

“Here?  You mean here in Charlotte?”  Henny asked.

“Yeah.  I’m standing in front of your dining hall” he admitted.

“What?  Why would you come down here?”  Henny gasped.

“To see you, Henrietta.  Please” Henry begged.

Henry could hear her hesitation.  There was a lot of noise in the background.

“I’m in the dining hall”  Henny admitted finally.  “You should be able to walk on in.”

Henry walked in as instructed and found her at a table with two other girls.  He walked over to them.

“Hi” he said. 

“Hi” Henny replied sourly. He could tell that she wasn’t too pleased with him flying down to Charlotte.

“Who’s this” one of the girls sitting with Henny asked eying him.  Henry noticed that the girl had redish brown hair with large brown eyes.  She looked up at him from her seat beside Henny.  Henry liked the idea of meeting Henrietta’s friends.

“I’m Henry McDermont”  Henry replied extending his hand to the girl.  Henny would not meet his gaze.

The girl gasped and then looked at Henny grinning broadly.  “Is this the one you told us about?  Is this your father?”  the girl asked grinning.  “The one from Maine?”

“Hi, I’m Tarra”  the brown eyed girl said grinning extending her hand to him when Henny didn’t respond.    She turned to Henny.  “Oooh girl.  You have your daddy’s eyes!”

“He’s not my daddy!”  Henny snapped.  She looked at Henry.  “Why are you here?”

“You shouldn’t be so rude, Henny” the other girl at the table spoke up. Henry noticed that she was quite thin with black framed glasses.  She extended her hand and grinned at Henry.  “I’m April. Henny’s told us all about you!”

“Hi April” Henry said nodding. He watched as she pushed her glasses back up on her nose and turned to Henny. “He’s cute and Tarra’s right.  You have his eyes.”

“I came to spend a little time with you.  I thought we’d get to know each other.”  Henry said looking at Henny.

“We can leave you two alone if you’d like” April said standing.

“No stay”  Henny pleaded pushing April back in her seat.

“Did my mother tell you where to find me?” Henny snapped turning to Henry.  “What’s wrong with me?  Of course she did.  So you’ve been back to my house after I came back here?”  She didn’t like the idea of him being with her mother.

“No Henrietta. “  he said honestly. “I came here from Maine”

“You stay away from my mother!”  snapped angrily.

“I will stay away for as long as she wants me to.” He replied.  He wasn’t going to let her dictate to him concerning Vanessa.  “Your mother and I have an understanding.”

“Hmph!”  Henny replied rolling her eyes at him.

“Are you staying in Charlotte for the weekend?”  April asked.  “There’s no classes on Monday.  It’s Martin Luther King Day and we’re going a program they’re having downtown.  You’re welcome to come with us if you’d like.”

“April!”  Henny snapped.  “I didn’t invite him! We’ve already made our own plans!”

“I know.  Why can’t he come since he’s here?”  April replied grinning.

“Don’t forget that we’re going to Funland on Saturday.” Tarra piped in.

“What’s Funland?”  Henry asked.

“It’s an indoor amusement park” April replied. “It has cool rides and everything.”

“I’ve never been to an amusement park” Henry admitted.

“Never?”  April asked shocked.

“No, I was sick a lot when I was a kid” Henry replied. “I stayed in my bedroom for most of my childhood.””

“Then you gotta go!”  Tarra said gleefully.

“Tarra!”  Henny said horrified. “You and April need to back off!  This doesn’t concern you.  What about my feelings?  You can’t just invite him to come with us.” 

Tarra looked at Henny.  “Consider it giving him an education, Henny!”  Tarra replied. Henny had been talking to her non stop about her father since she gave that bone marrow.  Why was she acting now as if she didn’t want to be bothered?  Tarra thought that it was great that he had come down to spend some time with his daughter.

She grinned at Henry.  “You’ll love it. There are lots of things to do.”

“You two are supposed to be my friends”  Henny accused.  “Why are you doing this?  I don’t want him going with us!”

Henry cleared his throat.  She was talking as if he was not standing right in front of her. Maybe he should back off and let the girls have their day.

“I don’t want to be a bother.” He said looking at the three of them.

“Too late”  Henny said nastily. “You haven’t impressed me one bit by coming here to spend the weekend with me!”

“Why are you being so mean, Henny?”  April asked obviously confused.  “You’re not being entirely truthful. You always twist your lips when you lie.  Besides, we invited him.  I think it’s cool that your father wants to spend some time with you. You seemed so excited about finding him before.  What has happened now to change your mind?  At least he cares.”

“Yeah”  Tarra chimed in.  “Neither of our father’s ever gave a damn and they knew we existed.  At least your’s didn’t know about you until you saved his life, right Henry?”

“No, I didn’t know…but I guess I should have.”  He admitted.

Henny knew that Tarra and April were only reacting to what she had told them in the past.  She had been pleased by what she had done, giving him her bone marrow; and she had been happy to finally see her father for herself.  She had talked about her trip to DC to both her friends on several occasions, and even had discussed the possibility of her getting in contact with him and trying to get to know him.  However that was how she felt before she came home for New Years and found him in her mother’s bed.  Seeing that he had come there to seek out her mother and not his daughter had changed everything.  Now she didn’t know if Henry came to Charlotte to get to know her for herself, or because he wanted to get back with her mother.

Henny glared at him.   “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I owe you my life, and because you’re mine and I want to get to know you.”  He responded pulling up a chair. “For twenty one years I didn’t even know you existed and I haven’t been able to get you off of my mind since you came to Washington and gave me that bone marrow.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet!”  Tarra said grinning.  “He’s looking at you like he loves you already, Henny.  This weekend is going to be one of the best!”

She looked at Henry.  “So, you’ve never been to an amusement park, huh?   Have you had elephant ears, or cotton candy, or candy apples before?”

“No, my mother didn’t allow me to eat sweets.”   Henry replied.  They stared at him with their mouths hanging open in disbelief.

“He sounds like that boy that was in the bubble that was on television”  Tarra replied looking at Henny.

Tarra turned to Henny.  “Now see Henny, your Dad needs you again.  The man has never had elephant ears!  It’s your duty to introduce him to the finer things in life.”

April chuckled.  “Just wait til we go on the rollercoaster.”

Henny rolled her eyes and looked at Henry who was grinning at her stupidly.   What kind of life had this man lived, and what in the world did her mother ever see in him in the first place?  She tried not to think about the two of them in bed, though the picture flashed in her mind every time she saw him.  She glanced over at her traitorous friends who seemed to have fallen under Henry’s spell.  Maybe this weekend she could at least understand what her mother saw in him to begin with.

She and her mother had hardly talked since New Years Day. Even though Henny had apologized for what she had said to her mother about Henry, there was now a rift between the two of them that had never exited before.  Her mother had promised her that she wouldn’t see Henry again unless the two of them had established a relationship, but Henny could see the pain in her mother’s eyes and knew that her mother still loved him.  Henny couldn’t understand how that could be after all that had transpired between them, but her mother had told her that she wasn’t going to explain herself further.    She now looked at her father and her friends who were waiting for her to make a decision.

“Alright then.  Let’s do this” she sighed in defeat.

((***))

Henny had used the pass key given to her at the front desk to enter into her father’s room.  She found him lying on his back, his face pale.

“Henry, are you OK?”  Henny asked walking over to the bed.  He had on a pair of lounging pants and a white tee shirt.  His eyes were closed and she watched as his chest moved up and down.

She had been feeling a bit guilty after taking Henry on the wildest rides in the amusement park.  She could tell that he was a bit scared, but she had insisted; and she knew that he wanted to save face in front of her friends.  He had thrown up after the rollercoaster ride, but had then insisted that he was fine.  Henny had to give it to him, he stuck it out better than her mother had when she came to Charlotte for a visit.  By the fifth ride, he told her that he needed a break and she had proceeded to feed him the elephant ear which then upset his stomach.  She guessed that people who weren’t used to eating sugar couldn’t really handle something as unhealthy as an elephant ear especially after being on amusement park rides.

“Hmmm…yeah, I’ll live” he mumbled with his eyes still shut.

Henny wasn’t so sure.  They had escorted him back to his room at the Doubletree Saturday evening and now it was Sunday afternoon and Henry was still in the bed.

“I have a migraine” he mumbled as if reading her mind.

“Have you taken anything?”  Henny asked.  She didn’t want to be responsible for causing the man to be sick.

“Yeah.  I get them from time to time” he replied.  “I should be fine by this evening.  It’s already let up some.”  He opened his eyes and looked at his daughter. “I guess you think I’m some sort of punk, huh?”

Henny snickered.  “Well you lasted longer than Mama did when she was here.  Two rides on the rollercoaster and she was through.”

“If only I’d been that smart” Henry replied closing his eyes again.

Henny went into the bathroom and ran water on a washcloth and came back and put it on his forehead.

“Have you eaten anything” she asked looking around the room.

“I can’t eat when I have a migraine.  It makes me sick to my stomach.”  He replied.

“Alright then”  Henny said getting up.  “I’ll come back later on.”

She walked out of the room and Henry heard the door shut quietly behind her.  He didn’t know what to expect when he came to Charlotte.  Now he felt that he had failed miserably in bonding with his daughter.

The rides at the amusement park scared him, but he had sucked it up and rode them anyway.  Henny seemed to take perverse pleasure in his misery and the only good thing was that all four of them had screamed on the rollercoaster ride.  He couldn’t believe that she wanted to ride it again even after he had thrown up when he got off of it.

Still, he had stuck with it as long as he could and in the end, he had stumbled back to his room and with their help and fell on the bed while his stomach heaved from the elephant ear and corndog he had eaten.  He felt that he had made a complete fool of himself and at this point the only thing he could do would be to pack up and return to Maine.  He turned over on his side and drifted back into a fitful sleep.

((**))

Henny returned to Henry’s room that evening finding it dark and him still in the bed.  She cut on the bedside light and shook him.

“Henry, wake up”

He turned over and looked at her, squirting at the light.  His beard had grown out a bit and he needed a shower and she could smell his breath from where she was standing beside the bed.  She watched as he rubbed his eyes and thought again about her mother. 

Henry sat up on the side of the bed, his hair standing on top of his head.

“What time is it?”  he asked.

“It’s seven o’clock in the evening, Henry.”  Henny replied. “Have you been asleep all this time?”

“I always sleep when I get migraines” he replied.  “It helps and I do feel a lot better now.”

Henny grinned as she heard his stomach growl.

“I guess your stomach’s better too” she observed looking at him. “You need a shower and shave and your breath stinks to high heaven! I guess I’m seeing you at your worse, huh?”

“It seems that way” he responded eying her.

“Well get dressed!”  Henny replied.  “We’re going out to dinner and you’re paying for it.”

Henry looked surprised.  “What?  I’m shocked that you’d want to go out with me after yesterday’s fiasco!”

“Well you need to eat and I’m a poor college kid with no money”  Henny replied standing up and walking to the door.  “I’ll be back in about an hour.”

Henny left the room and stood against the wall and closed her eyes.  Seeing Henry on such a personal level affected her more than she cared to admit.  Being in his room with him in his pajama’s, exposed in a way that only family most likely would see him, made him almost feel like her father…as if they had shared a private moment together.  She imagined what it would have been like to be a child bursting into her father’s room and jumping on the bed waking him up, finding him like she had seen him just now.  She had seen that scene so many times on television shows and her heart used to lurch at the sight  wondering how it would have been if she’d had a father.  Now it felt like she had experienced that a little bit, and she hungered for more, though she wasn’t about to admit it to Henry.  She sighed and pushed the button on the elevator and decided to call her mother while she waited for Henry in the lobby.

((***))

The dinner had gone better than Henry had hoped.  Henny had told him about a nice Italian restaurant that she’d heard of and Henry had to admit that the food was excellent.

After they had ordered dessert, Henny had stared at him and folded her hands in front of her on the table.

“So Henry”  she said eying him.  “How did you meet my mother?”
“At school” he replied.  “She was in several of my classes.  We were both freshmen and I wanted to get to know her.”

“Why her?”  Henny asked.

“I thought she was pretty and she seemed serious about school like I was.  She wasn’t one of those party people.”  Henry replied. “We talked for the first time in the library.”

“I’m surprised”  Henny replied.  “Since my family doesn’t care for white people.”

Henry looked surprised.  “Really?  I didn’t know that.”

Henny nodded.  “My mother never told them that you were white or even your name.  She didn’t tell me until I was eighteen and I just wonder what it was about you that made her cross the line.  She’d never tell me, so I’m asking you.”

Henry stared at her.  “I can’t answer for your mother-“

“So you had a ‘thing’ for black girls?”  Henny asked interrupting him.

“No…I had never dated before.”  Henry replied.  “I was just drawn to her…that’s the best I can explain it.”

“Why?  Because she was different?  Are there black people in Maine?”  Henny pressed.

“Yes.  My nurse, who was my only friend was black” Henry confessed.

“That explains it then”  Henny replied. “You went with what was familiar.  But she wasn’t the only black girl in school.”

“True, but she was quiet and studious.  I liked that.”  Henry admitted.

Henny studied him a moment.

“I came home New Years Day and I saw you in my mother’s bed and it freaked me out.  My mother had never brought a man home before or even dated and I couldn’t…in fact I still can’t understand why she took you back in her life…in her bed so easily.”  Henny replied staring at Henry whose face had turned red. “After you just deserted her, how could you just come back and use her like that?”

“I didn’t use your mother, Henny.  I love her.  I’ve always loved her.”  Henry replied.  “I didn’t come to Petersburg with that in mind.  I came because I wanted a relationship with you and your mother.  I want us to be a family.  I know it sounds crazy, but that’s what I vowed for New Years…to get my family back.”

“And you planned on doing that by sleeping with my mother first?”  Henny snapped. “Well I guess you got your wish because it didn’t take but a few hours for you to worm your way into her bed.  You must be proud of your accomplishment!”

Henry wiped his mouth with his napkin.  “You will not talk to me in that tone about your mother, Henrietta!” he said sharply which surprised her.  Henry had always been gentle and soft-spoken. “Your mother is a wonderful woman whom I don’t deserve, but I will do everything in my power to win her love.  You’re still young and you don’t know everything.  Suffice it to say that there are some things, private things that are between your mother and I that I will not discuss with you.  What happened on New Years was a private thing, a sacred thing between your mother and myself.  It should not lower her in your eyes one bit; and if it does, then that tells me that you, young lady still have a lot of maturing to do.”

Henny was taken aback, finding his upbraiding totally unexpected.  He glared at her now and she regretted her words, lowering her eyes.

“I..I’m sorry” she stammered.

Henry stared at her a moment longer and then smiled.  He reached across the table and patted her hand.  “No harm…forget it” he replied.

The waiter brought their desserts and sat it in front of the two of them.

“Father daughter night?”  he asked looking from one to the other.

“Henry was surprised at his comment and looked at Henrietta and then back at the waiter.

“What makes you say that?”  Henrietta asked startled. “How did you know he was my father?”

The waiter chuckled.  “That’s obvious.  You look just like him.”

((***))

Henny convinced Henry to stay for the Martin Luther King celebration that the school was having.  There were speakers and videos from the sixties for them to watch.  Afterwards, he went with Henny, April and Tarra to volunteer at the homeless shelter in Charlotte.  It was an eye opening experience for Henry.

They worked in the shelter serving meals until after six o’clock that evening and Henry escorted the girls back to their dorm.

“So did you have to face prejudice for dating Henny’s mother?”  April asked Henry.

“We received a few stares, but no one ever said anything to us when we were in college together”  Henry replied.  “It was my parents that gave me grief about Vanessa.”

“So, they were upset because you were dating a black girl?”  April asked.

“They were upset because I told them that Henny’s mother was pregnant and that I wanted to marry her.  They told me that I was too young for marriage, but later I found out that they didn’t approve of her because she was black”  Henry replied grimly.

“Do you think that they’d want to meet Henny now?”  Tarra asked.

“I don’t know” Henry replied.

“Would you like to meet them, Henny?”  April asked.

“No.  They didn’t want me then, why should they want me now?”  Henny replied.  She looked at Henry.  “How do they feel about you trying to have a relationship with me?”

“Their opinions about my personal life don’t matter any more” Henry replied. “I told them that I was going to get my family back.  That’s all I told them.  They know you were the one who gave me the bone marrow.”

“I bet that they felt really stupid when they found out that she was your daughter, huh?”  Tarra said smugly.  “They are probably all sorry for what they did.”

Henry scoffed.  “Not exactly.”

He looked at Henny.  “Their opinions don’t matter to me…not anymore.  I told them about you in hopes that they would change, but they didn’t and I’m done.”

They were quiet as they reached the dorms and Henry said goodnight.  He turned and headed back to the Doubletree for the night.  He had a plane to catch in the morning.

“Henry, Henry!”  he heard Henrietta calling to him when he had almost reached the hotel.  He turned and saw her running behind him.

“What’s wrong, Henrietta?”  he asked worried.

“Nothing” she said breathing hard after she had caught up with him.  “I forgot to ask you… what time are you leaving tomorrow?”

“I have a 7 am flight.”  Henry replied. 

“Oh” Henny replied.  “I have class at 8.  I guess this is good bye then”  she said eying him nervously.

“For now” Henry agreed nodding.

“I didn’t think I would…but I enjoyed this weekend” she replied not meeting his eyes.

“I enjoyed it too, Henrietta.”  He said smiling.

“Henny.  My friends call me Henny” she replied.  “And give me your cell number so that I won’t have to chase you down next time.”

He gave her the number and noticed it had gotten dark.

“I’m going to walk you back.  I don’t want you walking alone” Henry said looking around.

Henny nodded and they walked back in silence.  She looked at Henry when they reached her dorm. She still had mixed feelings about him, though he had grown on her a bit.

“What will your parents do if you and Mama get back together?”

“I don’t care what they think about it” Henry replied looking at her.  “Nothing is more important to me than you and your mother.  Believe that, Henrietta.”

Henny sighed. “It seems that if Martin Luther King were still alive, he’d say we still have a long way to go.”

Henry nodded as he watched her walk into the safety of the dorm before turning back and heading to the hotel.