Chapter Three
Merris was hopelessly in love with Dean and told her father, she would not leave him. After several months of trying to get Merris to give up on Dean, Markman finally caved in and allowed him to continue courting his daughter. They were married six months later. Very soon after that he joined the group of companies. He was big in the company, but he hated the situation he was in. Merris held all the cards. She could ruin him with a snap of her fingers.
He became nervous. Why was she asking him about Debra and Karl Parker? Were they lovers? If he left the company, he would have trouble finding another job in this industry. They would try to blacken his character. Several of his friends who knew of the precarious position he was in had warned him to be faithful to Merris. One of his friends, Dennis Raymond, told him that when your hands are in a tiger’s mouth you have to take time drawing it out. Somehow, he couldn’t resist Debra and the other young women he was going around with. Their hips were so round, their bellies so flat and their breasts so firm.
He remembered Winston Wright. He had migrated to Canada as a youngster. He got a Canadian education and got married to a Canadian woman, Susan Fredricks. They had three children together. Ten years ago, the family had relocated to Jamaica and Winston found work. Susan soon became dissatisfied with living in Jamaica and returned home with her children. Subsequently, she made three trips to Jamaica to try and get Winston to return home. He had heard that it was the young girls who were keeping him in Jamaica and away from his wife.
On her last trip to Jamaica, she caught him on top of a young girl. It was the same way he felt about the young girls and their irresistible bodies.
***.
The next day he called Debra. She was driving on Constant Spring Road. He was in his office.
“Are you and Karl Parker lovers?”
He heard her laughing. She was in her office when he called.
“Of course not, I don’t know who could have told you so.” “A friend of mine saw both of you in his car, acting like lovers.”
“Mind telling me who was the friend that told you so? Tell whoever it was to mind his or her business.”
“Can I see you on Saturday? Remember that I couldn’t make it last week.”
“Well, whose fault was it? I’m sorry but, I have to go to this party that one of Simon’s friends invited us to.”
“Can’t you behave as if you’re sick and let him go alone?”
“Dean, are you crazy? He’s already suspicious. If I told him that, he would never let me leave the house.”
They both ended the call.
***
That evening Carlene called Reva. She was on her veranda, sitting in one of the plastic chairs. Reva was in her living when Carlene called her.
“Reva, I’m warning you to leave, Karl alone.” “How do you know that he and I are friends?” “Because, he told me so.”
“Listen girl and listen good, if you were giving him the right thing, he wouldn’t have to stray.”
“A man will always stray, especially if the woman is an easy lay.”
“You’re a whore, a prostitute. You’re worse than those girls in New Kingston and on the Back Road.”
“If I’m a whore, you’re one too. If I’m selling my body, so are you too, girl.”
“Listen Reva, unlike you I don’t go around throwing my body at the next available man. The only man I’m seeing is Karl Parker.”
“My body is mine and mine alone. Nobody can tell me what to do with it.”
“All I want you to do is to keep away from Karl.”
“If he has to come to me, it’s because you’re not giving him enough.”
“Your boyfriend, Denton, will soon get tired of you and look another woman.”
“You’re complaining about me and Karl being friends. Are you sure that he doesn’t have other women?”
“You’re the only one I know about.” “Then maybe you don’t know anything.” “Go to hell, Reva!”
“And you go to hell too, girl,” Reva shouted and ended the call.
***
Dean Morgan was at home and he was sitting on a sofa in the living room. He was drinking a ginger beer. He was still worried about his tenure with the Markmans. They had trapped him in a marriage to their daughter. He could not leave the marriage or the job and expect to get another in this industry. They would make sure that he never picked up another job in the industry and on the island. He had thought of migrating several times, but he would have to leave his children behind. Merris would take him to the family court and find him wherever he was. She would take him to the cleaners. No, he was trapped, but he wouldn’t play by their rules.
***
Syd had called Debra two times, but each time all he got was her voice mail. He was in his car on the way to a meeting that morning. On the third attempt, he got her. She was in her office when she got the call.
“Who’s that calling me?” “Me, Syd.”
“I told you not to call me again! After what you did, I don’t know how you can find the nerve to call me again.”
“Look how many times I’ve apologized. It was a mistake, Antoinette forced herself on me.”
“You’ve always blamed her, but I know it’s not true.”
“I’m even richer now. I’m prepared to give you a brand-new car. I’ll even buy an apartment for you if you’ll leave Simon and return to me.”
“There are many other girls out there who would jump at an offer like that, why me?”
“Because, you’ll always be special to me, and you know that too.”
She laughed, making him believe that he was getting through to her at last.
“I know about the guys you’re keeping with Simon. They are Dean Morgan and Karl Parker. You’re accusing me of being unfaithful, but what about you?”
“Have you been following me around? Yes, I’m sleeping with two other men besides my live-in lover. What about it?” “I want you to give up those two guys and Simon.”
“Listen, Syd, stay with your wife and leave me alone,” she said and ended the call.
He tried to call her back, but all he got was her voice mail. He would not be giving up. He would give her an ultimatum and if she refused, he had no alternative, but to do something about it.
***
Dean Morgan knew that he had gone into the marriage with his eyes wide open. Several of his friends had warned him that he was getting himself into a difficult situation. David Markman would only let him marry his daughter if there was a catch to it.
Wealthy families didn’t allow their children to marry into poor families. He only had an education. By marrying Markman’s daughter, he wasn’t making him richer.
Russell Speid was his friend. He was married to Markman’s eldest daughter, Eleanor. Unlike Dean, he had his own business. It was an import and distribution business, which he and his wife ran. He often wondered why he wasn’t like Russell, independent of the Markmans.
Megan, who was married to Junior Markman, didn’t work for them either. She was a junior lawyer working for a firm in Downtown, Kingston.
Jacinth, Markman’s other daughter and who Merris followed was married to Garth Rennals. She was a lawyer and practiced with her husband in their New Kingston chambers. He alone had been trapped by them. In six years, his savings were negligible. He had to give her money for the house, school fees and lunch money for the children. He had to be repaying his student loan. He also had a car loan repaying as they refused to give him a company car. He only got a mileage allowance when he travelled on company business. He wanted to be his own man. He was tired of David Markman and Junior Markman talking down to him. It was either their way or the highway. From now on he didn’t care if Merris caught him with other women. He got up out of the sofa in which he had been lying down and went upstairs.
Taken from the novel, The Hardest Way Out of Love by Austin Mitchell