An Unusual Beginning Ch. 02

David knew that everything Diana was saying to him was true, but it didn't make hearing it any less painful.

"We'll talk later," Diana said, leaving David and his parents alone on the patio.

"David," his mother said, walking over and placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah," David replied.

"I know you're hurting and upset," his mother said, "but there are questions that need to be answered before this situation can be resolved."

"I know mom," David said, pulling out his cell phone and punching in numbers. "What're you doing?" David asked the person on the other end. "I need you to come home. Now."

David listened as the other person spoke. "Okay," David said, "I'll see you in twenty minutes."

"Who was that?" his father asked.

"Franklin Jr." David replied. "We need answers, and he can give them to us."

"You said that the woman's, friends spiked her drink," his mother said.

"Yes," David replied.

"Why?" his mother asked.

"It seems that Arlene's, friends considered her to be too straight-laced and in need of loosening up," David said. "So, they decided that spiking her drink would help her accomplish this."

"Why did Franklin and your friends spike your drink?" his father asked.

"They said that I had changed since becoming engaged, and they wanted to see the old David one more time before I packed him away for good," David said.

"How did they think you had changed?" his mother asked.

"They said I wasn't as much fun as I used to be," David said, "because I'd stop going to the gentlemen's clubs we use to visit on a regular basis. When they called and wanted to get together for a drink, I would check to see if I had anything planned with Diana instead of saying, "Where" like I used to. It seems that Franklin Jr., William, Jonathan, and Raymond didn't like the way I am transitioning into married life."

"I can't believe Franklin Jr. and your friends could be so selfish," his mother remarked. "Especially your brother, I would've expected him to support your effort to ease into married life."

"I don't believe they saw what they did as selfish," David's father said in his son's and his son's friends' defense. "I think they were just missing the old David and just as David said they wanted to see him one more time before he got married and settled down."

"We need to talk about this woman," his mother said.

"Her name is Arlene," David said.

"You said you didn't use protection," his mother said, ignoring David's correction of her. "I know there's some concern about A.I.D.S. and other STDs, but there's also the possibility of her being pregnant to think about."

"I think that pregnancy is highly unlikely," his father said. "Arlene is probably like most of today's women, and she's on some form of birth control."

"You're probably right," his mother agreed. "Birth control is part of the modern woman's daily life to be taken like one would take a daily vitamin."

David didn't respond to his mother's remark. The conversation about whether Arlene was pregnant or not wasn't one he wanted to have with his parents. He wanted to discuss it with Arlene first.

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"Good evening, Carter," Franklin Jr. said when Carter greeted him at the door.

"Good evening, sir," Carter replied.

"Where can I find my brother?" Franklin asked.

"I believe he's out on the patio, sir," Carter answered.

"Thank you, Carter," Franklin Jr. said as he made his way out to the patio.

"You're welcome, sir," Carter replied watching Franklin Jr. head out to the patio where his family was waiting for him.

Franklin Jr. was surprised when he walked out onto the patio to see his parents standing there with David waiting for him.

They all turned and looked at him, their expressions indicating that they weren't happy, and he was the one they weren't happy with.

He smiled at his family, they didn't smile back.

'Not a good sign,' Franklin Jr. thought to himself.

"We just found out what happened to your brother in Vegas," his father said his disappointment at Franklin Jr. coming through loud and clear in his voice, "and the part you played in it."

"It was a joke, dad," Franklin Jr. said walking towards his family not understanding what the big deal was. "We didn't do it to hurt anyone."

"Were you there when David and this woman was married?" his father asked.

"Yes, I was," Franklin Jr. said, "but the marriage isn't legal because David and Arlene didn't sign their actual names to the license."

"Show your brother, your marriage license, David," Mr. Fitzgerald said.

David pulled the license from his pocket and showed it to his brother.

Franklin Jr. took the license from David's hand and looked at it. There on the bottom in bold, black ink were the signatures of his brother, David Calvin Fitzgerald, and Arlene Denise Patterson. Franklin took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"So, you and Arlene are legally married?" Franklin Jr. asked.

"It would seem so," David replied, his voice tense because he was fighting the urge to strangle his brother.

"I have a few questions I would like answers to," their father said to Franklin Jr. "If this whole thing was meant to be a joke, why did you, your friends, and Arlene's friends take your brother and Arlene to the Justice of the Peace?" his father asked. "Why have them go through the marriage ceremony and sign a marriage license?"

"We wanted them to think they'd actually gotten married when they woke up the next morning," Franklin Jr. said. "We wanted them to have memories of being in the chapel, standing before the minister and going through the ceremony and of signing the license."

"Didn't the Justice of the Peace ask to see David's and Arlene's IDs?" his mother asked.

"Yes," Franklin Jr. replied.

"Then how were they going to sign fake names on the marriage license?" his father asked, "The Justice of the Peace knew their real names."

"I guess David and Arlene weren't the only ones slightly tipsy that night," Franklin Jr. remarked, "because that fact never occurred to us."

"I'm going to call our attorney to find out what your legal responsibility is to this woman," their father said as he pulled out his cell phone and began punching in his attorney's number, "and how soon we can have this marriage annulled?"

"Hang up the phone, dad," David told his father. "I'm not going to do anything until after I talk to Arlene."

"Why?" his father asked. "Don't you want to end this marriage so that you can marry Diana?"

"I don't know what I'm going to do, dad," David said, sighing in frustration at the whole situation. "Arlene and I need to talk. There may be other things for us to consider before we talk about ending our marriage."

"What things?" his mother asked.

"We didn't use protection, mother," David replied. "There could be a child to consider before we discuss ending our marriage."

"Even if she is pregnant, it might not be yours," his father said. "She might've been seeing someone else before the two of you met, the baby might've been planted in her womb before you slept with her."

"I wish you wouldn't speak so crass about Arlene, dad," David told his father, letting him know that he didn't appreciate what he said about her. "She didn't plan or ask to have this happen to her anymore than I did. We're both victims in this mess, and if there is a child involved the child will be a victim also."

Pamela smiled, proud to see that her son was demanding that Arlene be respected. He was right; Arlene was a victim just as he was. They both had been betrayed by people they called friends and because of that betrayal, they could be connected to each other for life, and they knew nothing about each other.

"Do you know how to get into touch with Arlene?" his mother asked.

"I'm going to start with William," David said. "He has the phone number of one of her friends. They've been talking. In fact, he's going to fly down to Atlanta to see Shayla this weekend. I think I'll fly down with him and go see Arlene."

"What if she doesn't want to see you?" his father asked.

"That would be unacceptable," David said. "There are things that need to be settled between us and the only way that can be done is by Arlene and me discussing them and to do that we have to talk, in person."

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David left his parents and brother sitting out on the patio while he went into the house and called William, and they decided to fly down to Atlanta that weekend.

He learned through William, who was told by Shayla that Arlene had done as he did and cut off all contact with her friends since her return from Vegas.

She had also stopped going into the office where she worked. She now worked from home. She sent her work into the office via her computer, fax or messenger.

When David asked William if she'd told her family about what happened in Vegas, he was saddened to learn that Arlene was an orphan. She had been abandoned at birth in a state-run hospital where she was born.

That meant that if Arlene didn't talk to her friends, she didn't have anyone to talk to, and she would have to keep her feelings about what happened to her bottled up inside. The thought of her being alone caused his heart to go out even more for Arlene. David couldn't imagine being alone in the world, without his family (no matter how much they got on his nerves sometimes).

He hoped Arlene would see him because he needed to see her. He needed to know and to see for himself that she was alright. He wouldn't be able to ease his mind until he saw and talked to her. He wouldn't return to Los Angeles, until he saw her and talked to her.

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Diana's mother, brother and father were all sitting in the family room of their home watching television when she came charging into the house. They could tell from her red eyes, her tear-stained face, and her hands balled fists that something was upsetting her, but when she tried to punch Jonathan in the face they knew that he was the one she was angry with.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Jonathan asked covering his nose with his hands. "Why did you try to hit me?"

"Tell me about your trip to Vegas with David and the rest of his soon-to-be-dead friends and brother," Diana said drawing her fist back to try and hit her brother again.

"There's nothing to tell," Jonathan replied, jumping out of the chair, and standing so that he could better defend himself against his deranged sister, even though he knew that deserved everything she was trying to give him because the cat was now out of the bag.

"I think there is something for you to tell," Diana said, walking up on her brother, drawing her fist further back preparing to hit him in the face with all her might.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jonathan said, putting his hands up to protect himself against his sister's impending attack on his person.

"Diana, what're you going on about?" her mother Clarice Weston asked, coming to stand between warring her children.

"Tell mother what you, David's brother, and the rest of that worthless pieces of shit that you call friends did while you were in Vegas!" Diana ordered her brother.

"There's nothing to tell," Jonathan said still feigning innocence. "Nothing happened in Vegas that wouldn't normally happen when a man is given a bachelor party by his friends."

"Well, I guess in your world that it's normal for the future groom, to get married to a woman who isn't his intended bride when he goes to Vegas for a bachelor party," Diana said crying and trying to reach around her mother to hit her brother as she spoke.

"What!" Diana's mother and father said together, her father moving from the couch and standing.

"David married someone else while he was in Vegas," Diana told her parents.

Clarice and Jamison Weston turned and looked at their son, their eyes demanding an explanation.

"The marriage isn't legal," Jonathan said, laughing because he thought he'd pulled a good one on his parents and his sister. "David and Arlene didn't sign their real names on the marriage license."

"The marriage is legal," Diana screamed her face red with rage, "David and that... that... woman did sign their legal names on the license!"

"They did?" Jonathan replied, surprised by the information.

"Yes, they did, you asshole," Diana said. "How could you have allowed this to happen?"

"It was a joke," Jonathan told his family shrugging his shoulders.

"I want to know what happened," Jonathan's father said. "And tell me everything and don't leave anything out."

Jonathan told his father how Arlene's and David's drinks were spiked while he danced with Callie and David danced with Arlene. He told him about how him, Franklin Jr., the rest of David's friends, and Arlene's friends thought that taking the couple to a Justice of the Peace to make them think they'd really gotten married would be a funny thing to do. He then told his father how it was all supposed to be a joke that the marriage wasn't supposed to be real because David and Arlene weren't supposed to sign their actual names on the license. Jonathan placed the blame for the joke going astray on David and Arlene saying that they must've been too drunk to follow instructions."

After hearing what had happened in Vegas and the part his son played in it, Jamison Weston just stared at the idiot standing in front of him, wondering why he hadn't had a DNA test done years ago because he just couldn't believe that this clown was his son.

"Why would you, your friends, Franklin Jr., And this woman's friend thinks that taking David and this woman to the Justice of the Peace to make them think they'd gotten married would be funny?" Jamison asked his son.

"We thought it would be funny to see them panic when they thought they were actually married and then spring it on them that they weren't actually married because the whole thing was a joke," Jonathan said, giving his parents an excuse that made a lot of sense to him when it was explained to him that way in Vegas. It didn't make sense to him standing in Los Angeles, explaining it to his parents.

Jamison moved towards his son preparing to give him a beat down that he wouldn't soon forget, but his wife positioned herself between him and their son.

"What is David going to do about his marriage to this woman?" Clarice asked Diana deciding to change the subject because she didn't want to see her husband going to jail for beating their only son, and she didn't want to see her son lying before her beat to a bloody pulp. "I'm sure he's going to have it annulled.

"Having the marriage annulled might not take care of the problem," Diana told her mother.

"What do you mean?" Clarice asked.

"It seems that after they were married that David and this Arlene person went on a honeymoon in their hotel suite," Diana said her eyes throwing daggers at Jonathan.

"You're kidding," Clarice said fully understanding what her daughter was saying.

"No, I'm not," Diana said. "And since David was too drunk to think about protection and they don't know if Arlene was on any form of birth control, it's possible that the woman is pregnant."

Jamison's and Clarice's eyes once again turned and glared at their son. This time when Jamison made a move towards Jonathan, Clarice was tempted to step aside and let him have at him. It took a humongous amount of effort, but she once again blocked her husband's path.

"You can't kill the boy, Jamison," Clarice told her husband. "Although I don't think there's a jury in the world that would convict you if you did after hearing what he's done, I can't allow it. He's still our son."

"You might allow father to do as he wishes when you hear the rest of what I have to say," Diana told her mother.

"There can't be anything else to this mess," Clarice said.

"Arlene is African-American," Diana said with a cheeky smile on her face as she awaited her parents' reaction to what she'd just said. She was disappointed when it wasn't what she was expecting.

"What does that have to do with the situation?" her father asked. "This woman's race doesn't make the situation any worse."

"I guess you're right," Diana said, hating her parents' liberal attitudes when it came to matters of race.

"I guess the wedding is going to have to be canceled until David deals with the situation with this woman," Clarice said.

"Yes, it will," Diana said. "I left before David and I could talk, but I believe that he's going to see this woman and talk to her about having this marriage annulled.

"You, Franklin Jr., William, and Raymond owe me two hundred-fifty thousand dollars," Jamison told his son. "That's the amount I've paid so far preparing for your sister's wedding, and you can believe me young man that the four of you are going to reimburse me every penny if this wedding is called off."

"Yes, sir," Jonathan said, knowing that arguing with his father would be useless because he didn't have a leg to stand on. He and everyone else involved in what happened in Vegas were responsible for Diana and David not getting married.