Love Knows No Color Pt. 08

Thanks to all who have read this story this far. Your encouragement has propelled me through some painful moments. This part has been the most difficult to write thus far, and as result I had to take a break from it and start on part 9 instead. Some of the plot twists here came to me spontaneously, and with this part and the next one, sometimes writing it felt like I was tearing the scabs off old wounds I'd forgotten I had. Life can be rough, but that's what makes it interesting.

I hope you all enjoy this part. The next one should be up in a few days.

It broke my heart to have to leave Ethan in the hospital overnight, but there was nothing we could do. Rose had truly thrown a wrench into things this time. But she didn't realize in the end she'd only made things worse for herself. When the hearing officer had granted us emergency custody after Rose was arrested, visitation by Rose was not mentioned. That meant we controlled her access to the kids, until the hearing for the permanent order. And that was a couple months away. The way I felt right now, I couldn't trust her around the kids. I was not inclined to grant that access.

Shavonda drove Brittany and me back to her house, where we spent the night. I was pretty upset about everything. No, I was livid. After we put Brittany to bed in the storage room we'd turned into a bedroom for the kids, she held me close trying to calm me. "It's going to work out. You'll see."

Once I calmed down, my mind started working. The gears turned and I devised a plan. I knew exactly what we were going to do. I ran it by Shavonda for her input.

"First thing we do," I said, "is to remove the kids from the place Rose works at. Obviously, they are not safe there. Next, we deny her visitation until the hearing."

"Don't do her like that," Shavonda said. I knew it pained her to say that. "She needs to see those kids. We should let her. But we do it in a way that we control her access. Removing the kids from her daycare is a good first step. We can find another place and send her the bill. After all, the courts said she pays for child care. They didn't say where that child care should be."

Shavonda had a point. Once again, she was thinking on her feet, taking my plan and improving on it. In the permanent hearing, it would probably work against us if we denied Rose all access to the kids. But if we controlled when and where she could see them, we could make sure that one of the family was always present when Rose was there. There would be no more unsupervised visits with the kids.

I called off work, yet again, so we could get arrange for different child care. We found a facility not too far from the Carson Street store. Shavonda could drop the Ethan off there, and visit him at lunch. She didn't normally take a lunch break while working, but she was going to start. Brittany would ride the school bus to kindergarten as usual, but she would be dropped off at the new daycare.

I also paid a visit to Brittany's school, armed with a copy of the court order. I told them that under NO circumstance was Rose to pick Brittany up, unless I said so. Shavonda and I were the only ones able to do that. Just to be on the safe side, we also set up a password anybody picking her up from school would have to give. The password: love knows no color. It would take several days for the change in bus routing for Brittany to take effect. Since Friday was the last day before Christmas break, Shavonda would have to pick Brittany up at school for the next couple of days.

We walked into Rose's facility, and kindly informed them that we were moving Brittany and Ethan out of their care. "That's because we can't trust you with our children's well-being. We are moving them somewhere they'll be safe," I told them icily. The woman in charge was upset and tried to talk us into leaving them there, but we were adamant. I also told them I was seriously considering calling my lawyer to sue them for negligence.

Rose smirked at us from her office on the way out. She had no idea what we'd just done. I wished we could have been there when they informed her the kids wouldn't be coming back.

Suddenly, Shavonda turned and started back towards Rose's office. "Swear to god I'ma smack the taste out that bitch's mouth. She gonna be spittin teeth fore I'm through with her."

"No," I hissed through clenched teeth, grabbing her by the arm. "There's cameras here. You wanna go to jail for assault? Who's gonna help me raise the kids right?" Reluctantly she followed me as I hustled her out of the building. Protecting your queen isn't easy. Sometimes, you have to protect her from herself.

Last stop was the hospital. Ethan was ready to come home, and the caseworker brought him to us. Ethan seemed to be afraid of me. Not good, I thought. The last thing I need right now is for my own child to be afraid. The caseworker was watching us carefully for signs we were abusing the kids. Ethan had never acted like this around me before.

Shavonda intuitively understood the situation. Ethan ran to her and held her tight, looking at me the whole time. "Shhhh," she said to Ethan. "Daddy's not mad at you. Nobody's mad at you. We love you. Nobody here is going to hurt you." Ethan calmed down, she picked him up, and handed him to me. The caseworker watched intently. I felt uneasy as I took hold of my son, but he was no longer afraid of me.

"Ethan," I asked, "Why would you be afraid of me? Have I ever hit you?"

"No." he replied. I left it at that not wanting to traumatize him further. We could explore why he was afraid later, preferably in one of those counseling sessions child welfare was having us attend. But I'd made my point. The caseworker could see that Ethan was terrified of something, or someone, but it wasn't me.

"Were you able to check the surveillance from the preschool?" I asked the case worker.

"Yes," she replied. "It showed Ethan walking into the school with Ms. Jenkins in the morning. It also showed your ex-wife leaving in the afternoon, with Ethan crying in her arms. He wasn't walking then."

"Mr. Waite," she continued, "It seems obvious to me Ethan is afraid of something. HE seemed afraid of you until Ms. Jenkins told him you weren't mad and still loved him. But after that he's fine with you. That tells me you didn't hurt him. We still need you to go to counseling so the child psychologist can observe your interactions with Ethan, and Ms. Jenkins you should probably attend as well. That is all a formality. If he observes what I've just seen, you will be fine." She turned to Shavonda. "Ma'am, it is obvious that you and this child adore each other. I wish you all the best of luck. Oh. And just so you know, we're going to be investigating that daycare, and trying to figure out who got Ethan to lie about what happened. That's probably who he is afraid of."

With that, she left the room. We were free to take my son home.

On the way, we took him to a toy store and let him pick out what he wanted. He chose a remote-controlled Jeep. In blue. Just like mine.

Once home, we took Ethan's pants off and looked at the bruises. They were on the left side of both his legs, just above the knees. Angry purple bruises, round in shape, like a donut, with uninjured skin in the middle. Whatever it was a mystery. But it looked like it had hit with enough force to knock him to the ground. Whatever happened there, Rose knew what it was. My decision was easy. She'd have no access to the kids until I was sure she posed no threat. Shavonda put up no protest this time. She knew how protective I was of mine. She'd better, she was now one of them.

Shavonda had decided to have a Christmas party for her employees at her house, after work one evening. Everybody came. We all sat around the living room, 3 of us on the couch, the rest on chairs borrowed from the kitchen. Shavonda left the room and returned with a stack of envelopes. "I want to thank you all for coming here tonight," she said. "We've had a very good year, we doubled our size. Sales at the Carson Street store are taking off better than I had expected, which means I hope to break even on the store sometime next year. We hired 3 new employees, Nykole, Ebony and Andre. Thanks guys for coming aboard, and if I haven't told you before, welcome. We couldn't have opened the second store without you."

She handed out the envelopes, one to each employee. "To show my appreciation for all the hard work you've put in, I've given each of you a bonus. Hopefully this will help out a bit. Merry Christmas."

She still held one envelope. "This last one is for somebody who has been indispensable to me this past year. He helped me prepare the Carson Street store for the grand opening, he helped out with the festivals last summer, he built our little Christmas village at the new store. Last, but not least, he has taken over some of the menial tasks on the weekend, leaving the rest of us to concentrate on things that increase our profits. Through all of this, he has refused to take a paycheck. Jason, this is for you." Smiling she handed me the final envelope. Inside was a check for $1000.

"Shavonda," I said. "I can't take this. It's too much."

"I insist," she said. "It's a lot less than another employee would have cost, and you've done so much for me in other ways as well. It's the least I could do." If I was going to have to take her money, I knew exactly where it was going. The money would go a long way towards paying off her engagement ring.

We all gathered in the kitchen where the pizzas Shavonda had ordered sat on the kitchen table. Everybody ate pizza and Christmas cookies she'd baked the night before. I know, I got to lick the spoon. Or one of them anyway. Shavonda had three spoons so the kids didn't feel left out. Having work the next day, I turned in before the party ended. I felt Shavonda crawl into bed later on, and snuggled up in her warmth.

As she'd told me she would earlier, one day Shavonda bought some brightly colored beads and put them in Brittany's hair. She looked so cute with strings of beads in her hair, but odd at the same time. You usually don't see pale white children with blonde hair wearing beads.

Christmas came too soon. We had set up a Christmas tree at Shavonda's house but not at mine. We were spending most of our time over there anyway, so it seemed appropriate. Christmas eve, after the kids were asleep, we set out the presents. Given all that had happened, and the unforeseen expenses, the gifts were a little thin around the tree. I felt bad about it but that was life. Some years were prosperous, some were not. For me, the past few months were not prosperous.

"You wanna open ours now or in the morning?" I asked.

Let's do them now," Shavonda said excitedly. I retrieved two presents from under the tree.

"These are for you," I said modestly. "They're not much but I hope you like them."

Shavonda excitedly tore the wrapping paper off the first box. Inside was a sleeveless V neck dress. Gold, a color I knew looked great against her dark skin. She looked at it, then tore the wrapping paper off the second box. Inside were a pair of stilettos that matched the dress. "Jason, they're beautiful!" she exclaimed. "I can't wait to wear them tomorrow."

"I figured that if gold looks good on a UPS truck it would look good on you too," I joked, ducking the play punch she threw my way.

Shavonda reached into the pile and selected a long, narrow present. She handed it to me saying, "I hope you like it." Tearing off the paper, I looked at the box. Inside, visible through the plastic window, was a blue and yellow locomotive. Chesapeake & Ohio 3310. How did she know?

"Von, baby, you know that's the locomotive I got a ride in at Clifton Forge when I was 2 years old? My dad had a friend who worked in the diesel shop, and he arranged for me to ride one of the locomotives on the turntable." I was excited.

"Your father told me all about it when I asked him. I remembered seeing the photo on the wall at your parents' place with you in the window of the engine. I looked online and they had that particular number in model form."

"Wait, you've been talking to my dad? When did you get their number?" I was confused now.

"They gave it to me and told me to call anytime. I've been chatting with your family for a while now." Shavonda was full of surprises. I was touched that she'd gone to so much effort to find a model of a specific locomotive. One that meant so much to me.

We sat on the couch, drinking black cherry rum and Dr. Pepper, with the big light off, and the soft, multicolored blinking Christmas tree lights the only illumination. Macy Gray played softly on the stereo. Our first Christmas together, and we got to spend it with the kids. Christmas just isn't the same without kids.

"Jason," Shavonda whispered, holding a piece of mistletoe over her head, "Kiss me." I bent forward until our lips touched, sending a shock through both of us. Damn static electricity. Or was it our chemistry providing a spark for our passions? Either way, it was nice to know we still had the spark. I let my hands roam her back, feeling her body through the red sleeveless shirt she wore. With one hand, I found the clasps on her bra and popped them open. "You're bad," she giggled. Great. She was in a playful mood.

I remembered the first time we'd made out on this couch. When Althea had caught us in the act, with Shavonda's bra stuffed in the couch. I reached under her shirt and slid the bra cups off her breasts, feeling each one drop free of its restraint. "We really need to take that thing off," I said. "It's getting in the way."

Shavonda pulled the red shirt over her head and flung it across the room. She did the same with her black bra. Her dark tits hung there in all their glory, nipples erect and waiting for my touch. "Von, why'd you fling that bra? I wanted to stuff it in the couch for your mother!" I exclaimed in mock irritation. Althea and the rest of the family would be over in the morning for Christmas dinner.

"You so nasty," Shavonda laughed. "Turnabout's fair play." She slid her hand down my stomach and quickly undid the button and zipper on my jeans. "Well, what have we here?" She reached in my boxers and ran her hand along my shaft. "Is that a Scottish sausage? It's all nice and firm."

"Aye, tis." I said in my best Scottish burr. "Dinnuh be touchin me sausage unless ye intend to eat it. Tis a treat fit for an African queen." We both laughed.

"I almost forgot," she said. "I have something else for you." Rising, she stepped over to the tree, and after searching the gifts pulled a small box and handed it to me. I opened it. Inside was a pendant, with a pattern made of polished stone. It said S heart J. The letters and heart were red, set in a background of tiger's eye. Beautiful did not begin to describe this piece.

"I've been working on this for a month. I've never tried to cut letters out of stone before, so it took me some time to get it right. I hope you like it. Now, you'll always know I love you," Shavonda said softly.

She stood and quickly stripped off her jeans and panties. "Now for your final gift. Get out of those clothes, Jason. Make love to me on the couch. Just like we started to do so long ago. This time, nobody will stop us. No foreplay. I'm ready. So are you. Just take me, and gently, sweetly make love to me."

I had my clothes off in a heartbeat. She pulled me in for a kiss. As our lips met, she lay back and pulled me on top of her. "No hands. Let them find each other. They want this as bad as we do." She spread her legs around me and pulled my hips into her moist crotch. My penis throbbed as I rubbed against her. The head found and parted her slick outer lips. I thrust forward, forcing it to rub against her clit. She gasped. "No, not there. You know where. Don't tease me like that." I pulled back a little, the head sliding off her clit and down her moist slit. It found her opening. "There, That's the spot." She pulled me into her with her legs. I slid easily inside her tight warmth.

She felt so tight tonight. So good. I had to stop or I'd have flooded her right there. I raised up on my arms and stared at her deep brown body, a buffet laid out beneath me. The multi colored lights danced across her body. They lit up the sparkle in her dark brown eyes.

"You have the most amazing eyes," I said. "They reach right into my heart."

She thrust up against me. "Then show me how much they mean to you. Let me watch your eyes as you make love to me." She rolled her hips beneath me. "Don't worry, I won't take you over until you tell me to." She continued her slow gentle roll beneath me. I thrust against her, slowly. We were in no hurry. We had all night.

She would take me to the edge, then hold me with her legs while my urge for release passed. Then she'd start the roll again. During this time, her vagina walls caressed me, massaged my manhood. How I held on, I'll never know. But she knew my body's reactions, and anticipated my release every time, stopping just before the point of no return. Shavonda had several mini orgasms while doing this, but through sheer willpower retained control of herself, and of me too. Finally, my dick tired of her games. It started to go soft in the slow, easy strokes we were using. That was my cue.

"Now," I said. "I need to go for it now, baby." I thrust into her faster. The increased stimulation got me hard again, but still I was nowhere near release. I heard her moan and felt her orgasm around me. She worked her hips up into mine, meeting me thrust for thrusts as her legs pulled me deep within her. I didn't know how long I could keep the pace up, but still no release. My hands were now clutching her hips as I pounded away at that heavenly ebony pussy. Her tits bounced wildly as I watched. Damn she was beautiful. The best I ever had, or ever would have.

I looked deep into her eyes as I pounded her. Even though she was by now moaning my name, "Fuck me Jason, Fuck me good. That's it boy. Just like that." The look of pure lust I saw in those eyes at that moment is what did it. Suddenly, the feeling of impending orgasm welled up inside me. That's it. It was back.

"Ohhh, Von, I'm gonna come baby." I moaned as I made the final few thrusts. I felt her clench tightly around me as I let loose a torrent of manly juices deep inside her womb. "Ahhhhhgh," I roared as I let her muscles squeeze me. She arched her back against me. "Jason, I'm so close. Don't stop. Take me over the edge with you." Though I had shot my load, I continued to thrust inside her until she got her own release. We laid there on the couch until I softened and slipped out of her tight wet pussy. "Merry Christmas," I said sleepily.

"Jason," Shavonda whispered beneath me. "Do your legs work? Can you walk?"

"No," I said. I could feel her legs still trembling and I knew she was in the same predicament.

"Baby, we can't sleep on the couch. The kids will find us," Shavonda had a point. We had to get to the bed. WE ended up crawling down the hall, our legs still too weak to stand. We crawled into bed and were soon fast asleep in each other's arms.

I awoke during the night to find her bobbing her head on my shaft, licking the results of our swirl from my aching manhood. She raised her head, "Just lay back and enjoy. Let me do this. I want your nut." In a half awoke, half dream state, I let her coax another warm load out of me with her tongue and mouth. After, milking me dry, she crawled up next to me. "Thank you," she said, kissing me deeply. She tasted of my essence, and a hint of cherry rum. We fell asleep again, Shavonda curled up into me, arms and legs thrown across my body, my hand on her breast.

"Daddy, wake up! It's Christmas!" Brittany was shaking me violently, excitedly. Shavonda was gone from the bed. I sat up groggily. I could hear her singing in the living room.