Vengeance

STEPHANIE L.

WHITE

Ladywriter314 Publishing Copyright © 2014 by Stephanie White.

All rights reserved printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

For information contact email address   www.ladywriter314@gmail.com

Edited by : Tiff’s  Editing Cafe

Book and cover design by Designer : Anoshi Hagood

ISBN: 123456789

First Edition: June 2015

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INTRODUCTION

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope. ~ Maya Angelou

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Love sneaks into our lives like a quiet burglar.  It moves around quietly confiscating our feeling and emotions to a place where it can return and consume your life.

Tameron Thornton saw Jocelyn English at a sorority dance in Tallahassee Florida.  He was invited to the dance by Sylvia Sims, a cheerleader with eyes and aims to make him her husband.  Once Tameron saw this quiet warm beige beauty, he was determined to make her his.

Jocelyn was well aware of Tameron’s reputation as a playa so she was not interested in a relationship with him.  Six months of persistent tracking Jocelyn down and finding out that they both lived in Orlando, Florida, Tameron finally convinces her to begin dating him.

Six years later with two sons and twin girls, Jocelyn is now pregnant with their fifth child.  Tameron is the mayor of Mango Cove Florida and Jocelyn is the medical examiner.  They are not the typical married couple.  Tameron is the grandson of Raymond Richmond, his family made their money in the tobacco and financial institutions.  Raymond’s net worth is in the billions.

Raymond married his petite African American wife, Teresa Hills, in the sixties during segregation.  This marriage was not a welcome one in Raymond’s family who has radical white separatists’ members in their bloodline.  This marriage produced two children

Raymond Hills Richmond and Charisse Taylor Richmond-Thornton.

Taylor marries Daniel Thurman Thornton, the son of an impoverished Baptist preacher Daniel Thornton and his mother Bertha a maid and they live on a farm in Quincy Florida.  Thornton family did not welcome Taylor into their poor but proud family. 

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The Richmonds were not happy either that their daughter was marrying someone without wealth. Taylor and Thurman were wed in an elaborate ceremony in Virginia the family home of the Richmonds.  The Thornton’s produced two children:  Tameron Aaron and Taynisa Carmen Thornton.

Thurman is now the retired chief justice for Orange County Courts.  Taylor owns her own law firm with her brother-in-law Ted Long who is married to Thurman’s sister, Janice.

The Richmond money has financed election campaigns for many years and this is what propelled Tameron into the office of Mayor of Mango Cove.  His family’s money and his magnetic personality connect him with his voters.

The Thornton family are rich but are hiding family secrets.  Sit back grab a drink and begin reading this fascinating story.

CHAPTER ONE

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Tameron Thornton and his wife have invited both sides of their families for a Friday night celebration dinner at their home.  He is totally excited about the dinner and how their home is decorated especially for the occasion and finally everyone has been told to dress formally. The food has been catered by the Johnson Brothers Soul Food Restaurant on 18th Avenue South.  Everyone enjoys their food. They have been in business for over twenty years.

The menu will consist of: seafood gumbo over dirty rice, fried catfish with cheese grits and for dessert, sweet potato pie. This meal is not elegant but it is Southern and that is what Tameron wanted served.

Tameron is the first African America mayor of Mango Cove, Florida.  He is in their bedroom dressing when his wife joins him.  Can I help you dress, Tameron. Jocelyn’s amber eyes are eager and loving.  You look very handsome tonight.

No dear, tonight I want you to relax and let me handle all the details for this wonderful family dinner.  He faces his wife and smiles.  Tameron dresses in his grey tailored suit, dark blue shirt and blue tie.  He sits on their king-sized bed and slips on his grey dress shoes. 

Jocelyn is dressed beautifully tonight in a dress Tameron purchased for her.  She is wearing a black long sleeve sheer shoulder dress that accentuates her waistline from a noted designer and her black seven inch stacked pumps.  Her hair is flowing freely around her shoulders the way Tameron dictates that she wears it.

Okay, I am going to check on our children they are in the gathering room waiting for their cousins to join them. 

Tameron kisses his wife.  You are truly an enigma, Jocelyn.  He smiles and winks wickedly to his wife.

What does that mean? I have told you everything about me Tameron.  Regretfully, I was not honest in the beginning but we have a solid marriage now.

Go check on our children.  I will be right there!  Tameron raises his voice just enough so his wife will hear him from down the hall. Tameron straightens his lapel then picks up his brush and gives attention to style his short straight ebony hair.  Tonight will be a very special one! He hints and winks at his wife.

Jocelyn has a questioning look on her face but knows not to question her husband when he is in a temperamental mood like tonight.  She walks down the wide hall into their parlor and her brother, Brandon English, his wife, Karette and their family is here.  Come in and follow me to the gathering room.  Tameron has catered our meal for this evening.

Jocelyn hugs her nieces Jazmin and Brandi and her nephew, BJ, as they walk down the winding hallway into the gathering room.

What occasion are you two celebrating tonight Jocelyn?  Karette inquires.  Karette is dressed in a purple dress with a wide skirt and she looks beautiful.  Her curly afro is framing her face and her cinnamon eyes are surveying the gathering room.

None that I am aware of but I am sure Tameron will inform us what occasion it is. Jocelyn quietly responds.

They all sit in the gathering room and wait until Tameron and his family and her parents have completed their guest list.  Appetizers are on the tables surrounding their guests with drinks.

Their gathering room is expansive and beautifully furnished by a local interior designer to Tameron’s specification.  Everything in their home is what he desires or wants.  His wife lives here with no voice in the decisions of their home or marriage.

Now that everyone has arrived, Tameron passes out champagne flutes to everyone.  He pours champagne into the flutes.  I am proposing a toast to my future, may it be more fulfilling and loving than my past. He drinks and winks at his wife again.

This is very unusual because Tameron does not drink to excess but tonight he appears unusually inebriated.  He is staggering and making cold sarcastic remarks toward his wife.  This is not the loving Tameron he once was.  Although he has a dictator-like management style of his family, Tameron is always gentle and affectionate with his wife and children.

Tameron what are you talking about you and my daughter have been married for seven years with four beautiful children you both love.  What is unfulfilling about your life now?  Paul demands. He is standing looking up into Tameron in his eyes.

Paul is six feet tall, a very pale with freckles man with red kinky hair dressed in his black suit.  Tonight his son-in-law has forced him to reveal a side of him that he did not want the public to see.  Paul’s anger has erupted and now he wants to punch Tameron.  He is so angry that he has forgotten that he is the pastor of an Orlando megachurch.

Jocelyn strolls over to her husband’s side and strokes his freshly shaven face.  Tameron what is wrong darling?  I have loved you from the first time we danced together at my sorority dance in Tallahassee.  Why can’t you tell me what is bothering you? She tries seducing him to change this mood of his.  It usually works.  Tonight nothing is soothing the beast that resides inside Mr. Tameron Thornton.

Yes you have my sweet but deceitful wife and our children are happy. I want more from this relationship.  But I am no longer happy with our marriage.  Everyone come into the dining room.  The children will have their dinner in here.  Tameron leads the way into their expansive dining room that is exquisitely decorated beautifully tonight. 

There are candles and flowers on each of the two tables and there are raspberry chargers and fine white china plates with raspberry trim, silver utensils, cut crystal glasses with gold trim.

When they all enter the dining room, Tameron demands and points.  Jocelyn you sit at the opposite end of the table away from me.  He is standing holding up his flute of champagne while he barks his orders.

I always sit beside you Tameron.  What is really going on with us that I don’t know?  Jocelyn is confused by her husband’s attitude toward her.

Son, like Paul said, you two have been married for seven years. What is the problem Tameron?  Thurman cannot believe the behavior his son is exhibiting toward his confused wife. He has never seen his son behave in such a dictatorial and ungentlemanly manner.

Father, you sit beside me. I do not want that woman anywhere near me tonight.  Tameron laughs and falls into his seat. Tameron has a fake smile on now when he speaks. He has a scowl on his face with a direct probing eye contact toward his unsuspecting wife.  Tameron is still sitting but is wobbly because of the amount of alcohol he has consumed.

Everyone sits the way Tameron orchestrates.  The food is on the table.  Everyone eats in silence trying to understand why Tameron is not himself tonight. The family members are staring at a person they have never seen and do not understand his change in behavior.  There is an air on impending disaster circulating the dining room.

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Tameron, what is going on between you and your wife?  Taylor quietly inquires.

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Tameron stops eating and looks sternly toward his questioning mother.  First, mother, Jocelyn is not my wife.  He laughingly informs and pours himself another glass of champagne.  She never was my wife.

I was at your wedding and you two were married and very happy, Paul states.  He is getting really angry at how Tameron is disrespecting his daughter and their marriage.  How dare you disrespect my daughter, who is your wife, in such a hateful and vindictive manner?

Tameron has a loud maniacal laugh.  When we married, Jocelyn was already married.  Isn’t that the true Mrs. Jocelyn Lewis? Tameron screams loudly staring at his wife in a condescending manner as he points to Jocelyn accusingly while slamming his fist on the table. , This causes the dishes to bang against the polished mahogany table.

What the hell did you just say brother?  Are you saying Jocelyn and Patrick were married before she married you?  Taynisa is really angry and is trying excitedly to stand up so she can hit Jocelyn. Evan, her second husband, holds her tightly in his protective arms in her chair to calm down. She is looking at Jocelyn with pure hate in her tight glaring pecan eyes that are now fiery red. Her red brown sister locks are being tossed to and fro as she tries to free herself to punch Jocelyn.

Now everyone is looking at Jocelyn with questioning looks.  Jocelyn is now feeling uncomfortable and cannot believe Tameron has done this to her in front of both sets of their families.

That is not true Tameron.  You are my one and only husband. She is about to cry but contains her emotions.  No way is she going to allow her mother-in-law to see her cry.  Taylor likes to jump on her irrational son’s bandwagon of hate.  Jocelyn quietly keeps her composure and stares blankly toward her husband.

Tameron pulls out a marriage certificate from his suit jacket pocket it was dated six months before he and Jocelyn were married. 

The name you used at that time was Jocelyn Jordan.  You and Patrick felt no one would discover your deceit. I was so stupidly in love with you. He is standing with a champagne flute in his right hand.  Tonight begins my journey away from you Mrs. Lewis.  Tameron drinks his champagne and returns to his seat with a smile plastered on his inebriated face.

Jocelyn is now standing.  You are an ungrateful husband.  . As far as I knew, Dennis English was my father. Tameron that document is a fake.  Patrick and I hated one another.  We were never married. How did you create this false document? She is now standing by her husband’s side with a huge butcher’s knife in her right hand that she obtained from the banquet table. Jocelyn is now positioned to stab Tameron in his chest area.  I will kill you and your family can go to a funeral tomorrow if you don’t stop lying about me.

Jocelyn knows exactly where to stab him because she was employed as the assistant medical examiner of Pinata County.  Jocelyn is skilled in the use of knives in her career as a forensic pathologist.  She can expertly cut open a body in less than two hours.

Tameron stands up quickly and twists her wrists slightly and snatches the knife from his wife’s tiny but gripping hands.

You just gave an award winning performance, Jocelyn Lewis.  Well, I went to court today and obtained an expedited divorce from you on the grounds of bigamy and I now have full custody of our children.  We will live together until our children are grown, Mrs. Lewis but you will receive nothing when I die.  Everything was transferred to our children with executors over their money. Shayla please come into the dining room, darling.

Everyone turns to look to see to whom he is talking.  This beautiful caramel shapely beauty enters their dining room.  She is wearing a beautiful flowing red gown. It is apparent she is pregnant.  Family please welcome and accept my lady to our family circle and she is carrying our son.  Shayla Montgomery, she is also my divorce attorney.  My son will have the same rights as the ones I share with Mrs. Lewis. 

The anger and humiliation has been brewing beneath the surface all night. Jocelyn slaps her husband so hard the fury and wind from her slap left a mark on his left cheek. Now she is standing above his head with a large expensive vase. Jocelyn swiftly grabbed it from their china cabinet.

So now you are trying to kill me again, Mrs. Lewis? If you do, you will go to jail and I will be laughing from hell.  Tameron smirks.

Tameron, you have embarrassed my sister and yourself enough for one night.  To bring your other woman into the home where your children live is despicable.  Brandon screams.

Shayla takes her seat beside Tameron.  She smiles wickedly and victoriously toward Jocelyn with her beady slanted mocha eyes.  Shayla has taken her position of honor beside Jocelyn’s husband in their family home.

Tameron pours a flute of ginger ale for Shayla. They raise their champagne flutes.  My new life begins tonight without Mrs. Lewis.  He and Shayla drink and smile at Jocelyn.

You bring your whore into our home with our children!  Tameron you are a despicable person.  I thought Dennis English was bad but you are ten times worst.  Get this ugly whore out of our home now!  Jocelyn has gone to their bedroom and returns with his Glock. It is cocked and fully loaded and she knows how to shoot it.  Jocelyn’s eyes are focused and determined to kill her husband.  Tameron has continued to humiliate her all night and she is now ready to end this torture.

Brandon gets up quickly takes the gun from his sister’s hand and puts the safety back on the gun and puts the gun securely away. Brandon hugs his humiliated sister.  Jocelyn he is not worth it and neither is the tramp he brought into your home. Brandon stares at Shayla with disgust.

Five year old Tamand and his seven year old brother, Camryn run into the fight and scream at their father.  Why are you hurting our Mommy?  I hate you Daddy.  Get this lady out of our house. Tamand pushes Shayla out of her chair and onto the floor.

Tameron gets up from his seat and helps Shayla to stand up and walks to his son.  Tamand I would never hurt your mother.  I love you, Camryn and your sisters so much.

Make her go home now!  Tamand is angry and he wants to hurt Shayla.  His face is twisted into an angry grimace and his fists are raised in Shayla’s direction. Get out of my mommy’s house!

"Dad, why is this woman in our home? I agree with Tamand get her out of our home now!  Camryn is pointing the way to the front door.  He cannot believe that his father has brought this evil woman into their home to hurt his mother.

Jocelyn walks and hugs her sons. She strokes their confused faces.  Daddy did not hit me.  That woman is leaving now.

Jocelyn turns and faces her husband and his whore.  Tameron you and that slut have upset our children.  Please leave our home now so I can calm our children.

Fine, Mrs. Lewis, we will leave.  Put our children to bed I will be back in the morning.  Tameron gets up and grabs Shayla’s hand and kisses her in front of his stunned family members and they proceed to leave.  Tamand kicks his father in his leg for kissing Shayla.

I’m leaving sons.  Tameron staggers out the door with a smiling Shayla.

Leave now Daddy!  Tamand demands.  His father is not leaving quick enough for Tamand.

Tameron, I was always proud of you as my son but tonight, I am ashamed of you.  Even if what you said is true, this is the home of your children.  Please leave before you humiliate yourself and your family further.  Thurman informs as he stands and opens the front door to his son’s home for him to leave.

Jocelyn I apologize for our son’s behavior.  I do not believe you were ever married to Patrick Lewis.  You are my son’s wife.  Thurman hugs her and then Jocelyn proceeds to cry.

All the pinned up rage from Tameron’s actions tonight has her now sobbing uncontrollably.  Thank you Judge Thornton, Tameron has never been that cruel to me, ever.  It has to be that woman’s influence.  He pats her.

Joanne and Karette gather together her confused and angry grandchildren and prepare them for bed.  Daddy had to go to work; he will kiss you in the morning.

No, Daddy left with that mean woman and I’m glad he is gone, Tamand states with pride.

Your father still loves all of his children. Now come with me and Aunt Karette as we help you prepare for bed.  Joanne leads the way to their bedrooms.

Joanne with assistance from Karette dresses them in their pajamas listens to their prayers and put them quickly into their beds.  Joanne is now back in the dining room facing her daughter.  Paul and I are in shock about our son-in-law’s behavior.  Pray for him Jocelyn.  God can change impossible things and turn evil hearts soft again.  Her mother hugs her. 

Paul kisses Jocelyn’s cheek.  I have to pray for my attitude toward my son-in-law.  Jocelyn go get some sleep and we will begin tomorrow with a fresh attitude and see what tomorrow brings.

She nods in agreement.  Thanks Dad, I am still in shock.

Brandon and Karette hug her.  Sis, if what Tameron said is true, then I really do not know you.  But my heart says it is not true.  He is in a relationship with his attorney who filed his divorce decree. This sounds very suspicious, unethical and not legal to me.  Tameron is my employer and my brother-in-law but tonight he was wrong.  I will call you tomorrow to check on you and the children.  He kisses his sister.  Brandi is asleep in her father’s arms and they walk next door to their home with their children.

Judge Thornton hugs Jocelyn.  Again, Jocelyn I apologize for my son’s ugly behavior.  Please do not block Taylor and myself from seeing our grandchildren because of their father.

I would never do that Judge Thornton. Tomorrow I will try to talk to Tameron alone.  Good night. Taylor said nothing but left with her husband.

Taynisa and Evan are the last to leave.  Jocelyn, we were always close as sisters.  How could you hurt my brother and me?  Good night Jocelyn.

Good night.  Jocelyn stood with the door open so they could leave.  Of course Taynisa would believe her brother.

Jocelyn walks into their bedroom, undresses and puts on her night gown and falls down on their bed crying.  Now, she will be a figure head only in his life.  He will ram that woman in her face and there is nothing she can do to stop him.  Finally she falls to sleep.

At three in the morning, Tameron returns home plastered and still staggering.  He turns on the light in their bedroom and wakes his wife up.  You were so smooth Mrs. Lewis but everyone now knows who you really are.

Jocelyn gets up swiftly from their bed and runs to close their children’s bedroom doors.  Then she faces her inebriated, angry husband.  "You humiliated me, bringing your whore into our home and distressed