Chapter Seven - Tanya

I’m sitting on the bench, wondering what is taking so long. I rock back and forth to keep myself calm. After some time, the officer I was talking to earlier comes toward me. I see he has a blanket in his hand.

“Sorry, it took me so long. It’s hard to find a blanket in this place.” He tells me as he drapes the blanket across my shoulders. I wrap the blanket tightly around me.

“So, you want to tell me your story?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you come in here and say you have no memory of who you are and that you need help. Shouldn’t you be in a hospital?”

“I was in a hospital.”

“And what happened?”

“They released me.”

“They released you without a social worker.”

“I had one.”

“And?”

“I didn’t trust him.”

“Why is that?”

“What’s with the twenty questions?”

“That’s what cops do. We ask questions. Did this social worker do something to make you feel uneasy?”

“No.”

“Did he do something to make you feel like you couldn’t trust him?”

“Not really.”

“Then why run away?”

“I don’t know. It’s hard to know who to trust when you can’t trust yourself.”

“I get it.”

“Have you ever not known who you are?”

“No.”

“Then you don’t get it.”

“You’re right, but from the way I see it, it’s better to be with someone who has shown you kindness and trust than to be with somebody who has shown you nothing because you know them even less.”

Fuck, I hate to admit that he might be right. I have a note from someone I don’t know, and I have no idea why they wrote it. Dr. Clark has been nothing but nice to me.

“Do you want me to call that social worker you ran from?”

“I don’t have his number.”

“Don’t worry about it. Stay here.” The officer stands and walks out of the building. Two seconds later, he is reentering the building with the doc I ran from. I stand up as they approach.

“How the hell did you know it was him?”

“Because he is my brother. Let me introduce myself. I am Detective Michael Clark. The doc here is my older brother.”

“Well, shit.”

“Why did you run away?” The doc asks me with hurt in his eyes.

“I got scared. When I was in the hospital, I didn’t have to worry about who to trust. I know they were all there to take care of me, but now I am going out in the real world, and I’m afraid of my judgment.”

“I guess I can understand that, but the next time you feel that way, tell me so that we can talk about it. Better yet, if I do something that makes you uncomfortable or uneasy, tell me. That way I will know what you’re feeling.”

“I understand.”

I watch as the two brothers hug each other. Dr. Clark guides me to his car, which is parked on the curve. “Nice car, Dr. Clark.”

“Thank you it’s a BMW and now that we’re are out of the hospital, I think you can call me Bryce.”

“Bryce. I like that.”

“I’m glad.”

As Bryce pulls out into traffic, the radio begins to play. It’s a song that has my hips moving.

“You like that song?”

“Yes, what’s the name of it?”

“It’s called “Romantic Call” by a woman called Patra and Yo-Yo.”

The words begin to speak out, and to my surprise, I know them.

“Hello mami

Can I speak to Bobby

Cross the ocean I’m feelin very lonely

Him ah sleep

Mami wake him for me

I’m on the phone I wanna talk to my baby

Phone call doesn’t help when your feelin lonely

Him cah tell you things make you feel sexy

I’m on romantic call

I’m talkin to my baby down in ah mi yard

I’m on a romantic call

My man patra nah go take the prowl

Watch this”

“I remember this song, but I don’t know from where.”

“That’s normal. Sometimes small things come back out of nowhere. That’s a good sign. It means that your memory is coming back.”

“That’s great. I'm surprised you listen to this kind of music.”

“My wife used to listen to it all the time. As a matter of fact, this is her CD playing.”

“Never knew white people listened to reggae.”

“Who says my wife was white?”

“No one, I guess. So, does that mean your wife is or isn’t black?

“Does it matter?”

“Just curious.”

“I’ll tell you this. My wife’s family is from the British Virgin Islands. That’s why she loves that kind of music. She says that it runs in her blood.”

“Will she mind that you’re bringing a charity case home?”

“First off, you’re no charity case. You’re a person in need of help. Second, my wife isn’t there. She left a while ago.”

“But you’re still wearing your wedding ring.”

“Just because she left doesn’t mean that I don’t still love her. She has her reasons why she needed to go.”

“What happens if she comes back while I’m there?”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind you being there. She would understand.”

“If you say so.”

We finally pull up to the beginning of a driveway. Bryce stops the car at what looks like a voice box. He pushes a couple of numbers on the silver box that causes the black iron gates to slide open.

“I see you’re big on security.”

“You have to be when you come from my kind of family.”

“What kind of family is that?”

“A wealthy one.” He answers as he pulls in front of what can only be called a mansion. Bryce is rushing out of the car and over to my side. He pulls the door open for me and extends his hand to help me out. We walk up to the front door, and he places another code into a lock key box. Once the code is accepted, the door pops open.

Bryce stops me from entering the house. He turns to me. “I don’t want you to get overwhelmed by what you see. When you enter, the staff will be waiting in a line to meet you. They are here to serve and help you.”

“I don’t need anyone to serve me.”

“That’s their job. It will be an insult to them if you don’t allow them to do it.”

“Fine.”

We walk inside the house, and my eyes can’t believe what’s in front of me. From the outside, the house looks like it might be a cold, uninviting big house, but the inside says otherwise. The inside has black and white marble flooring, the living room is spacious, but it has a large black sectional in the middle followed by what looks like two comfortable loveseats. On the wall across from the couches is a long wall covered with a flat-screen television and knick-knacks sitting on top of the fireplace. There are pictures all over the wall. It looks like a real family lives here.

“Tanya, come with me.” Bryce guides me around the corner into another room that looks like a drawing room. Standing there is the staff. “Everyone, I want you to meet Tanya. She will be staying with us for a while.”

They all nod, then an older Latino woman steps forward. “Nice to meet you, Miss. My name is Rita. I’ll be your cook.”

“You can call me Tanya.”

I notice that she gives Bryce a look as if she’s asking if it’s okay. I turn in time to see Bryce give her a nod. She looks back at me with such sadness.

We move down the line to an older white gentleman. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Tanya. I’m Jeffery the butler, among many other things.

“Nice to meet you, Jeffery.”

“We move down to a young black lady. “My name is Elisa. I’m the maid and helper. You can call on me anytime you need me, Ms. Tanya.”

“Thank you,” I say to her as we move down the line. There are only two people still standing in line, and they are dressed in regular clothes.

“My name is Cece. I will be your security detail along with my partner, Chris, here.”

I turn to Bryce. “Why do I need a security detail?”

“I told you that my family is wealthy. We all have some security. The only ones that don’t are my brothers, Mikey and Nate. As you know, Mikey is a cop, so he can handle himself. My brother Nate is in the military, so he can also handle himself. As for my sister Kimber and my two other brothers, Griffin and Dax. They all have security.”

I turn back to Cece and Chris. “Nice to meet you guys.” Cece and Chris are the last of the staff that I need to meet. Everyone disburses after that.

“I will take you to your room.” The doc tells me. I nod my head in agreement and follow him. As I follow him, I continue to admire the house. As we walk down a long hall, we come to the part of the hall that has frameless pictures hanging on the wall. A picture catches my eye, and I can’t help but walk over to it. Bryce follows me.

For some reason, as soon as I’m close to the picture, I have the urge to touch it. It’s a picture of a little light-brown-skinned girl with large sandy-blonde curls and blue-green eyes, like the doc smiling into the picture. My fingers itch so bad to touch the picture that I lift them to it and trace every line of the child’s face.

“That’s my daughter, Bree.”

“I guess that answers the question of whether your wife is black.”

“I guess it does. She’s beautiful, right?”

“She’s stunning,” I answer as I drop my hands in embarrassment. “I’m sorry that I put my hand all over her picture.” I turn back to the picture as I continue to speak. “I can’t understand it, but I'm drawn to her picture. Do you think I could have a daughter out there scared because she doesn’t know where I’m at?” I ask as a tear rolls down my face.

Bryce places a hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “I’m sure if you have a daughter out there, that someone is taking good care of her until you can find her again.”

“How do you know?”

“Because you weren’t found with a little girl. Which means that if you had a daughter, you left her with someone you knew would take care of her until you came back.”

“Still, a year is a long time to be gone, and no one has come to see me, so they may not know what happened.”

“That still doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t have kept her safe for you in hopes that you would return.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I’m sure I am.”

“Where’s your daughter?”

“Bree will be home soon. She’s been staying with my parents for a while. It’s been hard on her since her mother left.”

“Will the fact that I’m here make things harder for her because I don’t want that?” I turn to see Bryce lower his head and smile. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” He responds as he lifts his head. When he does, I can see that his eyes are glistening from unshed tears.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, you just remind me of my wife sometimes.” Bryce places his hand on the small of my back as we move away from the pictures. I keep my eyes on the pictures on the wall as we keep walking. We finally come to the end of the hallway that has an elevator.

“You have an elevator in your house?”

“Yes, it makes it easier for us when we have packages and heavy things to carry.”

“That’s nice.”

“I thought so.”

We step into the elevator and music is playing. “What song is this?”

 “Jon B. They Don’t Know.”

“He sounds good.”

“Yeah, my wife liked him a lot.”

“I see you surround yourself with things your wife liked, but I didn’t see any pictures of her on the wall,” I say as I turn to Bryce and hope I didn’t overstep my boundaries.

Bryce gives me a strange, long stare. “When someone leaves you, and you’re not sure if they are coming back, it’s easier to deal with if you don’t have to look at them every day.”

“But you still have your ring on.”

“A vow is a vow, and until I know for sure she’s not coming back, then I need to keep mine.”

“How do you know she’s keeping hers?”

The elevator doors open, and Bryce walks out as I hear him say, “I just do.”

Bryce begins to walk quickly, so quickly that I find it hard to keep up with him. I begin to wonder if I piss him off, but I decide not to ask him. Bryce stops in front of a closed door. “This is your room. It has everything you need. My room is across hall.”

“And the other rooms?”

“One on the side of you is Bree’s room. On the other side of that is my home office.”

“The room at the very end.”

“Don’t worry about that room. Better yet don’t go near it.”

“Okay. Sorry.”

Bryce opens the door to the room that I’m standing in front of. I step in and take in the room. It’s painted in light gray paint with black trim to offset it.