Gold, Fire & Refinement

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't." ~Henry Ward Beecher

In July, things were going well for Thurgood Williams. Relaxing inside his lounge on his private jet with his eyes closed, he was smiling and looking forward to getting back to Mississippi. To his mission. At his wife's request, he'd spent several days with her and the kids in Chicago celebrating the Fourth of July. At home number one, he immersed himself in the role of "family man," with all oars in the water. 

Heading back to Jackson, the long visit helped assure him he was going to have an easy transition settling down into married life. He loved his wife and kids, they loved him, and he knew he was a lucky man who had it all and a lot more. Today, he would be meeting face-to-face with the beauty who had haunted his dreams for the past four years. The Hits Network was producing "the story of the century," and she was the star of the show. The Keepers had asked her to host it, and he'd convinced her to become an executive producer so that the two of them could work together as much as possible. The project was going better than he ever expected, and, together, they were telling the world an intriguing story that was shocking and surprising millions. THN and Wilson Publishing were seeing record-breaking benefits from all the attention, and all the numbers were way up—subscriptions, viewers, and readers. Business was good and everything was falling into place, in the U.S. and in France.

After a rapid climb to cruising height, the co-pilot took over flying the luxurious Boeing Business Jet Three so that the pilot could join the jet's owner for breakfast in his private dining room. After having breakfast with the pilot, Thurgood Williams took a soothing massage break before settling back into his seat with his thoughts. 

Because luck was still on his side, he knew it wouldn't be long before he would be getting what he had to have: Harvey's girl. She was what it would take to restore balance to his personal life. Imbalance was unsettling. Just thinking of the word reminded him of his last conversation with his Aunt Mary Jean. A retired Tougaloo College English professor, she was an avid reader of everything. When they last talked, she mentioned the word "imbalance." Just hearing her say it made him uneasy. She had read an article in a scientific journal about an imbalance that existed in the universe. The article, she said, discussed the fact that when matter comes into contact with antimatter, the result is always an explosion, because the two things can only annihilate each other. Imbalance in the universe was critical, scientists said, and that was why there always had to be a lot more matter than antimatter. The imbalance existed even before the "big bang" occurred, or else there would be no matter left in the universe. No stars, no earth, no people. "According to these scientists," Aunt Mary Jean said, "the only reason humanity exists is because of a cosmic imbalance in the universe that, luckily, turned out in our favor." Then she said, "I guess if we look to science to understand the theory of everything, we all better be real worried, huh?"

He remembered asking her if one thing, necessarily, had to cancel out the other. "Couldn't the scientists and the Bible both be right?" 

"I'm not saying the scientists are wrong," she said. "I'm only saying if there's no God in the equation, we better hope the imbalance never tries to correct itself. If it's all about science. Now. For believers? There is no imbalance. Things in the universe are aligned the way God aligned them for his own reasons. In the book of Hebrews 11:3, it says, 'By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.' And God's explanation? That's enough for us believers. It's great to study science," she said, "but science and nothing else should ever replace faith."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emerging from his bedroom suite, freshly showered, Thurgood had changed into business attire by the time his crew started preparing for landing. Settling into his lounge once again, he couldn't get out of his mind some of the things his aunt said to him. Things had worked out well on the French Riviera, and he now had something in his possession that was created using something that was not visible to the naked eye. The video his accomplice shot in Dinah's bedroom, with a little expert editing, would do the trick. It would set off what it would take to settle things between him and his cousin. If it didn't, then Lady Luck had supplied him with another video treasure as his back-up plan. He found it the day Harvey asked him to go to Zarah's home. In the best case scenario, his cousin's girl would comply with his wishes willingly, out of sheer gratitude for all he'd done for her. She would come to him the way any woman in her right mind would, without coercion. He didn't want to have to use his backup plan, which included the video he'd gotten from France, and the one he found in Zarah's home. But he wouldn't hesitate to use them either, if he had to.

On his tablet skimming through the stock pages in the Wall Street Journal,  his mind kept taking him back to the last day he spent on the TLC. After he met with Dinah and Grandma Betty at breakfast, he told them how he thought they needed to approach things once they got to France. "Don't harp on Zarah," he'd said with all the composure he could muster. "And please, whatever else you do, don't tell Harvey not to marry the girl. He won't tolerate that. Do as I say when you get there, and things will turn out in our favor."

That evening, when he walked Dinah and Grandma Betty back to their VIP suite on his yacht, he pulled Dinah aside. He needed her permission to have done whatever was necessary inside her hotel room, in France, to help them reach their shared goals. Dinah looked at him for a silent moment, and, for a while, he thought she was going to say no. But she consented, then she told him she didn't want to know any of the details. She wanted plausible deniability ... and he felt he owed her that. So, the next day, he contacted an old acquaintance in Monaco—a professional with all the skills he needed. A guy who owed him a big favor.

He owed Grandma Betty for the backup to his backup plan. A few days after the fire in Clarksdale, Harvey asked him to go to his fiancée's home in West Jackson to pick up some things Zarah needed for their trip to Memphis. Smoke from the fire had gotten into all her clothing, and Zarah, an independent young career woman engaged to a billionaire, needed things from her closet. This young woman who now had money of her own and could have gone out and bought a whole new wardrobe, easily, was still pinching pennies. For her, the simplest and most practical thing to do to solve her clothing problem was to have her fiancé get what she needed: things she already owned, from her closet in Jackson. Since Harvey had to go to the city to deposit his grandmother at Dinah's home, for Zarah, it was a no brainer. Problem was, Harvey was so busy trying to placate Grandma Betty, he called and asked him to get the clothing Zarah needed. Once he got the list and the key from H, Thurgood knew his visit to Strawberry Circle would be interesting, but he had no idea it would end up gifting him with what he found.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as he stepped inside Zarah's home that day, he looked around, taking everything in. After finding the master bedroom, he took a deep breath as he walked inside. Her fresh, youthful essence was tangible. The things she did there, like getting naked, bathing, showering, putting on lotions and perfume, selecting clothing she would wear, brushing her beautiful hair. It was all there, teasing him. Telling him. When she wasn't at work, or in Silver Water or Pleasant Valley visiting family, when she wasn't shacking up with Harvey at Wilson Manor, she was here. 

It felt special. Being in her bedroom—a room where she allowed her sensual needs and desires to be fulfilled. To stop his imagination from going too wild, he started looking around the room. That's when something came into his view that loosened the grip of the room's spell. It was something nestled in a very high place. To someone shorter than six feet, it might have been out of sight, but being six-three, when he looked up it was in his visual field, and it captured his complete attention. It was a camcorder, a video recorder perched on top of a stunning piece of furniture. A beautiful whitewashed highboy wardrobe. Thinking about what good taste Zarah had for a country-raised girl, he reached up and retrieved the camcorder from its perch, wiped away bits of dust, then turned it over in his hands. Why was it there? Out of sight, in her bedroom? 

A Canon GL2 MiniDv. He recognized the brand instantly because he'd once owned one just like it. It had both a mini tape and a memory card, and either could be used to save images. The dust told him it hadn't been used in a long time, and when he opened the little side door, just as he'd hoped, a mini DV tape was there. Holding it inside his closed grip, he didn't know for sure, but he had a feeling it contained something he needed to see. He walked over and looked on the hidden side of the highboy, then went into the master bath and opened the door to a large walk-in closet. There it was. Not even hidden. A tripod. The fact that it was there told the interloper there was a good chance the tape had been made by or with consent from tripod's owner.

Watching the video that day confirmed his suspicions. It provided inspiration, a backup to his backup plan, if all else failed. The second video would guarantee the reaching of his goal. It came to him out of the blue, and it was an unexpected golden ticket. A slam-dunk that would do the trick if it had to be used. This video would get him what he wanted. And that would restore the illusive life balance he had to have before moving on with his life.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I would love to hear your comments, and if you liked this chapter, please consider giving it a vote. ~Thank you!