Precious didn’t want to dwell on the inequalities between the races, because she had to find a solution to her own personal dilemma. Another woman could possibly be carrying her husband’s baby, and Precious had to make certain Dennis would never know that his wife wouldn’t be able to bear his children. Gathering her handbag and car keys, she walked out of her bedroom and went outside to the carriage house that had been converted into a garage. Dennis’s late model Cadillac wasn’t in its normal spot. He’d left the night before to drive to Philadelphia for a meeting with a group of Negro businessmen to discuss building medical clinics in Black neighborhoods where residents didn’t have easy access to private or municipal hospitals.
Precious got into the yellow Buick Roadmaster convertible and started the engine. The vehicle had been a surprise birthday gift from Dennis two years before. It had a top speed of 100 mph, and she’d fallen in love with the powerful car when she first saw it in a car showroom, unaware that several monthslater, she would own it. She headed east to New Rochelle, and when she arrived at her parents’ house, she noticed a number of cars lining the driveway. Her father’s dental practice was set up in an addition at the rear of the large two-story house, along with a separate parking area for his patients. Judging from the vehicles parked in the driveway, it was obvious her mother was hosting a social event. Dr. Charles and Lillian Crawford were a much-sought-after couple among prosperous and well-to-do educated professional Negroes within the tristate region.
Precious parked her car in the patient parking lot, walked around to the front of the house, and rang the bell rather than use her key. The door opened, and the Crawfords’ housekeeper looked at her as if she’d seen an apparition. “Mrs. Boone, I didn’t expect to see you.”
Precious rolled her eyes at the same time she shook her head. “That’s because I didn’t know I was required to let you know of my whereabouts.”
The woman lowered her eyes at the sharp reprimand. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Boone, I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.”
“Stand aside, Mamie, and let me in,” Precious snapped angrily. She stalked into the house when the woman opened the door wider and headed straight for the parlor, where she knew her mother would be entertaining her guests. The four women, Lillian’s sorority sisters, were laughing and playing cards. It was obvious it was her turn to host their weekly bid whist gathering.
She managed to get Lillian’s attention, who excused herself, smiling. “I’ll be right back after I speak to my daughter.”
Reaching for her mother’s hand, Precious led her into the library and closed the French doors, where they wouldn’t be overheard by the other women. She watched an expression of disbelief settle into Lillian’s features as she repeated Justine’s demands.
“I said words that I promised myself I’d never say because I hear them much too often from Dennis, but I couldn’t helpmyself,” Precious explained. “I can’t believe I got down into the gutter with her, Mama.”
Lillian flashed a half-smile. “Not to worry, child. We’ll go along with her, and the day she graduates she’ll be out of the house. And she’s right about probably not showing at three months. Of course, she’ll begin to eat more than usual, but that will be the reason for her gaining weight. Meanwhile, you’ll do the same. The difference is Dr. Raitt is going to recommend complete bed rest for you during your confinement because you’ll be spotting. The spotting will be your regular menses that you claim is always light and doesn’t last more than two days. He’ll also caution Dennis not to have sexual relations with you, or you may lose the baby. And that means your husband will have to take his pleasure elsewhere.”
Precious’s mouth opened and closed several times before she was able to say, “You’re talking about my husband sleeping with other women?”
Lillian waved a manicured hand. “Enough talk about Dennis sleeping with other women, Precious. You didn’t have a problem of Dennis sleeping with Justine.”
“But that’s different, Mama.”
“Is it really, dear? What you don’t know shouldn’t bother you as long as you get what you want, and that is to give Dennis Boone a baby, so he won’t divorce you. And I’m almost certain that if Dennis has to step out on you, he’ll be discreet. How would it look for a successful Negro businessman to engage in an extramarital affair while his pregnant wife is on complete bed rest? In case you’re not aware of it, your husband has worked very hard to gain acceptance among a group of successful Negroes, who are constantly looking for him to slip up.”
Precious’s eyes grew wide. “How do you know that?”
“Because women talk, and they tend to repeat everything they overhear from their husbands. Meanwhile, I just listen and catalogue whatever they gossip about. It hasn’t beenproven, but there are rumors that Dennis amassed a small fortune from not only the numbers racket, but also prostitution. Whenever someone brings it up, I just say that my son-in-law is a very astute businessman who has a gift for investing in real estate and leave it at that. He’s looked down upon because he’s not college-educated, but the mucky-mucks have to accept him because he’s amassed a lot more money than some of them had inherited from their fathers or grandfathers. It will be different for my grandson or granddaughter, because you and Dennis will set them up to take their rightful place as the next generation of Boones where folks won’t question where they came from.”
Precious smiled for the first time in what appeared to be hours. “I hope you’re right, Mama.”
“I know I’m right,” Lillian countered, “but what you have to do is trust me, Precious, and just do whatever I tell you to do, to save your marriage.”
“How did you come up with this idea for me to give Dennis a child?” Precious asked after a beat passed. It was something she should’ve asked her mother weeks ago.
A smile parted Lillian’s bright red lips. “What you have to learn to do is be quiet and listen when you get together with your friends. They will invariably talk about things they know and have overheard from their aunts, mothers, and grandmothers. The old folks have done things that will make the dead stand up and come out of their graves. They gossip about women putting a little something in a man’s food, so he won’t leave them, or giving him a special drink that will restore his manhood.”
Precious waved her hands. “Please don’t tell me anything else. I’d like to think that Dennis married me because he loved me, not because I put something in his food.”
Lillian’s expression grew serious. “Don’t fool yourself, Precious. I’m not saying Dennis doesn’t love you, but he did see you as someone he needed to make business connectionsas well as elevate his social standing. Otherwise, he would’ve been known as a former grocery store owner who hadn’t gone farther than the eleventh grade.”
“Don’t forget that he did go back to night school to earn his high school diploma,” Precious said in defense of her husband.
“True, but that can’t compare with his lack of having a college degree.”
“Neither self-made millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt nor the world’s first billionaire John D. Rockefeller had college degrees.”
“Times are different, my dear. Most professions nowadays require a college degree. Gone are times when teachers didn’t need to go to college, or nurses to nursing school. You are a teacher and I’m a nurse, so we are professional women who don’t need to work as shopgirls in department stores or in factories to make ends meet. We are fortunate and have been blessed, because too many young Colored women would love to trade places with us. We live in large houses with live-in help, when so many women are forced into domestic servitude that pay them a pittance of what they’re worth for the work they do. My great-grandmother was a house slave, and three generations later, I employ household help. So I don’t want to hear you whining about what you have to do to secure the future for the generation of Boones.”
Precious felt as if she’d been royally chastised but knew her mother was being truthful. She’d married a successful businessman, lived in a wonderful house where all of her needs were met, and she knew without a doubt that Dennis loved her as much as she did him. He’d become everything she wanted and needed, and she couldn’t imagine her life without him.
Three days later, Precious got the call she’d been nervously expecting. Dr. Raitt had called to congratulate her. The test for pregnancy was positive. His patient records had recordedPrecious Caroline Boone, pregnant and with an estimated due date of June 29, 1952. He’d set up an appointment at his New Rochelle office for Precious to come in for a complete examination. The doctor had also suggested her husband accompany her to discuss what to expect during her confinement.
“What are you grinning about?” Dennis asked when he walked into the living room.
Precious bit her lower lip to keep from screaming like someone possessed. It had worked. Dennis was going to become a father! “That was Dr. Raitt on the phone. He called to tell me that I’m going to have a baby, and that when I come in tomorrow for him to examine me, he wants you to come, too.”
