Crystals Read Free Page A

thing.
    Having come this
far, she knew she couldn’t turn back. “That letter confirms that I now own that
house.”
    “Why am I just
finding out about this?”
    “Because I wanted
it that way.”
    “I beg your
pardon?”
    “I wanted it that
way. I knew if I had told you about the house, you would have tried to stop me.
I would have carried on anyway and we would have ended up having an argument.”
Crystal held her breath as she waited for her mother’s response.
    “Actually, I think
what you’ve done is quite industrious. Investing in rental property is
extremely sensible, not to mention lucrative in this financial climate.”
    “It’s not an
investment property. I’m moving out this weekend.”
    Gwendolyn was
quiet for so long, Crystal began to run scenarios through her mind as to what
her mother would say next and how she would counter it.
    “So, you think you
can use my hard earned money to purchase a property without informing me?”
    “I didn’t use your
money. I worked and saved every penny of my deposit myself.”
    “You ungrateful,
conniving girl! After all I’ve done for you. Bringing you up on my own. Giving you
everything you could possibly want or need and this is the way you repay me!”
    “I appreciate
everything you’ve done for me. I just need my own space.”
    “Space… space to
do what, run around like your cousins and end up living with some
good-for-nothing man who treats you like rubbish?!”
    “It’s nothing like
that.”
    “Then explain to
me why you are doing this!”
    Something snapped
inside her. Crystal knew she had two choices. She could sit here and become
embroiled in an argument she wouldn’t win, or she could be completely honest.
She decided on the second option. “I admire you. I always have, but I don’t
want to be you. I’m not going to do my Masters. I already have a job with an
interior design company. In fact, that’s how I got the money together for this
house. It’s small, but it’s all I need.”
    “Do you have a
boyfriend, Crystal-Grace?”
    “Not yet,” she
mumbled under her breath.
    “What did you just
say,” Gwendolyn snapped.
    “I said no, I
don’t have a boyfriend. This has nothing to do with a man.”
    “You’d do better to
forget about boys and concentrate on your studies. Take it from me, I know
exactly what I’m talking about.”
    “Like I said, I’m
not you. My father left you not me.”
    “How dare you
speak to me like that. After all–”
    “I know, Mother.
After all you’ve done for me.”
    “I tried, God
knows I tried. I pulled myself up from nothing when I arrived from Jamaica, and
I took you and your father with me. And what do you both do, run off as soon as
I turn my back!”
    Crystal said
nothing because for the first time in her life, she finally got some insight
into what her mother truly felt. Gwendolyn was frightened of being alone. The
desertion of Crystal’s father was Gwendolyn’s only failure in life, and
eighteen years later, she still hadn’t gotten over it.
    Crystal had made
her peace with her father’s death from a sudden heart attack ten years prior.
It seemed her mother had not. But that was something the older woman would have
to work through for herself.
    “I’m only moving
to East London and you will always be welcome in my home.”
    Gwendolyn stared
at her daughter in silence for a few seconds before she tossed the letter in
her direction. The action was meant to be a dismissal,
but as she turned away, Crystal saw the evidence of her real feelings—unshed
tears glistened in her eyes.

 
     
    Chapter 2
    Crystal – Age Twenty-Three
    “I’m flipping baking. Come outside with me please?”
Crystal pleaded with her cousin as she fanned herself in an attempt to disperse
the sticky air in the packed club.
    “What… no! Dizzy’s
coming over,” Fern shouted above the sound of the booming music.
    “He’s had two
hours to acknowledge your existence. If he’s finally coming over after all