Gabriel jolted upward, an angry heat spreading across his face as he roared, “You are lying.”
“Now I have my husband’s attention,” Jean purred, smiling as she leaned against the counter. “No
telling what already has happened in the privacy of her chamber. She does spend an awful lot of time
with him there.”
To this statement, Gabriel nearly lost his dinner. Was she implying that his son was having sex with
his wife? His son? Absurd.
Gabriel’s shoulders slumped, weakened by the depravity of what may have happened directly under
his nose. He looked up at the woman who had seen him through the worst of times, knowing she would
never lie to him, not even to spite her sister. “What do you propose I do?”
“Send her away,” she replied softly, coming to stand in front of him once again, cupping his head to
her breasts as he instinctively gripped her buttocks. “The child too.”
His hold tightened. “But he’s my son. A child. Children can be managed.”
Jean looked down upon him. “Even so, he is more like her than you know. We are with him every day
while you’re out building the new Negro elite.”
Gabriel stood so they were eye to eye, resenting her tone and the implication that he, of all people,
was too busy to see to their needs. “Are you doubting the mission?”
“No, my love,” she replied, stroking the chiseled ivory of his face with her delicate hands. “I respect
what you’re trying to do, but it’s hard, so hard on everyone.” Jean sat down and pulled him down to a
space beside her. She gestured to the area just past the small solarium and garden that led to her balcony.
“You’ve built a glorious place here. Every one of the complexes has luxuries the women could never
have imagined.”
Jean took a few breaths, as though gathering her wits for a much unwanted task. “There’s a unity
among us that I have never experienced anywhere else. The women are like sponges, like vessels. And
this work, this wonderful work, is filling them up. For the first time, I know what true sisterhood is
about.”
Gabriel smiled at the passion in her words, linked his hand with hers to connect the two of them in
some small way. He wanted that closeness that seemed to elude them over the past few months as he
spent more time away from the enclave and more time with Lucille than he did with Della, Sabrina or
Jean. He had instructed the men not to play favorites. Yet he had been guilty of that very thing. He would
rectify that tonight.
Jean paused, and he took a moment to absorb what she had said. “Our past, no matter how sordid, has
no place here. So my sisters walk differently and talk differently. Their backs are straight, heads held
high.” The corners of her luscious lips lifted in a small smile. “I can’t tell you the joy it brings me when
they return from their travels and are bursting with information.” Jean stared at him for a long while
before adding, “No, I could never tire of this mission, my love, because only small-minded people see
things as purely black and white. You’ve shown us the gray areas.” She gave a low, throaty chuckle. “Or
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