The Mystery of Chad Harris: Fate Delivers Us, Chapter Five
 

" Eve, I don’t understand your attitude.", TC says as he begins to take off his shirt, entering their bedroom.

" Don’t you think that you should have at least DISCUSSED it with me first?"

" It wasn’t something that I planned. You were there. The moment presented itself, and I had a solution that I thought was feasible. "

" Feasible for whom?"

" For CHAD, Eve. THAT is WHOM."

" What is it with you and that punk?"

" Chad is NOT a punk. You and I BOTH work with troubled kids, and you know he’s not a punk."

" You didn’t even ask your mother."

" Eve, you honestly think my mother would care?"

" She’s looking forward to spending time with her ‘family’."

" I’m sure Chad doesn’t have any intention of interfering with our ‘family time’. Dammit, Eve! I don’t understand you and your position with regards to Chad. It’s a plane ticket. A fucking plane ticket!"

" You do NOT have to speak to me that way. If you feel like that, then maybe you ought to take it somewhere else!", Eve hisses on her way to the bathroom.

TC stands in the doorway, not letting her pass.

" Let me in!"

" Baby, please. Please.."

Eve stops pushing against TC.

" Eve, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken to you that way. But, Baby, I’m so frustrated with you, when it comes to Chad."

" Are you telling me that I don’t have the right to dislike him?"

" No. But, you can’t tell me that I don’t have the right TO like him. Baby, I can’t really explain it, but, I’m going to try.  I look at Chad, and something touches me about him. I don’t know what it is. I guess I look at him, and think about the son that we never had."

Eve looked up at him with deeply hurt eyes. " That’s not my fault!"

TC sighed. " I know it’s not. We tried, Eve, but, it wasn’t in the cards for us to have a son. And, I thought I had made my peace with it, and I believe I have. I love our daughters, Eve. More than life itself, but, I’m just being honest if I tell you  that I had always wanted a son. I miss my father, Eve. He wasn’t just my Dad, he was my best friend. And, I always assumed t hat I would have a son to have the same kind of relationship with him. But, we didn’t have a son. Maybe it’s part of God’s plan. Maybe the pain that I have about that, readied me to be more sensitive to Chad? I don’t know. But, I have to help him. I don’t need for you to approve, but, I do need for you to understand that this is just simply something I FEEL I must do. "

TC and Eve stood there looking at one another. Eve put her hand up to TC’s cheek.

" Ok, Honey. I get it. I don’t have to like it, but, I’m glad you explained it to me. I just hope that your faith isn’t being placed in the wrong person, TC."

" I know. But, sometime, you have to have faith."

TC got out of her way, and Eve entered into the bathroom. Looking back, watching her husband get into bed, Eve could not shake the voice in her head that told her that any continued involvement with Chad Harris can bring her family nothing but pain. If TC was too blind, it would be up to her to protect their family. She would be watching Chad Harris to see that he didn’t take advantage of TC’s generosity. Her husband was a level-headed man, unless he cared deeply for you. If that was the case, he’d go to the mat blindly for you. Eve sees that developing between Chad and TC, but, she would be there to monitor it. NO way would Chad Harris ever hurt her family, Eve vowed.
 

" So, did Melody enjoy her story?", Maggie asked George, as he entered their room at his mother’s house.

" She didn’t even make it two pages, before she konked out."

" All three of them had a lot of fun at the Bennetts tonight."

" Uh-huh.", George muttered, before going into his nightly teeth ritual in the bathroom.

Maggie Alexopoulos had to laugh. Her husband was nothing, if not a creature of habit. It was his attention to detail, which had first caught her eye. When he tried to impress her, and found out that Casablanca was her favorite movie, and he redecorated the rec room in her dorm to resemble Rick’s Casino. She had to admit that she was impressed, even though she completely ‘dissed’ him that night.

Being the daughter of a well-known Atlanta preacher, Maggie Shelby was every inch the Southern Belle. Her father had sent her to Spelman, because, in the back of his mind, he wanted her to bring home a ‘Morehouse Man’. Maggie had done that, though the first time George Alexopoulos crossed the threshold of her father’s home, she thought her father would have a heart attack.

" A WHITE Morehouse Man? I didn’t even know there was such a thing.", he screamed to Maggie’s mother, the minute they had left after dinner.

He was right. There aren’t a lot of them, but, George was one.

George Alexopoulos was a ‘Good Greek Boy’. His father, to the outside world, was a successful businessman. George was smart as a whip, and got acceptance to University of Notre Dame. Even though he wasn’t Catholic, he had always been an ‘Irish’ fan. His first year, he had done well. The summer after his freshman year, his father died, and the truth was revealed about the family finances: they were beyond broke. Why? Because of his father’s gambling addiction.  His father routinely robbed Peter to pay Paul, and his entire first year of college had been financed through ‘questionable’ means. There was a double mortgage on the house, and the general finances of the family were shoddy. George’s mother, a good woman, who had never worked a day in her life, had inherited all these debts.

George and his mother sat down, and tried to work things out. His mother was insistent: she did NOT want to lose her home. She couldn’t. Working from there, George and the officers from the bank had come up with a payment plan that was doable. George was shocked when his mother said that SHE was going to take over the family business. Since college was out of the question, George helped her in the store. Between the two of them, they had it reorganized in the matter of several months. His mother’s outgoing personality, as well as her innate intelligence, served her well, and the hardware store began to thrive once again. When his mother arranged to take over the shop next door, when that tenant  left and had it converted into a bakery, he was surprised that it was a success. They weren’t raking in the money, but they were able to pay off the debts, and his mother was able to breathe a little easier, even if she was working very hard.

But, school was out for George. His family simply couldn’t afford to help him in any way. And, he had applied and been declined for every scholarship that tried for. George remembered the day that TC Russell walked into the hardware store and changed his life. He and TC had known one another from the tennis team, and other places, but, George would not have called him a ‘close friend’. He remembered though, the letter, that had come from TC, less than a week after his father died. He also knew TC, from the yearly ‘Father/Son’ contests that he would compete in with his father. George could tell that he and TC had the same kind of relationships with their fathers, and TC’s letter of sympathy touched him deeply. They began to talk that summer, and it seemed sometimes, that only TC could relate to the depth and kind of pain that George was feeling. They corresponded for months, and when TC came home for Spring Break, that year, he brought something with him.

" What’s this?", George asked.

" An application to college.", TC responded.

George picked it up, and looked at it. " Uh, TC, this is for Morehouse."

" I know what it is. "

" TC, it’s an all Black school."

" You would integrate it."

" TC, come on.", George tried to hand it back to TC.

" George. You’re a bright guy. Ever since I’ve known you, your dream has been to become an agent for the FBI. You don’t have a college degree, so, it will never happen. I know Morehouse isn’t your first choice, or your second choice. But, I think it’s your ONLY choice. "

" I can’t afford to go to school."

" With your scores, grades, plus your ‘life lessons’, I’m sure that you could get a scholarship. Possibly even a full one. "

" TC."

" Final point. This summer and fall, they are having a special guest lecturer. Take a look and see if you don’t think this is the opportunity you’ve been looking for."

TC left the store, and though George put the material away and went back to work, that night, he took it out as he sat in bed. The lecturer was going to be the first Black Agent of the FBI. Not only was he going to teach a class there, he was also going to be working with Atlanta Bureau of the FBI, in a sort of ‘training program’, for interested students. George read the Agent’s biography over and over again. Man, this guy has gone thru hell, George thought. But….he made it through. He would have so much to tell someone like George. He’d have so many tips to give. Damn, he could be my first contact, George thought.

In all the years since he had decided to become a FBI Agent, George had never ‘Felt’ that it was within his grasp, as it was now. How many people get to pick the mind of a real Agent for months at a time, in a relaxed setting?

George Alexopoulous decided, at that moment, that he was going to be one of them.

It took him 48 hours to finish the application, complete with recommendations, and he mailed it off to Morehouse. Two weeks later, he drove to Boston for his Alumni Interview.

Within 6 weeks, George had been accepted to Morehouse, on a full scholarship, room and board included, and a job. The job called him and told him if he could get their early, he could earn a month’s fulltime wages. It was dining work, but, he didn’t care. His mother bought him a train ticket, and hid some money in a suitcase that he didn’t find until he unpacked, and there he was, in Atlanta, Georgia.

George was surprised how quickly he fell in love with Morehouse. He was back in an academic setting, and the professors never gave him a break. Neither did the students. He was admitted into the program, and this Agent did become his first, and one of his best mentors.

He was minding his own business, reading a textbook on the lawn outside of some academic buildings, when the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, walked passed him. Something inside of him told him if he didn’t seize the moment, it would be gone. He left his books, and tried to talk to this girl, but, she gave him the cold shoulder. He tracked her down to her school, Spelman College, and assured her that he wouldn’t give up.

And, he didn’t. It was 3 months, before she would even speak to him. 6 months before she agreed to date him, and then , it was in group settings. 9 months, before they went on their first ‘private date’. 10 months, before their first kiss. One year to the day he saw her, they went to dinner at her parent’s house. He could tell that neither family was happy, because he had heard his mother’s tears over the phone.

" I wanted you to marry a nice Greek Girl."

" But, she is the one who I love, Ma. Please want me to have love."

They took it slow, and sweet, but, they never wavered in their commitment to one another. When Maggie was accepted into Howard University Medical School, and George finally got into Quantico, both families knew where it would lead. Maggie knew that she wasn’t the Greek Girl his mother wanted for him, but, she thought that she could smooth over some of the bumps, and did so by learning Greek, and going to Greek School, at a local church in Washington, D.C., learning the traditions, and the cooking. His mother was stunned, when she came down for a ‘Family Get Together’, that there was baklava sitting next to the sweet potato pie, and other Greek dishes spread amongst the feast.

They had married 20 years ago, and it had been good. The usual ups and downs, but, they totally loved one another. They had been blessed with 3 terrific children, 2 successful careers, and the wisdom to know that whatever bigotry exists in the world, that a love like theirs was never to be taken lightly.

George finished in the bathroom, and joined Maggie in bed.

" So….are you thinking about taking Chad’s case?"

He shrugged his shoulders. " I dunno. Doesn’t seem like much there."

" That story about the Medallion was something, wasn’t it. I still get goosebumps."

" It was interesting." George leaned over and kissed his wife. "Night, Babes."

George turned on his side, and Maggie sat up in bed, pretending to read her book. She smiled to herself. George was playing cool, and disinterested, but, she knew her husband. His eyes had practically lit up, listening to Grace this afternoon. Coupled with the little that Chad had told him, and she knew he was hooked. Mysteries always hooked him. Puzzles of any kind.

And, this was a puzzle. A puzzle with a crazy old man, a dead singer, a creepy medallion, and too many questions that needed to be answered. Add into it, you had Chad. An underdog, but, one that is totally rootable. George thought he was slick, but, Maggie had seen him fax his friend Antoinette in Paris to start on the search about Crystal. Chad Harris didn’t know it yet, but, he had found himself a bulldog in George. Someone who wouldn’t stop until the truth is revealed.

And, she wouldn’t have him any other way, Maggie thought as she turned off her light, and went to bed.