“ Tea, Mrs. DeJoine?”, Eve asked.

” Yes, we can sit and have a nice chat.” She motions for them to sit down on the porch. Soon they had iced tea.

“ So Eve, did you enjoy the brunch?”

” Yes, M’am.”

” I’m so pleased. I like to have people be pleased.  Well, you know that Thornton’s mother isn’t here. And, I love him like a son. So, you of course understand that I would be interested in any young woman that he brought here. Especially since it’s never happened before.”

Eve looked up and before she could cover, the surprise was all over her face. “ I think TC’s lucky to have people concerned about him.”

“ And, it is just concern. So, why don’t you tell me about yourself, Eve. Wellesley and Harvard Medical School with no financial aid– that’s very interesting.”

” How do you know that I didn’t get any scholarships?”

” Because Julia didn’t say that you were one of her work-study students. That would indicate that you were on financial aid. And, you haven’t had a job in Medical School either.”

” I am very fortunate that my education has been provided for me. It’s afforded me the time to dedicate myself to my studies.”

” So, your parents must be proud of their investment.”

” My parents are deceased.”

” I’m sorry. Was it recently.”

” No. They died when I was a little girl. I was raised by Aunts.”

“ It’s wonderful to have family.”

” Yes, it is.”

” Where exactly did you say you were from, Eve?”

Eve thought about how to answer that question, but, didn’t have to because of a voice,

” There you are! I’ve been looking for you.”

“ TC!”, Eve said smiling.

” Yeah. I won my tennis match, and I wanted to celebrate with you. Auntie, you don’t mind if Eve and I leave, do you? I wanted to show her around the Vineyard a little before we go to Maggie Dorsey’s for dinner this evening.”

Nannette put on a smile. “ Of course, Dear. You take Eve and show her around. I’ll have plenty of time to talk to her later.”

Eve took TC’s arm, and they left to go exploring.

They did go to downtown Oak Bluffs, and Eve enjoyed looking in the shop. They didn’t have a lot of time, but, she enjoyed being alone with TC. He was full of knowledge about the Island, and she tried to soak in all of it.

Dinner was wonderful. It was a nice dinner party, and Eve was introduced to even more people. She met a Congressmen, State Legislators, and several people that she had seen in the pages of Ebony and Jet Magazines. She soaked up the conversation, and watched how the people interacted with one another. Fortunately for her, Nannette DeJoine arrived in time for dessert, and thus left her alone. But, she knew that it wouldn’t last for the entire trip.

She and TC walked home, hand in hand, went down to the beach, where they sat on a blanket.

“ Penny for your thoughts.”, TC asked.

” I…I overheard a conversation that sort of bothered me, TC.”

“ What?”

” This group of  women were talking about a guy named Robert  and how he was engaged.”

” To Toni Tillman – she’s a really great gal.”

” Yes, but, they said that he had been interested in a ‘ghetto girl’?”

” Yikes. I’m sorry Eve. For the most part, I really love the Vineyard, but, I guess you’ve been introduced to one of the more negative aspects here: the snobbery. It’s not everyone, but, the element is definitely here.”

” I see.”

” Besides, Robert never had an independent thought in his life. He’s been so into ‘the right car, house, school, etc.’ , that of course, he would buckle. His mother is a notorious snob. If he had REALLY loved that girl, it shouldn’t have made any matter.”

“ You really believe that?”

” Yeah, Eve. Some people are poor. That doesn’t make them bad or evil. That girl that Robert liked had come from nothing, and she had already gotten one Masters Degree and was working on another. That proves she wanted to improve her life and change it. That’s to be respected and admired.”

Eve breathed a sigh of relief. TC wouldn’t care about her background.

” What SHOULD have upset them is my friend Perry’s last girlfriend. She was definitely a loser. He was so humiliated when the truth about her was revealed.”

” What was it?”

” That she had gotten her education financed by being ‘on her back’.- if you know what I mean.”

Eve just stared at TC.

” I’m sorry, Eve. I know you’ve been protected. She was this big crimeboss’ woman. In return for being his mistress, she got her education. Mistress – some White man came up with that, because whore sounded too ‘vulgar’. “

Eve could barely breathe. She thought she could feel her heart stop. TC leaned over to hug Eve, and,

” Eve! You’re ice cold. Why didn’t you tell me. We should get back to the house. “

Eve didn’t say anything. She just nodded and went  back up to the house with TC. She sat at the kitchen table as he fixed them some herbal tea. He walked her to her door, and kissed her on the cheek. As TC turned to go to his room, Eve finally spoke up,

” TC?”

” Yes, Eve.”

” That woman. How did they find out about her?”

” Oh, Auntie and his mother asked around.”

“ Thanks. Good night.”

” You too.”

Eve closed the door behind her, yet stood there for several minutes. She took a spare blanket, wrapped herself in it, and went out on the deck to sit. This beautiful trip was on the verge of turning into an absolute nightmare.

The young women had been catty, snobby and bitchy. But, Eve was beginning to appreciate the depth and the power of the Granny Network. While her White classmates were completely unaware, Eve had been exposed to it her freshman year at Wellesley. She had begun to become friends with a couple of Black girls, and she was with them, when their new roommate, a girl from San Francisco, came in. Eve listened, as they questioned her a bit about her family. Once she had gone out, one of the girls had called her mother in Washington, D.C. She relayed the information that she had received from the roommate.

Eve questioned her as to what she had done, and the other gal replied, “ oh, she just wants to see if the Granny Network still works.”

Eve nodded, but said nothing.

Eve was there, just a little more than 72 hours later, when the girl came back with all kinds of information about her roommate. Her parents, what they did, what kind of neighborhood they lived in, their church and social organizations.

A White classmate, who had been eavesdropping, just came out and asked,
” How did you get all that information on her.”

The girl replied:” Well, knowing where she was from, and what school she went to, and that her mother was an AKA, it was easy. My mother called her AKA friends in San Francisco, and asked my grandmother to get in touch with her friends out there. If her parents were involved in the right circles, it would be easy to track her down.”

” And, if they weren’t?”

” Then, I already know everything I need to know about her.”

And, THAT, was the end to that conversation.

Eve backed away from those two girls, and shied away from making friends with anyone other than the small group of international students. They were the only ones that Eve could insure would never really nose into her background, as they saw her as an ‘American’.

But, Eve had never forgot about her first experience with the ‘Granny Network’. It had been in the back of her mind, but, she hadn’t been faced with it again, until today, listening to those young women. Eve didn’t know what to do.

She had been working so hard on surviving, and then her education to prepare her for her ‘new’ life, that she hadn’t thought it all through. Meeting TC, her eyes had been open to the kind of life that she wanted. Oh, the snobs could go to hell, but, she wanted the environment for her children. An environment where her children would grow up with their parents, in a secure world, full of people who would support and protect them.

Now, Eve realized that a future with TC wasn’t just at stake; it was her future, PERIOD.

This past year, the Black doctors on staff at Harvard Medical School, had encouraged all of the Black Medical Third Year students to attend the National Medical Association Convention. The annual meeting of Black Doctors throughout the country was a way that she could begin to network with them. And, a network it was. Though they were doctors all across the country, Eve was amazed to watch just how small the Black Medical community was. She would listen to introductions between doctors, and that they didn’t need to go past 2 people before they knew someone in common.

Eve knew not to underestimate Nannette DeJoine. She is determined. The ladies said it earlier: she considers TC to be her son, and in the absence of her good friend, she wants to protect him.

If she didn’t find a way to placate Nannette, she would lose everything. All her hard work will be for nothing. No respectable Black man would come within 10 feet of someone who has the reputation of being a White man’s mistress. She knows that is how the world will see her and Julian, even if it had been far more complicated than that. She and Julian had been together for years. It was love, hate, passion, regret – all that and more. But, it was fast approaching the status of huge liability for her.

 Eve felt for that young woman that TC described tonight. She would be forever branded a ‘whore’, because of what she had done. The guy that ‘kept’ her was Black, but, she’ll be closed to certain men, because they will never want other men talking about him that way. That Julian is White made it a hundred times worse. She would never be respected by those same Black mentors that she knows she will need for references and other help in her medical career. The word would get back to the man through his mother, or some other woman, who will tell him.

And, God help her if any of it got back to her White superiors. She already has strikes against her because she’s a Black woman. She is nothing but professional in her manor with the nearly all-White male medical community. If this got out, she would be ruined. She’d never be taken seriously by them, and in between the insults, she’d get passes from them who automatically believe that she’d be THEIR whore.

The tears began to fall at the thought of these ‘worst case’ scenarios. Eve felt she had very good reason to be alarmed. Her entire life had been a series of ‘worst case’ scenarios. As Eve stared into the sky, she let out a deep sigh, knowing that how she handled this situation, could very well chart the course of the rest of her life.