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speak Cairo cut her off.
    “I never asked, but how is your husband . . . James, right?”
    The question had the desired effect. Storm’s lashes shuttered over her eyes to hide her thoughts.
    “I see you remember him.” Cairo said watching her closely. “From the age of your son, I assume you ended up marrying him after all. Tell me Jessica, does your beloved husband know that you’re here?”
    “Where I am is none of James’s business.” Storm replied stiffly. “He never had a say in my life and he never will.”
    Cairo nodded gravely. “Are the two of you engaged in one of those New Age marriages?” When he didn’t get a response he changed tactics. “How long have you been divorced?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he shook his head and held up a hand. “Don’t tell me. Forget I asked. Despite everything, I’m sorry it didn’t work out. The two of you are from the same world; I thought that made you compatible. I guess I was wrong.”
    “You were wrong about a lot of things, Cairo.” Storm said her gaze holding his defiantly.
    Cairo looked away. “Yes, well,” he said stiffly. “That still remains to be seen.”
    With that comment, he jammed his hands in his pockets and walked off without another word.
     
    “I know that look.” Tyrone said coming into the office just as Cairo was sitting down.
    Caught off guard, Cairo was immediately on the defensive.
    “What look?” He demanded.
    “You know the one I’m talking about.” His cousin said sauntering into the office and throwing himself down into a chair. “ Shamee Mary, Cairo. Shamee Mary.” He said as if Cairo would know what that meant.
    “What?” Cairo said his brow wrinkling as he leaned back in his chair.
    Tyrone shook his head sadly. “I keep forgetting that you’re Jamaican by adoption only. Shamee Mary is like the dandelion flower that little girl’s play with.” He explained.
    Cairo’s brow remained creased so Tyrone elaborated. “You know, cuz? I love her. I love her not.”
    Cairo didn’t need to hear any more. “Are you out of your damn mind, man?” The wheels of his chair hit the ground with a thud. “If we are talking about Jessica, love her I definitely do not .”
    “So you say,” Tyrone said unconvinced. “But I have seen that look before. I couldn’t blame you if you still loved her cuz. I have never seen a more beautiful woman.”
    Cairo abruptly stood up. He walked to the window of his office and stared out. “Yes, she is beautiful, isn’t she?” He admitted his hands clasped behind his back. “I look at her now and wonder how someone so beautiful could be so treacherous. I wonder how I could have been so wrong about her. When I married her, I thought that it would last forever. The marriage didn’t even last the night. I never told you this but Jessica’s parents never liked me. To them I could never be anything other than what I was. They hated me because I was poor and because I had the wrong address on the wrong side of town. It didn’t help that the only family I had was an old black man from the Caribbean. How anyone in this day and age can still harbor those kinds of prejudices astounds me.”
    “Prejudice and elitism! Why I’ve never heard of such things.” Tyrone exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, his fingers splayed dramatically over his heart.
    Cairo smiled inspite of himself. Tyrone had that effect on him.
    “Yeah well,” Cairo said shrugging off the memories. “It’s over now. They didn’t win. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t make me feel ashamed of who I was. I couldn’t change that I was a poor orphan. As for Papa Joseph, he was good to me and I refused to be embarrassed of a man whose only crime was adopting and loving me. According to them it really didn’t matter what kind of man I really was, I was simply not good enough for their daughter. On our wedding night they burst into our motel room and practically ripped her out of my arms. I would