A Ram In The Bush                          

                                                               Chapter 1

The first three months of marriage were great—then jealousy reared its ugly green head. Shay Knight flung back the curtain and glared out the window scanning the busy street of Los Angeles for the fourth time; hoping one of them would be her husband, Winston. She looked at her watch, 7pm. Her body nervously shook inside from anxiety; after noticing her hand slightly shaking she immediately stopped for fear of having a panic attack. Shay was operating not on reason but on her past failed relationships. The custom drapes made a swooshing sound as she closed them, feeling more insecure because her newlywed husband had not made it home from work yet and she felt he may have been out cheating on her. Where was her vivacious spunk and confidence that she carried with her into the courtroom defending her clients? When it came to her insecurities that spunk was retargeted somewhere else¾ on her husband.

“He should have been home forty-five minutes ago,” her lips thinned. Winston Knight was unaware that his new wife of six months had been checking the odometer when he left for work and returned home. The exact amount of miles to and from his office was embedded in her head¾ forty miles roundtrip. Shay walked back into the kitchen picking up the cordless black phone as her paranoia really set in. She dialed Winston’s cell phone and it immediately went to voicemail. “Ooh,” she cringed as anger penetrated her voice; she slammed down the phone. Within the past forty-five minutes she had called his cell phone consecutively fifteen times. “Where is he? Who is he with?” she asked herself. She walked over to the kitchen window staring out of it then focused on the phone again. “Let me try his work number again.” She grabbed the phone and started dialing hoping this time he would answer but yet again, it went unanswered. Her voice raised, “Damn,” then slammed down the phone with a greater force. With her fists balled and lips thinned, she started pacing the hardwood floor; the butterflies fluttered in her stomach from anxiety. Suddenly she sat on the barstool taking long breaths, in and out until her heart rate slowed.

After ten minutes, Shay picked up the phone again in hopes his mom would know her son’s whereabouts. In her mind, she practiced her tone of voice putting on a façade, she knew that his mother, Dr. April Knight didn’t care for her and she surely didn’t like his mother. If it wasn’t for the paranoia taking control his mother would never hear from Shay. The two were cordial to one another just because of Winston. If Shay had it her way, they would move from Los Angeles to a small city in the Midwest far away from her. She felt that his mother was a Ms-know-it-all because of her occupation. Shay dialed the number and after the second ring, Dr. Knight answered the phone, “Hello.”

“Hi Mom Knight,” Shay said in the most pleasant tone she could muster, hiding the anger and anxiety that lurked within.

“Hi Shay, what do I owe the honor?” she asked, knowing Shay never picked up the phone to call her unless it benefited Shay, particularly Winston’s whereabouts. Dr. Knight had begged Winston not to marry Shay, not that she didn’t like her but because they had only known each other three months before they’d married. Dr. Knight’s specialty was marriage and family counseling and one thing she had a gift for was spotting trouble in paradise. Skeptical of their relationship after seeing paranoia and jealousy in Shay, Dr. Knight began to put the pieces together, innocently analyzing her. She never mentioned one word to Winston of her conclusion and waited on him to come to her; she was not one for prying into her son’s marriage.

Shay was a twenty-eight year old who had never wanted for anything growing up. Her father was a successful lawyer and her mother a well-known interior designer. She had lived in an upscale neighborhood in Bel-Air, California. Her old housekeeper used to clean the house including making Shay’s bed every morning. All Shay had to do was go to school and get an education. And she did, graduating at the top of her class, cum laude at the University of Southern California Law School. She landed herself a job working as a successful criminal lawyer in her dad’s family practice. Deep down inside, her heart was good as gold, she just couldn’t shake her paranoia.

“Have you seen Winston?” she asked.

“No, but I talked to him earlier today.” Dr. Knight thought, here comes another one of her suspicions.

“What time was that?” she asked with urgency. “He should have been home an hour ago,” she said, forgetting that she was trying hard not to show her anger. Her uncontrollable thought that he was always cheating on her when he wasn’t around; made her feel uncomfortable¾ very tense inside.

“My dear, he’s probably still at the gym—let me give you some motherly advice, baby.” She spoke in a soft, friendly tone of voice.

Shay’s voice quivered as she spoke, “I don’t need any advice, especially coming from my mother-in-law, and this is our business.”

“Baby, you called me, I didn’t call you. I just want to help.”

“You can help by…” Her conversation ended quickly when she heard the sound of the garage door open. She keenly listened as Winston’s car pulled into the garage. “He’s here now,” she said. “I got to go.” Then hung up without saying goodbye. Her eyes peered at the mahogany grandfather clock noting the time, then shifted towards the door.

Winston stepped through the connecting kitchen door with a smile and Shay immediately tore into him like a detective interrogating a crime suspect.

“You’re late! Where were you?” She jumped down from the barstool with her hand tightly clenched on her hip.

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