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We met at the entrance of Central Park at Columbus Circle and spent an hour walking through the park. It was a warm, beautiful day; spring was pretending to be summer with its eighty-plus temperature. We stopped and got some lemonade and then sat down on a bench to talk more. When I finished my drink, Yancey nervously shifted the conversation about what she had done wrong with me and her life.

“I’m trying to make a clean break, and I’ve decided to go public about Madison,” she said. Her voice was both intimate and sad, she had a wounded tone, and not the sexy, sometimes bitchy, tone I was used to.

“Does that mean you’re going to become a part of her life?” I asked.

“I don’t know. It might be a little hard,” Yancey said softly.

“Why?”

Yancey told me that she had called her former boyfriend Derrick to give him the news about her going public. She told him the record company wanted her to do a cover story with LaVonya, and she had agreed to talk about the daughter she gave up. When she spoke with Derrick, he didn’t object but told Yancey not to reveal Madison’s name or where she lived. Derrick had met a woman and was ready to get married and his new bride wanted to adopt Madison.

“How do you feel about that?” I asked.

“It’s probably the best thing. Derrick said his fiancée, Beverly, is a wonderful woman and she loves Madison. All I ever wanted for her was to grow up differently from the way I did. To have someone who really loves her. Sounds like she will finally get that,” Yancey said.

“So you still don’t want children?”

“I still don’t think I’m capable, emotionally or physically,” Yancey said. Then she touched my knee delicately and with a slight hesitation asked, “What about you? Do you still want children?”

“More than I can explain,” I said.

“Then I hope you get a whole football team,” Yancey said.

I looked at my watch and noticed it was almost five. “I guess I better be heading home. I’m going to Jacksonville to spend some time with my Pops.”

“How’s he doing?” Yancey asked.

“Everything is cool, but the older I get the more I realize I have no idea how much time we have left,” I said.

“I’m sorry about what happened,” Yancey said softly.

For a moment I looked at her with a puzzled expression, wondering what she was talking about, but then she said, “I know what Bart did. But he wasn’t alone. Ava talked him into calling your father. I wasn’t involved, but I think something I did caused Ava to put the plan in place,” Yancey said.

“What are you talking about?” I asked suddenly, feeling leery again about Yancey. Maybe she was still acting with me, every word rehearsed.

“Ava wanted to manage my career, and I wanted no part of that. When she came to New York and wouldn’t take no for an answer, I told her I was letting you manage my career. I guess that tipped her over the edge and she wanted to get you out of my life once and for all.”

“But how does she know Bart?”

“I don’t really know. But I think LaVonya had something to do with it.”

“How do you know Bart?”

“He was in my video. He still doesn’t know that Ava is my mother.”

“How are you going to stop her?”

“I think going public with my secrets will do it. That way she can’t hold anything over me. She’s used my secrets against me to keep me under her control. I won’t let her do that ever again.”

“Yancey, I can help you.”

“What?”

“I’ve still got the tapes. Maybe if Ava knew you had them, it would keep her in her place,” I said.

“You would do that for me?” Yancey asked.

“Sure. My days of trying to get back at people are over. But Ava and Bart still need to be taught a lesson,” I said.

“So you really are trying to change. That’s wonderful. So am I,” Yancey said as she touched my knee again, but without hesitation.

“I’ll send you all the tapes by messenger when I get back,” I said as I leaned over and gave Yancey a simple kiss of forgiveness on the cheek. She looked into my eyes with a grateful smile, and we walked hand in hand slowly out of the park. I realized that the love I had for