Autumn's Five Seasons: The Men

Autumn’s Five Seasons

The Men

ALICE V. BENTON

iUniverse, Inc.

Bloomington

Autumn’s Five Seasons

The Men

Copyright © 2012 by Alice V. Benton.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-4697-9312-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4697-9314-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4697-9313-9 (ebk)

iUniverse rev. date: 03/12/2012

Contents

Prologue

LEM

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

STEPHEN

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

PHILLIP

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

TERRENCE

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

STEVE

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

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Prologue

Hi, I’m Autumn Leaves Braxter. I know you must be wondering how I received such a fine name. Well, I have always believed that names are important. Not only do they help correctly identify something or someone, but they can tell a story and I am blessed to know mine.

My parents met and fell in love during their favorite season—autumn. They said it was love at first sight—well, my mom did. Much of their story is the same, but some details are different.

My mother recalled being at Central Park and seeing my father across a crowd of people. She instantly felt love. Initially, mother shook it off of course. She didn’t believe in love at first sight, but couldn’t deny that time had stopped for an entire New York minute when she saw him.

She could feel warmth and beauty moving toward her as my dad moved closer. She could barely recognize the feeling, not being able to associate it logically with a stranger, but that’s what it was—love. In fact, that incident is why my mother, Catherine, is not a fan of logic, although, she is very sensible.

Suddenly, there he was, standing in front of her. These two strangers were captivated by each other. They were polite in passing, but chose to keep moving because they were both involved with someone else. After only one moment in time they thought of each other always.

The seasons had come and gone; passing another year. It was autumn again. My mother was sitting on a bench in Central Park, which she did frequently. She was enjoying her favorite pastime, which was watching the leaves fall. She noticed a change in the atmosphere as she felt him approach once again.

He felt, glorious, like the leaves changing mom said. It was that same unique feeling of warmth and deep affection gracing her presence.

My father, Gregory, on the other hand, hadn’t visited the magnificent park in a while. His girlfriend hated it. Once they went their separate ways, he decided to take a long overdue walk into freedom.

My parents’ eyes locked, as he approached her bench. He sat down next to her and the rest is history. And, just so you know, those two haven’t unlocked since.

Outside of quite possibly experiencing lust at first sight, my father doesn’t recall it that way. He says his love came shortly after they met in Central Park. They were sitting on a bench underground in the Lincoln Center tunnels. They were looking at a painting of calla lilies located directly in front of them. His eyes toggled back and forth in between beauties: the art and her head leaning on his shoulder.

A woman walking by stopped and said, Wow, how lovely.

My mother quickly responded, Yes, it is.

The woman replied, No, not the painting. The two of you are lovely. You look like Paris together. Never lose that. Then she continued on her way.

Mom smiled and thought what a nice statement.

My father smiled and thought, yes, I suppose we do . . . I am in love.

Although I came along many years later, it seemed only natural to name me Autumn. After all, if it wasn’t for that time, I would not exist. Autumn is when their love began to bloom. It was a sweet sentiment coupled with their quirky mindset that allowed them to add Leaves to my name.

I wish it had been that easy for me to find true love. As nice as it sounds, I have never believed in love at first sight, lust perhaps, but definitely not love. Well, not until I laid my eyes on Steve. One look at him and everything in my world changed, but that came later. I had some things I needed to learn first and boy did I ever. I did many dangerous and irresponsible things like go home with strangers. That’s never a wise choice. Those lessons were filled with many crazed moments, but in the end it was all worth it.

One thing I have always believed is that greatness is forged out of madness. So, my story consists of the sometimes madness that assisted in the development of my now glorious life. There was a time when I had gone through so much with men that I started to question the importance of my own existence. I had much to learn in various seasons, however, my madness began with Lem.

LEM

He was practically a part of my family

This season Leaves fell away from this branch

Chapter 1

Lem and I were the best of friends growing up. We both lived on the same block in Brooklyn and our mothers were best friends too. Thank God we liked each other because we were forced to do everything together.

Lem’s parents were originally from South Carolina and always dreamed of moving to New York City and raising a family. When they found out they were expecting Lem, plans were quickly made to move to the Big Apple.

Lem’s grandmother continuously complained about the move, she said, I won’t talk to you anymore if you go.

Oh momma, you’ll talk to me. You know Melvin got a good job waiting for him there, Melissa said, kissing her on the forehead, as her mother continued.

I mean it, Melissa. I’ll never forgive you if you take my grandchild away from me! She yelled, Most people pack up and leave big cities when they have children! Why do you always have to be so contrary, Melissa? Huh? Answer me!

Melissa smirked and said, Because you know what they say about making it there and I want my baby to be able to make it anywhere momma.

That’s why Lem was born and raised a resident of Brooklyn, New York. He and his parents moved onto my block in Bedford Stuyvesant right before Lem was born. They lived in the brownstone directly across the street from my family. That’s actually how our families became so tight.

One day, my mother noticed his mom and crossed the street to talk. Mom said, I hate to bother people, but I noticed you have this sweet little girl next to you and another one on the way. You look like you’re ready to pop. If you do and you need help, I’m right across the street.

Melissa said, That about to pop business would be funny if it wasn’t true, but I’m due any second so I may take you up on that offer. This little lady is Gail and we hope the popper is a boy named Lem.

Our mothers were inseparable from that moment. They also relived the ready to pop joke one year later when Lem’s mom was pregnant with his brother, Lamar. It showed up again another year later when