“Girl, you don’t know how many times I’ve asked him that question. Let him tell it, he wasn’t really fucking with her like that before he got locked up. Then he comes home and he’s a daddy.”

“So Paul’s first time meeting P.J. was when he came home?” Audrey asked, obviously leading up to something.

“Yeah, P.J. was almost one, I think.”

“Umm-hmm.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Marlene asked.

“Well, we all know how bitches like Rhonda get down, so I was just wondering if Paul ever found out for sure if he was P.J.’s father.”

Marlene got very quiet. It was something she had often wondered about, but had never really pressed. She thought she could see parts of Paul in P.J., but P.J. looked so much like his mother that she couldn’t be sure. The thing was, P.J. had straight hair and fair skin, which neither of his parents had. Though it could have come from an earlier strain of one of their families, something told Marlene it hadn’t. Then when you threw in Rhonda’s rep as a jump-off it raised a few questions. She thought about bringing it to Paul’s attention, but didn’t want to rub a sore spot.

“Audrey, whatever went on in Paul’s life before me doesn’t concern me,” Marlene said.

“Well, it should,” Audrey replied. “Mar, what if you go through the motions of playing stepmother to little P.J. only to find out that he isn’t Paul’s?”

“Audrey, that’s ridiculous. And even if through some fluke the K-I-D turned out not to be Paul’s, I’d love him the same.”

“Marlene, you’re full of shit. You mean to tell me that you wouldn’t be the least bit bothered if you went through eighteen years of this bullshit with Rhonda for nothing?”

Marlene shivered at the thought. “Well, what would you have me do, ask Paul to submit to a DNA test?” she asked sarcastically.

“Hell no. Do it behind his back. All you gotta do is call Dana and ask her to look out.” Dana was a friend of Marlene’s who worked at the same DNA testing center that was featured on talk shows. A while back, Marlene had helped her baby’s father out of a jam, so the girl owed her a favor.

“Audrey, I don’t even like what you’re suggesting. I’ll talk to you later.” She ended the call. Audrey had some nerve, asking Marlene to do something so underhanded. She was sure P.J. belonged to Paul … wasn’t she?