by Zi'ere
She pulled the door open, pushed down the lock, and bombarded her way out of the door prohibiting whomever it was at the door a half of a second peek inside Amina’s bedroom.
“Well damn, Mama ain’t a joke! I don’t know why these people test her! She finna get down there and shut shit down for real!” Carlos shook his head but could not stop laughing.
His laugh was infectious and Amina could not help but laugh as well.
“I can’t believe we have babies in here.” Carlos’ smooth hands were rubbing Amina into a trance.
“This is all you baby. I did it just for you.” Amina cupped her husband’s face in her hands.
“Please don’t forget I’m in this closet!” Zi shouted from Amina’s walk in room.
The laughed again. Amina brought his lips to hers and brought on a sloppy tongue kiss. The kiss was interrupted by screaming, bumps, knocks, and crashes.
“Carlos, what in the world is going on down there? Emani has already broken a crystal wine glass! She had better not be down there tearing up my house! Get down there right now! If I have to get out of this bed, I’m going to kick her ass myself.”
“Oh, no! This child is out of control.” Zi came dashing from the closet, slamming the bedroom door behind her.
“Babe, calm down. You don’t know for sure that it is Emani causing confusion! Plus, remember the rules- if you can’t do bed rest here you will do it in the hospital. You decide!” Carlos’ smile had disappeared just that quickly.
Amina was mute. She knew he would follow Dr. Frasier’s orders no matter what Amina said. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he would not hesitate taking her back to the hospital. When it came to his wife’s peace of mind, he would walk to the end of the earth. He stomped toward the door and slammed it as he made it downstairs into what sounded like a reality tv brawl.
26
Amina laid back onto the big plush pillows behind her. Mama Anna made her way back to the room. She was studying her but she wouldn’t make eye contact with her. Amina was too young to realize that she never had to say a word to the wise older woman. Anna made a beeline toward Amina’s bed. She sat on the edge of the bed beside Amina’s thin body. As soon as Anna’s but hit the mattress, Amina burst into tears.
“Come here sweetheart.” Anna brought Amina into a tight motherly hug. “You haven’t been with us long, but you need to understand how this family works. It will take so much stress from you if you understood why our men are the way that they are.” She continued to speak into Amina’s ear before she reached out to grab tissues from the nightstand.
“Amina, listen to me; hear me good. There are only two things you could do to make my son walk away from your marriage. One is to cheat physically or emotionally and the other is to bring this family disgrace. We are all we have. We have stock in each other. The only way you can change his love for you is to expose this family for some outsider to come in and potentially poison our bond. Those men that are downstairs, every last one of them are alpha males. They think they are the brains of this operation. But you and I both know the brain can’t do anything without the heart doing its job. You, me, Baby Steph, Simone, and Samantha are hoisted up on pedestals to those men. I understand you wanting to protect your man. And not let Carlos down but you have to be his best friend. Best friends tell each other everything with no judgment right? Give my son the benefit of the doubt. In life, we never know what cards are going to end up in our hands. Just because you have an illness, your husband is not going to leave you baby. You cheated yourself because that man could have been by your side walking through that terrible time with you. He could have been by your side the entire time. I’m not going to lie to you. Yes he was upset that you didn’t think enough of him to trust him with that information.” She looked as if she was debating on whether she wanted to go on.
“I know. He and I had a chance to talk about it. He understands my reasons and we made peace with each other.” Amina talked through her tears.
Amina couldn’t let the chance pass her up, she took the golden opportunity.
“Mama, you didn’t mention Emani. Why is that?” Amina felt as if her breathing stopped as she waited for a response.
“We’re talking about you and Carlos right now.”
“I know but Carlos and I are doing fine now. This thing with Emani is driving me crazy. I have to know what is going on right now.”
“I don’t want to drop anything too heavy on you. And honestly, I don’t have all my facts straight yet. But, what I will say this. Your sister has transitioned over into a shady side. And between Darrell and his faithful sidekick, I don’t know how things are going to end up. Remember those cardinal rules I told you about?” She paused again.
Amina spoke up, “yes ma’am”.
“Well Emani has crossed one of them, if not both of them, and then some. I just don’t know which one yet. I remember telling Baby Steph when she was growing up, Anna doesn’t have to be there to know what happened. I’m well connected, you might want to text that to your sister. When Steph gets on the war path….well we all know how that can go.” Anna admitted.
Amina sunk deeper into the pillows. Those words were heavy as one hundred pound weights dropped in her lap. Just as she, Laini, and Zoey already suspected, Emani was definitely doing something foul that would cost her everything.
“That is exactly what I was afraid of.”
“I try to do damage control but we all know that Baby is not going to sit back and watch her best friend be tied to poison. Unfortunately things are moving faster than I can keep up with as sick as you have been lately. But, that should be the least of your worries.” Anna rubbed her cheek. “You have three of my grand babies and there!” She pointed at her stomach.
“Yea, I know. Carlos is not going to let me do anything for the next six months.”
“As he should and you can bet every penny you own between the two of you that what he can’t cover- I will. End of discussion!”
All of a sudden bumps, screams, glass crashing, and the bass from men’s voices penetrated through the closed doors of the bedroom. Amina made a move to get out of bed on the other side opposite of the bed.
“Um, where do you think you are going?” Anna sprung to her feet but had fire in her eyes as she looked Amina square in the eyes. “I know you are not going to try me like you didn’t hear a word I just said? I just told you that you weren’t allowed to do anything. I will go see what is going on downstairs, you will stay here.”
Amina frowned in disappointment. She really needed to see exactly who she should send the bills to for all the damage that was being done to her home. She was pissed at the thought of some of her price heirlooms being shattered or even expensive wedding gifts she had planned to pass on to her children were possibly being damaged. She closed her eyes and tried to regulate her breathing. Whatever was going on, there was no way she was going to be put in the middle of a tussle that could cause her to potentially lose her babies. Material things could be replaced. Every person downstairs had the available funds to build her a brand new home if she wanted. Nothing could replace the two babies she had already lost and she knew she would die if she lost her triplets.
27
Amina sat up in bed with the television muted. No matter how much she strained her ears, she could only make out a few words being screamed from downstairs. She knew that whatever the problem was it involved the men and women. If she didn’t have tips on her nails she was positive that she would have gnawed off every nail she had. There were many more bumps and crashes before she finally heard her front doors being slammed closed. Another thirty minutes after that, Carlos was making his way back into their bedroom. Amina was not prepared to see his Gucci t-shirt torn and stretched at the neck. He had a few scratches in his chest. He was sweating as if he had just spent an hour in the gym.
“Oh hell nawl!” Amina shouted as she threw the covers from her legs. She had already put her feet into her slippers by the ti
me Carlos made it to her side of the bed.
“Relax Gangsta Boo, there isn’t anybody left down there for you to whip!” Carlos sat on the floor in front of her.
He made a circle with his pointer finger, signaling her to get back in bed.
“What in the hell happened in my house?”
“Babe, we are in the middle of a war! The devil is attacking our family and is trying to take hits at our marriage. What your mother didn’t bring to light, Emani handled the rest. Your business is in trouble and I don’t even know who we can trust at this point.” Carlos held his head in his hands.
“What do you mean? Tell me everything and you better not leave one thing out!”
“Apparently the only reason Bren showed up today was to collect her check that Emani is now three months behind on paying her.”
“Emani doesn’t give Bren money!”
“Uh, um, sorry baby but yes she does. Bren had proof that since the Agency started to turn a profit, Emani has paying her $20,000 a month. According to Laini the expense was always written off as some sort of business expense. Laini has been digging around in the Agency’s finances, of course. When Emani felt like Laini was too close to finding out the truth, she had to stop the payments.”
“I thought the story has always been that Bren didn’t want to have anything to do with us, Emani hated her.”
“Emani didn’t want her skeletons to fall out of the closet babe, that’s all.”
“Ohmigod. I can’t even wrap my head around this situation right now.”
“Well, there is more.”
“What?”
“Cedric had given information to his wife that Emani was having close dealings with Angel regularly that he found out through some of his street contacts. With the history between Darrell, Cedric, and Baby Steph- there was no way to stop the fight. Then to add icing to the cake, Bren threatened to expose Emani for who she was if she didn’t produce her $60,000 by next Wednesday. That started another fight. I don’t know how old Bren is exactly but she wanted to strangle the life out of Emani after the way she kept on disrespecting her. To me it sounded as if they were closer than anyone ever knew.”
“So now this entire family is at odds because of Emani’s slimy ways.”
“Babe, the only time this family has been in such an uproar is when Angel started all that mess. For Emani to turn out to be just as snake like as Angel is not a good thing. I mean Steph was Angel’s kids Godmother, Steph hasn’t seen those kids in months. Not to mention the big brawl on Steph’s wedding day when dad had to come bail us all out of jail. Angel promised that she wasn’t going to rest until this family was brought to its knees. She obviously had to have another in, and Emani fell for it.” Carlos looked as if he was exhausted.
“So what you are telling me is that Emani has been paying Bren to stay hidden from the world all this time. She has been scamming money from our business even though she has the personal funds to financially support anyone she desires. Emani has teamed up with the only enemy the Haywood’s have in life. Now Laini knows what exactly what Emani has been up to. Darrell is aware that his wife hangs out with a female that tried to bust his balls and set him up with an illegitimate child.” Amina was in shock.
“And, Emani told Laini to stay out of ‘her’ Agency business. She said that Laini had no legal right to be reviewing the Agency’s finances behind her back. Emani wants Laini’s role in the corporation dissolved. Emani even went a step further to drag a speechless Zoey into everything by saying the two of them needed to put more energy in the sexuality of the men they had chosen. Laini promised that the only way she would be in control of the Agency would be after she took her last breath. Emani promised that Laini would get her wish. That started another cat fight. AND, Emani said that you weren’t going to sit back and let your own flesh and blood be mistreated or favor Laini’s side. Bren demanded to see you. She says Emani has been keeping her away from you.”
“All this shit is a damn mess! They better be glad I know each of their addresses because I am going to have the entire bottom level of my house redone at their expense! I mean that!”
“Well, you have two stowaways still here. Mom is downstairs attempting to straighten up. Zoey asked to take the night to figure out what Emani meant regarding Mekhi’s sexuality. She doesn’t want to see him at the moment. There is no way Darrell and Emani can be under the same roof by together tonight. He is your other house guest. Of course, he and Ced offered to cover all of the cost. Nothing is going to stop the ass whipping that Emani has coming from Steph though. You know she could only be turned up so far in front of mom and dad, but…” Carlos shook his head.
Amina looked away. Just as Mama Anna had predicted, Emani was totally out of order.
“Yea, I know how that goes babe.”
“I am so sorry all of this is going on around you at a time you need to decompress the most. None of that bull is going to come past those two doors.” Carlos pointed to their bedroom doors. “There will be no drama for you to deal with. I don’t care what it is.
“You don’t have to keep drilling that into my head babe.”
“Ok, so since you know how I’m feeling about the 4th of July fireworks that went off in my foyer and sitting room, what is your position on this fight?”
Amina loved her husband with every cell in her body. Her life had increased in value in ways she’d only dreamed of. Here she was in her dream home, pregnant in bed with the gift of triplets, she had kind in laws, and she felt safe for the first time in her life. Emani clearly thought she walked on water. If she had been grown enough to get herself in the hot mess she was in, she didn’t need Amina to help her out. Amina had bigger fish to fry and those fish had everything for the family of five she was baking in her oven. Amina didn’t hesitate for a second on her answer.
“I am a Haywood. Anyone who tries to bring down the integrity of the Haywood name is an enemy of mine.”
Carlos crawled to her and gave her sweet kisses that left her moist between the legs.
“You know Dr. Frasier didn’t say anything about our lovemaking concerns?” Amina asked her husband as she bit on his earlobe.
“Yea, I know. Stay right here, let me take a shower!”
Amina watched her man trot to the bathroom peeling his clothing off as he walked. She bit her lip. She took off her panties and bra from under the jersey shirt. Next she unmuted the television and changed the channel to XM’s smooth grooves music station. She padded the room with the melodies from the surround sound. Her downstairs guests didn’t need to hear how loud she could make her man scream.
28
With the sunrise brought on day one of Amina’s fight to stay healthy and keep her babies alive. When she rolled over and reached for her husband, she hit a cool empty space in the bed. It took her a minute to register his voice not too far from her ears. He was standing on their terrace, obviously barking orders at his assistant. With her own ears, she heard her man put in the order to move his headquarters to his home. He would be running his enterprise from his home office until after his babies were born. She smiled at the sacrifices her man was willing to make for their family. Being a chef was a hand’s on job. How was he going to be hands on from the outskirts of the city where he only owned fast food chains, was lost on her. All of his upscale restaurants were placed all over the world. She had been warned that his business was to take care of her.
“You can’t tell me how to do me”, is what he had told her when she questioned some of the ideas he discussed with her as far as keeping their businesses profitable during the trying time of pregnancy. She’d zipped her lips shut and threw away the key.
She needed to get up and dressed because she would have her own conference call via Face Time with her own team to go over the projections for the Agency for the next six months at the least that Amina would be off of her feet. She waited patiently for her shirtless, muscle clad, model of a husband to walk back into their bedroom.
; “Morning sunshine!” Her man made it to her in a few steps from his long legs.
“Babe, you know I don’t do kisses without my teeth being brushed.” Amina tried to wiggle out of his grip.
“I have seen you in and out. You whip my ass every night in your sleep! I deserve these nasty kisses!” Carlos kissed her with passion as if her tongue was minty tasting like his.
When he’d gotten his fill, he sat on the edge of the bed.
“How are you feeling today?”
“I’m a little tired but I have no complaints.” She lied.
Amina hadn’t slept well even though she had worn herself out attempting to please her man. After he had given her the official signal that she had put in work, Carlos passed out and curled up behind her. He held her tight in a spooning position for hours as she surfed the channels on television for til just before daylight came. Her back hurt and for some reason she had a headache.
“Ok, this is the thing. After I feed you and my babies, your girls are coming over for a pow-wow about the Agency.” Carlos held up his hands in surrender.
“No, that’s not a problem. I would prefer to talk to them here versus anything else. Nothing can be overheard, nothing can be misunderstood, and nothing will be potentially leaked.”
Carlos nodded his head.
“Well I guess I need to get cleaned up. What time are they coming?”
“Laini said after lunch, one pm sharp.”
“That’s good. Babe, I need you to help me in the shower.” Amina stuck out her broken wing that was still in a sling.
“Not a problem babe. Let me get your food and we will get you clean.” With another kiss on Amina’s forehead, Carlos left the room.
Amina began to put together a comfortable outfit in her head. Carlos was sure to dress her the way he wanted shiny and preppy from head to toe. She wanted to be comfortable and on the frumpy side, which is exactly how she felt.