by Ivory B.
After getting her cry out Ty felt a little lighter. She got up and realized she was starving, so she headed to the kitchen to cook something. Looking in the fridge she found some Italian sausages and decided to cook something she could whip together quickly like pasta. Ty’s theory was the quicker she could get back into her normal routine the quicker she would start feeling normal again. She was even considering going back to work sooner than later. She had been out for two weeks now on medical leave. Ty had her reservations about going back to work. She knew people would look at her appearance and wonder what happened to her baby bump, speculate, and gossip but she didn’t care. If she stayed cooped up in the house it would only cause her to go mad. She had to get back into the groove of things. She was even anxious to start her palates and spin classes again
Right as she was thinking of how she was going to break the news to Nice overprotective ass he walked in with Kynah. “Mommy!” Kynah screamed running towards Ty hugging her around her legs. It had been awhile since Kynah seen Ty up out of bed not looking sad and dejected. “Ty! Yo what is you doin? You should be lying down getting some rest. What you doing cooking? You don’t have to do that I can order…” Ky being a child way beyond her years took off to her playroom feeling this was an adult conversation that was about to begin.
“Kamar I was hungry so I started cooking something, plus you know baby bear always hungry after school. Look I know you mean well but I gotta move around and start doing things. Honestly, I’m even thinking about going back to work pretty soon.” “Work?! Ty c’mon ma you doin way too much right now; work? Ty you been through something serious, don’t you get how serious that shit is? Don’t push ya’self.” Ty huffed and slammed the mixing spoon down on the counter. “Do I know how serious it is? Of course I know what I’ve been through,” Ty snapped. Ty stopped herself and took a deep breath she had to remember not to snap on him this was something they’ve both been through. “Baby I need to be able to deal with this my own way. I need to be able to cope. It’s not doing me any good lying around all day, all its doing is causing me to dwell on the what if’s.” Ty stopped to hold back tears. “Please let me do this my own way, trust me to do that.”
Nice sighed hard before running his hand down his face. “A’ight, I see ya angle. I’ll fall back and let you do things the way you wanna do em. But for now will you take ya ass in the living room and let me finish this?” Ty smiled in appreciation “Sure thing Chef Boyardee,” “Haha chef ha? You got jokes, you won’t be sayin that when I’m stirring that pussy like Kool Aid tonight. I might make you call me chef then.” Ty laughed, “Stirring what? Unh, unh, you won’t be stirring nothin partna. You know that’s against doctors orders.” “Oh is that right? So let me get this straight we only go against doctors orders when you say so?” “Damn you catch on quick Daddy,” Ty said in a low sultry voice before she kissed him on his lips sensually. She turned making sure she swayed her hips as she walked out the kitchen. Ty knew he was eyeing her healthy backside as it jiggled. “Damn you ain’t right, you cold blooded,” Nice said transfixed on her ass as he stirred the boiling pasta noodles. Bully high tailed it following close behind Ty as she left the kitchen. Ty reached down and patted the dog. Nice tilted his head to the side giving the scene the what the fuck look. Could it be his two favorite bitches in the world were getting along?
Dinner was going good until Kynah pulled one of her Diva stunts and refused to eat the rest of her food but wanted ice cream. “No Daddy, I want ice cream,” Ky whined. “Ky c’mon Princess eat a little more food,” Nice tried to reason as he always did. “Kynah eat your food lil mama or you won’t get any ice cream till you do.” Ty said without raising her voice, batting an eye, or wavering from her stance. Ky poked out her bottom lip, reached for her fork and began to eat the rest of her food. Nice looked over at Ty as if she were magic or something, then he looked over at Ky who was now eating with no problem. He knew then that what he was about to do was dead right.
“Now can I have ice cream?” Kynah asked with a clean plate. “Yes you can.” Nice answered “You gonna help Daddy get the ice cream?” Nice said with a wink. Kynah giggled placing her hand to her mouth as if she had a big secret. “Unh hunh I’ma help you Daddy,” She said bolting from her seat and running after him to the kitchen. Ty looked on smiling they reminded her so much of herself and her late father. Ty sat at the table for a little over 5 minutes when she thought maybe she should get up and help them get the dessert because it was taking mighty long. “You guys need help?” “Nooo!” Kynah screamed in response with laughter in her voice. Ty smiled to herself what are those two up to? That man is probably in there giving her a ridiculous amount of ice cream. Umm hmm. Just as that thought crossed her mind both Kynah and Nice came into the dining room carrying a dozen extra long steam roses. The stems on the roses were so long the dozen Kynah was carrying almost reached the floor. Ty giggled and placed her hand on her chest “Awe look at that, thank you,” she said reaching out for the roses but before she could grab them both Ky and Nice got on one knee. This gotta be some sick type of joke right. “Mommy will you marry us?!” Kynah blurted out not being able to stay on cue. Ty’s mouth dropped open. “Pebbles, will you be my wife?” Nice asked with eyes misting up. Ty looked down at the 7 Carat diamond that was clear as water, absolutely flawless. “Oh my god! Yes! Yes!” Ty said jumping up from her chair and picking Kynah up to hug her. Nice got up to wrap his arms around his fiancé and daughter tonguing Ty down while Ky covered her eyes knowing this was something adults did at times. When Nice and Ty stopped tongue wrestling they looked over to see Ky hiding behind her hands and broke out into laughter. Ty had been through so much as of late and just when she thought she could never feel happiness anytime soon Nice made that happen.
Sisterly Love???
Cathy moved through the kitchen like a women with a purpose as she laughed at her sister telling the story of her recent break up with boyfriend number shit who knows Cathy thought. It was a known fact Vera ain’t keep no man for too long. “Girl so yes I packed that man shit up in garbage bags and put them on the front porch, ya heard. And you know my ass ran out of Glad bags so I used them Dollar Tree joints, them cheap ass bags was stretching and ripping apart as soon as he picked them up to bring them to his car. His rusty ass drawers was falling all out the bags for the whole block to see.” Both women burst out into hard laughter. Cathy had to grab onto the sides of the granite countertop for support as she laughed at the mental imagery of that poor man lugging his clothes in bags that were falling apart. “V now you know you ain’t right!” Cathy exclaimed through laughter. “But you know I really liked him V he was a nice guy. I don’t know why you so hard on these men,” Cathy said as she carried a platter filled with cheese, grapes, and crackers back to the living room with V following. “Cat please I stopped coddling these no good niggaz a long time ago, ain’t none of them bout shit,” V sneered sounding bitter as all hell. Cathy looked at her sister and felt truly sorry that she had let one bad situation with her late husband cause her to give up on love all together. Cathy watched as her sister took another long and hard swig from her bottle of Remy Martin. She had really been on her BYOB shit today and brought her own liquor for the sisterly pow wow. V knew Cathy wasn’t into hard liquors so she had to bring her own nips and fifth of liquor. Cat eyed the empty nip bottles on the table and took note of the fact V was down to the middle of that fifth of Remy already. It seemed by all accounts V had kicked one habit to substitute it with another. She let her eyes roam her sister’s face while she continued to sip on that yack. Cat let her mind wonder to a time when her big sister was bad, as in all that. Every older boy around the block wanted a piece of V and Cat admired her big sister’s beauty although it was much different than her own. It wasn’t hard to tell that although they shared the same mama they definitely didn’t have the same father causing them to look different. Cathy and Candace shared the same mother and father there for they resembled a great deal. V used to
be beautiful in her own rights, but years of hard living, drinking and a stint with drugs shortly after her husband Chad was killed hadn’t been kind to her. Cathy loved and wished her sister the best and hoped that she could kick this drinking thing like she kicked her drug habit, especially, since V had already been warned that she was in danger of developing Cirrhosis of the Liver from so much drinking. “Here V since you won’t eat anything why don’t you give these cheese and crackers a chance. The cheese is so good I found it at the Whole Foods Market, its cheese marinated in a red wine,” Cathy slid the plate platter filled with cheese, grapes and crackers towards her sister. “Oh girl unh, unh you know I ain’t for all that fancy shit. I’ma make me a sandwich in a few.” V ignored the look Cathy shot her she wasn’t going to pay it any mind. She was a grown ass woman and she would eat when she felt like it was the attitude she had.
“But V as I was sayin I really liked Earl and he seemed to really treat you right.” “Oh god Cat give it up. Yeah he gave me spending money, paid the bills and all that but that damn man couldn’t get it up in the bedroom. So he couldn’t do shit for me,” Cathy was taking a sip from her Mimosa and nearly choked. “V! Well hole up let’s be realistic he was how old? He was a lot older than you maybe he done did all his rippin and runnin and now he at the age where he want companionship. I mean sex isn’t everything in a relationship,” Cathy tried to reason with her sister but she knew damn well as much as she liked that man her sister was absolutely right; if he couldn’t get it up there was a big problem. “Bitch Goodnight, I need this ole machine tuned up every now and then. Cat I ain’t you there ain’t no way I could’ve lasted the time you did without no dick that shit is unnatural. Hmm he want companionship he better take his old ass to a convalescent home then cause I ain’t no damn long-term care facility, fuck I look like?” Cathy cracked up laughing. “V I was celibate, that doesn’t mean I didn’t invest in a treasure trove of toys.” “Girl please them plastic and rubber dicks don’t count. You need yo clock cleaned, tuned up and re-wound.” Both of the women cracked up and gave each other high fives.
“Okay so It’s fair to say Earl’s out of the picture so why don’t you try something new? You said it ya’self all these niggaz ain’t about shit, those were your words not mine. So why don’t you try dating outside your race? Try a white guy,” Cathy suggested. V made a face like something smelled foul. “Oh unh, unh I ain’t fuckin wit no crazy ass white man. Them muthafuckas go fishin and yo ass come up missin.” Cathy couldn’t hold it she burst out laughing at her sister. “Cat don’t act like you don’t know, you fuck wit a white man if you want. They be the ones on TV all the time with all that fake shit be like ‘oh my god help me, help me I can’t find my wife. I don’t know what happened. I went fishin and I came back and she was missin.” V said in an over exaggerated proper tone. “Giiirl please that muthafucka be sitting there talkin bout he came back and his wife was gone but her pocketbook still there, credit cards, money, shit her car still sitting in the driveway, where the hell she went without all her stuff? I’ma tell you where she went, that fool done chopped her up and either threw her ass in a river or buried her.” Cathy was in stitches with laughter by now. “Sheeit and don’t have them lose they damn job cause then it’s a wrap everybody gotta go. The wife, the kids, the dog, well hole up everybody except fido. He gon leave him a week long food supply but everybody else gettin bodied. Girl please I’m straight. I ain’t fuckin with no crazy ass white man.” “No V no! Yo ass going to hell for that, you know you ain’t right,” Cathy shrieked through hard laughter. “But all jokes aside, don’t act like black men don’t kill they damn women too. A crazy man is a crazy man period. You remember what happened to Carlos’s mother. His father killed his mother right in front of him. Stabbed that poor woman up with hedge cutters nearly decapitated her.” Cathy’s face went solemn as she thought back on how that traumatized her late husband at a young age and played a significant part of the type of man and husband he was years later. It wasn’t easy for her to deal with a man who was emotionally scarred. He never forgave his father, didn’t even want to keep his last name but realized from early on that a name was one sure way to keep your history. And although Carlos hated James Johnson he was still very much a part of his history and who he was.
“True, true black men kill too, but usually when Tyrone leave yo ass he done wit you and them nappy headed ass kids too. He may take his sorry ass around the corner and lay up with another woman and make some more babies but at the end of the day he leaving you still breathing. Now fuck around wit his stacks and try to take him to court for child support or some shit then you might come up missin!” Both of them burst out laughing high fiving each other. “Veeee! Oh god I swear yo ass is sick, uhhh I can’t with you right now,” Cathy said through laughter. “Oh as a matter of fact speaking of child support I gotta grab that envelope for Kamar before he gets here.” Cathy said through laughter rushing off to her office to retrieve a second letter that had been mailed to her house for Nice. He gave her permission to open the letter and read it over the phone to him when she called to let him know that yet another letter had arrived. This letter was threatening in nature the state of Jersey was notifying Nice that he was in danger of having his license suspended. They basically wanted him to pay back the money Mia received while on state assistance. If Cathy had anything to do with it that wasn’t going to happen, “What’s that Cat?” “Another letter for Kamar from the state of Jersey,” Cathy answered with frustration while flinging the envelope down on her custom cream ottoman. “I hope that damn boy really learned his lesson from all this mess he going through with this Hoodrat. I’m glad he’s with Ty though, he needed a strong woman and stability in his life.” “Oh umm,” V drawled with a roll of her eyes as if she disagreed with her sister. “Cat I don’t know I liked Mia that was my girl, she way more down to earth than that new one he got. I called over there the other day to check up on everyone and Ty answered the phone all extra proper and shit. I got a little confused for a second, had a bitch thinkin she called the White House. She think she Shelly O or some damn body. Last I heard she had a regular job, she go and clock in like er’body else but from the way she be actin you would think she run the company. I think the only reason Mia acting a fool is cause she feel Ty over stepping her place as the girlfriend and I agree. How you gon have another woman’s child callin you Mommy? Other than that Mia was a’ight. So you gotta wonder why the waters were calm until the new one came along. Maybe cause the new one over there creating them waves. She probably over there all in Nice ear being messy.” Cathy wouldn’t even dignify her sister’s statement it was so preposterous it didn’t deserve a response. V had obviously been sipping way too much if her judgment was that impaired. Ty was a total upgrade from Mia not a lateral movement but an upgrade in Cathy’s opinion. Suddenly Cathy’s phone chirped interrupting the very uncomfortable moment between the two sisters. Cathy picked her phone up to read the text that came through. It was Lucky sending out a group text confirming the date and time for a dress consult at a bridal boutique in New York. Cathy smiled from ear to ear while typing a response. So happy we have a date, I’ll be ready. If I got2 light a fire under Matoo’s ass to get her there on time I will. There was a flood of LOL’s and LMAO until Matoo texted back. You do know I read that right? LOL. Cathy sent back an LOL Of course she knew Matoo would read it that’s why she typed it. Matoo was notorious for operating off BPT ‘Black peoples time.’
Cathy placed her phone down with a chuckle. “Who dat? Vera asked being nosey. “Oh that was my lil China Doll letting me know the date for her dress consult. Its way up in New York I don’t know why that girl couldn’t find a dress here in Philly,” Cathy said playfully. Cathy could hardly believe it at times when the subject of the big wedding came up. Carlos who had been such a pessimist when it came to love in the past was now shocking many with taking the next step in life to become a husband. She guessed real love could melt the coldest of hearts and make a
non-believer a believer. Cathy knew for certain when Lucky walked into her house with her late husband’s ring on her finger that Carlos was more than serious about being with Lucky for the rest of his life.
“Cat now I can’t believe you condoning that bullshit,” V said nastily. “Excuse me?" Cathy asked the smile suddenly wiped from her face and her eyebrows furrowed with offense. “I said I can’t believe you condoning Carlos making the mistake in marrying that damn gold digger. “First off V Carlos is a grown ass man he doesn’t need my approval or anyone else’s to love who he wants to love. Secondly, only a fool would put a price tag on love, what he gives her in monetary value is nothing in comparison to what she gives him emotionally and mentally. She really gives that man a piece of mind and made him a better man; you can’t put a price on that. I believe with everything in me that she loves him genuinely and that’s why I support their decision in getting married. I mean they already done did it, this whole wedding here is a formality for legal purposes.” “Pss okay so where was she at when all that drama popped off? Oh that’s right she ran off to try and get over him. Now Cat you know that sound like a crock of shit. We from the hood we know bullshit when we see it. She need to get on wit that fake fairytale shit she wasn’t at no damn hotel alone. That don’t even sound right, she was laid up with another man for those two months she ran off. Let’s keep it real she ain’t fooling no damn body. Now love can make you blind at times so I can’t really fault Carlos for being stupid but Cat you should know betta. You see I got the scoop like ice cream on that damn Lucky and her cousin they ain’t as innocent as they pretend to be. I asked around and heard that Lucky used to have a boyfriend before Los that was in the game and got himself killed out here. I betchu ain’t know that. That’s why I told Carlos ass don’t marry…” “Unh, unh V no you didn’t; don’t you dare try and tear apart what he has you don’t have that right. Worry about your own gotdamn fruity son not mine,” Cathy snapped. “Oh really Cat we gon take it there? You think you can give relationship advice but I can’t? That’s funny being that ya late husband ran all over you like a damn Mack truck but you think you qualified to say what love is and what it ain’t hunh,” V scoffed with venom. “You was a gotdamn fool for letting that man bring his outside kid home like a stray cat for you to take in and raise. That couldn’t have been me.” Cathy stared at her sister speechless for a second. She couldn’t ignore the animosity in V’s voice as she spoke those words almost like she despised Cathy. “Well you know what that’s the fundamental difference between you and me. I wasn’t going to tell that man he couldn’t step up and be a father to his child when that boy needed him most. His mother passed away and his brother was 15 years old raising him on his own while dodging child protective services. Carlos didn’t know about Kamar, it was his mother’s choice to keep him from his father. Once Carlos found out about him he wanted to make up for lost time and do right by him. I wasn’t going to stand in the way of that.” “Hmm like I said it couldn’t have been me.” V responded with a roll of her eyes before taking another sip of liquor. “That’s ya problem Cat you wanna always act like you the victim like you ain’t did nothing wrong. You sitting here actin like that woman ain’t have a right to be bitter and keep that boy away from his father. Hell yeah she was bitter cause she hired you to baby sit her son not her man’s dick!” “V that was not his woman and you know it, he ran a business outta her damn apartment that don’t make it his woman.” “And that don’t make you any less scandalous, maybe that wasn’t his woman but they were mixing business with pleasure else Kamar wouldn’t be here right? Face it, you was dead wrong for fuckin that grown man behind that woman’s back. Karma came and paid you back in full though cause you kept that man like you got him. He dogged you like he dogged her but you wanna sit around like you know what’s best; pleeease. Dem boys don’t even know who the fuck they are but you made sure Carlos knew who his Daddy was, That’s just like Cat always lookin out for self, would put up with any and everything to live comfortably. You a selfish bitch Cat always have been,” V sneered nastily. Suddenly V’s emotions switched up and she started crying,