by Janice Jones
“I’ll let it go for now, Shaun, but don’t you ever try to screw me or my son,” she replied, then stomped off. Those were the last words spoken about a child support case or a paternity test.
Keva’s little court stunt also earned her a spot on Patricia’s hate list. She stopped dealing with Keva altogether and would only see Kevaun when he was with Shaun or Francine. No female messed with Patricia Taylor’s son and got away with it. Even though Keva was on the list, I think the number one spot was still reserved for me.
Next was the incident two weeks ago that led to Keva getting her butt kicked.
Shyanne and I had just come back to my house after a Saturday afternoon of shopping. We were exhausted. Shaun, Shauntae and Kevaun were at Patricia’s house for the birthday party of Frannie’s two-year-old son, her second child. When I pulled into my circular driveway, Keva was already parked there sitting in her car.
“Why is this heifer sitting in front of my house?” I asked Shyanne.
“There is only one way to find out,” she replied. Shyanne grabbed the bags and went into the house. I went to talk to Keva.
She rolled down her window as I approached. “Why are you sitting out here in the cold, Keva?”
“I’m waiting for Shaun to get back with Kevaun. Is that all right with you, Mrs. Taylor?”
I could tell by her tone that we weren’t going to have a pleasant conversation, and I was too tired for her mess. I spoke my next words very carefully in an effort to not let my frustrations show. I was irritable and my feet hurt. The last thing I wanted to do was stand in the cold trying to reason with one of Shaun’s baby’s mamas.
“Keva, this is Shaun’s weekend to keep Kevaun. He will spend the night here with us, and Shaun will bring him to you tomorrow.”
“Well, something just came up. I need to get Kevaun tonight. Shaun will just have to reschedule his time.” I couldn’t believe she was talking to me like I was getting on her darn nerves. This caused me to go off on her.
“No, Keva. You will have to make other arrangements. I am sick and tired of you pulling these little capers to aggravate my husband. This is Shaun’s weekend and he is keeping Kevaun. If there were some real emergency and you just had to have your son, you would be taking this drama to Patricia’s house irritating her instead of arguing with me. Now I suggest that you take your hooptie and leave my driveway right now.”
Keva pushed the automatic button and rolled up her window while flipping me the bird with her opposite hand. She put her car in gear getting ready to drive away so I ignored her obscene gesture. I was just glad to see her leave.
I guess Keva changed her mind suddenly because as quickly as she put the car into gear, she threw it back into park and got out.
“You know what I’m sick and tired of, Lindsay? I’m sick of you and your husband thinking you can order me around and get away with it. Who do you think you are, telling me that my son is staying here tonight? I’m his mother, not you. If I say Kevaun leaves with me when Shaun gets back, then he leaves with me.”
No this trick was not standing in my face, in my driveway, in front of my house, yelling at me. Keva had truly lost her mind. I was no dummy. I knew this was just another of her attempts to get back at Shaun because he dumped her. But my goodness! It had been five years. Shouldn’t she have gotten over it by now? Who lives with bitterness, resentment, and jealousy that long? I guess the answer to that would be bitter, resentful, jealous people.
“Keva, leave my driveway now and go get a life. You are a hateful woman who can’t stand it that Shaun and I are happy. Every chance you get you throw one of these little fits to get back at him. I’m telling you here and now that I am not going to stand by and let you use Kevaun to try to hurt my husband.”
Keva stepped closer to me and began pointing and wagging her finger in my face. “There you go again telling me what you won’t let me do. Telling me what I’m going to do. I am not leaving this house without my son, so you can go on about your funky little business and get out of my face, Lindsay.”
I think it was the accidental spit that landed in my face after she said my name that sent me over the edge. The next thing I knew I had Keva’s neck wrapped between both my hands and I was banging her head against her car door. I mean come on; I let her get away with calling me Lindsay once. Did she think she I was standing for it twice in one day, especially after she served it up the second time with a little spittle?
Keva pulled at my hands to no avail as she slid down the side of her car. I finally let go of her neck and yanked her by her hair with one hand while punching her senseless with the other. She swung back defensively, but I was not feeling anything. I had lost it. I beat her for every little stunt she had pulled in the last five years, including her very first visit to my house. Everything came back to me in one big rush, and I took it all out on her face.
Shyanne saw the fight from inside the house. She came running, waiting for an opening to join in and help me. But I was all over Keva, leaving no room for my girlfriend to get a lick in edgewise. Shyanne opted for kicking Keva while she lay on the ground.
One of the neighbors must have witnessed the beat down and called the police who seemed to arrive immediately. That’s the way it was in the suburbs. The police came right away for something as small as a noise disturbance. In the city, you could get mugged, raped, and shot, and the cops would not show up for hours.
The police broke up the fight and asked us who lived in the home. When I told them it was my house, the female officer led Keva to the squad car to question her there. The male officer remained behind to question Shyanne and me.
“Ma’am, can you tell me what started the fight between you and the other woman?” Mr. Officer asked me.
I gave the cop complete details of how the fight began, leading up to the first punch. This is where I embellished just a bit.
“After going back and forth with Keva for several minutes, I finally got fed up. I told her I was going to call the police and have her arrested for trespassing. That’s when she jumped from her car and started punching me in the back as I walked toward my house.” I prayed that whoever called the police had not gotten a good look at the entire episode; giving the police a different version than mine.
“My best friend came out of the house to help me after she witnessed the attack.” I could see Shyanne doing all she could to keep from laughing out loud as she replied.
“That’s correct, officer,” was all she could sniggle out.
Ms. Officer returned to our little group to report on Keva’s story. “Ms Simpson is being quite uncooperative. The only thing I can get out of her is that she came here to get her son. Then Mrs. Taylor and her friend attacked her. When I ask her for any more details, she gets belligerent.”
It was now my turn to hold a straight face. I thanked my Heavenly Father that it was not going to be a case of my word against hers with the police having to decide whose story was more credible. Keva made my case for me by being an idiot.
“Well, it looks like Ms. Simpson will be placed under arrest for trespassing and assault. We are going to have to call a tow truck to impound her car. Then we’ll be off to the station with her. The District Attorney’s office will be in touch with you so that you can make a formal complaint against Ms. Simpson,” Mr. Officer said.
When Shaun came home a few hours later, he insisted we go to the police station and drop the charges. He didn’t want any vindictive repercussions from Keva. Shaun figured she would now go out of her way to make it hard for him to see Kevaun.
I gave in without too much argument since I did sort of lie to the police to get her arrested in the first place. Besides, I was satisfied with the whooping I put on her. Risking Shaun’s relationship with Kevaun by letting her stay in jail would have been over the top.
Nonetheless, here it is exactly two weeks later, and Shaun has not been able to get in touch with Keva or Kevaun. A couple of weeks without contact would usually not seem so abno
rmal. However, not only was she not responding to his phone calls or answering her door, she had not gotten the money Shaun left for her at her apartment or with Frannie. When the wench wouldn’t go for the cash, there was a problem.
Shaun was naturally thinking the worse. He was freaking out. I’ve tried to assure him that as soon as Keva gets broke enough she would be in touch with him just like every other time. Shaun was really worried though. He thought my kicking her tail and having her arrested was too much for her to take.
Well, tonight my plan is to take Shaun’s mind off of this for just a little while. I planned a wonderful anniversary celebration and I didn’t want anything to spoil it.
“Look, Shyanne, either you hurry up or you walk home. My husband and I have plans for tonight that don’t include being in the mall. I can’t wait until you get married so I can mess up your anniversary.”
“Never that, cuz Lady Shy is never getting married. I like being a playa, playa. Ain’t that right Shauntae Pooh?” she cooed at my daughter.
“Didn’t I just tell you about trying to corrupt my daughter?”
“Oh hush up! You sound like an old lady. That’s another reason I’m never getting married; all wives turn into nags. Come on, we can be out of here. I don’t like any of these shoes anyway.”
I tried my very best to make this a special evening for my husband. Shaun was doing his very best to make it difficult to enjoy. He sat brooding and complaining all through dinner at his favorite restaurant. I could only get him to dance with me once at the nightclub. I made a special request to have the DJ play “For You” by Kenny Lattimore. This was the song we were married to. And now as we sat in our family room on a cozy rug in front of a romantic fire, Shaun looked like he had lost his best friend. He was really taking Keva and Kevaun’s disappearance hard.
I sat holding him trying to think of something to say or do that would perk him up. I tried all week to convince him that Keva would surface any day now. I tried getting him to see that he had little to worry about because two weeks was not a very long time. Now I was at a loss for words.
Then I remembered we hadn’t done our gift exchange. Shaun had always been thrilled with my reactions to the wonderful gifts he gave me, and I was sure he would be pleased with all the thought I put into his gift.
“How about I go upstairs and get your gift, baby?”
“Fine,” was all he said.
As I went upstairs to get the gift that I had spent precious, loving time putting together, I thought about how Shaun was getting on my nerves. It was our anniversary for goodness sake. I hoped he would put aside his self-pity for at least this one day. If he simply tried concentrating on having a wonderful celebration with me, he would start to enjoy himself. Shaun had to know that Keva was far too greedy to stay away for much longer. He was expending too much energy moping and whining. If he didn’t get his act together by the time I got back downstairs, he was going to get a none too friendly piece of my mind.
When I got downstairs, Shaun was still sitting in the same spot with the same sad look on his face. Once upon a time, his face would melt me like butter. I had always thought he was so fine. Right now I wanted to slug him in that face just to see the expression change.
I sat down next to Shaun, looking around the room expecting to see my beautifully wrapped present. When I didn’t see it, I was not too worried. He had been known to give me great gifts small enough to fit in his pockets. I decided to be patient and I gave him his gift first.
Shaun unwrapped the box unceremoniously and removed the leather burgundy binder. On the cover of the binder was an 8 x 10 photo of Shaun and Shauntae’s first picture together. The photo album was titled All of Me, Daddy, spelled in small fourteen-karat gold letters. As Shaun opened the album, he found a vast array of pictures of our daughter filed in chronological order. A few of the photos had Shaun or me in them, but the majority was of Shauntae from birth to five years old. There was a caption describing the date and event of each picture. As he reviewed the book, I saw him smile for the first time in many days.
“This is great, Lindsay. It’s better than anything you could have purchased for me. I love it. Thank you, baby.”
Shaun pulled me into his arms, hugging me passionately. It felt so good to have him hold me like this that I was reluctant to let him release me, but I wanted my present. As he let me go, Shaun reached into his pants pocket, just as I suspected, to retrieve my gift. I could hardly wait to see what he was hiding in there.
When Shaun pulled out his wad of money, I naturally assumed he was moving it aside so he could get to my gift, which had to be jewelry since it could fit in his pocket. I was so excited I could hardly stand it. But when he started counting off one hundred dollar bills, I was speechless. I refused to believe it when he stopped at twenty-five and handed me the money.
“Here, Lindsay. This is for you. Buy yourself something special. I love you.”
I took the money from his outstretched hand, staring at it for a long moment. I looked into his face, waiting, hoping, praying that his expression would reveal this was some sort of prank. Never in all the years Shaun and I have been together had he ever given me money as a celebration present. He had always gone out of his way to give me extra special gifts. I was now shocked down to my toes that he was not kidding when he said, “Buy yourself something special.”
Shaun must have felt my irritation, because the fool had the dirty nerve to ask, “What’s wrong, baby?”
“What do you mean buy myself something special? That was your job, Shaun. You were supposed to buy me something special.”
“Lindsay, with everything going on with Keva and her disappearance, I just haven’t been in the mood to do any shopping. Will you please forgive me this once, baby?”
“No! I won’t forgive you. How could you be so thoughtless about our fifth anniversary? Shaun, I am your wife and the mother of your daughter. Yet you discount me because of a problem you are having with your baby’s mama. No way am I letting this slide.”
Shaun looked at me like I had grown another head, then he gave a slight humorless chuckle. “What do you mean you are not letting it slide? What are you going to do, leave me? Beat me down? Yes, Lindsay, you are my wife. Because you are my wife I expect you, more than anybody, to understand my distress about losing my son; especially since it’s probably your fault that he’s gone.
My jaw dropped to the floor like an anchor was attached to it. I never thought Shaun blamed me for Keva taking Kevaun and leaving. I was puzzled as to why he would feel this way.
“How in God’s name can you say it’s my fault the dizzy broad ran off with your son?”
“You knew Keva was fragile. You knew that she was having a hard time dealing with our marriage and all that we have. But instead of being sympathetic and compassionate, what do you do? You beat the girl down and have her thrown in jail. You humiliated her, Lindsay. Not even the strongest person can be expected to be that forgiving. Somebody as weak as Keva would definitely have a hard time dealing with what you did to her. And you call yourself a Christian. Always running around talking about how God expects us to behave. Do you think He was pleased with the way you behaved, with the way you’re behaving now?”
Okay! Okay! Okay! My head was spinning with the thoughts racing around at a hundred miles a minute. How dare he speak to me like this? How dare he call me on the carpet about my Christianity? As far as I was concerned, Shaun didn’t have the right to talk about what God expected from anybody. I was choking on the venom lodged in my throat, so I had to let it out. I stood up from the floor and became very animated as I paced from one end of the room to the other, flailing my arms this way and that as I spoke.
“Wait one Mickey and Minnie Mouse minute, Mr. Taylor. Don’t you dare question my relationship with God. What you are suggesting is too big for even the biggest saint. You are sitting there telling me that I am supposed to be understanding and sympathetic to your baby mama drama. Baby mama drama, may I
remind you, that came about because you were cheating on me. You want me to take into consideration that even though the witch stood in my driveway, yelling and spitting on me, the fact that she was unstable? I was supposed to take that from the tramp that lied to me the first time I asked her if she were messing with you? The same funky little tramp that has been pulling stunts and playing games with you for the past five years? You, my husband, want me to play nice with your bed buddy?”
I wore myself out. I took a seat in the nearest chair to catch my breath. How dare this clown tell me I should have been nicer to his ex-lover? He should be glad I even tolerated her considering how she came into my life. Heck, he should be counting his blessings over the fact I stayed with him and continued to be nice to him. Fool!
“You are very selfish, you know that, Lindsay? You got your man, your child, your big house, and you don’t care about anything or anyone else. With the exception of your mother, grandmother, brother and Shyanne, there is no one outside of this house you are concerned about.”
I was still too tired to speak, so I shot Shaun a look that said, You are absolutely correct. What is so wrong with that? I guess we had been together long enough that we knew each other’s looks and body language. He answered my unvoiced question.