by Untamed
She scoffed. “Wow. Look who grew some balls.”
“No, I just grew up, Jennifer. Try it,” I spewed at her.
“Go straight to hell, Aldris!” she yelled as she turned to leave.
“Please. Stop,” I asked, realizing someone had to be the peacemaker. “Look, I just want to see my daughter. Isn’t this all for Jessica anyway? I’ve missed out on six years already. Please.”
After a brief pause, she slowly turned around. “You’re right. I was out of line, and I apologize. It is all about her, and since it was my decision to tell you about Jessica, I shouldn’t be upset about it. When would you like to see her?”
“I’d love to see her today. She could meet Lucinda’s daughter, Nadia—well, our daughter. Not mine biologically, but she’s like mine biologically—”
She laughed and put her hand up to stop my stammering. “I understand.”
I pulled a business card out of my wallet and wrote my address. “Here,” I said, handing her the card. “My address is on the back, and my cell phone number is on the front.”
She reached in her purse, pulled out a business card, and did the same. “Address is on the back and cell on the front. I will bring her by at say six o’clock?”
I put her card in my wallet. “Yes, that will be fine. Please show up.”
“I give you my word that I will be there with Jessica,” she told me. “Can you please tell Lucinda that I apologize?”
“Sure,” I said to her. “So, I will see you and Jessica at six.”
“Yes.”
“See you then.”
When I got in the car, Lucinda gawked at me, attitude on go. “So, I guess you two are kosher now.”
“I told her about disrespecting you, and she apologized because she agreed this should be about Jessica. In fact, she specifically asked me to tell you that she was sorry.”
Lucinda rolled her eyes. “She had no problem disrespecting me to my face, but she wants to send an apology via courier. How genuine.”
“Baby, please. This day has been trying enough. I understand that it doesn’t seem genuine, but I can assure you that it was. She’s even going to bring Jessica over to the house tonight at six.” I looked at her with pleading eyes.
Massaging her forehead, she looked at me and relented. “For you, I’m going to be the bigger person in this situation.”
I leaned over and kissed her, happy to dodge one more bullet. I cradled her face in the palm of my hand. “Thank you, baby. Thank you.”
There was a hint of a smile on her face. “I guess you’re welcome. You better call your mother and tell her the news.”
“I was going to make that call as soon as we pulled off.”
Giving her a reassuring smile, I started the car and silently thanked God for the reprieve. This was why I loved her so much. Lucinda always put bullshit aside for the bigger picture. She was mature beyond her years, far more than I was at her age. I wasn’t naïve enough not to know that the biggest reason she didn’t mind was simply because she loved me. She wasn’t stupid in love with me—you know, that kind of love where a person will do anything to keep another at all cost—but simply truly in love. The kind of love that is selfless and honest. She was truly amazing, and I couldn’t wait to make her my wife.
Chapter Ten
Aldris
“Come with me,” I told Lucinda once we returned home.
“Aldris, I’m going to change clothes—”
Ignoring her comment, I grabbed her hand and led her to the bathroom with me. “I need you right now, Lu,” I said huskily in her ear as I began undressing her.
After removing her suit jacket and blouse, Lucinda leaned against the vanity with her head down. My concern for her immediately set in, and I pulled her into my embrace.
“What’s on your mind, mami?”
“Everything.”
“What is everything?” I kissed her forehead.
She gazed into my eyes and bit her lip. “You have a child, Aldris. That is a lot to swallow for one day. I keep saying to myself nothing will change, but I can’t lie to myself because I know it will.”
“I have two daughters instead of one. That’s the only change. I’m going to take care of all three of my ladies. I understand that Jennifer, you, and me will definitely have to come to a place where we are respectful of each other, and that will come. Everything is just so fresh right now. I’m not trying to discount what you’re saying, though. I’m simply reassuring you. In fact, I am worried, too, because I have a child who I don’t have a bond with nor know anything about. Trying to build a relationship with her after all these years scares the hell out of me.”
When Lucinda didn’t respond, I continued undressing myself and preparing the shower, allowing her a few moments of peace as her private thoughts roamed through her mind. Without a word, I held out my hand for her to join me in the shower, and she did. We held each other for a moment and let the hot water cascade down our entwined bodies.
“Aldris, you will be a good father to Jessica. That will come just as natural to you as it does with Nadia.”
“I hope you’re right. It just feels surreal, you know? I have a daughter.”
She picked up the shampoo. “Well, let’s do something to take our minds off of it for a little while.”
I took the shampoo from her hands. “Turn around and lean back.” At my request, she did, and I began lathering her silky hair. As I massaged her scalp, I stroked my Mandingo gently across her luscious backside. My baby may have been Latina, but she had a donk like she was a sista. As a matter of fact, her donk rivaled many sistas’. Now, that was a blessing for me because I loved a fat ass, and I never grew tired of spreading those butterfly wings.
Soon, our breathing grew ragged as I began rinsing the shampoo out of her hair. Sensing my need, Lucinda reached behind her and made long strokes up and down my shaft. I was so hard I could split bricks. I was ready to devour her. I turned her around and saw that her creamy nipples were as hard as gumdrops, just the way I liked them. I bent down and captured one in my mouth, stimulating it with my rolling tongue. She gripped the back of my head as pleasure took over her, and her sexy moans sent my need into overdrive. I couldn’t stand it any longer. Picking her up, I met her lustful gaze as I leaned her against the wall, entering her painfully slowly. I reveled in the feeling as I pushed inch by inch inside of her.
She wrapped her arms around me. “Oh dios, Aldris,” she moaned.
Bracing my palm against the wall, I pulled out just as slowly and then, not able to contain my desire any longer, began to pump faster. Our eyes locked on each other as I made love to her mind, body, and soul.
“Lucinda,” I moaned, struggling not to succumb to the impending climax.
“Ay, papi. No one can do me like you do. I love you so much,” she wailed, slamming her pussy against Mandingo.
At that point, I knew I was gonna fucking blow. The mixture of her juicy womanhood and her beautiful fat ass taking all ten inches of this thick Mandingo curve was enough to draw all my soldiers together to blast off.
“Baby, please come with me,” I groaned.
I pushed to the cushioned center and tapped her G-spot, making her ejaculate instantly. Even in the shower, I could feel the spray of her essence running down my shaft like rain. She held me tight as I brought my middle finger to the front and stroked her engorged clit to take her over the edge again.
“Aldrisss!” she screamed as her body convulsed, and that did it.
I held her against the shower wall as my throbbing Mandingo exploded like a volcano. “Fuck, Lucinda! I love you, damn it. Oh, shit!” I released, placing her down.
Lucinda dropped to her knees and licked Mandingo like an ice cream cone, and I knew I was about to release another load. She held the base of my shaft in her hand, squeezing every few seconds, and continued to suck and lick the sensitive area around the tip. I was losing my mind, and my legs began to tremble.
“Mami! Oh God, what ar
e you doing to me?”
Suddenly, she released me. I shot off hard and fierce like a geyser all over her chest. Then I collapsed to my knees in front of Lucinda, unable to stand up any longer.
“I love you, Aldris.”
Once I found my voice, I replied, “Baby, I will always love you. You are certified hell.”
She giggled. “I like to please my man as much as he pleases me.” She kissed my lips.
“That you do, baby. That you do.”
After we actually showered, I cleaned up the house with the little energy I had left, while Lucinda cooked dinner. Once it was time, I picked Nadia up from school, since I wanted some time to explain as best I could who Jessica was and to reassure Nadia of my love for her as my daughter as well. I felt it was my responsibility and my place to do that.
The moment Nadia and I got home, she ran to Lucinda with sheer excitement about the news that Jessica was her sister. She asked if they could do about a million things all in that one night. Lucinda was amused by it, and it warmed my heart. It reminded me just how resilient kids were, seeing how accepting Nadia was.
By the time we finished eating and helping Nadia complete her homework, our doorbell rang. It was time.
All of us walked to the family room together, and I proceeded toward the foyer. Just before I crossed the threshold, I looked back at Lucinda, and she nodded with encouragement. It gave me the strength I needed, and I opened the door for Jennifer and Jessica, who stood outside looking just as nervous as we were.
“Hello, Jennifer and Jessica,” I greeted them nervously.
Each of them offered an equally nervous, “Hi.”
“Come inside. Welcome to our home.” I ushered them inside and took them through the foyer into the family room.
“Hello.” Lucinda waved. “It’s good to see you again, Jessica.”
Jessica waved back. “Hi, Ms. Lucinda.”
“Jennifer, Jessica, this is my daughter, Nadia,” Lucinda introduced. “She’s six, too.”
Jessica smiled at Nadia. “Hi, Nadia!”
“Hi, Jessica! Do you want to see my room?” Nadia asked, barely able to contain her excitement.
Jessica turned to her mother. “Mom, can I? Can I, please?”
Jennifer smiled. “Yes, Jessica. It’s okay.”
Nadia grabbed Jessica by the hand. “Come on! We’re going to have sooo much fun. I have a sister!”
“Who?” Jessica asked as they walked to the back.
“Well, you! Duh, silly!” Nadia shrieked, both of them erupting into laughter.
Jennifer, Lucinda, and I all looked at each other after the girls disappeared to the back. There was an uneasy tension in the room amongst us. The more I looked at Jennifer, the angrier I became. I had missed out on so much with Jessica—the joy of seeing her being born, her first words, her first steps. Hell, her first day of school. I tried to calm myself long enough to enjoy this visit, but I wouldn’t make it through the evening without making her give me the answers I so deserved.
“Umm, we can all sit down, I guess,” Lucinda said, cutting the silence.
“Oh, thank you,” Jennifer said and sat on the loveseat. Lucinda and I sat on the sofa. “You all really do have a beautiful home.”
“Thank you,” Lucinda said. I just sat there with my hand propped against my face, deep in contemplation.
“Oh, and Lucinda, I’m sorry about earlier. I was way out of line, and it was completely uncalled for,” Jennifer apologized.
Lucinda shrugged. “It’s okay. It was a stressful time.”
They got quiet again, not really knowing what to say or how to address the elephant in the room.
“Would you like anything to drink or eat?” Lucinda offered.
Jennifer shook her head. “No, thanks. We ate already.”
At this point, I couldn’t take it anymore. I was trying to avoid drama, but the more I listened to Nadia play with Jessica, the more it reminded me that I suddenly had a daughter—a six-year-old daughter—that I knew absolutely nothing about.
“So, why the hell did you keep your pregnancy from me?” I blurted.
“Excuse me?” Jennifer asked, clearly taken aback.
“You heard me,” I seethed. “You made me miss out on some of the best moments of her life, and you sat in court like we did something to you. You had the audacity to give my child another man’s last name and then treat me like I was the deadbeat father. I want my answers, Jennifer, and I want them . . . right now,” I said angrily as I hopped up, pacing the floor.
“Oh, please. I didn’t come here to be harassed. You claimed you wanted to get to know your daughter, but if this is an attempt to get me on home turf so you can go off on me, we will leave right now.”
“Go off on you? Go off is the easiest thing for me to do to you at this moment. I’m mad as hell, and I have a right to know!”
Lucinda jumped up to calm me. “Baby, the girls are in the back. Please.”
“Oh, you don’t have to ask him to calm down. We can leave,” Jennifer stood up and said with a hellacious attitude.
“Over my dead body,” I spewed.
“Whoa!” Lucinda stood between us. “Listen. Aldris, calm down. Jessica doesn’t need to see you attacking her mother like this. I know that you’re upset, and you have every reason to be, but we have to show the girls that we can act like adults regardless of the situation,” she preached, then turned to Jennifer. “And you, be fair. You do owe him an explanation. It’s been six years, and you’ve not mentioned anything to him about his daughter. Regardless of whatever was going on in your life, he deserved to be given the opportunity to be a dad to Jessica. Imagine if you had not known about her. For that reason alone, you should talk to him,” Lucinda bravely spoke up.
Jennifer and I looked at each other and both relented. Lucinda was right on both points. I didn’t need to disrespect Jennifer, and she did owe me an explanation.
“Fine. I will tell you anything you want to know,” Jennifer said before sitting back down.
“And I am sorry for attacking you. I’m frustrated, and I was wrong,” I said, sitting down also.
“How about I take the girls out for ice cream? Dairy Queen is not too far away, and it will give you two time and space to talk as adults,” Lucinda volunteered.
“That’s fine by me,” Jennifer answered.
“Baby, I think that’s a great idea. Thank you.”
Lucinda give me a soft peck on the lips, then went to Nadia’s bedroom and gathered the girls. Once they were out the door, I looked at Jennifer to begin.
“So, I guess you’re wondering why I did it,” Jennifer said when they left.
“Yes. I think I deserve that much.”
She leaned back, pointing her finger at me. “Aldris, you act as if I deserved what you did to me. We were engaged and you slept around on me, God only knows how many times, but at least twice with the same bitch! You disrespected me, our love, and our home! Now you have the nerve—the fucking nerve—to talk about what you deserve,” she shouted.
“And I apologize for what I did to you. I’m sorry about that, and had you even allowed me talk to you, I would’ve told you so a long time ago. But that still gave you no right to keep Jessica away from me. She’s my blood!”
“It gave me no right? You treat me like shit, the scum of the Earth, and you have the audacity to talk about rights. You are the most self-centered, self-serving son of a bitch I know.”
As if she could talk. “And you’re not? What kind of woman are you to keep a child away from her father? How can you even look at yourself and call yourself a woman?”
“I can call myself a woman the same way you could have called yourself a man even though you were screwing me over!”
“So, we’re back to this again,” I quipped, sighing in disgust.
“Why not this again? I put all that I was into our relationship, Aldris, and you took my heart, ripped it in half, and stomped on it!”
“So that gave y
ou the right to determine whether or not I had a relationship with our daughter? Is that really what you’re saying to me?”
She was trembling when she finally stopped ranting and looked up at me. “No, it didn’t. That’s not why I did it.” She struggled through a teary voice.
“Then why the fuck did you do it?”
“I thought you wouldn’t care. You didn’t even realize that I was four weeks pregnant the day I caught you in our bed with that nasty heifer. How could I tell you about our child and think you’d be a good father when you didn’t even care about me as a future wife?” Tears streamed down her face. “I never wanted to keep her away from you. I just didn’t think I mattered enough to you for you to care.”
Instantly, I felt horrible. I could see how she would think that. Here I was hoeing around when she was at the house, pregnant with my seed, and I was too busy chasing ass to notice. I guess I wouldn’t have trusted me either. Standing, I went to her. The way she broke down shredded me, and I could think of nothing else to do but hug her. I just wanted to hug our sordid past away and do it over, back to a time when she respected me and I would’ve been in my daughter’s life. A time when she wouldn’t have felt she had to protect my child from me because of my misdeeds against her.
“Don’t cry. Please don’t. I’m so sorry, Jennifer. So sorry,” I apologized as she held me and cried in my chest.
“Why couldn’t I be enough for you, Aldris? Why?”
Her pained declaration shot through me, and I held her tighter. “You were enough. I was just young and dumb.”
Realizing her words, she pulled back and tried to wipe the endless tears. “I’m sorry. I see you with Lucinda and Nadia, and even though we’ve both moved on, I still feel like it’s a slap in the face. All the things I wanted and needed from you, you are giving to someone else,” she admitted, continuing to cry.
That was a gut punch. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. I knew in that moment that my irresponsible actions had set off a chain of events that weren’t easily fixed with “I’m sorry.”