“Man, it had to be. Them niggas came for blood not money. I don’t know how, but I got a feeling Dre’s people know I had something to do with his death.”
Ralphy didn’t sound all that sure, which made Scoop feel like he was in the clear. “Yo, my nigga, you ain’t been out here in a while, and I tried to warn you.”
“Warn me about what?” Ralphy shot back with a little attitude behind it.
“This street life ain’t you anymore. You’re a family man now, and that’s where you belong. Shit gets ugly out here if you’re not careful,” Scoop told him.
Ralphy was a little shocked by what Scoop had said. It was as if he didn’t have any respect for Ralphy’s G card anymore. The more Ralphy sat there and thought about it, it also sounded like Scoop didn’t want him out there on the streets at all. It wasn’t what he said, it was how Scoop said it that caught Ralphy’s attention.
“So you’re gon’ put dis work in wit’ me or what?” Ralphy asked, but only to check Scoop’s temperature on the matter.
“Homie, I really don’t got the time for war. I’m trying to make some money right now,” Scoop said, turning his head away to look down the street. “Just let that shit die down before you get yaself killed,” Scoop said, before getting up from the steps and walking off down the street toward his workers.
Ralphy knew right then and there that Scoop was no longer on his side. He didn’t know if or to what extent Scoop had something to with the shooting, but if it came out that he did, Ralphy wasn’t going to hesitate in putting a bullet through his head, so-called friend or not.
* * *
Just about every Sunday, Ms. D had a dinner, and it was a guarantee that everybody would show up. She fried chicken breast, fish, and a few other seafood creatures like shrimp and crab cakes. Mashed potatoes with gravy, macaroni and cheese, greens, corn, and white rice were also on the menu. Her house smelled like a soul food restaurant, and in the midst of the great smell, the aroma of her specially made apple pie blended in the air. Mrs. D could cook her ass off.
“All right, somebody clear this table off,” Mrs. D yelled out from the kitchen.
Lamar wasn’t getting up from in front of the TV and neither was Ralphy. The football game had them locked in, so it was up to the females to get the job done. Lisa couldn’t do much of anything with her wound, and Falisha was upstairs in Mrs. D’s bedroom talking on the phone. Tammy and Kim were left to take care of the dinner table.
“Are you okay?” Tammy asked, seeing the blank look on Kim’s face as she sat at the table.
Like many women, Kim still had the abortion on her mind, and she wanted so bad to tell Lamar what happened. She just didn’t know how he was going to react to it. She loved him, and didn’t want to risk losing him. At the same time, she didn’t like hiding things and keeping secrets from him. It just felt wrong all the way around the board.
Mrs. D finally got everybody to the dinner table. Little Anthony, Sinniyyah, and Naomi all sat at the kitchen table, with Mrs. D going back and forth to check up on them. As soon as everyone was seated, Falisha said grace.
“Heavenly Father, thank you for this food you have provided for us, and thank you for allowing friends to come together and enjoy this meal. God, I ask that you protect us from the evil plot of the devil, and to make us all strong enough to move on. God knows that strength is what we’re gonna need. And please protect us from these wolves in sheep’s clothing. In the name of Jesus. Amen!”
Lamar looked up at Falisha knowing that after that sarcastic prayer there was more to follow, and nine times out of ten, it wasn’t going to be good at all.
Mrs. D even gave her a look as if to say, “Don’t start ya shit.”
Falisha kept her cool and began to eat along with everybody else. For the first few minutes, it was pretty much silent except for the sounds of spoons and forks hitting the plates and a couple of moans from the delicious taste of the food.
“I got an announcement I wanna make,” Tammy said, wiping her mouth with the napkin. I’m moving next week,” she said, taking a sip of her juice.
“What? I know it’s not with that boy,” Kim spoke, surprised to hear that coming from her.
“His name is Darious and he’s far from a boy,” Tammy quickly corrected her. “Besides, he makes me happy.”
“That’s right, girl. That’s all that matters,” Falisha cut in.
“You know Chris gon’ kill you and him when he gets home.” Ralphy chuckled.
“Chicks ain’t got no loyalty nowadays. A nigga go to jail, and a female is so quick to forget about everything a nigga did for them before he got there,” Lamar said with a slight attitude. “I don’t respect it,” he concluded, taking a bite of his chicken breast.
“Lamar!” Kim yelled, smacking his arm, “Don’t be rude.”
“Nah, nah, that’s cool, Kim. I’m not mad at Lamar. He’s only saying how he feels. But let me say this to all the niggas who’s locked down in the pen: I didn’t put a gun to nobody’s head and make you be a trap boy. Chris did that on his own. I would have stood by his side if he worked at McDonald’s in order to provide for his family. He knew what he was doing, and the possibility of being taken away from his kids. But, guess what, he kept doing it. Meaning he didn’t give a damn about me or our kids. He left this pussy out here so he could be around a bunch of men and dicks. If you think I’m about to put my life on hold for the next ten years, you and every other nigga got another think coming,” Tammy said, pointing her fork at him.
Lamar sat there and continued to eat his food. He really didn’t have anything else to say. Chris had always been a cool dude to him and, from the outside looking in, it looked like Tammy was leaving him when he most needed her.
Ralphy, on the other hand, had something he wanted to get off his chest. He cleared his throat, reached into his back pocket, and pulled out an envelope. Inside were the divorce papers signed by him and Lisa, and ready to be processed. He held on to them for good reasons and the most important of them was that he wanted to make sure a divorce was what he really wanted.
“Me and Lisa been together for a long time now, and I know everybody is aware of what happened between us. I just wanna say that when you love somebody as much as me and Lisa love each other, you can make it through anything,” Ralphy said, taking the papers and ripping the up into little pieces, “Me and Lisa are back together.”
“You just sayin’ that ’cause she got shot. Nigga, the streets is talking,” Falisha said, biting down on her fish.
“You out of pocket, Falisha,” Kim said.
“Look who’s talkin’,” Falisha shot back. “Don’t you got something you wanna say, since everybody got announcements?”
“I got an announcement,” Lamar said, reaching into his pocket for the ring.
“And who you screwing now?” Falisha shot at him. She wasn’t taking any prisoners today. Her hormones were running wild and she was just saying whatever came to mind. Lamar was so shaken he put his ring back inside his pocket and continued eating without attempting to respond to Falisha’s comment.
“Damn, you cold,” Mrs. D said, shaking her head at Falisha.
“Yeah, and don’t think that I don’t know you got cancer. You like a fuckin’ mother to me, and you hide some shit like this from me . . . from us.”
Mrs. D leaned over and backhanded Falisha right in her mouth, splitting her bottom lip on the side. Falisha knew she was wrong, and that’s why she did nothing but cover her mouth with her hands and remain quiet while Mrs. D said what she had to say.
“Yeah, I got cancer, but that’s my business. I was going to tell the rest of y’all, who didn’t know, on my own terms, not yours,” Mrs. D said, cutting her eyes over at Falisha. “Now, if y’all don’t mind, I wanna enjoy the rest of this meal without the negativity. So if you don’t have anything positive to say, then don’t say nothing at all,” Mrs. D concluded before digging into her plate.
Everybody was in agreement with trying to salv
age what good was left in the Sunday dinner. Silence took over the table, and just when everybody thought that the day was over, Falisha rocked the table with her own shocking public announcement.
“Well, how about one more quick announcement. I’m pregnant!” Falisha said before turning around and walking out of the kitchen on her way to the bathroom.
* * *
Johanne sat in her hospital bed looking at the positive pregnancy test the nurse had given her. She was so astonished by the good news she could barely feel the metal rods keeping her shattered shin bone in place. This whole time, she had no idea she was absolutely with child and the more she looked at the test, the more excited she became.
“Excuse me, Nurse. Is it possible for you to find out how far along I am?” Johanne asked, reaching over and grabbing her cell phone off the stand.
“Sure, just give me a minute,” the nurse responded.
Although Ralphy said that he’d be back around eight o’clock, Johanne couldn’t help but to try to call him. She wanted to give him the news right away, hoping he would be just as happy as she was. Unfortunately, her few attempts at calling him ended up going straight to his voice mail. She thought about texting him, but that was a little too cheesy. Johanne would have to wait; but, in the meantime, in between time, she was going to bask in the beautiful gift of motherhood.
Chapter 34
“Babe!” Darious yelled out from the upstairs bedroom. “Come ’ere real quick,” he shouted.
Tammy was in the kitchen feeding Sinniyyah in her high chair. She picked her up and headed upstairs to see what Darious wanted. When she got to the bedroom, he’d just wrapped up a phone call.
“Yes, babe,” Tammy said, putting Sinniyyah on the bed, then walking over and standing in front of him while he sat on the edge of the bed.
“On ya way to go pick up Anthony, I need you to drop this medication off to one of my patients,” Darious said, grabbing her by the waist. “I got a lot of running around to do before I go to work.”
“Yeah, sure, babe. That’s no problem,” she said, rubbing the top of his head. “Are you okay? ’Cause you look a little stressed out,” she said, pushing him back onto the bed. She then climbed on top of him.
She leaned in and kissed him then looked into his eyes. She still couldn’t believe how far in love she was with Darious, and he felt the same.
“You know I love you, right?” he asked, reaching up and placing his hand on her cheek. “Promise me that you’re not going to leave me,” he said.
“I know you love me, Darious, and I’m not going anywhere. You got my heart,” she responded, leaning back over to kiss him again.
This time, Sinniyyah interrupted the moment, crawling across the bed and grabbing a handful of Darious’s face. Her finger was lodged in his nose and the saliva from her mouth dripped down into his eye. Sinniyyah was laughing and bouncing back and forth like she was having the time of her life. This was the first time Sinniyyah was this intimate with Darious and, to be honest, Tammy was feeling the bond.
* * *
Kim pulled up right in time to catch Falisha coming out of her house. She beeped the horn twice but Falisha only looked at Kim’s car before going back into the house. Falisha really didn’t feel like talking to anybody at this point.
“Here we go wit’ dis bullshit,” Kim mumbled to herself, getting out of the car with her briefcase in hand. Kim didn’t want to, but she walked up to Falisha’s front door and rang the bell. There was a lot of tension between them, and Kim wasn’t the type to walk around with a chip on her shoulder. If she had a problem, she confronted it head-on.
“Come on wit’ da childish shit and open the door,” Kim yelled through the mail slot.
Kim was about to yell in the mail slot again but, before she could, the door swung open and Falisha was standing there with an obvious attitude. “What do you want, Kim?” Falisha asked, stepping out onto the porch.
“So it’s like that? You sayin’ that we’re not cool at all anymore?” Kim asked, putting her briefcase on the ledge.
Falisha never said anything, but she felt some type of way about Kim wanting Lamar since day one. The only reason she entertained the whole race to capture Lamar’s heart was because she truly thought that she had it in the bag. She never thought in a million years that he would choose Kim over her, given the history they had, along with amazingly great sex. When he did choose Kim, it was mind-blowing and it caught Falisha off guard.
“Come on, Kim. You know what it do. You took my man, and that was that. We cool and everything, but we’re not friends,” Falisha said.
“So we’re not friends because of a man?” Kim asked.
Falisha didn’t say anything right away. She looked down the street, trying to avoid any eye contact with Kim, but Kim walked over and stood in front of her, forcing Falisha to look at her. Kim could see the anger and the hurt in her eyes and knew that what Falisha felt was real.
“You know that I was in love with Lamar, and you still pursued him. You didn’t give a fuck about me or how I felt. To you, this was all a fucking game, and Lamar was your prize. A friend? You can’t be serious. A real friend would have backed off, instead of doing the shit you did. But guess what, I’m good. You and Lamar ain’t gon’ last another month once he finds out you got an abortion,” Falisha said, looking down at Kim’s stomach before walking into her house and slamming the door behind her.
Kim sat there on the porch with a dumb look on her face after being chewed out by Falisha. Not only did she feel bad, she also felt like a home wrecker, because if it weren’t for her, Falisha and Lamar would be together. It was something Kim had never really thought about until now, and the more she thought about it, the more she could understand how Falisha felt.
What she couldn’t grasp was the last comment Falisha made pertaining to how long she and Lamar had left to be together. She wanted to bang on the door and ask Falisha what she meant by it, but Lamar pulling up on the block made Kim leave it alone for right now. This definitely wasn’t going to be the end of that conversation but, for now, Kim had another pressing issue to deal with, one that might make or break her and Lamar’s relationship.
* * *
Darious had warned Tammy that the neighborhood was a little ghetto, but that was an understatement. When she pulled up to Milton Road, it looked like a zombie land. There were dopefiends everywhere and, for a minute, Tammy was scared to pull over. In fact, she drove right by the house she was supposed to deliver the medication to.
“Shit,” Tammy mumbled, pulling over toward the end of the block after seeing that she had passed the house. Two luxury cars parked on the pavement caught Tammy’s attention and, for some reason, she felt comfortable parking behind them. Plus, there weren’t that many dopefiends at this end of the block.
“You lookin’ for somebody?” a female voice asked when Tammy got out of the car.
Tammy looked over and saw a young girl coming down off the porch with one of her hands behind her back. Despite her intimidating approach, Tammy thought the young lady was cute, rocking a pair of 7 For All Mankind jeans, a white shirt, and some Yves Saint Laurent sandals. Her hair was straightened and draped over her left shoulder, allowing her diamond-studded earrings to bling in the sunlight. Tammy didn’t know her, but she looked like somebody of importance.
“I’m going up the street to deliver this medication to a patient,” Tammy said, looking down at the address she had written on a piece of paper. “Is it safe to even go up there?” Tammy asked, picking her head up as the young lady walked up to her.
The girl looked at the address then smiled. “Who sent you, Darious?” she asked, waving for Tammy to follow her up the street.
“Yeah, that’s my man,” Tammy said, establishing off the top who she was to him. “You know him?”
“I know Darious. He’s a nice guy. He’s been looking out for my uncle James for a while now. By the way, my name is Tiffany,” she said, walking up the steps to James’s house
.
“I’m Tammy,” Tammy responded, walking up the steps behind her.
Now that Tiffany was in front of Tammy, Tammy could see why she had her hand behind her back. The butt of a gun poked out of her back pocket, clearly visible to the eye. It kind of took Tammy by surprise, and even though she didn’t have the guts to ask her the reason why she had the gun, Tammy made a mental note of it.
“Wassup, Uncle James,” Tiffany asked when he opened the door. “Ya medication is here.”
The drop-off was pretty simple, except for when the drop-off became an exchange at a dining room table with stacks of money sitting on it. Tammy didn’t know the contents within the prescription bag, and didn’t get a chance to see them either, because as quick as Tammy handed it over to James, he gave her a two-inch thick wad of money. Before she knew it, Tammy was being led out the back of the house by Tiffany, and escorted back to her car.
As Tammy pulled off, the chain of events that had just taken place bum-rushed her brain. She really didn’t know what to think, or what Darious just had her do. All sorts of theories went through her head, and not one of them sat well with her. Before the day was over, she was going to get a clear understanding about what had gone down.
* * *
A nice, hot bath was exactly the thing Kim needed in her life right now, and from the looks of things, and how her body felt, it seemed as though her period was about to go off. Dealing with the abortion was starting to get a little easier and, because of that, Kim was ready to let Lamar know what she’d done.
Kim sat in the bathtub trying to figure out what words she was going to use to break the news to him. There really wasn’t a delicate way to say to a man that she’d murdered his unborn child. The more Kim looked at it that way, the fewer words she came up with.
Lamar opening the bathroom door snapped Kim out of her train of thought.
“I was thinking, maybe we should go out for dinner tonight,” Lamar said, taking a seat on the edge of the tub.
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