by Emerson Rose
She’s a beautiful child with dark bronze colored skin and long wavy brown curls that bounce when she walks.
She looks like…
“No,” I whisper under my breath.
“What?” Tiana asks.
“That little girl.”
“What about her? Drake, you’re pale, do you know her?”
A drop of sweat rolls between my shoulder blades and down my back. Shock and fear collide and the stitches of my future with Tiana begin to unravel and fray.
“Yes. I know them. Stay here and do not get out of this car do you understand me?”
“I don’t want…”
“No!” I say with more force than I have ever used while speaking to Tiana. She jumps. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to raise my voice but it’s imperative that you stay here.” I cup her cheek with my last words trying to soften the blow of my outburst. She nods and I open the door and step out.
Jayden looks up and gestures for me to join him on the porch with Mona and Amari. I haven’t seen Mona in years and I’ve only ever seen photographs of Amari.
“Hey, best friend, I’m glad you could join us. I had a feeling you’d be here!” Jayden calls out. He sounds manic and evil like he’s on the very edge of sanity.
From the porch, Mona and Amari turn to see who Jayden is talking to. Mona looks confused and shocked. Little Amari is bewildered.
I take slow steps toward them with caution, the hot afternoon air is crackling with tension and the hairs on the back of my neck are standing on end.
“What’s going on, Jay?” I ask stopping at the bottom of the porch.
“Thought maybe a little reunion was in order, ya know, so my baby sister can meet your daughter and your ex-wife since y’all are getting so serious.”
I glance at Mona, whose mouth has fallen open. Her hand is securely wrapped around Amari’s and she has instinctually taken a step away from Jayden, moving Amari behind her right hip.
“Yeah? That was nice of you.”
“I figured since we’re gonna be family, we should all get to know each other. Where’s Tiana? You’ve been keeping her pretty busy over there at your house lately.”
“Drake?” Mona says, with worry in her voice.
“Hello, Mona.”
“What’s going on?” She frowns and fixes her gaze on Jayden. “I thought you said he was deployed. You said he left some things for Amari.”
“Yeah, well, I lied.” Jayden’s eyes are flat and his tone is cold.
“We’re leaving, I knew we shouldn’t have come here. Come on, Amari, let’s go.”
“Oh no, y’all can’t leave yet. You haven’t even met my little sister. I’m sure she’s in that shiny black car of yours. Is she driving for you now, old man?” He squints and covers his eyes with one hand to get a better look at the SUV. “Aw, nope, you still got that old fart, Max, huh?”
Tiana steps from the car and closes the door. I fucking knew she wouldn’t listen to me. “There she is,” Jay says, dragging out his words in a thicker than usual Southern drawl that seems to be accompanying his breakdown. He’s always had a mild twang like everyone in North Carolina but his thick backwoods slang has gotten progressively more pronounced since Tiana’s arrival. “There’s my pretty lil sister, come on up here, T. I have some people I want you to meet,” he calls to Tiana.
She starts toward us and against my better judgment, I turn my back on my armed best friend and close the distance between her and me in a few powerful strides.
“What’s going on, Drake?”
“Nothing, I told you to stay in the car. Get back inside. I’m handling this.” I keep my voice down, but Jayden’s got super power hearing and hollers, “No, sis, he isn’t handling anything. You need to come here and meet these two lovely ladies from Drake’s past.”
“Mommy, I’m scared. Why does Uncle Jayden have a gun?” Amari says and the sound of her voice shreds my heart. I’ve never heard it before. It’s soft and sweet, it reminds me of Tiana’s.
“Because people steal, Amari, and you gotta protect what’s yours. Your daddy over there, he stole my sister from me and I want her back so I can keep her safe.”
I open the door for Tiana and try to guide her back into the back seat but she heard Jayden say the word, daddy, just like he wanted her to. She closes the door and steps out of my reach. “You have a daughter?” I can’t stand the hurt in her voice and the twisted anguish on her face. I should have told her, I would have eventually. It was a complicated relationship and not a pleasant one.
I didn’t believe it when Mona told me Amari was mine. I’ve used a condom religiously with every woman I’ve ever been with until Tiana. I know no birth control is 100% but I was only with Mona twice and both times I was responsible.
What is 100%, however, DNA tests are and there was no doubt she was mine. I was overseas and not interested in a relationship with Mona, but guilt got the best of me and I married her when she was four months pregnant at her insistence. She was young, alone and looking for a meal ticket, stability, and a way out of her country. She saw an opportunity and took it, I can’t blame her for that, but I’ve always felt the pregnancy was suspicious.
I divorced her four months later and came home to the US before Amari was born. A few months into our marriage, I told her about my condition and things changed. We weren’t a real couple, far from it. But when she knew I was going to be handicapped someday her interest waned. She wasn’t interested in spending her life taking care of me. She had been counting on it being the other way around.
“Yes.”
“Were you going to tell me?”
“Yes, of course.”
Her eyes dart to the porch and back to me. “Did you love her?”
“Mona? No, not at all.”
“Why are they here?”
“It seems your brother has kept in contact with them over the years. He sees me as a threat, Tiana. He’s jealous of our relationship. He brought her here to break us up. Let’s talk about this later. Please, get back into the car.” I nudge her toward the door and she nudges me back.
I’m about to do something I don’t usually do.
Beg.
I want her out of here so I can try to defuse the situation with Jayden before it gets out of hand.
“No, I want to meet her.”
“Now’s not the time, baby.”
“Seems like the perfect time to me.” She pushes past me, my hands ball into fists and I blow out a fast, frustrated breath before turning around to stalk after her.
“Tiana,” I shout and she waves her arm dismissively.
“Hey, sis, let me introduce you to Drake’s ex-wife Mona. Mona, this is my sister, Tiana, and Drake’s latest conquest.”
If he didn’t have a fucking rifle slung over his shoulder, I’d beat him to within an inch of his life and he knows it. Maybe that’s why he’s got it, for protection. Or he could have it because he’s tipping the sanity scale. I don’t know and I don’t want to find out.
I may not have been there in person to help raise my daughter but I supported her financially and I saw her grow through photographs. There is still a paternal connection that drives me to protect her and an even stronger connection that adheres my heart to Tiana’s.
“Mona, I think it’s best you take Amari and go. It’s obvious you’ve been led here under false pretenses and I’m sorry.”
Mona nods and starts to move toward the steps, but Jayden slides his rifle around from his back. Without aiming it at her, he uses it to block her path. Amari gasps and grabs onto her mother's waist.
“Oh no, we haven’t even had lunch yet. Everybody inside to the dining room.” He motions toward the front door with the gun.
“I don’t wanna have lunch with Uncle Jayden, Mommy,” Amari whimpers into her mother’s hip. She’s no stranger to armed men. Amari spent the first three and a half years of her life growing up in Iraq but even a child can sense the heightened tension in the air.
T
iana squats down in front of Amari, “It’ll be okay, I have some coloring books and pencils inside. We can color while your mommy and Drake talk to Uncle Jayden.” Tiana and Amari both look up at Mona. She doesn’t know Tiana, but she has a genuine concern for a child’s safety in her eyes.
“Don’t ya think it’s a little soon to be playing step-mommy, sis?”
“Shut up, Jayden, you’re being an ass.”
Jayden raises his eyebrows and turns his attention to me. “You’re doin’ a bang-up job as a Dom with her, man.”
I’d love to tell him she’s perfectly submissive in the bedroom and that I adore her sassy rebellious side outside of it. But, he has a gun and I would like to keep my brains inside of my head.
“She’s an independent woman. I don’t have a problem with that.”
Tiana stands and turns around until she’s toe to toe with her crazy brother. To my horror, she pokes his bare muscled chest. She actually pokes the bear.
“I know what you’re doing and if you want me to hate you, keep it up.”
Offering her hand to Amari she looks at Mona, “Is it okay if she colors with me?”
“Yeah, sure, go ahead. Amari, stay where mommy can see you, though, alright?” Mona says, trying to sound convincing but I can smell the fear coming off her.
Amari nods and takes Tiana’s hand. A pang of regret hits me as I try to envision being a real father to this beautiful child. When I left Iraq after my second tour, I not only abandoned my daughter but also the idea of ever having a family again. There’s a reason for everything that happens in life and I figured being able to walk away meant I shouldn’t have been there in the first place. I didn’t think I deserved love, so I learned to pump the brakes with every relationship after that until I met Tiana.
But the love I have for her is a full-speed ahead, open throttle kind of love with no brakes at all. If there were ever hope of me having another child it would be with her, if she doesn’t push me away after this stunt Jayden is pulling, that is.
The unlikely pair walks into the house and through the living room to the dining room where Tiana takes a stack of coloring books and pencils from a china hutch.
Jaden holds the gun facing the ground with one hand and opens the screen door with the other.
“After you, lovebirds.”
Mona hesitates and I put my hand on the small of her back to guide her inside where we take a seat at the table set for five.
I start scanning the room for traps, weapons or other signs of insanity. The first thing I notice is that there are no knives with the silverware settings on the table.
“What’s your plan here, Jay? If you have something you want to say to us just say it and let Mona and Amari go home.”
A knock on the door interrupts my attempt at ending this unplanned lunch date. Jayden left the door open and I can see it’s the Chief through the screen door. He’s alone. Nice, don’t bring your partner or anything idiot. Just because they were too stupid to catch the intruder last time doesn’t mean there won’t be a dangerous situation today.
“Afternoon, Jayden, I got a call from your neighbor about a naked gun-toting man out in your back yard. You know anything about that?” The Chief says.
He can’t see inside through the screen or he would know that Jayden fits that description perfectly.
“Aw, Chief, I had to run out and roll up the car windows, thought it was gonna rain.”
He is standing on the threshold of the kitchen and dining room; the rifle is hidden behind the wall but I don’t think the Chief would be able to see it anyway.
“I figured it was something like that, you know old Mrs. Conley though. I had to check it out.”
“Well, thanks for coming by, Chief, I got my family here for lunch so I gotta get back to cookin’. Maybe I’ll see you at Al’s this weekend?”
“Yep, sure thing, sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“No problem, see ya around.”
“Bye.”
Our chance at getting some help clomps down the porch steps, but I know Max is still out there and he won’t leave until he knows we are safe. If I know him, he’s working on a plan to get us out of here right now.
“Stupid cops wouldn’t know a crime if it bit ‘em in the ass.”
Tiana looks up for a second to watch the back of the Chief’s head bob up and down as he walks away. I look out of the corner of my eye deliberately at her trying to get her attention. I need to see that things are okay between us and the only way I can without coming right out and asking is through her expressive eyes.
She won’t look at me. Her full attention is on my daughter leaving me out in the cold worrying that I may have lost her forever. Her accepting that I’m going blind was huge, learning I have a daughter and an ex-wife that I haven’t told her about; that might be unforgivable.
Chapter 23
Tiana
He has a daughter, a fucking child that he never mentioned. I understand we haven’t known each other long but he knows my deepest darkest secrets and my biggest fears. We have opened ourselves to one another on more than one occasion. Any of those times would have been ideal for bringing up the fact that he has a daughter.
Oh, and an ex-wife. Not just an ex-girlfriend, a wife. He was married to the woman sitting across the table from me. It’s not difficult to see why he was attracted to her. Her exotic Middle Eastern beauty is exceptional. The combination of her dark delicate features next to Drake’s all-American looks would have made a stunning couple.
She shared something special with Drake. She shared vows and the forever bond of a child, things I’ve been dreaming about having with him too. I didn’t know I’d be his second and I suspect I would never have if Jayden hadn’t intervened.
How can I plan forever with a man who walked away from his wife and child? The sound of my aunt’s voice saying if he does it once he’ll do it again and why would a man buy milk when he can have the cow for free is loud in my head. Warning signs, red lights, bells and whistles, all of it is screaming run away!
Jayden planted the seed of doubt. He’s getting exactly what he wants and I hate it. He’s been warning me all along that Drake isn’t the kind of man for me.
First, it was because he was a player and he was right on the money with that except that Drake surprised him when he wanted more with me.
Then it was because he’s going to be blind one day but I understand why he didn’t want to tell me that, it makes sense. But when you keep an ex-wife and child a secret I suspect it’s because you feel guilty or ashamed.
And now look what’s happened. I’m sitting at the dining room table coloring with his daughter while being held hostage by my crazy brother in his underwear with a rifle. This shit is beyond caring or protecting me. This is an obsession.
Inviting the secret ex-family to town just to prove Drake is scum seems excessive, even for him. I feel like there’s something else to this, something deeper, darker, more frightening. But what?
“Why did the policeman come?” Amari asks her mother.
“He’s friends with Uncle Jayden. He came over to say hi, that’s all,” Mona says in a soothing motherly tone. I glance at Jay in the kitchen where he has moved his rifle around to his back again to take something from the oven. Where are his clothes? How the hell did he get his government- issued rifle off base and into the house? And why?
Amari has stopped coloring. She’s barely finished coloring the hair on the mermaid in our picture. She’s nervous and rightly so. Her eyes dart from the kitchen to her mother occasionally stopping for a quick once over of Drake.
“Are you my daddy?” she asks between glances. Drake and Mona look at one another and he lifts his eyebrow as if to ask permission to claim her as his. She sighs and nods her head.
“Yes, I am.”
“Ah, and the bonding begins!” Jayden says from the kitchen. He sounds like a madman and I suspect he is one at this point.
“What the hell do you want?
So, I have an ex-wife and a daughter, now she knows. You got what you wanted, Tiana’s probably going to break up with me now. Let them go.” Drake shoves his chair back and stands in the kitchen doorway blocking my view of my brother. I hear him swing the gun around, and I imagine him pointing it at Drake.
“You’d best sit down, old man, or your little family there will be wearing you for lunch instead of joining you for it.”
My mouth falls open, and for a second time stands still. I can see the strong muscles of Drake’s back tense under his tan Marine uniform. Mona’s eyes go wide with terror and Amari runs to her side crying.
When things speed up again, I hitch my thumb toward the front door and mouth the word go. She scrambles to her feet and rushes toward the door with Amari. Max appears out of nowhere and hoists Amari into one arm and tucks Mona under his other to shield them while they run for cover in their SUV at the end of the driveway.
I jump up and race around the table to duck under Drake’s arm. Standing between them I find myself on the other end of a semi-automatic weapon. The smell of chicken casserole wafts from the open oven next to Jayden, making my stomach churn.
“Are you fucking insane, woman?” Drake whispers in my ear.
“Jayden, put the gun down, please. I’ll do anything you want. I’ll stop seeing Drake, I’ll go to school and live here with you, or keep working at the diner, whatever, just please, stop. Do you realize what you’re doing? You’re pointing your gun at your best friend. I know you don’t want to hurt anybody.”
“You need to move out of the way, Tiana.” His cold voice sends shivers up my spine despite the sweat dripping down the side of my face.
“Not until you put the gun down.”
“I’m not putting the gun down until he’s dead,” Jay stated.
“Then we’re going to be standing here a long time, brother. I’m not going to let you kill somebody, so forget it.”
“I’ve killed a lotta people, lil sis, I went to hell, remember? But I never got the satisfaction I’m gonna get out of killing him.” He thrusts his gun at me and I step back into Drake’s arms. The familiar feel of them on my hips and the smell of sandalwood cause me to panic.