by TT Dorsett
When I walked in the door I could sense that something was really up. I sat down across from Leon. “What’s up?” I asked.
“I think you need a drink first Ms. Click,” he said.
“That bad huh?” I asked.
I could feel my eyes getting watery. When the waitress came to us I ordered a shot of gin. I really didn’t drink the stuff, but I knew I needed one for whatever he was going to tell me.
“You sure you want that gin Ms. Click?” he asked. I nodded my head yes and he gave the waitress an okay nod. We sat there quietly until our drinks arrived.
Once the waitress was gone, he took a deep breath. “I don’t know if Wet Wiley’s is the place to tell you this,” he said.
“Just spit it out Leon,” I said looking into his eyes. I could tell he did not want to hurt me.
“Ok, Marcus has a son,” he said. I gasped at him and started shaking my head no.
“No,” I said through tears, “That can’t be true.”
“Yeah Ms. Click, it is. Her name is Tasha. She and Marcus had a thing going on for about a year or so. She ended up getting pregnant and she just had the baby last month. I hear that he says it’s not his, so he is ordering a paternity test,” he said. I took the gin into my shaking hands and swallowed it in one gulp. I coughed really hard but I was fine, as I felt the burning sensation in my chest.
Leon reached across the table and took my hands. “It’s time to stop playing house with him Ms. Click. If he hasn’t given you a ring by now then he won’t. He’s not ready to be in a committed relationship,” he said.
“Yes he is,” I said with tears were streaming down my face. Gosh, I love this man. How could he do this to me? I have been faithful to him for eleven years. I never even considered cheating on him. He was all the man I wanted and all the man I needed.
Leon continued, “Ms. Click, I know this is hard for you, but he may have a baby. I think it’s time for you to let Marcus go. If you don’t then you are going to be stuck where you are. You need to grow and you need to find yourself. By you being with Marcus it‘s not happening.”
“You have based your whole life around him and you need some space from each other. If he wants to go and do his thing let him. Don’t be no one’s fool anymore. Look what happened with your parents. Your mom was with your dad for over twenty years and he never asked her to marry him; instead he just strung her along until she got fed up and killed them both. You don’t want to end up like that sweetie,” he said.
I sat back in my chair and just cried. I was so hurt by Marcus’ actions. I knew that what Leon was telling me was the truth. Marcus and I needed some time apart. I dried my eyes and kissed Leon hands. “You’re right Leon, we do need some time apart. Thanks for telling me,” I said grabbing my purse.
“Where you going?” he asked.
“To kick his ass out,” I said.
“Well wait for me girl,” Leon said as he grabbed his handbag and we were off to my house. Once we got there I knew Marcus wasn’t going to be home. Porsche was sitting at the table eating a sandwich.
She yelled at Leon, “Hey, hey, hey,” and got up out of her seat to kiss him.
“What you doing here Ms. Thang?” she said. He looked over at me and I said, “Tell her. We need her help anyway to pack his shit.” Porsche gave me what the hell is y’all talking about face.
“Marcus may have a baby,” Leon said.
Porsche yelled, “What! When did this happen?” she asked staring, speechless.
“Apparently, he’s been messing around on your sister with a chick named Tasha,” Leon said.
“Wait, back it up. Tasha? Please don’t tell me her name is Tasha Smith,” Porsche said and I looked at my sister funny. She knew too.
“Yeah you know her,” Leon said.
Porsche yelled, “That Bitch! She’s a stripper with me at the club!”
Leon’s eyes got big. He yelled, “You a stripper?”
“We can discuss me another time, Leon,” Porsche said, “This right here is some serious shit. I always wondered why she was always smirking in my face or laughing behind my back at work. I just thought she was jealous of me.”
Leon asked, “So did she ever say who she was pregnant by?”
Porsche replied, “Well there was a rumor saying she was dating this big time football player but I didn’t know who it was. Damn this is so fucked up.” Porsche walked over to me and put her arms around me and I just cried even more.
“When I see her Paris I will fuck her up and that’s a promise. She knew that you were seeing him,” she said.
I wiped my eyes and said, “Let’s not waste any time. We have some work to do.”
We packed as much as we could and I was strong the whole time but my heart was broken into pieces. I told Porsche and Leon I needed some time to be alone in the house when Marcus returned home. I sat in our master bedroom with his bags and boxes at the door.
I had a glass of wine in my hand and I was listening to the “Waiting to Exhale” CD. I pressed repeat on Mary J. “Not Gonna Cry”, and as I listened to Mary’s words I could feel how foolish I was. I sang along with Mary, “While all the time that I loved you, you were busy loving yourself and I would have stopped breathing if you had told me to. Now you’re busy loving someone else. Eleven years out of my life…”
Damn, these words were so true. The only thing Bernadine had that I didn’t have was the kids and she was his wife. We both were made fools of for eleven years but instead of him leaving her I was leaving his ass.
I grabbed the remote for the stereo and pressed Aretha Franklin “It Hurts Like Hell.” Now I told myself that I wasn’t going to shed any tears, but once Aretha started singing about hurt, I just burst into tears. I could hear Aretha sing, “Sometimes it hurts to love so bad (when you know you've given it your best). Sometimes it hurts to even laugh (you feel a thousand miles from happiness), sometimes the pain is just too much, and it hurts like hell, that's the way it feels.”
I took my glass of wine and threw it across the room breaking it into pieces. When I glanced to my left I saw Marcus standing to the door. “Boo, what’s going on?” he asked. I couldn’t stand to look at him.
I took a deep breath and gave him the most hateful look I could muster up and said, “Get your shit that’s at the door and get the fuck out.”
He stared at me like I was crazy, and said, “Baby, please tell me what’s going on?”
“Why should I Marcus? I’ve been lied to during this whole relationship. Oh wait, what damn relationship?” I yelled, “I waited eleven years for nothing! I could have been with someone who appreciated me and who would have given me children by now and who would have been my husband. I hate you.”
“Paris, what are you talking about? You are losing me, baby. You’re not making any sense,” he said. I could see Marcus walking towards me.
“Don’t you come near me! “I yelled, “I don’t want you to ever touch me again in your life, go and touch that nasty bitch Tasha!” His eyes got as wide as saucers.
“Yeah, I found out about your little stripper girlfriend and your little bundle of joy,” I said with a smirk, “A stripper, Marcus! You had to cheat on me with a no class stripper!” I wiped tears from my eyes, and continued, “Then you had the nerve to get her pregnant! How many times did you hear me say I wanted your baby? How many times did you hear me say I wanted to be your wife? What, I wasn’t good enough for you?” He stood there speechless.
“Cat got your tongue Marcus?” I asked. Getting up from my seat I stood in front of him and wanted him to look me in my eyes and tell me that he cheated. “So is it true Marcus?” I asked.
He finally looked into my eyes, which showed tears and said “yes.” I took my right hand and slapped him across the face. He grabbed both of my wrists and pushed me on the bed. He climbed on top of me and held my wrists in place. “I didn’t mean for this happen Paris. I love you,” he said.
“Get off of me Marcus. I hate you,” I said
as I struggled to be free but his weight was too much.
“The baby’s not even mine Paris. I just found out today and I promised myself that I would never let this happen again. You mean the world to me and I knew I was taking you for granted. So I went out and brought you a ring and was going to ask you to marry me,” he said.
The tears were falling from my eyes again. After all this time he finally wanted to be with me. He finally wanted to be my husband. “Marry me Paris,” he said and got up off me and reached into his pocket. He got on one knee and opened the box. I gasped when I saw the five-carat diamond smiling at me. This was the ring I had always wanted and I showed him the ring a while back.
“Please marry me Paris,” he said.
I took a deep breath and I started shaking my head no and said, “I’m sorry Marcus but I can’t. I need you to get your stuff and get out.”
He looked defeated and I could see the hurt in his eyes. He took me by my hands and asked, “So does this mean we’re over?”
“I just need some space Marcus,” I replied, “You can take it how you want to take it.”
He took a deep breath. “Well, we’re not over. I’ll give you your space and if I have to wait forever then I will,” he said. He got up and kissed my lips.
I closed my eyes, ran my fingers through his hair and said, “Good bye Marcus.” A tear slip down my face as I saw him walk out the door.
He took all of his things away from the house and I lay in the bed still listening to Aretha. My body was numb all over. I decided to get into the tub and relax. This day was the worst I have ever experienced in my life. As I stepped into the tub, I heard the phone ring. I didn’t feel like being bothered with anyone so I let it ring.
“Hi, you’ve reached the Hilton residence. Sorry we’re not home to take your call. So please leave us a brief message and we will get back to you as soon as possible,” went the answering machine, beep…”Hi, this call is for Ms. Paris Hilton. My name is Ms. Stokes and I’m calling from Social Services. When you get my message can you please give me a call back as soon as possible? My number is 305-754-1258 ext.255, thank you.”
I thought to myself Social Services. What the hell are Social Services calling me for? I hopped out of the tub and dialed Ms. Stokes back.
“Hi, this is Paris Hilton,” I said.
“Ms. Hilton, how are you today,” she asked.
“I’m fine, but I’m wondering what this call is about, I’m a bit puzzled,” I said.
“I know that you are, but you are the only relative that we can call,” she said.
“The only relative,” I asked, “What are you talking about?” I was so lost with this lady.
“There was a fire,” she said.
“A fire! What does that have to do with me?” I asked.
“You are the next of kin to a little girl,” she said, “Before her mother died she told the police that you were her sister.”
“My sister? I only have two sisters Ms. Stokes,” I said.
“I’m sorry this comes as a surprise to you but was Patrick Hilton your father?” she asked.
“Yes he was,” I said.
“Well, Patrick Hilton is also her father,” she said.
I yelled, “What!” I could feel a migraine coming on. “There must be some kind of mistake Ms. Jones,” I said.
“We have her birth certificate and it states that he was her father,” she said, “You have a little sister who is eight years old.”
“Oh my god, this can’t be happening,” I said.
“I’m sorry to put you in a weird situation, but we need to put the child in a home with family. If not then she will have to go into a home until she is adopted,” she said.
“No. I’m on my way. Where are you located?” I asked.
She replied, “73007 N.W. 12th Avenue.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” I said. I fell on back of the bed and exhaled. This day just keeps getting more surprises by the minute.
Leon’s ass knows everything else, but why couldn’t he tell me I had another sister out there? I know my mom is rolling in her grave right now. I picked up the phone to call Porsche and Patrice and asked them to meet me at the home where our other sister was. When I got there they were waiting for me outside.
“What’s up?” Porsche asked.
“Yeah, why are we meeting at a group home Paris?” Patrice asked.
“I wanted you all to be here because daddy had another secret he never told. We’ve got an eight year old sister and her mom just died in a fire,” I said.
They both yelled together, “What!”
“This is so fucked up,” Porsche mumbled.
“Let’s go.” I told them.
When we walked into the building we saw a whole bunch of kids running around. An older lady with salt and pepper hair met me. She reminded me of my grandmother. “Hi I’m here to see…” Before I could get the words out she said, “I know who you are. She’s up in her room. You all must be her sisters. You all look just alike. I’m Ms. Stokes by the way.”
“Hi, I’m Paris, the older sister. This is Porsche and Patrice,” I said.
They all said their hellos. We were led up the stairs and before she put her hand on the knob I touched her arm. “Um Ms. Stokes, we don’t even know her name,” I said.
She smiled at us and said, “Paige.”
I just shook my head because all of my Dad’s children were name after him with a P. She opened the door and we saw the prettiest little girl sitting on the bed holding her doll tight. Her hair was just like ours curly and long, falling down her back. She had the same complexion as Porsche, dark brown. When she lifted her head up to look at us she gasped.
She looked at Porsche for the longest time and I think she saw herself in Porsche. We all had the same hazel eyes, but she and Porsche favored each other the most. You would think that Porsche was her child. I walked closer to her and said, “Hi Paige. I’m you’re…”
“I know who you are. You’re Paris. That’s Porsche and that’s Patrice,” she said pointing. I smiled at her and she reached inside her pocket and took out a picture of us. “My mom told me that I had older sisters and she gave me this picture,” she said.
It was a picture of us when we were younger. My dad must have given it to her mother or maybe her mother took the picture. We don’t know. I looked back at Porsche and Patrice who were still standing there. I think they were in shock that we actually had a little sister.
“Am I going to live with you now?” Paige asked.
“Yes you are,” I said, “Would you like to live with us Paige?”
She nodded her head yes. A tear dropped from my eyes and she wiped it from my face. I smiled at her and she hugged me. Ah, she was just the sweetest little thing.
She got up off the bed and hugged Patrice first, and then she hugged Porsche. Porsche broke down crying. I really didn’t know what to make of it, but I just let her have her moment. Ms. Jones came back and handed us some things that were not damaged in the fire. I looked at the picture and I was shocked to see that Paige’s mother was my mother’s best friend.
How could Scarlet do this to my mother? I always wondered why Scarlet stopped coming around to visit us at the house. Gosh, my poor Momma. Her own best friend since she was a little girl slept with her man. Damn. This day can’t get any worse. I grabbed Paige’s hand and we all proceeded out the door with an extra family member.
Chapter 7~Porsche
You know that saying you can run, but you can’t hide? All my life I’ve been running from my past and it has finally caught up with me. I thought I was never going to have to face the decisions I made when I was fourteen. I was too young to even understand back then, but my parents made me give her up.
No one knows that Paige is my daughter but my Mom, Dad, my mom’s best friend Scarlet who agreed to keep her and me. My dad put his name on the birth certificate so she could always find us when she was ready. Never in a million years would I have th
ought that she would come sooner than what we all predicted. I could still remember the day when I went to my mom with the news that I was pregnant…
Cameron Reynolds stayed next door to us ever since I was a little girl. His mom was a crackhead so he stayed with his grandmother, Ms. Essie. She was the sweetest lady and she would sometimes keep us for my mom when she went looking for my father. I always had a crush on Cameron but I also hated him too.
We had that type of Love and Basketball kind of love. We were the best of friends and we were very protective about each other. I always sent messages when girls liked him and he always sent messages when boys liked me. We never really paid them any mind because we were so involved trying to outdo each other in sports and other things.