by Elbie Dee
“Alrighty. Time to go, babe,” I said to Dezire, after I hopped up in the driver’s seat of the vehicle. “Where’s she going anyway?”
“You know I can’t tell you that,” she giggled, as I backed out of the driveway.
“We shouldn’t keep secrets between us, you know,” I stated. She chuckled, which caused her stomach to bounce a little. She was the cutest thing in the world, and I was glad to have her in my life.
“But this is not my business to tell! This is Brilese’s life,” she replied, once she caught enough of a breath between her laughs.
“Okay. I guess I get it,” I said, before shooting a wide grin toward her.
Kinfolks, by Sam Hunt began softly playing through the speakers located on each of the door panels. Knowing it was Dezire’s favorite country song, I reached my right hand to the volume dial and turned the sound halfway to its maximum. We jammed down the highway, up until we were halfway to my house when Dezire’s phone began to ring.
“Hello?” Dezire answered, after she turned the volume of the music down until silence filled the truck. “No fucking way!” she screamed into the mouthpiece.
She informed the person on the other end of the line that we’d be at my house in less than twenty minutes, and her parents would meet us there with the kids. With that being said, I was able to confirm the person she was speaking to was Brilese.
“Everything okay, babe?” I asked, once I noticed Dezire pressing the end button to the call.
“Not really,” she huffed, and directed a stare out of her window.
“Well, what is it?” I asked. I needed to be sure that everything would be rolling over smoothly, since everyone including the kids were going to be involved.
“Bradson caught Brilese and Axe having sex,” she confessed.
“What! Where are they now?” I asked.
I never thought Brilese would cheat on Bradson. She was the type of person who held loyalty to its highest capacity. If she was doing it to get back at Bradson, then her kids’ father would be the last person I would think of her being with. Since they were caught by Bradson, I was afraid he was about to do something stupid as his reaction. As bad as I wanted to call him and ask about things, I knew it wasn’t possible at the moment. It would throw the whole plan down the drain and lead to Brilese getting caught before she had the chance to leave.
“She was able to ditch the sight of Bradson. She’s almost at your house now,” she informed me, as she was looking down at her phone trying to complete a text.
“I just texted my mom to find out where she is with the kids,” she said, after the message was sent and the phone was placed in between her thighs.
Ring! Ring!
Ten minutes after Brilese got off the phone with Dezire, my phone started to ring. I grabbed my phone from the door panel and looked at the screen to notice it was Bradson. I let out a sigh and decided to answer the phone to lessen any suspicion of my lady and I being involved for the time being.
“What’s up man?” I answered.
“This bitch just fucked her lawyer, A.K.A her kids father, in the back seat of his fucking vehicle!” he screamed, as he vented through the phone… causing me to release my phone from my ear in order to make out his words.
“What?” I said, acting as if I didn’t just find out about it ten minutes prior.
“Yeah! They sped out of the parking lot before I got a chance to get into my car to follow Brilese! Fuck man!” he yelled. “Where are you at, man? I need a drink.”
“Dezire and I are heading to her parents right now,” I lied. “Can we meet in about an hour?”
He agreed to meet me at the time I suggested. There wasn’t a way I could allow him to meet me at my house. Brilese would get caught, and the drama would be far from bearable in front of the kids. Hell! It may even force Dezire into an early labor from the stress she’d be under. As much as I wanted to be there for my brother, Dezire nor I, wished to be in the middle of any more than we could handle.
In no time after my call with Bradson, we were arriving at the driveway of where she and I shared my place, since letting her apartment go a few months back. I can’t lie, my nerves began to act absurd as we slowly drove down the gravel driveway. All I could think of happening is Bradson showing up early to wait for me. Once the house was in my vision, I released the slight bit of anxiety from my body when I confirmed the only cars waiting were Brilese’s, and Dezire’s mother’s.
“Dezzie!” Karleiyah shouted, after Dezire carefully hopped down from her seat.
Dezire was met with Karleiyah for a hug, as she stood on the gravel in between the door panel and the inside of the truck. Right behind his sister, Zirko followed her movements and welcomed Dezire into his arms. Once she acknowledged the kids, Dezire closed the door and I opened mine. Before getting out of the truck, I pressed the lock button on the door panel. I hopped down and closed the door.
“How are you doing, Matt?” Mrs. Quise asked, after I leaned over to give her a squeeze.
“I’m okay. I’d rather not be in the middle of this, but it is what it is,” I honestly said.
“I understand. It’s almost over, baby,” she replied, before releasing her arms from around me.
As much as I wanted to believe her kind gesture, it was far from over. Bradson was my best friend, and I wasn’t getting out of the middle of things anytime soon… especially after he would find out about Brilese leaving.
“I didn’t know you smoke,” I said to Brilese, who was leaning her backside against her Lexus while smoking a Newport cigarette.
“I don’t, but I can’t drink right now so this will help calm me,” she replied with sass.
After witnessing her attitude, I realized that probably wasn’t what she needed to hear at the moment. Instead of pursuing additional conversation with her, I walked away and began to unload the four trash bags filled with her necessities. She realized what I was doing and opened her car door. After putting her cigarette out in the car’s ashtray, she pressed the button beside the steering wheel to pop the trunk.
“Thank you guys so much,” she said to Dezire and I, once everything was loaded into her trunk.
“You’re welcome,” Dezire replied on our behalf, as I lowered the trunk door until it was latched. “I’ll come visit after the baby is born.”
“You have no choice,” Brilese laughed, before bringing Dezire into her arms for a tight bear hug.
After Brilese and the kids said their goodbyes to Mr. and Mrs. Quise, and Dezire and I, the three of them got into the Lexus. Karleiyah and Zirko waved out of the back window, while Brilese circled her car around to be able to drive straight forward out of the driveway. All four of us waved back, until they were no longer in our eyesight.
Barely being able to tell, I tried making sure Brilese turned out of the driveway before it was time for Bradson to show. I squinted my eyes and walked a few steps forward and was able to get a good view of her taking a right onto the main street. Just as I was beginning to turn my body and walk back to where Dezire and her parents stood, I jerked my head back into the direction of the street.
“You got to be fucking kidding me,” I whispered to myself, not knowing if anyone else heard me. Bradson turned into my driveway and sped until he joined us. After he slammed on the brakes and caused dust to fly up from the rocks, he lowered his window.
“Was that Brilese!?” he asked in a loud manner. When I didn’t reply, he placed his gear into park and shot back down the driveway.
“Bradson!” I yelled. I knew he wasn’t going to stop the car, so I jetted to my truck. “I’ll be right back!” I told Dezire and her parents.
I started my ignition and peeled out of where I parked my truck. Once I was halfway down my driveway, I was able to confirm Bradson taking a right in the same direction Brilese did about thirty seconds prior. At the end of the driveway, I looked for oncoming traffic. The coast was clear, and I followed in the same direction Bradson went.
A half
of a mile down the road, I noticed Bradson pulling around in the front end of a gated driveway. Since he was too late to catch up to Brilese, I released a breath. He was my boy, but after hearing Dezire’s side of everything, I didn’t blame Brilese for leaving at all. She deserved more than he had been able to show her during their relationship.
“Why didn’t you tell me she was at your place!” Bradson quickly hopped out of his Fusion and hollered, once I joined him in the driveway he pulled into.
“For what! To cause more turmoil?” I asked, after I hopped down onto the pavement from my driver’s seat and joined him.
“Fuck man!” he shouted and placed his hands on top of the waves on his head. “It’s alright. I’ll deal with it when I get home. Hopefully, we can sit down and have a conversation as adults.”
“Sorry to tell you, but I don’t think that’s going to be possible,” I honestly stated. With his hands still on top of his head, he stopped pacing and twisted his body in my direction.
“What do you mean by that?” he asked, after he lowered his arms and scrunched his eyebrows to shoot a look of confusion my way.
“She’s gone. Her things are out of the house, and you’ll probably never see her again,” I let him know. As a friend, I couldn’t allow him to become a little more disappointed by finding things out on his own.
“How do you know?” he asked. This time, his tone was lowered and spoke with his voice crackled.
“She told Dezire, and said her goodbyes,” I let roll from my tongue.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! No!” he screamed at the top of his lungs and began forcing the bottom part of his fist onto the hood of his car. I walked a few steps and tried lifting him up from his position.
“Everything I fought for is over!” he expressed, after he nudged me away to position his body straight on his own.
“You still have kids to care for Bradson! You have to be strong for them!” I stated, in hopes it would allow him to think about them first.
“And Brilese was supposed to be their step-mother!” he shot back at me.
“At least they have mothers, and a father who loves the fuck out of them!” I replied, trying to remove his focus from Brilese. He paused and tilted his head toward me before speaking.
In a soft tone, he said, “My boys have a mother. The phone call I got before I came here, informed me that Alynn is dead. The bitch committed suicide. My daughter no longer has one.”
16
Merrisah
“You have reached the voicemail box of-,” I hung up the line once Bradson’s phone went to voicemail for the fourth time in a row.
“What the fuck Bradson. Come get your daughter,” I said aloud, as if he could hear me.
It was getting late, and he needed to pick Miracle up. Although I didn’t mind her spending time with her brothers, I was in no condition to keep her under his timing. If I was going to agree to babysit another woman’s child, it had to be around my own schedule. I was in good health, and was almost fully recovered from the shooting, but my own children were my number one priority.
Since Miracle was only a few days over a month old, she woke up every few hours to get fed. If she spent the night, I wouldn’t be able to get a lick of sleep. I’d be in and out of rest to be sure she was taken care of. My body wasn’t like it was kept before I got shot. Restlessness would result in my body potentially breaking down. I needed to make sure I was in perfect condition to be able to care for my boys properly.
The day I was discharged from the hospital is when my memory awakened. When I noticed Alynn also being discharged a few rooms down, instantly, I remembered the night I was shot. I was able to confirm that she was the one who did it. I shouldn’t have screamed out the way I did in the hospital but was glad I did. Since everyone around me heard my cry, I hoped it would do some justice on her trial day.
A few months into me being home, I was subpoenaed to court. After being given a chance to testify, and with much consideration, I decided to opt out. The traumatic event that I had to be the victim in weighed heavily on me. Without ever even seeing a gun in person before, having a bullet touch my body haunted me. I recited my prayer with God to still have Alynn face the consequences of what she had done, without me having to face her ever again.
During the time she awaited her judgement, Brilese was out, but seemed distant. Her and I never really got along since she felt like I took her man, but we had grown cordial. We were at a point where we could wave to each other when she and Bradson met me halfway to get the kids. Since the day she was arrested, Bradson showed up to get the boys on a number of occasions; Brilese wasn’t seen with him again.
The day after Alynn had Miracle, Bradson reached out to me. He explained that the baby was a few days old and was in his care. Obviously, she couldn’t sit in jail with Alynn. I figured he reached out to tell me about my son’s sister, but that wasn’t the only reason.
“I need your help,” he admitted, as I listened on my end of the phone line.
“With what?” I asked without hesitation.
“You always took care of the kids when they were first born. I don’t know if I’m doing this right,” he stated before continuing. “Can you help me make sure I’m not putting her in danger?”
“Don’t you have Brilese there? Wouldn’t it make sense for her to show you since you live together, and not forty minutes away like I am?” I questioned.
I didn’t mind helping with any child, but the favor he was asking me to do made no sense. He was living with a mother of two herself, and I was sure she knew how to take care of babies.
“She told me she wasn’t helping me with this bastard baby,” he recited what she had said to him. I chuckled, but not out of disrespect. When he explained what she told him, I immediately replaced his voice in my head with hers. It was exactly the type of thing for her to say.
“It’s not funny, Merrisah!” he yelled, after he heard the way I responded.
“I’m not laughing at that. I’m laughing at something else,” I lied, not wanting to explain what was going through my brain.
By the time him and I ended our conversation, I agreed to show him how to handle her in a fragile way. He arrived at my apartment in Charlotte almost two hours after our talk. Before he got a chance to put his daughter’s car seat down once he was in my place, the boys met him at the door. They greeted each other, and then told them to give us a few minutes. Kayo wobbled behind Kash back to the room, while Bradson walked into the living room. After he placed the carseat on my couch, he unstrapped Miracle and picked her up.
“No! Don’t hold her like that!” I said nervously.
Instead of supporting her neck, he grabbed her from under her armpits as he lifted her. With her being only a few days old, there was no way she would be able to support her head from bobbling. Her neck wasn’t strong enough yet. After I walked over to him, I showed him how to correctly pick her up to hold her.
Within the few hours of Bradson’s stay, I was able to properly show him how to care for her; burping, washing, laying, swaddling, feeding, and diaper changing. Since the nugget of the umbilical cord was still attached to her belly button, bathing her was the only thing I couldn’t show him how to do yet. I told him not to mess with it, but once it falls he could bring her back, and I would teach him additional caretaking methods.
He left after spending time with Kash and Kayo in their bedroom, after Miracle was back to sleep and in her car seat. Since then, him and I had grown more into friends. For our kids’ sake, it felt good to have a deeper connection with their father. There was no personal, direct contact whatsoever, so our relationship couldn’t be classified as disrespectful toward anyone.
Mom, Dad and Kaylen frequently checked on me. Every now and then, I would get a message from Brilese asking how I was doing. I’m sure it was only to be informed on where her case stood in court, but the consideration still made me feel better… especially since my boys were still in interaction with her.
They actually loved her. Their nickname for her was ‘Leese’, and she was always spoken of by Kash whenever they would come home. Without me questioning, he would take it upon himself to tell me about the time he and his brother had at her house. They liked to play with her kids and eat the meals she fixed. Because of her, I learned his favorite dish had become lasagna, which caused me to learn to perfect it.
Without her knowledge, or even mine, I was being molded into the type of mother she was through my son. Anytime I did something he didn’t like, he’d always say, “Leese, don’t do that. Leese does…” Whatever the situation was, he would explain how she reacted to it. Admittingly, a lot of what I was informed with became a power tool for my personal parenting.
Since the day I was able to go home from the hospital, I had been taking things easy. I wasn’t working before my tragedy happened, and I was in no condition to find work afterwards. It was time for me to focus on my kids and figure out my purpose in life. Nothing was set yet, but I knew I wanted to be an advocate of some sort. I figured the best non-profit for me to start would be one dealing with people who are accompanied by persons with mental health issues. I would have to learn more on how to deal with episodes, so I would know how to teach others. Whatever it would take, I was willing to do in hopes of saving a life or two in the future.
At almost nine o’clock at night, and without answering any of the umpteenth phone calls and text messages I sent, Bradson came pulling into my complex. I shook my head as I sat on the chair on my balcony, while watching him get out of the car. Once his door was shut, he began to mope toward the stairwell leading to my apartment. I got up from the chair, and went inside so I could let him in.
“You couldn’t answer any of my calls?” I asked, after I opened the door and he stood on the outside of my apartment.