“You slept with Jaquon?” he asked, stunned, and I wished I hadn’t said anything. It was bad enough I had cheated on him, but to admit sleeping with his best friend was my biggest mistake.
“Derrick, I didn’t mean to say that.”
“But you did, and I can tell by the look on your face that it’s true.”
I looked down at my hand which started to tremble a bit.
“When?” he asked.
“Several months ago,” I answered nervously.
“Where?”
I looked over at what used to be our bed, and his eyes followed them.
“My bed? You slept with him in my bed?” he exclaimed grabbing my shoulders, shaking me.
“Let me go,” I said, struggling to get out of his grasp.
“Who the hell are you? What type of slut did I allow myself to get involved with?”
“I’m not a slut.”
“Well, you damn sure haven’t shown me anything different. How many more men have you spread your legs for?” he asked, pushing me backward into the wall.
“You did it too. I just caught you.”
“But the difference between now and then, Zacariah, is now we are not together. Then you were living with me. Then you were driving the car I bought you. Then we were supposed to be the only ones sleeping in that bed,” he said pointing at the mangled sheets he and Kea just came from up under.
“I’m sorry for my part in this.”
“Your part started all this, Zacariah. If you would have just loved me truly like I loved you, then we would be lying there now. I would still be giving you everything I thought you deserved. But now I know you deserve nothing. You appreciate nothing. You spit on our relationship to whore around, and that’s why we’re over.”
His words ripped through my heart like a bullet tearing through flesh. And this was all Kea’s fault. She’s the reason why we are not getting back together. That tramp is definitely going to get what’s coming to her. I’m going to make sure I destroy her life.
Kea
I hadn’t heard from Daddy since the night of the wedding. I wanted to know how he was doing. I tried calling him several times, but he didn’t answer. This was unlike him. So I decided to drive over to see what was going on. When I entered my parents’ house, stuff was everywhere. Someone had ransacked their home, and I began to worry. I wanted to run out and call the cops, but Daddy’s car was in the driveway, so I knew he had to be here. Not wanting to panic before I had to, I called out to him. There was no answer. I called out again, but still, no one responded. My heart wanted to leap into my throat, but I tried hard to maintain my cool. This was a big house, so maybe they couldn’t hear me.
I walked farther into the house looking at picture frames which had been shattered, broken vases, ripped down curtains, and even the flat-screen above the fireplace mantel in the den had been destroyed. I called out again, and finally, my mother walked down the spiral staircase with a glass in her hand.
“Well, well, well. Look at the trash in my home.”
I wanted to believe she was talking about the destroyed items, but I knew she was referring to me.
“Hello, Mother.”
“I didn’t think I told you to come in.”
“You forget I have a key.”
“Remind me to get my locks changed because you are no longer welcomed here,” she said through slurred speech. That meant Mother was on one of her drinking binges.
“Where’s Daddy?”
“You mean that piece of crap I’ve been married to for all these years? He’s around here somewhere.”
No sooner than she said that, Daddy came walking down the stairs with two huge suitcases in his hands.
“Daddy, can you tell me what’s going on here? I tried calling you, but you didn’t answer,” I said. “And why do you have those suitcases?”
“I’m leaving your mother, Kea. This is something I should have done a long time ago,” he said glaring at her.
“Get the hell out then,” she yelled throwing the glass at him. It missed him by miles.
“And the reason why you didn’t get me is because Frances destroyed my cell phone along with all of this,” he stated, looking around at the demolished space.
“And I would do it again,” Mother said. “Most of my money paid for all of this anyway.”
“Keep thinking you did this all by yourself,” Daddy replied.
“I never should have married you, Joseph. You were the biggest mistake of my life. No. No,” she said pointing at me.
“She was the biggest mistake of my life.”
“Why do you insist on treating me like this, Mother? What have I ever done to you?”
“You were born,” she spit out coldly.
“Enough,” Daddy said. “Let’s get out of here before your mother picks up something else to throw at us,” he said hurrying to the door.
“You’re just a coward,” Mother bantered. “You thought you were helping me when you married me. All you did was burden my life,” she yelled at Daddy.
“Let’s go, Kea,” Daddy urged.
The look on his face was one of fear. I knew Mother could be a scary lady, but I knew Daddy wasn’t afraid of her either. Something else was making him act like this.
“Why are you rushing me, Daddy? What’s going on?” I asked curiously.
“He just doesn’t want me to tell you what I should have told you a long time ago,” Mother smirked.
“Daddy, what is she talking about?” I asked confused, turning to him.
He lowered his head.
“Daddy, please talk to me.”
“Tell her, Joseph. Tell her everything,” Mother snickered evilly. She went to the bar and poured herself another generous drink.
“What type of hold does she have on you?” I asked Daddy compassionately.
“I’ll tell you,” came her cold reply as she walked closer to me, tripping over the broken items on the floor. Daddy stepped in front of me before Mother could get any closer.
“No, you won’t. If anyone is going to tell her, it’s going to be me.”
She stepped back smiling deviously.
“Tell me what, Daddy? You’re scaring me.”
“Kea, maybe you should have a seat.”
“I don’t want to sit down. I want you to tell me what’s going on!”
“Don’t be afraid now,” Mother sneered. “You acting like you scared to tell her. Enlighten her as to why I hate her so much.”
Daddy looked at me through sorrowful eyes and said, “You know I love you. I love you more than life itself, and I hope you won’t let this affect our life in the future. I’m going to always be here for you, no matter what, and I’m going to help you through this any way I can.”
“Get on with it already,” Mother bellowed.
Daddy looked at her to shut up, and then turned his attention back to me.
“Kea, the reason why ...” he paused with his hands trembling.
“Kea, baby, I’m not your father.”
His words stung like a thousand hornets attacking.
“Not my father?” I said, not understanding.
“Biologically, I’m not,” he revealed with water forming in his eyes.
“I don’t understand,” I said shaking my head.
Out of nowhere, Mother pushed Daddy aside and said, “You are the product of a rape.”
I looked back and forth from Daddy to Mother waiting for the punch line. I looked around for the Candid Camera crew to jump out and say you’ve been punked, but the looks on their faces with Mother glaring at me like I repulsed her and Daddy looking distressed let me know this had to be true.
“Rape?” was all I could manage to utter. “But you raised me,” I said looking at Daddy.
“He raised you because I didn’t want you,” Mother said uncaringly. “I was a poor little girl who grew up with nothing. Half of the time there was no food in my house to eat. I had a mother who worked three jobs to support her
children and a man who refused to get off his lazy behind and do anything for us,” she fumed. “He would beat Mama until she gave him her check. Then he would go out and blow it on drinking, gambling, and other women. A lot of times we sat in the dark at night because my stepfather spent the electric bill money. He spent the grocery money. And all Mama could do was work to take care of a fool who didn’t love her. I think she worked as much as she did to get away from him. But she failed to realize she left children at home to deal with him.”
I listened intently. I never knew about any of my mother’s past, and now I could see why she didn’t want to disclose it.
“I felt alone as a child. I had no one to turn to. Yes, I had siblings, but they were trying to survive just like me. And in my loneliness, my stepfather took it upon himself to provide the companionship I needed. But I didn’t want the type of companionship he was giving. I didn’t want to play the game of touchy-feely,” Mother said with tears now running down her cheeks.
“And this went on for years until I developed into a woman. By the age of thirteen, my stepfather was sleeping with me,” she said through hot tears.
“He was raping me, and there wasn’t anyone who came to my rescue,” she screamed, turning around kicking the objects on the floor while Daddy stood looking at me as if he wanted to take me into his arms and shield me from all this ugliness.
“I was a child, dammit. How could my own mama not see what this man was doing to me? And when I finally got up the nerve to tell her, she didn’t believe me,” Mother said with more tears falling.
“But that didn’t stop her from confronting him anyway about my accusation, and, of course, he denied it. Hell, the bastard beat Mama for asking, and she let it go after that. I didn’t understand why she just didn’t pack her children up and run. She could have taken us away from him. We could have lived in a car or something. Anything was better than what we were dealing with. But my mother chose to stay. She allowed him to continue to do what he was doing to me,” Mother said, still crying.
“My stepfather didn’t expect me to get pregnant because when he started having sex with me, I wasn’t having my period. I didn’t get that until I was almost fifteen years old. And that’s when I got pregnant. He told Mama I was hot in the tail and I let some boy get me knocked up. I tried to tell Mama it was her husband’s child I was carrying, but she wasn’t trying to hear me,” Mother screamed as loud as she could, releasing all that pent up anger. “And don’t you know that time I lost the baby. I ended up miscarrying. My stepfather couldn’t even wait for me to stop bleeding from losing the baby before he was climbing on top of me to ... to . . . rape me again. Needless to say, it didn’t take long before I was knocked up a second time,” Mama said looking at me.
By now, I was in tears myself. This story was horrible, and to know my mother went through so much suffering disturbed me.
Daddy came closer to me saying, “That’s when I met Frances. I fell head over heels in love with her the first time I saw her. I could see she was going through something, but I didn’t care. I loved her. Eventually, she trusted me, letting me know she was carrying her stepfather’s child,” Daddy said.
“I wanted to lose this baby too. I thought about throwing myself down some steps. I drank. I smoked. I did everything I could to lose you, but you kept growing inside me,” she said glaring at me.
“You kept moving and making me feel miserable. It was like you were fighting to live, and I didn’t understand why I was being punished. And Joseph told me he would stay with me. He told me he would take me away from all of that and wanted me to stop what I was doing and that it wasn’t the baby’s fault. He begged me to keep you, but I didn’t want to,” Mother said despondently.
“I married your mother right before you were born,” Daddy said.
“Mama couldn’t wait to sign those papers giving me to someone else to handle. She saw me as a problem within our family and was more than happy to see me leave. Or maybe a small part of her knew what her man was doing to me and with me gone he would no longer be cheating on her.”
She paused a second, getting choked up at the realization of her mother not wanting her.
“I had you when I was only sixteen years old,” Mother said.
“And I thought you were the most beautiful baby I had ever seen,” Daddy expressed. “I fell in love with you as soon as I laid my eyes on you. Your tiny hands gripped my finger, and I knew I was where I was supposed to be. I was supposed to raise you as my daughter.”
“This is too much,” I said backing away. “If I was your daughter, then why did you let Mother beat on me like she did?”
“I should have stopped her, and I will regret it for as long as I live, but Frances told me if I ever went against her when it pertained to you and Emory, she would send you to live with your real father,” Daddy said dejectedly.
“You threatened to send me to the man who raped you?” I asked Mother.
“He was your father! I spent enough time raising you on my own. It was his turn.”
“You were not raising her alone, Frances,” Daddy yelled.
“I had to look into this child’s face every day of my life. She was a constant reminder of a life I was trying to put in the past, but how could I when the past was staring me in the face,” Mother said with hatred dripping off her words.
“Did you ever love me, Mother?” I asked, not wanting to give her the thrill of seeing my pain. It took everything I had in me to hold back tears. I felt like what I was hearing was changing my entire existence.
“Did you ever love me, Mother?” I asked again.
“No,” she said, shooting me a poisoned look, not even blinking. She meant it too. I shuddered at her insensitive reaction to hurting me with just that one word, no.
“Baby girl, I loved you. Do you hear me? I said I love you. Look into my eyes,” my father told me. I looked up at him.
“See the love I have for you. What I should’ve done was leave your Mother to live her life. I wanted to take you and Emory away from all of this, but I knew she would call the cops on me. She told me if I ever left with you girls, she would have me locked up for kidnapping and I would never see the two of you again. She told me she would send you to the man who raped her and raise Emory on her own. I couldn’t let her do that to you. Regardless, the two of you were sisters. I felt like my hands were tied, and I didn’t know what to do,” he said crying. “I loved you both so much.”
“But aren’t you Emory’s father? How could she lock you up if you were Emory’s dad?” I asked, figuring if Daddy married Mama when she was pregnant with me, then Emory had to be his.
Daddy turned and looked at Mother saying, “Frances cheated on me numerous times. Emory is a product of her adulterous behavior in our marriage.”
“What marriage?” Mama said acrimoniously. “You really think what we had was actually a real marriage?”
“I married you because I loved you, Frances,” Daddy said sincerely.
“Well, too bad I never loved you,” she threw back cruelly.
I went to Daddy and embraced him. I could feel his tears drip on me with my own, wetting his shirt.
“I love you, Daddy.”
“I’m so glad you girls have turned out as well as you have and have grown into gorgeous, resilient young women. Today I take a stand for you, Emory, and myself. I’m leaving Frances and starting a new life with you all. Frances is going to have to continue to live with the demons that have haunted her all these years without me there to help her,” he said, looking over at Frances whose fangs were no longer visible. She looked like she felt bad for once.
In that moment, I felt sorry for her because she didn’t have a Joseph any longer. All she had was herself, and I thank God for blessing me with a man who stepped up and called me his own.
Daddy grabbed my shoulder and kissed me on the forehead.
“I love you, Kea. As long as I’m granted breath in my body, I’m going to continue to love you an
d Emory because I’m your father.”
“I love you too, Daddy.”
“Now let’s get out of here,” he said moving toward the door.
“You’ll be back,” Mother yelled, but Daddy didn’t respond.
“And Kea,” she called. I turned to look at the woman who birthed me, thinking this may be the last time I would see her for a while.
She smiled cruelly and said, “Don’t you want to know who your real daddy is?”
Zacariah
I knew this was underhanded, but I didn’t care. I had to find a way to get Kea back, and this was the only way I could think of for that to happen. I searched high and low trying to find some nasty skeleton in the closet that would crush her, but I couldn’t find anything on her. This girl was really Ms. Goody Two-shoes.
I knocked at the door. It took a minute for someone to finally answer.
“Can I help you?” the woman asked, opening the door.
“Yes. My name is Carolyn,” I answered, intentionally giving her a false name. “I’m looking for Kea.”
“She doesn’t live here,” she said unconcerned.
I pulled out a piece of paper with the address written on it. “This was the last known address I had for Kea. I went to school with her. I got back into town last night and was hoping I could catch up with her here.”
“Well, she doesn’t live here,” came the frigid answer.
“Do you know where I can find her?”
“Come in and I’ll get you her new address,” she said, motioning me to enter.
I walked in and was amazed at how spectacular this house was. A huge foyer, crystal chandelier, and spiral mahogany staircase greeted my eyes. This house was amazing. I hoped to have something just like this one day.
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