Turned Out by His Hood Mentality 3

by Diamond D Johnson

  “Little girl, you just caused me so much pain,” I spoke through my tears as I looked down at my little hairy baby.

  She was still crying her heart out. She stayed on me for about five minutes, and then she was taken, so she could be weighed and everything else. Billionaire leaned his head into me, thanking me repeatedly for giving him this beautiful little girl.

  I wiped the tears that were still falling from his eyes, and we engaged in a kiss that held more passion than any other kiss that we’d ever had before.

  “I’m a mommy,” I said, breaking the kiss and speaking through my tears.

  “You are. A perfect one at that. I love you,” he assured me.

  “I love you too. I know just the colors and the look that I want for my she shack,” I told him, not forgetting about the bet that we made two months ago.

  “Normani, after what you just did, you can have whatever the fuck you want,” he let me know.

  Just like that folks, I was now a part of motherhood. I couldn’t wait for the nurses to finish cleaning my baby up because I was ready to love on her, sing to her, kiss her, and tell her how my labor with her was hell.

  Five months later

  Pastor Davidson

  “This doesn’t have to be the end, Pastor. This just means that you have to start over. Go back to your roots from when you were ministering in the projects. All the people who left, that just only means that they weren’t loyal to you, to begin with. Let’s just start all the way over,” my assistant, Martha, said as we stood outside of what used to be my church.

  All kinds of graffiti was written on the church building with signs posted, advertising that it was for sale. They wanted to beat me down, rob me of everything I had, well, they succeeded. Ever since that asshole, Billionaire, came to my church and exposed my truth in front of my bible study class, my congregation had dwindled. For about a month, I still had several members, but those members were only coming to be nosy. I knew they were waiting on me to address what had happened in bible study that night, but I wouldn’t.

  As Sundays went by, the congregation just kept getting smaller and smaller. With no money coming into the church, it was hard to keep up with this place. Every day for about six months straight, Billionaire had those thugs standing outside of my church, protesting to get my church shut down, and it worked. I really wished that Saint wouldn’t have been such a coward and that he had just done the job that I paid him to do. I never even got back the ten grand that I’d given him, and you can just bet he stopped coming to church after that, so I never saw him again.

  I couldn’t care less about the money, though, because I honestly lost so much more. I lost Normani a long time ago, so I didn’t care too much about that; it was the fact that I lost Naomi too and Melody. Melody was the one person who I just knew would stand by me through anything, but she left me, just like everyone else. Yes, I did some bad things to her over the years, but I asked forgiveness from God for those things years ago.

  I hated that she exposed our dirty laundry like that in front of our children. To bring up my son, who she knew we vowed to never talk about again, was crazy. We didn’t even know where my son was, so it was irrelevant for her to even bring that up.

  Life for Melody was good. I guess she finally got everything she wanted. Her church was the most talked about church in Miami. She even had her own segment that came on TV on Sunday mornings. She was ministering, and a couple of days ago, I even heard her new single on the radio. Good for her.

  I wasn’t broke, but I was nowhere near as wealthy as I used to be. There was no use in me continuing to pay the bills there, only for no one to show up. With Melody having her church, I knew that I would never have a big congregation like I did over the years because it would be too much to compete with her. This was the part where I would walk away from it all.

  If I was asked the question of if I had any regrets, the answer was no! Imagine folks being so mad at me, just because I loved my daughter so much that I wanted better for her when it came to her love life. I give it a couple of years before that thug that my daughter is with shows his true colors. I’ve fought, and I’ve fought with my family about this for months, and I was tired.

  My home was already packed up, the house was sold, and I was getting out of Miami. This country boy was moving on, and hopefully, wherever I moved to, I could start all over again. Hell, who knows? Maybe I’ll find my son out there and work it out with him. I guess, at this point, I was desperate since none of my daughters wanted anything to do with me.

  “Martha, I’m tired. I’m tired of fighting. I’ve let this church consume me for almost thirty years. I did my part. I spoke His word. I’m ready to walk away from it all now. After what got out about me, nobody is going to support me, and I’ve accepted that. Take care, and thank you for all that you’ve done to help with this church over the years,” I told Martha and put my hands on her shoulder before I walked away.

  On my way to my car, I had to pass the church’s garden. The same garden I planted with Naomi and Normani when they were four years old and eight. I remember that day verbatim. A lone tear fell from my eyes as I thought about my girls. I knew the God I served; therefore, I didn’t believe in superpowers, but this time, I would do anything to go back in time and start over from that day.

  Denim McCloud

  “My room so big, Mama. I don’t want Cinderella this time around. I’ve outgrown that. I want to do Trolls this time,” Khari said, running over to me as I sat on the floor at our new townhouse, breastfeeding my baby, Kelsey.

  I went with Kelsey for my daughter’s name because it meant brave. This little girl was definitely brave, especially with the things she had to endure when she was growing inside of me. My daughter was beautiful. I just hated that every time I looked at her, the only thing I saw was Reggie. She had his entire face, so as much as I wanted to forget about his entire existence, all I really had to do was look at her, and I would have no choice but to think about him.

  Reggie’s mother had contacted my mother a couple of months ago by sending a letter to her house, which was meant for me. She was basically reaching out and requesting to have a relationship with her granddaughters, but that would never happen. That part of my life was over. Her son would rot in that prison cell, and I just wanted nothing to do with them. I was raising three beautiful girls, and I needed to get my shit together for them.

  Everyone around me had a talent, and these days, mine was jumping into the hair business as a loctician. Nobody could re-twist dreads and style them like me, so I was actually using my talent these days. After months, I’d finally found a nice little spot for my kids and me, and we no longer had to live at my mother’s house, on top of each other, because we all had our own room this time around, even the baby, even though I would keep her sleeping in the room with me for a while.

  Billion and I were cool; we kept it about Khari, and that was it. I still didn’t fuck with Normani, and she didn’t fuck with me either. Her daughter was beautiful as hell, though. She and I would probably never get along, but my daughter liked her, so I guess that’s all that mattered.

  “We can do Trolls. What you want to do, Rylo?” I asked my oldest daughter, who had come and sat down next to me.

  Rylo was so good with her little sisters. She’d always been good with Khari, but I was surprised by how well she was with Kelsey too. She changed diapers like a pro, knew how to put her to sleep, warm up bottles, etc. When she sat next to me, I leaned in and kissed her on her cheek.

  “Simple. You can just paint it pink,” she told me.

  Rylo has always been my cool, calm child, but ever since her father was sent to prison, I could hardly get this little girl to talk. She was hurting; I knew she was, and a lot of that hurt came from seeing Khari have Billion in her life. Although Billion took care of his daughter, he looked out for Rylo as well, but a child just knows when they are getting loved on less than, which is why I made sure that I didn’t go a day without lovi
ng on Rylo.

  “Mama, when is Kelsey going to meet Prosper? They need to be best friends like Dream and me, although Dream moved to California with Auntie Twinkle,” Khari said, and I groaned at her question.

  My daughter had it in her mind that everybody was supposed to be this big, happy family, but that wasn’t ever going to happen.

  “Soon,” I said, lying to her. I wasn’t even sure why I said that to her because she would hold me to it.

  She did a little happy dance, while I just sat back, admiring this beautiful home that I couldn’t wait to fill with so many memories with my children. Just me and my children because I wasn’t looking for a man. It would take a strong man to deal with me anyway because I was too much to handle on my own, so imagine me coming to the table, toting three children with me too.

  Sidnesha Roy

  “Nice, strong heartbeat. Look at that lil fella in there flipping,” my doctor said as he showed me, my husband, and Lil Bill my overly active son who was growing inside of me and getting bigger by the day.

  Yes, my husband. Chris proposed months ago on my birthday, and we tied the knot exactly a month ago. I couldn’t be happier. For the first time in my life, I finally felt like I had it right. This was no longer a test or a trial. This was the real thing this time around, and it was perfect. I had the perfect man, the perfect son, and in a couple of more months, I would bring in another perfect son.

  My hair business was just getting bigger and bigger by the day, and every month, I was outdoing myself with what I made in sales. My husband was doing his thing, running multiple barbershops, and we were getting a home built together from the ground up.

  “This explains the crazy kicking that I’m always getting. It feels like he be in there rearranging furniture,” I said, making everyone laugh.

  When Lil Bill was growing inside of me, he was active too, but he wasn’t this damn active.

  “He’s just a hyper little one. It’s not a bad thing. Everything looks good, mom. When we’re done, just go up front and make your next appointment for two weeks,” my doctor told me after he cleaned the gel off my stomach.

  He eventually left the room, and Chris came over to help me down from the table. He wrapped me in his arms, kissing me a couple of times on my lips.

  “I swear I can’t believe I’m pregnant again. I swore I was done having kids,” I truthfully told him.

  “You just needed the right nigga to come around and shift your mindset. This ain’t it, though. I want some more,” he said, referring to kids.

  All I could do was grunt because whatever this nigga asked for, he would get. Like I was saying, though, life was good. Normani and I weren’t best friends, but we were cool. She and Billion even attended my wedding last month. Shit like this could work, but everybody had to be mature. Billion and I did the co-parenting thing, where we alternated with Lil Bill sleeping at my house for a week, then his for a week. That’s how it went, and we hadn’t butted heads yet.

  Roheem was still around. He’d graduated from culinary school and was working at a big-time restaurant here in Miami. He was stacking his money, so he could get his own restaurant one day. I knew it would come because I didn’t know a soul who cooked better than Roheem. Denim was around too, handling her business with three kids. She never brought up leaving Miami again, but I knew she wouldn’t because, like I said back then, it was just something that she said out of spite.

  Monterius Jordan

  “Come here, ma-ma,” Trinity said as she ran after Tegan.

  Tegan was only nine months, and this little girl was already walking all over the place, getting into so much shit. I laughed as I watched my daughter move those chubby legs around as she hysterically laughed, trying to get away from her mama. We were at Monty’s, which was set to have its grand opening this weekend. I just wanted to bring my girl and my daughter there, so they could get a first look.

  Trinity and I were doing this relationship thing, and so far, shit was perfect. I was realizing more and more that if I kept my dick in my pants, a relationship could work. I wasn’t fuckin’ around on Trinity. I respected her out of this world because this woman had my daughter. She held shit down for Tegan when I wasn’t around, and I loved her for that. She was still going strong with her dance studio, and sometimes, she would even bring Tegan to some of her sessions.

  I finally had Trinity in a place where she wasn’t constantly questioning me about Twinkle because she knew that her spot in my life was solidified. I was happy, I was out the streets, and life was great. I sold that house that I had built for Twinkle and me. I ain’t want to put my girl and my child in something that was originally for me and someone else. So, with the help of Billion, I got it on the market and made a pretty penny off that shit too.

  When Trinity’s lease was up a couple of months ago, I had her and Tegan move in with me, and I had my own little family that I came home to every night.

  “Here, go to Daddy. You got me out of breath,” Trinity said, holding Tegan in her arms and then handing her over to me.

  I took my daughter, kissed her on her cheeks, and then I kissed Trinity on her lips.

  “This is beautiful, baby. I can’t wait to be on the second floor, shaking my ass. Your office is nice too. Ooohh, the things I want you to do to me in there,” she purred.

  I laughed, thinking about how wild her ass was. Sex with Trinity was off the motha fuckin’ chain, man. She let a nigga explore with her pussy. She didn’t hold back from shit. I swear, we could be somewhere, five-star dining, and she’ll let me hit it in the bathroom. Trinity was a big ass freak, but then she turned it off and went into that innocent, sweet role with our daughter.

  “Things like what?” I asked, grabbing her in my arms because she tried to walk away from me.

  “I’ll tell you later,” she said and pointed at Tegan like she could understand what we were talking about.

  “She can’t understand you,” I told her, and she laughed.

  “Baby, I’ll tell you later. I’m happy for you, though. You actually did what you set out to do, and you didn’t just talk about it. You made it happen,” she told me.

  I thanked her for that because it meant a lot when your shorty let you know that she was happy for you. We lingered around the space for a while and did another walkthrough of the spot. By the time we made it to the third floor, Tegan was in my arms sleeping. I backed up against the wall with her, pulling Trinity into me.

  “You happy?” I asked.

  She smiled big at my question and then kissed me on my lips.

  “Yes, baby, so happy. I love you,” she cooed.

  “I love you too. C’mon. Let’s go home, so we can make another baby,” I let her know, and she laughed.

  “Bullshit!” she hollered, just like I knew she would.

  Twinkle Brooks

  “Ohhh, my God. She’s so perfect. Normani, she is perfect,” I cooed as I stood not too far from a perfect Prosper as she was doing her five-month-old baby pictures.

  This little girl was literally a black baby doll. I was in Miami for a couple of days. Dream had a four-day break from school, so I figured that I would come home to visit my mom. Plus, we took that drive yesterday, so we could visit Loyal. Dream was surprisingly loving Cali. I thought she would be ready to go home to Miami, which had been her stomping grounds for the last six years.

  She loved it because our lifestyle in Cali was much different than how it was in Miami. Dream’s little ass was famous in Cali because of Truth. She attended a great school, she met a lot of new friends, and Truth’s season was starting back up. One of her favorite things was attending basketball games. Things between Truth and I were perfect. He kept the penthouse, but he did purchase a home for us, which was more family-friendly. I swear that home had everything, to the point that it was a struggle to leave it.

  The countdown was on for our Winter Wonderland themed wedding that was taking place this December. I made seven months pregnant today, and I couldn’t wait
to meet my baby boy. I was pushing for a girl, but with pregnancy, you always get the opposite of what you wish for. Look at Normani, who begged for a son, but got this gorgeous daughter instead.

  I won’t even lie, Normani’s labor scared a bitch shitless. I knew women were powerful, and we could do things that a man couldn’t, but I wasn’t pushing no baby out of me like Normani did without some drugs. It was beautiful, and I get how a woman would want to take on that pain for her child, but you could count me out. Epidural me, please!

  “She isssss. Hi Mommy. Hi Mommy,” Normani cooed to Prosper, making her chunky butt laugh, showing off the deep dimples in her cheeks.

  She had the same gray colored eyes as her mother, but everything else was Billionaire. This little girl came out looking like the exact replica of her father. This photoshoot had been going on for almost an hour because there had been three outfit changes. Prosper was in her last outfit for the day, which was a beautiful white gown. She was getting christened in two weeks, so Normani was having pictures taken for that along with pictures just to show her growth.

  The house was packed today, with Dream, Khari, and Lil Bill running around. Billion’s parents were there, and our grandmother too because everyone wanted to be in attendance to see Little Miss Prosper have yet another photoshoot.

  Askiya was there taking the pictures, and I promise you this woman had a gift because she snapped the perfect moments. She did Normani’s maternity pictures with Billionaire, and they were so beautiful that it looked fake. Their beautiful, black skin on those pictures was breathtaking. I couldn’t wait until next month when she flew out to Cali to do mine and Truth’s. Askiya was really cool. She and Normani had grown close in my absence.