“What?”
“Did you just moan?” she asked.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did. Girl, do I need to turn this car around and take your behind back home? Because you are not here with me. Your mind is elsewhere and I pray it’s not on Jaquon.”
“Well if somebody wouldn’t have woken me up so early, maybe I wouldn’t feel so tired,” I said, trying to play my absentmindedness off. “Now repeat what you said. I’m listening now. You have my undivided attention.”
“How was your time with him last night?”
I giggled at my crazy friend and said, “Jaquon was the perfect gentleman. He wined and dined me. He then ran me a bubble bath with candles lit, and cleaned the kitchen while I soaked in the warm bath waiting for him to come and lather me up,” I said seductively like I was back in that moment. I almost moaned again.
“Don’t be sitting here getting all horny with me, because I can’t do nothing for you. I’m strictly dickly.”
I laughed at my friend.
“You still have to catch me up on why you two broke up in the first place. Wait a minute,” she said, holding up one hand. “Let me guess. He cheated on you again.”
Her words hurt. Just the fact that she said “again” was enough to make me want to crawl in the back seat and get into the fetal position. “You remember when I told you I was going to Derrick’s cookout.”
“Yes.”
“And you know Derrick and I was doing our thing.”
“Yeah,” Terry said.
“Well, after everybody ate and had some fun, Derrick and I left for a minute and had our own little fun.”
“Get out.”
“Girl, he rocked my world,” I boasted.
“And nobody missed you two being gone?” Terry asked, still driving to our destination.
“We both left at different times so it wouldn’t look obvious, but once we came back, Zacariah approached us like she knew we were together.”
“Hold up. I thought Derrick and Zacariah were broke up.”
“They are.”
“So what was the trick doing there?” Terry asked.
“I still don’t know to this day. I guess she called herself crashing the party. And crashing she did.”
“Girl, you have to speed this thing up. You got me about to palpitate over here.”
I laughed as I went on to explain more. “Evidently the girl Jaquon was seeing happened to be Zacariah’s best friend. Her name was Essence I think. Girl, when I walked into that back yard, she was sitting beside him like Jaquon was her man, totally disrespecting me.”
“Did you snatch the bitch up?”
“No. I played it cool. The one I dealt with was Jaquon because he was my man,” I said irately, getting mad all over again.
“You should have snatched that bitch up anyway, but go on,” Terry said, getting angry.
“Jaquon and I got to arguing and Zacariah decided to put her two cents in by exposing me and Derrick. The funny thing is Jaquon already knew about us.”
“Get out of here,” Terry said, enthralled in my unraveling soap opera.
“I was wondering why he started coming home and being attentive all of sudden. But, Terry, here’s the kicker. Zacariah and Jaquon slept together too.”
“Get the gun.”
“I wanted to. If I had a piece, I swear I would have got to cappin’ in that back yard. I don’t know who would have got shot first, Zacariah or Jaquon.”
Terry laughed, pulling up to another red light.
“Everybody knew about it but me. Evidently this had happened over a year ago.”
“Even Derrick knew?” Terry questioned.
“Even Derrick, which hurt me the most. But Zacariah had one more trick up her sleeve. She revealed to Derrick and me that we had the same father.”
Terry turned completely to me like she was sitting on the sofa in my apartment. She forgot we were at a stoplight and was quickly reminded by the blaring of the driver behind us blowing their horn.
“I’m moving,” she yelled, putting her hand out the window and throwing up a middle finger.
“Stop doing that. You know people crazy. The middle finger can get you jacked up.”
“Well I’m crazy too. They can step if they want to. They are going to find their ass full of lead,” she said, turning right. “Now back to what you were saying. You lost me. You have to back up and repeat that last thing you said,” Terry said, confused.
“Getting dirt on me from my mother, Zacariah found out who my father was. She went to see him, only to find a picture of Derrick when he was a teen with a message on the back from Derrick’s mom. Something about ‘here’s a picture of your son,’” I explained.
Terry turned into a gas station abruptly. I looked at her gas hand and it was on full.
“Why are you stopping?”
“Kea, I had to pull over before I wreck this car. I need a minute to take all this in.”
I smiled at my friend, who was in disbelief. She leaned against the door, turning my way to listen more.
“I can’t believe this, Kea.”
“You. Derrick and I were devastated.”
“So this means,” she said, doing calculation with her finger in the air, “you slept with your brother.”
When she said it, it sounded so nasty. I said, “Yes.”
“Oh my goodness. But how do you know Zacariah was telling the truth? The woman is a conniving bitch.”
“That’s true, and we didn’t know, which is why we had a paternity test done.”
“And? Don’t leave me hanging,” Terry said, eager to hear the results.
“The test proved we are indeed related.”
Terry sat there with her mouth open, shaking her head. “I can’t believe you have been going through all of this and you didn’t tell me. I’m surprised you’re not sitting in the corner of a rubber room taking sedatives to get your mind off of all of this.”
“Believe you me, I’ve cried enough tears to last me a lifetime. Besides, growing up with a mother like mine made me strong enough to deal with heartache like this.”
“So what now?” she asked. “Are you and Derrick done?”
I frowned, saying, “Of course. That news divided us forever. Derrick can’t even look at me without getting upset and I feel just like he does.”
“Have you gone to see this man who’s your dad?” Terry asked.
I forgot that piece of the puzzle.
“I tried to do that first thing, Terry, only to find out the night of the cookout when all this mess was going down, he was shot and killed by somebody trying to rob him.”
“You know what, I don’t know if I want to hear any more of this madness. I didn’t think it could get any worse, but I see it has,” she said, turning back toward the steering wheel like she was going to pull off, but she didn’t.
“And guess who my father ended up being, Terry.”
“I don’t know if I want to know,” she said.
“The old guy who I used to take breakfast to who lived on the first floor in my building.”
“Are you talking about that man who sat outside all the time smoking?” Terry asked.
“Yep. That was him.”
“So all this time you’ve been talking and chillin’ with your very own father.”
“Crazy right,” I said with tears forming in my eyes. “I wish he would have known who I was before he died.”
“Aw,” Terry said, leaning over and wrapping her arms around me. “At least you still have a dad who loves you. You have more than some.”
“I know,” I said, wiping my tears from my cheeks.
Terry leaned back, looking at me, and asked, “Are you sure you are okay? This is a lot for one person to deal with.”
I smiled and said, “I’m good. I try not to think about it because when I do . . .” I pointed to my face.
“It’s going to be okay. You know I’m here for you no matter what.”
> “I know.”
Terry sighed loudly and said, “I hope you know all of this catching up has made me lose my appetite.”
I laughed, wiping the tears from my face, saying, “Well I’m still hungry. I need to eat something before I go to this will reading today.”
“What reading?”
“Mr. Hanks, the man who’s my father, put me in his will.”
“How ironic is that? Even though he didn’t know you were his daughter, he still loved you enough to put you in his will,” Terry said. “That’s a happy ending to this tragic story. I swear if you weren’t sitting here telling me face to face, I would think you read this out of a magazine, or book, or something.”
I laughed, saying, “Hopefully this reading will give me some closure when it comes to Mr. Hanks.”
“Some more closure you need to deal with is closing your heart off to Jaquon.”
I rolled my eyes, saying, “Terry, please don’t go back to him again.”
“I’m just saying, Kea. The man wants you back and that’s evident. Why should you give your heart back to a man who crushed it when he had it? You’ve been through this with him too many times. Let him go. That’s one less issue you have to deal with.”
I nodded as Terry put the car into drive to continue to our destination. I thought about what she said and knew she was right. I did need to exclude Jaquon from my life completely. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to. Being with him last night confirmed I still had feelings for him. He was trying, but I wasn’t sure how long this nice, affectionate Jaquon would last.
I couldn’t have Derrick anymore. I hadn’t been single in forever. And the fact of the matter was, after last night, I was already considering giving Jaquon another shot. I hadn’t told him and I damn sure wasn’t going to tell Terry. I needed to see where these days were going to take me. Hopefully some clarity would come into play to make me see the next step I needed to take.
Chapter 13
Derrick
Urgency was a factor due to ingrates looking to score it big. My real father’s body wasn’t even cold in the ground yet, before many of his so-called children came crawling out of the woodwork, fighting over assets they thought they were entitled to. Honestly I didn’t feel entitled to anything this man had since I hadn’t known him as my biological father. How could I now claim what was his? If it weren’t for me being convinced by Mama to come, I wouldn’t be here now. Hell, I still needed time to wrap my mind around what was going on in my family and how the father I thought was my real dad actually wasn’t. I hadn’t gotten the nerve to ask my parents, yet, how all this happened. I thought I was scared of the answers. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to hear the truth. That “truth shall set you free” crap doesn’t work all the time. I felt in my case it could be a hindrance on how I proceeded in my life. Especially if it was something more extreme than what had already occurred.
I entered the room for the will reading, which seemed to be a tight fit. Even with several people already here, Kea’s face was the first one my eyes landed on. She looked more beautiful than ever. She had cut her hair, which looked great on her. I wondered what my reaction was going to be when I saw her again and I could feel happiness fill me. Then the reality of our relationship set in quickly as my joy turned into grief, knowing this woman I loved deeply was my sister. It was in this moment I wished I never came to the reading of my so-called father’s will. From the spectacle of people who showed up, I almost turned and walked out of the facility.
I thought Kea sensed my presence. She turned in my direction. Her eyes met mine for a moment and she smiled at me, instantly causing me to feel at ease. She motioned for me to come over to her but I didn’t move right away. I wondered if being near her was a good idea. She saw I didn’t move and motioned again for me to come over to her. Before I could make my way over to the chair near her, someone plopped herself next to her. She looked at the woman and then back at me. Kea hunched her shoulders and I held my hand up, letting her know it was okay.
I looked around to find somewhere else to sit and found an empty seat away from her. I wanted to go over and put my arms around her small waist but I knew it would just stir up emotions within me that only existed in the deepest of hick towns. There could be no more incest here. Not that it really felt like incest, because we didn’t know we were siblings. Our sexual encounter was a mistake made by us not knowing we were brother and sister, but I wasn’t about to pretend to overlook that factor just to be in her arms again. I considered it many times, thinking we could run away from all of our family and live where no one knew us, but that was my imaginary world.
I looked over at her again but she wasn’t looking at me. She was talking with the young woman next to her in an orange and white sundress. I leaned down and gripped my head, wishing the thoughts I was having about her would go away. I wanted to be with her so bad but she was my sister, for goodness’ sake. Any feeling I had for her had to be drawn with a line of kinship. That line that was once crossed could never be stepped over again.
I looked back up. I was happy she wasn’t watching me gawk at her like a high school kid with a crush. I fell into her smile, which was calling me to kiss her sweet lips. I, again, shook off thoughts of her that deepened with each glance her way. I knew the person next to me had to think I was crazy by the way she kept looking at me sideways, snarling at me. I did hear her say to somebody on her cell, “This fool next to me looks like he’s about to lose it up in here.”
I ignored her and kept my head down to the floor. There was no one else in here I wanted to deal with besides Kea. And let me tell you with all the different types of personalities in the facility, hers was a welcome delight. These people here were a cross between Good Times and The Boondocks. Some I had seen around, but never did I imagine we could possibly be related. Most were an embarrassment, to say the least. I hoped my face wouldn’t show my dislike for them.
The 160-pound chocolate crusty woman sitting next to me kept running off at the mouth. I almost told her to mind her own damn business and go find some soap, water, and lotion to go on her stank, ashy body. Her ankles, feet, knees, and elbows glistened with white flakey matter I only saw as skin wishing to escape her body. And the funny thing was if she washed, fixed her hair, and put on some decent clothes, she might actually look nice.
“Yeah, girl, I’m here to get my money so I can go out tonight,” she said to someone on her phone. “And half these people here don’t deserve to get nothing. I’m the only one who cared for that man.”
I ignored Crusty and eagerly waited for the man to come through the doors for this reading. I hoped he would bring in fresh air because the air in this room was putrid. The woman beside me, using her outside voice, did her part in adding to the unneeded funk of armpits, unwashed behinds, and stank breath. Some smelled like they hadn’t showered since this time last month.
I couldn’t take this anymore. I got up to leave but an African American gentleman entered the room with a folder filled with papers. He scanned the space, looking at the many unsavory individuals who, I assumed, were asked to come. I sat back down since it was about to begin. I was here so a few more minutes shouldn’t hurt.
“This meeting will come to order,” he said loudly.
Some kept running their mouths like he didn’t say a word, including the woman sitting next to me who was too busy talking about what she was wearing to the club later.
The man repeated himself, this time elevating his voice with authority. I looked at the woman next to me.
She said, “Girl, I got to go. They are getting ready to get started. Wish me luck and hope I come home with a fat check,” she said, clicking her phone off.
“We are here to hear the last will and testament of a Mr. Otis Hanks.”
“Can you please hurry up? Because I got somewhere to be,” a female said with her arms crossed. “We have been sitting here too long already so just give me my money so I can go.”
“I heard that,”
another woman boasted. “I got to go home and cook.”
“You know you don’t cook,” said the guy sitting beside her, as they entered into a battle of words. “The only thing you know how to do is boil water and add some hot dogs to it,” the guy said, laughing, causing many around him to laugh also.
I wasn’t feeling it. I was ready to get this thing started so I could get the hell out of here.
“Please, everyone. Can you calm down so we can get through this? I will try to hurry, and it will go a lot faster if you all would not interrupt me while I’m trying to read his will. This shouldn’t take long.”
“It better not,” another woman said.
Instantly, I could tell she was from the wrong side of common sense. 90 percent of the people in here represented not having too much upstairs. Especially when I saw a woman who looked like she still had on her nightgown. I mean bedroom shoes and all. And her language was awful. I thought even this Ebonics dictionary they created needed to be redone with some of the words coming out of her mouth.
The man said a few things and then began to read the last words of the man who helped in my creation. “I, Mr. Otis Hanks, being of sound mind, do herby leave my life’s fortunes in this order. To Rhonda, Malequa, Shaquala, Precious, Charity, Darryl, Lloyd, Roscoe, Sonny, and Ethan, I leave you money in the sum of ten thousand dollars—”
The woman next to me jumped to her feet, screaming, “Ten thousand dollars. I’m getting ten thousand dollars.”
Others began to cheer until the man reading the will said, “Excuse me. I wasn’t finished reading. Can you all calm down and let me proceed?”
The woman sat down, smiling from ear to ear. All she had on her mind was that $10,000 she was about to get. That was until the man continued with what he was going to say.
“To Rhonda, Malequa, Shaquala, Precious, Charity, Darryl, Lloyd, Roscoe, Sonny, and Ethan, I leave you money in the sum of ten thousand dollars to be split evenly among you all,” the reader said.
“Split,” the woman next to me said. “What do you mean split? We are not getting ten thousand apiece?” she asked.
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