From Mistress to Wife 3: Love Prevails

by Angie Hayes

  “You don’t have to apologize. I wanted it and since you didn’t pull away I assumed you did too,” She softened her tone smiling as she started rubbing my left arm up and down.

  “I gotta go. I have an emergency and I’m taking leave. I’m on my way to pick up my form from the commander,” I said as I removed her hand from my arm.

  I walked off quickly before she could respond.

  The following morning, I caught a flight out to Cali and checked into a hotel. I didn’t let Alicia know I was in town, only Keith. I wanted to surprise her and show her that I was still going to be here for her no matter what. Besides, I missed Zaria and couldn’t wait to see my baby girl.

  I texted Keith this morning and let him know that I was on my way to his crib. He told me that he was just leaving the hospital and that I could meet him there and gave me the address. I put the destination in my rental car GPS and headed over there. Twenty minutes later, I pulled up to his house with anticipation on seeing my girls. I got out and rang the doorbell.

  “Shawn what are you doing here!” Alicia asked me looking shocked as hell as she answered the door.

  “Well hello to you to baby,” I said as I stepped inside and gave her a kiss and hug.

  “Hey baby, I’m just shocked you’re here that’s all.” She said nervously as she closed the door.

  “I know you told me that I didn’t need to come, but I wanted to be here. Besides Keisha is like family to me. Where’s my baby girl?” I asked.

  “She’s, uh in the kitchen.” She answered like she was unsure.

  Before she could say anything else, I headed towards the kitchen when I heard Zaria laughing. I entered the kitchen to find this punk ass nigga Troy sitting at the counter holding my baby playing with her as if he was used to doing it. Time seemed to stop for me and my ears started ringing as I stood there looking at the two.

  “Uh…Shawn I can explain. Can we go and talk for a moment?” Alicia asked as she gently grabbed my arm while trying to stir me out of the kitchen.

  I wasn’t budging. My feet were planted to the floor like I was stuck in cement. This dead beat ass nigga had a nerve to be sitting here playing with Zaria like he was the fucking daddy of the year.

  “So this is why you didn’t want me to come?” I asked Alicia not taking my eyes off of Troy who was matching my stare.

  “Shawn please can we go somewhere privately and talk?” Alicia begged me again.

  I don’t know if she was nervous of me and Troy being in the same room or the fact that he was here with them and she didn’t tell me, Either way this shit was about to go down.

  “Nah we gone discuss this shit right here and right now.” I said in a mincing tone now turning my attention to her.

  All I saw standing before me was a sneaky ass woman who I didn’t recognize anymore. She told me she didn’t want me coming here but yet she got her baby daddy here bonding with my daughter. The daughter who I take care of!

  “Shawn none of this is what you think.”

  “Shit it looks different pretty damn cozy in here to me. You got ya baby daddy and my daughter in here like one big happy ass family.” I said laughing full of sarcasm.

  “My man, I’m going to ask that you watch your language around my daughter,” This nigga Troy said stepping into me and Alicia business.

  “You’re daughter? Nigga that maybe your seed but I take care of her each and every day!” I yelled as I started walking towards him.

  At that moment I was so angry that I forgot that Zaria or Alicia was in the room. All I saw was red and wanted to beat the shit out of this nigga.

  “Wait a minute Shawn!” Alicia said as she grabbed ahold of my arm with more force this time.

  Just then Keith came through the door.

  “Aye man what’s going here?” he asked as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen.

  Alicia rushed over to Troy and grabbed Zaria out of his arms and rushed out of the kitchen. Me and Buddy stood there toe to toe starring at each other as if looks can kill. Good thing Keith came, because I was about to take all of my frustration on beating this nigga to a pulp.

  CHAPTER 19

  KEITH

  I was already going through enough as it was, the last thing that I expected was to come home and stand between two grown ass men who was about to throw down in my kitchen.

  “Come on man, I know y’all not serious right now with this,” I said to both Troy and Shawn.

  I already knew Shawn had beef with Troy over the whole birth certificate thing, but I never heard Troy talk ill of Shawn. It was silence between the both of them, but the tension was high as hell. Ain’t no telling what would have happened if I didn’t show up when I did.

  “You know what Keith; I won’t disrespect your home man. I apologize so I’m a bounce.” Shawn said as he looked at Troy one more time and left.

  After Shawn walked out, I left Troy in the kitchen and headed upstairs to my bathroom where I took a long hot shower. Once I was done, I changed into some sweats and a t-shirt, and headed down to the kitchen where I grabbed a beer and went down to my basement to collect my thoughts.

  I turned the TV on sports center, but wasn’t paying attention to it. Minutes later, I heard footsteps coming down the steps into the room.

  “I’m sorry about that man, I know now is not the time for that,” Troy said as he took a seat on the couch next to me.

  “No it isn’t. Y'all niggas need to squash this shit.” I said as I took a swig of my beer.

  “He’s the one that need to realize that his beef ain’t with me.” Troy responded.

  I didn’t say anything else. We just sat there for a while in silence while the TV was on looking like we were into what was playing.

  “I ordered a DNA test today.” I said breaking the silence between us as I took another drink from my beer.

  “Ok. You think you ready for that yet with everything going on?” Troy asked.

  “I need to know man. I need to know if that’s my son in there fighting for his life along with my wife.”

  “I understand but let me ask you something Keith, would it make a difference at this point if he is or isn’t?” Troy asked.

  “I won’t know until I get back the test results. Then I’ll take it from there.” I answered.

  I didn’t know if I actually believed what I had just said. I was so torn between the love for Keisha and the hurt and guilt that I felt on her being in this position. Me being stubborn and cold hearted during her pregnancy caused her stress. I know I haven’t been to see the baby yet as well, but I kept up with his status through his nurse. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him and get attached not knowing if he’s mine or not. It wouldn’t have made a difference if he was conceived before my marriage, but he was conceived during my marriage with the possibility of another man being his father.

  “Man this is a lot. Whatever you chose to do though just know I got ya back.” Troy assured me.

  “I know man, I appreciate that. So what was that I walked in on earlier?” I asked.

  “Alicia dude was pissed that I was here and chilling with my lil mama that’s all,” Troy said taking a drink.

  “It seemed like it was about to get heated. Y'all really need to handle this before shit get out of control.”

  “No Alicia need to handle her nigga before I do. Besides she created this shit so let’s hope for her sake she handles it.” Troy said drinking again.

  I wanted to ask him what he meant by that last statement, but decided against it. All I wanted to do was relax and take this time to reflect on where my life was headed. Regardless of how I felt, I needed my wife to pull through. I definitely wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if anything else happened to Keisha.

  C HAPTER 20

  ALICIA

  Everything was falling apart! I tried calling Shawn again but he still wasn’t picking up. I tried texting him but he has yet to respond to my texts. I know he thinks I didn’t want him to come here because Troy was h
ere, but that definitely wasn’t the case. I didn’t even know Troy was going to be here, so I was just as shocked as well! I wish like hell now I should have taken him up on his offer and just let him come when he asked; but me being stubborn and pissed off from the way he was acting lately wouldn’t let me.

  After I ran into Troy at the hospital, I went down to Keisha room to check on her. I saw that no one was there, so I went over to her bed and started brushing her hair. Every time I came to visit her in the hospital, I made sure she was still looking like the diva that she was. I didn’t want my cousin to wake and see how horrible she looked while in here, and it also gave me hope to know that she will wake up soon. As I was brushing her hair, Keith came back into the room letting me know he was talking to Keisha’s doctor seeing if they saw any prognosis on her condition.

  “She’s gonna pull through this Keith. All we have to do is keep the faith because God has the final say so.” I assured him.

  This was hard on all of us but I tried to be strong for him and the kids, despite on the inside I was crumbling my damn self.

  “I know I’m trying. Listen I want to give you a heads up and let you know that Troy is here and that he’ll be staying at my crib. Now I know all the drama that’s been going down with y’all lately, but I hope all that can be put to the side and focus on what’s important,” Keith told me.

  I knew now wasn’t the time for our drama when Keisha was lying here fighting for her life and her baby was down the hall fighting for his.

  “I appreciate the heads up.” Was all I said to him without telling him that I had already ran into Troy.

  I stayed for a while longer talking to Keisha in hopes that she could hear me while Keith stared out of the window. I decided to cut my visit a little short and head back to the house so I could get Zaria. When I arrived at the house, my aunt and uncle had informed me that were heading to take the girls for some ice-cream, but Zaria fell asleep. I thanked them for watching her and took her upstairs to lay her down as they headed out the door.

  Just as I laid her down on the bed she woke up.

  “Hey pooh, you’re up from your nap?” I cooed as I grabbed her back up and headed downstairs.

  I didn’t know where Troy was at in the house just yet until we went into the kitchen and he was sitting at the island on the phone. Soon as he saw us he hung up.

  “Man she’s beautiful.” He said as he laid eyes on Zaria.

  This was his first time seeing her in person since I had her. He reached his arms out to her and she immediately jumped in his arms. Seeing those two together for the first time side by side made me see just how much they really looked alike. He couldn’t deny her if he tried. She really took well to him also as if she saw him every day.

  As I stood there watching them interact with one another, the door bell rung. You could imagine how I shocked I was to see Shawn standing there at the door! I nearly pissed my damn pants looking at him. I tried not to act nervous or suspicious, but that was impossible to do knowing that Troy was in the next room with Zaria. When he came inside and stepped into the kitchen, I knew some shit was about to go down!

  Thank God Keith came home when he did, because it was about to be world war three up in there! I quickly grabbed my baby and headed upstairs out of harm’s way.

  Now here it is a day later and Shawn is still ignoring me. We were already going through shit as to where he was accusing me of still having feelings for Troy. So I know him seeing Troy here just made matters worse with us. Speaking of Troy, I didn’t know how to exactly handle him either. I feel like I’m walking on eggshells by being under the same roof as him.

  Since it was a nice sunny day out, I decided to let the kids get in the kiddie pool outback. I was trying my best to cheer up Jasmine by keeping her busy, but you could tell she really missed her mom. Once I filled the pool up and put the kids in, I sat on porch and supervised them having fun. I was so deep into my thoughts that I jumped when Troy came and took a seat next to me. We haven’t talked since the incident with Shawn, so I didn’t know what to say.

  “You know you dead ass wrong Alicia,” He finally spoke to me.

  “What the hell am I wrong about?” I asked confused.

  “You’re wrong to let another nigga think that Zaria is his daughter when you didn’t even give me a chance to be there for her.” He explained.

  I just stared at him for a moment. I couldn’t read his expression. I don’t know if he was either upset or hurt. He just sat there looking in the direction of the kids in the pool with this blank stare.

  “You got some fucking nerve sitting here telling me I was wrong! I made a decision to have my baby and go on with my life. Had I told you I was keeping her you have convinced me to get rid of her just like the others!” I told him trying to keep my voice down so the kids wouldn’t hear me.

  “Here you go, always playing the victim. As if you didn’t know what time it was when it came to us. Yeah I didn’t tell you about my situation from the jump, but yo' ass still stayed after you found out. So you can dead that shit. And even if I wanted you to get rid of her, you should have still told me you were pregnant with my child!” he said trying to keep voice down as well.

  I really wasn’t about to have this conversation with Troy much longer.

  “Troy what damn difference does it make? Zaria is here now and almost one!”

  “It makes a hell of a difference when you had another man sign her birth certificate!”

  “I’m not about to do this with you.”

  “Yeah just like everything else I guess you still get to choose how everything gets handled. Everything gets done on your time, and I’m sick of the shit.” Troy said now looking at me.

  What I saw starring back at me was a familiar face I knew all too well. That was the face I use to see right before his fist started connecting with my body. A sudden fear swept over me. I wanted to grab my daughter and run without ever looking back, but I knew I had to stand strong and show him that he didn’t scare me like that anymore.

  “You know what Troy instead of focusing on the past before Zaria was born, how about saying job well done in how I’m taking care of her. I don’t ask your ass for a dime, nor have I ran to the courts. I try to make your life less stress then possible when it comes to her! I’m trying to make a stable life for my child and not have her suffer because of the fuck ups we did. So if you want to blame me for doing that then so be, but I won’t apologize for it!” I expressed to him. I was more than pissed off at the way he was coming at me. Blaming me for his other life of deceit, something I knew nothing about.

  “You can sit there and talk all this big shit if you want, but if it wasn’t for you my fucking wife would be here! But since you fail to handle yo' business with that nigga Rodney like you should have, I was the one that had to pay the price!” Troy yelled.

  He got up and headed into the house. I continued sitting there stunned at what he had just said. We never discussed the whole ordeal with what happened, but I always felt like I was to blame in some way and Troy just confirmed it. My life seemed to be taking a turn for the worse day by day. My fiancée is pulling away from me, my cousin and best friend is in a coma, and now my baby’s father is blaming me for the death of his wife. Something has to give because I don’t know how much more I can take.

  CHAPTER 21

  SHAWN

  I know I went to California to be there to support Alicia and Keith in there time of need, but seeing Troy there fucked my head up! After I left Keith house, I jumped in my rental and headed back to my hotel room. I was beyond pissed at the fact that not only was this nigga there, but Alicia act like she had a problem with me being there by her side. She kept asking me to let her explain, but my eyes already saw enough. It wasn’t shit to say, she was busted. Troy being there only confirmed what I knew all along; and that was she still had a space for him somewhere.

  I got to my room and immediately booked a flight back home. I wasn’t gone stick around much
longer and be made a fool of. After I booked my flight and packed my stuff, I checked my phone to see I had a lot of missed calls and text messages from Alicia. I ignored her shit and headed home. When I got back home that night, I was more tired than ever. I dropped my bags at the door and just lay down on the couch staring up at the ceiling.

  It seemed like ever since I got with Alicia and tried to be the good guy, my life has been nothing but drama. My phone started buzzing again and this time it was Dana texting me.

  DANA: Hey I’m just checking on you making sure you’re ok since the last time we spoke you said you were leaving for a family emergency.

  As much as I knew I shouldn’t be talking to her, I decided to respond.

  ME: Where are you? I responded back

  DANA: I’m in my room.

  ME: Shit real fucked up right now, I need to talk to you face to face. you think you can come see me? I asked.

  DANA: Yea, where would you like to meet?

  ME: Come to my crib.

  DANA: Alright give me the address and I’ll be on my way.

  I text Dana the address and waited for her to get there. I know I was thinking crazy to invite this chick over to our place, but at this point I just didn’t give a fuck anymore. I felt alone in this shit I was going through and I needed someone in my corner. Alicia had Troy and Keith, so I will have Dana.

  CHAPTER 22

  DANA

  Since the kiss, Shawn had been dodging me at work and ignoring my calls. I figured he must have felt guilty about what happened, but that was his damn problem and he needed to get over it. I was shocked when he responded to my text and even more surprised when he asked me to come over to his place. I jumped my ass up, took a quick shower and threw on some cute, yet easy accessible clothes to wear.

  Once I arrived at his place, Shawn answered the door looking like he had been through hell. When he let me in, I could smell the alcohol on his breath as if he had been guzzling down a bottle.