Trust A Broken Heart

by Ivy Symone

  “Hang on,” Bebe murmured before he went back into the family.

  “That wasn’t Kennedi?” Bless asked.

  Bebe shook his head. He gestured for Nola to come to him. Wearing a puzzled expression, she stepped off to the side with him.

  He whispered, “Keyma’s here seeking refuge from her husband.”

  Nola’s face screwed up into a glower immediately. “Where she at? This hoe think I’m playing with her.”

  Bebe had no idea what Nola was talking about, but he followed her to the foyer where Keyma was still waiting. It seemed that when she saw Nola, she shrunk back in fear.

  “What did I tell you?” Nola snapped on her but kept her voice down at a low volume.

  “Nola, it’s not like that. I’m not trying to start no trouble or—”

  “I understand that, but you’re bringing trouble to my family’s home. I warned you not to mix Bebe up in your bullshit.”

  “Yes, you did, but…” her voice lowered to a whisper that only Nola could hear. “Cedric is out, and he hasn’t changed. I’m scared. Just help me please.”

  The woman’s pleas softened Nola a little. She wanted to help her, but if Keyma had no intentions of ever leaving Cedric, then what was the use?

  Keyma thought it over. She told her, “Go in the bathroom to collect yourself and me and Bebe will talk it over.”

  She nodded. “Okay. And thank you.”

  Bebe pointed her toward the half bath down the hall, and rejoined Keyma in the foyer. “What was that about, Nola?”

  “I’ll explain later. But she can’t stay here, Bebe. You don’t need that kind of drama around here, nor do you need to be bothered with that shit. If she need help with getting a room for a few days, then okay. That’s cool, but she ain’t bringing that bullshit to our houses where our kids stay.”

  Bebe nodded. “I respect that. Okay, I’ll let her know.”

  Nola began walking off. She slowed down long enough to ask, “Was there a reason you ran that by me?”

  Bebe grinned. “I trust your judgment, and value your input. Besides, I plan to run a lot of things by you first; out of respect and inclusiveness.”

  Nola couldn’t contain the smile growing on her face. Already, she could feel the dynamics of their relationship changing. She wanted to enjoy it and stop fighting with her emotions. She wanted to just let things be and happen naturally. And maybe Bebe had truly come to his senses, and she could fully revel in the joys of a happy relationship.

  When Nola made herself comfortable in her spot on the sofa, her phone vibrated. She looked down at her phone. It was a text message from Kennedi.

  Come get me don’t tell daddy

  Nola text back: where are you?

  Kennedi: Idont know

  Nola remained calm so she could think clearly. She asked: Are you with your mama?

  Kennedi: Yes

  Nola: At her house?

  Kennedi: Yes I dont know address

  Kennedi: Find me on the phone

  Yes! Kennedi could talk a person’s ears off and could be a little grown at times and too inquisitive, but it also made her think smart. Nola had completely forgotten about the location share feature on their phones. If it wasn’t for her, Kennedi wouldn’t even have a phone, because Bebe refused to get her one. Nola thought it was good for someone like Kennedi to have.

  After obtaining the address through the location finder, Nola sent Kennedi another text: I’m on my way. Are you in danger?

  Kennedi: No I dont like my mama’s friend

  Nola: male or female

  Kennedi: He’s a man

  Nola got up from where she had been sitting. “Hey y’all, I’m about to head out real quick. I’ll be right back.”

  “Where are you going?” Bebe asked as he came back into the family room.

  “Next door real quick,” she insisted. When he seemed as though he wasn’t buying it, she bugged her eyes at him. “I’ll be right back, Bebe. It’ll be two seconds.”

  “Nola, don’t play,” Bebe said walking up on her.

  Nola chuckled while sizing him up in a playful manner. “Who you think you are, nigga?”

  “I’m about to be your—”

  Nola covered his mouth before he could say it. “Don’t you dare. You are a trip, man.”

  Bebe laughed as he swiped her hand away. “I’m serious.”

  “I’m serious too,” she said. “Now get out of my way.”

  Nola dashed back home to get her keys and identification. As she made her way to her truck, Nephia almost startled the shit out of her.

  “Can I ride along with you?” Nephia asked.

  Nola looked at her with confusion.

  “I saw you locate Kennedi,” Nephia snickered.

  “You a nosey lil ass,” Nola commented. “Yeah, get in. Your man know you’re gone?”

  “My man?” Nephia asked as she hopped in the passenger seat of Nola’s Tahoe.

  “Yeah, Mr. Dink Dink.”

  Nephia laughed. “I told him I’d be back.”

  “Ahhh!” Nola crooned as she backed up out of her driveway. “Now you’re admitting he’s your man. That’s so sweet.”

  Nephia blushed. “Will you stop.”

  Nola looked down at her phone. Kennedi had sent another text. Nola unlocked her phone and handed it to Nephia. “Read what Kennedi said.”

  Taking the phone, Nephia said, “She’s saying to hurry up. What’s going on?”

  “She said she don’t like her mama’s friend. I guess she’s ready to come home. The thing is, wasn’t her mama supposed to have brought her home about two hours ago?”

  “Something like that.”

  “I’ma cuss her mama out when I get in front of her,” Nola said.

  “I know you will.”

  They continued to make small talk on their way to Sharonda’s place. It was a cluster of brick duplexes in a not so favorable part of the city. The phone gave her the direct address of the second duplex, but not whether it was A or B. However, after studying the dot that indicated Kennedi’s phone, they determined that Kennedi was in the unit farthest in the back.

  They went to the door and knocked. Nola then thought about something. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Nola!” Nephia called out to her.

  Nola hurried to her truck to retrieve her gun, a Glock .380. She never could be too careful. Physically, she knew she wasn’t much of a match for a man, but she could pull a trigger. And she wasn’t afraid to do so.

  By the time she was walking back to the porch, the door had opened and Nephia was waiting for Nola before stepping inside.

  “Yeah, she’s here,” an older girl was saying.

  Nola stepped inside behind Nephia and looked around. Kennedi’s mother’s house was on the opposite end of the spectrum to what Bebe provided for her. The man wasn’t the best housekeeper, but his home was furnished nicely. His home was also almost three thousand square feet and boasted a lot of modern fixtures and finishes. This duplex was a fraction of the size, in need of updating, and Kennedi’s mother was doing the best she could.

  On the sofa were two somewhat older kids. One was into a phone, and the other two were watching television. Coming from the back, Nola and Nephia could hear a couple arguing. The older girl interrupted the couple to tell them that Kennedi was leaving.

  “Who’s here to get her?” the woman asked.

  Kennedi came out of a bedroom and was walking down the hall. Her expression remained neutral, but Nola could tell she was uncomfortable. Kennedi was out of her element.

  “Baby, you okay?” Nola asked as she reached out to pull her in for a hug.

  “Yeah, I’m just ready to go,” Kennedi mumbled.

  “You got these people just coming to your fuckin’ house,” the man fussed.

  “I told you I shoulda called in the first place,” the woman said.

  Nola waited for one of them to make their appearance. She held onto Kennedi with one arm and held onto her crossbody
purse housing her gun with the other.

  “Kennedi, who’s here to get…” the woman was saying, but her voice trailed off when she saw Nola standing there.

  “Ain’t this a bitch,” Nola uttered. She looked at the children on the couch. “Kids, I think y’all need to go to the back room.”

  Nephia whispered, “Nola, you can’t be regulating in people’s houses.”

  Sharonda said to the kids, “Uhm…Y’all, give me a minute.”

  Just as the children were heading down the hall, the man was entering the living room.

  Nola put on the meanest glower she could muster. “If this world ain’t fucking little. It never dawned on me. Oh my God, Sha, I’ve been looking at your face for four years in Kennedi now. She’s just so pretty and so opposite of you, that it never registered.”

  “How do you know my daughter?” Sharonda asked.

  “You mean how do I know my daughter? I’ve been in her life for the past four years, while you did whatever, and still in cahoots with this nigga,” Nola said nodding toward Cedric.

  He smiled. “Hey Nola. You look good as always.”

  She cut her eyes at him, and the bottle of Hennessy clutched in his hand. “I thought you changed.”

  “I have.”

  “How long you been out? You already got a bottle of—You know what? Nevermind. This don’t concern me anymore. Sha, Kennedi will not be back over here. I don’t care how you feel about it. I will be letting her daddy know.”

  “Wait, you can’t just deny me access to my daughter. That’s between me and her daddy,” Sharonda argued.

  “Yeah, I can.” Nola was bold and defiant.

  Cedric let out a malevolent laugh. “Same ol’ Nola.”

  “You ain’t shit,” Nola spat. “And where is your wife, nigga?”

  “That’s none of your business.”

  Nola didn’t even want to tell him where Keyma was.

  “Take Kennedi out to the truck,” Nola told Nephia and passed her the keys.

  “Nola, come with us,” Nephia whispered nervously.

  “I’ll be there,” Nola assured her.

  Nephia didn’t bother to argue any further. She took Kennedi by the hand and led her out to Nola’s truck. Once inside, she asked Kennedi, “Are you okay?”

  Kennedi nodded. “I don’t like him. I think he was hitting on Sharonda. And I really don’t like her either. She didn’t spend much time with me. And I don’t even know my brother and sisters, but I don’t think they liked me much.”

  “Did he say anything to you? Were you scared?”

  Kennedi shook her head. “I was ten seconds away from climbing out of the bedroom window though. I couldn’t stand it in there.”

  Nephia laughed. “Climbed out of the window to do what?”

  “I don’t know. Called an Uber home.”

  Nephia looked down at Nola’s phone that she left behind in the console. There were several missed calls from “Blyss.”

  “Have your daddy tried calling you?” Nephia asked.

  “Yeah. I text him to let him know I had already asked Nola to pick me up. He wants her to call him.”

  “He’s probably going to cuss Nola out real—” Nephia stopped midsentence as the voices coming from the duplex grew louder and angrier.

  Nephia reached for her door handle, “Let me go grab—”

  This time, instead of voices bringing her to a halt, the sound of a gunshot ripped through the air, causing every last hair on her body to raise.

  Kennedi screamed, “That came from inside! Nola!”

  Chapter 12

  B ebe felt like he was being punished. Why was God doing the same thing to him? Why? All he ever done was try to be a good person. He was a good father, son, brother, and friend. He wasn’t into anything illegal. He owned a very lucrative lawncare business with the majority of his work being tied up in government contracts. He paid taxes. He donated to charity. And every year, him and the kids picked out a kid each from the Angel Tree to sponsor for Christmas.

  Why him?

  “Bebe?”

  He had zoned out. It was a good thing Dinky volunteered to drive him to the hospital, because he didn’t think he could make it. Not a second time.

  “Bebe, we’re here. C’mon man,” Dinky said solemnly.

  Bebe just sat there. He couldn’t go in that hospital and receive any bad news. Nephia had been too hysterical to explain anything. No one knew for sure what had happened. At this point, he didn’t know if Kennedi or Nola were okay.

  “I don’t think I can do it,” Bebe whispered.

  “Bebe, we gotta see if they’re okay,” Bless coaxed from the backseat.

  Deja had gotten out of the car and was opening the passenger door for Bebe to get out. “Brother, we’re right here with you.”

  “But what if…” he was saying.

  “No, there is no what if. So, don’t think like that,” Bless said as she hopped out of the car. “Let’s go in here and get our girls.”

  When they entered the hospital, Bless did all of the talking and asking the receptionist about Nephia’s, Kennedi’s and Nola’s whereabouts. Bebe had tuned all of that out and kept his eyes on all of the police officers and EMT’s going back and forth.

  He hadn’t heard anything but followed them when Deja tapped his arm to get his attention. They walked through a set of double doors, and the first person he saw was Kennedi.

  “Daddy!” she yelled. She ran straight for him and practically jumped in his arms.

  Bebe hugged her tight with tears of relief burning his eyes. “Baby girl, are you okay?”

  Kennedi nodded. “Daddy, I’m so sorry. I shoulda told you.”

  “That’s okay. I’m just glad you’re okay. Where’s Nephia and Nola?” he asked.

  Nephia had been right behind Kennedi. “Hey y’all.”

  She was a lot calmer than the frantic version of her over the phone. However, Bebe noticed the clear hospital bag of clothes she was carrying. It was Nola’s homemade angry dress with darker red splatters on it.

  Panicked, Bebe asked, “Is she okay? Where’s Nola? Please don’t tell me something happened to her…Please God…”

  “Bebe…Bebe…” both Bless, and Dinky were saying to soothe him. He had blacked out and was on the brink of a meltdown.

  Nephia stepped up and cupped his face in her hands and in a calming tone said, “She’s okay. They have her in observation. Everything is fine. Both your daughter and your woman are fine.”

  “Can I see her?” he asked, as his heartbeat began to slow.

  “Yeah, me and Kennedi were just looking for a vending machine. She’s in room O14 to the left.”

  “We’ll let you go check on her and we’ll wait back in the waiting area,” Bless told him.

  Slowly, Bebe made his way to the room Nephia had given. There was a glass sliding door and a curtain for privacy. The sliding door had been opened, so he had to fight his way past the heavy curtain. Two police officers were talking to Nola and taking notes, so Bebe stood off to the side until they were finished.

  Nola looked in his direction and grinned. “There’s Kennedi’s daddy right there.”

  “Hello sir,” one of the officers greeted. “Can I ask you a few questions to make sure we have everything right?”

  “Yeah, I just wanna make sure she’s okay,” Bebe said heading for Nola.

  She waved him off. “I’m fine. They need to talk to Kennedi’s custodial parent, so handle that.”

  The older White officer pat Nola’s legs and smiled, “It was nice talking with you, Magnolia. You take it easy.”

  Bebe relaxed and answered whatever questions they had about Sharonda and this agreed upon visit they set up with Kennedi. He assumed they needed to make the connection between Nola and the reason she showed up to get Kennedi.

  In the questioning, Bebe discovered that no one was fatally hurt, but Sharonda’s man had been shot by Nola. The reason Nola was in the hospital started off as a safety precaut
ion just for her to be examined because after the guy was shot, he fell forward on Nola. During her examination, they were concerned about her elevated blood pressure.

  “So, you shot that nigga?” Bebe asked amused. He sat next to her on the edge of her bed.

  Nola beamed proudly.

  “Wait, something ain’t right with this big ass grin on your face. Why do it seem like you enjoyed shooting this man?”

  She whispered, “Cause I did.”

  Bebe shook his head. “Your ass is crazy.”

  “I know.”

  “How is the baby?” he asked.

  “The baby is fine. I’m okay too, but my blood pressure needs to go down.”

  “If it doesn’t?”

  “I’ll have to get on meds.”

  A quiet fell between them as Bebe hung his head almost in prayer.

  Nola traced her finger along his forearm. “You know I’d never put you through the same thing Bebe. I know that’s what you fear most. That’s why I wasn’t with Keyma laying low at your house tonight because of shit like what just happened.”

  “I know you a bad ass Nola, but you can’t be going around getting into it with folks.”

  “He wasn’t just any ‘folks’, Bebe. Your baby mama Sharonda mess with my ex. Cedric is Ayanna’s Daddy. I’ve been wanting to put a bullet in his ass for five years now. Sha’s too.”

  Bebe was shocked and confused. “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “Wait…You know Sharonda?”

  “I know her by Sha, but yeah. I also knew Keyma before you introduced us. He’s the same Cedric that Keyma is married to. Both Sha and Keyma have been fighting over that nigga for years.”

  “Hold up!” This was too much to understand. “How in the hell…I mean…Wait…So, my friend Keyma is married to the nigga that’s fucking with my baby mama Sharonda. He also happens to be your ex and daddy to your daughter that you never told me about.”

  “World small ain’t it?”

  “But why have you kept everything from me? Keyma came to my house cause she said dude beat her ass tonight. I need to know these things, Nola. And don’t ever do no shit like what you did tonight behind my back again. You hear me?”

  “Yes Daddy,” she said in a frisky manner.

  “I ain’t playing, Nola.”