Hoodwinked

by Desiree Granger

Draping my hand down my face to wipe away the water from the shower, I glanced at the screen seeing Nasia’s boyfriend Homer calling me. Probably to tell me about the engagement. Started to ignore the call, but I glanced at the clock on my night stand seeing it was five minutes past one.

  “Hello?” I answered, hiding my irritation.

  “Jasmine? Is Nasia with you?” Homer asked, tone almost out of breath like he was desperate as I sat down on the bed, keeping the towel close to my chest.

  “Ummm? No? She’s not with me. Wouldn’t she, shouldn’t she be with you?”

  “She hasn’t called you or anything?”

  “What’s going on?” I pressed, hearing him sigh.

  “I found out I have a daughter, and before I do anything stupid, and irrational, I need to talk to her. I want her to hear me out...If she….”

  I stopped listening, ears going numb as I stared at the wall before me, in thought.

  “You hear me Jasmine? Just let me know if she calls or comes by. Please,” he pleaded before hanging up. Before I could even get myself together, another call came in from Francesca, Percy’s sister-in-law. My soon to be sister.

  “Hello?” I answered hesitantly, hearing her sigh in relief.

  “Have you spoken to Pia?” Frannie asked quickly in a hushed voice. “Do you know----.”

  “We don’t talk that much, you know I keep my distance from----.”

  “Ohhhh this is not good,” she whined. “We need to find Pia----.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Piru, and Percy got into a fight, this big fight at the movies trying to defend Pia. Almost got arrested---.”

  “Wait, what?!” Standing up from the bed, holding the towel close to my chest. “What are you talking about? A fight? Percy? Fighting? He can fight?”

  “Violet’s father, biological father found out about Pia, and his daughter….I know they’re going to realize I’ve known about Homer this entire time---.”

  My mouth dropped, heart stopped for a few seconds before I looked frantically around the room. Am I the only one hearing this? Was this a joke? Am I being pranked?!

  “Homer?” I asked. Putting everything together. I’ve only seen Violet once, possibly twice and just the burning image of Homer’s face on her tiny body was now apparent.

  Oh my God. It’s happening…. This was that phone call in the middle of the night!

  “Girl,” Frannie sighed. “It’s a complete mess right now. We need to find Pia before her family does, and before his family does…Call me if she just so happens to show up or call you. I’ll be over in the morning. Is Percy not home with you? Did he not tell you any of this?”

  “One day, you will receive a phone call in the middle of the night that will change everything. When you do. When you do, wait. Something strange may occur, but you wait until it's your time to start your story.”

  “Jasmine? Helloooo? Are you listening?”

  I hung up on the question. I didn’t give a damn where Percy was at this point. Just stared at the phone. Seeing the screen go black, staring at my faint warped reflection.

  Homer

  “Where you at?” My brother Michael asked with a yawn.

  “I’m sitting outside her house now,” I said, looking up at the apartment building. Cutting my headlights off.

  “Damn! Did you get any sleep?” He asked. “You know what time it is? It’s almost morning. You sat outside her house the entire time? Nigga is you crazy?”

  After the Atlantic Station meltdown, I thought I would be able to cool off in my own car. Sore fist bruised from hitting her glass. All I could think about was my daughter crying. Looking terrified, and how none of this would have happened if Pia would have just told me from the beginning. I should have gone home, and tended to my girlfriend who was just as hurt. Yet, the more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t get it out of my head. The worse it became for me.

  Delilah Skye knew this entire time about my daughter. She said my cousin is the one that helped raise my child. Despite looking me in my face year after year without so much as a fucking word.

  “You hear me Homer?” Michael came in. “How long you been sitting outside of her house?”

  “Not long,” I muttered, stretching in the seat as the sun up ahead began to slowly rise. Clouds turning an orangish pink, stretching far and wide. “Nasia won’t talk to me so I can’t go to her place. Already tried. If I knew where Pia lived, I would already be at her door----.”

  “Bruh, that’s on some crazy shit. You gotta calm all this down. Slow down, and thank’ about what you doing. Are you even listening?”

  Hotel room? How we left things off? What the FUCK was she talking about? There was no excuse good enough to hide a damn baby from me. The birth of my seed that I blessed you with, and you couldn’t pick up the phone? You couldn’t shoot a text? Nothing?! My girlfriend bout’ ready to leave me. I don’t know how my mama was going to take to this, and being a deadbeat was considered weak in our family. No blood of ours was left behind. No matter what. That little girl is my seed and should be carrying my last name, should be living in South Carolina with me, and her family. Not being raised by a weak mother with no sense enough to pick up the phone to tell me she had my CHILD!

  “She has a child Mike...A fucking child---.”

  “Nigga the sun is about to rise. You sat outside Delilah’s house thinking about that little girl,” Michael laughed. “What about Nasia? How ...what…. This shit is crazy. How you even know she’s yours? For sure?”

  “Nigga she looks just like me! This ain’t supposed to be my fucking life. I don’t believe in baby mamas. I don’t believe in outside children. I wanted a wife, and our kids together. A family. My family. The same way we were brought up is the same way I want my household! My wife should be relaxing at home, getting the kids ready while I’m looking over bullshit bills, and getting ready for work! Nah this ain’t how it’s supposed to be nigga! Far from it!”

  “Calm down,” he laughed. “Calm down. So what? Delilah’s the last person to give a fuck about anybody’s feelings. So what you expect from her? Why you won’t just go be with yo girl and work things out with her?”

  “No,” looking around the dark parking lot of the complex. “Nasia got the fuck on. She ain’t even tryna hear me out. I’ve been calling, and texting her but she won’t respond anymore. Course, she doesn’t believe that I never cheated on her. Not with that fat bitch,” I spat. Popping the door open to shoot out a wad of spit before closing it shut. “I knew...I just knew looking at that little girl that something was off. Then she comes walking up...My life, my whole life flashed before my eyes---.”

  “Yeah aight,” Michael laughed in disbelief. “You still need a DNA test to prove---.”

  “Michael, she’s mine. That’s Skye blood all up and down her. I can feel it. I know my own when I see it, and as soon as you bring yo fuck ass out here, you----.”

  “Why am I getting threatened cuz you got a side baby?” He laughed. “You said her brothers beat yo ass? You? If they beat yo big ass, what you think they gon do to me? I look too good to get my face fucked up over yo nuts and seed.”

  “I wasn’t even trying to fight back. Weak gay mothafuckas wearing shiny ass clothes. I’m not with none of this faggot ass Atlanta shit! You know how much I hate it out here, and now she got my daughter around them!? Around this city! Raising her without even a thought about me! She would have went on with her life without telling me about my daughter! You know me Michael! You know me! I’m not that type! I take responsibility no matter what! She didn’t even give me a damn chance!”

  “I know it,” he coughed. “I know it. So what’s the move? I wanna see the kid to make sure you ain’t tripping. She look just like you?”

  “My face, my color, my everything…I might as well been the one to push her out. She’s my twin. This isn’t how my weekend was supposed to turn out. I was supposed to be engaged, in the bed with Nasia loving on her. She won’t even pick up the
damn phone, thinking I cheated on her.”

  “You think she still wanna be with you after finding out you a dad now? Nigga you in the baby mama drama club now...Women look at niggas with kids differently, especially if they don’t have none themselves, and I know you. You wouldn’t have dated a woman with a child anyway.”

  I sat quietly, keeping my thoughts to myself.

  “You know this means you gotta marry that Piggly Wiggly girl now----.”

  “I ain’t marrying nobody but Nasia!” I snapped in the car. “Fuck Pia. She doesn't exist to me.”

  “And you got an ugly baby mama too...They always say the first one is a trial and error,” he cracked as I thought back to the Atlantic Station scene. Wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she looked nothing like how I remembered.

  First time meeting Pia, she was...young full of baby weight that she never shook off. I do personal training on the side, and she looked like an easy client with low self-esteem. Flash a grin her way, get her number and I thought I was in there to secure an Atlanta client. Even the black charred off skin that's on the side of her body, or multiple rolls and potato-shaped frame didn’t stop me from fucking that night though. She wasn’t the most attractive woman, but we weren’t after looks. We were after a good easy time. Less work. Quick nut.

  Now….

  Watching her walk up...Body fit like she was working on herself, still had her full face, and hips but her waist curved in ...Backside strutting out, swaying with each step. She smiled. Not at me, but at our daughter. White teeth, inviting small eyes, and dark brown hair that came just past her shoulders. She looked mature. Grown. Confident. She wasn’t that pretty last time I saw her, was she?

  “Damn man,” my brother went on. Pulling me out of my train of thought. I could tell he was trying not to laugh. “You somebody’s daddy now nigga. Can’t even move the same way no more. When Mama find out boi ...I don’t even know how this is gonna go over with the fam. Women like that though? Hiding kids from parents without telling em? Dangerous to be around, if I wasn’t in my right mind? If I didn’t know I would get my ass beat by Daddy?”

  What was understood didn’t have to be said. Never will I lay a hand on a woman in a violent or harmful manner, but Pia, and Delilah just about pushed me to that breaking point.

  “I’m about to call Caroline up right now. Tell her to get her cousin before I do.”

  “You know like I know, they not gon touch Delilah. Not with her being pregnant, but you finna get yo new baby mama caught up,” Michael laughed. “I know you upset right now, and I would be too. Coming from an emotional space, and all that crazy shit...but you think this is the right move?”

  “If you can see my face right now. None of that matters. None of this shit you’re talking about matters. I just found out I’m---.”

  “I know what you just found out nigga. I know. We all soon finna know you a whole daddy out here in these streets. I’m saying calling sis and em up...Because all they gonna do is tear her ass up. They’re trained to go the way we are so you think this is the best way to handle that? You gon end up regretting this, is all I’m…”

  His words fell on deaf ears as I studied the window above. Fingers tapping lightly on the wheel, seeing nothing but my daughter’s face burning an image in my brain. What was her name again? Venus? Victoria? Violet ...Violet. Why would she name her Violet? Did she even have my last name?

  “You hear me Homer? This is something you’re gonna regret. As much as I’m on your side...This ain’t it. Maybe go home, and figure out what you gon do about Nasia. She probably thinking you still got feelings for this girl----.”

  “Never had feelings for her, never will. She can get hit by a bus tomorrow, and die for all I care. Are you hearing me Michael? You listening good?”

  “Yeah I hear you man----.”

  “Fuck her. I’m marrying Nasia if she’ll have me still. Work twice as hard to prove my love to her if I have to because that’s the love of my life. Ain’t no other way around it, but I want to be a constant in my daughter’s life. I can do that without involving her mother.”

  Michael let out a sigh, hearing the pity escape like he wanted to feel bad for me, I felt more than fine. I felt better than ever knowing what I had to do moving forward. Get to know my daughter before getting full custody. Marry Nasia, and start a family with her. It was simple. All of this was simple to me.

  “Aight well, lemme call sis, and see what she up to. Get this morning crackin’. Hold up.”

  He clicked over as I sat in my seat. Boiling in anger. The light popped on in the top window of the apartment she disappeared to. Glancing up, I spotted the full moon above with the morning tint surrounding it in color before looking back at the house. Every bone in my body wanted to run in there and grab that little girl, but I knew I had to be careful about how I handle this. I wanted my cousin to answer to this bullshit and tell me why she felt the need to hide this from me. I wanted Pia to know I wasn’t going anywhere. That I was going to be the leading man in my daughter’s life, and the only man she will ever look to until she comes of age.

  “Hello?” My sister’s voice came through. Caroline Skye was the second oldest behind me, and the oldest sister of five. I had no shame in calling her to have her express things I, as a man couldn’t. “What’s going on? Did the girlfriend say no to the proposal? You know we don’t care for her so she wouldn’t call to tell us, but she said no?”

  “Homer you on the line?”

  “Yeah,” I said, keeping my eyes on the window. “I’m here.”

  “So this nigga got a daughter he just met,” Michael came out. “Got his ass beat by his baby mama’s brothers, and Delilah knew this entire time----.”

  “Wait a minute, wait a minute. What?”

  I explained the situation to my sister who remained quiet for some time, anger settling in like mine. Both having the same wild temperament.

  “So where the hell is this girl at?” She asked suddenly. “Do you need me to come up there, and drag her ass? She deserves it for hiding a damn child!? A whole child from you?! This entire time?!”

  “Do what you gotta do, but I can’t touch her like I want. I’m outside Delilah’s house right now ready to raise hell----.”

  “She got her brothers to jump him. Face probably all fucked up. You know that nigga bruise easily,” Michael joked.

  “She didn’t get nobody on me. They was already there defending her bullshit----.”

  “Oh hell no. Hold on, let me call Trinity.”

  Just like that the word was starting to spread as my sisters, one by one got on the phone. Waking up one sleeping monster after the next, and they all lived right here in Atlanta.

  “Nigga all this talking we doing, where the fuck is this hoe at? You with her now?”

  “No, I don’t know where she stay at or who she’s with. I’m at Delilah’s house right now about to go in.”

  “So she knew this entire time,” Caroline chuckled sarcastically. “Nobody call or text her. We’re just pulling up. No warning. Don’t go in yet Homer. We’re on the way.”

  “I can’t believe this,” Siren said. “What’s her name again?”

  “Pia Milton,” I answered, hearing one of them texting on their phone. “Why?”

  “I’m about to look up her socials. I want to see a picture of the baby. Who are the brothers?”

  “I don’t know them niggas man, and I don’t give a fuck.”

  “I hope she doesn’t think you won’t be a part of her life….we all deserve to see our niece, and be in her life----.”

  “She wouldn’t even let me talk to her---.”

  “See?” Trinity let out. “That’s that bullshit right there.”

  “Pia? Isn’t that Francesca’s friend? Or Piru’s friend? He has a sister----.”

  “I recognize the name Piru,” I cut in, thinking back. “Piru, and Percy…”

  Michael laughed.

  “So these niggas lowkey family then. That’s Frannie’s h
usband Piru? So our cousin’s husband’s sister, is Pia... Whole time. Shit would have went differently if he bothered to show up to any of the reunions or shit we got going on out here in South Carolina.”

  “Nigga y'all ain’t the most welcoming mothafuckas in the family. Yall barely tolerate our men,” Trinity snapped. “That’s why we don’t fuck with y'all girlfriends---.”

  “Ohh my God!” Siren suddenly gasped. “She don’t have many pictures, but I do see a baby picture of the girl. She looks exactly like Homer! Oh my GAH---!”

  “Send it to me!”

  “What’s the at name?”

  I sat up right in the seat, anxious to see this picture.

  “Yall girls know y'all some detectives,” Michael let out. “What’s the name so I can look? I still halfway don’t believe this shit.”

  “That’s his baby,” Omni added. “She’s dark chocolate just like Homer, same eyes, same everything. She looks like him as a baby.”

  I glanced at my phone, seeing an incoming picture of a screenshot. Looking at the baby photo of Violet laying on her back with a purple blanket wrapped over her waist. Matching ribbon band around her head, and a toothless smile. Looked like a photo shoot with the background being clouds as she smiled for the camera. Caption reading:

  My Coco Bean.

  I smiled. Wondering did she cry or was somebody behind the scenes making her laugh, keeping her happy. That should have been my job.

  “You got the other picture Homer?” Siren asked as a new image downloaded. Seeing my daughter’s newborn pictures. Eyes closed in a peaceful manner, curled up with light purple yarn blanket wrapped around her. Decorated with purple violets sprawled about. She was already gaining her dark complexion with tiny swirls of dark curls on her head. Caption read:

  Prematurely born but ready to take on the world. My life has forever changed. Cried the entire time.