I Choose You 2: Ready 4 Whatever, page 7
“How old are you?” I asked Ka’lani, and if the number didn’t add up, it wasn’t even no need for my daddy to sit here and entertain this shit.
“24,” she said, sucking her teeth like I was aggravating her or some shit. Oh my God! It really is true. I’m 28 years old and 24 years ago is when my mom found out that my daddy had had another baby on her. Ain’t this some shit!
I was fuckin livid at that point. I stood from the table and grabbed my purse and left. She wanted to come in the picture and take my daddy? I been a daddy’s girl my whole entire life and she thinks she could just walk her pregnant ass over here and claim him? That bitch had another thing going. I was just going to head home and think of a way that I would take her man from her, starting first thing tomorrow morning. I drove out of that IHOP parking lot like a bat out of hell.
**********
Ka’lani
After Symone stormed out of the restaurant, I just stood there staring at this man, the man that was my dad. The same man that left my mother and I so that he could be with his family. The very same man that didn’t know what the fuck I looked like until now. I had so much hate in my heart for this man that it was crazy.
“Have a seat,” he told me, pulling the chair out so that I could sit down.
I sat down directly in front of him and just took him in. How could a face so innocent turn around and do the things that he did to my mother and me?
“I’m not sitting here with high hopes of you telling me how sorry you are for leaving me. All I want to know is why? I don’t give a damn if I never see you again after this, I just want to know why? Why my mom and I weren’t good enough to be a part of your life?” I asked him.
“When your mom and I hooked up baby girl, that’s all it was, we hooked up. I met her one night at the bar, we went to a local hotel and we had sex. I never told her that I was married and had a family of my own. I didn’t feel the need to. I just knew what we did that night was going to be a one-time thing. I was going through problems with my relationship at home, so I pretty much went to the bar looking for something. For what? I don’t know. When your mom told me she was pregnant with you, I told her straight up to get an abortion. I then told her about my wife and Symone. She told me she was going to keep the baby. I regret every day of my life not being a man and stepping up and being a father to you. When you were maybe ten years old, I saw your mom in the grocery store. I begged her to let me be a part of your life, but she basically told me fuck me. She told you that she’d been telling you that I was dead for this long and she wanted to keep it that way” he said sincerely and for some reason, I believed him because how else would he have known about my mon telling me that he was dead?
“After that, I never seen or spoke to Sharon since. And as far as you saying you or your mother not being good enough, that’s not the case at all. I was selfish and all I can say is I’m sorry, I really am,” he said.
I just sat there looking at him. I couldn’t believe after all these years, I was finally sitting down face to face with my father. I sat there wiping the tears from my eyes. This was all too much for me right now. Literally, I was at a loss for words and that’s strange because I always had some shit to say. Growing up, this was all I wanted. Just to have my daddy. It got to the point where I started compromising with God, telling him I would be fine with just seeing him once a week. I just wanted to have him in my life, that’s all.
“Tiny, you okay?” Tisha asked, coming behind me and rubbing my back.
I shook my head yes and stood up to leave. Before I left, Phillip wrote his number down on a napkin and handed it over to me. I was contemplating on throwing the shit in the garbage, but I figured what would that solve? A part of me felt like it was too late for me to even have a relationship with him. I felt like he had already missed out on so much of my life already. In all actuality, we were strangers to each other, even if we did share the same DNA.
“I know it’s going to take some time, but please call me whenever you get a chance. I would love to be a part of your life and my grandson or granddaughter’s life,” he said, pointing at my pregnant belly.
I didn’t even say anything, I just took the napkin and put it inside of my back pocket. When I got back to the table, the girls had already ate and paid for the food. They wrapped my food up and I took it to go.
“Y’all just meet me at my house, so I can tell everybody what’s going on at the same time. I would hate to have to tell this story more than once,” I said as soon as we got in the parking lot.
We all got in our vehicles and headed over to my house. Either way, I would have to tell it more than once, because I had to tell my husband about what happened.
As soon as everybody got to my house, we all gathered around in the den area to prepare ourselves for what I was getting ready to say. I was sitting on the big La- Z-Boy couch with Tisha. Tamika and Kyla were sitting on the couch opposite from us, and Kyla was holding the baby. I began with my story.
“Alright y’all, so for as long as I can remember, my mom would always tell me that my father had died, no explanation on how he died, all I knew was that the man was dead. I never really started questioning my mom about his absence until I was in the first grade. She told me what happened and that was that, never brought it back up again. Years later, when I turned 15 is when I started to think my mom was lying about that shit, so I questioned her about it and finally she told me the real damn story. Come to find out, my dad was married already and had a daughter, which is Symone,” I told them. Only person that knew about that was Tisha. All Tamika and Kyla knew was that my father was dead, which clearly isn’t true.
“When she told him that she was pregnant with me is when he decided to tell her about his wife and his daughter. So pretty much, he told my mom to get an abortion. She told him she wasn’t going to do that, so he left. He basically said fuck me and my mom. After she told me that, I never in my life asked about him again until a few weeks back when this bitch,” I pointed at Tisha, “said I looked like Symone when she walked in the salon.”
“So that night, I called my mom and she went ahead and told me that he did have a daughter but she didn’t know her name. She did tell me though that my father’s name was Philip Hudson though. So, I got on Facebook that night and searched for him. That’s when I came across a picture of Symone on his profile. It only confirmed what I already knew though,” I said finally.
We just sat there for a while and let everything sink in. Before I knew it, I started crying.
“All I wanted to know was why he couldn’t be a man and take care of his responsibilities. My whole life, I would dream about what it would feel like to have my dad. And for him to sit there and say he didn’t want to ruin his marriage because of me makes me fuckin hate him,” I bawled.
“Lani, calm down. At the end of the day, that’s his loss. You did a good job without him. You’re beautiful, smart, and you’re only 24 years old and you own your own hair salon,” Tisha said, crying as well.
By this time, I had made everybody in the room sad, dripping with tears. Even Harmony was crying, but that’s only because she saw Tisha crying. Tisha went over and got Harmony from Kyla and sat on the other couch with her.
“So, the number that he gave you, are you going to call him?” Tamika asked.
“Honestly Meek, I don’t know. I would like for my child to know their grandfather, but as of now my answer is no,” I said stubbornly.
We all sat around the house for the next few hours just talking and watching TV. Around 5 p.m. is when everybody left. I went upstairs to my room and took a much needed nap. I had so many thoughts running through my head. It’s like this is the one thing that I begged God for damn near my entire life, and now that I have it, I don’t even know if I still want it. I just honestly felt like it was too late. I ended up crying myself to sleep.
Chapter 10: Tyrone
I was on my way home from a day of playing basketball with my niggas. It was 7 p.m. now, and we were out there playing since 3 this afternoon. I hadn’t heard from my wife since this morning, so I had a feeling she was sleep. If dinner wasn’t made when I got home, I’m sorry to say but I was going to be waking her ass up. A nigga was hungry as fuck.
I pulled up to the house and I spotted my wife’s car in the driveway. When I walked in the house, all the lights downstairs were off. I took the stairs two at a time and that’s when I spotted my wife in our bedroom, knocked out without a care in the world. She was sleeping so peacefully. Too bad, she was about to get her ass up out that bed and make her nigga some dinner.
“Baby wake up,” I said, shaking her shoulder.
She didn’t stir, she just laid there snoring lightly. I put my gym bag in the closet and attempted to wake her up again.
“Tiny wake yo ass up, I know you hear me,” I said, laughing because she know damn well she heard me now with all that noise I was making in there. Plus Ka’lani was a light sleeper, so I’m pretty sure she heard my ass when I came through the damn door.
“Tyyy move, you see me sleep,” she moaned, turning her back to me.
“I’m hungry baby, you ain’t gon’ fix your husband nothing to eat?” I asked her.
After a few minutes, she finally sat up in the bed with that sleepy look on her face. Her eyes were puffy, and it looked like she was crying before she went to sleep. I don’t know what for, but I was going to find out by the end of the night.
“Baby, it’s late, can I just order you something?” she whined.
“Nope, I got a taste for some spaghetti and some of that garlic bread down there. Make sure you put the meatballs in there too,” I said to her, not giving a fuck about her little attitude.
“Ty I’m pregnant, and besides I’m so tired,” she said, pulling my by the front of my shirt so that she could hug me.
I laughed at her dramatic ass. Whenever I wanted her ass to do something, she would always use that same excuse, talking about she pregnant like I didn’t know that shit already. Shit, I’m the one that pumped those soldiers in her ass.
“Ka’lani, I don’t want to hear that girl. I’m ‘bout to jump in the shower, go make that food girl” I said, pulling back from her.
She sat there giving me the death stare. I couldn’t do nothing but just smile at my beautiful wife. She got up and stomped out the room to make dinner for daddy.
**********
Ka’lani
During dinner, I was quieter than usual. I didn’t really have an appetite, but my husband all but forced me to eat. I was still thinking about what happened earlier in the restaurant, so eating was pretty much the last thing on my mind. Besides, I hated spaghetti and Ty knew that shit too.
“Tiny come here and bring your plate with you,” my husband said. I already knew what he was about to do.
I walked over to my husband with my plate in my hand. I sat it down and he placed me on his lap.
“What’s wrong with you? And before you answer, you better not lie. I knew it was something up with you when I came in here, I just wanted to wait until after I ate,” he said.
I went ahead and told my husband everything, from a few weeks ago when Symone came in the shop to me seeing her and my dad earlier today at the restaurant. When I was finished, I was back to the tears. I was so tired of talking about this same situation. It wasn’t doing anything but fucking me my emotions and having me cry every two seconds.
“Why you just now telling me this? Since when do we start keeping secrets?” my husband asked angrily.
“Baby I was going to tell you tonight when you came home, though. The only reason why I didn’t tell you before is because I wasn’t all the way sure that he really was my dad,” I said, wiping my eyes.
Tyrone just sat there taking everything in on what I just professed to him. He put his hand on my stomach and said, “So what’s going to happen now?”
“Honestly baby, I don’t know,” I said, looking him in his eyes.
“Well at this point, the nigga knows he’s made a mistake. The first step for him showing you that he wanted to be a part of your life was by him giving you his number, it’s just up to you now to see if you going to forgive him or hold a grudge for the rest of your life,” Tyrone said.
I didn’t know what else to say at that point. Out of all people, I thought my husband would be on my side and have the same fuck my dad for leaving me kind of attitude. Instead, I felt like this nigga was sticking up for him. I sucked my teeth and stood up from his lap to go in my room. He roughly grabbed my waist and pushed me back on his lap.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asked, turning me to face him.
“Nothing,” I mumbled with my hands crossed.
He slapped my hands from over my chest and made me put them down. He hated when I did that, because he felt as if I was acting like a little child that didn’t get their way.
“You probably mad about what I just said. But oh fuckin well. Yes, he’s a fuckin coward for leaving the way he did, but that nigga trying to make up for lost time, don’t just leave the nigga hanging like that. And if you don’t want to have a relationship with Symone, you don’t have to. You don’t like the bitch no way,” he said.
“Alright, can I go upstairs now?” I said, sounding uninterested in the shit he just said.
“No not until you finish you’re fuckin food. I saw that IHOP plate in the microwave, which meant your ass haven’t at all day. I told your ass ‘bout that. Feed my fuckin seed,” he said, pointing at my stomach.
“But baby the food is cold now,” I whined. Honestly I didn’t want to eat. My appetite was lost and I just wanted to go in my room and go back to sleep. I had enough events take place today.
“The microwave works,” he shot back, and I rolled my eyes at him. I got up to put the food in the microwave. When it was finished, I took it out and made my way back over to my chair.
“Naw, right here,” Tyrone said, slapping his thigh.
This nigga made me sit in his lap and I couldn’t leave until I finished all of my food. I was so fuckin mad, because I wasn’t nowhere near hungry. Thirty minutes later, I was finally finished. He glanced over at my plate then hit my thigh.
“Alright, you can go in the room now,” he said.
I got up with my plate and put it in the sink. When I was finished, I headed upstairs, took a shower and took my ass to sleep. Today was a rough day. Hopefully tomorrow would be a better one.
**********
Tisha
I woke up the next morning energetic ass fuck. I looked to my left, and Otis was still sleep. I got up went in the bathroom and brushed my teeth and washed my face. I went inside my drawer and threw on my black and purple Nike tights with my purple Nike sports bra. I walked inside my closet and threw on my black Roshe Runs sneakers with the purple stripes. My hair was still wrapped up, so I took it out and threw it in a high pony tail.
When I walked out the room, I went inside of my daughter’s room and she was still sleeping. I picked her up and put her in the bed with Otis just in case she woke up while I was gone. I left out the house to do my daily morning run. I would jog around the entire block for at least 45 minutes. We lived in a nice neighborhood, so I didn’t have to worry about any creeps lurking or trying to take my ass. Normally I would just work my ass off on the treadmill that we have at the house, but for some reason I felt like going for a jog this morning.
When I was finished, I headed back home. When I got inside the house, Otis and Harmony were in the den watching TV. She saw me walk in and crawled over to me. That was my baby, with her pretty self.
“Heyyy princess,” I said, bending down to touch her. She tried reaching her arms up so that I could pick her up.
“Hold on baby, let me take a shower, then Mommy will come and play with you,” I told her. I was all sweaty and I didn’t want to touch my daughter like this.
“You don’t see me standing here?” I said to Otis since he didn’t acknowledge my presence when I came into the den. He looked around to see who the fuck I was talking to.
“Tisha gone on with that,” he said, stretching out in the recliner.
I walked over to him and straddled his lap, sweaty and all. I don’t care, this was my man and if I wanted to be sweaty around him I could do that. I started kissing him on his neck. My daughter wasn’t paying us no attention, she was too into Dora being on the TV. I was trying to give her daddy some loving because he was acting real rude.
“Tisha move man, you see the baby right here,” Otis said aggravated.
“Well, just give me a kiss first then I’ll get up,” I begged, kissing his neck.
He leaned over and started tonguing me down. He started rubbing on my ass and breast in the process. I had to get up off him before something started that quick. I asked this man for a kiss, not nothing else with his nasty ass.
I jumped up and headed upstairs to take a much needed shower. I even washed my hair while I was in there. I got out and wrapped a towel around my body, and one around my head. I dried off and put on my cocoa butter lotion. Next, I took the towel from around my head and let it flow down my back curly. I guess you could say I had white people hair. I threw on a dress in my closet from Urban Outfitters that stopped a little bit mid-thigh. I ran down the stairs to go join my man and my baby in the den. I got on the floor with Harmony, and she crawled over to me. I picked her up and laid on my back with her sitting on my chest.
“Say Ma- Ma,” I kept saying. Every time I would say that, she would just burst out laughing like I told the biggest joke in the world. She knew how to say mama, but her lil bad ass would only say it when she wanted to. See, like how I’m telling her to say it, she won’t do it, she’ll just do it on her time.
“You so damn goofy,” Otis said, laughing and shaking his head. He was just mad because Harmony was saying my name first before she was saying his, with his jealous ass.
“So nigga, my daughter think I’m funny, ain’t that right baby?” I said to Harmony and she started laughing.
