It had been almost year now that Sasha had opened the door that should have ended Jay’s marriage, but he was still holding on to the hope that Robin would forgive him and try to make their marriage work. Jay’s pursuit of marital reconciliation, meant Sasha’s dream of marital bliss was put on the back burner until she was able to convince Jay that there was no chance of saving his marriage. She had been trying to get him to move in with her for the past three months, ever since he’d told her that Robin had confess that their daughter wasn’t his. Jay seemed convinced that Robin was lying and just trying to get back at him for what he had done. Sasha on the other hand was convinced that Robin was telling the truth and determined to use Robin’s confession as a way to finally get Jay to break away from Robin for good.
Over the past year, she had been able to get in good with his parents, who had been able to accept her child as their grandchild with open arms. She made sure to send them gifts for their birthdays and pictures of Cree every chance that she got. She took her for visits on weekends and made sure Cree spent the night with them at least once a month. Jay’s mother had been a little harder to break than his father, but after several heart felt meetings, she was able to convince her that she wasn’t some kind of trollop who had broken up her son’s marriage. If only she were able to persuade Jay of the same thing, she could finally have the family that she deserved.
Jay was there to pick up their daughter and he seemed irritated as usual. Lately whenever they can in contact with each other he acted as if he were under some kind of court order to be there. He was quiet only saying the words necessary to convey what her wanted or needed. He stood by the door as she finished packing up Cree’s diaper bag, rushing her with his icy glare. After several minutes of her kissing her daughter goodbye and showering her with kisses, a displeased Jay rolled his eyes complaining, “You’re not sending her off to war. She’s just going to spend the night with her grandma. She’ll be back tomorrow, dang.”
“I know she’ll be back tomorrow. I’m just giving her enough kisses to last until then, thank you very much.” Sasha replied, a little pissed by his remark but in no mood to start a fight. She asked, “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing!” he snapped, “Look, just hurry up so we can go okay! I ain’t go time for all of this nonsense.”
Sasha raised her eyebrow. Who did he think she was talking too? She started to go there; to cuss his ass out, but she didn’t. She knew why he was mad. It had been the same reason he’d been mad time after time over the past year. He’d gone over to Robin’s house hoping that she’d let him take both of the girl’s for the night and she’d said no, so now he thought that he’d come over to her house and take out his frustration on her. “Don’t come over her with that attitude because I can just as easily unpack this bag and get my baby ready for bed.”
“Whatever.” Jay shrugged, as if he didn’t care one way or another. He was tired of the women in his life using their children as weapons against him.
“What do you mean, whatever? Either you want to take her or you don’t. I didn’t ask you to come get her Jay. You called me. You’re lucky that I’m even letting you take her during the middle of the week.” Sasha replied. She was tired of getting the backlash from his fights with Robin. He should have said what he wanted to say to Robin to her face, instead of coming to her house in his pissy moods ready to start an argument over something as trivial as kissing their daughter.
“Lucky? How the fuck am I lucky? This is my daughter too! I’m sick of you and Robin acting like these children don’t belong to me too. You’re the one whose lucky! Lucky, that I take care of my responsibility. Any other motherfucker would have been stop dealing with your ass. Would have jumped ship as soon as you said you were pregnant. So, don’t stand there telling me how lucky I am that you are “letting” me see my child! Or you gonna tell me that this one ain’t mine too?” Jay responded his voice getting louder with each statement. Cree shook a little with each rise in his voice.
“FUCK YOU, JAY!” Sasha yelled as she pointed her finger at him. She secured Cree on her hip before she continued, “Don’t come over here with that bullshit! I’m tired of you bringing that shitty attitude over here when you get mad at that bitch! Okay! I’m tired of it! Don’t come in here acting like you were so damned overjoyed when I told you about being pregnant. If I remember correctly the first thing out of your mouth was abortion and-“
“That’s right dammit! You knew I was married from day one and you knew I didn’t want no damn baby with your ass!” Jay interrupted Sasha before she could finish her statement.
“You knew you were married too and it still didn’t stop you from jumping in bed with me!” Sasha shot back bouncing Cree on her hip, as the yelling was starting to scare her.
“You nasty bitch, you knew, you were just some ass on the side from day one!” Jay said as he stormed over to Sasha to further berate her to her face. He turned up his nose in disgust as he continued, “Do you honestly think that I would have had anything to do with you after that first night, if it weren’t for Cree? She’s the only good thing to come out of this whole fucked up situation.”
Jay’s words cut like the sharpest of blades and Sasha’s voice cracked as she fought back tears saying, “This fucked up situation? I didn’t ask you for shit, Jay! Not even your raggedy last name on Cree’s birth certificate. I didn’t ask you to put your name on this condo or this ring on my finger. You were the one who made all those false promises about leaving your wife for me. You were the one who moved me up here thinking that I was going to be the next Mrs. Jason Harrison. I wish I had never met you, you sorry son of a bitch. I wish I had just ignored you that day in training.”
“Well that makes two of us.” Jay remarked before Sasha could say anything else. The two stood there for a moment in silence. Jay ready to pour salt in the wound he’d just created and Sasha bleeding out the rest of their relationship. The first tear rolled slowly down her cheek, which caused her daughter to hug her neck in an attempt to ease her pain. Sasha continued to bounce her baby on her hip, dawning a fake smile to ease the child’s fears. The saddest part of the whole exchange was that even though he treated her like a two dollar whore, she still loved him with all of her being. She sucked in her lips as the tear rolled across her mouth and down her chin. Jay was completely unmoved by her show of tears, as he had seen them countless times before. He rolled his eyes and said, “I don’t have time for this shit. Is Cree going or not?”
Unable to look him in the eye, Sasha with her head held low, just shook it from side to side. Defeated by the man she was afraid to let go of. If she let go of Jay, then there was no chance for the family that she had always dreamt of; the one she deserved. Jay had all the power and he knew it. He turned to leave, clearly displeased by her decision to keep Cree at home when the sting of the salt he’d kicked into the wounds he’d opened started to sting in Sasha’s mind. As he reached for the door she said, “Well, at least you know for sure that your little bastard child is, in fact, your child.” Jay stopped immediately, his back still turned to her. She continued determined not to be the only one in pain before he left, “From what I hear, your other child could just as easily be your second cousin. How’s that for a nasty bitch!”
Meanwhile across town, Monique’s entire family had gathered and after much discussion and many acquisitions, they had all finally talk themselves to death and were ready to leave. They had asked any and every question that could be asked and gathered all of Monique’s financial records to take to the bank’s fraud department in the morning. Her aunt and uncle along with her cousins had assured her that they were all determined to help her keep her house, even if it meant that they would be going into their personal savings to do so. Family is family and since she needed it and they had it then it was certainly hers. Bernadette had gotten the girls washed up and in bed before they left, so that there was quiet in the house when they all left. Monique went to her room and lay on her bed unable to get her mind off her broken dreams and ruined finances. Robin put a teakettle on the stove so that the two could have chamomile tea, to help relax Monique so that she could get some sleep.
It was somewhere between the water starting boil and Robin preparing two tea cups for the hot water, when the door bell rang. Robin glanced at the clock on the wall and puzzled who would be coming to their house at that time of night. True, it was only nine o’clock but still it was a school night and no one ever called on them after eight during the week. She grimaced, as the possibility that it may be her husband coming to finish what they started earlier crossed her mind, on her way to answer the door. She stood on her tiptoes to look through the peephole and was surprised to see Velle standing on the front porch rubbing his hands together.
She didn’t even bother to ask who it was, before she answered the door anxious to hear how he was going to explain his being on their front steps at that time of night. “Can I help you?” She asked as she stood in the open doorway, with a hand on her hip and smirk on her face.
“Yeah…hey…uhm…is Momo here?” Velle stammered as he had not actually thought about how he was going to explain his being at there doorsteps, until he had actually seen the door slowly opening. He had then started to think about how weird it may be that Monique’s boss was at her house looking for her after hours but he needed to know where she was so he continued, “I went by the salon and her car was still there, the lights were on, nobody there. I called her cell phone but she’s not answering it, which isn’t like her at all, so I was just stopping by to make sure everything was alright.”
“Do you do this for all of your employees?” Robin asked as she folded her arms across her chest and shifted all her weight to one hip.
“No…yeah…wait what?” Velle replied not sure how he was supposed to answer the question or if he were suppose to answer it or not.
“Yeah right, boy. Y’all two ain’t fooling nobody. Come on in,” she said she moved to the side so that he could enter the house. As he past her she continued, “I know what’s going on between you two. Why she’s late every Wednesday, so please save that concerned boss crap for the salon.”
Velle watched Robin as she closed and double locked the front door. She was short just like Monique but her personality was much more harsh and too the point than the love of his life’s. He respected Robin because she didn’t take any bs and was always looking out for Momo’s best interest. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I-“ he started.
“Bla, bla, bla. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. Did you talk to Mark and Will? They said that they were going to lock up. Were they still there when you got there?” Robin said as she motioned for Velle to follow her.
“No. They were gone when, I got there, which is probably why the lights were left on. I know Momo wouldn’t have left the lights on and then I saw her car. I just got a little worried.” Velle said trying not to say too much, while answering Robin’s questions as she led him to a room down a short hall. “This is a cute little house.” He remarked as they reached was obviously their destination.
“I’m glad you like it. I helped Mo pick it out,” she said as she stood face to face with him. He was big guy, with a heart just as big as his stature, so she was happy that he and Monique were a couple even if it were supposed to be some kind of secret. She poke him in the chest as she said, “Look Velle, this is not my baby cousin on the other side of this door, it’s my baby sister…you feel me. She’s hurting in there, so if you can’t make her think that everything is going to be okay then you aren’t the man I think you are and you’re certainly not the man I thought you were. Plus, if you don’t make her feel better then I’ll cut you, our iodine on the wound and sow your ass back up…I’m a nurse, you know I can do it.”
Velle smirked at her last remark, ignoring it he asked, “What’s going on?”
“I’ll let her tell you. You want some tea?” She replied straightening his tie before then tightened it as said, “Remember what I said.” She was such a mean little troll. She pushed him in his chest, making him laugh at the sight of this little woman thought that she could threaten him. He took his hands and ruffled her hair as she started to walk away. She turned, making a gesture of giving him a black eye before turning to go attend to the whistling teapot. He didn’t know what to expect on the other side of the door, but her prepared for the worst. She could either be happy to see him or never want to see him again because he had broken one of her rules. He took a deep breath as he turned the knob to open the door.
