Chapter 15
When we left IHOP,I noticed Kizzie was extremely quiet. She was always talkative and inquisitive, so her silence put me on edge. I glanced at Gentry as he drove then turned slightly and asked, “Kizzie, what’s the matter? You’re really quiet.”
“Should I tell her now, Mr. Gentry?”
I frowned. What the hell was going on? I turned to him, and he said, “Yeah, sweetness. Tell your mom the things you told me.”
“Okay. Mommy, I know who GloRilla is. Daddy told me not to say the bad words though.”
“He listens to that in the car?”
“And at home. When his friends come over to play, he turns the music up loud.”
She put her finger to her chin like she was thinking. “Well… he doesn’t do that when Paul comes over. Only when Stacy, Lauren, and Monique come over. He never has time to play with us because he’s always playing with his friends.”
My face had to be red as hell, because it was so hot. It felt like my makeup had melted and was boiling on my damn face. “So he turns the music up loud when his lady friends come over? Where do they usually play at?”
“They go in his room. One time, I peeked through the crack in the door, and they were wrestling under the covers. It looked like Daddy was winning, because he was on top of her, and she was screaming.”
I glanced over at Gentry, and his eyes were wide like he didn’t know she would say that. When she said, “I didn’t tell you that part, Mr. Gentry,” I knew why his eyes were wide. I slid my hand down my face.
“Mommy, are you mad at me?”
“Not at all, baby. I have to talk to your daddy about this.”
“No, Mommy. He told me not to tell. I’m gonna get in trouble.”
“No you won’t, beautiful. Okay? Your daddy shouldn’t do those things around the two of you. I’m mad at him.”
I grabbed my phone and immediately sent him a text. You muthafucka! How dare you fuck women with my kids in the house? Have you lost your entire mind? You have the audacity to keep them from me because you said you didn’t know Gentry, but you’re bringing random women around them without my knowledge! I’m keeping my babies. Fuck you!
I was fuming. When Gentry grabbed my hand, I almost popped the shit out of him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to raise my hand at you. I’m just so pissed. How dare he?”
“I know, baby. I didn’t know that last part.”
I slowly shook my head and laughed. Nothing was funny, but if I didn’t laugh off this aggression, I was gonna kill his ass whenever I saw him. I had been taking his opinions into consideration, and the muthafucka was playing in my face the whole time. “Can we go to my parents’ house?” I asked Gentry.
“Yeah, of course.”
It was only ten, but I needed my mama to talk my ass down. I wanted to go to his house and fuck him up. I honestly believed Gentry would let me too. He’d drive me right over to Clayton’s house and help me fuck him up. I started taking deep breaths because I could feel back spasms coming on. I used to have them after my accident. I learned they were anxiety attacks. That shit hurt like hell. Deep breaths only slightly helped once I was in the middle of it, but if I could catch it before it got started good, it helped tremendously.
When Gentry turned in the driveway, Kizzie looked around and said, “Yay! We get to see MoMo and PaPa!”
I tried to smile at her, but my lips would not curve upward unless I pushed them up with my fingers. Even then, it would be a struggle. Before I could get out, Gentry grabbed my hand. “At least you know, baby. Now you can take your babies out of that environment.”
I nodded as he leaned over and kissed me. He allowed the kiss to linger, and I could feel the ice melting from my exterior. The passion in this man could calm a fucking blizzard. When he pulled away, Kizzie said, “Mr. Gentry is gonna marry you, Mommy.”
Deciding to be honest with my child, I turned in my seat and lifted my hand. “Mr. Gentry and I are already married, baby. Y’all have been staying with your dad because he didn’t like that I got married without telling him.”
“That wasn’t very nice. I wanted to throw flowers at the wedding.”
“I know. One day, we’ll have another one where you can do that. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Gentry grabbed my hand and kissed it then got out of the car to help us out. As soon as the children were out of the car, they took off for the front door. Gentry grabbed my hand and said, “I’m proud of you for telling her the truth.”
I gave him a slight smile. “I try so hard to protect my kids in order to maintain their innocence. If she remembers her dad’s ‘playtimes’ when she gets older, she’s going to know what she witnessed. I hate that. All this time, he was claiming to be protecting them. That was bullshit. You were right. Something is up, and I’m going to get to the bottom of that shit. I need my mama to calm me down first though.”
“Shit, I could have calmed you down.”
I smirked. “Yeah, but we have the kids. I had to settle for the next best thing,” I said as I rubbed my hands up his chest. “I’ll let you make good on that once they go to sleep.”
“Sounds like a plan. Come on.”
He draped his arm across my shoulders, and we made our way to the door where the kids were. Once we’d gotten there, my mama was opening the door. “My babies!” she screamed.
The kids screamed right back. Their excitement made me excited. I could hear my daddy yelling from the back room, asking what was going on. I chuckled as we walked in. My mama picked up Dakota, and Kizzie ran to find my dad. “My goodness, baby girl. Thank God,” Mama said to me.
“Hey, Mama. I really need to talk to you. It’s important.”
“Okay, baby. Hey, Gentry. How are you?”
“I’m good, Missus Solé. How about you?”
“I’m so much better,” she said, then kissed Dakota’s cheek and let him down to go meet my dad.
My mama hugged Gentry and me then led us to the back room where Daddy was watching TV with Princess Tiana on his lap. She loved my dad, and they’d established a close bond. My mama snatched her from his lap, tickling her and kissing her cheeks. Dad stood from his seat and shook Gentry’s hand. “How’s everything, son?”
“It’s good. How about with you?”
“Well, if I can stop these bones from aging, I’ll be okay. Hey, baby girl.”
I smiled at my dad and hugged him. He kissed my head then released me from his embrace. I glanced at Mama, and she said, “Come on, baby.”
I kissed Gentry’s lips. “When I text you, can you send the princess to us?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, baby.”
He lightly slapped my ass as I walked away. I turned to him and winked at him. It felt good to be this way with him again. Depression was weighing me down. While I was angry as fuck right now, just having my children with me had me in a better mood.
My phone vibrated before I could get to the room. It was a text from Clayton. What in the hell are you talking about? I ain’t fucking nobody with them in the house. Bring my kids home or I’ll come get them. By the way, my lawyer works weekends. I filed for custody already. You’ll be getting served soon.
I walked inside of my mama’s room and threw my phone against her padded wall. “Whoa! G, what’s wrong?”
“That trifling ass nigga filed for custody!”
“What?”
“Clayton filed for custody! Apparently, he knows a lawyer and a judge that would do this shit for him on the weekend. Fuck!”
She ran to me and hugged me tightly as I cried audibly. This couldn’t be my life. She released me and grabbed my hand, leading me to her couch. I lay on my back and prepared to tell her everything, starting from last night. She already knew Clayton and Gentry’s first meeting didn’t go well, but I didn’t tell her they were having a do over last night.
“He played in Gentry’s face, acting like he was so concerned, and didn’t come home. I ended up staying with the kids at his place last night instead of going home with my husband. Gentry nearly broke things off with me last night. He’s been so irritated with this shit and the way I was handling it. When Clayton got home, I threatened him, promising to file for custody on Monday. But that shit ain’t even what’s got me so damn hot.”
My mama frowned slightly. “There’s more?”
“Oh, much more. First off, he’s listening to vulgar music with my children in the car. Kizzie knows who GloRilla is! What the fuck? Oh, but it gets worse,” I said then chuckled. I was almost at the point of no return. That laugh was me teetering on the edge of sanity. “He’s been allowing random women in the house around my babies, and Kizzie saw him fucking one of them through the crack in his door.”
My mama’s mouth fell open. “Did she see anything?”
“No. She saw him on top of the woman and heard her screaming. She thought they were wrestling. He’d pulled the covers over them. Mama, I cursed his ass out through text and told him I was keeping my babies. I was reading his response when I walked in. What if the judge orders me to give them back to him? I can’t live without my babies! This past month was hard enough.”
“I know, baby. Just know that you will win in the end. Things always get harder before you reap the reward. Just don’t give up.”
“Can you talk to Kizzie about what she saw and make sure she’s okay?”
“Of course. I think she’s fine though. It’s you who I’m worried about. You look like you will snap any minute.”
Before I could respond, the doorbell rang. My mama said, “That must be Daniel. He said he was gonna stop by.”
She left the room, so I left out behind her. Before I could get back to Gentry, she called my name. I frowned and made my way to the front door where she was. When I got closer and saw the constable, I nearly lost my fucking mind. “I know you fucking lying! This nigga is really trying to take my kids!”
My mama grabbed my hand and pulled me to the door to sign the constable’s paperwork. My tears were freefalling. I dropped to my knees, not knowing what to do. My babies and Gentry came to the front, and he helped me from the floor. I felt like I was gonna pass out. My back was killing me. Gentry pulled me in his arms and said, “Take deep breaths, baby. Please. You scaring me. What’s going on?”
“Mommy, what’s wrong?”
Hearing Kizzie’s and Dakota’s cries forced me to try to compose myself. I said in a weak voice, “He filed for custody today.”
“On a Saturday?”
“Apparently, he knows people that could make that happen.”
“My frat brother is an attorney.”
“I’m gonna call my cousin, Shyrón. He and my soror, Skyler, will handle his ass.”
I stomped away from everyone and placed the call to Shy. While we were cousins, I wouldn’t say I knew him that well. We’d only been around each other three or four times in the past year, but I was mostly around Alexz and all their wives. I knew Jungle a lot better because that was Vegas’s best friend.
“Shyrón Berotte.”
“Hey, Shy. It’s Giselle.”
“What’s up, girl? Sound like you about to snap the way your voice trembling and shit.”
“I am. My children’s father filed for custody of my babies. I have to meet him and his attorney for an arbitration in two weeks. There’s so much shit going on that I don’t feel like repeating right now, but I need to know if you can be my attorney.”
“Hell yeah. You family, and I can’t stand a nigga that try to railroad a woman. This about you marrying Gentry?”
“That’s when it started, yeah, but I think there may be more to it. I honestly don’t think it has to do with Gentry directly.”
“A’ight. Take pictures of the documents and send them to me.”
“I’m at my parents’ house, so I can scan and email them.”
“Okay. Do that. Tell Uncle DS I said what’s up, and kiss Aunt Solé for me. When I go over that shit, I’m gonna call you back.”
“Okay. I just want this to be over. He’s threatening to find me and come get the kids.”
“He ain’t finna do that. If he does, I’ll be defending Gentry next if the vibe I caught from him was accurate.”
“It was definitely accurate if you think he’ll need you next. I’m about to scan the documents. What’s your email address?” I asked as I sat at my mama’s desk.
Once he sent the address, I emailed them to him and ended the call. I lowered my head to the desk, trying to figure out what the fuck was wrong with Clayton’s ass. “Mommy?”
I lifted my head to see my baby standing next to me. I picked her up and set her on my lap. “I’m so sorry for scaring you. Mommy is just really upset.”
“Who’s trying to take me and Kota from you?” she asked sadly.
“Your dad. He doesn’t want y’all to live with me.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, baby, but I’m not going to let him win. I can’t live without y’all. It was a mistake letting him dictate to me what should be done a month ago. I was trying to be understanding.”
I knew she didn’t have the slightest clue what I was talking about, but she hugged me around my neck. When I felt her tears against my neck, I pulled away to stare into her eyes. “Mommy won’t let go, okay?”
“Okay.”