Chapter 21
KARIMA
“Mama! I said I was sorry! What the fuck more you want from me?” Milana yelled.
She was crying her eyes out and so was Aunt Tiff. “I want you to perform a fucking miracle and bring us back in time before you did that ho ass shit you did!”
I closed my eyes and lowered my head. God, please intervene. I didn’t know why Milana thought it was wise to approach Aunt Tiff out here. Aunt Tiff had already slapped the piss out of her. Uncle Ryder was holding Milana in his arms, and Uncle Storm was holding Aunt Tiff.
“Tiffany! That’s enough. She is still our daughter,” he said.
“Is she? Because I don’t recognize her ass!”
She jerked away from Uncle Storm and went back inside as Milana fell against Uncle Ryder. He slowly shook his head and embraced his baby. “Lana, you have to accept that you fucked up. You can’t make your mama come around in your time. When she is ready to deal with this, she will go to you. She’s still angry, and you know how hotheaded she can get. You know how much I cut for you, baby, but you deserved that slap.”
“I know, Daddy. I just miss her. I hate what I did to our relationship. I hate what my actions did to Grandpa.”
“What’chu mean what your actions did to Grandpa?” Uncle Storm asked.
Aww fuck. Milana turned and walked away, heading to her car. She really messed up by saying anything in front of this nigga. I thought everyone knew by now. That was probably another reason why Aunt Tiff was so angry. Milana should have waited until they had a private moment to do this. She made me wonder if she was ever thinking clearly.
Uncle Storm frowned hard and said, “Oh hell naw. Somebody gon’ tell me what the fuck she talking about.”
Everyone was frowning, and I knew this wouldn’t be good. Uncle Ryder slid his hands in his pockets and said, “One of the men Ace killed was her ex-boyfriend. She’d never brought him around the family because she said she felt like he was on bullshit. Well, she found out he was cheating on her. Instead of her just breaking up with him, she slept with his brother.”
Uncle Jasper choked on the smoke from his blunt and dropped that shit to the ground. “What the fuck you say?” he asked.
“She slept with his half-brother that he didn’t get along with. This happened months ago, but she just told Tiff and me about it a couple of weeks ago. They were harassing her about what she did, and she was gonna call SS, Ace, and PJ to protect her, but Karima stepped in and called us. Well somehow, although they don’t like each other, they joined forces to get at her. His brother was also one of the ones that attacked Pop.”
Everyone was silent for a moment, so I said, “There is no way Milana knew something like this would have happened. That would be like blaming Jacob for everything that happened by him sleeping with that girl. While we are all angry about her actions, we cannot fault her for Grandpa’s death. Aunt Tiff is just angry that she’s even connected to this. Please, y’all. Don’t push her away at a time like this. She feels guilty enough.”
I walked away from them and went to Rhodes’s arms. “I’m sorry, baby. Are you ready to leave?” he asked.
“Yeah. Let me go and kiss my aunties and everyone inside.”
I walked away from him, but he followed me inside. Aunt Jen and Aunt Chrissy were talking to Aunt Tiff on the couch, and Uncle Marcus, Heaven, Aunt Syn, Malia, and Ace were still seated at the table. When I got to them, Ace asked, “The niggas I killed fucked around with Milana?”
“Two of them… yeah.”
He nodded. “Good. Another reason I don’t feel bad about taking their grimy asses out of here.”
I took a deep breath and exhaled. “I’m about to go, y’all. I love y’all, and I’ll see all of you Saturday.”
I walked around the table, hugging all of them, and Rhodes was right behind me shaking hands. Going back to the front room, I went to my aunts to tell them bye. They all stood to hug me. When I got to Aunt Tiff, she said, “I’m sorry, Rima. We’re gonna eventually make it right. I just don’t have the emotional capacity for it right now.”
“I know. You don’t owe me an apology. I’m gonna go talk to her.”
She kissed my head, then I grabbed Rhodes’s hand to get the hell away from here. As Rhodes helped me in the truck, he asked, “Can you just call Milana tonight? You can go check on her tomorrow. You need your rest.”
I nodded, and he kissed my hand. When he closed the door, I released my tears, my sadness, and my hurt. My family was in turmoil and the devil was happy as shit right now.
* * *
As I sat at the table with Rhodes and my immediate family, I rubbed my stomach, trying to calm my baby down. She had been moving so much during the funeral it had my stomach hurting. Then again, it was probably stress. The funeral was hard. Aunt Tiff cried so much, which caused everyone else to cry just as much. I knew she and Grandpa were close, but I wanted to believe the situation with Milana and how what she did connected to Grandpa’s death broke her heart.
Grandpa’s funeral was supposed to be a celebration of his life, but no one could even celebrate. Uncle Jasper was supposed to stand and talk on behalf of the family. He would have had everyone crying with laughter, but with as emotional as everyone was, he didn’t even go to the mic. Literally, no one in the family could keep it together, and it was the first time I didn’t hear a word from God during our family’s time of distress.
I supposed all had been already said and it was up to them to take heed to my words. I could only pray that after today, what I said at the hospital the day Grandpa died would resonate in their souls. God didn’t forget about us, but I felt like we’d forgotten about Him. It was like we couldn’t see past that sorrow and grief.
“Baby, are you okay?” my mama asked.
“I think so. My stomach is hurting.”
Her eyebrows lifted. Rhodes immediately brought his hand to my belly and rubbed it in circular motions, and Kingsley brought a chair next to me for me to put my feet up. Rhodes turned his seat to where I could rest my back against him and continued rubbing my belly as my mama sat next to me and lifted my legs to her lap.
Everyone was staring at me and trying to figure out if I was okay. I couldn’t speak. I didn’t want to speak. Today had been rough, and after this, I just wanted to go home and rest. Rhodes kissed the side of my head and my cheek as I closed my eyes and focused on my baby.
“Everything will be fine, baby. In Jesus name, all is well.”
I opened my eyes and turned to look at Rhodes. It was like he was sort of confused as to how he knew to say that. He didn’t talk that way. I had to accept that God was using my man to speak to me. For once, I was the one being ministered to, and it felt good that God chose to use Rhodes to do that. He kissed me again and closed his eyes.
“After you eat, we’ll go home. I love you.”
“Okay. I love you too.”
I could see that my mama wanted to ask questions, but she remained quiet after that. I truly believed that her questions were gonna further stress me out and make me anxious. It was like Rhodes’s words were for her as well. I wasn’t having stabbing pains or anything like that. My stomach just felt somewhat sore.
As we sat, waiting for the food to be served, Aunt Jen set a to-go container in front of me. “You need to go home and rest, baby. Oftentimes, people that God use as mightily as He uses you, need more rest. Your spirit is drained, and it doesn’t help that your princess is pulling from you too. The family will be fine. God said so. I love you so much, baby, but I need you to tend to your needs.”
She kissed my head, and I gave her a soft smile. She was right. There was nothing more for me to say. Whatever was gonna happen was gonna happen, whether I was here or not. My mama lowered my legs, and as I stood, Rhodes scooped me up in his arms. My parents, brothers, and Cassie all followed us out and offered hugs and kisses. Rhodes put me in the back seat of his SUV then took off my shoes and lifted my feet to the seat as well.
Once he closed the door, I leaned against it and before he could get inside, I had fallen asleep.
* * *
“You have to tell Rhodes that I will never forget today,” Mekayla said.
I chuckled as I lifted my foot from the water. He’d rented out Massage Envy for us to receive maternity massages and enjoy an entire spa day. Mekayla, Cassie, and I were so relaxed we’d all fallen asleep at some point. This past weekend had been a lot for all of us, but even more so for me. Cassie and Mekayla had their families to lean on and to escape to. There was no escaping it for me. This was my family.
“I will definitely tell him,” I said with a chuckle.
“Karima, how are you feeling? Did it take long for your stomach to stop hurting?” Cassie asked. “I was so worried about you. I believed everyone else was too.”
“When we got to Cheek, Rhodes brought me straight to bed. I’d fallen asleep on the way there. I think my body was just exhausted. When I woke up a couple of hours later, the pain was gone. I immediately checked to make sure I wasn’t bleeding. I was so nervous about that. Rhodes was nervous too.”
“I’m glad it all worked out. You needed the rest, sis.”
“How was everyone after I left?”
“It was quiet for a while. My sisters didn’t know what to say or do. Girl, then Uncle Jasper kicked up the music and said that we were supposed to be celebrating Grandpa’s life and what was a celebration without music. The way everyone came alive was the Hendersons I was used to. Unc said everybody had him so stressed and depressed he smoked up his whole stash and hadn’t had a chance to reup,” Mekayla said and laughed.
I laughed. “That’s just like Uncle Jasper. I’m glad he got everybody out of their heads and their feelings. What about Aunt Tiff and Milana? Were they at least talking to each other?”
They were my biggest concern. Their relationship had been shattered from everything that had happened. Milana was sinking in depression, and Aunt Tiff was so angry, it scared me. I glanced at Mekayla and Cassie to see them both put their heads down. That gave me all the answers I needed. However, Cassie said, “They stayed on different sides of the barn. Ashanni and Maui stayed with Milana the entire time, though, so she wasn’t alone.”
I nodded. I just hoped Aunt Tiff didn’t let this fester for too long. It would make it that much harder to come back from. She was so hotheaded, but I knew that she had a soft heart as well. Grandpa’s death had taken a toll on everyone, but I felt like, for some reason other than Milana’s bullshit, it had affected her more.
“How’s that?” the tech asked.
I glanced down over my belly at my toes and wiggled them. The light purple color was so beautiful on them. I rarely got pastels, but today was the day for it, not to mention the spring season. It represented just how soft I was feeling. “They’re beautiful. Thank you!”
Cassie had just slid on her flip flops, and Mekayla was standing from her chair. Today had been amazing. I just wanted to go check on my family and see what else my baby had in store for us. We hadn’t had sex since we went to Austin, and I was suffering. I was begging him for the dick Sunday. I had straddled him and everything, sliding my heat all over his erection, and he still turned me down.
He wanted to make sure I was okay first. After my doctor’s appointment yesterday, and my other appointment yesterday evening, I was way too tired for those festivities. Oh, but today? Today, nigga? I was gonna rape his ass if he didn’t give it up freely. After getting my Nike slides on, I was ready to run out of there. He’d dropped all of us off this morning, but I wasn’t sure if he was picking all of us up.
We thanked our techs, and we all headed out. When I opened the door, I had turned to talk to Cassie, but when I saw her eyes widen, I turned back to see what she was looking at. There was a red carpet leading to a limo, and our men were all standing there with their shirts open and single roses in their hands. My eyebrows lifted.
Looking at their slacks and white shirts, I glanced down at my leggings and T-shirt and felt disgusted. Instead of focusing on that, I walked toward my man as did Cassie and Mekayla. Rhodes wore tan slacks, KJ wore navy blue, and Jacob wore gray. They all turned to the car and pulled out dresses to match their pants.
My face brightened. The dress was gorgeous. It was long and the belly area was open. I giggled when I saw it. Once I got to Rhodes, I was about to kiss his lips, but the big KD on his chest caught my attention. My eyebrows lifted for the second time in two minutes. I opened his shirt more and saw my name in cursive, Karima Denali , across his chest.
“Rhodes, it’s beautiful,” I said as I slid my fingers across it. “I guess we were on the same wavelength. Remember when I left for a while yesterday evening after my appointment?”
“Yeah. You got a tattoo?”
I lifted my shirt so he could see the words ‘Rhodes to Love’ on my chest. They were situated in a V, indicating further south was where the ‘Rhodes’ led.
He smiled big and said, “That’s why your ass insisted on taking a solo shower when you got home! That’s fire, baby! Did your uncle do it?”
“No. His protégé, Darius, did it. I wouldn’t have felt comfortable with Uncle Ryder staring at my chest. Cassie came with me so I wouldn’t be alone with him, although I know him well. Plus, it’s temporary until I can get the real thing after pregnancy. I just wanted to show you what I would be getting after I had the baby. Did Uncle Ryder do yours?”
“He did it while you were here.”
“I love you so much, baby.”
“I love you too, KD. Go back inside and get dressed so we can go to dinner. There’s a makeup artist in there for you too.”
I kissed his lips and allowed it to linger. “Mm-hmm. Where we going after dinner?” I asked.
He bit his bottom lip, flashing his grill and said, “I’m gon’ have you traveling all these Rhodes to love, ecstasy, and euphoria, baby.”
The End