Chapter 12 Jamaica
Freedom refused to agree that we didn’t have a future, though he promised to focus on establishing a relationship with Jamie. I left his bed reluctantly on Sunday morning, showered, and drove home, prepared for whatever would happen once Kody and my children returned home.
I walked around my home, taking my time through each room that I’d carefully decorated, marveling at how fast life can change.
On Friday, Freedom was the furthest from my mind.
By Sunday, he’d resurfaced to the top of my mind and heart.
My boys would soon learn they had different fathers and may end up living under different roofs.
Kody would certainly demand custody if Freedom were in the picture, and although he struggled to be patient with KJ’s hyperactivity at times, he loved his son.
I might be the better parent, but he was still a good one.
Kody arrived home first and entered the side door by the kitchen, and smiled when he saw me at the stove. “Smells good. Please say it’s your famous lamb and potatoes?”
“It is. Felt like cooking for my family.” I glanced at him, and my stomach churned from the glow that enveloped him and the recognition that whoever he’d spent the weekend with made him feel like Freedom made me feel.
He walked behind me, kissed my cheek, and looked over my shoulder at the food on the stove.
I asked, “How did the rest of the weekend go with Alloid Group?”
“Good. They have a couple of projects that’ll start in six weeks.
If they like what we do with the renovations to the rec center, they’ll give us more work.
You were right to underbid. They chose us over other Atlanta-based companies.
” He squeezed my shoulders and moved to the refrigerator. “When are the boys coming home?”
“They’re on the road now. Probably within an hour or so. I’m cooking for everyone.”
“Guess we don’t have time to get it in.” He pulled out a bottle of water and leaned against the counter, watching me. “How did the rest of the weekend go with the reunion? From the pics I saw, it looks like it was a success.”
“It was. Had a fun weekend catching up.”
“Did you and Freedom speak again?”
“Yep.” I looked over my shoulder at him before refocusing on the stove.
“Freedom wants to meet Jamie the next time he’s in town.
I figure we wait a couple of weeks to tell Jamie while we still process it.
Maybe one Friday after school, while KJ is with one of his friends.
I can do it myself, but I think we need to have a united front, so Jamie knows you still love him. ”
“Did you discuss child support?” He asked.
“No, though he’s already opened an account in Jamie’s name and deposited money. Don’t believe we’ll have to fight him for child support.”
An impressed Kody nodded. “Did he tell you how much?”
“No, and I didn’t ask. Freedom wanted to tell him and let him see the amount whenever they met.”
“He’s fourteen. Shouldn’t we have access to his account? That boy loves expensive electronics, and we need to make sure he’s not overspending.”
“His father will have access, and we can discuss with him and Jamie on how they want to proceed with financials. We just need to make sure that Jamie will be cool with everything that’s about to happen.”
“I can be here when you talk to him.” He tossed his now-empty water bottle in the trash. “I’m going to catch the last part of the game.”
Kody had been gone since Wednesday, and now he was about to watch a basketball game? The irritation I already felt at his nonchalance in coming home after being gone for days, knowing I had any interaction with Freedom, turned into an outright annoyance.
I clicked off the stove and turned around.
“You’re really okay with Freedom being in our lives again?
Most men would be jealous that their wives might still have feelings for the father of their child, or jealous that the son that they’ve raised for years will love his bio father more than them.
You’re one of the most arrogant and prideful men I know, and you seem completely unfazed about Freedom.
Is it because you’re blinded by his millions, you don’t see the man in him?
If he were a regular Joe Blow coming back into our lives, flirting with your wife, would it matter then? ”
The frown lines continued to cross his forehead.
“For a long time, we didn’t have peace in this house, and it was my fault.
I was pissed when I saw you and Freedom dancing; we got into it, and you almost crashed the car.
I’m trying to be an adult about all of this since I did invite him back into our lives to save our company.
” Kody tilted his head. “You would rather I argue and fight with you to prove that I love you. Is that what this anger is about?”
I shouted, “Yes, because that’s what men in love with their wives do.
We just landed big deals between Freedom Cade and the Alloid Group.
Technically, we’ve just become millionaires at thirty-three years old.
You’ve been gone for days, and we have this whole house to ourselves, and we don’t celebrate by fucking? ”
His jaw tightened. “I hate when you curse. It doesn’t sound natural coming from you.”
“I’m sure you love it when your other women curse.
Your wife has to be respectable and nice.
” I crossed my arms and glared at my man of thirteen years.
A man who had been a provider and a helper to me when I needed him the most, I ignored his red flags.
“Who were you with in Atlanta? You don’t want to fuck me, which must mean you’ve been fucking someone else. ”
“No one. I’m tired after a busy week.” He sighed and jammed his hands in his pockets. “At one point, will you trust me again?”
“When you start being honest.” I stood on tiptoes and sniffed his neck. “At least she lives in Atlanta. I don’t smell a trace of her.”
He stalked away from me and walked around the island, placing distance between us. “I don’t smell like another woman because there isn’t another woman.”
Gripping the side of the island, I faced him. “I’m sorry that I’m not enough for you.”
Kody frowned. “You are enough.”
“I know I am,” I responded indignantly. “I meant for you. You want the woman that you might have thought I would be when we first got together. Maybe you wouldn’t look for other women if you liked the woman in your bed every night.
You like saying you’re a husband and a father, but do you actually like being a husband and a father? ”
“Why are you talking like this? I married the woman I wanted,” he said a little too earnestly.
I held my hand out. “Then, if I’m enough, give me your phone.”
“No,” Kody yelled.
“On this, you show some emotion. Great.” I moved away from the island and used a mitt to open the oven and remove the pan of lamb.
“That’s it? No argument because I won’t give you my phone?” He moved closer to me.
“Tired of fighting for someone who doesn’t have passion for me.” I shook my head. “A relationship is like a flower. You have to add the right amount of light and water for the flower to thrive.” I half-tossed the pan of lamb on the cooling rack atop the island. “And you and I are weeds.”
“Weeds, Jamaica? Is that how you see us?”
“Yep, together we are plants who are undesirable in a particular situation.” I tapped the counter. “Yet around the right situation we bloom.”
His thick brows furrowed deeply, and he crossed his arms, the cords in his arms bulging from his polo shirt. “Freedom sweeps back in, and suddenly you’re doubting us? Now, we’re not the right people for each other?”
“You’re glowing, Kody, and before you lie again and tell me it’s because of the business, I know a glow from the attention of a woman, a woman you want to see again.
Maybe have already been seeing. You’ve been to Atlanta four times in the last three months and are now talking about relocating there. ”
He shrugged. “Okay. Say there is another woman, you ready to leave me? Think you can run to Freedom to rescue you? We’re building a foundation.
Everything we talked about when we were those college kids raising his son is starting to come together, and you want to destroy it with bullshit fantasies.
I’m not fucking stupid. You’re all bold and shit because you believe you have other options, and you really don’t. ”
I gritted my teeth. “That’s always been your problem.
Taking me for granted. Thinking you did me a favor by being with me because you were a big man on campus.
All the women loved Kody Griffin, a handsome, ambitious basketball player and a future architect.
I know you fucked around back then, and I looked the other way because you helped me raise his son without complaint.
But forever more, know that I’ve always had options.
I chose you… have chosen you over and over, because I believed in honoring my commitments, and I wanted a long-lasting marriage like my parents. ”
He picked up my left hand and rubbed the gold band.
“I still want that too. I hated that my father lived in Chicago and my mother had to figure it out for herself. I love that you take care of me and our sons. That you make this house a home. That everything you do is about loving us and making sure we have what we need to thrive. Of course, I married the right woman for me. There’s nothing you can say or do that’s ever going to make me leave you. ”
“So, if I had sex with another man, you would forgive me?”
His temple twitched, and he tightened his hold on my hand. “I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t forgive you.”
“Good, because I never wanted a marriage with lies and dishonesty.”
“What are you trying to tell me?”
“I already told you yesterday on the phone, but you didn’t believe it was possible.”
He growled, “Did you fuck Freedom?”
“Did you fuck another woman?”
He yanked my arm hard. “Don’t play with me. Did you have sex with Freedom?”
“You tell your truths, I’ll tell you mine.”
“Or we bury them and move forward,” He countered.
Loud voices tumbled over our ears as our sons returned, KJ bursting through the side door to ram himself into my side. Kody dropped my hand, though his angry gaze remained fixated on me.
“Mommy, Mommy…Granddaddy started cursing this lady out for cutting us in the line at Sea World. It was so funny.”
Jamie walked in with his Beats around his neck and a duffel bag on his back and went straight to the refrigerator. “It was kind of funny. He hardly ever gets mad, and the woman kept rolling her neck while he yelled at her.”
My mother, a pretty, curvy woman who didn’t hide her graying hair, followed closely behind Jamie.
“Didn’t I tell you not to tell your mother what happened?
” She kissed my cheek, and we hugged with KJ still in between us, eating it up.
He loved his grandmama so. “We had such a good time, and the first thing you can tell her is the worst thing that happened?”
Jamie closed the refrigerator, holding a small apple juice bottle. “It’s because Grandad never loses his cool. Like never.”
Kody bent to kiss my mother’s cheek. “Hey, Ma. How was the road?”
“Ooh, going to San Antonio, we kept getting stuck in traffic. It was a breeze coming home today.”
“That’s because I insisted we leave right after breakfast.” My staunch father, still fit, with slight wrinkles in his forehead and around his eyes, hinting at his advancing years, finally walked through the door, holding KJ’s Paw Patrol roller bag. “She wanted to stay for lunch.”
“We would’ve still been fine if we skipped breakfast and had an early lunch on the Riverwalk.” She tapped my father’s chest and kissed his cheek. “As long as he got us all home safe and sound.”
“Always.” He smiled at her, the love for her evident as it had always been. His tenderness and kindness toward my mother and his daughters balanced the times he could be gruff and strict. Over the years and after retirement, he’d mellowed out, loved his grandsons, and respected Kody as a son.
I slid next to Kody and whispered, “That’s a couple who are still in love, are we?”
Kody glanced at my parents before he lowered his head to kiss me on my lips.
Hard. “Dad, you and Ma should stay for dinner so we can catch you up on the latest? Since we’re all family, we thought you should be the first to know.
We’re going to be working with Freedom Cade on his new home here in Dallas. It’s a contract worth millions.”
The reactions around the kitchen were mixed to say the very least. KJ jumped up and down.
My worried mother grabbed my now frowning father’s arm.
And Jamie. Well, Jamie had the brightest smile I’d ever recalled him having.
If anyone took a pic of him at this moment, there would be no doubt about who his father was.
Kody grabbed me around my waist when I attempted to leave his side and spoke only for my ears, “Fuck Freedom again, and I’ll kill him myself.”
At my stunned expression, he grinned, though his eyes were serious. “Is that enough passion for you?”