Wilde #2
In the shower, for the millionth time, I wondered why Misha didn’t just take Willow into the salon with her.
Why didn’t she ask me to watch her? There was nothing she could ever say to justify what she’d done, and that bitch would never see my daughter again.
Even if a judge somehow gave her grace and said she could see Willow, I’d go to prison my damn self for kidnapping and contempt of court.
She’d never be around my daughter ever again.
Being that I wasn’t close to either one of my parents growing up, I wanted to make sure I was in my daughter’s life.
She had me, her mother, and Wonder. Prior to the bullshit, I felt Willow was blessed.
Wonder never tried to be her mother but when she was around, she made sure she was safe and happy.
When we got married, Wonder would officially be her stepmother.
I was grown enough to know that Misha would move on, and I always told her as long as none of her niggas touched my child, mistreated her, or disrespected her, she could do what she wanted.
I was worried about a random guy being in my child’s life and doing her wrong and the whole time, it was her mother that I should have been worried about.
Standing underneath the hot water, I let it pelt onto my skin for at least fifteen minutes before I began to wash my body.
Since the day before, it felt like I was having an out of body experience. It didn’t even seem like my life.
When I got out of the shower, I wrapped a towel around my waist and brushed my teeth.
By the time I got dressed, I had to close my bedroom door and smoke a blunt.
Willow and Wylder both knew that I smoked, but they were too young to know what weed was.
They had smelled it I was sure, but I never smoked in the same room with them and even as young as they were they knew if I was smoking, they couldn’t come in.
It had been almost twenty-four hours since I’d smoked, and I felt like I was tweaking.
I didn’t mind being addicted to weed. Puffing on the blunt, I stared at my reflection in the mirror.
Though time had passed, I hadn’t calmed down one bit.
Misha’s mother came to the hospital screaming and crying, and I knew it wasn’t her fault for what her daughter did, but I didn’t like her ass anyway.
When Willow was a baby, I bought her diapers, wipes, formula, cereal, and baby food when she started eating it.
Misha wanted to apply for food stamps, but one of the stipulations was that she’d have to put me on child support.
Despite the fact that I took great care of Willow, Misha’s mother told her to put me on child support any way, so she could get the stamps.
That was before I went legit, and even if she had put me on papers, I didn’t have traceable income.
She wouldn’t have gotten more than fifty dollars a month.
Misha was smart enough not to get on my bad side for a few hundred dollar’s worth of stamps a month.
I couldn’t stand that money hungry ass bitch, and she knew it.
All she’d ever taught her daughter how to do was finesse the system and fuck for what she wanted.
Misha had felt my wrath before. Her mother hadn’t.
Any time her mother gave her some dumb advice, Misha was smart enough not to take it.
Why she wasn’t smart enough not to play with my daughter was beyond me.
I could afford to pay for therapy. Between that and Wonder, I prayed my baby wouldn’t grow up to have mommy issues because it was over for Misha’s ass.
She didn’t have a daughter anymore. Standing up, I hit the last of the blunt and flushed the roach down the toilet.
Inside the bedroom, I sprayed blunt spray and opened a window.
By the time I got downstairs, Pierre had shown up.
Willow was curled up in his lap while she watched cartoons.
Every single time I looked at her face, it killed me.
There wasn’t anyone else Willow trusted in this world more than me and her mother, and Misha had scarred my child.
Pierre and I locked eyes, and he subtly shook his head. He knew it was messed up, and I was pissed.
“You want me to warm you up some food?” Wonder asked. “I have pasta, and I can throw some garlic bread in the oven. Pierre, you want a plate?”
He nodded as I reached underneath my shirt and rubbed my belly. I hadn’t eaten anything since before I found out about Willow.
“Yeah, since I smoked, I can probably eat a little something. Thank you, baby.”
“I’m proud of you, bro,” Pierre declared when Wonder left the room.
“Proud of me for what?” My brows furrowed.
“For not getting arrested because I just knew the roles were about to be reversed, and either I was going to be picking you up, or watching the kids while Wonder did it.”
Sucking my teeth, I shook my head. “Man, I cried. That’s how bad I wanted to choke her out. The fact that I couldn’t do bodily harm to her made me cry.”
“I’m sure it did. Jail is the safest place for her to be right now. You think she’ll be able to bond out?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care. She just better stay away from me, and I put that on everything. I don’t care where I see her. It could be church, and I swear on Jesus’ sandals, she gon’ get slapped.”
Pierre and I sat in silence watching cartoons with Willow until Wonder came back into the room with two plates.
She then went back to the kitchen and brought us out drinks.
Even though it was still early, she took Willow upstairs and gave her a bath and washed her hair.
We were keeping her cool and hydrated. When Wylder got out of daycare, she was feeling better, and they played.
Seeing her back to her old self made me feel better, but I was still pissed.
That night in bed, I was on my back staring up at the ceiling when Wonder laid her head on my chest. “I know you’ve killed Misha a hundred times in your head, but Willow is okay. Thank God. Misha needs her ass beat for sure, but she’s going to get hers in due time. Believe that.”
“She damn sure is.”