Apricot

Chapter 13 Apricot

APRICOT

Not even the tears swimming in my mother’s eyes could change the mood I was in.

I didn’t want to hear lies or excuses. All I wanted was the truth.

I let my mother read the message that DJ had sent me, and the color instantly drained from her face.

From the way she was fidgeting and couldn’t even look me in the eyes let me know that what he told me was indeed true.

I wanted answers, and I was growing impatient.

There was no need for her to be uncomfortable.

I wanted her to woman up and tell me the truth.

“DJ’s mother used to be one of the most popular girls at my high school.

Everyone wanted her including your father, but she chose someone else.

Once she started dating a big time drug dealer, your father chose me.

Everything was good until Asha and her boyfriend broke up.

Your father cheated on me with her and got her pregnant.

He made her get an abortion, and she got mad and told me. ”

I needed to hear the entire story, so no matter how anxious I was for her to give me the answers that I was seeking, I didn’t interrupt her.

“I was hurt, and I left your father. We broke up for five months, and he swore to me the entire time that if I took him back, he wouldn’t cheat on me again.

Foolishly, I believed him. Not even a month after I took him back, he cheated again.

With her. I was devastated and heartbroken.

One drunken night, I met your father at a house party.

One thing led to another, and I got pregnant.

The same day I found out, Devin came to me crying begging me to take him back.

He’d started getting good money out in the streets.

I was scared and confused and agreed to take him back to get the money to get an abortion.

He saw me throwing up and gaining weight and put two and two together.

He assumed I was pregnant by him, and I didn’t correct him. ”

My mother looked down at her hands while I processed the information I’d been given. “Who is my father?”

“His name was Rico, and he was killed when you were two months old. He robbed a bank and took the police on a high-speed chase. He lost control of the car and hit a tree going more than one hundred miles an hour.”

My chest tightened. I didn’t know what to think or feel. “What happened with the paternity test?” I asked in a flat tone.

“I paid the person at the lab to alter the results. She did it, but I couldn’t live with the guilt.

I confessed to your father, and he wasn’t happy.

In fact, he put his hands on me. I had never seen him angrier.

The rage that bubbled out of him scared me so bad.

For a moment, I thought he might even kill me, but he didn’t.

And shockingly after a few days, he came around and agreed to raise you like you were his own. ”

“Wow.” I clicked my tongue. “I just want all of the skeletons out of the closet now. My God, I don’t want to find out anything else. And you don’t know anything about my father’s side of the family? Do they even know about me?”

“He was from Baltimore and obviously living a double life. His obituary named a long time girlfriend. Devin had already agreed to raise you. I didn’t have the courage to approach Rico’s family.”

“This is crazy,” I whispered. “So if you did that, and he forgave you, why did you leave him when you found out about DJ?”

“Honestly, it wasn’t just about DJ. But even though I was afraid that your father would leave me, I still told him about you not being his because I loved him, and I couldn’t keep lying to him.

So to know that he lied to me for twenty plus years was heartbreaking.

He could have told me about DJ. It would have hurt, but I doubted that I would have left.

We both did each other wrong at some point.

And to know that it was with her was even worse.

It’s like he couldn’t leave her alone, and I’ve always wondered if he loved her. ”

“And you two never planned on telling me?”

“Apricot, you were raised by a wonderful man that loves you. You had a good life. What’s the sense in reliving the past?”

“Because it’s who I am!”

“Kiwi is a part of Lonzo, but you don’t want her to know the truth about him.”

“Unless you were raped, please stop comparing the two situations.”

My mother held her palms up in surrender. “You’re right. I’m sorry. If you’re going to be angry with anyone, please be upset with me and not your father.”

“This is insane,” I chortled. “Absolutely insane. Mentally, I don’t even have the energy to deal with this. Thank you for answering my questions.” I stood up, and my mother pushed out a deep sigh.

“I’m sorry.”

Between my mother and my father, I was over it.

Uno had become my safe space, and I couldn’t wait to talk to him.

I went and picked Kiwi up from summer camp and tried to listen as she told me all about her day, but my thoughts kept drifting.

It hurt knowing that I had been lied to and that the man who raised me wasn’t my biological father, but I couldn’t doubt that he loved me and my daughter.

I almost let a tear or two fall, but I remembered that Kiwi was in the car, and I blinked them back.

There would be no crying. I had just walked in the house when Uno called. Kiwi had her air pods in, but I still went into another room to talk. “Hey, how did it go?”

“In regular shit show fashion, I got a few apologies. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve been lied to my entire life.” I relayed to Uno the story as it had been told to me.

“Damn that’s a lot. It sounds like you need a vacation. How about we take the kids to Disney?”

Despite my mood, my lips tugged upward into a smile.

I was more than ready to take a trip with Uno just me and him, so we could be real nasty and freaky.

However, the fact that he wanted to take the kids somewhere made me want to suck his dick.

I didn’t want to jump the gun and move too fast, but maybe he could be that male figure that Kiwi needed aside from my father.

That thought made my mood sour instantly. He wasn’t my father.

“That sounds like a plan.” I attempted to shake my feelings off and sound normal. “When would you like to go?”

“Shit, we can go in the next two weeks. Just give me you and Kiwi’s info, so I can book the flights. I’ll get us an Airbnb with four bedrooms, so you and I can have our own rooms. I’m sure the kids know we’re dating but you know. Trying to keep it casual in front of them.”

“I love that idea. I think I want to give you some head. So, if you want to come by once Kiwi is asleep, my mouth will be waiting.”

A boisterous laugh came through the phone. “You wild as shit, but you don’t have to tell me twice. Go ahead and drop some Melatonin in her bedtime snack or some shit.”

That made me laugh. I appreciated the distraction that Uno was providing me with.

I still needed to have a conversation with my father, but the plan was to take my time.

Too much information back to back was going to cause me to become overstimulated or some shit.

While I wanted answers, I also wanted to protect my mental health.

I didn’t appreciate being lied to, but it was admirable that Devin raised me as his own.

One of the top questions I had for him, however, was why didn’t he raise his own son?

Questions that needed answers.

The next day, my father requested that me, Kiwi, and Uno meet him at a five-star Italian restaurant.

The place was one of my favorites, but I was tempted to decline the offer.

I still needed to have a private conversation with him and wasn’t in the mood to pretend that everything was okay.

I decided to go, however because the fact of the matter was that my father was still facing prison time.

I could be mad at him for lying to me, but he still raised me.

That was something that he didn’t have to do.

I knew my mother wouldn’t be there, so that made the decision to attend easier.

I was definitely still upset with her, and I refused to rush into forgiving her.

I would eventually, but it wouldn’t be any time soon.

They had almost given me PTSD. I was waiting for someone to come along and tell me that my mother wasn’t really my mother, and she kidnapped me from the hospital or some shit.

Uno drove us to the restaurant and when we arrived, my father was already there with my grandmother.

As I went to hug him, I could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew I knew.

“We’ll talk. I promise. Thank you for coming.”

“You’re welcome.”

I didn’t want Kiwi to be able to sense any tension, so I smiled as we followed the hostess to a private room in the back. Our drink orders were taken immediaitely.

“What’s the special occasion?” my grandmother asked.

“I have some good news,” my father smiled.

His eyes flitted toward Kiwi. “Um, the charge that was on my credit card statement has been dropped. It seems that the evidence that was needed to charge my card somehow disappeared from the evidence room. Without any merchandise, they can’t push the purchase through. ”

My brows hiked as far as they could go while my grandmother squealed. “That’s great news, Devin. Oh my God, I’m so happy to hear that.”

Kiwi looked from me to my grandmother, then my father with confusion etched on her face. “Wait, what’s everybody so happy about? A credit card?”

My father chuckled. “Someone tried to charge me a whole lot of money for something that I didn’t buy. I was able to get it fixed, and now I don’t have to pay.”

“Oh. Good for you, grandpa.” I could tell she was a little confused about the hype, but she just went with it.

“Thank you, baby.”

“Congratulations, dad. I’m happy for you.”

“For real.” Uno chimed in. “That’s a huge blessing.

“Indeed it is,” my father bobbed his head.

It was no secret that he had a few police officers on his payroll.

It had been that way for years. My father paid them very well to keep him informed of certain things but taking evidence from the police station was bold as hell.

I was sure that whoever had pulled it off had managed to be compensated very well.

My father was always ten steps ahead. That was how he’d survived in the game and was able to stay on top for so long.

He was smart and very calculated. I planned to go back to his house after dinner, so I could finally hear his side of the story.

I had so many questions, like was Asha his true love, and he just settled for my mother because he couldn’t have who he really wanted?

As we were leaving the restaurant everyone was all smiles. My head was down but when I lifted it and saw him, my smile instantly faded. I think we all saw him at the same time, and my father’s steps halted.

“DJ, what are you doing here?” The pissed off man was standing on the sidewalk grilling all of us as if he despised the ground that we walked on.

“Grandma, can you take Kiwi to the car?” I asked attempting to keep the urgency out of my tone. DJ was giving me bad vibes, and I didn’t want my daughter anywhere near.

“Yes. Come on, Kiwi, baby.”

DJ continued to glare at my father as my grandmother ushered Kiwi away. Uno stood protectively at my side.

“Son, this is not the time or place for theatrics.”

DJ snorted. “Son? You have some fucking nerve. You’ve never claimed me. Haven’t given my mother a dime since I graduated from high school, but you want to stand here and call me son? Fuck you.”

My father flicked the tip of his nose, and I could tell that he was trying to keep his cool. “You can come out to my house. We can sit down and have a conversation.”

“Now you want to have a conversation? I can’t get an invite to dinner, kiss my ass, or any kind of recognition from you. But you parade this bitch around like she’s your blood?”

DJ calling me out of my name made my body temperature rise, but I kept my mouth shut. However, my father and Uno stepped forward.

“I think you need to show some respect,” Uno stated calmy with a tone full of bass.

“I don’t have to respect shit because I haven’t been respected. This nigga is a hypocrite. He walks around like he’s the king of the city, and he left his son for dead.”

“Left you for dead?” my father barked. “Nigga, I was trying to let you get your shit off, but now you’re being delusional as hell.

I had love for your mother, so one thing I never wanted to paint her as was the bad guy.

She wasn’t just some ass for me. Shit was complicated.

At one point, we wanted to be together, but we couldn’t.

She had someone and so did I. When she became single, she wanted me to up and leave my wife, and I couldn’t do that.

She was pissed. Especially after learning that Apricot wasn’t mine biologically, but I still chose to be with her mother.

“I had done Connie wrong enough, and I just wanted to get my shit together. And that pissed your mother off. Despite me buying her a house, a car, and giving her $20,000 a month, she wouldn’t let me have shit to do with you.

I tried for years. So have your facts straight before you come at me with your chest puffed out. ”

“And if that was the case, why didn’t you reach out to me once I was of age? You didn’t think I needed to know that information?”

“I should have. You’re right. But I already had one child that didn’t want shit to do with my lifestyle. I wasn’t sure if you’d be the same way.”

“She’s not your fucking child,” DJ seethed between clenched teeth. He was extremely bothered by the fact that Devin actually viewed me as his child.

“I was there from the day Apricot was born because her mother let me be. I raised her. My blood isn’t pumping through her veins, but she’s very much my daughter. I need you to respect that.”

“I don’t have to respect shit,” he spat as he whipped a gun from the small of his back.

My eyes bulged out because DJ was clearly off his rocker.

Time seemed to stand still but things actually went very quickly.

Uno and my father both moved toward DJ, but that didn’t stop him from pointing his gun at me.

I screamed and attempted to duck. A deafening pop pierced the air, and screams came from every direction.

I scrambled for the ground and when Uno fell in front of me my screams grew louder.

The bullet had missed me and hit Uno instead.