Chapter 3
MADDIE
Softly, I hummed as I rocked the chubby little boy. Big hazel eyes peered up at me, trustingly so. His eyes mirrored his mother’s, and his features mirrored that of every Bell man I knew. He smiled and cooed, drawing a smile from my lips.
“This is the beginning for us,” I said to him.
“I’m learning to love myself all over again.
I’m taking on new life in you. I’ll treat your life as precious as I would if the circumstances of you being here were different.
” Giggling, I added, “Genesis sounds like a nice name, huh? It means the beginning. So, yeah. Genesis it is.”
When I retreated to bed last night, I just knew that my dreams would be filled with images of myself wrapped up in Cooley.
After sitting with him on the patio last night, I was tortured with the way he looked, smelled, and talked.
Although deep, his voice was so gentle and soothing as if he could talk me through any and everything.
Instead of dreaming about him, a baby boy dominated my slumbering thoughts.
I was up staring at myself in the mirror, giving myself the pep talk I needed to make this phone call.
Several times, I inhaled deeply and blew it out slowly.
The last bad decision I made nearly ended my life.
This decision was one that I didn’t take lightly.
Bringing a child into my home, who my deceased husband conceived with another woman, was a bold move.
Unconditional love for my own children was one thing.
Loving someone who was quite literally the proof of my husband’s infidelity was another thing.
Then, there was the fact that Baby Boy Bell looked just like every Bell man. There was the fact that I would have to look at him every day for the rest of his life and see his mother and father in him. On top of that, I would have to love him and care for him without bias.
I had to laugh. It seemed like Duval was torturing me from the grave, and like Heir said yesterday, she’d be damned if such a thing occurred. I’d be damned if I let that nigga control how I moved through life after him.
Taking another deep breath, my face went from frowning to smiling in a split second. Running my fingers through my bra-length bone straight, black hair, I pulled it all to one side and struck a pose.
“Girl, get yo’ shit together. You’re a baddie with too much love in your heart to let it go to waste,” I told my reflection. Light entered my eyes, and my skin took on a dewy glow. Something refreshing overtook me. It gave me the courage to go back into my room, pick up my phone, and dial Adir.
As I listened to his phone ring, I went back to stand in front of the bathroom mirror. Again, I ran my fingers through my hair. It was time for a change.
“‘Sup, Auntie?” Adir answered.
“I’ll do it,” I replied. The weight I thought would be in my words was absent. “What are my next steps?”
“We go to court Thursday. I’ll send Dothan ya way to get the paperwork signed.”
“Actually… I’ll meet Dothan at his office. I need to go into the city,” I said.
“Aight. I’ll let him know to expect you.”
“Okay.” My heart raced but in a good way. I was really about to do something that questioned every part of my existence.
“Auntie?”
“Yes.”
“I love you.”
Tears coated my eyes. Adir was such a good man. If I had only looked beneath the surface of his crazy, I would’ve seen how good his heart was. Oh well. The past was the past. This was my present, and I wanted a better future.
“I love you, too, Nephew,” I replied. We hung up, and I was back to looking at myself in the mirror.
“You got it,” I stated, then smiled.
Changing into something comfortable, I got myself ready for the day. I left my room just as Heir opened her door. Toast ran out of her room, tail wagging as she ran up to me. I scooped her up and hugged her, then placed her back on the floor.
“She’s going to get kicked out of my room,” Heir said playfully.
“Well, hopefully, she welcomes Genesis without an issue.”
Perplexed, Heir asked, “Who’s Genesis?”
“Baby Boy Bell,” I responded.
Heir peered at me with unshed tears in her eyes. “Aww, you gave him a name.” She came up to me and took me into a fierce hug that had us both in a fit of tears. Out of everything that came from my union with Duval, Heir was my greatest blessing. Her heart mirrored mine.
As for DJ, I would mourn him for some time. He came from me, so getting over his death wouldn’t be instant. I’d miss his laugh, his smile, and his obnoxious behavior.
“We’re going to be just fine, Mama. Now, when do we get him?” Heir was geeked already.
“We go to court Thursday. I’m about to go sign some papers, get my hair done, and do a little shopping. You wanna go?”
Heir took off to her room. “Let me get ready!” she threw over her shoulder.
Just yesterday she didn’t want to leave the house. Maybe Genesis wasn’t just a new beginning for me. He was a new beginning for Heir, too.
Signing the papers with Dothan was a breeze.
There was no second guessing, no cold feet, or anything.
In fact, the pen glided across the paper so smoothly, it was as if time was rushing along just so that I could have Genesis in my arms. Filling out the paper to have his name changed was the icing on the cake.
Once too angry to even take this step, now I was anxious to get to Genesis.
For one thing, the fact that the Graces were even putting him up for adoption was suspect as hell.
He’d been in Gensen’s care since his birth.
A part of me wondered what drove her to not want him anymore.
On the same hand, I didn’t care. He’d be happy and safe with me.
“I’ll meet you at the courthouse Thursday,” Dothan stated. “We’ll get emergency custody until the adoption is complete.”
“Okay,” I replied. Heir squeezed my hand and smiled when we glanced at each other.
Once Dothan collected the papers, he ushered us out of his office and rode the elevator with us back down to the lobby where Cooley waited. My smile dimmed at seeing Cooley chatting with an engineer who rented space inside Bell Oil Inc.’s building.
Bell Oil, Inc.’s newest engineer, Dana Lemmings, was quite literally stunning. She knew how sexy her body looked in the red knee-length fitted dress she wore. Although business appropriate, it accentuated her hips and breasts in a way that I had to mentally compliment her.
Cooley’s eyes flashed up from Dana and landed on me. Quickly, I removed the subtle glare I shot him. His head slightly tilted to one side, and his eyes softened. From the high ponytail I wore down to the designer canvas shoes on my feet, I felt his heat.
Dana recognized the shift in Cooley and glanced over her shoulder.
When she saw me, her gaze turned to one of veiled jealousy.
Her back straightened more than it already was, and she shifted her feet to pop her hip out just a little more.
Plastering on an even bigger smile, she lay her hand on Cooley’s chest to gain his attention.
“So, like I was saying, Baltimore. We should have coffee sometime,” Dana said to Cooley. “Let me give you my number.” She had no qualms about holding his attention with me, Heir, and Dothan standing here. There was no shame in Dana’s game.
Cooley smiled and replied, “I’m kind of taken.”
“Oh?” Dana looked surprised but said, “Who am I kidding?” There she went putting her hands on him again. “As fine as you are, of course you’re not single. Then again, you don’t have a ring on.”
“Uhm, I have a hair appointment.” I had to insert myself. This heifer needed to get out of my…bodyguard’s face. Speaking of my bodyguard, Cooley’s grin stretched across his face at my comment. Dana, on the other hand, discreetly rolled her eyes at me.
“I apologize, Miss Dana, but my boss has places to be. We’ll see each other around,” Cooley stated.
Dana hid her disappointment behind a flirtatious chuckle. “Absolutely. I’ll see you around.” Her hand touched Cooley’s arm before she strutted off.
Dothan dapped Cooley and said, “That’s a bullet you wanna dodge, my boy.”
Cooley chuckled. “I ain’t worried ‘bout that.”
He and Dothan shared a laugh as Dothan hugged me, then Heir. “See y’all Thursday.”
We waved at him, then followed Cooley outside where our car waited at the curb. I waited until Heir got in the car before addressing Cooley.
“What were you and Dana talking about?” It wasn’t my business, and the smirk on Cooley’s face said he agreed.
“What you gon’ give me if I tell you?” he stepped closer and questioned so casually. “You gon’ give me a kiss?” He chuckled at the stupefied expression on my face, then said, “Your hair appointment awaits.”
Breaking from under the spell he cast upon me, I rolled my eyes and got into the car.
“Everything okay?” Heir asked.
Of course, I had to lie. “Everything’s perfect.”
Heir’s eyes remained trained on the side of my face as Cooley slid into the driver’s seat. I had to get myself together.
I was seventeen when I met Duval Bell. He was the first man I ever slept with, and the first time we had sex, DJ was conceived.
Marrying at seventeen wasn’t in my plans for life, but that was the path I’d chosen.
Duval was a street dude with an edge that I couldn’t resist. While my family struggled with me marrying so young, the Bells welcomed me with open arms. At seventeen, I joined my husband at Bell Estates and had been living there ever since.
Even after Duval’s death, the home we shared was still my home.
Sighing, I thought that it was high time to change up my surroundings.
There were too many memories in my home for me to allow Duval and DJ’s deaths to drive me out.
A little renovation here and there wouldn’t be so bad.
The only thing I’d changed so far was my bed.
It was time for all new furniture, all new appliances, and even new floors.
I wanted to walk on new ground. I wanted to bless my home so that, from this day forward, nothing but good things would happen inside those four walls.
A few minutes later, I was in my stylist’s chair excited as she cut my hair. Releasing extra strands felt so freeing. I went with a color that would pop against my skin tone. By the time, Vanity was done, I looked like a new woman. The blond bob suited me perfectly.
“Mama?” Heir called as I stood in the mirror, admiring my new haircut and color.
“Yes, baby.”
“Look at how Cooley is staring at you,” she whispered.
Surprised, my gaze tripped to Cooley whose unblinking eyes stared back.
“Ooh, Mama!” she exclaimed under her breath.
“Ooh, Mama nothing!” I whispered back.
She giggled and pointedly looked at me. “Hm. My mama is fine, so I can’t even blame him.”
I smacked my teeth and turned red as hell. “Will you hush?”
Heir wiggled her eyebrows but dropped it. Thankfully. Cooley was staring so hard everyone noticed it. Honestly, I was flattered by his open praise. He licked his lips, which didn’t make it any better. This man knew how to convey a message without a single word being uttered from his lips.
Everything about Cooley was dangerous. Right down to the way he looked at me.