6. TRUTH #3
He wiped the blood off his hands with his shirt, then looped his belt back through his pants.
“Good,” he said.
Then he walked to his car, got in, and drove away.
I stood there in the middle of the street, my hands still shaking, my heart still racing, the smell of blood and gasoline and victory thick in the air.
Mama walked down the porch steps and put her arm around my shoulders.
“I like him,” she said.
I looked at her.
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “Me too.”
I followed Mama back inside, my legs still shaky from the adrenaline.
The living room felt smaller now, like the walls had closed in while I was outside beating Destiny’s ass in the middle of the street.
Mama was still laughing—that deep, wheezing laugh she got when something tickled her so bad she couldn’t breathe right.
“Lord have mercy,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I ain’t seen a beat down like that since your Aunt Tabitha caught Uncle Earl with that woman from the casino.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
“Mama.”
“No, baby, I’m serious.” She shook her head, still grinning. “You and that man put on a show out there. Whole block gon’ be talking about this for weeks.”
I went to my room and came back with the Macy’s bag that had her stuff in it.
“Here,” I said, handing it to her. “I got you something.”
Mama looked at the bag like I’d just handed her a live grenade.
“Truth, you didn’t have to get me nothing.”
“I know. But I wanted to.”
She opened the bag slowly, pulling out the robe first—deep burgundy with black trim, the kind of robe that cost more than she would ever spend money on.
Her eyes went wide.
“Baby,” she whispered. “This is?—”
“Try it on.”
She didn’t need to be told twice.
Mama shrugged off her house robe right there in the living room and slipped into the new one, tying the belt at her waist with careful fingers.
She ran her hands down the fabric, her face soft in a way I hadn’t seen in years.
“This is real soft,” she said quietly.
“I know.”
“Truth, this must’ve cost?—”
“Don’t worry about it.”
She looked at me then, her eyes sharp again, assessing.
“Where you getting this kind of money from?”
I hesitated.
“I’ll tell you soon,” I said. “I promise. But right now, I just need you to trust me.”
Mama stared at me for a long moment.
Then she nodded.
“Alright,” she said. “But you better not be doing nothing that’s gon’ get you hurt.”
“I won’t.”
She didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t push.
Instead, she turned to look at herself in the mirror hanging by the front door, smoothing her hands over the robe again.
“I do look good in this,” she said, smiling.
I laughed. “You do.”
“Mm-hmm.” She turned back to me. “So, what else you got in them bags?”
“Stuff for Honor, Saroya, and Raven.”
Mama raised an eyebrow. “You bought for all your sisters?”
“Yeah.”
“With what money?”
“Mama.”
“Alright, alright.” She held up her hands. “I’m just saying. You better not be selling nothing that’s going to get you locked up.”
I didn’t respond to that.
Instead, I grabbed the bags and headed toward the door.
“Can I borrow your car?” I asked. “I want to drop this stuff off tonight.”
Mama looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
“My car?” she said. “The one that only starts when it feels like it?”
“Yeah.”
She sighed, but she was already reaching for her purse on the side table.
“Keys are in there,” she said. “But if that transmission goes out while you driving it, don’t call me crying.”
“I won’t.”
“And bring me back some gas money.”
“Mama.”
“I’m just saying.”
I grabbed the keys and headed out the door before she could say anything else.
Honor’s house was fifteen minutes away in the Ninth Ward—a shotgun rental with peeling paint and a chain-link fence that didn’t keep out shit.
I could hear the yelling before I even got out of the car.
“That’s why I cheat on yo’ ass happily!”
Terrance’s voice carried through the thin walls like he wanted the whole block to hear.
I grabbed Honor’s bag and walked up the cracked concrete path to the front door.
It was unlocked.
I pushed it open and stepped inside.
Honor and Terrance were standing in the middle of the living room—Honor with her arms crossed, Terrance with his chest puffed out like he was about to do something.
He wasn’t.
He never did.
“I know that’s fuckin’ right!” Honor shot back, her voice loud and sharp.
“Hell, I had to get out there too. I didn’t want to be, but at least I got a big dick out the deal.
I was like damn, I hate to be here but let me dip and slip on this dick.
Twirl and swirl. Shit, I didn’t want to come back to this bitch, but here we are. ”
I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.
Terrance’s face turned red.
“I can’t stand yo’ ass,” he said, his voice shaking.
“Good!” Honor yelled after him. “Fuck you!”
The bedroom door slammed so hard the walls shook.
Honor stood there for a moment, breathing hard, her hands on her hips.
Then she turned and saw me standing in the doorway.
“Oh,” she said, her face softening. “Hey, Truth.”
I couldn’t hold it in anymore.
I laughed.
“Y’all are a mess,” I said.
Honor rolled her eyes but smiled.
“Girl, don’t even start. That man gets on my last nerve.”
“I can tell.”
She walked over and hugged me, squeezing tight.
“What you doing here?” she asked.
“I wanted to drop off some stuff for you.”
I handed her the bag.
Honor frowned, looking inside.
“Truth, what?—”
She pulled out the jeans first—designer, the kind she’d been eyeing in the window at the mall for months.
Then the tops.
Then the perfume.
Her eyes went wide.
“Where the hell you get money for this?” she asked, her voice suspicious but curious.
I took a breath.
“I’m doing surrogacy,” I said. “For a rich man.”
Honor stared at me.
“Surrogacy?” she repeated.
“Yeah.”
“Like… carrying somebody else’s baby?”
“Yeah.”
She set the bag on the couch and crossed her arms.
“Truth,” she said slowly. “Are you sure about this?”
“I’m sure.”
“Because you know you love your family down, right? You love hard. Can you really walk away from a man who’s about to make you a mama and clearly spoils you like this?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but she kept going.
“But a better question is—can you walk away from a child you carried for nine months?”
The words hit me harder than I expected.
I hadn’t thought about it like that.
Not really.
I’d been so focused on the money, on the way out, on surviving—that I hadn’t let myself think about what it would feel like to carry a baby for nine months and then hand it over.
“I don’t know,” I said quietly.
Honor’s face softened.
“I’m not trying to talk you out of it,” she said. “I just want you to be sure. Because once you start this, there’s no going back.”
I nodded.
“I know.”
She studied me for a long moment.
Then, she pulled me into another hug.
“Alright,” she said. “If you doing this, then I got your back. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
“Good.” She pulled back and smiled. “Now let me see what else you got in this bag.”
I watched her pull out the rest of the clothes, her face lighting up with every piece.
And for a moment, I let myself forget about the contract.
About Amai.
About the baby I was about to carry.
For a moment, I was just Truth.
Standing in my sister’s messy living room.
Watching her smile.
And that was enough.