Chapter 6 Harmoni #2
Between Ciara, Carmen, Dimeo, and Grimy, I never got to spend time with my own baby.
Those people would not stay away from my house.
It was like they were rotating shifts most days.
When one would leave, the next would show up.
Grimy just never left. Although he had his own place, he could not leave his grandson’s side.
To see these hood ass men be so gentle when it came to the people they loved, that really amazed me.
“Ciara, I know you pregnant and greedy, but put that plate down until yo’ baby daddy shows up. I have an announcement to make, and Trell should be here shortly,” Dimeo said, putting Ciara on blast.
“You know what? I’m gonna just leave, especially if this is a family meeting. I don’t need to be bumping into Trell’s fat head ass anyway. I’m finna go. Just let me take a plate with me, please,” Ciara begged.
“Ci, you know you family. Stay and chill. Yo’ ass just mad cause you gotta wait a few more minutes to eat. That don’t make no sense how hungry them babies got yo’ ass. You gon’ be trying to unbig yo’ back if you don’t slow down,” Rowdy joked, and we all laughed.
I knew Ciara was still mad at Trell and didn’t like being around him.
All I could hope was that things went smoothly.
I was ready to see what news Dimeo had to share.
Just as I went to take my place at the table, Trell was knocking at the front door.
I let him in, and he greeted me with a hug.
As I walked back toward the kitchen, he asked me to hold on for a minute.
“Can you please talk to your girl? I want to be there for Ciara through all of this, but she being so hard on a nigga. I wanna experience being there for her whole pregnancy and for the birth. I need her to know that she got me. I’m not some bum ass nigga that’s gon’ sit back and watch her do that shit alone.
I wanna be a family, Moni,” Trell told me.
“You have to let her come around on her own. She was hurt and embarrassed by your actions, so you have to find a way to fix that. What do you think will make her feel better about what she saw? That’s some painful shit to see from a nigga you care about.”
“She knew that bitch didn’t mean shit to me. She ghosted me for a whole month then popped up at my shit out the blue. I’m not saying what I did was right, but damn! She was making me think she would never fuck with me again.”
“So, your solution was to do some shit that would really make her not fuck with you again? That sounds crazy, Trell. I’ll talk to her, but only because of the twins.
Y’all both need help, like some real therapy before y’all bring kids into this world.
Y’all are two of the most hot-headed individuals I’ve ever met.
Just keep trying. She’ll come around. I’ll make sure,” I told him and walked off.
Everyone fixed their plates then took a seat at the table.
Rowdy took Cadence and placed him in his swing but grabbed the monitor so we could hear if he cried.
We prayed over our food, then dug in. Dimeo and Rowdy had cooked grits, eggs, waffles, chicken strips, bacon, sausage, toast and fresh fruit.
The spread looked so good, and just as suspected, Ciara was killing hers in record time.
Once we were halfway through Brunch, Dimeo stood and made her announcement.
“As you all know, I’ve been on my grind with my music since I was sixteen.
The road has been rocky and being independent is hard work.
Just when I wanted to quit, I got offered a deal with Legacy records.
They want to give me hefty sign on and purchase me a house.
The only thing is that I will have to move to Atlanta.
I love y’all so much, and I wouldn’t be this far without y’all support and constant motivation.
I’m torn on what to do. Part of me wants to be here with y’all, especially Cadence.
It just feels like the wrong time to leave.
I wanted to see what y’all thought before I make any hasty decisions.
I also wanted you to be here, Ciara, so I can get your opinion on the contract,” Dimeo said.
“Listen to Big Unk when I say this. Go get that muthafuckin’ bag! Show the world what you got. Don’t limit yourself to Texas. Ain’t shit about you local, and you deserve everything you about to receive. You worked and earned all that shit,” Grimy said as he walked over and hugged Dimeo.
We all congratulated her and told her to do it.
When she got to Rowdy, they shared a long and uncomfortable stare.
I could feel his energy, and I knew he was happy and hurting at the same time.
Dimeo was his heart. He loved his cousin so much that he uprooted his life to be here with her.
I leaned over and rubbed his back as they continued to have a stare off.
Knowing Dimeo, she would give the deal up for Rowdy.
All I wanted was for her to spread her wings and let the whole world hear her gift.
We could always visit her and vice versa.
“When you leaving? You got some noise you gotta make. You been universal, and it’s ’bout time everybody get to feel you,” Rowdy said as he pulled Dimeo into a tight hug.
That was the seal of approval that she needed to spread her wings, and she got it.
After brunch, Ciara looked over Dimeo’s contract and told her that it was a good ass deal and to take it.
She had a flight scheduled for the next morning to finalize things and go house hunting.
I was beyond proud of Dimeo. She went from slanging mixtape CDs outside of my shop to being in the big leagues now.
That was a big deal, and she would definitely be celebrated by us.
Trell called everyone back home and told them Dimeo’s good news. It seemed like their whole hood was excited for her. Shit like this rarely happened, and it was an amazing thing to see. We all chilled for a couple more hours, then everyone went home.
Tired of sitting in the house, but not wanting to go anywhere major, I asked Rowdy to watch Cadence while I went to check my P.O.
Box. Carmen had been giving my clients that address when they asked if they could send the baby some things.
Rowdy fussed about me asking him to watch his own child, but I was just that type of Mommy.
I grabbed his car keys, and he told me to grab my own keys. I shrugged him off and walked outside.
In my front yard was my pink Jeep. I almost fainted from the sight of it. The accident had messed my Jeep up so badly that the insurance deemed it a total loss. I ran outside to check it out and, my fiancé was right behind me smiling.
“When and how? Baby! I’m so freaking happy!” I told him as I jumped up and down.
“The insurance paid for a whole new one, babe, and if they wouldn’t have, I was gone build you a whole new one. I got the customizations done. What you think? Almost as good as the last one?” Rowdy asked.
When I got inside, the seats were pink leather, my name was in the driver’s headrest, and Cadence’s name was in the backseat. He placed a pink sticker on the back that said, Baby on board. This was really my dream car.
I hugged my man’s neck so tight before I got in my car to leave. I still wasn’t comfortable having sex again, but I made a mental note to give him some fya ass head tonight once we put our baby to sleep.
The whole drive, I thought about how lucky I was to have my man.
Especially after all the hell I went through before his ass came and saved me.
I made it to the post office, and there were six packages and one letter in my box.
The letter was from Jakari, and I instantly wanted to know what it was about.
He had no reason at all to be reaching out to me.
When I made it to my Jeep, I threw the packages in the passenger seat, then I ripped the letter open.
In the letter, Jakari apologized for ever hurting me.
He told me that he had been set up and he was trying to get out.
Jakari also said that Diamond, her sister, nor her cousin had been heard from.
He said they set him up and skipped town.
Also, his son was not allowed to visit him, and Diamond’s mom was keeping him away.
He congratulated me on my baby and asked if I could send him a picture.
I knew then that he still wanted to see if there was a possibility that my baby was his.
He said he prayed that I found it in my heart to come and visit him.
Jakari stated that he wanted to make amends and that he would never give up on us.
As soon as I finished the letter, I balled it up and threw it in the nearest trash as I left the post office.
There was nothing worse than a delusional ass nigga.
In my heart I felt like Diamond was really his soul mate.
They had too many similarities to ignore.
My prayer for him was that he finds peace with the situation and lets it go.
After all those years I thought he knew me, and he didn’t know me at all.
If he did, he would have known that I wasn’t the type of woman to be stepped on or embarrassed by a man.
He should have known that I would never be a stepmom to his son when I could have my own family with a man who could be faithful.
To me, there’s no such thing as a mistake.
He knew the consequences and still carried on with the act.
Now, it had cost him everything. Freedom included.
As I rode home, I did some breathing exercises that my therapist had been showing me for my anxiety, and I played the calming music my man had introduced me to.
I was still trying to find myself again, but with my support system, I knew it wouldn’t be hard.
I just had to remind myself to take things one day at a time.
When I made it home, Rowdy was asleep on the couch with Cadence on his chest. Grimy was sleeping in the chair beside them.
I took a picture of all three of them, then I took my baby off his daddy’s chest and took him to his bed.
They were so adorable, but Rowdy knew not to go to sleep like that with the baby.
No matter how much I fussed, he just kept doing it.
I ran myself a hot bubble bath. As I sat in my garden tub and let the hot water soothe my body, I reflected on my life.
Although I had been through some shit, I now had a heathy and handsome baby boy, and the best man that any girl could ask for.
Life was never supposed to be easy, but when you had someone who genuinely had your back, it made all the bullshit seem small.
As I soaked in the tub and got lost in my thoughts, Rowdy woke up and yelled down the hall, telling me that he had to run to his shop.
His silent alarm had been set off, and he had to check it out.
He had advised Drew, his shop manager, to close down early, so they could have the day off, then he set the other alarm on his phone.
I told Rowdy to wait because I needed to grab some things from my salon and speak to the girls.
Once I was dressed and ready to ride, we took Cadence with us, so I could show him off.
I knew that there wasn’t a real emergency at the shop because the main cameras were enabled on his app, and no motion was detected.
Whatever was going on had to be in the back office.
Rowdy had a safe there, so I could understand him wanting to check it out.
He called Drew and got no answer. I called Carmen to see if she had seen anything suspicious, but she didn’t answer either.
After that, I called my shop, and they let me know that she had just stepped out for a few minutes.
Once we pulled up to the shop and parked, I got Cadence out of his seat and strapped him inside his carrier on my chest. We walked into the shop and heard notices and heavy breathing coming from Rowdy’s office.
Making sure that I walked behind him, he walked to the office door, and pushed it open.
He motioned for me to step back and not to keep walking forward before he turned fast. It was too damn late, I had already seen the shit and now, I couldn’t unsee it.
I had a partial view and my damn mouth was on the floor.
“Drew! Get yourself together and let me holla at cha!” Rowdy demanded in a stern tone as he made a U-turn and headed back to the front of the shop.
Drew had Carmen bent over the desk, pulling her hair and giving her back shots.
Carmen’s ass was giggling like Jell-O and when Drew took his dick out of her, it was thick and had a curve to it.
I wasn’t even mad at Carmen. Trying not to show that I had been looking, I turned around and went to the front to stand beside my man.
Once they were dressed and came into the front, I told Carmen to follow me outside, and we gave the men some privacy.
“How are you running the salon but over here with your ass in the air? This is not like you, Carmen. What’s good?” I asked as I rubbed Cadence’s back, trying to keep him from waking up.
“I went to help him close up like I’ve been doing, and one thing led to another. I’m so sorry that y’all had to see that, and you know I’ve always been professional. I don’t know what happened. I just messed up.” Carmen dropped her head.
“Please don’t let anything like this happen again, Carmen.
I’m trusting you with my livelihood, so I expect you to do the right thing.
I saw what that nigga was packing, so I’m not even mad at you, but as a woman and a professional, you have to know it’s a time and place for everything.
Next time get a room or take that nigga home,” I told her.
I decided not to take my baby into the salon.
I knew my man was upset, so I got into the car and waited for him.
After talking to Drew for a while, Rowdy got into the car with a frown on his face, but as soon as he drove off, he fell out laughing.
He told me that he had to be tough on Drew so he would know not to pull anything like that again.
Drew and Ciara were our go-tos, and we wanted to be able to depend on them. The last thing we needed was for them to mess around, and it didn’t work out. Then we could possibly lose both of our best employees. We had to keep that from happening.