4. Ozyris Brentley
The first thing I saw was blood.
It was smeared across the front door handle, probably from Noree grabbing it on her way inside.
My chest tightened.
I pushed the door open and heard movement coming from the bathroom. When I reached the doorway, Noree was standing at the sink with the medicine cabinet hanging open and stuff knocked over on the counter, fumbling with the Band-Aid box. Her hands were shaking so badly that she couldn’t get it open.
Her eyes were swollen and wet, and her makeup was gone. She put her head down for a moment like she was taking it all in.
I stood there for a second, then cleared my throat. “Let me help you, love.”
She jumped and spun around, hand to her chest.
Our eyes caught and held for a second. Hers moved over my face before she lowered them and shook her head. “No, it—it’s okay. I got it,” she tried to say, but I came in anyway.
I reached for one of her hands. She hesitated, then let me take it. When I turned it over in mine, I saw four nails gone off that one hand, one of them broken down past the skin.
My eyebrows pulled together.
“Damn, Noree.”
She pressed her lips together and looked away. “I know. I didn’t mean to get to fighting in your house, but Ginger… she really pissed me off to the point of no return. But that’s still no excuse. I-I’m sorry for… all of it.”
I ain’t say nothing, just eased her hand under the water and started cleaning it.
She winced hard, sucking air through her teeth, and her fingers tried to curl up in mine.
“I know.” I loosened my hold a little. “Just let me get this blood off.”
I grabbed the peroxide and a few cotton balls from the medicine cabinet. I soaked one of them and carefully cleaned the blood from her fingers one at a time. She bit down on her lip to mask the pain.
Once her fingers were clean, I tossed the bloody cotton balls into the trash, grabbed the box of Band-Aids, and started wrapping each finger. When I finished with that hand, I reached for the other one.
“So why didn’t you tell me? For real,” I blurted out, no longer wanting to beat around the fucking bush.
“I tried to.”
“Nah.” I shook my head. “The second you saw me. Before you got hired or any of that shit. Why didn’t you tell me I had a baby?”
Her mouth opened, but nothing came out right away. She sighed and used the back of the hand I’d already wrapped to wipe her eyes.
“That wasn’t my intention, Ozy… I just didn’t know how to say it.”
“You could’ve just come right out and said it.”
She nodded, looking down at our hands.
“You’re right. I could have.” She sniffled. “And honestly, my reasoning for not telling you, when I look back on it… was stupid.”
“What was the reason?”
She winced when I started cleaning the other hand. Three nails gone off that side, all of them broken, blood now dried around her fingertips and all down her palm, some staining the sleeve of her jean jacket.
I glanced up when she didn’t answer.
“Noree.”
She swallowed hard. “If I’m being honest, I didn’t know if you’d try to take me to court.”
I stopped with her hand still lying in mine. “Why the fuck would I take you to court?”
Her eyes dropped again.
“I don’t know if I really wanna get into all of that right now—”
“Nah,” I cut her off. “Now is the time for us to talk about all of this shit. Put it on the table.”
She nodded real slow.
“Well.” She took a breath. “I lost my job. Remember, we talked about that for a brief moment the day I was here for the interview. Uh… I had been looking for work for quite some time, and while I was looking, I had to dip into my savings.”
Her voice got quieter, and she bit down on her lip nervously before continuing.
“Unfortunately, that left me with an eviction notice on my door.”
I ain’t say nothing right away.
My eyebrows were raised. A nigga was confused as hell.
I licked my lips and went back to wrapping the rest of her fingers, trying to make sense of what the fuck she was telling me.
When I got the last Band-Aid on, I let her hand go and took a step back.
Crossed my arms.
She looked off at the wall, rubbing her thumb against the edge of one of the bandages.
“Wait.” I tilted my head. “So, you thought I was gonna try to take her from you? Because you were being evicted?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I did. You’re the more established and well-off parent. I don’t have much of anything right now.”
“You really think I’m that type of nigga?”
Her eyes came back to mine. I wanted her to look at me when she answered that shit.
“Now that I’ve gotten to know you a little bit more over these past couple of weeks, I don’t think that at all.
” Her bottom lip trembled. “And I hate that I didn’t tell you from the jump.
I take full responsibility for that. And I swear I wanted you to know from the beginning.
I tried to tell you, but… Ginger did what she did, so… I couldn’t.”
My jaw tightened right before I swallowed and looked away for a second.
“Yeah, the shit with Gin has been handled,” I said, not getting too much into the shit I’d just gone through in my room. “I ain’t even gon’ front. A nigga was a lil too trusting of her. I ain’t realize she was going through my phone, blocking people, or any of that shit. I swear.”
“Yeah, I know that you wouldn’t intentionally block me.” She lowered her hands. “Well… I know that now.”
She stared down at her fingers before picking her head up.
“So where do we go from here?”
“I want to meet her.” I ain’t even hesitate. “Where is she?”
“She’s with my mom. That’s who’s been keeping her.” She wiped under her eye. “And when you asked me where I was sneaking off to on my off days, that’s where I’ve been going. To spend time with my baby.”
She caught herself. “Our baby.”
I looked at her for a second longer than I meant to.
Our baby.
I still couldn’t believe we were standing here having this conversation.
“So, if I wanted a DNA test?”
Her lips parted, and she looked down before meeting my eyes again.
“I’d completely understand. I won’t stop you from that,” she said. “But I can tell you now, she’s yours. That’s not something I would ever lie about.”
I paused before saying, “Cool. I’ll make sure we get that handled.”
She nodded, then stepped past me. “I’m a little lightheaded. I need to sit down.”
I followed her down the hallway into the living room area. She dropped down on the couch while I stayed standing.
“Damn.” She put her head back and closed her eyes. “I feel a little weird. Like I’m about to pass out or something.”
I stepped closer. “When’s the last time you ate?”
“Earlier this morning.”
I looked toward the kitchen.
“Let me grab you a bottle of water.”
I got her an ice-cold one out the fridge and brought it back over. She tried to turn the cap, but her face tightened up.
“I got you.”
She let me take it. I opened it and handed it back, then went to see what she had in the kitchen that she could eat.
I came back with some crackers and set them beside her.
“Eat something, too.”
“Thank you.”
She took a few sips of water before reaching for the crackers. I waited until she’d eaten a couple before I spoke again.
“You still feel like you about to pass out?”
“I mean, yeah, the food hasn’t settled in my stomach yet, Ozy.” She chuckled, then looked up at me. “I do have a question for you, though.”
“What’s up?”
“Are you… mad at me?”
I didn’t answer right away. This wasn’t something to take lightly. I had a baby who I hadn’t met. I never thought shit would be like this if and when I had my firstborn.
“Yeah, real talk, I’m just tryna keep my cool, ’cause ain’t shit I can do about it now other than try and figure all this out.”
Her eyes lowered, and she nodded like she expected it.
“Okay. I understand. I deserve that.”
“The shit that Ginger did is some shit that we can never come back from.” I put my hands in my pockets. “But I expected more from you, and I ain’t tryna come at you sideways, love, but understand, I ain’t taking it easy on you either. You feel me?”
She nodded, then took another sip of water. “Yeah, I feel you a hundred percent, and honestly… I’m just glad the secret is out. It was weighing me down, and I felt so bad about keeping it.”
“I wanna be there for her, Noree. That don’t mean taking her from you.”
She pressed her lips together and nodded, her eyes glistening again.
I sat down on the arm of the chair next to her.
“What’s her name?”
“Oaklynn.”
“Oaklynn,” I repeated. “I’m fucking with it. It’s pretty.”
Noree nodded, watching my face. “Yeah, I, uh… wanted her name to start with an O. Like yours.”
A smile pulled at my lips. I liked knowing that even when Noree thought she’d never see me again, she had still given our daughter that little connection to me.
“What’s she like?” I asked.
A small smile came across her face. “She’s funny. Busy. Always getting into something. She’ll have you laughing without even trying.”
A whole little personality, and I ain’t know nothing about her.
Before I could say anything else, her phone started going off on the cushion beside her. She picked it up and looked at the screen.
“Oh shit.” Her eyes got wide. “I forgot. I ended up calling my sister before you came over to the guesthouse, and she said she was hopping in her car and coming to make sure I was okay.”
She looked up at me.
“Is that cool with you? Can you have security let her in the gate?”
“Yeah, that’s straight.”
“Okay, thank you.” She answered the phone with a small smile.
I pulled my phone out and sent security a message.
“I just told them to let her through,” I said.
“Okay, they’re going to let you in,” she told her sister. “They’ll point you in the right direction to the guesthouse.”
She hung up and set the phone in her lap.
I watched her pick up another cracker and pop it into her mouth. After she swallowed, she looked at me.
“Once I calm down a little… do you want to ride with me to go get her?”
I nodded without hesitation. “Yeah, but I’ll have one of my drivers take us. If you haven’t noticed by now, I don’t do much driving unless I have to, and you damn sure can’t drive with your fingers looking like that.” I gestured toward her bandaged hands.
She smirked. “Yeah, and honestly, I think I blew my back out fighting that damn girl. Auntie needs some Icy Hot patches or something.”
We shared a small laugh, but when it faded, I found myself staring at her again. I was still pissed, but that didn’t mean I wanted to see her hurting.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m just thinking.”
“About what?”
“All this shit. You. Oaklynn. It’s a lot.”
She sighed and nodded. “For what it’s worth…” A small smile touched her lips. “My wittle Oaky Woaky is truly a blessing. I’d go through all of it again just to have her. I can’t wait for you to meet her.”
Despite all the bullshit going on, a smile tugged at my lips. “Me too.”