Chapter 10 You Remind Me #2
“Fa sho.” Heavy rubbed his hands together and got on the floor with Heir, who dumped every single car out of the bag.
“Ugh, great.” Giselle groaned, knowing he would leave them all scattered there and not clean them up.
The boy would fall asleep playing with those things all night if you let him.
“You two have fun. I’m going to give Harlee her bath. Heir, you’re next.”
“Okay, Mama!” He didn’t even look up as he picked up car after car, showing them to Heavy.
Let him tell it, every car was his favorite, and he loved that Heavy was able to name the make and model.
For a while, Giselle hovered in the doorway, watching them together in their own little world.
She never thought this day would come, but she was beyond grateful for it.
Once she got both kids bathed, she set up their sleeping bags in the living room, where Heavy had thrown another log in to keep the fire going.
When she bathed Harlee, Giselle also took the time to wash the day off, slipping into her navy silk pajamas and slippers.
She washed her face and did her skin care routine before letting her hair out of that ponytail for the day and allowing it fall past her shoulders in loose wave curls.
After Heir was bathed ,and they were both in their pajamas, the four of them settled in front of the fire with the s’mores ingredients spread.
Heavy roasted the marshmallows while the twins nibbled on extra graham crackers and talked their ears off.
“What y’all reading?” Heavy picked up Little Man, Little Man, a novel by James Baldwin and studied it.
“We’re reading about TJ.” Harlee took a bite of her s’more.
“He lives in Harlem with WT and Blinky,” Heir elaborated.
“That’s right.” Giselle encouraged them with a grin. “And where is Harlem?”
“In New York!” the twins declared in unison.
Giselle started the story from where they left off.
The three of them had read the book once already, but they really enjoyed it and the voices Giselle did when she read to them, so they started over.
Within thirty minutes, the two of them had drifted off.
Heir curled up beside Giselle with his head in her lap, and Harlee doing the same against Heavy.
Pride swelled in his chest, and he swiped at his beard while continuing to study them.
“I didn’t realize how late it was.” Giselle checked the time on her phone. “I guess the day got away from me.” She gently moved Heir’s head from her lap and onto his pillow.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Heavy frowned at the pounding on her front door, and the two jumped up together to investigate. He checked through the peephole first then flung the door open.
“The fuck you doing here, Pri?” Heavy looked past her at his sister lingering on the porch too.
“I’ve been calling you.” Her sharp eyes darted past him to Giselle standing in the hall.
“Petal said you were here,” Henna spoke up. “She also mentioned you having two kids. What the hell, Heavy? You didn’t think you should call either of us and let us know what was going on?”
“It wasn’t a priority at the moment. I was spending time with them.”
“And her?” Prischa nodded to Giselle. “You looking pretty cozy in here.” Prischa pushed past him into the entryway, and Heavy reached for her arm, snatching her toward him.
“Don’t come in here on no bullshit.”
“Don’t come in at all,” Giselle told her. “My kids are sleeping, and you’re being real rude right now.” She tucked her arms across her chest and Prischa seethed with rage, looking her up and down.
“Oh, my God.” Henna stood in the doorway to the living room, the sleeping faces of Heir and Harlee illuminated by the warm fire. “You had his babies and didn’t tell him?” She swung to face Giselle indignantly. “What kind of woman does some shit like that?”
“One that’s foul and obviously fucked up,” Prischa accused. “The kids look tucked in to me, so why are you still here, Heavy?”
“Because there are things we need to talk about, Pri, and I ain’t explaining this shit to you. You the one who walked off the other day like I did something to you. I’ve been reaching out for days, and you been on mute until now. So, why the fuck are you here?”
Hurt and surprised by his stern tone, she reared her neck and dropped her hands at her sides.
“I’m ready to talk.”
“Now ain’t the time.” Heavy shook his head.
“We’re together now.” Prischa stepped in front of Heavy to put Giselle on notice. “It’s been about a year.”
“Congratulations.” Giselle clapped her hands. “Would you like a s’more?” she joked.
“Pri, you tripping right now.” Heavy sighed.
“Yeah. I sure the fuck am. How you sitting here with her after this? Hmm?”
“Lower your fucking voice!” he hissed at her. “You see they in there sleeping, and this is their house. You walked in here on bullshit that ain’t got shit to do with them.”
“And everything to do with the two of you.” She aimed two fingers at the two of them. “I want to know everything that’s going on!”
“That ain’t your place,” Heavy voiced, shocking her. “You said you needed to think about this relationship and where it was going. It wasn’t worth the risk to you and Pierre.”
“I didn’t mean I wanted this to end, Heavy.” Tears stained her eyes, and her voice cracked. “But maybe you do. Maybe I gave you just the excuse you needed to walk away from us. So you can come over here and play house with a bitch who kept your kids from you!”
“That’s it! Get her the fuck out before I wipe these floors with her!” Giselle charged toward Prischa, but Heavy stepped between them.
“She ain’t the only one you have to worry about.
” Henna chimed in, grilling Giselle hatefully as Heavy pushed them both to the door.
“See, around here, family means something, especially to a man like my brother. A good man. He would have loved and taken care of those kids from day one, but you didn’t think about that, did you?
No. You were too selfish to even allow him the choice! I don’t respect anything about you!”
“Let’s go.” Heavy yanked her by the arm. “This is between me and Giselle, and I don’t care if you don’t like her. As those kids’ mama, you better find a way to respect her, or I’ll take it out of your ass, Hen. We clear?”
“You really gon’ sit here and defend this bitch after what she did!” his sister yelled, aiming all kinds of accusing fingers at Giselle.
“Out.” Heavy pushed her out the door right behind Prischa and released a frustrated breath before spinning to face Giselle.
“I’ll swing by tomorrow to check on y’all.”
When he was gone, Giselle made sure to close and lock the door behind him. Turning, she pressed her back against the wood and lifted her head to the sky. She hadn’t predicted that. The rest of his family seemed welcoming, but clearly, Henna and Prischa were going to share a difference of opinion.
Learning that Heavy was pursuing things with another woman didn’t exactly sit well, but it wasn’t like she could do anything about it.
She’d married Alonzo knowing in her heart it wasn’t what she wanted.
Her opinion didn’t matter. The only thing that did was making sure he had a relationship with his children going forward.
It had been years. She couldn’t expect him to spend his life alone.
Giselle checked on the kids one last time and sat in front of the fire with a glass of wine and her laptop open on her lap. Coming face to face with Heavy and him knowing the truth had been checked off the list. Now, she had to figure out the rest of this life stuff.
“I want to know why you didn’t tell me what’s going on?” Prischa demanded once they reached her house.
She parked in the driveway, and Heavy wheeled his SUV up to the curb.
He didn’t have the chance to get his car shut off and step out before she stomped down toward him.
Henna slowly got out of Prischa’s car and met up with them on the sidewalk.
Heavy pulled up to talk, but he had no plans to stick around.
He was going home to get some rest because he had other shit to do in the morning before swinging by and checking on his seeds again.
“I just found out today, and I ain’t heard from you to be reaching out and telling you shit, Pri. You the one shut me out, remember?”
“Because I was upset, Heavy! Not because I wanted to break up! Then, I find you over there with that bitch, all cozy late at night like shit is good. How do you think that makes me feel?”
“You’re going to sue her for custody though, right?” Henna chimed in. “There is no way she gets to ride back in town and get away with keeping them from you, Heavy. You didn’t deserve that.”
“Whatever happens is between me and Giselle. I need you to stay out of it.”
“Stay out of it!” his sister repeated. “You’re kidding me, right? You’re not going to make her pay for this?”
“Punishing her punishes my kids, Henna. The fuck you mean? She’s their mother.”
“And you’re their father!” she screamed, throwing her hands up. “She kept them from you for almost four years! You need to petition for some kind of rights, so she doesn’t think she can just take off with them.”
“I don’t need you telling me what to do. I’ll work things out with Giselle, but she’s their mother, and they love her, so I’m not going to just remove her from their lives,” Heavy argued.
“She had no problem doing that to you,” Prischa pointed out. “Why are you giving her the benefit of the doubt?”
Feeling like a recording, Heavy sighed and ran his hand down his face.
He was exhausted. The day hadn’t turned out how he expected, and he was still in shock that he woke up a single man and was lying down tonight a whole daddy.
He didn’t want to leave the twins, but he also needed to get his thoughts together and figure out how to deal with this situation going forward.