Baby Momma Drama (14 page)

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Authors: Carl Weber

BOOK: Baby Momma Drama
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“I came by here to see my daughter.” His fists were down, but he was still pretty agitated. “And if
you
didn’t want me to know where you live, you shouldn’ta put it on this.” He pulled a rolled-up paper from his back pocket and waved it at me.
“And? What’s that supposed to be?” I was in no mood for guessing games.
“It’s the subpoena you sent to Ma’s house. You tryin’ to get my rights as a parent taken away?” He shook his head. “You think you’re real slick, don’t you? Sending this to Ma’s house instead of Nana’s. You knew I wouldn’t get it.”
He was right. I didn’t want to deal with his ass when it came time for Travis to adopt Maleka, so I had purposely sent the papers to his mother’s house. That woman was so cracked out, I figured there was no way he’d ever see the subpoena. Then we could just claim him unreachable and everything would be smooth sailing. Malek took great pleasure now in telling me how my plan had failed.
“I guess you didn’t know my ma ain’t on crack no more. She lives with me at Nana’s now.” I knew Travis was gonna be pissed about this. He’d told me to just make up an address, but I had to be stupid and put his mother’s. Who would have ever expected that lifetime crackhead to get straight? I’d have to deal with Travis later, but for now I still had to get rid of Malek.
“So you’re living with Nana, huh? I thought you lived in
D.C., Mr. Big-time Rapper,” I smirked.
“Yeah, well things didn’t work out,” he mumbled.
“Somebody finally tell you that you can’t rap?” That got a laugh from Big Momma, who was still standing nearby, ready to jump back in if I needed her.
“Very funny, Shorty. You should be on the Queens of Comedy.” He could front all he wanted, but I knew I’d just hurt him. Once upon a time I had been his biggest supporter. That time was long gone.
“Well, if you don’t like the jokes, get the hell out my yard.” I jerked my head in the direction of his souped-up hoopty.
“I’m not going anywhere till I see my daughter.” Back to that. Damn, he wasn’t playin’, no matter how many people he was up against.
“I told you. You ain’t got no daughter around here. Now get the hell outta here ’fore I call the police.” Big Momma was heated. Malek ignored her and spoke to me.
“Look, Shorty, you know how I get down, so don’t make this hard on yourself. You might as well go get my daughter and bring her over here. I just wanna give her my Christmas present, then I’ll leave.” Malek gave me a wicked smile that sent chills down my spine. He was right I did know how he got down. Things were bad enough already, but he was prepared to turn it up a notch if he had to; and the trouble he could bring was much worse than a little fight with Travis. I did not need this bullshit, especially on Christmas. Time to give him what he asked.
“You wanna see your daughter, Malek?” My eyes got small and they never left his.
“Yeah.” He nodded.
“You
really
wanna see your daughter?”
“I said yeah.”
“Okay.” I nodded. I could see the disapproval on Travis’s face, but he didn’t know Malek like I did. “You got two minutes; then you’re gonna leave, or I’ll be the one calling the cops. You got that?”
“Ah’ight” His body language relaxed a little.
“I wouldn’t let him see shit.” Big Momma sucked her teeth.
“Please, Big Momma, let me handle this.” I gave her a pleading look. She didn’t answer, so I said it again. “I know what I’m doing. Let me handle it.”
“Ah’ight, child. It’s your life.” She lookedat Travis as she said this. I knew what she was thinking, but I could smooth things over with Travis as soon as I proved my point to Malek. Maleka knew who her family was, and I was about to prove that to her father. I just had to let him put his foot in his mouth one more time.
“Malekal Maleka! Come here, baby!” I called to my daughter. She came skipping over to us.
“Yes, Mommy?” She looked a little nervous. No doubt she’d picked up on the tension in our group. I stroked her hair to calm her and introduced her to her father.
“Maleka, this is Malek.”
“What’s up, Maleka?” Malek bent down on one knee to be at her level.
“Hi.” She waved. “Your name sounds kinda like mine”
“That’s right.” He looked at Travis and smiled smugly, then turned back to Maleka. “You’re a very pretty girl ”
“Thank you,” she replied bashfully, twisting as she spoke.
“You’re welcome. This is for you.” He tried to hand the shopping bag to her, but Maleka pulled back. She looked up at me uncertainly.
“What’s wrong? It’s a doll baby. Don’t you like doll babies?” Malek was confused. I guess he’d expected to buy his daughter’s affection with a lousy doll.
“I like dolls, but I’m not allowed to take things from strangers,” Maleka told him.
My grin was a mile wide. I knew my child, and I knew what would happen when Malek demanded to see her. He brings his triflin’ ass around after all this time, expecting his daughter to jump in his arms. Please, maybe that woulda happened if she knew who the hell he was, but she already had a family, complete with a daddy and a new baby brother.
“I’m not a stranger, Maleka. Ask your mommy” Malek’s expression softened. He was looking for some help from me all of a sudden, and I was more than willing to oblige.
“Oh no, honey, he’s not a stranger at all. Are you, Malek?” Our eyes met, and I know he got the point. He was out to sea and I would not be throwing him a life jacket. At least not one that would work. “Matter of fact, why don’t you tell her who you are, Malek?” I smirked.
“I’m your daddy, Maleka.” He said it without much conviction. Could it be he already knew he’d lost this battle?
Maleka screwed up her face and shook her head at him adamantly.
“No, you ain’t! You ain’t my daddy.” She grabbed Travis’s arm with both her hands. “Travis my daddy, right, Travis?”
“That’s right, baby. I’m your daddy.” He scooped her up into his arms and kissed her cheek.
Everything seemed to stand still after that for a few seconds. No one said a word, but Malek’s mind was spinning, I’m sure. He was breathing heavy, probably getting angrier by the second. I could tell by his eyes that his male pride had been wounded. I was afraid he might try and attack Travis while he was holding Maleka. I think Big Momma had the same fear.
“Don’t you do nothin’ stupid, Malek. Not unless you wanna spend the night in jail.” Big Momma positioned herself between Travis and Malek.
“Big Momma, will you take Maleka in the house and give her some ice cream?” Travis asked.
“Uh-huh, I think that’s a good idea. Come on, child. Big Momma wants some ice cream, too” She reached for Maleka’s hand and led her toward the house.
“You know this is some foul shit, Shorty? You ain’t had to do this. You coulda made sure she knew who I was” If I didn’t know better I would have sworn he was about to cry.
“No, you didn’t” My eyes were wide with amazement. “No you didn’t just try to blame this on me. I raised that girl by myself for four years without your sorry ass. You ain’t brought her a pack of Pampers or sent a birthday card since she was born. Matter of fact, do you even remember when she was born? When’s her birthday Malek?”
He glared at me, tryin’ to be a hard-ass, but he sure didn’t have an answer.
“I didn’t think you knew. So don’t you dare come around here telling me what I should’ve done. If you wanted Maleka to know who you were, then you should’ve brought your black ass around.” There was a momentary silence while I let my words sink in. “You’ve seen your daughter. Now it’s time to leave.”
“Don’t play yourself, Shorty, ’cause this ain’t over. I’m still her father.”
“Yeah, but as you can see, that don’t make you her daddy!” I took hold of Travis’s hand, and the two of us began to walk toward the house without even bothering to look back at Malek.
“You’re not gonna win in court. I’ll still have my rights!”
I stopped in my tracks and turned toward him as I let go of Travis’s hand.
“Maybe so. But not until you pay some of that child support you owe the state from when I was on welfare.” That felt good. Finally, I knew I’d had the last word. He didn’t have nowhere near the money it would take to get straight with the state. “Oh, and by the way, Malek, now you know how
I
get down. Remember that for future reference.” I turned to Travis. “Come on, boo. All of a sudden I’ve got a taste for some of Big Momma’s sweet potato pie.”
Travis smirked at Malek. “I’m right behind you, baby. I’m right behind you.”
10
 
Jasmine
 
I’d been on my living room floor, curled up around a pillow, crying hysterically for most of the morning. After five years of going together, Derrick and I had finally broken up. My girls, Becky and Sabrina, had come over to give me moral support and comfort me in my hour of need. But to be honest, I was wishing they would go home. I needed to be alone to think, to be miserable and hateful.
The phone rang.
“Want me to get that?” Becky reached for the phone.
“No, let it ring.” I grabbed her wrist.
There was no reason to answer the phone. I knew exactly who it was. It was Derrick. He’d been calling all day, and I hadn’t accepted one of his calls. Why should I? There was no reason to speak to him after the way he’d treated me yesterday. I reached up and touched my eye, which was swollen where he’d smacked me. The pain was still intense, and I had to jerk my hand away. Before now you couldn’t have paid me to believe Derrick would ever put his hands on me, but now I had the proof on my face.
I’d gone up to Roanoke thinking I was gonna surprise Derrick by spending the day with him. I was supposed to go to my sister’s house after my nephew’s christening, but Derrick had been whining about how I’d been neglecting him lately. He was right, too. I had missed a few visits because of family obligations and overtime at work. But Derrick knew just the right words to make me feel guilty. Not that I didn’t feel guilty enough on my own after what happened with Dylan.
Of course, I caught hell from Big Momma when I told her I wouldn’t be at the party. But I did what I thought was right. Stephanie would have plenty of friends and family around for her, but my man was all alone up there in that prison. He needed me more than they did. So right after the baptism I caught the bus up to Roanoke, ready to make Derrick’s day.
Well, I shoulda kept my black ass in Richmond and spent the day with my family like I was supposed to, ’cause when I got up to the prison I got a surprise of my own. Once again, Wendy Wood’s name was on the sign-in sheet for Derrick. Only thing was, this time the bitch had signed in not less than five minutes before me! She was probably on the same damn bus, watching me sleep the whole ride to the prison.
Of course, you know I was heated. Wendy had been there just a week before, supposedly bringing him drugs. Derrick had promised me she would only be coming up once a month. Now it seemed like the bitch was there every damn week. And here I was thinking he was so damn lonely up in this place.
I was even more pissed when I tried to sign in and the captain informed me inmates were only allowed one set of visitors at a time. I wasn’t gonna let that stop me, though. I told him if I couldn’t see Derrick I wanted to see Richie Santiago, Sabrina’s husband. I’m sure the captain knew what I was up to, but he let me sign in anyway. He probably didn’t give a shit about the rules, but I didn’t wait around for him to decide he should stick to them. As soon as I signed the last letter in my name, I stormed into the visiting room in search of Derrick. -
My plan was to curse both Wendy’s and Derrick’s asses out. I know I had agreed to let her bring that crap up to him, but this was getting ridiculous. They were taking my kindness for weakness, and I sure as hell never expected what I saw when I walked into the visiting room. There they were, tonguing each other down. Derrick had his hands around Wendy’s waist, palming her ass like it was a basketball. I was so hurt to see them locked in an embrace like that, I didn’t stop to consider my actions. I just ran up behind Weedy and pulled half that cheap-ass weave right outta her head. I was about to rip out what was left of the other half when Derrick stepped in between us like Superman to the rescue. I tried to scratch his fucking eyes out, but now I realize that wasnt such a good idea. He slapped the shit outta me. When I finally came to my senses, Derrick was being dragged away by three corrections officers and I was being led to the infirmary.

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