Unbreakable (14 page)

“Aw mama, look at you,” Brooke said smiling
“You look great girl,” she said hugging her then holding Shaniqua
hand as she playfully spun around.

“Dre and my baby dressed me tonight,” she
said smiling

She hugged Brooke husband Bo and kissed the
kids on the forehead before sitting down. They ordered their food,
ate and was sitting their enjoying each other’s company when she
suddenly remembered she told Ronny that she was gonna have Ray’Shun
to call him “Shit,” she said under her breath and on cue Ray’Shun
said,

“Mama I have to use it.”

“Okay come on baby,” she said grabbing her
purse off the table and getting out of her chair. Dre said her
would take him but she quickly told him it was fine and she
would

“I’m going too. You, You, and You, come on,”
she said pointing to her three kids.

After Ray’Shun used the restroom and washed
his hands, she took out her cell phone.

“You daddy want you to call him,” she said
dialing Ronny number

“Yay,” he said jumping up and down. He was
always excited to talk to his dad.

“Don’t forget our secret “

“Okay,” he said as he waited for his father
to pick up

She stood closely listening to their
conversation biting her bottom lip. Brooke noticed her sad
expression “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m good,” she lied.

“So have you told him about Shaniyah yet?”
she asked. Shaniqua had talked to Brooke about her situation on
several occasion. She knew all about her hiding her pregnancy from
all the people she loved and never judged her.

“No,” she said.

“Well you know you gonna have to tell him
sooner or later,” she said helping her daughter fix her dress.

“Yeah I am. I’m planning on taking a trip
down there next month,” she chuckled “I know he gonna nut up on my
ass,” shaking her head

“Naw, I doubt that,” Brooke said smiling as
if she knew something. “I can tell that you still love him and from
what you tell me he still love you. So both of y’all need to get
y’all shit together and kiss and make up,” she said laughing

Shaniqua laughed as well “I wish it was that
easy.” She knew Brooke loved her cousin but she also knew where
Shaniqua’s heart was and all she wanted was for her to be
happy.

“I love you too daddy… Bye,” he said then
passed the phone to Shaniqua. She looked at it and seen Ronny had
hung up. She was shocked and a little hurt that he didn’t ask to
speak to her but she smiled and grabbed her son hand and walked out
the door of the bathroom.

“What took so long?” Dre asked as she sat
down.

“Ronny had call so I was letting Ray’Shun
talk to him,” she said taking their daughter from him. She saw a
bit of anger on his face as he stared at her.

She frown “What?” Lately whenever she
mentioned she talked to Ronny, he would become angry.

“Nothing,” he said as he stood up with his
wine glass in his hand. He hit it with a knife to get everyone at
the table attention. Once he had it, he cleared his throat

“First and foremost I want to thank you
Brooke and your family for coming out tonight. I want to also thank
you for welcoming Shaniqua in the family,” he said looking down at
her smiling. “Secondly,” he said pulling Shaniqua up from her chair
after Brooke took the baby from her “I want to thank you baby, for
finally giving me a chance after me begging you for so many
months,” he laughed “Thank you for giving me a beautiful baby girl
and allowing me to be a father to your son”

Shaniqua knew that he loved Ray’Shun but she
also hoped he didn’t mistake him as his own son. She gave a fake
smile as Dre continued, “I am very blessed to have y’all in my
life, and I’m ready to make this thing official,” he said as he
reached in his pocket and pulled out a small box. Shaniqua heart
began to pound and she was now panting. When he got down on one
knee, her right hand went up to her chest.

He grabbed her left hand “Will you marry me?”
he asked.

She nervously looked around; her eyes stopped
at Brooke who sat there looking like a deer caught in headlights,
and her mouth slightly opened. She then looked back at Dre and
closed her eyes before saying “Yes.”

He smiled extra hard as he put the ring on
her finger as Bo and the kids started clapping. She looked at
Brooke once again and she gave her a weak smile as she clapped.

“You said you was coming
down here two months ago Shaniqua,” Ronny said into the phone
calmly. He and Shaniqua had been going back and forward all day
about her bringing Ray’Shun to spend a couple of weeks with
him.

“I know Ronny and believe me we’re coming
soon,” she said looking down at her engagement ring.

“Man, I don’t believe that shit,” he paused.
“As a matter of fact I don’t believe shit you say anymore,” he said
yelled angrily.

“Ronny please believe me this time when I
tell you I’m coming.”

“I wish I could Shan. You been keeping my lil
nigga away from me for almost mothafucking year,” she heard his
voice crack then he said sadly “You know that shit ain’t
right.”

She bit her bottom lip “I’ll bring him in 2
weeks.” She pushed her hair out her face “I promise,” she said
hanging up.

Shaniqua felt as if things in her life were
getting worse. She felt she was a disappointment to all the men in
her life. She had Dre who was every woman’s dream, but she had
Ronny that still held the key to her heart. Then on top of that,
she had Ray’Shun telling her how much he misses his dad and was
ready to see him. She knew it was time to come clean and stop
living a lie. She shook her head wishing she could turn back hands
of time.

She sat there with Keyshia Cole ‘I choose
you’ blasting thru the speakers of the surround sound

“So many things he does for me, such a
provider he care for me. Wish I could give him all off me but I
can’t, can’t let you go. I try hating you but I just love you more.
Compare him to you but he can’t match your score. In this game of
love, there are no rules. When it comes to us I choose you,” she
sang as tears fell rapidly

“If it ain’t you, it’s not worth it. No
matter what I do nothing’s worth it. Baby I know loves not perfect.
Even if he gives me the world it’ll never be enough…. Cause I
choose you,” She sang shaking her head. To her it was as if Keyshia
Cole wrote that song just for her. She grabbed her phone and
decided to send Ronny a quick text of the song.

Her heart almost jumped out of her chest when
her phone lit up, thinking is was Ronny, but once she saw it was
Brooke she took a deep breath to calm down and turned the radio
down.

“Hello,” she answered trying her best to
sound normal but Brooke quickly picked up on it.

“What’s wrong?” she asked quickly.

Shaniqua took a deep breath before saying “I
can’t do it anymore Brooke. This shit isn’t right.”

“What Shan? What’s going on?”

“All the lies. I’m ready for it to end,” she
said crying.

“Girl stop crying. I told you Shan, you need
to follow your heart and I know you heart is not with Andre. I mean
don’t get me wrong, I love my cousin and all but don’t you think
you deserve to be happy? And you not gonna be happy your heart is
still with your baby daddy.”

“I know Brooke but I just don’t want to hurt
him.”

“Girl bye. Dre is a big boy; he can bounce
back. His ass better anyways,” she said laughing “But for real, you
worried about hurting him but you only hurting yourself and your
son. You said yourself that he was missing his daddy. I didn’t want
to tell you this but the other day when he was over here Keon ran
in the room saying he was crying,” She said referring to her 3 year
old “So I went in there and asked him what was wrong and he told me
that he wanted his daddy. I asked him did he mean Dre, you know I
thought maybe he referred to Dre as his daddy but he said, “No Dre
not my daddy.”

Shaniqua bucked her eyes and shook her head
as Brooke went on talking “So I think you need to go ahead and take
that baby to see his dad girl.”

“I know. Dre’s not gonna like that though. He
seems as if he’s intimated by Ronny.”

“You know why?” she asked but not giving her
a chance to answer. “Because he is. He is because he knows that’s
the nigga that has your heart. So go ahead and handle your business
and do what’s gonna make Shaniqua Holmes happy even if that means
ending things with Dre”

“I hear ya,” was all Shaniqua said but so
much was going thru her mind

“I hope you do. Now where is my babies at?”
she asked as Dre was walking in with the kids. He was taking
Ray’Shun to McDonald’s and decided to take Shaniyah as well.

“They just walked in.”

“Okay well kiss them for me and handle your
business,” Brooke said.

“Okay.”

“I’m only a phone call away if you need me
boo. Always will be no matter what.”

Shaniqua smiled. It felt good to have someone
that you could talk to about any and everything, they hung up, and
Shaniqua grabbed her baby out the car seat Dre had sat in front of
her before going upstairs not saying a word to her.

“Hey mommy big man. Did you have fun?”

“Yes,” he said sadly looking at the blank
screen on the TV

“What’s wrong? Come tell mommy. Did Dre hurt
you?” was the first thing to pop in her head, which she doubt Dre
would ever hurt him but it didn’t hurt to ask

Ray’Shun shook his head and walked over to
her slowly “I miss my daddy,” he said just above a whisper.
Shaniqua closed her eyes. She knew she had to do something.

“I know man. Mommy does too,” she said still
holding her daughter. Then she kissed Ray’Shun cheek, stood up, and
grabbed his hand “Come on baby,” she said walking to the stairs.
She went upstairs and took her son to his room before going into
the bedroom she shared with Dre. When she walked in Dre was laying
on the bed on his back and arms folded behind his head with a frown
on his face gazing up at the ceiling.

Shaniqua walked over to Shaniyah bassinet
about to put her in but quickly thought against it incase Dre
wanted to jump stupid when she let him know what she was planning
on doing. She sat on the edge of the bed with Shaniyah still in her
arms before turning to look at him

“We need to talk Dre”

“Talk,” he said never taking his eyes off the
ceiling

She swallowed hard “I can’t keep doing this,”
she finally said

Dre turned to look at her slowly with darken
eyes “Doing what?”

“I can’t keep lying to everybody. I can’t
keep acting like Shaniyah doesn’t exist, I can’t keep breaking my
baby little heart when I tell him I’m taking him to see his daddy
and never do. Ronny on my ass about not seeing his son. He’s even
threating to take me to court because he haven’t seen his son since
the last time I went to visit and you know how long ago that been.
I promised him that things wouldn’t change and that he would always
see his son when he wanted. But…”

“That’s you scared and worrying about that
nigga’s feelings. You think I’m stupid and don’t know the real
reason you wouldn’t tell anyone about Niyah.” He chuckled “You care
about that nigga so much you rather act as if you own fucking
daughter don’t exist. If you told him about her then you wouldn’t
have to keep lying to your baby and breaking his little heart.” He
got off the bed and walked over to Shaniqua, stopping directly in
her face. Her heart pound from fear as she held her daughter a
little tighter. “You sit up here listening to that fucking song all
damn day, you think I don’t know why you playing that
shit
.
I’ve listened to the words Shaniqua.
I know exactly what you’re trying to say”

She sat on the bed looking up at him not
saying a word as he continued. “You walk around here looking like
you lost your best friend and shit all because of that nigga that
treated you like shit. If that nigga really wanted you, he would
have married you a long time ago. If he really wanted to, he could
find you, but has he? Of course not. Because he’s not thinking
about you. But you sitting up here worried about how he would feel
about you having a baby by someone that really loves you. This shit
is unbelievable,” he yelled before storming out the room leaving
her still sitting there.

She can’t say his words didn’t hurt because
they did. She never seen Dre that mad but when she heard the front
door slam shut she exhale the breath she didn’t know she was
holding in. She quickly got off the bed and rushed in her son room,
laying Shaniyah on the bed she began packing Ray’Shun a bag.

“Where we going mama?” he asked.

“To see your daddy,” she said never stopping
what she was doing. She heard Ray’Shun jumping excitedly and that
caused her to smile. Once she was done packing him a few things,
she went and packed her daughter a few things. She had clothes
still at her condo she was living in before she moved up there that
she was still paying rent on and so did Ray’Shun so she knew they
didn’t need much and she could always buy Shaniyah new clothes.

Ronny was chilling at his mom house upset
about the little argument him a Shaniqua had been having. He was so
tired of her and his patience was wearing off. He was sick and
tired of her telling him that she was bringing his son to see him
then when that day come she give him some bullshit reason why she
couldn’t make it. His phone began to vibrate letting him know he
had a text. It was from Shaniqua.

“In this game of love, there’s no rules. When
it comes to us I choose you.”

He reread the text before throwing the phone
back on the couch. The text made him smile on the inside but he was
so sick of the games she was playing. He hated to take her to court
but if she didn’t bring his son to see him in two weeks like she
promised he was definitely gonna take action in his own hands.