Page 10 of Rhodes to Love

He nodded. “You need to call his ass so he can accept his responsibilities.”

“It’s not his decision why he hasn’t. He wants a baby, and he wants me,” I said softly. “I wasn’t ready, and again, I was angry. I pulled my gun on him and threatened to call the police if he didn’t leave me alone. I’m so ashamed to even tell y’all that. I’ve always been the levelheaded one. My Henderson side emerged. I honestly feel like he’s giving me time to cool off. He knows me well and definitely knows how to find me.”

“If he finds you, what are you going to do?” my mama asked.

I turned to her and lowered my head. “Give him the need to know about the baby. I no longer trust him. I’m not saying I won’t ever give him another chance, but it will be much harder this time around.”

She gave me a tight smile as Kingsley put his arm around me. “Well, I wanna be the godfather. That’s the closest I’m gon’ get to having kids. After watching JJ, I wanted to go to a doctor and have him snatch my ball sac clean off.”

I nearly choked. King was an entire fool for that one. My mama hollered with laughter, causing all of us to laugh at his crazy tail.

“Nigga, you asked to be the godfather of our baby too!” KJ said through his laughter.

“Hell yeah. If y’all have bad kids, I can bring them home. I have a feeling if I was to ever have kids, they gon’ be the spawn of Satan since I’m so laid-back.”

“First of all, you didn’t become laid-back until you were a teenager. Your ass was a handful because you were so spoiled,” Mama said.

We all glanced at Daddy to see him look away for a moment and smile slightly. It was no secret why Kingsley was so spoiled. We gave him all the love he deserved plus the love Kendrick deserved too. Kingsley was born less than two years after his death. While we knew he could never replace such a beautiful little angel, we loved on him even harder. Life was a vapor, and it wasn’t promised to anyone.

I supposed we were all emotionally overwhelmed, especially since King looked just like he did as a baby. He completely changed as he got older though. Of all of us, he looked the most like Mama. He was a darker complexion too. However, he was the craziest too. That nigga would jump in a damn canal to catch an alligator. He could miss me on that.

“Well, me being spoiled clearly wasn’t my fault. I was a product of my environment, especially when I was with my big sister.”

He kissed my head as I shook it slowly. He was right though. I spoiled the hell out of him. Whenever I was missing Kendrick, I would go to his room and love on him. It didn’t help that he slept in Kendrick’s old room. That would make me even more sensitive. I clung to him because I was scared he would die like Kendrick. I was only eight or nine when he was born. Kendrick died a couple of months or so before my eighth birthday.

“Yeah, yeah,” Daddy said as he stared at me. “I just can’t believe my baby girl is going to be a mother. Fuck the details. The main point is that a baby is coming. Have you been sick or anything?”

I smiled softly. “No, sir. Never had morning sickness, thank God.”

“Any cravings?” my mama asked.

Before I could respond, Aunt Tiff said, “Hell yeah. Gumbo.”

Everyone laughed. I’d nearly forgotten she was here. That was rare that Aunt Tiff was quiet enough to be overlooked. My mama laughed, but I could see the hurt in her eyes when she realized Aunt Tiff knew before them.

She knew how close I was to Aunt Tiff, but to smooth things over, I said, “I’m sorry Aunt Tiff knew before y’all. I wasn’t ready to be the tender-hearted daughter you know. I was feeling extremely hostile, and I surely would have disappointed the two of you if you would have heard the things that fell from my lips. I knew she wouldn’t tell a soul. I really needed the support.”

“I understand, baby,” Mama said. “I’m just glad you had someone to lean on these past few months. Thank you, Tiff, for taking care of our baby.”

“For future references, I wouldn’t have been disappointed. I’m your father, and I know you’re a Henderson. It was bound to come out at some point. You don’t ever have to be afraid to talk to us. You know we always got your back, through the good and the bad.”

I lowered my head, and he said, “Naw. Hold your head up. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. I thought you were depressed about giving up on being in Nashville. I figured that was why you were wearing the big clothes. I could see you trying to socialize your way out of it, so I was going to let you work through it on your own until I thought you were really struggling.”

I went to him and hugged him tightly. My daddy was always the standard. I didn’t know why I was embarrassed to tell him. It wasn’t like I was in high school. I was twenty-nine years old. After taking a deep breath, I let him go.

“Since we have the meeting this evening and Jen is cooking, we’ll save the gumbo for tomorrow,” he said to my mama.

I smiled big as Aunt Tiff rolled her eyes. It was my time to be spoiled, and I was going to take full advantage.

CHAPTER2

RHODES

Ididn’t know how I saw this shit ending, but it wasn’t with Karima in the wind and me being cooped up in my apartment depressed as hell. I knew she had gone back home. That was the only place she would have gone. I knew she was pregnant. She probably wouldn’t have left had she not been. What I did was so fucking stupid. Now I was sitting here listening to Dave Hollister, day in and day out, begging his woman for forgiveness.

I knew she didn’t really want to see me, and by now, I was more than sure her family knew she was pregnant. She’d been gone for over three months. I knew she needed time. For her to pull a gun on me, I knew she was beyond angry. She was livid. Had I tried to approach her, she would have shot me.

That shit hurt me the most… seeing what my deception had done to her. The tears falling down her cheeks had me wanting to cry with her. The crazy part was that I didn’t even realize what I cost her until she said it. My actions were selfish and done out of desperation. She never confessed her love for me. In my mind, that meant she could walk away from me again. Here I was, trying to prevent her from doing that and ended up here without her anyway.

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