Page 12 of Cutthroat

Marie could feel her daughters’ inquisitive stares without looking at them. Blowing out a breath, she began to unburden the secret she had held for years.

“I never thought I’d be telling you all this. As much as it hurt me, I vowed to take this to my grave. But giving the circumstances, I think it’s about time I shared the Merci family secret.”

“Merci family secret?” They asked confused. As far as they knew, there were no secrets between the three of them.

“Yes, all families have secrets. Ours is no different. I was stern with you two because I never wanted you girls to make dumb mistakes that could haunt you throughout your life. I gave you both unconditional love and attention because you are my babies. I couldn’t do that with Envy because she’s not my daughter,”

“WHAT?!” Eden and Eve screamed out in shock. They had never truly suspected that Envy was adopted. It was just a joke that they shared since Envyhad always been the black sheep of the family. This revelation stunned them.

“Wait a minute. Are you saying that Envy isn’t our sister? She’s really adopted?” Eve asked. The surprise on her face would have been comical if the situation wasn’t so serious.

“I didn’t say that. I said she’s notMYdaughter,” Marie said with emphasis on the word my. “Envy is your sister. She’s Everett’s love child,”

Revealing the truth, even though it was over thirty years later, made her heart ache. The pain that shot through her body was just as sharp as it was the day she found out her husband had gotten another woman pregnant.

“Envy is Daddy’s daughter? How is that possible?” Eden asked in disbelief.

Her stomach sank to the floor because her mother’s words confirmed that she was a bad judge of character. Her father was the first man that she had ever placed on the “can do no wrong”pedestal.Jermaine was the second.

The fact that her judgement led her to be wrong twice had her second guessing everything she believed was right. Eden wanted to speak but she couldn’t say a word.

“Daddy had an affair and had a child? Envy is the product of Daddy’s affair. Ma that can’t be right. Daddy preached the importance of family, togetherness, and finding a perfect mate. He wouldn’t disrespect you or us like that. Would he?” Eve asked nearly on the verge of tears.

She was so caught off guard by her mother’s admission that she couldn’t make sense of the words. She didn’t want to believe it. She didn’t want to believe that her loving father could disrespect their family by bringing an outside child into their home.

Marie could see the genuine hurt on her daughter’s face. Her daughter’s, but especially Eve, had always been daddy’s girls. They doted on him as if he were a king. The knowledge that Everett Merci was nothing more than a flawed mortal was hard for them to accept.

“Yes, to all of the above Sweetheart. Yes, he had an affair and had a child. Yes, he would disrespect us. Men lie. I taught you girls that a long time ago,” Marie answered.

She refused to sugarcoat anything. The truth was the truth and what was done was done.

“Did you girls ever wonder why you weren’t allowed in our bedroom?” Marie asked.

“I assumed you didn’t want us in your marital space. My girls aren’t allowed in my room. They have their own bedrooms, a game room, and a lounge. My bedroom is Jason and I’s personal space. My room, my rules.” Eve said repeating the line that her mother repeated to her and Eden when they were children.

Marie chuckled dryly because she knew that’s what her children believed.

“I did tell you girls that didn’t I? That was a lie. The truth is after Everett brought his illegitimate bitch of a daughter here, I had the king-sized bed replaced with two full sized beds. I never wanted you girls to see that we slept separately because at the time I didn’t know how to answer the questions I knew two little girls would ask,” Marie said truthfully.

“I can’t believe that Daddy would bring his side baby home for his wife to raise. Who did he think he was Denzel in Fences?” Eden asked.

Marie chuckled. Though the 2016 movie had won several awards, because of that very scene, she could not bring herself to complete the movie.

“Ma, if you don’t mind me asking, how did Envy even end up here?” Eve asked.

Marie wasn’t flustered or caught off guard by her daughter’s questions. She was expecting them after telling the truth.

“Honey you are old enough to know that a man will do whatever he thinks he can get away with. Like Edy said, Everett brought that baby to me like he was Troy Maxson.

Envy’s birth mother died from a drug overdose when she was six months old. Because Envy was clearly biracial, her white mother’s family didn’t want anything to do with her. Her grandmother literally put Envy in her car seat and placed her on the curb with the trash.

After the sheriff arrested Envy’s grandmother for child endangerment, he called Everett to pick his daughter up from the Sherriff’s Department. Everett brought Envy here and had the audacity to say,

“This is my daughter Envy. Take care of her as if she’s one of yours and I don’t want to hear anything about it. If you try to get uppity and think you’re going to leave, just remember that you don’t work. How are you going to take care of yourself and the girls without me?”

Eve and Eden gasped for the second time. They were learning things about their father that they couldn’t believe. The man they knew would have never spoken to their mother as if she were just a common tramp. In public, he spoke to her with the utmost respect. Hearing the things he said in private made them sick.

“That was the day I lost it. The calm demure Marie Antoinette Merci had left the building. I endured so much in my marriage. The lies, affairs, physical abuse, spousal rape when he was drinking, were some of the things I dealt with. Him bringing a child that he made in the streets into my home was the straw that broke the camel’s back. That was a level of disrespect that I refused to accept.

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