Page 153 of One Good Reason

“What you wanna run for, now? Cause the truth out. I knew you liked older men. That’s why you went after mine,” her mama spat bitterly.

Before she could get another word out, Talitha was lunging across the table and slapping her mama in the face. “I was five, you twisted bitch. What the fuck did I want with Joe Lee?” she raged.

When she said that, everything got quiet. From the way everybody was looking, it was evident that some shit was getting ready to pop off.

Not even giving either of them a chance to swing, I jumped from my chair and grabbed Talitha up in a bear hug. “Calm the fuck down,” I based into her ear.

“No! She started it.”

“I don’t give a fuck who started it. The dirt ain’t even set on your grandmother’s grave and look how y’all carrying on.”

“Why won’t you just tell ‘em the truth, Tali? Tell ‘em how you tried to seduce my husband. That’s why Mama and Daddy took you out my house.”

“I tried to seduce yourhusband. Joe Lee ain’t never married you. Muthafucka couldn’t even take you down to the courthouse and give you his last name. He knew you was a money hungry bitch. Y’all ain’t nothing more than common law. You better hope he got you on some papers cause if not, when his ass die you gon’ be one broke, miserable bitch. You want me to tell them… fine!” she yelled. “Joe Lee molested me. That’s why Gema n’em adopted me. Instead of y’all sister taking my side, she went down to the police station and spoke on his behalf. Had everybody thinking I was lying. And neither of y’all called her out on it. Y’all knew I had no control of the shit and nobody took up for me. That’s why Papa Joe and Gema went hard for me. It ain’t have shit to do with favoritism like she been saying all these years.”

“Tali,” Betty Jo mumbled. “Don’t go spilling family business.

“Family business!” Talitha scoffed. “You fake ass wanna be Jill Scott. This what I meant when I said you be straddling the fence. Fuck the family. Yo’ sister said ‘fuck me when I was a child’, fuck I’m protecting the family for.”

I held onto her while she got her frustrations off her chest. The whole time they was fussing, I was trying to figure out why I hadn’t noticed that she was pregnant. Granted the other night I realized her pussy was wetter, but I chalked that shit up to her emotions.

Was she planning on getting rid of it? Is that why she hadn’t told me? Or did she not know? That couldn’t be the case, a woman knows when something is different with her body.

I didn’t want to get ahead of myself and accuse her of trying to abort my baby but something about this situation wasn’t sitting right with me.

“Put me down, Lawton.” She swiveled in my arms until I let her go. “Fuck all of y’all. Don’t call me for shit. I’ll have Gema lawyer reach out to y’all when I get her estate settled. I’m done with this and y’all. Don’t nobody here need to even breath my fucking name again.”

Paying her mama one last look, Talitha turned and stormed away. Mrs. Jessie was up out of her seat following her out the door. Flickering my thumb across my nose, I shook my head at the confused faces before leaving myself.

When I slid in the back of the truck, Talitha had her face down in her phone. I know she sensed my presence; she knew I was staring at her waiting for an answer. Instead of looking at me, she fiddled with the phone the entire ride to the hotel.

When Baker pulled up to the hotel, he helped Mrs. Jessie out the back. When Talitha stood to get out, I put my hand on her chest to stop her from moving. Nodding my head at Baker, I lethim know we needed a minute. As soon as door closed, I leaned up and dropped my elbows on my knees.

“How long have you known?”

Instead of answering, she fiddled with her hands.

“How long Talitha?” I roared.

“A couple of weeks.”

“And when were you planning on sharing the news with me?”

“I don’t know.” She struggled to get out.

“You wasn’t. That’s why you felt comfortable enough spewing that bullshit you’d convinced yourself of. Had your Mama not outed yo’ ass, you would have gotten rid of it.”

“That’s not true, Harvey. I wasn’t planning on having an abortion,” she denied.

“Must have. You kept the shit from me.”

“This is all I have.” She pointed to her stomach. “I just lost the only other person in the world that had my back. All I have is this baby.”

“All you have…” I repeated. “If you feel like that’s all you have Talitha, then this isn’t going to work.”

I was done trying to convince her that I was here for her. Over trying to get her to see how much I loved her. I’d been here every step of the fucking way and for her to say that was all she had was a slap in my face.

“I’ll send Baker back down to pick you up whenever you’re ready to go home. After I meet with William in the morning, I’ll have Chari reach out to your assistant with the next steps. Whenever youdecidewhat you plan to do with the baby, you can reach out to me.”

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