Page 26 of Ghetto Heartstrings
Marley sucked her teeth. “You didn’t let me finish Brook’Lynn.” She shook her head and walked over to somepaperwork she had sitting on the table. “I knew I had to call you in a panic to get you to come.”
“Marley… I’m not in the mood, you have two seconds.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
Marley shifted through the paperwork while talking. “Well, Wise has been missing, as I said, so me being me, I started going through his belongings.”
“Why?” Brook’Lynn frowned. “You crazy?”
“No.” Marley shrugged. “But, I’m glad I did.”
Brook’Lynn was getting suspicious now. “What the hell are you over there looking at?”
Marley finally looked up and asked her friend. “What did you say your daddy’s name was?”
“Brody Watson… what the fuck is going on Marley?” She felt her heart rate pick up; she hoped nothing happened to the man.
Marley walked over to Brook’Lynn and told her to sit down.
“Why?” she asked. “Just tell me what the deal is… what’s with all this CSI shit?”
Marley shrugged. “Look at this.” She finally gave her a birth certificate.
Brook’Lynn looked down in confusion, scanning over the birth certificate for Byron Watson, better known to her as Wise. Although she knew his first name, she never knew his last, and now she realized exactly why Marley was acting so funny. Right in the location where the father’s name was to be listed said big as day, Brody Byron Watson.
She dropped the birth certificate and looked up at her friend. “No way, Marley. I know you ain’t trying to tell me that the ‘Brody Watson’ on that birth certificate is my daddy.”
Marley picked the certificate up off the floor. “Well here, don’t be so quick to say no. I mean, it is possible, you did say that the man told you that you weren’t his only child. Look at thedate of birth; is this your daddy’s date of birth? He was born in Atlanta, Georgia, right?”
Brook’Lynn felt herself shaking as she stared without another word. If what she was reading was correct, Wise was definitely her big brother, and if her own brother had been right up under her nose without either one of them knowing about it, then that was fucked up and was definitely a fucked-up feeling.
The keys jiggling at the front door could be heard, which gave them the heads up that Wise was walking through the door. The look on his face was suspect when he walked in the wee hours of the morning to find Brook’Lynn on his couch holding his birth certificate. He didn’t know if the look on her face was because she wanted to laugh or cry, but he damn sure wanted to know why she had his shit.
Marley cleared her throat, feeling nervous all of a sudden. She was so nervous that he’d be mad about her going through his shit that she wasn’t even mad anymore about him being missing. She just needed to get the fuck out of view, so that’s what she did before the questions started rolling in. “I’m going to go to the back and let you two talk,” she said, rushing away.
Wise was still stuck on Brook’Lynn, although he peeped Marley acting funny and shit. He was more concerned about Brook’Lynn. “So, what’s up? Is it a reason you in my house this time of morning and holding my birth certificate? I’m not even gonna ask how you got it, but I’m sure my little nerd in there has something to do with it, since she’s acting all funny and shit. I’m glad I ain’t did no crimes in front of her ass; a nigga would go to jail,” he said with the smell of Remy rolling off his breath.
The fact that he referred to Marley as a ‘little nerd’ was amusing to her. If only he knew that ‘little nerd’ could turn into a ‘little Harley Quinn’ in a minute; she had no problem laying a nigga down, no matter how lame she was in real life.
Finally acknowledging him, she looked at him good, real good.
Wise was growing impatient, as he removed his Cuban link from around his neck and placed it on the coffee table in front of him. “Brook’Lynn, a nigga is tired as fuck right now. You gotta say something cause you making me feel some type of way; shit ain’t cool ma.”
What she was really studying was his features, from his long thick lashes and the shape of his eyes, the smooth Hershey color of his skin, the texture of his hair, and the structure of his facial bones. She felt her heart drop. Wise looked exactly like her, she looked exactly like him, they looked exactly like each other, and it was crazy how she never saw it before, or anyone else for that matter.
Her eyes shifted from the certificate and then back to him. “I…um...” She found herself stumbling over her own words.Get it together Brook’Lynn; shit, this isn’t your fault,she coached herself. “This man on your birth certificate… you know him?” she asked.
Wise relaxed a little lazily, throwing his body back on the couch so his head could rest. “Yeah, that’s the nigga that helped my mama create me and shit; hints to why his name is on my birth certificate.”
“Don’t get slick Wise, this is serious.”
He chuckled. “Aiight, you have my attention. I promise, I’m all ears.”
She pulled out her phone and searched for the picture she was looking for. When she found it, she held it in front of his face. “Is this him?”
Wise sat up and took a good look. Brook’Lynn could tell in the shift of his demeanor that it was. “Yeah, that’s that cat.”
She locked the phone back and tried to deal with her own feelings, but the fact that she found out she wasn’t the only childand had missed her entire life without having a big brother was crazy and not to mention just straight up fucking hurtful, or maybe it was the pregnancy that had her feeling all emotional. “Did you know that my last name is Watson as well? Brody is my daddy too, Wise; he actually raised me in Atlanta.”
Wise’s expression went from surprise to anger. He stood up and walked in the kitchen to grab him a Corona from the fridge before popping it open. Leaning up against the counter, he took the entire bottle to the head, and when he was finished, he cocked his arm back and tossed the bottle at the wall in front of him, causing it to shatter all over the place. For the next five minutes, they said nothing to each other; she was glad that he did it because that was exactly how she felt.
