Keva momentarily looked away to peruse the menu. “I’ll have the mango iced tea,” she announced when she looked up again. Upon seeing the still hateful expressions on her dining companions’ faces, she began to feel as uncomfortable as the waitress.
“And for you, young lady?” the waitress asked Tawanda nervously.
Without looking away from Lindsay or adjusting her frown she said, “I’ll have a pomegranate patron margarita. I think I’m gonna need a little alcohol to get me through this meal.”
“Will there be anything else for you ladies before I put in your drink orders?” the waitress asked without looking at anyone. She kept her eyes glued to her pad as she anxiously waited for a cue to leave the very volatile space.
“What’s your name, honey?” Keva asked.
“Tisha,” the waitress responded, still not willing to look at the women.
“Bring us an appetizer sampler platter as well, okay, Tisha? That will be it for now.” Tisha quickly exited, glad to be away from the thick tension, at least for a little while.
“Keva, what is going on? Why is she here?” Lindsay asked as soon as the waitress left.
“She, I am assuming you are referring to me, has a name, and you know exactly what it is,” Tawanda spat vehemently as she continued to stare at Lindsay.
“Okay, ladies. We are all adults here. Let’s just try to be civil. I know there is no love lost between the two of you, but why don’t we just try to put the old mess behind us and work together for the sake of our children who are all brothers and sisters.”
Keva knew this was not going to be easy when she invited Tawanda along. She had actually bamboozled both ladies. She didn’t tell Lindsay Tawanda was coming, and she didn’t tell Tawanda Lindsay would be there until they stepped through the door of the restaurant.
“I don’t know why she should have any beef with me. After all, she shot my man and killed him. Why should she be mad with me?” Tawanda asked nastily.
“Maybe, just maybe, it’s because you were sleeping with my husband and had a baby with him while he was still married to me, stupid,” Lindsay said loudly.
The other restaurant patrons who sat near them turned and looked in their direction. Keva immediately became very embarrassed, but quickly realized she hadn’t seen anything yet.
“Who you calling stupid, you murderer?” Tawanda yelled in retaliation as she stood to her feet.
“I’m calling you stupid, tramp.” Lindsay stood as well so that Tawanda would not have an advantage over her should she decide to try something physical.
Keva could not believe how badly her plan was going. She too stood up in hopes of bringing some calm to the brewing volatile situation. “Ladies, please sit down before the manager comes over here and tosses us out. Or worse, calls the police on us. We’re making a horrible scene and disturbing everyone in the restaurant.”
Both Lindsay and Tawanda looked around simultaneously to find everyone in the restaurant gawking at them. Some of them even looked frightened. Hearing they had a killer among them could have been the cause for that reaction.
Lindsay sat first while keeping a steady eye on Tawanda, who was, in turn, staring at her just as intently. Keva sat next and began massaging her temples, not bothering to look at either of her companions. After several seconds, Tawanda finally took her seat and broke the staring war between her and Lindsay by instead, taking the still full glass of water that sat in front of Lindsay and drinking from it.
Just as Lindsay opened her mouth to protest, the waitress appeared and nervously placed their drinks in front of them. The restaurant manager on duty also accompanied his staff person.
“Ladies, is everything okay over here?” the manager asked softly.
“Sir, we are extremely sorry. I don’t think there will be any more problems,” Keva stated as she looked from one female to the next, silently pleading with them to make her statement true.
“That’s good to hear. We truly appreciate your business, but if there is another scene we will have to ask you ladies to leave as we have other patrons to think about.” Again, the manager spoke in very soft tones, but his message was loud and clear. “Enjoy your meal, ladies.” He departed, leaving his still skittish waitress to finish her job.
Lindsay spoke quickly before the waitress had a chance to ask for their dinner orders. “Keva, it seems that both times I have seen you in a restaurant over this past week have been a replay of the first time I saw you in a restaurant. You were pregnant then, and you are pregnant now. And the manager is talking about throwing us out now, and the manager did throw me out then.”
“That’s because you threw a napkin holder at me then. Girls, let’s please not go there again. Nobody pick up anything and hit anybody with nothing,” Keva said jokingly—and seriously—at the same time. She and Lindsay laughed at the memory while Tawanda sat still steaming, unamused by their private joke.
The waitress also didn’t get the humor. She just hoped they didn’t start throwing things while she stood there. “Ladies, are you ready to order your meals?” Just as she said that, another server appeared with their appetizer.
All three ladies opened their menu and began searching for entrees... .
Meanwhile ... over at Red Lobster ...
Cody sat quietly as the children reacquainted themselves with each other effortlessly. He, Shauntae, and Li’l Shaun were the first to arrive. Cody went to the hostess stand and asked for a table for five. He explained to the waitress they wanted to wait for the rest of their party to arrive before they were seated.
Shauntae overheard him and questioned him about who the fifth person was. Before he could respond, Keva walked in with Kevaun. Keva was still strikingly beautiful.
Cody recognized her immediately though the teenager with her had changed immensely. Kevaun had been turning five years old when Cody last saw him at his own birthday party. This was a couple of months before he had seen Lindsay for the first time. Shauntae was at the birthday party, but Li’l Shaun was not yet born.
“Hello, Cody,” Keva said as she walked over and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Long time no see, handsome.”
“Hello to you, Keva. It has been awhile, hasn’t it? So much has changed since I last saw you. In particular this young man here with you. Wow! Look how tall and handsome he is.”
Kevaun looked to be the perfect complement to both of his parents. While he was tall like Shaun and had the signature green eyes, he also favored his mother quite a bit as well.
“Cody, are you sure it’s okay that I leave my son here with you? This is a big undertaking you are about to get into.”
“I think we will all be just fine, Keva. Go on. Go meet Lindsay,” Cody assured her.
Keva kissed her son on the cheek and gave him a last-minute instruction to behave himself. She waved at Lindsay’s two children and headed back out to her car.
Shauntae stared at Kevaun the entire time her stepdad and his mom talked. He was extremely cute to her, but also eerily familiar, his green eyes telling her a tale she was certain she had heard before.
Then, like an immunization shot, it hit her. She remembered having this same exact feeling on the day of her father’s funeral. This was the boy who stared at her in the limousine. This was the boy whose mother had said her daddy was his daddy too.
Kevaun had paid little attention to Shauntae or Li’l Shaun since arriving at the restaurant. He had been made fully aware by his mom that today he would be reacquainted with his two brothers and his one other sister. He met his other little sister, Shauna, a couple of weeks ago for the very first time. His mom had explained that he had spent time with Shauntae and Sha’Ron when they were toddlers and that Li’l Shaun had not been born yet when they moved away to Atlanta.
Cody made the formal introductions. “Shauntae, Li’l Shaun, I want you to meet your older brother Kevaun.”
Both of Lindsay’s children stood staring stunned and confused. Shaun was confused because he had never me
t or even heard of this guy. Shauntae was confused because, though she had remembered their connection and figured out the possibility of him being a sibling, she didn’t understand how he could be older than her.
“We will get more into the details once Sha’Ron arrives,” Cody continued when he saw the confused looks.
Right on cue, Sha’Ron waltzed into the restaurant looking the epitome of teenaged cool. His haircut was tight and fresh, giving the appearance of having just stepped out of the barber’s chair. His Sean John denim outfit accessorized with a yellow Polo shirt looked as if he had just removed the tags. The all-yellow Nikes on his feet looked as if he had them painted to match his shirt perfectly.
“Hey, Cody,” Sha’Ron said as he approached Cody with an outstretched hand for a shake. Cody was pleased that Sha’Ron remembered their conversation about his name.
“What up, family!” Sha’Ron exclaimed as he made his approach toward his brothers and sister.
He hugged Shauntae first. “Girl, you are so pretty. I have missed seeing the face that looks like my own.”
Shauntae beamed with pride as she hugged her true big brother.
“Hey, Sha’Ron. I missed you too.”
“Look at my little brother. You ain’t a baby anymore, Li’l Shaun.” He hugged his youngest brother, then asked, “You remember that handshake I taught you?”
The brothers began doing the handshake they created together, which included an uncomplicated mixture of hand gestures and fist bumps. Their customary greeting for one another came back to their remembrance with ease.
“And you are Kevaun,” Sha’Ron said a little more cautiously. “You probably don’t remember me because you were only about five the last time we saw each other, but I remember you though. Dang, Shauntae looks more like you than she does me.” He hugged Kevaun, and then showed him the handshake he shared with their younger brother. “That is a brother thang. It’s only for when we see each other, okay?” Kevaun nodded his head in agreement with a smile.
“Your table is ready, sir,” the hostess announced right on time.
“Come on. Let’s all go and sit down. We’ll talk more at the table,” Cody said. The children quietly followed him and the hostess to their spacious table.
Cody sat at the head. Sha’Ron sat just to his left, and Li’l Shaun scrambled to sit next to his big brother. Shauntae settled for the seat directly across from Sha’Ron, just to the right of Cody, leaving Kevaun the seat next to her.
“Your waiter will be over in just a second to get your drink orders,” the hostess announced, then disappeared.
Cody was pleased to see that all four children sat at the table with varying degrees of smiles on their faces. Li’l Shaun’s was the biggest and brightest as he stared around the table at his brothers and sister.
The waiter appeared within moments and took their orders for beverages, then left quickly to prepare their selections.
“Okay, Cody. I’m dying to know how Kevaun is my older brother,” Shauntae asked. She then directed a question at Kevaun before Cody could respond. “How old are you?”
“I’m thirteen,” Kevaun replied calmly.
“How can that be possible? I’m thirteen. If we are the same age, why did you say he was my older brother, Cody?”
Kevaun had been made aware of the details of all of his father’s children back when he and his mom initially moved back to Detroit. However, Cody explained it to both of them, not knowing that Kevaun already knew the story.
“Shauntae, Kevaun was born in July 1996. You were born in November 1996. Therefore, he is older than you by four months. Do you two understand?”
Shauntae nodded slowly that she did. She understood perfectly that her father had been messing around with both Kevaun’s mom and hers at the same time.
Cody was concerned about how Li’l Shaun processed what he had just heard. He looked over to find the boy still grinning, as if he were the most blessed child in the world to have these brothers and his sister, regardless of what order they came.
Cody smiled and marveled at the young child’s blissful ignorance and innocence.
“While we are on the subject, I may as well tell you your father has another child as well. It’s a little girl name Shauna. She should be three and a half years old.”
Shauntae again began calculating the years and realized this child too had come along while her father and mother were still together. Wow! Even though she still loved and missed her dad, she was now getting a better understanding of why her mom shot him.
Sha’Ron spoke up to lend his opinion and experience to the conversation. “Shauna has been a part of my life ever since my dad, I mean our dad, was killed.”
Everyone at the table except for Kevaun prickled at his choice of words. Even Li’l Shaun showed a small chink in his happy armor. Sha’Ron kept right on speaking as if he hadn’t said anything disturbing at all.
“See, this stuff is new to all of you, but not to me. I guess because I’m the oldest, I’ve had to learn for the longest amount of time what it feels like to keep getting introduced to new sisters and brothers. After awhile, I just kind of got used to it. You all didn’t know about one another or wouldn’t find out about one another until something bad would happen between our father and each of your mothers. But because I didn’t pose a threat to Dad’s character or because he wasn’t cheating on me or my mom, none of you were ever hidden from me. I knew about you all from the time each of your moms had gotten pregnant with you all.” Everyone sat in a state of extreme quietness after Sha’Ron’s speech.
The waiter reappeared to take their orders. Everyone telling him what they wanted to eat was their breach of silence. Once the food orders were given and the waiter went away Cody elaborated on what Sha’Ron said.
“Sha’Ron makes an excellent point. How you all became brothers and sisters is far less important than the fact that you are brothers and sisters. Yes, the adults did make some mistakes, but from their mistakes a family was created. This is a clear example of what the devil meant for evil, God will turn it around for your good and His glory.”
Sha’Ron listened to Cody’s spiel, thinking, So White Boy is a Jesus freak now? He chuckled to himself. Uncle Bobby had warned him about folks who used to be into all kinds of dirt who now felt their mess didn’t stink no more because they had turned their lives over to God. Uncle Bobby told him that God was just a mystical myth, an ideology that made some people feel superior to others because they believed in some majestic being who supposedly created the world. Yet these were the same sad people who were raising all kinds of hell and would never lift a finger to help a person in serious need. Sha’Ron listened intently to hear more of White Boy’s heavenly hypocritical hype.
“We can liken this to the story of Joseph in the Bible. He also had sibling issues. The devil turned Joseph’s brothers against him. They were separated for several years, just like you guys, but God eventually restored the relationship and all of them were blessed as result.”
Now that was good, Sha’Ron thought. White Boy was actually telling a Bible story that related to their situation.
“That was a good analogy, Cody. We’re learning about analogies in my English class right now,” Shauntae said.
“Yeah. I like Joseph and the story of how he loved his brothers, even though they tried to kill him,” Kevaun added.
As far as Sha’Ron was concerned, what Kevaun just said proved that the Bible only spoke about unrealistic or ancient nonsense. There was no way a dude in this day would be cool with some fools who tried to kill him—brothers or not. The rule of the streets today was kill or be killed; survival of the fittest. If somebody tried to kill you and failed, you best be sure you get them and take them out before they came back at you again.
He decided he would make it a point to school his younger brother on real life when he had an opportunity in the near future. Shauntae and Li’l Shaun he would educate later in life after he got away with killing their mom.
Yes, she was able to take out his father. But if she had been real smart, she would have known that she should have gotten him too because he was surely going to get her.
Cody realized Sha’Ron had become very quiet and looked rather pensive. “Sha’Ron, what’s up, man? You all right? You look a little bothered.”
Sha’Ron shook himself from his thoughts and found everyone at the table staring at him. “Oh, naw. I’m cool, Cody. I was thinking about how the story of Joseph related so closely to our story. And about how cool it is to be here with my brothers and my sister despite all that has happened.”
Cody heard Sha’Ron’s words, but didn’t really feel the sincerity in them. He could tell the young man was more than likely just spitting game for the most part. Cody knew his instincts came from both his God-given spiritual discernment and his years of defending people who also talked a good game. He was sure Sha’Ron was happy to see his siblings, but he doubted very seriously if he was actually moved in the least by his Bible story.
“When do we get to meet our little sister?” Li’l Shaun asked, cutting into the musings of his stepdad.
“Well, we have to see about getting in touch with her mother and working something out,” Cody answered.
“That won’t be a problem at all. I see Tawanda and Shauna all the time. I kick it with our little sister at least a few times a week. My grandma babysits her a lot. The next time we get together, I’ll be sure to bring her along with me.”
While the kids and Cody seemed to be having a peaceful reunion, the baby mama shindig was not going quite as smoothly. The yelling and screaming had stopped for the time being, but the atmosphere remained quite uncomfortable. As soon as the waitress had returned with their food orders and left again, Keva began explaining her reasoning for staging this dinner meeting.
“Look, ladies, I know there has been some unpleasantness between all of us and all in the name of Shaun Robert Taylor. But he is gone now. What he leaves behind are five children who are the innocent victims of all of our mistakes.”
Lindsay's Legacy Page 8
