by Tiece
“Please do and take it easy. Don’t you have a doctor’s appointment coming up?”
“On Monday,” she said. “I truly need to go. I think I need some meds to stabilize my moods. I’ve been drowsy, feeling weak and forgetful. Girl, I do believe I have post partum depression or something.”
“I can agree. That’s why you’ve been acting so insecure, too. I mean, look at you. I don’t care how cute Ms. Heather is, she surely can’t have nothing on the beautiful Mrs. Janay Carter.”
Janay smiled to hear Lauren say that. “You’re absolutely right. Well, not to change the subject, but how are things with you and Rich?”
Lauren paused for a moment then started. “Can you believe he grabbed me by my arm yesterday morning in an attempt to quiet me from fussing at him?”
“He did what?” Janay asked with a frown on her face. “Grabbed you how? I mean, did he hurt you?”
“Yes, he actually bruised my arm, he grabbed it so tight.”
“Oh hell naw,” Janay responded. “It’s time for him to go. I don’t know how you’ve gotten yourself caught up in that mess, but he has got to go. Ain’t no way we deal with men putting their hands on us; especially when he’s broke as a joke.” Lauren sat quietly on the phone. She didn’t know what to say, because Janay was right. “Do you hear me? You know if he did that shit once, it’ll be worse the next time.”
“I hear you and I know. I’m thinking about calling it off when he returns anyway. I’m just tired of his dead beat ass. Ain’t nothing good about him but that hungry tongue and that big dick of his.”
“And, they sell those in X-Mart. One thing about a plastic dick, they don’t hit back no matter how much you beat up on them.”
Lauren laughed at her joke. “Well, he’s pulling up now. So, I’ll talk to you later, but take care of yourself and call me after your appointment.”
“I will,” Janay said and with that, they ended their call.
****
Lauren got up and headed into the back to get her son. She wanted to make sure that he was ready to go. She just felt that it was probably best if she left for the night to give Rich something to think about. Maybe he’d either decide to leave on his own or he’d finally man up and get his shit together.
“Brandon, are you ready to go to Auntie Bianca’s house?”
Brandon jumped up from playing with his train set. “We going to Jew’s birfday party?”
Lauren laughed at the way he pronounced some of his words, but he was only three years old and learning. “No, we’re going to help Auntie get Jew’s birthday party together for tomorrow.”
Brandon quickly grabbed his SpongeBob book bag like he was going to stay the night. He took that bag everywhere, sometimes making his mom think that he didn’t like staying at home.
“You’re not staying the night.” She told him as she went inside of her room to put on her shoes. “Then again, staying the night is exactly what we’re going to do. Go sit up front, I’m coming.” She said as Rich entered the house.
“What’s up, Bran?” He spoke.
“Hey Rich,” Brandon spoke back while watching the TV and waiting on his mom.
Rich headed down the hallway and into the bedroom. He noticed Lauren getting ready to go. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to my sister’s house or did you forget that I was helping her this evening? Why haven’t you been answering your phone?” She asked, already knowing the answer since she could smell the weed and liquor on him from across the room.
“I was chilling with the fellas and I didn’t feel like hearing your mouth.”
“Are you serious right now?” She asked with a frown on her face. “Nigga, you’re in my car, drinking and smoking IN MY SHIT! You sound like a fool right now.”
“Whatever,” Rich said, starting to feel annoyed.
“I think you should move out. Get all of your shit and get out of my house!” She told him with a serious look on her face. She was tired of shit.
“I’m not going anywhere!” Rich stated as he walked up on her.
Lauren didn’t want any conflict so she went inside of her dresser drawer and pulled out some clothes of her own. “Don’t worry. I’ll just stay at my parent’s house until you leave. I don’t wanna be with you no more.”
Rich instantly became upset. He grabbed her around the neck with one hand and slammed her on the bed. “Bitch, you ain’t going anywhere and I ain’t either. I wish you might try to leave me. I’ll kill yo ass!” He said. Lauren was struggling to get loose, but he had a tight grip around her neck as she kicked her legs while swinging her arms. The look in his eyes was terrifying. She’d never saw that side of him. He’d gone from 0-100 in no time and it scared the hell out of her. She was starting to lose consciousness, but she continued to fight with all her might. All she could think was that he was about to kill her, not knowing his own strength.
“Let my mommy go!” Brandon cried out. Finally, Lauren was released from the death grip and she could catch her breath as Rich stood to his feet, holding his head. She was coughing for dear life, trying to breathe. She’d never been in a situation like this before and it frightened her to death. Brandon ran over and hugged on her. He was still crying. He was now scared of the man that had played daddy to him for the past couple of months and Lauren was too.
“I’m sorry,” Rich quickly said. He’d blacked out and all he knew was that he’d almost choked Lauren to death over a simple argument. “I’m sorry,” he kept repeating.
Lauren was so outdone and afraid of him that she grabbed Brandon and quickly headed for the room door. She didn’t know what to say. All she wanted to do was get out of there.
“Aye,” Rich called out still holding her keys in his hand. “I meant it, though. If you leave me, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
Lauren didn’t even look back as she went inside of Brandon’s room and locked the door. She sat on the side of her son’s bed, still holding him. He was clearly scared of what he’d just witnessed, but if it wasn’t for him she’d probably be unconscious by now.
“It’s okay, baby.” She said to try and calm him down. “Mommy is gonna get rid of the bad man. I’m so sorry you had to see that.” She was now definitely afraid for her life and Brandon’s. She’d gotten caught up with a crazy man and didn’t realize it until it was now too late. What was she going to do and how would she ever get rid of him? She didn’t know, but something had to give and it wouldn’t be her or her son.
Chapter 9
A week had passed and it was now the following Saturday morning. Mr. and Mrs. Ware were sitting in their quaint entertainment room listening to the surround sounds playing an R&B Quiet Storm CD. Tender Love by Force MD’s played smoothly through the house. Mrs. Ware rested her head on her husband’s chest as they lay back on the plush leather sectional. Mr. Ware had some concerns about his girls and just wanted to talk to his wife about them. His first concern definitely had something to do with Brandon’s behavior in just a week’s time. There was something going on with Lauren and maybe his wife knew about it or not, but he was certainly about to find out.
“Lena baby,” he said to gain her attention.
“Yes dear,” Mrs. Ware responded. She knew it had to be something since he’d called her by her government name. Anytime she heard the name Lena come out of his mouth, it had to be a serious conversation to follow it.
“Something has been bothering me with the girls, more so with Lauren at the moment.” He said, as Mrs. Ware tensed up a bit. She had a feeling she knew where this was going.
“Talk to me about your concerns and maybe I can shed some light on the topic,” she politely told him.
“I stopped by Lauren’s house on Monday to see what was up with her behavior at Jewel’s birthday party last Sunday. She seemed very distant and didn’t really spend a lot of time with the family.”
“Yeah, I noticed her sitting outside on the bench by herself for the most part and even I tried to go sit wit
h her to talk, but she was a bit standoffish.”
“Well, what did she say? Did she say anything?” He curiously asked.
Mrs. Ware looked up at him. She found it time to be honest with him about their daughter. “Well, she and Rich have been going through some things. I felt like her behavior had something to do with it whatever’s going on inside her home. I went outside to speak with her and she told me that she was taking care of things and that she really didn’t want to talk about it. I couldn’t get much out of her, because Brandon was stuck by her side. He wouldn’t leave to even go play with the kids and we both know how he loves his cousins.”
“And, how he loves to get wet,” Mr. Ware added. “The bounce houses were set up with the water slides and he didn’t even get on one of them, PERIOD. Even when I tried to put him inside the bounce house, he cried to go back around his mom. It was seriously strange to me.”
“It was,” Mrs. Ware stated. The thing that got her was seeing Lauren wearing a sleeveless turtle neck while sitting outside in 95 degree weather. She was known to cut up her jeans and shorts, creating different styles of her own, but to cut off the sleeves on a turtle neck and throw a vest over it seemed a bit too much.
“The thing that got me is when I went over yesterday to see if Brandon wanted to come over for the night, he didn’t. He seems to want to stay around Lauren as if he’s protecting her.”
“Was Rich there?” Mrs. Ware curiously pondered.
Mr. Ware disappointedly shook his head. “No, he’s never there when I go over and her car isn’t either. I know they get themselves caught up sometimes, but she is really not the Lauren that we raised.”
Mrs. Ware hated to face the facts, but they were staring directly at her. There was no way around it and she had to speak up about it.
“Now honey,” she softly said while sitting up to look him in his eyes. “When I tell you this, I don’t want you going crazy.”
“Tell me what?”
“Lauren came over last Friday with a bruise on her arm.”
Mr. Ware cut his eyes at his wife with a serious mean mug on his face. “A bruise,” he said not wanting to face the fact that his daughter had gotten herself caught up in an abusive relationship.
“Yes, and I believe that Rich has been putting his hands on her.”
“Why didn’t you say something last week when you saw this, Lena?”
“Because, I knew you’d act up and I didn’t want you going over there and possibly making things worse for her. She seemed scared last Sunday at the birthday party and when I touched her to ask her something, she flinched. That was so not like her.”
Mr. Ware sat quiet for a moment. He didn’t play about his girls and hearing this news definitely had him fuming inside.
“What are you thinking, honey?” Mrs. Ware questioned. She knew her husband would go to war for his and didn’t mind doing jail time if it led up to that. He’d kill a man before he’d sit back and let one kill one of his daughter’s.
“I’m just thinking that he has been putting his hands on her around Bran and that’s why he’s been acting so overprotective over her. I just can’t believe that she’d sit back and let this go on around him. He has threatened her or something. Lauren is definitely feisty and she doesn’t mind letting a man have it. She’d gotten herself caught up with Jamal and even though he was a liar and cheater, he didn’t put his hands on her.”
“Plus, he took care of her. Hell, he’s still taking care of her and Bran.”
“And, now Rich too,” Mr. Ware added, “With his no good ass.”
“Well, don’t go doing anything crazy, honey. I don’t need you getting yourself into trouble. Let me just talk with Lauren again and see if I can get through to her.”
“You don’t have to do that. I’ll be paying them both a visit real soon.” Mr. Ware said. He certainly meant business and either Rich was going to leave quietly or he was going to wish he had.
Mrs. Ware didn’t know how to respond to that, but she felt it best to just let it rest. The more they talked about it, the more uncomfortable her husband was getting.
“Well, on a good note. Janay went to see a doctor on Monday and she was diagnosed with Post Partum Depression. She’s now taking the proper medicine to balance out her hormones.”
“What do they have her on?” Mr. Ware questioned. He didn’t like hearing that she was on anything, because he didn’t feel like nothing was wrong with his child.
“I don’t know. She did tell me the name of it, but it’s just something that she’ll take for the time being. It’s not something that they plan on keeping her on for the rest of her life.”
“I just don’t think she needs any medicine. What she really needs is to return home and get Finn’s crazy ass mother out of her life.”
“Well, honey. I do think that something is wrong with her. She went to the doctor on Monday and had to explain the incident that occurred on Saturday evening.”
“What incident?” Mr. Ware asked, feeling like he was out of the loop on a lot of things.
“She called me and said that she’d been talking to Lauren on Saturday and for some reason that was the last thing that she remembered. She was awakened by Liz who had showed up to the house to check on her after something that had gone wrong during a dinner party that was held at their house the night before. According to Janay, the house was filled with smoke, the fire alarm was going off and all she could remember was hearing the baby crying as Liz got them out of the house.”
“WHAAAT?! Why am I just hearing about this?” Mr. Ware asked, feeling irritated at this point.
Mrs. Ware sighed. “Because, I didn’t want to concern you, honey,” she said. Mr. Ware had been taking high blood pressure medication himself, and didn’t need the extra stress; especially if it was now under control.
“Lena, I understand that you’re thinking of me and my health, but I’m fine. I need you to start being upfront with me about what’s going on with my girls, my grandkids, and you.” He sternly stated.
“You can’t fix everything, honey.” She said with a shake of the head. “Your daughters are grown now and they have to live their own lives. Don’t you think that I want to save them from harm? Of course I do, but sometimes I have to step back and let them learn a few lessons on their own. They don’t take well to our advice anymore like they once did when they were younger.”
“Well, hearing about Janay’s situation is different and I should’ve known about that.” He said.
“And, you’re right.” She agreed. “She’s good now, though. Apparently, she was about to cook Finn something to eat for when he returned later and she left it cooking while she’d dozed off to sleep on the couch. It didn’t burn the house down or nothing. The place was just filled with smoke and they stayed in a hotel overnight until the house aired out. She personally said that she’s good now and feels better.”
“I need to go see her,” Mr. Ware stated.
“No, just call her. As long as she hears your voice she’ll be good.” Mrs. Ware stated.
“For once, I’m glad that Liz was around to save them. I’ll call her later this evening to check on her.” He said. He never missed a week from calling Janay and he never missed a week from seeing the other girls, either. Even if he had to pay them a personal visit, he did. No matter how old they’d get, they were still his girls and always would be.
“Well, ShaKita left Coco.” Mrs. Ware mentioned. “Just thought I’d fill you in on that,” she said.
“I know,” he said with a nod of his head. “I stopped by her apartment yesterday and we talked for a long time. She told me what she’d been going through with her feelings and that she just didn’t want to be with a woman anymore.”
“She changed her mind in less than a year. You said that she would.” Mrs. Ware stated.
“Kita was just going through the motions. She has always been the wild card. Unlike Bianca,” he grinned. “We’ve always expected the unexpected from her.”
<
br /> Mrs. Ware shared his laughter. “You’re right.” She agreed. “In other news, Kerry has definitely moved on from Justin.”
Mr. Ware shook his head. “I don’t know about that one. I think she’s still caught up on him.”
“Well, we went to Walgreens last Friday and she unexpectedly bumped into Shannon, Justin’s girlfriend.”
“I know who she is.”
“Well, she was actually buying a pregnancy test and Kerry saw it. I can tell that she was hurt, but she told me that she’d let him go and he could start a family with someone else if that’s what he chose to do.” She left out the part of them almost having a fist fight, not wanting to spin their conversation back to the drama that occurred.
“If that’s the case, then I’m happy for her. However, I don’t think those two are done with each other. I just don’t see it.” He said.
“Right now, we’re not going to worry about it. This is our weekend alone and we’re going to enjoy it.” She said, laying her head back on her husband’s chest. He sat back and allowed his wife that comfort, but he certainly didn’t forget about Lauren’s situation which was at the top of his priorities to handle. He sat back contemplating while thinking of a master plan.
****
Later that evening, on the other side of town, Kerry was still caught up in her feelings over seeing Shannon buying a pregnancy test. She was definitely not prepared for that. It brought back feelings of betrayal, feelings that she thought she’d put behind her.
Justin had heard about the incident and had been reaching out to her, but she wasn’t responding. Even though he had the kids for the weekend, she made it her business to be gone when he came to pick them up. She was done playing games with him and planned on really enjoying herself with Lauren, Bianca, and ShaKita later that evening. She looked at the time, figuring that she’d go ahead and get ready. First, she fixed herself a cocktail with Peach Ciroc, and then turned on the surround sound jamming to Faded by Tyga featuring Lil Wayne. Justin definitely had her faded in more terms than just one.
She headed in the bedroom to take a shower and an hour and a half later, she was dressed and feeling good. She picked up her cell phone and called Bianca to see where they would be meeting up at. The phone only rang twice and Bianca picked it up.
