Give Me The Reason: A Love Story

by Coco Amoure

  Delaney loved her mother, but over the years she’d developed a strong dislike for her. The older she got, the more rage, resentment, and anger she began to feel towards her. Delaney knew one thing, she was getting the fuck up out of that house just as soon as she graduated from high school!

  “Mama, since today is Saturday do you mind if I walk over to Natasha’s house this afternoon for a little while?” Delaney asked. I’d rather be anywhere else, than stuck in the house with my mother all day.

  Ava looked up at Delaney and scowled, “Hell no! Didn’t I tell you to stop hanging around that fast ass little bitch?”

  “But Mama, Natasha is my best friend,” Delaney whined. From as far back as she could remember, Natasha had been in her life. Their mothers gave birth to the girls only days apart, and they’ve been inseparable ever since. Now that Ava and Dana had a falling out over Delaney’s father, her mother didn’t want her anywhere near Natasha or Auntie Dana. Delaney was angered at the way that her mother spoke about Natasha. She could understand her beef with Auntie Dana, but what did Natasha have to do with it? Delaney wanted to lash out at her mother for calling her best friend a fast ass little bitch, but she decided it was best that she remained silent.

  “Ooohhh, she’s your best friend, huh? Well, let me tell you something about a god-damn best friend. They will sneak behind your back and fuck your damn husband! Natasha’s fast ass ain’t no different than her funky ass Mama! Now I already said no and I don’t want to hear shit else about it! So you can just take your whining ass on up out of my damn room like I told you to a few minutes ago!” Ava yelled.

  Delaney stood there with tears pouring down her face. She wanted to plead her case, but she knew if she continued to stand there any longer that her presence would only infuriate her mother even more. It was bad enough that she didn’t feel loved by her mother, her father was always gone, and to make matters worse she was forbidden to hang around her best friend. Her mother was miserable and wanted Delaney to suffer and be just as miserable as she was.

  “Delaney, I ain’t gon’ tell you again. Get outta my damn face. Close the door on your way out!”

  Delaney turned around and ran out of her mother’s bedroom in tears. She slammed her bedroom door shut and threw herself on top of her twin sized bed. She missed the times when her mother was nice and caring. When they would cuddle up in bed and watch movies together. Delaney made a vow to herself that day that she would never touch alcohol. If drinking made a person change as drastically as it had changed her mother, then she wanted no parts of it. She lay in her bed crying for what seemed like hours, until she finally drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Two

  Ava knew that she was wrong for mistreating her only child, but she hated the fact that Delaney resembled her no good ass father so much.

  “Damn, what was I thinking taking all of my frustration out on my child, when she is the only innocent person in this entire equation”, Ava said out loud to herself.

  Every time that she looked at her daughter’s beautiful face, she was reminded of the mistake she’d made years ago. Ava just had to have Cane Michaels, and she would stop at nothing to get him.

  Ava recalled the first time that she’d laid eyes on Cane Michaels. He had to be the most beautiful man that she had ever seen in her entire life. She was only seventeen years old at the time, fresh out of high school. Cane was twenty three, but that didn’t matter one bit. She had to have him!

  This particular day, she and Dana walked to the corner store to get a pack of cigarettes for her mama. Just as soon as she finished paying for the cigarettes and candy that she’d purchased, in walked Cane Michaels. He stood six foot, one inch tall, chocolate brown skin, with a killer smile that would melt the panties off of the holiest saint. But what stood out the most about Cane was his dazzling green eyes.

  When their eyes met for the first time, Ava thought she had died and gone to heaven. Cane smiled at her then he licked his luscious lips. She stood in a trance, unable to move or speak as she stared into his dark green eyes. She had never seen a man as chocolate as Cane with green eyes before. She was mesmerized, to say the least.

  As he walked in her direction, she felt like she was going to pass out. Her best friend, Dana, stood beside her with a huge ass smile plastered across her face. She, too, was caught up in the rapture of his demanding presence. However, Cane seemed to only have eyes for Ava. If she knew then what she knew now, she would have gladly handed his ass right on over to Dana.

  Ava grabbed the brown paper bag filled with her purchases and turned to leave, pretending that she didn’t see Cane just wink at her.

  “So you just gon’ ignore a brotha? I know you saw me checking you out,” he said, standing directly in front of her, blocking her from the leaving.

  Ava smiled shyly. “I wasn’t ignoring you, but why would you be checking me out?” She knew he was older than her and couldn’t imagine why a man as refined as Cane would be interested in her.

  “’Cause you’re beautiful.” He paused and then said, “And I love beautiful ladies.” He placed a finger under her chin forcing her to look into his eyes.

  “You think I’m beautiful?” She giggled. No one had ever called her beautiful before. Butterflies fluttered inside of her stomach as she tried to contain her excitement.

  Cane slowly drug his tongue across his full lips and smiled. “If I don’t know anything else, I know a beautiful woman when I see one.”

  Ava glanced at Dana, who was smiling as if he was speaking directly to her. “So what’s up, do you have a man? If not, I would like to take you out this weekend,” he said, gazing into her eyes.

  Ava was in a trance unable to utter a word. Dana cleared her throat and slightly nudged Ava.

  “Uh no, no I don’t have a man.” The hard part was going to be convincing her mother to let her go out with an older man. No matter what lie she had to tell, Ava was not going to miss out on a date with him.

  “Cool, my name is Cane Michaels,” he said, extending his hand out to Ava.

  She placed her small hand inside of his, and smiled brightly. “Ava Davis.”

  He brought her hand up to his lips and placed a soft kiss upon the top of her petite hand.

  “Imma make you my wife Ava,” he said, looking deeply into her eyes.

  From that day forward, they were inseparable. The love struck couple spent every moment they could together. Ava was hooked, line and sinker. It didn’t take long for her to find out about his Casanova ways, along with the many women who would continuously compete and vie for his attention. Over the years, she lost count of the number of women she had to fight in order to keep what she felt was rightfully hers.

  In Ava’s young and naïve state of mind, Cane Michaels was her everything and she was willing to do whatever it took to keep him. So she resorted to what every other desperate woman does when she felt like she was losing the man she loves. Ava plotted to get pregnant, because she knew for sure that Cane wouldn’t leave her once she gave birth to his seed. Cane often spoke about how much he wanted children. He vowed to marry the first woman who had his seed. Yeah, he might still fool around on the side, but she knew that if she had his baby that it would solidify her place in his life.

  As luck would have it, Cane and Ava were married exactly two months before the birth of their beautiful baby girl, Delaney Rose Michaels. Cane was over the moon happy when Delaney was born. He was the perfect father to their little princess and spared no expense when it came to Delaney Rose.

  Delaney was her parent’s pride and joy. Ava loved showing off her beautiful baby girl to all of the jealous women who wished they too could have Cane’s baby. Not to mention that she was the splitting image of her daddy. Delaney was born with Cane’s green eyes and smooth brown skin. The only thing about Delaney that resembled Ava, was her beautiful naturally curly black hair. Everywhere mother and daughter went, people would ohhhh and ahhhhh all over Delaney.

  Delaney wanted for nothing in t
he early days of their marriage. She was spoiled rotten and was well aware of the fact that she had Cane wrapped around her little finger. Although Cane swooned over Delaney, her presence alone wasn’t enough to keep him out of the streets and out of other women’s beds. Cane loved women. Lots of them. Ava tried her hardest to please him in every way possible, but her best was never good enough. His incessant appetite for a variety of women superseded his senses, and over the years she endured the pain of loving Cane Michaels.

  She knew that she should have left Cane years ago, but for some unexplainable reason she couldn’t bring herself to leave. Cane’s hold on Ava was strong. He knew it too. But one of these days she was going to get enough strength to walk away from this nightmare of a marriage. Ava drank like there was no tomorrow. The alcohol seemed to ease her pain. Well, at least that’s what she told herself. She lost herself somewhere along the way and no longer cared about the important things in life. All that mattered to her was Cane. Not even the love of her precious daughter could cure the void she felt. If only she could go back in time and undo the terrible mistake she made that hot summer’s night ten years ago, things would be much different between she and Cane.

  At thirty-two years old with a thirteen year old daughter, Ava was still an extremely attractive woman. She could easily have any man that she wanted. Men were always vying for her attention when they laid eyes upon her beauty. Her flawless honey complexion, high cheek bones, and slanted eyes; along with her well-toned thick in all the right places body always captured the attention from men wherever she went. A feeling of sadness and remorse washed over Ava as she reminisced on the past. If she could go back in time and change things, she would have definitely been more mindful of the decisions she made. Maybe her life would have turned out differently if she hadn’t been so blinded by love when it came to Cane. If she would’ve listened to her intuition and not her heart, her life would be so much better

  After taking a huge swig of vodka from her glass, Ava swung her legs over the edge of the bed. When her feet hit the floor, she immediately felt the effects of the vodka. She managed to make her way to the bathroom to empty her bladder. Once she finished relieving herself, she caught her reflection in the mirror. For a few minutes she just stood and stared at herself, barely able to recognize her own reflection. Over the past fifteen years she had allowed herself to go from a stunning beauty to a staggering drunk. At what point did I just give up on caring about my appearance? Ava wondered to herself.

  Ava quickly turned away from the daunting reflection that was staring back at her, because she could no longer stand to look at what she’d become. It had been less than twenty-four hours since she’d put Cane out of their house, and she was already missing him. He stayed running the streets fucking around with different women and often times didn’t even come home for days at a time. Yet with all of the fucked up things he’s done and continued to do, she still wanted to be with him. Cane belonged to her, and she would fight tooth and nail before she handed him over to Dana’s trifling ass.

  Macy certainly had no problem reporting his every move. At times it seemed as if she took pleasure in seeing Ava in pain. Although the three of them no longer hung out, Macy remained friends with Dana, which drove a wedge between their friendships. She couldn’t understand how Macy remained friends with a person like Dana.

  Ever since Macy’s husband left her for another woman almost five years ago, she’d become bitter and depressed. The only reason Ava kept her around was so she could continue to get the 411 on Cane’s ass. Whenever he took his dog ass over to Dana’s house, Macy was happy to bring the news to Ava’s front door. One day Cane is going to make me kill his ass and Dana too!

  Ava thought about the way she treated her daughter earlier that morning and she wished like hell that she could stop treating the one person who loved her more than anything in the world like shit. She knew in her heart that her sweet baby didn’t deserve to be treated that way, but she just couldn’t seem to control herself. Whenever she looked at Delaney, it seemed as if she were looking directly at Cane and she would become enraged. Ava knew she could not continue treating her daughter that way or she would end up losing her for good one day.

  After showering for thirty minutes, she brushed her long black hair into a ponytail. Since she didn’t have any plans on leaving the house, she decided to slip on a comfy pair of baby blue pajama shorts and a matching tank top. Ava hadn’t eaten in two days and her grumbling stomach craved to be fed.

  She walked out of her bedroom and decided to check on Delaney before heading downstairs to fix something to eat. When she cracked open her bedroom door, she could see that Delaney was asleep. She could also tell that her daughter had been crying from the mound of balled up tissues sprawled out across her bed. A feeling of regret washed over Ava as she gazed down at her beautiful little woman. One day, she would make it up to her. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be too late. She loved her daughter with all of her heart and she longed for the days when they were one big happy family.

  She could only pray that Delaney didn’t turn out like her…in love with a notorious cheater who couldn’t keep his dick inside of his pants. If she knew better, she would stay clear of men and their lies. Ava often warned her daughter that being in love wasn’t shit! She would do better to play the field and never fall in love with a damn man, because all men are cheaters!!!

  Chapter Three

  The sound of the doorbell awakened Delaney from a peaceful sleep. She jumped up and rushed downstairs, silently praying that it would be her father standing on the other side of the door. Her mother was known to change the locks without a second thought. Once she reached the front door and took a look out the peep hole, she saw her daddy’s brother, Cameron, on the other side of the door. Although she was disappointed that it wasn’t her father, she was still happy to see her Uncle Cam.

  “Uncle Cam!” she squealed, as soon as she opened the door.

  “Hey there, baby girl! How have you been?” He pulled her in for a hug.

  She loved her Uncle Cam, and he just so happened to be her favorite uncle out of her daddy’s four older brothers. Uncle Cam was almost the splitting image of her father. If a person didn’t know any better, they would have thought the two brothers were twins. He stood about six feet, four inches tall and had the same green eyes and smooth dark chocolate skin as her daddy.

  Delaney had always noticed the close bond that Uncle Cam and her mother shared. Every time her parents would go through things, he was always there to support her mother. So it was no surprise that he’d shown up today to visit them.

  “Have you seen my daddy?” Delaney questioned her uncle with tears in her eyes. She desperately wanted him to come back home. She felt like she couldn’t stand to stay another minute alone in the house with her drunken mother.

  Uncle Cam lovingly patted her head and smiled. “Now what are those tears about, Delaney? You know your parents will work things out and my brother will be back home where he belongs. I just came by to check on you and Ava. Is everything ok?”

  Hell no! Delaney wanted to blurt out, but decided against it.

  “Come here, Delaney, sit down and talk to me. Tell Uncle Cam what’s going on.”

  She walked over and plopped down on the chocolate brown sectional with tears streaming down her face. Cam followed directly behind her and sat down next to her. He wrapped one of his large arms around a trembling Delaney and sat there patiently waiting for her to compose herself enough to speak.

  “It’s awful being in this house with Mama. This morning she woke me up yelling my name. Then she tells me to go downstairs and get her a glass of ice at 8:30 this morning. You know all she does is drink all day and night. Half of the time she doesn’t feed me or even talk to me. I asked if I could walk down to Natasha’s house since its Saturday and she told me no. Uncle Cam, I don’t know why Mama hates me! What have I done to make her hate me so much?” she cried.

  She was crying so hard that a mixtu
re of snot and tears were running down her face. Her uncle stood up and walked into the kitchen without saying a word. When he returned, he handed her several pieces of tissue and a glass of water.

  “Delaney, your mother loves you. She is just going through something right now. Unfortunately, she is taking it out on you. Listen, let me go upstairs and have a talk with her. In the meantime, why don’t you get dressed? Then I want you to go over to Natasha’s house and have some fun doing whatever little girls your age do,” Uncle Cam said and embraced her. Cam was well aware of the way Ava treated Delaney and he didn’t like it one bit. Once Delaney was out of the house, he planned on giving Ava a piece of his mind.

  She felt a whole helluva lot better now that her favorite uncle was there to save the day. If anyone could get through to her mother, Uncle Cam was the man for the job. Even if his talk with Ava only bought her two days of peace, it was better than two days of pure hell.

  “But Uncle Cam, she told me that she doesn’t want me anywhere near Natasha or Auntie Dana. If she finds out that I went over there against her wishes, she is going to have a fit!” Delaney explained. Ever since her mother started drinking heavily, she was no longer the nice, mild mannered person that Delaney knew her to be. She didn’t need much to start going off in a rage, especially since she’d already forbid Delaney to go over to Natasha’s house. She trusted her uncle, but she was the one who would be left to deal with Ava’s erratic mood swings.

  “Don’t worry about anything, baby girl. Just do as I say, and let me handle the rest.” Uncle Cam chuckled.

  “Oooookaay, if you say so,” she replied, still not convinced that it was such a good idea.