The Johnson Sisters

by Tresser Henderson

  “Yes,” I said dejectedly.

  “Honestly, I would have let you off with a warning, but my superior officer is with me, and I had to do it,” he said kindly.

  I nodded as I agreed and signed the paper. I didn’t care. I took the ticket, rolled my window up, and tried my best not to squeal tires as I pulled off.

  When I walked into the house, I walked to the den to see Corey lying on the couch, watching a football game. I was so happy to see him.

  “Hey, baby. How was dinner?” he asked.

  “Horrible,” I said, dropping everything in my hands to the floor.

  “Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked, sitting up. “Come over here,” he said, patting the spot next to him.

  I did what he asked and fell into his open arms.

  “I guess you told them about us getting married.”

  “I thought regardless of how they felt about you, Corey, they would be happy for me, but they jumped on me, saying you are a dog and a cheater,” I said through tears.

  “Wow. Strong opinions coming from people who mean nothing to me in my life,” he said.

  “But they mean something to me. Rather, they did,” I said glumly.

  “You can’t help who your siblings are, but you can control your own happiness. I hope being with me will make you happy,” he said, kissing me on the cheek.

  “You do make me happy, baby,” I said, wrapping my arms around him.

  “I know I’ve made mistakes, and I hoped they wouldn’t hold those mistakes against me, but I guess I was wrong. I have changed. I hope you can see that. They haven’t changed your mind about us getting married, have they?” he asked.

  I looked up at him, saying, “No. I want to be your wife.”

  “Even if it costs you your sisters?” Corey asked.

  I paused, thinking about it for a minute. I knew I hadn’t told Corey the full story about what happened tonight, but he didn’t know everything that pertained to my past either, and I wanted to keep it that way. I was pretty sure there were things I didn’t know about his also, so why tell him how my life had turned out? All he knew was my real mother passed away. He didn’t know which mother I was referring to, because as far as he knew, my sisters and I had the same mother and father. He knew my dad was in jail, but he didn’t know the real reason why. I told him it was for embezzlement and fraud. Of course, that was a lie. I knew going into our marriage with a bunch of lies was wrong, but what else was I supposed to do? My business was my business, with the exception of my sisters knowing the huge aspects that made up my dysfunctional life.

  Until tonight, I didn’t know the things that happened had affected them like they did. Shauna’s words hurt more than anything I’d felt in my life. It began to make me wonder how they all really felt about me. I felt like the black sheep, and in a way I was, due to the fact that our dad and my real mom caused all this drama in our lives. Why did we, as the children, have to pay for the sins of our parents? As mad as I was, I had to look at all sides, which was something I was not ready to do at this time. My antagonism prompted the floodgates to release devastation on us. I could have heard what each of them had to say and kept it moving, but I had to push back like I always did. This time it backfired, leaving me brokenhearted and my spirit destroyed. I had to figure out how I was going to put the pieces of this situation back together.

  My sisters were my world, but Corey was going to be my husband and my life. He should come first before them. After what went down tonight, it made it that much easier choosing him over them.

  I looked up at Corey and said, “Even if it costs me my relationship with my sisters, I’m going to be with you forever.”

  “I love you,” he said, kissing me again and wiping away my tears. “I can’t wait to make you my wife. I want a big wedding. I want everybody to know how much we love one another. So . . .”

  “So, what?” I asked, smiling.

  “You ready to make some money for this extravagant wedding we are going to have?” he asked devilishly.

  “You want to do that tonight? We did it last night.”

  “I know. We said a couple of times a week, but the more money we can make, the better. Did you see the last amount of money we made?” Corey asked.

  “Yes,” I said, remembering my excitement when I had seen four figures.

  “Then let’s make this money, baby,” he said, chuckling.

  “Okay. Give me fifteen minutes to freshen up and get ready. You go set everything up,” I told him, removing myself from his arms and rising from the sofa.

  “It’s already done. All I need is my leading lady,” he said, causing me to blush.

  Corey smacked my behind, causing me to giggle. Even though my night had turned out horrible, I was going to make sure the ending was fantastic.

  Chapter 19

  Serena

  I got a crazy baby mama in my life. I’m not talking about her getting on my nerves every now and then. I’m saying she’s literally crazy. The elevator don’t go all the way to the top crazy. It gets stuck in the damn basement where darkness lies crazy. I’d never been a person who was scared of anybody, but this demented chick had me reconsidering.

  “Is you and your baby dead yet?” she asked, calling my house for the seventeenth time that day. “Your baby too ugly to be living. Maybe you should drop her from the second floor of your house.”

  “Trick, I told you to stop calling my damn house,” I yelled.

  “Or what? What are you going to do?”

  “Keep calling and you will find out.”

  “I been calling you, bitch, and you ain’t done a damn thing. You ain’t nobody, and neither is that ugly baby of yours,” she yelled.

  “Oh, okay. I know what this is about. You mad because Tyree is with me and I gave him the daughter he’s always wanted and you couldn’t,” I taunted.

  “I’m pregnant now with his child, bitch,” she revealed.

  “In your dreams,” I tried to say back with confidence, hoping she didn’t hear the uncertainty in my voice from her revelation. I can’t lie; her saying that was like a gut punch, but then again, everything she said to me was gut punches. Still, a small part of me wondered, was she telling me the truth?

  “No, bitch, in my reality. You think you have Tyree all to yourself. Please. He comes over here all the time, and it’s not only to see his son. He keeps coming back to get some of my good pussy.”

  I didn’t believe Juanita. After all the hell she took Tyree through, the sliced tires, the bleached clothes, getting him fired, and even cheating on him, he would be a damn fool to go back and screw her.

  “If you call my house one more time, I’m going to call and have a restraining order put on you for harassment,” I threatened.

  “Well, get ready to dial, because I’m going to call as many times as I damn well—”

  I hung up on her. I didn’t have time to argue with this trick. As soon as I walked away from the phone, it rang again. I looked at the caller ID to see it was Juanita again. I clicked the line on, but immediately clicked it right back off, hanging up on her again.

  Tyree walked into the kitchen, yawning and wiping the sleep out of his eyes, asking, “Who keeps calling?”

  “Juanita, that’s who,” I said furiously. “You better check her, Tyree, or I’m going to hurt her, and I mean it,” I warned.

  “Baby, calm down,” he said nonchalantly.

  “Don’t tell me to calm down. She calling here asking me if our baby is dead yet and how I should drop her from the second-floor window. I mean, who does that?”

  “Juanita,” Tyree said, walking over to the coffee pot on the counter and pouring himself a cup of coffee like this was a normal day for him.

  “Tyree, I’m tired of this. It was bad enough she had the nerve to call me in the hospital while trying to deliver Nevaeh, wishing we both died during childbirth. Now she’s calling our home.”

  The phone rang again, and I picked up the receiver to see it was her aga
in. I held the phone up to show Tyree, and he held his hand out to take the phone.

  “Naw. Let the voicemail pick it up. The more threatening messages she leaves, the more evidence I’ll have against her to file harassment charges and put a restraining order against her,” I said, slamming the phone down on the counter.

  “You don’t have to do all that,” he said, walking over to the kitchen table to sit down.

  “You suggested I do that at the hospital. Then you talked me out of it for your son’s sake. She’s taking this thing too far. I listened to you and left it alone, but look where that has gotten me,” I said with outstretched hands.

  “She’s not worth it. She’s mad because I chose you, babe,” Tyree said convincingly.

  “Are you sure you chose me? Because she told me you two are still sleeping together and she’s pregnant with your baby.”

  Tyree took a gulp, forgetting he was drinking hot coffee. He yelped as the hot liquid burned his mouth. He ran over to the sink and ran cold water into his hand, cupping it as he brought the liquid to his mouth to help cool it.

  I stood there with my arms crossed. Was that a sign of guilt or what? He was that damn nervous to forget what he was drinking. “So you are sleeping with her,” I said suspiciously, hoping his further behavior wouldn’t make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up more than they already were.

  “No,” he said, standing and turning to me. “You know I don’t want her.”

  “Then why burn yourself?”

  “You caught me off-guard. There is no way in the world I would ever go back to her. I regret the day I ever met her.”

  I gave him a skeptical look.

  “Come on, Serena. I wouldn’t do that to you or my daughter. For goodness’ sake, she’s threatening my child. I couldn’t be with anybody like that.”

  The phone rang again, and again it was Juanita. He dropped his head in defeat as I held the phone up again for him to see it was her. I waited for the phone to stop ringing and decided to listen to the voicemail messages to see what else this trick had to say. I put the phone on speaker so Tyree could hear what his baby mama was saying.

  “You have five new messages. First message . . .”

  “Bitch, I know you still at home. Don’t make me come over there and check you and that ugly baby of yours. Will y’all please die already? It would make this world so much better. Two ugly bitches gone for good. So kill your baby first, and then kill yourself.”

  I saved that message and went to the next, looking at Tyree like, “You see what I’m saying?”

  Second message: “Trick, pick up the phone. I need to speak to my man for a minute. His son would like to speak with him. Pick up, trick. I know you there.”

  I saved that message also, still looking at Tyree, fuming with each message that played.

  Third message: “Say, ‘Die, bitch,’ . . . Die, bitch.”

  Tyree stood straight up then. Juanita had the nerve to have their son on the phone repeating what she was telling him to say.

  I looked at him and tilted my head at him like, “Now what?”

  “Say, ‘Your baby ugly.’ . . . Your baby ugly.

  “Say, ‘I hate you.’ . . . I hate you.

  “Say, ‘bitch.’ . . . Bitch.

  “Say, ‘bitch’ again. . . . Bitch.

  “Say, ‘Kill yourself, bitch.” . . . Kill self, bitch.”

  “That’s enough!” Tyree yelled.

  I saved that message too. I started to listen to the next one knowing it was from her, but I decided to click the phone off. I placed the phone down on the counter and looked at him. “But you don’t want me to file charges.”

  “I can’t believe she’s got my three-year-old son saying that,” Tyree said in disbelief.

  “Believe it. If she can do that, Tyree, what else is she capable of? I’m trying to protect our daughter here. You might not take Juanita seriously, but I do. I remember the stories you told me she did to you when y’all were together, and it was enough to make me leave you; but I didn’t because I loved you too much. I’m here now, with your daughter, in our house, trying to make this work, but, Tyree, I can’t deal with Juanita. Something has to give,” I pleaded.

  Tyree walked up to me. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him. “Babe, I’m sorry. You are right. You don’t deserve what she’s doing. If you want to call the cops, I’m behind you.”

  Tyree backed away a bit to look down at me. I looked up and our eyes met.

  “I love you, Serena. I love our daughter. Do whatever you got to do, okay?”

  I nodded and leaned in to kiss him as the phone rang once again.

  Chapter 20

  Vivian

  I didn’t know who to talk to, but the first person who popped in my mind was Renee. Man, I missed her for times like this. I really needed her shoulder right now. Then I thought about Dawn, but she wasn’t speaking to me, so she was not an option. Shauna was at work, and Phoenix didn’t answer her phone, so that left Serena. I called her, and she told me to come right over, which I was happy about.

  Serena and I didn’t talk much without the others around. It wasn’t like I didn’t love her. I was used to turning to Renee before she passed. Now that she was gone, I turned to Dawn with my issues, and I saw where that had gotten me. She used my situation against me. I called Dawn to apologize about what happened, but she kept sending my calls to voicemail. She had yet to return my call. Why I was apologizing was beyond me, but I felt like somebody needed to step up and try to start mending things between us. I was willing to do that to get back our sisterly bond, but nothing was working. Dawn was stubborn, but I was persistent and wouldn’t stop bugging her until she spoke to me. But today that wasn’t going to happen. I was going over to Serena’s home to talk to her about some things going on with me.

  I walked into my niece’s nursery to see Serena changing little Nevaeh’s Pampers. My niece was not happy about it either. She was screaming at the top of her little lungs and had the nerve for some tears to run down the sides of her little face.

  “Aw, what’s wrong, sweetie?” I asked, leaning down and rubbing her head, but she kept squalling.

  “She’s mad because I’m changing her butt. Some days she’s good, and other days she squeals like this. I think this time she’s hungry, but I didn’t want to feed her without getting that poop off her first,” Serena said, snapping her pink onesie and then picking Nevaeh up. “You can stop crying now, Miss Thang. I’m going to feed you,” Serena told her as Nevaeh whimpered. She even had the nerve to stick out her bottom lip before she burst into tears again.

  “Can I feed her?” I asked, putting my purse on the first shelf of the changing table.

  “Sure,” Serena said, handing my niece to me.

  She was still crying. I placed her on my shoulder and bounced with her for a bit, but it wasn’t working. Serena picked up her bottle out of the warmer and put it to her cheek. She then squirted some of the milk on her wrist, checking the temperature, making sure it was perfect.

  I sat down in the reddish brown swivel chair trimmed in pink contour lines and the matching ottoman, which was positioned next to the window. I didn’t know the cushiony chair glided until I sat in it. “I like these chairs,” I said, looking at an identical one on the other side of me. A pink table sat between the two chairs positioned right under the window.

  “They were a gift from Tyree. He wanted us to have two so one of us wouldn’t feel left out on nights we could sit in here together.”

  “Aw, that’s sweet. Have you guys sat in here together yet?” I asked.

  “We sit in here a lot. I think it’s the tranquil innocence of the space. This room definitely calms me,” Serena said, looking around the nursery.

  I put Nevaeh in the crook of my left arm, covering her with her pink receiving blanket. Serena handed me the bottle, and I placed it in my niece’s little mouth. As soon as she felt the nipple, she began sucking the warm liquid down.

&nbs
p; “You see. She eats all the time,” Serena said, gathering the dirty Pampers up and placing it into the Diaper Genie. “Would you like something to drink? I got water, juice, and soda.”

  “I’ll take some water,” I said, gliding back and forth.

  Serena left the nursery. I looked around at how my sister had decorated the space. Light pink was on the walls. Nevaeh’s name in white letters was over the espresso-colored crib. Pink-and-brown bedding adorned the crib with ruffles and soft blankets. The closet was open to reveal the tiniest of clothes hanging up. And it was full. This room was beautiful and serene. I leaned my head back, continuing to rock back and forth in the rocker. I looked down at my niece. She had her little fist balled up around her face as she looked up at me.

  “You are so precious,” I said to her. I knew she couldn’t understand what I was saying, but she had to feel my words were said in love.

  Serena came back into the room, putting the water down on a coaster she placed on the pink table. She then sat down in the glider across from me and began drinking the bottle of water she brought for herself.

  “Serena, you have done a beautiful job in this nursery.”

  “Thank you,” she said, looking around at her work.

  “I know you were surprised to hear from me,” I said.

  “It has been a while since you wanted to talk to me. You usually talk to Dawn. I guess she’s not an option now,” Serena said.

  “You’re right. She’s not speaking to me right now.”

  “Nevertheless, I know whatever you have to say has to be big for you to come over here and see me,” she said, taking another sip of her water.

  “I hope you don’t mind me wanting to talk to you?” I asked, looking down at Nevaeh, who was still looking up at me.

  “Girl, I don’t mind. I’m here for you always. So what’s going on?” Serena asked, getting more comfortable as she brought one of her knees to her chest, with the other tucked beneath her. My sister looked comfortable in a pair of gray drawstring pants and a white tee with a gray feather print on the front.