“Okay, well I’m about to get going. I need to spend some time with my grandma.”
“Alright baby, tell Ms. Sara that I said hello and I’m waiting for another cake,” Carolyn said as she walked Rylee to the door. Sara was an old white woman, but she could bake a pound cake that would put anybody to shame. She would always send Carolyn one around the holidays, but if she asked she would bake her one anytime.
“Okay, bye y’all,” Rylee said to her in-laws.
Carolyn was able to breathe easier once Rylee got in her car and sped away. She’d dodged another bullet, and she was thankful for that.
***
“Hey grandma,” Rylee said while kissing her grandmother’s soft cheek.
She walked around the table and kissed her aunt Susan and Amber as well before she sat down. Susan was Rylee’s father’s sister, and he was also Amber’s mother. She and Amber lived right next door to her to Sara, but they were always at her house.
“Hey, baby. I didn’t know that you were coming over today. I was going to call you later to see about our travel arrangements for next month,” Sara said.
“We can drive if you’re not up to flying. I’ll rent a van so we can have enough room. It’s up to you,” Rylee replied.
About four years ago Rylee and her grandmother started a scholarship fund at the law school in Atlanta where her sister Baylee graduated from. They had an online website where they took donations throughout the year. The donations were very generous, and they were able to help lots of underprivileged students. Rylee knew that most of the donations came from her father’s associates and friends, but she was grateful all the same. Baylee was all about helping the less fortunate and Rylee wanted to continue what her sister had started. It was always hard for Rylee to speak about her sister, but she always gave the scholarship recipients a little background on why the fund was started. Baylee used to be very active in all types of non-profit organizations when she was in high school. In fact, that was how she’d met her boyfriend, Cedric, who became her husband when she was only eighteen years old. To Rylee and her parents, Baylee and Cedric had the perfect marriage. They would have never known that Cedric was using Baylee for his personal punching bag almost every day for years. They probably would have never known if she hadn’t been admitted to the hospital after one of her many beatings. Rylee’s parents were furious, and they demanded that she leave Cedric and file for a divorce. Baylee didn’t object, and she was happy to do what her parents wanted her to do. She packed up her belongings and moved back in with her parents the minutes she was released from the hospital. She got a restraining order on her husband and tried to go on with her life. Unfortunately, Cedric wasn’t having that. He tried everything in his power to get his wife back, but her mind was made up. She was done with their abusive marriage, and she wanted out. It didn’t really hit him until he was served with divorce papers on what would have been their fifth wedding anniversary. Cedric went into a deep depression after that. It was then that he decided that he didn’t want to live without is wife. He also decided that he would rather see her dead than be happy with another man. The morning of her death, Baylee went to the same university that she’d graduated from to do some volunteer work. Sadly, she never even made it out of her car. A single bullet to the head from her estranged husband’s gun ended her life right in the university’s parking lot. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Cedric got into her car on the passenger’s side and shot himself in the head as well. Aside for the note that he’d left, the entire ordeal was caught on the campus’s security cameras. Rylee’s parents were never the same after that and neither was she. Not long after that, her mother was diagnosed with cancer and things only went downhill from there. After losing his oldest daughter and his wife, Rylee’s father Ryan basically grieved himself to death. They called it a heart attack, but she called it a broken heart.
“Rylee!” Sara yelled bringing her granddaughter back to the present.
“I’m sorry grandma. What did you say?” Rylee asked.
“I said that we can drive. I’m starting to hate flying,” Sara repeated.
“Mama, you know that’s almost eight hours in a car right?” Susan questioned her mother.
“Yeah, but I can manage. I just hate having to get damn near naked at the airport. We can take turns driving and have girl talk,” Sara laughed.
“Who is we? You don’t even drive anymore,” Amber butted in.
“Well I’ll talk and y’all can drive,” Sara chuckled.
“Okay, so I’ll reserve a nice sized van for us to be comfortable,” Rylee offered.
“Is your husband coming?” Sara asked Rylee.
“Does he ever?” Rylee frowned. “I’m not asking him anyway. All he does is complain when he does come.”
“Don’t be so hard on him Rylee. We all know that it’s a boring trip, but it’s necessary,” Sara said.
“It’s not supposed to be fun, but it’s important to me. My sister took her last breath on that campus, and I don’t have a reason to smile when I go there. I’m not even talking to him right now anyway. He’s lucky that I didn’t throw his breakfast in his face instead of the garbage disposal,” Rylee fumed.
“Baby, please don’t do that. You promised me that you were working on your anger,” Sara said while rubbing Rylee’s back.
“I am grandma. That’s why I washed the knife that I was holding and put it up instead of cutting him with it like I wanted to,” Rylee said making Amber laugh.
“Shut up Amber,” Sara demanded.
“Sorry,” Amber giggled.
“Have you been saying that prayer that I told you to say whenever you feel angry?” Sara asked.
Rylee knew that it was coming, and she had already prepared herself for a lecture. Sara had a prayer to say for every situation in life. It didn’t matter if it was for health, finances or anything in between. She had a prayer in her book of prayers to help you through it.
“Yes ma’am,” Rylee lied avoiding looking in her grandma’s eyes.
“Don’t you lie to me Rylee Ann,” Sara said calling her by her first and middle name.
“No, I haven’t been saying it because I haven’t been getting upset.
“You just told me that you wanted to throw your husband’s breakfast in his face and stab him. That sounds like anger to me,” Sara noted.
“But I didn’t do it, so that’s progress,” Rylee smirked.
“Don’t play with me little girl,” Sara fussed. “You were doing so good when you were coming to church with me. The minute you stopped all hell started breaking loose. You need to start coming back. I don’t want you to go back to the way you were before Rylee.
Rylee was such a hot tempered person when she was growing up. It took a lot of praying and counseling to get her back on track, but it didn’t happen overnight. She was always fighting and getting suspended from school. She had already been put out of two private schools, and none of the other ones would accept her. Things got even worse when she had to go to public school. Rylee got into more fights than usual. The white girls accused her trying to be black and the black girls tried her because they claimed that she was trying to be something that she wasn’t. Rylee couldn’t win for losing and after a while, she just stopped caring. She decided to show them better than she could tell them. It got to a point that nobody could tell her nothing with her swinging on them. Things got so bad that her parents pulled her out of school altogether and had her home schooled. She had to practically beg them on bended knee to let her junior and senior years with her peers. They agreed to put her back in school only if she went to counseling and anger management. She agreed to their demands and had been working hard at keeping her anger under control.
“I’m good grandma, but I’ll go to church with you tomorrow if it’ll make you feel better,” Rylee promised.
“Good and bring your husband along with you,” Sara replied.
“I don’t know about all that,” Rylee said right as her ph
one started ringing.
When she saw “Hubby” flash across her screen, she started not to answer, but her auntie spoke up right when the thought crossed her mind.
“Answer the phone for your husband,” Susan demanded.
“Hello,” Rylee said answering the phone for Mekhi.
“Oh, so now you finally decide to answer, I’ve been calling you all day,” Mekhi fussed.
“If you called to argue then you can hang up right now. I’m at my grandma’s house, and I’m not in the mood,” Rylee countered.
“I’m not calling to argue baby. I’ve been calling all day to apologize, but you never answered for me. I’m sorry about earlier,” Mekhi said sincerely.
“And?” Rylee questioned.
“What do you mean and? And what?” Mekhi asked.
“What else are you sorry for?”
“I’m sorry about how I’ve been acting this past week, and it’ll never happen again,” Mekhi said. “Now come home, so we can chill. A nigga been missing you all day.”
“Okay, I’m on my way,” Rylee smiled. She said her goodbyes to her family and headed home to be with her man.
Chapter 7
Three months had passed since Rylee and Mekhi had their argument, and things were finally back to normal. Rylee and her family had gone to Atlanta and successfully awarded over twenty-five thousand dollars in scholarships in her late sisters’ name. Of course, Mekhi stayed home, but he offered to go even though he really didn’t want to. Rylee stopped asking him to join her a long time ago. She didn’t feel that she should have to ask since he knew how much the occasion meant to her. Still. She never put pressure on him to go, and she never made him feel bad when he didn’t.
“What are you smiling so hard for?” Rylee asked her husband as they drove away from her doctor’s office.
She had taken the day from work to get her annual checkup and Mekhi went with her. He had some questions for her gynecologists that Rylee couldn’t really answer. She tried to look up some of his questions online, but that wasn’t very much help.
“Why do you think I’m smiling so hard? I’m happy,” Mekhi replied.
“I just bet you are but don’t get your hopes up too high. Sometimes these things don’t happen right away. It might be a few weeks or maybe even a few months,” Rylee warned him.
“But your doctor said that it only takes a few days for birth control to be completely out of your system as long as you stop taking them. I’m throwing all of that shit away, so I’m not worried about that.”
After months of discussion, Mekhi and Rylee were finally ready to start their family. Actually, Mekhi had been ready for a while, but now Rylee was on board with him. She’d been on birth control pills since they first started dating and this would be her first time getting off of them.
“I know that Mekhi, but I don’t want you to think that’ll happen in the next few days. It might take some time, and I want you to be prepared for that,” Rylee explained.
“I’m prepared for whatever. We just have to make we get it in at least two to three times a day every day,” Mekhi laughed.
“Like we don’t do that already,” Rylee laughed with him.
“Well, maybe four or five times a day. I can’t wait to get me a little one,” Mekhi smiled.
Although he already had a daughter, Mekhi didn’t really have a bond with her like he should have. He never got to experience rubbing Shay’s swollen belly, not that he would have wanted to anyway. He never went to doctor’s visits, and he wasn’t in the room when Mekhya was born. He wasn’t even in the country when she was born. He couldn’t wait to experience all of that with his wife. Rylee would think that their child was his first and Mekhi wasn’t ashamed to say that he would treat it as such. He never wanted his wife to find out about Mekhya, and he would do everything in his power to make sure that she never did. Rylee was his heart, and he couldn’t see himself being without her.
“You must be crazy if you think I’m spending my days and nights on my back trying to make a baby,” Rylee said bringing him back to reality.
“Girl your wild ass ain’t never been on your back since we’ve been married. Upside down maybe, but not on your back,” Mekhi laughed. Rylee was about to say something slick, but the ringing of her phone stopped her.
“Hey Amber,” she said answering for her cousin.
“Guess what?” Amber asked excitedly.
“What?” Rylee smiled even though she already knew what she was about to say.
“I got a car!” Amber screamed to the top of her lungs.
“You do? What kind?” Rylee asked.
“It’s a Toyota Camry. Grandma and my mama got it for me. It’s not as nice as the Benz that Mekhi just got you, but I love it.”
“Don’t do that Amber. Don’t ever compare what you have to what another person has. As long as you like it is all that matters. Just about all of these cars have the same features. The name brand is what you pay for and nothing more. But I’m happy for you, boo. When are you coming to take me for a ride?” Rylee asked.
“I’ll come get you later if you’re not busy. Maybe we can go chill by Zyra or something.”
“Ok, that’s a bet. Call me when you’re on your way,” Rylee said before they disconnected the call.
“What’s up with Amber?” Mekhi asked.
“She got a car. She’s too excited,” Rylee chuckled.
“Shit, I’m excited too. Maybe now we can go somewhere by ourselves without having to pick her ass up all the time,” Mekhi replied.
“Why can’t you just be happy for people without all the extra shit? I don’t see nobody in your family with a car, but it’s cool for you to be their personal chauffeur, though, right?”
He pissed Rylee off when he tried to come for her family when his broke ass family was even worse off than hers was. He was always taking cheap shots at Amber, but Rylee wasn’t having it. He would be really heated if he knew that the money from the car really came from Rylee. She had a nice little savings account, and she wanted to do something nice for her favorite cousin. Amber was always catching the bus or riding with other people, so she needed a car of her own. She was making straight A’s in her final year of college, all while holding down a part-time job as a receptionist at a local dentist office. Rylee felt like Amber deserved a car and so much more. She didn’t want her to know who bought it for her, so she was cool with her thinking that her mother and their grandmother got it.
“I am happy for her. Stop always getting upset for nothing,” Mekhi said trying not to make his wife mad.
“Whatever Mekhi. You have anything planned for later? Amber wants me to take a ride with her.”
“No, not unless you wanna roll with me to MJ’s. That’s about the only thing that I had planned,” Mekhi answered.
“I’ll pass on MJ’s. I’ll be with Amber if you need to reach me,” Rylee said right as they pulled up in their driveway.
“Cool, but right now you need to come on inside so we can start working on my junior,” Mekhi said making her laugh.
***
Later on that night, Rylee and Amber were cruising the streets on New Orleans in her new car.
“This is so nice Amber,” Rylee gushed as she looked around her cousin’s new car.
Amber had a metallic gold fully loaded Toyota Camry with peanut butter leather interior. The car was brand new with only fifty miles on the odometer. She’d been smiling since she picked Rylee up and she was so happy for her cousin.
“Thanks, Rylee. Where are we going first?” Amber asked.
“Run me by my auntie Leslie right quick,” Rylee replied.
Her aunt called her asking when she was coming to see her, and Rylee already knew what that meant. Leslie didn’t care if she saw her one way or the other unless she wanted to beg. Her mother’s sister lived at the bingo hall or the casino and was always begging for money. A few times she’d gone so far as to spend her bill money on gambling in hopes of walking away with more
. Her kids Nakia and Nicole were barely making enough to take care of themselves, so it was always Rylee who had to come to her rescue. Rylee remembered her mother having to do the exact same thing for her sister before she died and she always did it with a smile. Rylee’s cousins still lived at home with their mother and they helped out as much as they could. With Leslie, nothing was ever good enough. She kept a different man in her bed, but she always depended on her daughters to pay the bills. Just like their mother, Nakia and Nicole never finished high school so finding a good paying job was hard. Leslie was the type to drain a person dry and her daughters were fed up with her. She was damn near taking Nicole’s entire paycheck which was why Rylee gave her a second job working at MJ’s. She only worked three or four nights a week, but the tips were great.
“Come on Amber, I won’t be long,” Rylee said as they got out of the car.
Her aunt Leslie was sitting on the porch yelling to one of her neighbors across the street. Instead of one of them coming to the other, they yelled back and forth letting the entire neighborhood know their business.
“Hey niece,” Leslie yelled when she saw Rylee walking up.
“What’s up Leslie? Where is everybody?” Rylee asked her auntie.
“Nicole is working at MJ’s tonight, and Nakia’s good for nothing ass is inside with her boyfriend,” Leslie replied.
Rylee knew what that meant too. More than likely Leslie asked her daughter for some money, and she didn’t give it to her. Nakia was nothing like Nicole. She gave her portion of the bills and kept it pushing. Nicole allowed Leslie use her and always ended up broke because of it.
“Hey Leslie,” Amber spoke up after a while.
“What’s up snow bunny,” Leslie replied pissing Rylee off.
“Don’t call her that. Her name is Amber. Not white girl or snow bunny,” Rylee snapped.
“It’s cool Rylee. She’s only joking,” Amber spoke up.
“No, it’s not cool Amber. Stop letting people say stupid shit to you. She wouldn’t like it if you called her a nigger,” Rylee blurted making Amber cringe at her bluntness.
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