Turned Out by His Hood Mentality 3

by Diamond D Johnson

  “Don’t spare me, woman. Spare your own self,” he told her.

  My mom nodded her head at his words. I think everyone saw the look in my mother’s eyes, and that look let us all know that she was about to tell it all. Her lawyer put her hand on her shoulder in an attempt to get her to calm down.

  “Okay, since you want to take it there, let’s do that then. Since you want to sit up here and act like heartbreak didn’t happen in the past, then let me remind you. The first breaking point with me had to have been when I came home from a doctor’s appointment years ago with Normani. Normani had just turned two weeks old, and Naomi was four at the time. My mother was watching her.

  “Are we going to just pretend that I didn’t catch you in bed with the treasurer of the church? Are we going to act like she didn’t come to me months later and tell me that she was pregnant with your son? Are we going to pretend, Davidson, that you didn’t pay her thirty thousand dollars to leave Miami with the son that she was carrying for you? Right now, you have a son who is God knows where, and he’s only eight months younger than my daughter,” my mom screamed with tears flowing from her eyes. She got so angry that she stood up from her chair and threw it back.

  When I say that my mouth was on the damn floor… it was on the damn floor! A brother? Oh, my God! My mom’s lawyer was trying to calm her down, but my mom was like a ticking time bomb, and the fuse had already blown, so there was nothing she could do to calm her down.

  “You want to know when was my breaking point? Negro, have you forgotten that I was pregnant before Normani? Are we going to pretend like I wasn’t eight months pregnant with your junior, and one Sunday, you caught me talking to one of the male deacons at the church, giving him directions to a restaurant that you preached about in your sermon? You accused me of flirting with him, so you pushed me down a flight of stairs, and to this day, I still lie and tell people that I was clumsy and fell down the stairs? Davidson, are you crazy?” my mother screamed.

  My sister and I were crying because we knew none of these things, and my mother was so hurt. By this time, my mom’s lawyer was trying to pull her out of the room, so she could get her to calm down, but she wasn’t having it. She fought to stay in there and release the things that were pent up inside of her.

  “How soon we forget, Davidson! Let’s talk about the time I came home from the hair salon and caught you swabbing Normani’s mouth because you told me that she was darker than me and you, so you didn’t think she belonged to you! You accused her of belonging to somebody else until the results came back in the mail, and you found out that she was your daughter! You’re sick! You have tried to keep me quiet for years, and like a fool, I allowed you to do so! Davidson, I can preach. I can sing, and you know it. I was offered opportunities by a bunch of different producers when they heard me sing, and when I showed some interest in it, you were quick to tell me that you would keep me away from our children if I pursued it! You are sick! Do you hear me? You are sick!” my mother roared. She even tried to lunge over the table at him, and she only did that because while she was crying and showing her pain, he had the nerve to sit across that table and smirk at her like what she said was funny.

  My sister had to get up and help my mother’s lawyer getting my mom to calm down and usher her out of the room. I had never in my life seen my mother in rare form like that. I got up and went outside as well. Once outside the door, the only thing Naomi and I could do was pull her into our arms and let her know how much we loved her.

  “I lost a son because of him… I accepted him impregnating another woman… caught him in bed with someone else… I endured physical abuse for years. How… how dare he ask me when I ever had a breaking point?” my mom cried into our arms.

  I looked at my mother as Superwoman. I swear she was the glue that kept the family together, so to see her so weak and defeated caused me to be so emotional. My sister and I got her to calm down after about ten minutes, and then she finally pulled away, wiping her eyes.

  “I’m fine. Let’s just go back inside, so I can sign over the documents,” my mom expressed.

  “Melody, are you sure you don’t want me to fight for the belongings you want? I can get you those things,” my mom’s lawyer said, but my mother shook her head.

  “Everything I need is standing right in front of me,” she said, pointing to my sister and me.

  After five more minutes, the four of us finally made our way back into the room. We took back our seats, and then my mom’s lawyer cleared her throat.

  “My client is willing to walk away from it all. We would like to proceed right now and finalize the closing of this marriage,” she said.

  There were so many documents that he and my mother had to sign over to close out this entire thing. The more documents that my mother signed, the more I just became infuriated with this whole thing and him as well. This fool was petty. He was making my mother remove her name off the church, and she could never step foot into his church again. He kept the house that they owned… everything! He even made her give up the Davidson last name.

  I knew that God would handle him, so that stopped me from lashing out at him, but best believe my leg was bouncing up and down, and I was eager to explode, but I kept calm. My mom signed her last document and stood up from her chair. She looked over at the man who she had spent the last thirty-plus years with. I watched her as a lone tear fell from her eye, and she shook her head in shame at him.

  “Proverbs 6:2-16 says that a worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points his finger with a perverted heart, devises evil, continually sowing discord. Therefore, calamity will come upon him suddenly. In a moment, he will be broken beyond healing. There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him. Remember this, Davidson, for disaster is definitely coming your way. Take care,” she finalized and then left the room.

  Since this was the end, Naomi and I walked out too. We met our mother outside the building as the sun was setting. Because I knew how hurt my mother was, I wanted to take her to see something. I wanted to show her the church that I had been remodeling for her. Although there was still a lot of work that needed to be done, I wanted to show her. I wanted her to see that she didn’t lose it all and that she was in the process of gaining it all.

  “Follow me, ma. I want to show you and Naomi something,” I said as we all stood outside.

  “I rode with your sister. We’ll follow you. You don’t have to buy me a car, Normani,” my mom said.

  I smiled at her words. I would do that for her too, but it wouldn’t be tonight.

  “I’m not, woman. Just follow me,” I said with a smile on my face.

  She smiled back, and then the three of us walked to the cars. I didn’t pull out until both of them were inside Naomi’s car, and then I slowly backed out of the parking spot. The church was about ten minutes from the law firm, in a really good area. My husband was actually the one to show me this property online since he spent a lot of his time looking at homes that were in foreclosure. This church had closed down a couple of years ago, and it was just standing there. No one was putting it to use.

  Because my husband did this for a living, it was nothing for him to talk to the right people, and we went the next day to see the church in person. As old as it was, as much work as it needed, it just felt right. It felt like the church my mom would talk about that she attended back when she was a little girl. I eventually pulled my car into the parking lot and saw that the carpenters were still inside working. That wasn’t a shock because Billionaire told me that most days, they wouldn’t leave until a little bit after nine at night.

  I stepped out of the car, and so did my mom and my sister.

  “Whose church is this, Normani?” my sister asked.

  I smiled but ignored her question because I didn’t want to ruin it and tell everything right away. I walked over, grabbed my mom’s hand in mine, and kissed her cheek. We walked to th
e front of the church then stood out there, admiring it.

  “This is beautiful. It looks like a castle,” my mother said in awe as she stared at the building.

  She said the same thing that I said when I saw it for the first time. I kept telling my husband that it looked like a castle. My mother stood out there, admiring it for a few moments more, and then we walked inside. Mind you, the church was super old on the inside, but with each room that my mom walked in into, she kept saying how beautiful it was.

  My favorite part about the church was the sanctuary. It was hugggeee, and there was no doubt in my mind that my mother could fill this entire place with members and her beautiful voice. I took her around the entire church, showed her where her office would be, where bible study classes would be conducted. I showed her the fellowship hall, the cafeteria, everything. Everything would be ready to go in a few months, and I couldn’t wait for Sunday morning when I could sit on one of these pews and get a good lesson.

  “This is for you, Ma. I knew I wanted to do this for you months ago when you shared with me why you stopped preaching. You let him quiet you down for months. It’s your time. The people want to hear you, Ma. Your kids want to hear you. Look around this sanctuary, mama. This is yours,” I told her, so happy that I was crying.

  My mom and Naomi were crying too. She pulled me into her arms, thanking me repeatedly for what I had done for her.

  “Out of all the fun things that we could have done tonight, you taking a bitch to a pole dancing work out class? Girl, I should have known that you were on some bullshit when you told me to put on workout clothes,” I said to Mia, as I sat in the passenger seat, and she drove her black Range Rover through the Miami streets.

  We were in Miami because my husband was playing there in a couple of days. So many people were in town because this was expected to be one of the biggest games of the season. I landed yesterday morning and spent my entire day with Dream. As soon as I landed, I took the drive to see Loyal because yesterday was her birthday. It went without saying that I needed to visit my sister and bring her daughter too. I had to look my sister in her eyes and tell her about her bitch ass baby daddy, Chance, and how that nigga had two sons, one of which was the same damn age as Dream.

  The crazy thing is, when I gave the news to my sister, she described the bitch that I saw Chance with that night at the beach to a T. She knew about the woman because, just like me and a lot of other women, my sister knew about the other woman. However, men had a way of making a woman feel so stupid and making it seem like the other woman didn’t mean a damn thing to him. What my sister didn’t know was that Chance had other kids. I could tell she wanted to break down, but she didn’t want to do it at the table in front of her daughter.

  Although I could tell that the news hurt my sister, I expected her to lash out, but she didn’t. She told me about the bible study classes she was attending at the prison and how she was learning to work on her temper and things like that. My sister was even going to college, and she would graduate within a couple of years. I couldn’t stress enough how badly I wished the circumstances were different. I would give any amount of money to have my sister home with me, but I couldn’t. When she came home, though, I promised I would have her a beautiful ass house to raise her daughter in, plus a couple of exotic cars that I knew she would love.

  After visiting Loyal yesterday, I took Dream shopping to get more clothes for summer camp. I even bought her a jersey to wear Saturday night at my fiancé’s game. The cat was pretty much out of the bag now that I was pregnant because I had a little baby bump, which I could no longer hide. I would see Normani tomorrow afternoon since Billion was doing a little BBQ at his house. I hated that I couldn’t come to town and spend time with both Normani and Mia. God, I wish it could be the three of us having girl time. I knew that it would never happen, though.

  “You’ll like it. This is a pole dancing class for pregnant bitches like yourself. You all are allowed to bring one guest, and I’m your guest for the night. My homegirl did the class a couple weeks ago, and she told me how much she enjoyed it. I thought about you, so I signed us up for it. I know that Truth is hanging with his homeboys tonight, so I just wanted to get your ass out the house. You think you supposed to be laid up, fuckin’ and suckin’ that man every day of the week. Give your jaws a break for the night,” Mia said, talking shit and trying to be funny.

  I laughed at her dumb ass, although I didn’t want to.

  “Truth be like, ‘bae, yo’ pussy don’t hurt?’ Mia, I love that fine ass nigga.” I groaned and threw my head into the headrest as I thought about my man.

  “When a nigga says something like that, then there’s absolutely toooo much fuckin’ going on,” Mia joked.

  We talked shit the entire time we rode to the stripping class that her ass was dragging me to. We eventually pulled up, and a good number of cars were in the parking lot. This gold and white building easily stood out from any other building because of the nice, bright colors. This was nice on the outside, so I could only imagine what it looked like on the inside. Other women were walking inside. Pregnant women, with bellies much bigger than mine. Here I was, thinking I shouldn’t be pregnant and doing this when there were women there who were bigger than me.

  I got out with Mia and grabbed my big water bottle and face towel, just in case I started sweating. We could hear the music blasting from inside, and it was making me excited. I couldn’t wait to start shaking my ass. We walked in, and there were about fifteen stripper poles around the room. Some women were stretching, some were just hanging around talking, while others were dancing.

  The class wasn’t expected to start for another five minutes or so. I looked around at the pictures hanging on the wall, and I had to do a double-take. I knew this wasn’t Trinity’s shit. I didn’t even have a second longer to think about it because Trinity came out from the back, and I couldn’t even front, the bitch looked bomb! I mean, there was literally no way in hell her ass just had a baby a few months ago.

  She and I were literally wearing the same workout piece that I’d ordered from Fashion Nova a couple of weeks ago. It was a neon pink and green sports bra with the matching high waisted tights. Out of all the women in the room that her eyes could have landed on, they landed on mine. I saw the look of sympathy in her eyes when she saw me.

  Sucking my teeth, I walked out of the building, not about to stay for this shit.

  “What? What happened, Twinkle?” Mia asked.

  No, I wasn’t mad at Mia because she didn’t know. I don’t even say Trinity’s name to her. I told her about Monterius’ baby, of course, but it wasn’t like Mia knew who Trinity was.

  “That’s her! Monterius’ baby mama,” I told her. I saw the look in her eyes and knew she immediately felt bad.

  “Oh, my God. Girl, I’m sorry. Twinkle, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I swear on my kids I didn’t even know. You know I don’t even rock like that—”

  “Mia, I know you didn’t. I’m not mad about that. C’mon. I’m not staying here,” I told her.

  The second I said it, the door to the dance studio opened, and Trinity walked out. She looked from Mia to me, and then she released a sigh. I saw her eyes land on my stomach, as she was probably trying to see if I was pregnant or not. She opened her mouth to say something, but I put my hand up to silence her.

  “Don’t! You don’t owe me shit. You never did,” I said.

  She nodded like she got it, but I saw it in her eyes that she still wanted to say her peace.

  “Twinkle, I can’t just say nothing. The woman in me just won’t allow me to not say anything. You know a nigga will say anything to get some pussy. Any time that I’ve ever slept with Monterius, I swear on my child that he told me that you and him had broken up. I’ll look you in your eyes right now and tell you that I’ve never fucked him while the two of you were together. Hell, I wouldn’t even be able to get in contact with him when y’all were together. As a woman, I know that it was stupid on my part, a
nd that’s what I’m apologizing for because I would never want something like that to happen to me. I’m sure you’ve known about me for a while, but you and I never had a conversation like that before. You don’t have to leave. You already paid for the class. I won’t even bring the situation up after this,” she told me, and I shook my head.

  “At one point in time, I was losing sleep over this shit. I prayed to God that your baby didn’t belong to Monterius because that would eat me up too bad, especially since you and I were pregnant at the same time, but I ended up losing my baby. Everything happens for a reason, though. You have a beautiful business and an even more beautiful daughter, but I don’t think that I will ever be cool with someone who was a key player in a situation that once caused me a lot of hurt. Take care,” I told said, and then Mia and I walked off.

  If I had stood out there and tried to fight this woman, then it would look like I cared, when I swear I didn’t. I don’t know how many ways I had to say this, but I was good off Monterius. He wouldn’t even be a fool to work shit out with Trinity because that bitch was pretty. As for me, I had the finest nigga out, and I wanted no one but him.

  “That’s what you get for picking shit and not doing your research. You can’t refer me to do shit else with you,” I said to Mia once we got in her car.

  She laughed as she started it and pulled out of the parking spot.

  “Out of all the bitches in the world who could have owned this studio, it had to be her. That’s crazy. You know I didn’t purposely do this, though. At least the two of you were mature about the situation because I was praying that your pregnant ass didn’t start fighting that woman,” Mia said.