“Malek’s here, isn’t he?”
“No, but his mother is.” I raised both eyebrows. I was confused but relieved.
“Miss Janet’s here? What’s she doing here?”
“I think it might be best if she told you.” I handed him the baby and walked into the house. Miss Janet was sitting on the sofa, and Maleka was sitting on her lap. They both had Barbies in their hands.
“Mommy! Look what Grandma Janet brought me!” Maleka jumped off of her grandmother’s lap to show me the dolls.
“Wasn’t that nice of her?” I smiled at my daughter, never taking my eyes off of her grandmother. I didn’t even know she knew where I lived, so her presence had me worried. After everything I’d gone through recently, I didn’t need any more drama. It was time for me to leave all that shit behind and concentrate on my upcoming wedding. I just hoped Malek’s mother hadn’t come over and messed up my plans by saying the wrong thing to Travis.
“Hey, Miss Janet. What you doing here?” I hoped she didn’t notice the suspicion in my voice. When she gave me her news, I felt bad for even thinking about myself.
“Momma died last night, Stephanie.”
“Nana? Nana’s dead?”
I knew Nana didn’t have much time, but I at least thought I’d see her before she passed.
“Have you made the arrangements?” My voice was choked up.
“Uh-huh. The funeral’s on Friday.” Miss Janet wiped away a tear from her cheek. “I was hoping you’d do a reading.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that, Miss Janet.”
“Come on, now. You know how much Momma loved you. Least you could do is read at her funeral.”
I glanced at Travis. I felt real bad about Nana dying, but I wasn’t sure if I should be reading at her funeral. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to read. I wanted to do anything I could for Nana. I just didn’t want Travis getting upset. Things were just starting to get back to normal in our house. After the night he left, I had promised things would change. And once I took care of the problem with the STD, I really had been behaving. I’d been coming home straight from work, acting like the perfect fiancée and mommy. But going to the funeral meant I’d be seeing Malek, and I knew Travis didn’t want that to happen. That’s why I was surprised when he put his hand on my shoulder and told me it was okay for me to go.
“Okay, Miss Janet. I’ll do it. I’ll read.”
Miss Janet smiled. “Good. You gonna bring Maleka, right?”
Travis answered Miss Janet before I could.
“Yeah, Maleka will be there. And I hope you don’t mind if I come, too? I’d like to pay my respects to your mother. I know how much she meant to Stephanie.”
Miss Janet hesitated, but she looked like she was about to agree when I cut in.
“No, Travis. You stay here with T. J.”
“Why?” He took his arm from around my shoulder and frowned at me.
“ ’Cause Nana is Malek’s grandmother, and you two don’t get along. They were very close, and this is gonna be hard enough on him as it is. Things will only be worse if you’re there. You understand, don’t you, boo?”
I knew I was taking a big chance asking him to stay home, but I figured he wouldn’t protest, at least while Miss Janet was there. Sure, we might have an argument about this later, but I had to keep Travis away. I knew why he wanted to be there, and I didn’t blame him for wanting to keep an eye on Malek. But I also knew that if Malek was upset enough, who knew what would come out of his mouth? Shit was already crazy enough between me and Malek. I did not need a scene at Nana’s funeral. I would go and pay my respects, then finally be done with Malek. It was time to get myself back on the straight and narrow.
26
Our apartment was hooked up with streamers and party favors. Sabrina, Becky, and I had spent all day decorating it in Derrick’s favorite colors, red and white. This was really gonna be a party to remember. I had spent over five hundred dollars on food and drink, and had gotten Derrick’s friend Devin to DJ so nobody could complain about the music. I was proud of the job we had done. It all paid off, too. When Derrick walked through the door with his buddies, he was surprised as hell. I’ll never forget the way he kissed me and announced to everyone how much he loved me. I thought for sure that was the start of a beautiful evening, but it turned out to be the beginning of a nightmare.
Originally, I had planned on a small surprise party a week after Derrick’s release from prison. Except for sex, things were going so well between us, I just thought he deserved it. I thought a couple of his closest friends and family for dinner would be nice. Kinda like what my family does on Sundays. But after I asked his mother to make a few calls and invite some of the family, things got out of hand. She gave me a list of over forty people. She musta called everyone she knew, from the car dealer to the drug dealer. And before I knew it, I had over fifty people in my apartment, all of them hungry and wanting to get drunk.
Even that would’ve been cool if they all acted civilized, but those fools were the most triflin’, ghettofied people I’d ever met. To start with, Derrick’s Aunt Jean and Uncle Roy tried to rob us blind. I caught them filling up a shopping bag with all the meat from our freezer. I grabbed that damn bag out of Roy’s hand and headed straight for Derrick’s mother, who invited their low-rent asses in the first place. I wasn’t trying to make a scene at Derrick’s party or anything, but I wanted those two out of my house. Would you believe that woman sucked her teeth and told me if her brother and sister-in-law had to leave, she was leaving too? You should have seen the attitude she gave me. She turned her back on me and marched right over to Derrick like he was supposed to be mad with me or something. Well, believe it or not, that woman knew her son, ’cause next thing I knew, Derrick was glaring at me like I’d beat his sister. He came over, grabbed my hand, and led me upstairs. I could hear his mother, uncle, and aunt all laughing and slapping each other five as we walked up the stairs.
My stomach was in knots when Derrick got to the top of the stairs and turned to speak. I knew I had to keep myself under control, ‘cause right before he went to prison I said something smart about his mother and he locked me in the closet for an hour. Don’t get the wrong idea; I deserved it. When you call your man’s mother a piece-of-shit project whore, you should expect a beat-down. I got off easy bein’ locked in the closet. At least he didn’t lay his hands on me.
“Thanks.” He gave me a gentle kiss.
“You’re not mad?” I was amazed.
“No.” He kissed me again. “Mama’s just tryin’ to start some trouble, and Uncle Roy and Aunt Jean think we rich ’cause we don’t stay in the projects. Let them have the meat, baby. I’ll go grocery shopping in the morning.” He kissed me again and left me with my jaw hanging. He turned to speak again when he was halfway down the stairs. “Oh, baby, you did a great job with the party. Thanks.”
So I thought I was through with the drama for the night. That is, until I heard noises coming from my guest bedroom. Now, I know I wasn’t throwin’ no kind of party where I expected some nasty-ass people to be doin’ their business on my clean sheets. I wasn’t havin’ that. And I didn’t give a damn about no one’s privacy, so I barged into the room. The view was more than I’d bargained for. There was Derrick’s sixteen-year-old sister, Vicki, butt-naked with a teenage boy trying his best to split her in two. The two of them looked like they were going to die when they saw me. Vicki was pleading and crying as she scrambled to put her clothes on.