Authors: Allison Hobbs
“
Y
ou know who I am, right?” the woman asked as she eased her willowy body into the hard chair. She flashed another knowing smile as she leaned forward and awaited Kai’s response.
Kai knew exactly who she was, but was so unprepared to be seated across from the person she hated most in the world, her stomach twisted into a tight knot. Hit with a surge of panic, Kai attempted to appear calm as she looked the woman in the eye. She refused to allow her gaze to waver. Her quivering hands, however, were a dead giveaway. Unsteady hands were folded and placed in her lap. It was surreal. Here she was, finally looking into the face of the woman who had the leading role in all her murder/revenge fantasies and instead of leaping at her and gouging her eyes out, Kai was confused by dual emotions of intense love and hatred.
She searched the woman’s face and beneath the heavy layer of pancake makeup, neon-blue eye shadow and bright orange lipstick, she saw a toffee-colored, older, unrefined and hardened version of herself. The resemblance was so startling, Kai couldn’t speak.
This is un-fucking real
, she thought as she looked away from her macabre replica. She felt lightheaded and disoriented. Kai’s connection to this confident hussy was powerful and immediate.
“You’re my biological mother,” Kai said in a cracked whisper. Smiling broadly, the woman bobbed her head in delighted agreement.
Unfolding her trembling hands, Kai reached for a tendril and began nervously twisting it around her finger.
“You do that, too?” the woman asked, amazed.
Too traumatized to speak, Kai nodded.
“Uh-huh, you picked that bad habit up from me. You better quit before you pull out all that pretty hair,” she said, then presumptuously pulled Kai’s hand away from her hair.
Kai’s eyes flicked to the woman’s hair. Curly auburn extensions brushed her shoulders. In response to Kai’s unasked question, the woman brushed the hair away from her face. Kai cast a furtive glance and noticed that the woman had a bald patch that was three times the size of Kai’s quarter-sized bare spot.
Kai quickly looked away. There were too many unpleasant similarities.
“What’s your name?”
“Melissa Peterson.”
“Was my last name, uh, Peterson…at birth?”
“Look, I’m gonna answer all your questions in due time, honey, but…”
“No, you look!” Kai interrupted, her voice raised. “My entire life has been a charade. Do you have any idea how it feels not knowing your true identity? If you didn’t come here with a long overdue apology for abandoning me and to tell me the truth about my identity, why the hell are you here?”
“Oh, I see you got my temper, too,” Melissa said calmly, then chuckled. “No, sweetie, Peterson’s my second husband’s name and that joker’s not worth the breath it would take to tell you about his sorry ass.”
“I’m not interested in your second husband,” Kai said sharply. “What’s the story?” Kai’s voice softened; her eyes became misty. “What’s
my
story?”
“Well, let’s see…where should I start. First of all, I didn’t name you Kai. I named you LaQuisha Chardonnay Maxwell,” Melissa said proudly, then her face clouded. “But Doc changed it to Kai. Kai sounds all right, I guess. Plain, but it’s all right,” Melissa said with a shrug.
Kai felt overwhelming gratitude to her father for sparing her
that
name. “Is Philip Montgomery my biological father?”
Melissa squirmed, studied her tacky acrylic nails and began picking her cuticles. “Girl, I know you have a lot of questions, but I don’t have a whole lot of time to explain everything. They only let me have a half-hour visit ’cause I couldn’t prove I’m an out-of-town relative, but I’ll straighten that out and make better arrangements the next time I make this long-ass trip. I can probably get a three-hour visit if you sign something stating that I’m your mother from New York.”
Still dancing around Kai’s questions, Melissa talked fast and gesticulated with her long glittery talons. Kai’s eyes were riveted to the woman’s lengthy curled-over fingernails, which were painted a gaudy gold and dotted with rhinestones. She had never tried to visualize what her mother might look like. It was too frightening to even think about what a black mother might look like. However, if she were forced to describe how she imagined her biological mother, she’d have to admit the images leaned toward a more matronly and humble woman, someone passive, and contrite. Never would she have conjured up an image of this unrepentant, self-absorbed, cheap-looking floozy who sat across from her.
Kai felt anger building. She didn’t care if they only had a half-hour to visit. How dare this biological bitch waltz into her life after being MIA for twenty-four years and then have the audacity to withhold the one thing she could give: the truth.
“Look, my parents flat out refuse to divulge any information pertaining to my birth and adoption. Those callous white devils even had the records sealed. So, if you think I’m going to sit here and have a polite chat with the likes of you, you’re sadly mistaken.” Kai stood up, indicating the visit was officially over.
“All right, sweetie. Come on and sit yourself back down,” Melissa cajoled. “Now, what do you want to know?”
Kai sat down. “Why did you allow my own father to adopt me?” Kai asked accusingly, her bottom lip protruded.
Melissa cocked her head to the side. “That’s what Doc told you?”
“No, he denied being my natural father, but I heard some gossip about him getting one of his charity patients pregnant and then adopting her child.”
Melissa propped her elbow on the arm of the chair and rested her chin on her fist. “They gave you a life sentence, huh?” she said, skillfully changing the subject. “That’s rough.” She frowned and shook her head. Then, repositioning herself in the chair, she pointed a finger. “But don’t you worry, honey. We’re gonna get you out of this mess. Let’s concentrate on getting your freedom for the time being, okay?”
Momentarily distracted, a light of hope shone in Kai’s eyes. Desperately needing to believe that someone cared enough to help her fight this unjust imprisonment, Kai stared hopefully at the woman who was her mother and decided to not press for more answers—at least not right now.
“Now, the reason I came all this way to see you is because your father contacted me through his lawyer…”
Kai was all ears, and nodded for Melissa to continue.
“I wish I had the letter, but they wouldn’t let me bring nothin’ in here.” Melissa sighed. “It took all my will power not to cuss them female guards out. Them dyke bitches patted me down and searched me like
I’m
some damn criminal…” She rolled her eyes hard as she recollected the violation. Snapping out of her indignant interlude, Melissa continued, “Anyway, his lawyer said something about Doc losin’ a whole lot of money from his practice due to you being in the news for killin’ that boy…”
“I didn’t kill Marq…”
“It don’t matter, baby girl,” Melissa interjected and patted Kai’s hand condescendingly. “What matters is that that slimy bastard is trying to break our legal contract and hightail it out to California.”
“What contract? Don’t tell me you
sold
me to my parents!” Kai’s voice was loud and high-pitched. On alert, one of the guards shot a disapproving glance at Kai and Melissa.
“Be quiet,” Melissa hissed, then she quickly sent the guard an alluring smile. The guard blushed and lowered his gaze. Melissa turned fiery eyes on Kai. “What the hell is wrong with you, girl? Do you want them to throw me outta here before I get a chance to give you the 4-1-1?” she asked in an angry whisper. She glanced up at the big institutional clock. “Now look, I only have fifteen more minutes. Would you please shut your damn mouth and listen to what I’m tryin’ to tell you?”
A zillion sarcastic remarks flitted through Kai’s mind, but she held her tongue, pursed her lips and nodded obediently. She’d met her match in this crude, overbearing poor excuse of a mother and felt truly powerless in Melissa’s presence. In fact, she was slightly afraid of her.
“All right, look…you’re a big girl, so I’m gonna give it to you straight, but you better not interrupt me,” Melissa warned as she wagged a long finger in Kai’s face.
“No problem,” Kai muttered with a touch of attitude.
Melissa shifted her position and swallowed. “When I got pregnant, Doc promised to take care of me for the rest of my life if I kept my mouth shut and didn’t put his name on the birth certificate.”
“Were you one of his patients?” Kai interrupted.
Melissa gave her a sidelong glance, then said, “Hell no! He was doing some kind of charity work at a clinic in Chester. But, every night after the clinic closed, Doc used to come over and party with the girls at my Aunt Addie Mae’s house.”
“My father frequented a house of ill repute? A whorehouse? In Chester?” The story was getting progressively worse; Kai felt nauseous.
“He sure did. Doc used to get his drink on, too. Anyway, I was just sixteen years old back in 1980, just a country girl from North Carolina trying to earn a couple bucks over the summer. I used to help my auntie keep the place clean while her sportin’ girls entertained the ‘Johns.’ I poured liquor, changed bed linen, ran to the store…all sorts of odd jobs in addition to cleaning the place like a damn slave for hardly no money. One day when my auntie wasn’t around, the girls let me make some money. Dr. Philip Montgomery was my very first customer.” Melissa beamed. “But he damn sure wasn’t my last.” Hunched over, shoulders shaking, Melissa cackled like a witch.
“You’re a prostitute?”
“No, I wouldn’t put it that way,” she said, pulling her self together and taking on a serious tone. “I like to think of myself as a businesswoman.” Melissa gave a snort and cut her eye at the clock. “Look, I told you I’m pressed for time, so listen up and stop buttin’ in.”
Though Kai thoroughly disapproved of Melissa’s tone she couldn’t afford to piss the bitch off just yet, so she kept her thoughts to herself. “Sorry, what were you saying?”
“Hell if I know; you made me lose my train of thought. Anyway…when I turned up pregnant, there was no way Aunt Addie Mae was gonna send me back home to my momma knocked up. At first, she was going to take care of the pregnancy, if you know what I mean. But when she found out, I’d been trickin’ with the doctor, she changed her mind because she figured there was some money to be made. Oh, my auntie was a crafty old fox, God rest her soul,” Melissa said with laughter. “She had her lawyer draw up some papers for Doc to sign admittin’ that he knocked me up. He agreed to pay my auntie a certain amount for my room and board and for keeping her mouth shut. Plus, he had to pay for my prenatal care, and he paid me ten thousand dollars—cash money to keep his name off the birth certificate. Your original birth certificate says:
Father Unknown
.
“All through that pregnancy, my momma thought I was going to Chester High School!” Melissa laughed and slapped her thigh.
“Well, if my father paid for his anonymity, how’d he end up raising me?”
“That’s the funny part,” Melissa said with a chuckle.
Kai winced. “I find nothing funny about any part of this sordid story.”
“Oh girl, stop being so sensitive; where’s your sense of humor?”
Kai shrugged hopelessly. The insensitive harlot didn’t give a damn about her, never had and never would.
“So, like I was sayin’…I planned to put you up for adoption, but Doc had to have a look at you first. And boy-oh-boy, what did he do that for?” Melissa shook her head. “That man fell head over heels in love with you…”
“Really?” Kai’s face lit up.
“Uh-huh. And I have to admit it, you were one beautiful baby. You had a head full of beautiful curly reddish-colored hair…” Melissa glanced at Kai’s hair. “It’s not as red as it used to be,” she said, scowling at Kai’s dull and damaged hair. “But, girl, you know white people don’t have babies as pretty as we do. Anyway, he pulled a fast one and tricked his stupid white wife into thinking they were adopting somebody else’s half-breed. Well, quite naturally, my auntie took advantage of that situation, too. After she threatened to spill the beans to his stupid wife, Doc paid her a hefty sum and promised to take care of me for the rest of my life. And he took real good care of me…for a while.”
Melissa checked the time, leaned back and took a deep breath, apparently exhausted from recounting the long tale. “Damn, I sure could use a stiff drink and a cigarette right about now.” She looked around as if there was the remote possibility that someone in the room might be able to help her out.
Ignoring her mother’s idiotic cravings, Kai ventured, “So, bring me up to date. What were you saying about my parents moving to California? My father hasn’t mentioned anything like that. He’s supposed to be finding an appellate attorney to represent me.”
“Hmph. Trust me, him and that wife of his are cuttin’ out of there. Probably gone already. His practice sure is shut down tighter than a virgin’s…well I won’t go there. Let’s just say he’s out of business.”
Kai shot her a look of disbelief.
“Call the number; you’ll see.”
“I can’t. The office number isn’t an authorized number on my phone list; I call my parents at home…collect,” Kai said, then gazed off into space, obviously distressed.