Chapter 34
“Babe!” Darious yelled out from the upstairs bedroom. “Come 'ere real quick,” he shouted.
Tammy was in the kitchen feeding Sinniyyah in her high chair. She picked her up and headed upstairs to see what Darious wanted. When she got to the bedroom, he'd just wrapped up a phone call.
“Yes, babe,” Tammy said, putting Sinniyyah on the bed, then walking over and standing in front of him while he sat on the edge of the bed.
“On ya way to go pick up Anthony, I need you to drop this medication off to one of my patients,” Darious said, grabbing her by the waist. “I got a lot of running around to do before I go to work.”
“Yeah, sure, babe. That's no problem,” she said, rubbing the top of his head. “Are you okay? 'Cause you look a little stressed out,” she said, pushing him back onto the bed. She then climbed on top of him.
She leaned in and kissed him then looked into his eyes. She still couldn't believe how far in love she was with Darious, and he felt the same.
“You know I love you, right?” he asked, reaching up and placing his hand on her cheek. “Promise me that you're not going to leave me,” he said.
“I know you love me, Darious, and I'm not going anywhere. You got my heart,” she responded, leaning back over to kiss him again.
This time, Sinniyyah interrupted the moment, crawling across the bed and grabbing a handful of Darious's face. Her finger was lodged in his nose and the saliva from her mouth dripped down into his eye. Sinniyyah was laughing and bouncing back and forth like she was having the time of her life. This was the first time Sinniyyah was this intimate with Darious and, to be honest, Tammy was feeling the bond.
* * *
Kim pulled up right in time to catch Falisha coming out of her house. She beeped the horn twice but Falisha only looked at Kim's car before going back into the house. Falisha really didn't feel like talking to anybody at this point.
“Here we go wit' dis bullshit,” Kim mumbled to herself, getting out of the car with her briefcase in hand. Kim didn't want to, but she walked up to Falisha's front door and rang the bell. There was a lot of tension between them, and Kim wasn't the type to walk around with a chip on her shoulder. If she had a problem, she confronted it head-on.
“Come on wit' da childish shit and open the door,” Kim yelled through the mail slot.
Kim was about to yell in the mail slot again but, before she could, the door swung open and Falisha was standing there with an obvious attitude. “What do you want, Kim?” Falisha asked, stepping out onto the porch.
“So it's like that? You sayin' that we're not cool at all anymore?” Kim asked, putting her briefcase on the ledge.
Falisha never said anything, but she felt some type of way about Kim wanting Lamar since day one. The only reason she entertained the whole race to capture Lamar's heart was because she truly thought that she had it in the bag. She never thought in a million years that he would choose Kim over her, given the history they had, along with amazingly great sex. When he did choose Kim, it was mind-blowing and it caught Falisha off guard.
“Come on, Kim. You know what it do. You took my man, and that was that. We cool and everything, but we're not friends,” Falisha said.
“So we're not friends because of a man?” Kim asked.
Falisha didn't say anything right away. She looked down the street, trying to avoid any eye contact with Kim, but Kim walked over and stood in front of her, forcing Falisha to look at her. Kim could see the anger and the hurt in her eyes and knew that what Falisha felt was real.
“You know that I was in love with Lamar, and you still pursued him. You didn't give a fuck about me or how I felt. To you, this was all a fucking game, and Lamar was your prize. A friend? You can't be serious. A real friend would have backed off, instead of doing the shit you did. But guess what, I'm good. You and Lamar ain't gon' last another month once he finds out you got an abortion,” Falisha said, looking down at Kim's stomach before walking into her house and slamming the door behind her.
Kim sat there on the porch with a dumb look on her face after being chewed out by Falisha. Not only did she feel bad, she also felt like a home wrecker, because if it weren't for her, Falisha and Lamar would be together. It was something Kim had never really thought about until now, and the more she thought about it, the more she could understand how Falisha felt.
What she couldn't grasp was the last comment Falisha made pertaining to how long she and Lamar had left to be together. She wanted to bang on the door and ask Falisha what she meant by it, but Lamar pulling up on the block made Kim leave it alone for right now. This definitely wasn't going to be the end of that conversation but, for now, Kim had another pressing issue to deal with, one that might make or break her and Lamar's relationship.
* * *
Darious had warned Tammy that the neighborhood was a little ghetto, but that was an understatement. When she pulled up to Milton Road, it looked like a zombie land. There were dopefiends everywhere and, for a minute, Tammy was scared to pull over. In fact, she drove right by the house she was supposed to deliver the medication to.
“Shit,” Tammy mumbled, pulling over toward the end of the block after seeing that she had passed the house. Two luxury cars parked on the pavement caught Tammy's attention and, for some reason, she felt comfortable parking behind them. Plus, there weren't that many dopefiends at this end of the block.
“You lookin' for somebody?” a female voice asked when Tammy got out of the car.
Tammy looked over and saw a young girl coming down off the porch with one of her hands behind her back. Despite her intimidating approach, Tammy thought the young lady was cute, rocking a pair of 7 For All Mankind jeans, a white shirt, and some Yves Saint Laurent sandals. Her hair was straightened and draped over her left shoulder, allowing her diamond-studded earrings to bling in the sunlight. Tammy didn't know her, but she looked like somebody of importance.
“I'm going up the street to deliver this medication to a patient,” Tammy said, looking down at the address she had written on a piece of paper. “Is it safe to even go up there?” Tammy asked, picking her head up as the young lady walked up to her.
The girl looked at the address then smiled. “Who sent you, Darious?” she asked, waving for Tammy to follow her up the street.
“Yeah, that's my man,” Tammy said, establishing off the top who she was to him. “You know him?”
“I know Darious. He's a nice guy. He's been looking out for my uncle James for a while now. By the way, my name is Tiffany,” she said, walking up the steps to James's house.
“I'm Tammy,” Tammy responded, walking up the steps behind her.
Now that Tiffany was in front of Tammy, Tammy could see why she had her hand behind her back. The butt of a gun poked out of her back pocket, clearly visible to the eye. It kind of took Tammy by surprise, and even though she didn't have the guts to ask her the reason why she had the gun, Tammy made a mental note of it.
“Wassup, Uncle James,” Tiffany asked when he opened the door. “Ya medication is here.”
The drop-off was pretty simple, except for when the drop-off became an exchange at a dining room table with stacks of money sitting on it. Tammy didn't know the contents within the prescription bag, and didn't get a chance to see them either, because as quick as Tammy handed it over to James, he gave her a two-inch thick wad of money. Before she knew it, Tammy was being led out the back of the house by Tiffany, and escorted back to her car.
As Tammy pulled off, the chain of events that had just taken place bum-rushed her brain. She really didn't know what to think, or what Darious just had her do. All sorts of theories went through her head, and not one of them sat well with her. Before the day was over, she was going to get a clear understanding about what had gone down.
* * *
A nice, hot bath was exactly the thing Kim needed in her life right now, and from the looks of things, and how her body felt, it seemed as though her period was about to go off. Dealing with the abortion was starting to get a little easier and, because of that, Kim was ready to let Lamar know what she'd done.
Kim sat in the bathtub trying to figure out what words she was going to use to break the news to him. There really wasn't a delicate way to say to a man that she'd murdered his unborn child. The more Kim looked at it that way, the fewer words she came up with.
Lamar opening the bathroom door snapped Kim out of her train of thought.
“I was thinking, maybe we should go out for dinner tonight,” Lamar said, taking a seat on the edge of the tub.
“I really don't feel like going out tonight, babe. Plus, I need to talk to you about something,” Kim said.
“That's crazy, 'cause I wanna talk to you about something too,” Lamar shot back, dipping his hand into the bathwater and twirling it around.
Kim looked as Lamar stared aimlessly at the bubbles floating in the tub. She wondered if he'd already found out about the abortion from somebody else, such as Falisha, or whoever else Mrs. D probably told. Before she went into her defense mode, she had to see what Lamar knew, if he knew anything at all. “But what do you want to talk about?” Kim asked, wiping the suds off her arm.
Lamar sat there thinking about it. He wanted the moment to be right, but at the same time, he didn't want to waste another minute before asking for Kim's hand in marriage. It was now or never, and there was nobody or nothing that could interrupt him.
“Kim, I really need you to know that I love you, and there's nobody else in the world I would want to spend the rest of my life with,” Lamar said, reaching into his back pocket for the little box.
Kim's heart started beating erratically when she saw the suede box and, from its size, she knew that it had to be a ring. Lamar got off the tub and got down on one knee. Kim sat up in the tub, cupping her hands over her mouth in shock.
“I just don't wanna spend the rest of my life without you. I wanna stand by your side and truly be the man who makes you smile from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed at night. I wanna be the person you can depend upon to be there for you through it all and be more than just your boyfriend. I wanna be your husband, Kim. Will you by my wife?” Lamar asked, opening the little case.
Kim was in tears and, for the first time ever, they were tears of joy. She had a few boyfriends in her time, some good and some bad; never did any of them propose to her. She was speechless, all except for the one word Lamar hoped to hear.
“Yes!” Kim said, then leaned out of the tub to kiss him.
* * *
Tammy didn't go and pick the kids up right away like she planned to do after she'd dropped the medication off to James. She called Darious, who told her to meet him at his job, because he was about to get off anyway. As soon as she pulled up in front of the hospital, Darious walked out and got right into the car. He could tell something was wrong by the look she had on her face.
“What did I do now?” Darious asked in a playful way.
Tammy wasn't up for too many games right now. “Are you selling drugs?” she asked flat out.
“Tam, you know I work in a hospital,” Darious spoke.
“No, Darious, that's not what I asked you. I just came from Milton Road and James's house looked like a trap spot. He got money all over the table, bitches walking around with guns in their back pockets like it's legal,” Tammy snapped. “I swear, if you got me delivering drugs and ain't telling meâ”
“Tammy, I'm not selling drugs. James just had a disc put into his back, and the medication I gave him came from a doctor,” Darious said, cutting her off. “I wouldn't do that to you, babe,” he said, placing his hand over hers. “Do you really think I am a drug dealer?”
Tammy didn't question him on what he said. If James had a disc in his back, then that's what it was. With Darious, Tammy felt like she could trust him, and there hadn't been a time yet that he'd lied to her. For those reasons alone, Tammy left it dead, but one thing she knew for sure was that under no circumstances would she be making any more deliveries to Milton Road. Ever!
* * *
Ralphy pulled up to the hospital to pick Johanna up and take her to the house that he shared with her. She was waiting out front in a wheelchair, with her cousin, DeeDee, standing by her side. Ralphy felt somewhat bad that the niggas who were looking for him came after her as well. It showed Ralphy that whoever it was really meant business.
“Damn, mommy,” Ralphy said, walking over and scooping her out of the wheelchair. “I'm sorry this happened to you but, rest easy, I'm going to find out who did it, and I'm going to bury them,” he assured her.
Johanne didn't want that, not now or ever, for that matter. She was carrying a child, and couldn't afford to lose Ralphy to the streets. Johanne wanted her child to grow up with a father just like she did, and at the rate Ralphy was going that wasn't going to happen. She spoke the only words she figured could change his mind about getting revenge.
“Babe, I'm pregnant!” Johanne exclaimed.
Ralphy almost dropped her after hearing those words. To be sure, he made her repeat what she'd just said, which was the same as he thought. He stood curbside, holding Johanne in his arms, at a loss for words.
“Damn, you're not gonna say anything?” Johanne asked with a slight attitude, seeing that he wasn't excited as she was.
Ralphy wasn't excited because he didn't want to have a baby by her. Johanne was cool, and she looked good as hell, but Ralphy wasn't even sure if he loved her, let alone wanted to have a baby with her. His heart was always with his family, and that's something that would never change, no matter what. It wouldn't even be fair to give Johanne the impression that he wanted this baby.