Obsession 3 (7 page)

Dina's eyes were open and she was looking around. The pink bow atop her head full of hair was twitching right along with her head.

“It's a girl. I have a niece,” Katherine said. “And she's sooooooo beautiful.” She looked up at Secret. “Girl, she looks just like you.” She looked back down at the baby. “Thank God she doesn't look a thing like her daddy.”

“You can say that again,” Secret said under her breath.

Katherine made a fuss over Dina a little while longer before she zipped her back up. She stood up and looked at Secret. “I'm sorry, sis. I hope you will forgive me.”

“There's really nothing to forgive you for. You didn't know the situation. I can't fault you for that.”

“Then can I have a hug?”

“Of course,” Secret said.

The two sisters went in for a hug.

“I was so glad to hear you got out,” Katherine said as the sisters parted.

Secret looked a little puzzled. “How did you find out?”

“Girl, as soon as those charges got dropped against me and I cleared that situation up, I came straight to see about you. You my sister, girl. We blood. Even if I hadn't found out about Lucky and Taneshia, after what he did to you, he could forget about me running back to him ever again. I called him every dirty bastard in the book. I even got physical with him. That's when he told me he was fucking Taneshia, during our argument.”

“Well, I'm sorry too.” Secret just felt like she needed to apologize.

“For what? All you did was get mixed up with that loser.”

“Yeah, but clearly he was your loser before he was mine.”

Both women burst out laughing.

“Girl, I've been looking for yo' ass,” some chick walked up and said to Katherine. She then looked to Secret and greeted her. “Hi.”

“Hello,” Secret replied, ending her laughter.

“Hey, Taneshia,” Katherine said to the girl. “I just ran into my sister, Secret. The one I told you about.”

“Oh yeah.” Taneshia stuck her hand out. “Good to meet you.”

“Good to meet you too,” Secret replied, shaking her hand.

Taneshia looked to Katherine. “Girl, come on. I got these dudes watching our seats for us. You been gone forever. I didn't know what happened to you.”

“I'm good,” Katherine replied. “Just ran into my baby sis on my way coming back from the bathroom.” Katherine looked to Secret. “We have to exchange numbers. I need to come see my niece and spoil her rotten.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Secret said.

The two sisters exchanged contact information, promising to stay in touch. Secret smiled as she watched Katherine walk away. It felt good to know that she wasn't alone, that she had someone who would have her back. Not only that, but this was a plus. Katherine said she'd been messing with Lucky for years. She could help her out in this little endeavor Detective Davis had Secret on. Share some inside information on Lucky. Speaking of such, Secret gasped, realizing that she'd gotten distracted from her purpose of being there: to connect with Lucky.

Secret quickly turned her attention back toward where she'd spotted the father of her child and Lucky. Neither man was in sight any longer.

“Damn it!” Secret said under her breath. She smacked the palm of her hand on her forehead. What the hell was she going to tell Detective Davis?

“He was right there. What the fuck?” Detective Davis snapped. “Now we have to set something else up again.”

“Do you mind keeping it down some? My daughter is upstairs sleeping,” Secret told him.

Detective Davis stood pacing Secret's living room floor. “Now we have to figure out another time for you to just so happen to bump into him without it being obvious.”

“Oh, and me showing up at a basketball tournament with a four-week-old baby wasn't obvious?” Secret threw her hand up. “Whatever. I ought to say the hell with this whole operation now,” Secret said. “You've got nothing on me. With the right lawyer, I can get out of this mess without having to jump through all these hoops. After all, you're the smart one. You went to college to learn how to catch bad guys, right? What do you need me for?” Secret sucked her teeth. “Like I said, I could just wipe my hands of all this and—”

“I'm sure you could,” Detective Davis replied, stopping his pacing and looking at Secret. “But in the meantime, while you're in jail fighting your case, there's always the issue of baby Dina.” He nodded toward the stairs.

How could Secret have forgotten that quickly? Dina was the entire reason she'd agreed with this whole deal anyway. Going back to jail and leaving Dina out here to fend for herself would defeat her entire purpose. Secret had no other option but to see this thing through.

“So, if that will be all, I need to get out of here,” Detective Davis said, walking over to the door. “There's a lot of bad guys out there I need to be catching, since that's what I went to college for.” He shot Secret a smug look. “You have a good day.” He went to leave and then turned back around. “Oh, yeah, I almost forgot.” He dug into his pockets and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He extended it to Secret.

“What's this?” she asked, walking over and taking it out of his hand.

Detective Davis explained as she unfolded the paper. “It's to get your car out of police custody.”

Secret wasn't expecting this. She had forgotten all about him telling her he was going to see about getting her car back. She figured with it being state property, it would be easier said than done. But Detective Davis must have been pretty high up there in rank. He was pulling all kinds of strings. “Thank you.” Secret was relieved she wouldn't have to hitch a ride on the bus on a regular. Her last bus ride would be the one going to pick up her car. “Thanks for doing this for me.” She relaxed her tone a little bit. Even though it was for his own selfish reasons, Detective Davis really was trying to look out for her.

“No, thank you.” Detective Davis paused. “This will more than likely be our last time talking in person. We don't know whether Lucky saw you at the park, if he knows you're out. I can't take the chance of him coming around. I'll call you with details on where to go from here. I imagine here soon Lucky will start coming around again. And you never know; he just might be suspicious of you, watching you. All of this would be for naught if he was to find you out.”

Secret nodded her understanding. There was a little hint of fear in her eyes. Even though Detective Davis was an asshole, she liked the idea of feeling as though he had her back. But now he would be way back.

“Don't worry,” he said, noticing the look on Secret's face. “There are two other sets of eyes keeping a watch on things. It's all going to work out just fine, Secret. It's all going to be just fine. Just do what I tell you to do and trust me.” On that note, Detective Davis exited Secret's apartment.

The sound of Dina waking up out of her sleep with a whine through the baby monitor prevented Secret from standing there wallowing in the miserable hand life had dealt her. She darted up the steps to go see about Dina, none the wiser that sooner rather than later, someone would be coming to see about her too.

 

“So I hear I got me a grandbaby?”

Those were the words Secret heard when she opened her front door.

“Ma.” Secret was stunned. The last person she ever expected to see at her door was Yolanda, her estranged mother. So many things were going through Secret's mind. Was Yolanda friend or foe? Because the last time she'd been in her mother's presence, Yolanda's hands were around Secret's throat. Secondly, how did she even know where Secret lived?

“Shawndiece had given me your address back when you first moved here,” Yolanda said after reading the surprised look on Secret's face. “I was being too bullheaded to reach out to you then.”

“So why now? And why here? You could have reached out to me while I was sleeping on a one-inch mattress in jail.”

Yolanda sucked in her lips and bit down on them. Secret wasn't sure if her mother was biting her tongue to keep from clocking Secret, or if she was feeling regretful.

“Look, the past is the past and ain't shit I can do about it. I come in peace. Heard you were out. Wanted to come see my grandbaby. Figured that even if you won't let me be a mother to you, you'll let me be her grandmother.” She waited for Secret to reply.

“How did you find out I was out of jail?” Secret folded her arms and tapped her foot as she waited.

“Sissy told me she thought she saw you leaving the welfare building when she was coming out of her caseworker's office.” Sissy was Yolanda's next-door neighbor.

Secret nodded. “Well, as you can see, yep, I'm out.”

“She also said you had a baby with you,” Yolanda said. “I take it who she saw was my grandbaby.”

Secret nodded. There was silence. Neither woman was sure what to say or do next. Although she honestly didn't want Yolanda stepping a foot inside her house, neither did Secret want to stand there with the door open all day. After all, this was Secret's mother, the woman who had given birth to her. It just wasn't in Secret to slam the door in the face of the woman whose eyes she had.

“Do you want to come in and see her?” Secret offered. “She's right here.” Secret opened the door so that the bouncer seat Dina was lying in was in full view.

“Can I?” Yolanda lifted her foot to step inside, but didn't allow it to land until Secret had given her the nod of approval. She headed straight over to Dina after Secret stepped to the side.

“Oh, my goodness. Looky here,” Yolanda said, bending over and reaching her hand out to Dina. “A girl, and she looks exactly like you did when you were a baby. I kid you not.” She looked up at Secret, smiled, then turned her attention back to Dina. “Look at gammaw's baby looking like her mommy,” Yolanda cooed.

Secret didn't even realize she was standing there smiling. It really touched her to see Yolanda in such good spirits. The Yolanda who raised her was a cussing, fussing hell raiser to the tenth power. What in the world had happened to her in the past nine months or so since she'd last seen her?

“Can I hold her?” Yolanda asked.

This shocked Secret even more. Yolanda was anything but a baby person. One time one of their neighbors had an emergency with one child and needed someone to watch her eleven-month-old toddler. Secret had listened from her bedroom at Yolanda sending that woman away to ask someone else to help her out. “Sorry, I just don't do other people's kids, and especially babies,” she'd told the woman.

Looked like that was no longer the case.

Although skeptical, in this case the child Yolanda wanted to hold was her own flesh and blood. Always the one to see the glass half full, Secret gave in. “Sure, you can,” Secret told her. She closed the door. “Let me just help you get her out.” Secret walked toward Dina and Yolanda.

“Child, I know how to take a baby out of a bouncy thingy,” Yolanda snapped. “I mean, it's almost been twenty years since I've had to take care of a kid, but I think it's kind of like riding a bike, right?”

Secret shrugged. “I don't know, this is my first.”

“Hmmm, I guess you do have a point there,” Yolanda said. “How about we do it together?”

“Sure. Okay.” Secret bent down and began to help Yolanda unstrap Dina from the bouncer. She kept stealing glances of her mother thinking the entire time,
who is this woman and what has she done with my mother?

“There we go,” Yolanda said, smiling, lifting Dina out of the bouncer and standing up with her. “Hey there, baby girl.” She tapped her finger on Dina's nose. The baby blinked.

“Can't they go cross-eyed or something if you do that?” Secret asked.

“If that were the case, you'd be cross-eyed. I used to do that to you all the time.” Yolanda kept her eyes on the baby, cooing and bouncing her in her arms.

Secret was so surprised at how well Yolanda was being with Dina. She'd never seen this side of her mother, not even when she won $5,000 on a scratch-off ticket. Even then she fussed and cussed about having to pay taxes on it.

“Not so hard, you might wobble her brain or something,” Secret said to all the bouncing Yolanda was doing with Dina.

Yolanda stopped and glared at Secret. “You gon' let me hold my grandbaby or not? You act like I'm going to try to hurt her or something.”

Secret crossed her arms, stood with her right leg planted straight and her left leg stuck out while raising an eyebrow. Everything about her body language screamed, “I wouldn't put it past you.”

“You know what, fuck it, den. Take her.” Yolanda shoved Dina into Secret's arms. “I was just trying to come over here and make amends, but forget it.” Yolanda stormed over to the door mumbling under her breath. “I don't even know why I decided to do this.”

Secret watched her mother, who was clearly hurt by the way Secret was coming at her. All these years Secret had watched Yolanda act mad, she couldn't help but wonder if what she perceived as mad was really sad. Perhaps all along her mother had been hurting inside and this had been her way of hiding it. Secret had been on the other end of being hurt enough times to know that it didn't feel good. The last thing she wanted to do was be the one to cause someone else hurt. “Wait, Ma, I'm sorry,” Secret said as Yolanda went to open the door. “Please don't leave.” Secret looked over to the couch and then extended her arm. “Please sit down.”

Yolanda paused for a moment as if she had to think about whether she wanted to stay. Finally she gave in. “What the hell.” She threw her hands up and walked over to the couch. “I'm here now.” She flopped down.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Secret asked her mother. Yolanda was trying. The least Secret could do was give her some slack.

“You got any beer?” Yolanda asked.

Secret sucked her teeth. “Ma, you know I don't drink and I'm not old enough to buy alcohol even if I did.”

“Well, I ain't know.” Yolanda rolled her eyes.

“I have some pop, juice, bottled water,” Secret offered.

“I'll take a bottled water.”

Secret turned to go into the kitchen but then on second thought, walked over to her mother. “Here, you want to hold her for me?” She extended Dina toward Yolanda.

Yolanda hesitated. “You sure? I might break her or something,” she said sarcastically.

“Ma, please.”

Yolanda smiled and then took the baby into her arms. Secret could hear her cooing at the baby as she cleared the corner into the kitchen. A couple minutes later Secret returned with Yolanda's drink. She set it down on a coaster on the coffee table in front of Yolanda. She then took a seat over in the chair next to the door.

“So, how does it feel being a mother?” Yolanda asked Secret.

“Special,” Secret replied. “It's a feeling I'll never take for granted. Hopefully it's a feeling that will always be with me so that no matter what, I'll always be reminded of how special it is to be a mother, therefore being the best mother that I can possibly be.”

Not sure whether Secret was trying to throw a dig at her, she let it go. “Well, I'll warn you, you've got your hands full. Miller girls are something else.”

“Hmmm, I don't know. I felt like I was a normal kid, thanks to Grandma.”

Clearly, in Yolanda's opinion, that was a dig. “Look, I think I better go.” She scooted to the edge of the couch with the baby. “I just wanted to stop by and see my grandbaby. That's all.” She stood.

“But you haven't even drunk your water.” Secret pointed to the bottle of water.

“I'll take it with me. It's hot out there.”

Secret stood and took the baby out of Yolanda's arms. Yolanda picked up the water bottle and headed to the door.

“Well, you know where I live. If you ever need anything, need me to keep the baby while you work, go out, or do something, just let me know. Call me. My number ain't changed.” Yolanda went to open the door, but it was locked.

Secret unlocked and opened the door for her mother. “Thank you for stopping by. I really do appreciate it.” And Secret really did appreciate the effort her mother was making. Lord knows it took everything in that woman to be cordial for five minutes.

“All right, well like I said, call me if you need me. You still have my number don't you?” Yolanda asked Secret as she stood on the porch.

Secret nodded. Yolanda then walked to her car.

Secret closed the door and then said to herself, “Yeah, I got your number.”