Kai was Aunt Sonya’s ex who faked his death. That nigga was crazy. He was now living life as Nathaniel, but it was hard for the family to remember to call him Nathaniel. When he revealed to everyone that he was alive, it was a whole shit stormbetween him, Aunt Sonya, and Uncle Shawn, mainly because Uncle Shawn knew the entire time and had helped him fake his death . . . Uncle Shawn and my dad.
“Oh okay.”
“Her dad was one of the men that repeatedly raped me. I got pregnant from him, and my mama forced me to have an abortion. Because of that abortion going terribly wrong, I had to have a hysterectomy. That’s why I couldn’t have children,” she said suddenly.
My lips parted as my eyebrows lifted. I couldn’t respond right away. I knew my mama had suffered sexual abuse as a kid. She told me that about ten years ago. She had also told me about her parents and how her mother was basically pimping her out for her next fix. I didn’t know how she survived so much abuse and became as successful as she was.
That was something that also explained why she spoiled me so much. She wanted to be sure she showed her child the love she never received from her mother. When she told me all that, we spent the entire next day together, going to the spa, the movies, and dinner. I wanted to cater to her after knowing how much she’d suffered throughout her life.
“Mama . . . damn. How does it affect you knowing that I’m biologically his grandson?”
“I don’t think about it that way, Graham. You’re Karen’s son. I never connected her to that pedophile. She was really nice in school. When she knew what had happened to me, she hugged me so tight. Her mom and dad broke up about it, because my mama called their house talking about how he’d gotten me pregnant.”
She slowly shook her head. “Damn. Super coincidental you ended up with me then, right?”
She shook her head. I frowned for a moment. I didn’t know where this was going, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“We didn’t go through the state like I told you. Your mom did get raped by your dad after she came home from the hospital. Her mental was so fucked up after that. She thought about me and wondered how I could have handled that as a child when she was struggling as a grown ass woman. She called me, and we worked out an agreement. She gave up her parental rights, and we adopted you. Your father was locked up.”
“So she had me for four months?”
“Yeah. She was struggling so bad. She knew she wouldn’t be able to take care of you with the way she was. Her mom was strung out on the streets, so she didn’t have any help. She knew I couldn’t have children and would take care of you like I carried you myself.”
I closed my eyes. I put my arm around my mama and retreated within myself for a moment. My bio mom went through hell. Her lying to me didn’t bother me. I was sure that was a story they’d come up with. I knew she lied to protect my mama.
“Does Dad know?”
“He does. I didn’t want to keep that from him and it blow up in my face. We had history of me keeping things from him. We almost didn’t make it because of that. I vowed from that day that I wouldn’t withhold shit from him anymore. I didn’t tell him I couldn’t have kids until we were engaged. I actually led him to believe that we would one day have a baby. I was such a fool . . . a few times in my life.”
“It’s okay. Ain’t none of us perfect. If we were, life would be boring as hell.”
She lifted her head and chuckled. “I’m glad that you went and talked to Karen. She deserves a relationship with you. I’m glad you met Kimaji so she could figure things out. Karen didn’t want to reach out until you expressed an interest in knowing who she was. When you never did, she gave up ever hearing from you.”
“Yeah. Had it not been for Kimaji, I still wouldn’t know her. She’s going to cook dinner for me for my birthday. It would be cool if you and dad could go with us.”
She smiled slightly. “I would love to. I was so grateful to her for thinking of me and wanting to be a blessing to me. You are a true blessing, baby.”
I nodded as she stood, then thought about my life. My biological father raped my bio mom. That was probably the genes in me showing out when I grabbed my dick in front of Aunt Sonya all those years ago. I slid my hand down my face as I thought about it. I was so glad my dad did what he did. Had he not let me know how both of us had him fucked up, there was no telling how I would have turned out. Those creep vibes would have elevated into whatever the fuck was running through him.
When she came back, she had a glass of wine for herself and a glass of something strong for me. I could smell it. She’d sworn off hard liquor because of medication she was on. I sniffed it, and asked, “What’s this?”
“Crown Black.”
“That’ll work.”
She chuckled then took a sip of her wine. “When are we having dinner?”
“This weekend for my birthday.”
It seemed the levee broke at that very moment. My mama broke down, crying hard. I hadn’t seen her that way since her father died years ago. I set my glass on the coffee table and held her.
“She gave me her greatest love. I will never forget that. She’s been carrying you in her heart for all these years. I should have told you the truth sooner. She was willing to totally lose you to appease me and try to make up for what her father did to me. God . . .”
I lifted my head for a moment, trying to restrain my tears. I hated seeing my mama this way. There was so much trauma between the two of them. They both became successful women despite that. Mama telling me this only made me want to spend as much time as possible getting to know Karen . . . my mama.
When the door opened, my mama quickly stood and went to the bathroom. My dad came around the corner, and said, “What’s up?”
“Hey, Dad.”
