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“Is Jacob coming to see you while you’re sick?”
I pondered what I wanted to say to him. “Do you want him to?” I asked, pretty sure what the answer was going to be.
He enthusiastically nodded. “Mr. Jacob likes you and I want him to come make you smile, but grandma said he better not bring his fancy butt around her no more.”
“Really? Well, can you keep a secret?”
Junior’s eyes got big and he looked excited. “I can. I promise.”
I smiled. “I plan on calling Jacob tomorrow to find out why he hasn’t been over here. I know he wants to see you too.”
Junior clapped. “I won’t tell anyone."
I gently patted his head and he ran out of my bedroom door. Mama told me she didn’t like Jacob, so I figured she was projecting her dislike onto Junior. I didn’t know what the future held for me and Jacob, but I would get closure for my children.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Destiny
Mama Said:
There’d Be Days Like This
Mama handled all of the cooking, cleaning, and errands while I was rebuilding my strength. I didn’t feel bad overall, I just had these nagging headaches that would come anytime I thought about the attack. My arm didn’t hurt much, unless I overexerted myself by washing dishes or doing other extraneous housework. However, the nagging pain in my heart was constant. I missed Jacob.
It was a couple hours before dinnertime and I was doing some light housework. I had on a comfortable pink jogging suit and fuzzy white socks. Mama had on a comfortable green gown, slippers, and her reading glasses hanging off her nose. We were in Montana’s room going through her old clothes when Mama said, “Honey, I need to talk to you about something.”
“Go ahead, shoot,” I said, knowing whatever it was I probably didn’t want to hear. I was tired of the snide remarks she’d thrown around about Jacob over the past week.
“The night you went to the hospital, Jacob came to the hospital saying that you two were engaged,” she started.
I looked up and caught her penetrating gaze. “I told you it was true when I was in the hospital.”
“Chile, I thought you only agreed because you had a head injury. So you are his fiancée?”
“Well, I was. He proposed to me
that night, but I am giving him back his ring.”
“Good. I think that will be your best bet,” Mama said as she folded an old onesie and put it in the pile of clothes we were giving to the thrift store.
“You don’t even know him, Mama,” I said.
“But I know men like Jacob, very well. They will take the best of you, use you up. Then when you are all used up, they will go back to their side of town and live like you never existed,” Mama said as she held one of Montana’s shirts up to her chest.
“I felt that way last week when he didn’t come to visit,” I said in agreement. “My mind tells me that giving his ring back is the right thing to do, but my heart Mama.” I broke eye contact with Mama as I traveled to a faraway place…a place that included me, Jacob and my kids. “My heart tells me that giving him the ring back will be my biggest mistake ever.”
“Oh my poor baby, you are smitten, but you have so much to learn,” Mama said as she put the shirt in a pile and pushed the rest of the clothes aside. “Destiny, listen to your Mama. You’re doing the right thing. Jacob has proven that he doesn’t deserve you. You are the real gem in all of this. Don’t let him or his possessions make you feel anything less than a treasure.”
I threw an old shirt in the pile. “He has never made me feel less than him.”
“Well, that’s just for now. One day, he’ll come to you and tell you that you can’t exist in his world of white power and privilege. He might not say it verbatim but when he tells you, you will remember every stinging word until the day you die. I’m trying to tell you now.” Mama went back to picking up clothes and folding them.
“I just don’t think Jacob is like that.”
“They all are like that!” Mama said, throwing the clothes down on the floor and jumping to her feet. “Can’t you understand? Just let Jacob go before you get hurt, again!”
“Mama, he didn’t know Justine would come to Atlanta and attack me. She is the one that is conniving, not him.”
