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Wow! Wow! Wow! Kelvin wouldn’t be home anytime soon. How would he fair in an institution? He never attempted more than a detoxing program over the years, not even when theLeaguebegged him. Could Kelvin share space with strangers? Take orders from others?
“And watch your friends.” Rachel was all in my face at this point. Friends? What friends did I have that needed to be watched? I didn’t discuss my Kelvin shit with anyone but my therapist. “I’m hearing some weird shit with people being fake…having an agenda with your man, girl—”
“What’re you in here talking about with your big ass mouth?” Marcia was at the opening of the dining room, neck a shade of flaming burgundy. “You think we can’t hear you?” She threw her index finger into the air.
Kelly-Ann was on Marcia’s heels, into the room. The woman moved faster than she ever did at home. “I’m not afraid of anybody! I’ll say my shit straight to her face if I need to!”
My brows met. “Then what do you need to say, Kelly-Ann?”
She rounded her sister, coming farther into the room. “Alls I said was you should’ve been in that courtroom on Monday! You’re his wife. The judge looks at things like that! You didn’t even get him a lawyer!” Her tone was defensively high, but I could tell Kelly-Ann meant those words from her core.
“Why would I be there?”
“Because you’re his wife!” Marcia repeated.
“The wife he’s stolen from? The wife he berates? The wife he doesn’t respect? The wife who’s about to pay out her ass for that last accident on school property?”
“He’s sick! Okay?” Kelly-Ann argued. “It’s a mental health issue!”
“Okay.” I closed my laptop. “A mental health issue he’s had all of our marriage. That’s eight years, Kelly-Ann! So, why is the first time he’s doing a residential program it’s because it’s court-ordered?”
“It has to be when he’s ready!” Marcia answered.
“Yeah,” the oldest Nelson agreed. “You know how this goes, Lennox. The poor boy is addicted to drugs! It’s not his fault. That first accident messed him up, and those doctors prescribed meds too strong for his system. Where’s your compassion?”
“Where was yours when you caught him in her room the other day stealing that diamond necklace?” Rachel demanded to know. “Had theAndretta’sbox and all!”
My jaw fell. She’d seen Kelvin steal my jewelry?
“That’s it!” Marcia slapped the table with her hands. “She’s coming back home. She’s too old for this shit, Lennox! What did you expect her to do? Fight him for it? The woman’s disabled!”
“Have I treated her harshly?” My pulse began to race, this whole scenario catching me off guard. “I’ve never mistreated you. Never disrespected you.”
“It’s about what you’ve done to my son!”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You! You emasculated him! At first, you just kept to yourself when you moved down here. I guess you weren’t happy when he was off, busy playing basketball. Then, when you called up North to your hoodlum daddy, and him and his homies came and attacked Kelvin like that…whatcha think was gonna happen to him as a man?”
I needed to get this straight. “Are you blaming me for your son’s behavior?”
“Yes! Yes, I am, Lennox. You young girls think alls you gotta do is be pretty. Then, when the man falls on hard times, he’s the only one to blame. Yeah; you got a job. A good one. But then, you think you’re all high and mighty. What kind of man wants that in his woman? What good do you bring to the man? He don’t even sleep in the bed with you. Ain’t never really! You know how awful of a wife you gotta be for a man not to wanna come to your bed?”
Her words hit like acid. “Excuse me?”
“You’re cold, Lennox! Your friends say it, too,” Marcia announced.
“To him!” Kelly-Ann qualified.
She had to. I’d always been kind to her. I’d had my issues with her lack of support for her son’s accountability, but never treated her badly. All this time she’d been kicking my back in to her sisters.
My pulse wouldn’t slow, and now my mouth was dry. I wanted to go. My first thought was Scott. He was off with his cousins, and wouldn’t be back for hours, likely. Perhaps that was a good thing. I didn’t need him hearing this or seeing me leave. Grabbing my things from the table and chair to the right of me, I struggled to keep calm.
“Are you married?” I asked Kelly-Ann. “Are you?” that next one was for Marcia. “Have you ever been married?”
“What does this have to do with how you treat her son? My nephew?” Marcia asked.
“She’s doing the best she can with no support!” Rachel argued on my behalf.
