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Symphony was only sixteen and her focus was on school as it should have been. What the fuck was Aunt Rachel thinking? My speed accelerated as my anger grew. It took me about fifteen minutes before I pulled up in front of their house, and sure enough, Symphony was sitting outside with nothing but her phone in her hand, tears on her face, and the clothes on her back.
I kept the car running and got out. The first thing I did was give her a hug. She cried on my chest for a while before thanking me for coming. I told her that we would get a few of her things before we left. Aunt Rachel had the right to want her out, but she wasn’t going to leave her with nothing. I knocked and waited for her to answer, and when she did, I told her to let us in so Symphony could get whatever she needed. Aunt Rachel didn’t give me any argument, which I was glad about.
I’d learned, it was easier to show your ass when there wasn’t an audience around that you didn’t want to see the real you.
It took everything inside of me not to question her, only because I felt like it wasn’t my place. I would let Uncle George handle her. He’d moved to Rose Valley Hills after their divorce. Custody was split between them, and Symphony spent weekends and holidays with him since she went to school here.
When Symphony walked into the hallway with three bags and puffy eyes, I grabbed all of them as I shook my head. She avoided her mother’s eyes as she walked out, and I couldn’t imagine how hard this was for her. After putting her things in the trunk, I got in the car and asked her if she needed to stop anywhere before we went back to my house. Her head shook as she stared out of the window.
“Are you hungry?”
“I’m good, cuz. I am a little thirsty.”
“Okay. I’ll stop you by Sonic.” That made her smile. She loved their Ocean Water.
“Thanks. Daddy called me back. He wants you to call him.”
“Cool.” As I headed down the street, I called Unc.
He answered almost immediately with, “Mecca, nephew, thank you for going to get my girl.”
“Of course. You know she’s my girl too.”
“I can’t believe Rachel put her out. I’m doing one-twenty on my way there and she better hope I don’t stop by her place before I get to yours.”
I chuckled as I lowered the volume on my phone, grateful I hadn’t put the call on Bluetooth. “Come straight to us, please, and slow down. I don’t want to have to bail you out or handle your case before we get this taken care of.”
He laughed, but it trembled, and it was because he was trying to maintain his composure.
“You right, nephew. I’ll be there in three hours.”
“There’s no rush, Unc. She can stay with me tonight if necessary and you can too if you’ll be too tired to drive home.”
He released a hard breath. “I was nine hours into my twelve-hour shift, that’s why I couldn’t answer her calls. I know she doesn’t want to miss school, but I’ma have to bring her back with me.”
“Well, she can stay here throughout the week, Unc, it’s really no trouble at all.”
“Are you sure? Because that would help me out a lot.”
“Of course.”
“Thank you. I’m still going to come and see her tonight and I’ll leave when she goes to school in the morning. I’ll pick her up from your place Friday.”
“Sounds good.”
“A’ight. I’ll see y’all soon.”
“A’ight, Unc.”
After disconnecting the call, I asked Symphony if she wanted to talk about it yet and she said no. I agreed, but wanted to confirm the sex was consensual before Uncle George got here and she said it was. If she’d been violated, I wouldn’t be able to stop him or myself and the rest of the men in our family from going after whoever had done it. I grabbed her drink from Sonic before going back home.
Once I had her settled in the guest room, I went to my room and tried to process my thoughts. She was triggering me and taking me back to Shalom and I would need to separate the two while she was here. I couldn’t let my anger toward how Shalom handled our situation influence the way I talked to and treated Sym… especially since I didn’t know if she was going to keep her baby or not. Regardless of what she chose, I would support Symphony all the way.
* * *
Unc had arrived and talked to Symphony. She told him that she didn’t want to talk much like she’d told me, and he understood. This was a lot for both of them. She did make it clear that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to keep the baby and that the father was a boy she was in a relationship with. Unc wanted to meet him this weekend, which I offered to be there for.
When Sym said she wanted to keep the baby, I reached out to Amelia for OB/GYN recommendations. She hadn’t gone to the doctor yet because she was in denial, but she had been having symptoms. Her stomach was hard and she looked a little bloated but not pregnant, so she couldn’t have been too far along.
