I knew it was fucking up his mental, but he was trying to keep everything together for his brother. His daddy was supposed to stop by this evening so they could make the final arrangements, so I went to the kitchen to start dinner. Lucky invited everyone, including Merci. He wanted to be surrounded by family during this time. I was nervous about how this was going to end being the small details he would tell me about his dad.
Merci arrived at six to help me finish up everything. Lucky still hadn’t come out of his office from earlier. I would peek in to see if he needed anything and he would be on the phone or pacing the floor. Merci set the table while I got all the food on ready to be served. I should’ve listened to Lucky when he told me to hire a chef, but I wanted to cook on my own and now I was tired as hell and dinner hadn’t started yet. Perc had now made it, and the awkwardness hit the room like a ton of bricks. Merciwas going on about her business like he wasn’t in the room. At the moment, Merci, Perc, and his daughter were at my house. It was the safest place. Thing between them were not good and it caused an uneasiness between all of us.
Lucky sat at the head of the table with his face in his phone. That was something he never did. Lately, he held on to his phones like his life depended on it. Perc sat across from Merci with his daughter in his lap, staring a hole in her while she tried to carry on a conversation with me that I was not listening to. I just occasionally nodded my head because I knew what she was doing. Everyone stopped what they were doing when the doorbell went off. I hadn’t met Lucky’s mom or dad. My stomach was getting upset from my nerves. I was too old to try to get a muthafucka to like me but at the same time, first impression was everything. My heart stopped when I watched the man that I thought was my father walk into my dining room.
“Everyone this is the man my mother married,” Lucky said before sitting down.
Merci looked at me and back at him. I just knew I was about to explode because I asked him to introduce his children to us, but he refused. He took his hat off and sat at the other end of the table. How could I not see the resemblance in him and Lucky? They looked just a fucking like. This shit was sickening. If he was my father, I would’ve been married and pregnant by my damn brother.
“Is this the type of sick fucking game you like to play?” I asked him. Lucky looked at me to make sure I wasn’t talking to him. “For twenty-eight years you portrayed to be my fucking father and now this shit. I worshipped the ground you walked on, but now I know you just a piece of fucking shit. You dragged my mother through hell and because of it, we both were fucked up,” I pointed at me and Merci.
“You don’t get to tell me shit. I raised both of y’all knowing neither of you belonged to me. Don’t think because you with his ass now that you can pop off at the only nigga that ever loved you. Like I said, I made you and you owe me,” he said.
“She don’t owe your ass shit, nigga. If you think you gon’ come in my muthafucka house and talk to my wife like that you got me fucked up. I never liked your punk ass for how you married my mama but could never be in our lives. All that tipping in and out and now I know what the fuck you was doing. The only reason you here is because of that marriage license you got with my mama. I don’t need your input at all ‘cause me and Perc got this shit under control like we been doing,” Lucky stated.
“Y’all punk ass really think shit sweet. All four of y’all sitting at this table was made by me. I may not have biologically had the girls, but my hustle runs through their veins. As for you two muthafuckas, you are making money because of me. Y’all gon’ respect me as I sit as this table, break bread, and try to figure out how to bury my wife.”
The tears burned my eyes hearing him say his wife. My mama was probably home drinking herself to sleep while he sat here across from my husband talking about his wife.
“No disrespect to your mama Lucky and Perc but the only woman you should be worried about is my fucking mama,” Merci said. “She ran off to be with my crackhead daddy because you were sleeping around with their mama. None of this shit would’ve happened to me if you were home where you were supposed to be.”
“I was home dammit,” he slammed his hand on the table. “Your fucking mama got with me knowing I didn’t want to be with her. She did everything in her power to get me and when she got me, I couldn’t leave because she was pregnant with you, Blessyn. Lucky was already born, so you see, I was home.Y’all was never home. I did grow to love her, but my wife still remained first.”
Hearing all of this made me lose my appetite. I knew this was a bad idea, but the funeral had to go on and the only way to get the ball rolling was to get them under the same roof. I never thought it would’ve been my supposedly father. I excused myself from the table and went to my room so I could change my clothes. Lucky came in behind me and shut the door.
“I had no fucking idea,” his tone apologetic.
“It’s cool. I’m glad he’s not my father. That bastard meant the world to me. He’s nothing like I thought he was when I was a little girl.”
“Don’t let this upset you and the baby. We about to go in my office and talk this shit out. You and Merci grab a plate and go sit outside by the pool. Both of y’all need to eat. I’ll have him out of here in no time.”
The quicker we could come to an agreement, the quicker I could get his ass out of my house. Perc wasn’t saying shit to him and neither was I. All three of us were just sitting in my office silent. I lit my blunt and put my feet up on my desk. I had everything laid out the way me and Perc wanted it. My father was the one that didn’t agree. He was about to deal with what we had or bury her himself and we both knew he couldn’t afford it.
“This all I’mma say, mama, getting buried in white. Her casket will be closed for obvious reason. We’ll have it at my grandmother’s church, and she’ll be buried next to grandma. That’s it,” I said with finality.
“We have a plot that we were going to get buried in,” my father stated. “It was right next to each other.”
“Nigga I checked on that shit and it ain’t been paid for, so they put somebody else there. You wanna go dig they ass up so my mama can get in that spot?” I asked him. “You got a lot to say with no fucking money to give. Let me and my brother handle this shit, and you just pop up like you been doing.”
“She was my wife. I don’t give a damn how y’all feel about me, but I loved her and this shit is fucking with me.”
“Oh, yea? Then how the fuck you still over there with your mistress?” Perc asked. “If you were home with your wife, she would still be alive right?”
My father looked away and stared off into space. I didn’t give a fuck about his feelings. I wanted him out of my house. My decision was final. He could show or he could not. It didn’t matter. The sooner I got my mama in the ground and found out who did this, the better I would feel, and I could get my life back to normal. It would never fully be normal again but it damn sure will be close.
“My decision is final. The funeral will be this Saturday. She’s been out long enough waiting for you. If you’re not happy with our decision, you can gladly front the money and bury her your way and we’ll show up,” I eyed him.
“Do what the fuck y’all wanna do.” He grabbed his shit and exited out of my office. I knew this was the last time I was going to ever lay eyes on him again. The next time I saw him; he was going to be dead.
“Have you heard anything?” Perc asked.
“Last I heard it was Big Bank people. Nobody knows anything else. He didn’t have a solid crew so once she gets in the ground, niggas will get to talking. It was a messy ass job, and we know for a fact an amateur did it. We just gotta find out who.”
“This shit really been fucking with me. It’s hard being under the same roof with Merci and we not talking. She doesn’t even fuck with my daughter.”
“Damn she don’t fuck with my niece?”
“Nah, she loves her she just doesn’t wanna deal with Lexus.”
