Tears began to fall down my cheek. As much as I appreciated everything Yolanda was telling me, she didn’t know everything I had to do to walk that stage. She didn’t know how down bad I was and didn’t have two pennies to give towards my grandmother’s care until after I did what I had to with Mr. L. If she knew the truth, then she wouldn’t be so proud of me.
I cleared my throat and swiped away the tears on my cheeks. “You are a treasure, Yolanda, and I am so grateful that you’ve been here with our family during this rough time. Before I forget, about your payment for next month-”
She playfully scoffed and I knew she was waving a dismissive hand in the air like she always did. “We’ll talk about that later. So, do you want to speak to your grandma?”
“Yes, please.”
“Okay, dear, but just know that she’s having a bit of difficulty with memory today so be prepared-”
“I know, Ms. Yolanda.” I interrupted. I didn’t mean to be rude, but I already knew what to expect.
After a few moments, I heard Yolanda passing the phone to my grandmother.
“Hello?” her fragile voice filled my ears.
“Hey, love bug,” I said, swallowing a fresh batch of tears.
“Ruthie? Why aren’t you in school?”
I briefly closed my eyes and exhaled. Ruth was my great aunt. She was only a few years older than me when she passed away, but my nana still thought she was alive.
“Girl, I graduated yesterday!”
“What! Get out of here. Are you serious?”
“Yes ma’am. I am officially done with college.”
“Shit, I’m sorry I didn’t make it sis. It must’ve slipped my mind.”
My heart ached as I finally allowed the tears to run down my face. “It-it’s okay, love. I knew you were there with me in spirit. Besides, I recorded it for you so you can watch it.”
My grandma huffed out a small chuckle. “I knew you would. I can’t wait to see you Ruth. My daughter, Delilah has been acting up again, but my baby girl Addison has been my sunshine. She’s so sweet and smart, just like you. I reckon she’s about to graduate, too.”
A soft sob escaped my lips, causing me to quickly cover my mouth.
“What’s wrong, Ruth?” My grandma asked, her voice laced with concern.
“N-nothing, beautiful. I’m just so happy to hear that Addison’s doing so well.”
“Oh yeah! She’s been working hard at school and doing everything she can to keep me comfortable at home. I just pray that her mom comes around and finally get to know her. I mean, she has an amazing daughter and she’s missing out on so much. Anyway, what else you been up to sis? Any new beaux after your hand?”
I shook my head in laughter. “No, not quite. Well, there is this one man that wants me, but he just wants to use me because I’m still a virgin. I’ve tried to get away from him, but he has people following me and I don’t know what to do.”
“Ruth! I thought I told you to stay away from assholes like that.”
“I know I know. It’s just, he’s helped me with a few financial situations, but now he feels like he owns me.”
“That’s usually how they work. I’ve run across men like that back in my day, but luckily, I had Ernest there to scare them off. You remember how he used to snatch up them jokers by the throat every time one of them eyed me longer than three seconds?”
“What? You’ve never told me that grandp- I mean, Ernest got down like that.”
“Oh, yeah! Ernest lived by the rules of the streets. As the leader of the Reapers, he had to. He handled business and took out anybody that got in his way.”
My mouth hung opened as my grandmother continued explaining how my grandpa used to leave niggas bloodied up to protect her. I don’t remember much about him, but what I could recall was that Grandpa Ernest was always so sweet and gentle with me. He used to take me down to the convenient store and by me ice cream before taking us to the lake to go fishing. Never in all my twenty years of living did I suspect him to be a cold blooded killer. Hell, I didn’t know he was the leader of a major group back home.
“See, that’s who you need by your side, Ruth.” my grandmother continued. “Get you somebody who doesn’t mind sending a few bullets through his enemies to protect you. We wanted Delilah to marry within the crew, but she was to busy chasing after some knuckle head named Rico.”
“Rico?”
