Shaneeka pulled open her front door and let her girl, Imani, into her apartment.
Imani laughed as Shaneeka's son rushed over to her and wrapped his chubby little arms around her legs. She picked the toddler up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “How auntie's little man doing today? Your mama been spoiling you like I told her to?”
Shaneeka rolled her eyes at her bestie and smiled. “Those terrible twos got him tearing up around here, boo. He been running me ragged. But he's my heart, so I'm not gonna complain too much.” Then her smile turned into a frown. “Too bad I can't say the same thing about his daddy.” She shook her head. “I swear, whenever I’m mad at Mike — like I am right now — every time I look at Ty, I get a little upset.
Their butts look so much alike. My son always remind me of his daddy. They got the same ears and that same lopsided smile.”
Shaneeka paused for a few seconds. Then she sighed. “Real talk, I used to not understand it when people would tell me about some females taking ish out on their kids 'cause they looked like they're trifling-tail fathers. Now I do.” Her frown deepened. “I’d never lay my hands on my son — because he's my heart. But like I said, I can understand how something like that would happen for some women.”
“You still haven't heard from, Mike?”
It had been a whole week since the day that Mike had stormed out of her front door. Shaneeka shook her head. “Nope. Not a phone call, not a text...nothing.”
Imani couldn’t help but think to herself: Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Mike dropped off the face of the earth. That hold that he has on my girl might just disappear with him.
Right then, Imani wanted to tell Shaneeka that she could do much better than Mike, but she knew better than saying anything uncomplimentary about the fool at the particular moment — that’s because Shaneeka didn't like people saying negative things about Mike in front of Tyreeq. Imani frowned. She keeps telling people she wants her son to have a positive view of his father. Her son’s father is gonna have to actually do something positive in order for that to happen.
“I think Mike is fooling around on me, Imani. I went by his mama house looking for him and he’s not staying with her. I went by Kevin’s place and he’s not there.” Shaneeka shook her head. “According to Kevin, he doesn’t know where Mike is. Something’s telling me that Kevin is just covering for his boy. That he don’t want to tell me that Mike done found himself another girl and he’s crashing at her crib.”
At that point, Shaneeka sighed. “You don’t even have to respond to any of that, ‘cause I already know how you feel about Mike and what you’re thinking. I probably should go ahead and drop the subject before it ruins our dinner date this evening. Can you keep an eye on Tyreeq for a minute? I’m gonna run into my bedroom real quick and grab my purse so we can leave.”
Imani was glad that her girl had decided to change the subject. She would’ve hated to have to tell Shaneeka what was really on her mind about her so-called boyfriend. She switched her godson over to her other hip. “Sure thing, Neek. I’ll look after Ty for a few minutes.” Then she tickled the toddler’s belly and made him laugh. “Ty likes hanging out with me anyway. Don’t you, Tyreeq? I can’t wait till your mama needs herself some ‘me’ time again. Then I’m gonna get to keep you overnight. Outside of my mama, you two are my favorite people.”
As she made her way back towards her bedroom to retrieve her purse, Shaneeka couldn’t help but think to herself that she was indeed blessed to have a friend like Imani in her life. My girl’s always there for me. She always got my back.
<<<<<>>>>>
An hour and a half later, Shaneeka and Imani had finished eating their meal at Karonda’s Mexican Grill. As the two ladies were walking towards the exit doors with Tyreeq in tow, they didn't hear Shaneeka’s cousin, Keisha, calling Shaneeka's name — because the baby was crying.
Keisha normally went out to eat at fast food places like McDonald's or Pizza Hut. But her girlfriend, Peaches, had just won five grand on a scratch-off lotto ticket, so she was treating Keisha and their other friend, Niecey, to a real sit-down dinner.
Always a little on the petty side, Niecey began snickering. “Dang Keisha, your cousin just dissed you, boo. I know she heard you calling her name. She walked right past your ass like you was a nobody. Like you didn't exist.”
Peaches nodded her head in agreement to what Niecey had just said. “Yep. I guess now that she done moved up in life, she don't know us.” She gave Keisha some side eye. “I thought you said y’all was tight.”
Keisha didn’t even try to stop the scowl from coming onto her face. “We used to be tight, but y’all know how some people are. She call herself family, but that trick wouldn’t even let me hold on to fifty dollars when I asked her to loan it to me last month. Fifty little damn dollars for my light bill — just ‘cause I didn’t pay her everything I owed her from when I borrowed a hundred bucks from her over two years ago.” She sucked her teeth. Her ass shoulda just gave me the money in appreciation of me not telling Mike about that skanky shit that went down in that hotel room. She got a good job. She wouldn’t have missed fifty bucks.
Peaches shook her head. “That’s messed up how she treating you, boo.”
“Yeah. I know.”
<<<<<>>>>>
Keisha had Shaneeka on her mind the entire time that she was driving in her old hoopty on her way back to the apartment in the hood that she shared with her mama. All the windows in her Honda Accord were rolled down because it was an unusually hot spring day and she didn't have any air conditioning — it had gone out on her two years ago. “I bet Shaneeka ass is sitting in ice cold AC in her Lexus just about now,” she whispered under her breath. “She ain't gotta worry about the hot wind whipping her in the face. The stale city air choking her up.”
She’d almost made it home, but at the last minute she decided to take a detour. Mike be hanging out with C-Dirty and them. I think I'm about to have myself a little talk with that boy. I'm about to bring little Miss Fancy Pants down a peg or two.
She parked her car along the curb and got out. She didn’t bother to lock it or roll the windows up because she already knew nobody wanted to steal anything out of her piece of crap ride.
When C-Dirty’s front door was pulled open by his head goon named Tank, Keisha had only rang the doorbell one time. Six foot two with the body of a linebacker, Tank shook his head and told Keisha in a cold voice, “C-Dirty told us not to let you back up in his crib. His girl ain't feeling you being around.”
Keisha had known that C-Dirty had used to have a crush on her back in the day. So when she’d needed the fifty bucks and Shaneeka wouldn't give it to her, she'd gone to C-Dirty and asked for a small loan — that’s because along with being a drug dealer, C-Dirty was also the neighborhood loan shark. He'd given her the money — he’d actually given her more than the fifty bucks — he’d given her three hundred. But getting those dollars had come at a price — she'd had to let him dip his fingers in her honeypot in exchange for it.
Keisha frowned at Tank. “I’m not here to see C-Dirty, fool. I wanna talk to Mike. I know he be hanging out here sometimes. Is he around?”
“Wait a minute. I’ll see if he wanna come out and holla at you.”
Keisha shook her head. He could’ve at least asked me to come in so I could get out of this hot ass sun. I already told him I ain’t trying to mess with C-Dirty this time. Some niggas ain’t got no manners at all.
“What you want, shorty? Shaneeka send you over here looking for me?”
Keisha could definitely see what her cousin saw in Mike. At almost six feet with muscles popping out everywhere and the face of a male model, Mike, was fine. He was a young Tyson Beckford type of fine.
“Naw, man. Shaneeka didn’t send me over here. By the time I finish telling you about what I came here to say, she probably gonna wish I hadn’t run through though.”
Mike didn't have too much time for foolishness. “What are you talking about, Keisha?”
“Where can we go and talk in private? I'm sure you're not gonna want to have your business all out in the open.”
“C-Dirty got a patio around back by the pool. We can head back there. Let's go.”
<<<<<>>>>>
An Hour Later:
When Shaneeka heard keys jingling outside her front door she could tell from the familiar sound of them that it was Mike coming home. She knew she should’ve been happy that he’d decided to come back, but she wasn't. We have a whole lot to talk about when he steps foot through that door in a few seconds. I know he’s been stepping out on me. There's gonna have to be some changes happening around here. He's gonna have to start taking our relationship a little bit more serious. He’s gonna have to be ready to change into a better man for me and his son.
The second Mike stepped into her apartment and closed the door behind himself Shaneeka said, “So you finally decided to come back home, huh?” She pointed towards the sofa. “I need you to have a seat, Mike. We need to have a talk.”
When he looked over at her, Shaneeka noticed that Mike's eyes had a cold, hostile look in them that she'd never seen there before. He pinned her with those cold eyes and said, “Damn right we need to have a talk. Your whorish, trifling little ass need to explain to me why you been lying to me the last three years about Ty being mine!”
“What are you talking about, Mike? Ty is your son.”
He let out a harsh little bark of laughter. “My son?! Are you for real?! I just finished talking to Keisha and she told me everything damn thing! You been running ‘round here carrying that Bible of yours talking about Jesus and God. Then behind my back you been letting strangers all up in your ratchet hole. Getting drunk, getting high and having orgies in hotel rooms with complete strangers!”
Shaneeka felt as if her whole world was caving in around her shoulders. She felt hot tears begin to sting the back of her eyes. “But he’s yours, Mike! Ty is yours! I admit that I had too much to drink and I made a mistake that night three years ago. But I’m sure I was pregnant with your kid before any of that happened! You gotta believe me on that!”
He shook his head. “I’ll believe a DNA test. That’s what I’ll believe. Not your whorish ass. We over with, Shaneeka.”
<<<<<>>>>>
Forty-five Minutes Later:
It was days like this that made Shaneeka wish that she still drank. She knew that a half bottle of wine would take the edge off of some of the pain she was feeling. She didn’t even want to get up to answer her doorbell when she heard it ringing — even though she knew it was Imani at the door. It took some effort, but she forced herself up off of her sofa and let her girl in.
“Hey, boo. I’m glad we didn’t have dessert at the restaurant. They wanted to charge twelve bucks for two little slices of cake. I just picked us up two slices of red velvet from that bakery off of Peachtree for two dollars per slice. It’s quiet in here, so you must’ve finally gotten Ty down for his nap.”
Imani breezed into Shaneeka's living room and placed the desserts on her coffee table. Then she finally noticed that something was off. She frowned. “Whoa...you been crying. What's wrong, Shaneeka?”
Shaneeka shook her head. “He knows everything, Imani. Keisha told him.”
“Who knows everything, honey? And what is everything?”
Shaneeka swallowed past the lump in her throat. She felt like crying a fresh set of tears. “Mike knows everything. He and I are never gonna get married. For some reason, Keisha told him about what happened at that hotel the night she and I got wasted and sexed that guy.”
Imani immediately gave her girl a hug. “I'm so sorry, boo. Lord knows I’m sorry for you. I know how much you wanted Mike to eventually marry you.”
“He wants a DNA test. But I know in my heart that Ty is his. I prayed and prayed on it. God put it in my spirit that my son would have a father in his life. I believe in the message I got from God, Imani.”
Imani took both of Shaneeka's hands into hers. “Honey, I know you really do believe in that message. But what if you got it wrong? What if God promised you a father for Tyreeq, but the father that he was promising you wasn't Mike? What if all along, God wants to send you a good man who will love both you and your son? A man who will claim Tyreeq as his, even though they’re not biologically related?”
She gave Shaneeka’s hands a tiny squeeze. “Being a father is more than fertilizing an egg with sperm. James Tolliver wasn’t my biological dad, but when he married my mama, he became the best father in the world to and for me. Like you, I never knew the man who impregnated my mama. But I love the man who stepped up and raised me as his own. He’s my father in every sense of the word.”
Imani paused for but a moment to let her words sink in. Then she said, “Psalms 68 tells us that God is a father to the fatherless. God never puts the individual seed into anybody’s womb, but he makes himself a father to the fatherless. You can look at a stepfather for Ty in the same way.”
Shaneeka heard everything her girl was telling her, but she was still convinced that she’d had it right. She was convinced that Mike was her son’s biological dad. I just have to keep up my faith that someway, some how, everything will turn out alright in the end. Mike’s my son’s dad.