Trey
I walked back downstairs to see all of our house guests except for Aunt Sandy sitting in the living room watching TV silently.
"Everybody good now?" I asked looking around.
"Trey, I'm sorry that I disrespected you and Cyn's house by cursing my aunt out..." Hen started.
I held up my hand up interrupting her, "Hen, you live here too. If you feel like she was out of pocket, then that's what it is. You ain't gotta apologize to me."
She nodded, "I appreciate you saying that."
"Do we need to have a private conversation? Cause I do want to know what all of that was about." I admitted.
She held her head back and fanned her eyes to keep herself from crying.
"We'll just give yall a minute." Rebecca, one of their cousins from NYC that was visiting said standing up.
"Right," my mama said getting up too, "we'll be outside if you need us."
Everyone else in the room followed suit and followed them outside leaving me, Hennessy, and Bully.
Hen sighed, "So where should I start? What exactly do you wanna know?"
"Clearly both of you have an issue with your father. What's up with that?" I asked.
She shook her head and laughed weakly, "Where do I even start?"
She took a few moments to get herself together before she explained how abusive her father was to her, Cyn, and their mother growing up.
Their parents were unhappily married for thirteen years. Hen said her dad was a heroin addict as well as an alcoholic who made their lives hell. Most of their smaller childhood years, he only abused the mother, occasionally choking her out to where she almost died, blacking her eyes, even breaking her jaw one time because he assumed she was messing around on him.
The story was awful but it got worse when she started to speak about the things he started to do to them the older they got. She told me about the time he beat Cyn with a two by four when she made her first B in school. Then she told me about the time he had slapped her unconscious when he found out she'd kissed a boy for the first time. To top it all off, she mentioned that one night, he'd come home high and drunk and sexually assaulted Cyn, thinking that she was their mother after walking in the wrong bedroom. It was that night that their mom decided to leave and moved in with Aunt Sandy. After being at Sandy's for a week, the mom came home from work and found the dad in bed with her, so at that point they moved into a women's shelter for a month before she was able to afford a place of her own. Although their mom ended up forgiving Sandy and dealing with her occasionally, she never forgave him and placed an indefinite restraining order on him.
Since that day he'd basically made Cyn have sex with him, the girls had never seen him again...until today.
As she spoke, I got more and more pissed, livid even. My entire body was shaking at the mere thought of him forcing himself on her.
Cyn was my baby and even though all of that happened way before she knew me, I felt the need to protect her. I wished I had known all of this when his ass was here, I would've killed him.
Now it made sense why Cyn never wanted to see him and why she didn't really like her Aunt Sandy. She'd gone through something so traumatic, she probably would never be able to get over it and I didn't blame her.
"Wow, this is some crazy shit." I said shaking my head.
Bully remained silent as he held her as she tried to get herself together.
Hennessy always prided herself on being a tough cookie, so to see her breaking down like this over their dad made me feel awful for both her and Cyn.
"I'm so sorry that yall had to go through that. I promise though that he's never gonna hurt either one of you again. Trey and I would die before we let him get close to either one of you ever again." Bully said to her still hugging her.
"And that's real shit." I told her touching her knee sympathetically.
She finally sat up and exhaled, "I'm so sorry. This day was supposed to be such a happy day for us, especially you and Cyn and now it's ruined."
"It's cool; it's not your fault. Your sister did tell me to ask your aunt to leave though. Where is she?"
Hen rolled her eyes, "I guess she's down the hall in one of the guest rooms."
I sighed and stood preparing myself to tell her she had to go. I didn't want to be in the middle of their family drama, but I had to do what my girl asked me to.
I finally found her in one of the guest rooms packing her things. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as I thought.
She looked up and noticed me, "Don't worry, you don't have to put me out. I'm leaving on my own recognizance."
I sighed, "I'm sorry about all this, I'm just trying to keep the peace for my girl. She's housing my little man so I gotta make sure she's good at all times. I'm sure you understand that."
She nodded and smiled, "Of course I do. I'm upset that everything went down the way that it did, but I understand, trust me I do."
"Cool, well I'll leave you to it. Hopefully one day we can all look back on this day and laugh because we'll be so far removed from it."
She shook her head, "I don't think so Trey. Those girls are so scarred and all I wanted to do was heal some old wounds and move forward. I mean Cyn is bringing life into this world soon. I honestly thought it would be a good time to try to move past all the negativity."
"From what Hennessy tells me about some of the things they went thru with him, I don't know if that's something that'll ever happen." I admitted.
"Trust me; I lived through those dark moments with my sister. And although she and I did have a run in over him once upon a time, we eventually got over it and made up. She would've wanted them to make amends with him; I know it in my heart. Jennifer was a very forgiving spirit and they have the same spirit, I just think they're still so damaged from losing her that it's made them cold. But Cyn seemed to be coming back around and being a more loving, freer spirit, like she used to be before her Mom died, and I know she owes that all to you. I figured she'd be receptive to hearing what he had to say and moving on. I mean he's been clean five years and has his own little family back in the Bronx, has a nice job, and everything." She ranted as she continued to pack her things.
I nodded. I could understand why she wanted to right her wrongs, but I still felt that she'd gone about it the wrong way.
"I know you had good intentions auntie, but maybe the way it was done was a little backwards. After what they've gone through with him, it may have been best to ask them on the front end how they felt about reconnecting with their father."
She sighed, "Maybe you're right. I'm just gonna go stay in a hotel until my flight leaves in the morning to keep the peace. "
"You have reservations already?" I asked.
She nodded, "Yep, I'm at the Four Seasons not too far from here."
"Okay." I said about to leave the room.
"Before you leave, can I ask you something?" She said.
I turned around, "Yes ma'am."
"Can you try talking to Cynthia about all of this?"
I frowned, "What you mean, what you want me to say to her?"
"She's so mad with me right now she may not ever want to see me again and I can't have that. I promised Jennifer that I would always be there for her girls, especially for special moments where they'd miss her presence, like when they get married or decide to have children. This moment is so special for her and I want to be there for her, but I know after today, she's probably not gonna want me around."
"So you want me to ask her what?"
"See if you can get her to forgive me. I promise I won't do anything else out of line. I just wanna be there for her when time comes, that's all. I want her to allow me to go through this journey with her." She asked as she got choked up.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes to gather my thoughts. She seemed as if she was being genuine but at the same time, I ain't wanna piss Cyn off or upset her even more than she was already by trying to talk to her about her aunt who she'd just asked me to put out.
"I can't make any promises, because she's pretty pissed at you right now, but I can try." I finally replied.
"Thanks." She said hugging me.
I hugged her back, "No problem, I'll get one of my guys to take you to your room too."
"I appreciate you; you're such a great young man." She said pulling away from me.
"No problem. Just let us know when you're ready to go." I said leaving the room.
I walked to the backyard to find Mu Daddy so that he could take her to her hotel. Before I could find him, my mom approached me.
"So what was all of that about?" She asked with a side eye.
I exhaled, "It's a long story, Ma."
"Is Cyn okay though? Because I can't have nobody upsetting her with my grandson in her and all. Do I need to go lace my sneakers up, cause I brought them." She said.
I looked at her and chuckled, "That won't be necessary Mama, but thanks anyway. At least, we know when it's time to ride, we got you."
Leave it to my mama to lighten the mood around here. Lord knows it was needed.
Cyn
That bath had done me well. I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off of me, somewhat. I still was in disbelief that all of that had happened.
I tried to put it out of my mind and got dressed, slipping on a cute yellow Fashion Nova sundress.
I gathered my hair and put it in a high ponytail on the top of my head as Trey walked back in the bedroom.
"Feeling better?" He asked concentrating on my face.
I nodded, "As well as to be expected. Is Sandy gone?"
He sighed, "She's leaving now and I didn't even have to ask her to. She was already packing when I got to the guest room."
"Good." I said turning on the TV and sitting at the foot of the bed.
He came over and sat beside me and rubbed my back, "I'm sorry about today."
I shook my head as I tried to find something on the guide to watch, "It's not your fault babe, you don't have to apologize to me."
There was a weird silence between us.
After a while, I turned to him.
When he saw me looking at him, he turned and looked me in the eye, "What?"
"You tell me. It seems like there's something you'd like to say so spit it out." I said.
He took a deep breath, "I talked to your sister."
"About?" I said annoyed.
"She told me the deal with yall and your father." He said softly.
I shook my head as I laughed sarcastically, "Of course she did. She told you everything too, didn't she?"
Now I understood exactly why he looking at me like he was. It was a pitiful look, like he felt sorry for me.
All the stress that had me taken off of me with the bath was quickly coming back.
"Yeah, she told me everything." He finally said.
"Trey, I don't wanna..." I started.
"I know you don't wanna talk about it," He said touching my hands softly, "but I'm just telling you that I know so I get your frustration and anger. I'm here if you ever decide that you do wanna talk about it though."
"I just don't want you to look at me like a charity case because I'm not that little girl anymore." I told him.
I could feel myself about to get emotional again although I was trying so hard to keep it together. I didn't want to keep getting emotional about this and stressing me and my baby out, but it was taking a toll on me.
"Baby, I don't think that at all. If anything, I cherish you more because you made it through that Cyn. You're so strong, you have no idea." He said hugging me.
Something about hearing him say that got to me. The tears that I was trying not to let fall, instantly started to creep down my face.
"You didn't deserve that babe and I'm so sorry that he hurt you, but look at me," He said pulling my face up to where he was looking me dead in the eye, "he's never gonna hurt you again. That's on everything I love, that's on you and our unborn."
I nodded and wiped my tears, "Thanks Trey."
He softly caressed my face, "You don't have to thank me, I'm just doing what I'm supposed to."
"This has been a crazy day," I said lying on his chest, "all I wanna do is lay right here under you for the rest of the day."
He got up and went and laid in the bed, "Come here, I got you."
I smiled and got up to lie beside him. He instantly snuggled me closer to his chest and kissed my forehead.
I don't know what I'd done for God to bless me so greatly, but I was forever grateful for him.