"Yeah, two mint chocolate fudge sundaes and one, which kind you said you wanted?" I asked Messiah
"Banana." He replied while playing on his Nintendo switch.
"And a Banana sundae." I said
"Will that be all for you?" The cashier asked
"Yes, thank you."
"Okay, your total is $14.65, cash or card?"
"Cash." I replied and begin rambling through my
purse to grab my wallet.
I pulled out the exact amount and passed the money over to her.
"Are these your kids?" She asked while putting the money into the register.
I smiled, "Yes, they are," I said while proudly glancing at them both.
"They're adorable." She smiled as she handed over my receipt.
I thanked her and waited for her to prepare our ice cream.
She passed over each of the sundaes and the kids and I went and sat in a booth near a window.
The entire time we ate our sundaes, Milani kicked her legs and Messiah played on his Nintendo.
"So, kids..." I smiled
"Tell me, what has been going on at home? Everything alright? How has your father been?" I asked
"Daddy is alright, he makes me mad sometimes because he never takes our side when Rachel is yelling at us, but he's alright." Milani shrugged while still focusing on her ice cream.
"What do you mean by he doesn't take your side? What does he say?"
She sighed, "When we try to defend ourselves he just tells us that we should stop talking back and to listen." Milani said
I glanced at Messiah, who I could tell was listening but chose to put his focus onto his game.
"What do you have to say about this, Messiah? Do you agree?"
"Yeah." He said without looking up
I felt Milani try to kick Messiah under the table, "What?" Messiah asked, with a bit of attitude
"Tell her." Milani said
"Tell her, tell her what Rachel does."
"Messiah, you know you can tell me anything." I said and rubbed his hand
He continued to pay attention to his game. I grabbed it from his hand and put it on the side of Milani and I.
He sighed, "Remember when I called you the other night and I was telling you about how she takes advantage of the fact that dad is gone and what she does when he's gone?" He asked me
I nodded, "Well, a lot of times she gets mad because Milani and I don't listen. I mean, we don't curse her out or do bad stuff but she likes to control us when dad isn't around, she yells at us for stupid stuff like not throwing something away that isn't even ours, and she makes us do everything for her whether it's coming downstairs to rub her feet, or washing her car, then she puts us on punishment if we make her too mad..." he said
I leaned a bit closer, "What does the punishment consist of?" I asked
"Putting us in the hallway closet for an hour." He said
"Then when we ask to come out to pee, she tells us no." Milani added
"And, Milani is really scared of the closet because Rachel has told her scary stories about things that happened in the closet then makes her go in there during her punishments, and she cries." Messiah said
I was furious, I didn't know whether to curse him out for not telling me sooner, or to call Chris and curse him out for allowing this bitch to even watch my children, or to go find Rachel.
"Mom, I hate it there! She's so mean to us, then when dad comes home she acts like nothing ever happened, can we come stay with you and grandma?" Messiah asked
"I'll try to arrange that but until then, we need to fix the current problem." I said
"Is there anything else she does besides the things you just told me?" I asked
They both shook their heads, "Are you sure?" I asked
"Yeah, I'm sure." Messiah said and Milani nodded
"If there's anything else, you tell me." I said
"Oh— and one time Daddy was gone at work one night and Rachel thought I was asleep but I got up to go to the bathroom and I seen another man there." Milani added
"Lani!" Messiah said and kicked her
"What?!" She said and kicked him back
I nodded to myself, "Hmm."
The rest of the day, we went to the park and then walked home since It was a nice day. We ended the night by playing a few games with each other and afterwards, they took their baths and were down for the night.
I tried to remain calm and not say anything since we're already on bad terms, but I couldn't hold it in, I texted Chris;
You not only left me for my best friend but you leave my kids with her as well, not knowing all of the horrible things she does to them behind your back..
11:02 PM
Chris: 🙄 what you talking about now, Ky?
11:04 PM
So you really don't know, huh?
11:05 PM
Chris: if you weren't gonna tell me there was no point in you texting me.
11:08 PM
I'd prefer to discuss it in person so I can knock you in your shit for it, what time are you picking the kids up tomorrow?
11:12 PM
Chris: woah woah, the hostility! What I do???
11:14 PM
Chris: I'll be there at 5 , damn.
11:15 PM
I didn't reply back, I put my phone on the charger which was at 14%. I made me some more ice cream and climbed into bed next to Milani. I tried to doze off a few times after I finished my ice cream but it was almost impossible, I could only think about and replay what Rachel does to them, and the more I thought about it the more I wanted to call her, or meet up with her and just go off.
I eventually found myself dozing off, fortunately.
•
5:30 PM
"Mommy, I don't wanna go." Milani whined as I opened the car door.
"I promise you, I'll see y'all soon. I'll see if I'm able to get you guys over here next weekend, and we can go to sky zone, how does that sound?" I asked
"I can't wait." She replied
I smiled, Chris got out and walked around the other side of the car, "Make sure y'all buckle up." Chris said and tapped the car door as we walked to the porch.
"How long you tryna talk cause you know my moms just got back in town, she wanna see the kids." Chris said
"Well first of all, no I don't know because you and I rarely talk, secondly I wanna have this talk whether your mother is here or not, even if you have to go drop them off to her and come back..." I said
He shook his head and put his hands up, "Its fine, it's fine, we can talk now, wassup?" He asked as we sat on the steps of the porch.
"How often do you leave the kids with... Rachel?" I asked
"It's very seldom, they're at school during the weekdays, and when they get out, I'm home by that time. Sometimes, I might need her to watch them if something comes up, and I work on the weekends so she watches them as well if they're not with some
friends." He explained
I nodded, "Well when she is with them, both of our children said that she disciplines them in ways that she wouldn't when you're there."
"Aw yeah? Like what?" He asked
"Makes them wash her car, rub her feet, yells at them for unnecessary stuff, and puts them on punishment for an hour in the hall closet, knowing Milani is scared of that closet and of the dark. She doesn't even let them out to pee. They shouldn't have to experience any type of neglect like that. "
"They just kids, Ky, they probably exaggerating." He replied
"Both of them? Both of them will just choose to exaggerate about the same thing? And , what about Messiah? He's almost twelve years old, I'm sure he understands exactly what's going on and wouldn't exaggerate a thing." I said
"Okay, well I didn't know about any of this and I will talk to Rachel about it, but is that all?" He asked
"They don't like it there, and I don't want her around them anymore than she has to be. If you find yourself having to make a run and no one is there to watch them, take them with you, or better yet, my mom doesn't do much— hit me up and I'll let her know you're dropping them off here."
"Now Kyra, your mom doesn't care too much for me and I'm sure you know that."
"And whose fault is that?" I asked
He shook his head, "And I also want them every weekend if they don't have anything to do."
"What if I want to spend time with them on the weekend?" He asked
"Okay but you just said you work on the weekends." I said
"Yeah, from 9 to 3, when I get off sometimes I do stuff with them." He said
"Well I'll keep them from 9 to 3 and you can come get them from here if you really want to spend some time, but I do not want her around them alone."
"What ever you say...." he said and went silent
"So this is our way of co parenting, huh?" He asked
"Yep... I just hope it isn't this awkward every time we see each other."
"Hey, it's only awkward if you make it awkward." He said and went silent, I could tell he was in thought
"Well, I'll definitely talk to her about it, thanks for telling me." He said and stood up
I was going to tell him about the guy that Milani said she saw, but that isn't my place and I don't want to just sound bitter so I'll leave it to him to find out.
"I see you ain't knock me in my shit like you said you was." He chuckled as he walked to the car
"Well you cooperated so, I didn't have to."
"I see you still ain't lost that feistiness." He paused, leaning on his car.
"Nope, it's not going anywhere." I said and pulled on a smile.
He flashed a smile back and walked to the drivers side.
"Okay, my babies, I love y'all and see y'all soon. Make sure y'all call me!" I said
"We love you too!" They all said
I slightly chuckled at Chris's reply and walked in the house as they drove away.
End of chapter.. sorry it's short. Excuse the mistakes.
Ria ✍🏽