“Yeah, thanks again, miss,” she replies. Nickoi calls Zara again, and Jania sits closer to me as Zara heads to the kitchen.
“Yeah baby, a something mi a bring in,” Zara calls out, and I glance back at Jania. She’s holding a rag to her cheek, eyes glued to the TV.
“Mami fawud!” Nick shouts and Zara approaches him.
There are marks on her skin. Bruises. On her face, her neck, her hands. I lift her blouse and see more on her waist.
I curse loudly, startling her.
“Who a do this to yuh?!” I ask, voice sharp.
Tears stream down her face.
She stares blankly at the TV. “Kim see mi and fight mi… and somebody go tell mommy. From that, the woman nah stop lick me even knowing mi pregnant. Honestly, mi just tired.”
I wrap my arms around her, kiss her lips gently, then place my hand on her belly. “Mi nah mek she beat yuh no more,” I whisper. “And mi a go take care of the baby… and you.”
She smiles through her tears and wipes her face. Then she leans back, and we start talking about exams, how she could maybe sit them at a private school and how we move forward from here.
Zara laughs loudly from the kitchen. She’s clearly playing with Nickoi, and I smile at the sound.
“Wah yuh say?” I ask, turning back to Jania.
She rolls her eyes playfully. “You nuh have Kim? Mi just wah yuh help wid the baby and that’s it.”Why she a bring up Kim?
“A lie that. Yuh nuh want back what we did have?” my brows pulling closer.
She sighs deeply.
“Jor, yuh lie to me the whole time say a me alone, enuh.”
I sigh too. “That inna the past. Mi change. Mi single now… and a one girl mi want.”
She hums, and I smile, but then her face shifts like something comes to her.
“Wah happen?” I ask, sensing the change.
She sighs again before answering, voice low.
“Mi nuh know how fi tell yuh.”
My curiosity spikes. “Find a way,” I say, leaning closer.
“Find a way,” I press, my eyes locked on her face.
“She go probably beat me and say mi a inform.” She mumbles, voice shaky, barely meeting my gaze. A really wah this bout? I stare at her intently, trying to make sense of it all.
“Mommy think you nah go help me and because of that she wah hurt you,”she says hesitantly, voice small, like she’s afraid the words alone could cause damage.
“Hurt me—” I’m interrupted before I can finish my thought.
“Hurt him how?” Nickoi cuts in with a cold tone that makes the hair on my arms stand. “Hurt him like see him and drape him up or hurt him like tek him points?”
JANIA
Somebody can really sound so calm yet so deadly? Damn. I’ve never felt so scared and intimidated in my life, and I’ve been through a lot of trauma. He doesn’t raise his voice, doesn’t move aggressively, yet I feel every single word.
“Eeeh wah yuh madda mean when she say she a go hurt mi bredda?” he asks again, and this time his words hang heavier.
