“Ain’t no fucking way they know and you’re still breathing. Ain’t no fucking way Ex knows,” Amethyst chuckled. “Ain’t no fucking way.”
“Mary and Gabriel know,” Mama Diamond said, finally speaking up. “And I know they know because we were there when he told them. We were there when he told Xierra, too.”
“Hold on,” I said, stepping up. “None of this shit you are saying explains why the fuck Xavier was dealing with the Kilmores. Xierra messed around with a DeCorte. What the hell does that have to do with the Kilmores?”
“Exodus’ mama’s maiden name was Kilmore. She was Luther’s niece.”
“Okay,” I slowly said, trying to piece together what he was saying.
“Doreen had a kid, one that was older than Ex,” Tulane said, and my stomach turned. There was a cousin, one who didn’t come around often. I’d asked Grant once why he was never around, and he always said that his cousin liked to stay to himself and that his daddy only called him when things needed to be handled. “His name is Ny’elle. From what I found out, Doreen kept him around because she thought she could get a check, but his daddy was a deadbeat. She moved on to Jeremiah.They had a cool relationship, but he didn’t really fuck with lil man like that. Doreen wanted Luther to keep him, but he said that she had to come and get him after a few years. Fast forward, she marries Jeremiah, they have Ex, and live their lives. Then the shit with Jeremiah and Xierra starts up, and you know the rest. The crash was on 40thnear Staton.”
“Staton?” I asked, and Tulane nodded. “That was the same street as my wreck.”
“I know,” Tulane nodded, and a look of guilt flashed across his face again. “I found out the name of the street a few months back.” He wiped his hands over his mouth. “Anyway, her son Ny’elle didn’t have a relationship with the Kilmores.”
“Ny’elle has a relationship with the Kilmores. He came around. I never saw him, but I knew about him,” I interjected, shaking my head. “If Doreen put him up for adoption, how did he find them? How old was he when she put him up for adoption?”
“About six or seven,” Tulane answered.
“And the DeCortes were good with her putting up a kid for adoption?”
“They didn’t know about Ny’elle,” Tulane said, shaking his head. “We.” He pointed to himself and the Stones. “Just found out his connection to them. We don’t even know what he looks like.”
“I know about him,” I said with a small laugh, even though there was nothing funny. I wiped my hands over my hair and shook my head. “I may have never seen him, but I knew!” I slammed my hand on the island and glared at Tulane. “I was dragged into some shit that had nothing to do with me, because of you! Your fucking pride was so damn big that you couldn’t let a woman go, so you plotted to kill her nigga and ended up killing his wife! You took my friend’s mama from him! You alteredhis entire existence! You did that, Tulane! Then your daughter’s lives!”
“Let me explain, Yale.”
“Explain?” I laughed and shook my head. “There ain’t shit to explain. I walked around for years, married to a man that I didn’t love because I thought I was saving the one that I did! That fucking wreck, the one I thought I killed Xavier in, my fucking sister that I had no clue existed, was a fucking setup. Do you realize they killed your daughter in a crash on the same street as the one you killed Doreen on! The Kilmores took two lives to your one on the same fucking street! They named the got-damn street after her; it’s called D. Kilmore Lane. They did that shit as a reminder to you!” A sharp pain shot across my stomach, and my hands went to my stomach.
“Sunshine,” Amethyst reached for me, but I stepped back.
“Don’t fucking touch me!” I yelled as Spelman wrapped her arms around me to hold me up. “I’m not dealing with your ass either!” I mugged him. My anger was rearing its ugly head, but I was pissed, and mixing that with pregnancy hormones, I was spazzing out. “When this baby comes, we’ll do the DNA test, but I’m not even going to lie, I hope it’s not yours.”
“Come on now, Sunshine, you don’t mean that shit,” Amethyst said, shaking his head. “You can’t mean that shit.”
“I do.” I nodded.
“So you’d rather have Grant’s kid?” he said, mugging me. “Huh? You’d rather that baby be that nigga’s is what you’re telling me? I’m that bad of a nigga that you’d rather its daddy be a fucking Kilmore?” Amethyst stepped into my face and glared down at me. “Well, I got news for you, baby girl, that’s my child in there. We don’t need a fucking DNA test to prove that.” He grabbed my chin, not hard enough to hurt me, but to keep my focus on him. “Ain’t no way in hell you’d ever carry another nigga’s baby. You don’t want us together? Cool, I’ll respect yourwishes. But understand, I ain’t your daddy. I’ll kill every nigga you think about dating in your fucking face for the rest of our lives. Then attend each of their funerals. Pick the type of flower you want me to lay on their caskets.”
“Let her go, Amethyst,” Pop said, pulling Amethyst away from me. “Amethyst.”
“Try me if you want, Sunshine.” He gently kissed my lips, then let my face go and smiled. “Please, try me.”
Chapter forty-one
Amethyst
“Ineed you to calm down,” Pop said, pulling me out of the kitchen. My eyes stayed on Yale as I moved backwards. She took advantage of me being pushed into the living room and left out the back door. That was fine because there wasn’t a place on this earth I couldn’t find her. “Do you hear me, Amethyst? Calm the fuck down.”
“I am,” I replied as I sat on the couch.
“No, you aren’t,” Pop chuckled. “You are so fucking focused on getting Yale’s attention that you aren’t paying attention to your surroundings. Shit like that will get you killed!”
“Killed?” I turned my focus on him and mugged him. “Killed, Pop? I’m in your house, the hell are you talking about?”
“Do you not realize what the fuck is going on right now?” Pop returned my energy as he grilled me. “That woman you in there grabbing on is pregnant, her daddy and sisters are standing behind her, and you think that nigga is going to let that ride?” Hesmirked and shook his head. “Do you think me and your mama are going to let that ride? Yale is family, possibly the mother of our first grandchild--”
“It’s my baby,” I cut him off and shook my head. “Ain’t no possibility.”
