Lines crossed his broad forehead. “That’s in October. I’d rather it be you alone or you and Jamie sooner than that if Paris is out.”
“I’ll figure it out, okay?” I tried to smooth out his frown with my thumbs. “Promise.”
He moved away from me. “You do that. In the meantime, I need to get to a dinner meeting with my manager about my album release.”
“A meeting? Why didn’t you tell me you had a meeting?” I looked out the picture window.Where was my usually punctual dad?
“My manager flew in at the last minute, and since we’re not together or had plans, I didn’t tell you.” He bent down and kissed my cheek. “Come see me later tonight. We’ll have more time to talk.”
The sound of a car braking captured our attention, and Freedom glanced out the window. “Son of a bitch.” His head snapped to me. “Your father don’t have shit to say to me. Got me here wasting my time with a man who will never fucking respect me.”
“This isn’t about making amends.” I pointed at the window as my father exited his car and hurriedly said, “That man cost you so much. Tell him whatever the hell you want to tell him. Don’t worry about protecting my feelings or that he’s Jamie’s grandfather. He was wrong, and he needs to hear it from you. Ifyou want me to leave so you can say whatever you need to say, I will.”
“I want you here with me.” The anticipatory gleam in his now loving gaze quelled the rest of my nerves. I’d made the right decision.
When my father rang the bell, I opened the door, and he locked eyes with Freedom. He then shook his head at me as he walked into the room. I closed the door behind him and moved to stand beside Freedom.
My father noted that I chose to stand beside Freedom. “What? You’re about to ask for her hand in marriage?”
Freedom replied, “I would never give you that type of respect again to ask for her hand in marriage. I tried to honor you that day on your porch. I came to you, man to man. Wanted to explain myself, and you treated me like the dirt on your shoe. Pulled a gun out on me when I pleaded with you to hear me out and forced me off your porch.”
“Daddy, how could you? A gun? I swear the story gets worse. It’s like the father I thought you were, never existed,” I lamented. My dad inhaled deeply. His face was stoic, though I detected a flicker of regret in his eyes. “How could you be that cruel to him when all he did was love me?”
Freedom clasped my hand in his. “I know I wasn’t worthy of your daughter when I first started liking her. Liked her so much that I wanted to change for her. I had been troubled. I was angry at the world and hated my childhood after my mother died. Living with an abusive, drunk father who barely took care of us robbed me of my teenage years.”
“I don’t need to hear your sob story, your justification for committing crimes,” He snarled.
Freedom snapped, “Shut the fuck up. You’re not a man of the law anymore. You’re going to hear my story or I swear I’ll use every last dime to put your ass in jail for tampering. Hell,probably don’t have to do much but offer Kody a few million to roll on your ass. And even if no one believes us, I’ll raise enough noise that people will start talking. It’s not a good look for a black police officer to set up a black male teenager when the odds are already stacked against us.”
His contemptuous gaze shrank my father. “Guess you're all blue now. Forgot that you’re a black man, first. I swear I hate crooked ass cops, especially black ones.”
“I wasn’t a crooked cop.” My father, with open palms, pleaded with me. “I didn’t want you caught up in a boy who would lead you down the wrong path.”
“Daddy, you never gave him a chance. Did you not feel any guilt for what you did to him?”
His nostrils flared before he responded, “I like to believe that my actions caused him to make smarter decisions with his future. Trust me, he would’ve ended up like his father instead of what he has become.”
“Punish me and fix the sins of my father? Is that what you were trying to do?” Freedom scoffed. “I wasn’t and will never be like my father. We don’t talk anymore because he’s toxic to me. Still, I’m man enough to forgive and send money to him every month since he is my blood, and there were times he stepped up to the plate.”
My father crossed his arms and grunted.
“I don’t know the type of criminal that you perceived me to be, so allow me to break it down. I sold weed five times in my life. Each time was to put food on the table and pay the damn rent. I stole two stuffed animals because my brother collected them, and we couldn’t afford any wants. I’ve never broken into any homes or been an accessory. Kody, your beloved son-in-law, gave my impressionable brother the idea to break into the house of Kody’s mother’s boss.
I did get suspended several times for disrespect to my teachers and fighting. But never expelled. I earned decent grades, though I had no plans for college. And I have a once-in-a-lifetime talent that’s made me generationally wealthy and is taking me all over the world.” He lifted our joined hands. “You should want a man like me for your daughter. I changed my ways for her. I worked odd jobs to pay for our dates and for our prom, which I’d carefully planned, and started behaving in school and avoiding potential fights. I began to see that my life was easier when I chose the better, sometimes more challenging path.”
Freedom’s voice softened as he gazed at me. “You want a man like me to be your daughter’s husband. I pleaded guilty even knowing I could get fifteen years because I believe in providing and protecting my family. I’m always going to take the bullet for her and Jamie.” He refocused on my father. “Do you understand that, old man? A fucking bullet. And I’m always going to do right by your daughter because to hurt her destroys me.”
He stepped close to my father. Freedom had my father by at least four inches, and he had to tilt his head to see Freedom’s face. “You took away my baby from me for fourteen years. That beautiful, bright boy who’s going to be someone special in this world. Fourteen years that I will never get back. I would’ve wanted my baby then and damn sure want him now. And you still haven’t apologized for what you did to me.”
“You got her pregnant at seventeen,” My father yelled, his brown skin mottled red. “What father would ever be okay with a boy who takes advantage of his innocent little girl?”
“We were careless teenagers in love. I didn’t take advantage of her. You set me up before you found out she was pregnant. So, before you lie again, get your timeline straight,” he shouted back. “You hated me from the moment she told you about me because deep down you fucking hate men who look like you, but have less than you. You’ve bought into the bullshit that thugs don’tdeserve sympathy, that young black men in the hood are just born evil, and ready to wreak havoc when we’re simply trying to survive. Who gave you the right to be judge and jury?” He poked my father in his chest so hard I flinched, and my father backed up and lifted his fists.
Freedom’s head flung back in sarcastic laughter. “You’re going to fight me, old man. Go ahead. Hit me. Pull out your gun again, the one you still wear in the small of your back, and end me, and make me a martyr and a tragic celebrity story.”
My heart thudded loudly as the two men I loved most faced off. My father did carry a gun with him at all times. As much as I wanted to intervene, it wasn’t my battle to end. Finally, my father relented and looked down, and Freedom smiled victoriously. Both of their chests were heaving.
“You’re the worst kind of black man, a traitor to the race as far as I’m concerned. Abusing your power to hurt a damn teenager that could’ve easily been your son when you should’ve been uplifting me and being a role model,” Freedom scoffed. “So, no, you don’t deserve my honor or respect, and honestly, you aren’t worthy of the air I breathe. And if I never see you again, I’ll be a happy man.” The weight of the anger and pain he’d been holding on to for years lifted off of Freedom. I could feel it in the shift of his now relaxed body. I leaned on Freedom’s shoulder proudly, and he kissed my forehead. “But because I love your daughter and Jamie, he’ll never hear from me what you did to keep him away from me. Sooner or later, he’ll find out the truth.”
