“Whoa, whoa, wait a minute now. What is all this mess y’all done brought up in the kitchen?” Mrs. Anna asked my dad, who I could see was still fuming as his nostrils flared.
Mr. Paul huffed as he wiped invisible sweat off his brow before taking a seat, offering a small smile.
“It looks like our children here cooked up a scheme of sorts. Apparently, they’ve been pretending to date and the baby isn’t Burkeley’s, but I’m thinking, and correct me if I’m wrong, it backfired. You two fell for real, huh?” Paul looked only at me, and I nodded, wiping the first set of tears that welled up before they could even fall.
I heard the collective gasp from both of our mothers.
“That’s all fine and all, but McKay, that mouth better get to working and answer my question. Who is this muthafucka who made you a single mother?”
“She’s not a single mother, and like I said before, his bitch ass doesn’t matter. I’m here now and not going anywhere.” Burkeley spoke up before I could form the words myself.
“Like hell it doesn’t. Give me a name, baby girl. That’s all I need to fix this shit.” I shook my head.
My mind went back to that day when Harlan threatened to hurt me and Peanut. Protectively, my hands moved toward my bump, covering her.
“There isn’t nothing to fix because ain’t a fuck thing wrong. My baby has a father and will always have one.” Burkeley answered for me again.
“Mickey, y’all been lying this whole time?” That was my mama who’d taken a seat next to me while Mrs. Anna just stood nearby.
I nodded then shook my head, raising and dropping my shoulders, now unable to stop the tears.
All of this was confusing. I couldn’t even tell them when the lie started or stopped when it came to mine and Burkeley’s relationship.
That’s because the shit started blurry as hell, Mickey.
“I guess it wouldn’t be a real family function without a little drama. Stop all this yelling, the whole family can hear y’all. Chris, you heard the man, he’d got his family. How they came to be doesn’t matter when love is present in their relationship.” Mackie came trotting in, parting the few people standing in his way to get to me.
“Pops, you’re only acting like this because knowing Mickey, she probably told you before now. But it matters, whoever the first piece of shit is shouldn’t get away without taking care of his responsibilities,” my dad said.
“I’m still on the fact that you two lied about being in a relationship. I’m so confused. When was it fake? And why would you two lie about that, knowing that she’s pregnant, BK. How did y’all see this going? What about us, growing attachments and such? I might not have been in the room when y’all came up with this mess, but I know this is your doing, BK, and dragging Mickey into this?” Mrs. Anna asked, sounding truly confused as she cocked her head to the side.
“That’s the thing, it was never fake for real. Not even these two can separate the details of when the love growing was fake or real. I saw it on him the moment Mickey brought him to meet me. Now again, none of this matters anyway.”
“Daddy, how can you say that? We deserve to know the truth, especially about the father of the baby.” My mama now chiming into the conversation but not on my side had me gasping while breaking from her hold that no longer seemed comforting.
“The only truth y’all deserve is that I love your daughter and this baby. I’m the father. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m not about to sit up here and let y’all hound McKay for answers that ain’t none of y’all gotdamn business. Let’s go, M&M.”
My bottom lip quivered as I began to speak, placing my hand in his awaiting one as he helped me up.
“But, baby—” In the room full of people I lost the battle with keeping it together, but like he said and meant, Burkeley reminded me that I wasn’t in this by myself. He grabbed me by the side of my face and kissed my lips so tenderly. Stopping not only my tears but the unnecessary outside noise from our family, further reminding me that it was only us in our relationship.
“Ay, what did I tell you before, huh? You’re not in this alone nor will you ever be. This is on me, M&M, all on me. I wanted you so gotdamn bad, baby. I was prepared for this moment to come and I’ll shut any muthafucka down trying to wreck our shit. Do you hear me?” I nodded as he placed his lips all over my face until he reached my mouth again.
“I wasn’t done eating?” He chuckled.
“We’re skipping straight to dessert this year.” And without another word, we left hand in hand.
I saton the oversized chair in Johnni’s backyard with the fire blazing, nestled up in Berkeley’s arms. We came straight here after leaving his parents’ house and I was thankful Johnni had just pulled the bean pie out the oven. She wasn’t Muslim and neither was Quincey, but their parents grew up in the religion and still carried a lot of their traditions. And one of the many benefits was this damn pie.
I moaned in pleasure as I took another bite that Burkeley fed me.
“So now that everyone knows, what’s the plan?” Quincey asked.
“Continue on like we were. Ain’t shit changed honestly, beyond nosy people in our shit.”
“I mean, y’all knew this could, or would, happen. Secrets, no matter how harmless, seem to always come out. And is it really not their business if y’all included everyone in the arrangement?” Johnni asked.
“No. Because we had a plan that would’ve made the break up clean,” I said, now looking up at Burkeley as I continued. “Right, baby? You had us covered if this didn’t work out?”
