I allowed him to feed Keona when she started to fuss again. She ended up falling asleep in his arms after she ate, so I took her and went to put her in her bed. Lance was up, gathering his things when I returned.
He and Denise were talking for a second before he turned to me.
“Thank you for allowing me to come today, Diamond.”
“Thank you for coming,” I replied.
“I know this is only the beginning, and you don’t know me, but trust me when I say, it’s the beginning of something beautiful and something permanent. My word may not count for much, but I really do appreciate you for taking Keona in. She’s beautiful, happy, healthy, and loved.”
“I’d do it a thousand times over,” I smiled, then it faded. I’d gotten a thought, so I asked, “Have you spoken to Gwen?”
“Not since the day I left here,” he sadly replied. “She wasn’t happy about me telling her I wasn’t going to be a part of her plot to get money or the fact that I wanted to be a part of Keona’s life. She told me that I’d never see her again.”
I felt bad for him because he genuinely looked hurt with the admission. I understood his hurt because it was the same pain I felt every time she threatened me with that. I’d learned over the years that it was just talk until she wanted to come around and ask me for money again. I was her sister though, so I knew that I’d see her. I’d never seen her be romantic with a man before, and I didn’t know how she felt about him, so she could have been serious and never went back there to see him again.
“Oh, okay,” I replied softly. “I guess we’ll see you next time.”
He nodded then extended a hand to me, then to Makhai before leaving. Denise was leaving too. She let me know she’d reach out to me to schedule the next visit. I thanked her before closing the door behind them then facing Makhai. He’d already gone back to the couch and was now scrolling on his phone, so I went over to sit next to him.
“That went good, right?”
He glanced at me and smiled before putting his phone away then pulling me over into his lap. “Shit was straight. You okay?”
I nodded and smiled. “I was nervous for nothing.”
“Naw, you was nervous for good reason,” he countered. “You ain’t know Lord, and you still don’t, but he seemed to be aight today. Long as he keep it up and stay on a straight path, shit will be straight.”
“I need to go look for my sister,” I said and his brows furrowed.
“For what?”
I shrugged. “After seeing Keona with Lance, it has me wanting to talk to her and see if she’s okay—if she even cares what’s happening.”
He ran his hand down his face and released a heavy sigh.
“Aight, baby, look… if you want to go find and talk to her, cool. We can do that. But I don’t want you going into the shit with high hopes. Your sister’s been choosing what she’s choosing for a minute now.”
“I know,” I dropped my head. “I’m not really expecting a miracle,” I admitted. “I honestly don’t know what my expectations are, but I want to be able to look back and feel like I really tried to get through to her. Like I did everything that I could.”
“If that’s what you need then we gon’ make that shit happen, love. I just don’t want you thinking you gon’ walk up on somebody that she hasn’t been.”
“I’m not,” I promised. “Just one last talk. If she doesn’t want to hear me out or change for her daughter, then I’ll leave it and her alone for good.”
“Aight, then we can ride,” he said and stood.
We both went to the back to throw some clothes on. I thought about asking Ms. Joyce to keep the baby but decided that I would take her in case her mother got some sense.
At first, I didn’t know where we would even start, but Makhai said she was more than likely in the last place that we’d both seen her. I sat back with my eyes closed the entire ride thinking of all the ways the conversation could go. I wanted so badly to believe that I could get through to her, but deep down I knew that she wasn’t ever going to change.
I still had to try.
When we pulled up to the house where I’d seen my sister last, Makhai told me to wait there while he went to get her. While hewas gone, his phone went off. I was going to ignore the message, but the name had my attention.
A woman.
Grabbing his phone, I swiped up to unlock the phone and read the messages.
Vanity: Are we still on for Friday? I blocked out the day for you.
