Page 45 of Passion

“Really?”

“Yeah, but he said he came because I was a good mother, and he didn’t want to see my kids get taken away from me. Yunique, what am I gonna do? He won’t answer my calls. I fucked up something so perfect.”

Tears fell down my cheeks as she said, “Don’t cry, G. If he showed up today, someone is in his ear. Things will work out.”

“Yeah. Vegas. For some reason, they’ve taken a liking to each other. Daniel is right here in Tallahassee, but they don’t have near ’bout the relationship he has with Vegas.”

“Hmph. That H-Tine is strong, baby girl. Don’t get it twisted.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. I’m almost to my mama’s house. I’ll talk to you at work tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

I ended the call and turned onto the driveway, wishing I would have said more to Gentry. I didn’t know what to say though. Had I said I wanted him back, I knew he would have had some smart shit to say. He was a critical thinker, and he was totally right about Clayton. As long as I wasn’t in a serious relationship, there was no threat to him. However, he should have concentrated on being the best father he could be to his children instead of worrying about someone taking his place.

No one would be able to take his place if he showed our kids they were a priority to him and not just on the weekends. His activity outside of his time with the kids was his business, but having them all the time showed him exactly what I went through on a daily basis. Technically, he still had it easy since I was there every day, spending time with them.

When I got out of the car, my mama came out the front door with a hopeful look on her face. When I smiled, she did the same. The minute I was close enough to her, she pulled me in for a hug. “Shy bust that nigga’s balls, didn’t he?”

I fell out laughing. My mama rarely engaged her hood voice, but when she did, the shit was funny as hell. “He did. Shy don’t play. It only took us about thirty minutes.” I pulled away from her. “Gentry showed up.”

“I know.”

I frowned slightly as she walked inside the house. I followed her inside to see the kids sitting at the bar, eating breakfast. It was only a little after nine o’clock in the morning. “Mommy!”

“Hey, baby. Eat your food.”

I kissed their heads and went to the couch with my mama. “How did you know Gentry was there?” I asked her.

She only smiled. Before I could ask her what was going on, Gentry walked in the back door with my dad. He must’ve parked his car in the back. I stood from my seat in shock and swallowed hard. “Mister Gentry!” Kizzie yelled.

Even Dakota tried to say his name. “Mi Gen!”

I couldn’t stop the tears as Gentry stared at me. This was where God’s grace and mercy kicked in. He didn’t allow me to get what I deserved and chose to bless me with what I didn’t deserve.

There was no way in hell I could be in her presence and not crave more. Vegas had called me the day after she left to find out what was going on. He’d called his mama and heard the kids and Giselle in the background. He said it was too late for them to be visiting. His street sense was impeccable. We talked a long time that night. Our conversation consisted of me telling him from start to finish what was going on with Giselle and Clayton.

When I told him what I said to her before she left, surprisingly, he was cool about it. He said I was more patient than he would have been. However, when I told him about her letter, I could tell it flipped him inside out, exposing his sensitivity toward his sister. Once he found out when and where the arbitration or meeting or whatever the hell it was would be, he called and informed me, expressing how he thought it would be beneficial for me to be there.

I had to see my first client/patient at eight on the dot since they couldn’t reschedule, then I skipped out to get there by eight thirty. Seeing her reaction was priceless, just like it was now. It pained me not to kiss her beautiful lips and to just walk away from her, making her think I was truly done with us. She probably thought I had already filed for an annulment. However, I hauled ass to get to her parents’ house before she did. I had just enough time to greet her parents and move my car to the backyard.

After kissing Kizzie on her head and giving Dakota a fist bump, I made my way to an emotionally overwhelmed Giselle. I grabbed her hand and led her outside to the back. Her parents had a wooden deck right outside the door that bumped up to the house. When she closed the door behind her, she turned right back to me.

I slid my hands to her cheeks and lowered my head, kissing her slowly and passionately. I missed her so fucking much. When I pulled away, tears were streaming down her face. I sat on one of the loungers and pulled her down onto my lap. “Hey, Elle.”

It was the first words I’d spoken since I left her at the lawyer’s office and my first time actually greeting her. “Hey, Flem.”

She fell against me, crying her eyes out. I gently rubbed her back and let her have her moment. When she finally lifted her head, she said, “I thought you were done with me. I fucked up so bad. I didn’t think about how all of this was?—”

“Giselle, stop.”

She closed her mouth and stared at me, waiting for what I would say. “I love you. That didn’t come with conditions, but there are certain things I can’t subject myself to. I did my best to understand what you were going through, and I wanted to be there to help you through it, but you wouldn’t allow me to. You constantly pushed me away. That’s a learned behavior that we have to work harder to change.”

She nodded as she wiped her face. I stroked her cheek with the backs of my fingers as I continued. “I need to know that if issues were to arise, we won’t have a repeat of this shit. It was unnecessarily hard on both of us.”

After I was quiet for a few seconds, she responded. “I love you too. I’m going to work really hard on myself to be more considerate of what you need from me. We’d talked about that before, and when this situation came up with the kids, I found myself reverting back to the old Giselle. I’m going to keep talking to my mama about things. She didn’t hold anything back with me, but she did it in love. I missed you so damn much.”

“I missed you too. Although you were ignoring me, just having you in bed with me was something I missed more than I thought I would. As long as the lines of communication stay open, we can work through anything, baby, but you have to talk to me for that to happen.”