Page 2 of His Strings Make Her Legs Sing
Attorney Ducks stepped forward. “Hi, I am Attorney Bridget Ducks. Miss Derricks has expressed her desire to place her child up for adoption. As you know, my client Mr. Wick has already established paternity and signed the birth certificate. Since Miss Derricks no longer wants the responsibility of motherhood, which is fine . . .” She held the palms of her hands up with a smile.
“There is no shame in that. As I was saying, with the factors I’ve mentioned, she will be signing her rights over to my client.” Attorney Ducks’s body shifted to face Iesha. “I’m not sure if you are aware, but you can’t place a child up for adoption who has a legal father unless he relinquishes his rights.” Without breaking eye contact with Iesha, she addressed the nurse. “Once Miss Derricks has signed over her rights, Mr. Wick’s daughter is no longer to be accessible to her.”
The nurse and Iesha’s eyes were bucked twins. She did not anticipate this response. Yes, she didn’t want to be a single mother, but she also didn’t want Citrell to have their daughter. It never crossed her mind that she couldn’t put the baby up for adoption. There was too much going on, but she refused to let Citrell have the last laugh. “I never said that I wanted to putmy daughter up for adoption,” she blatantly lied. “Why the hell would I put my baby up for adoption?”
The corners of Citrell’s eyes tightened. “So, you didn’t say that you didn’t sign up to be a single mother, so you would just put my baby up for adoption? That’s not what you said?”
Iesha hesitated but continued with her good bullshit. “Fuck no, I didn’t say that shit. Yeah, I didn’t sign up to be a single mother, but that is my baby. I’m going to rock it out and your ass is going to pay me to do so.”
The nurse’s face contorted. She hated these kinds of women. Iesha just showed herself to be the type of woman who would put a good man through the ringer which could potentially ruin him for the next woman in line. “Well, I’m going to leave you all to it. Mr. Wick, would you like me to take the baby to the nursery?”
“Nah, I got my daughter. It’s almost time for her to eat,” he told her. He didn’t want to put her down if he didn’t have to.
Rella rocked the baby. “Don’t wake this baby up to eat. Trust me, she’ll wake up when she’s hungry.” Rella was an old school mama. People forced their babies on a schedule to accommodate their asses instead of what the baby truly needed. She would give Callira a week before she started to put cereal in her bottles.
The nurse excused herself from the room. She silently prayed for Citrell’s strength to not strangle Iesha. She felt sorry for him and his choice of a mother for his daughter.
Attorney Ducks already knew that would be her response. “Miss Derricks, that was anticipated. There is no need for you to file any paperwork as I already did about an hour ago. You should receive a summons in the following weeks to appear in court.”
There was silence in the room. Iesha was stuck. She thought because she was the mother that she would have the upper hand. Maybe that would have been true if she dealt with a dummy.Citrell was far from a dummy. His parents raised him to not only be an upstanding man, but a smart one.
A Short Time Later . . .
When Callira was three weeks old, Citrell and Iesha were in family court to hash out the details of their co-parenting arrangements. There were special circumstances when it came to their arrangements, but it made Citrell no difference. He wanted what was best for his baby girl.
There was the standard every other weekend visitation schedule and alternate holidays. Iesha didn’t work, so she was not given any provisions for childcare. The judge told her that if she gained employment, she could file for an order revision. When it came to child support, she was awarded eight hundred dollars a month, and Callira would be carried on Citrell’s health insurance. Like the money hungry woman that she was, Iesha asked the judge why her daughter couldn’t just be on Medicaid, so that the child support could be increased. The judge, a black woman, read her for filth.
Months later, Iesha had successfully become an unnecessary thorn in her daughter’s father’s ass. She did obtain gainful employment at a call center which was a remote position. With that, they were back in court. At every turn, Attorney Ducks was ready for her. When Citrell was ordered to pay half of the day care costs, the attorney said that he would only be willing to pay it directly to the facility. The judge agreed to Iesha’s dismay. Her baby’s daddy made her fucking sick.
Iesha didn’t spend as much time with her daughter as she made it seem. Her mother, Beverly, had Callira most of the time. She just made sure that she was always in place when it was time for Citrell to drop her off. He or his mother picked baby girl up from the day care on Fridays on his weekend and some of Iesha’s when she claimed to have to work overtime. He didn’t care, because the more time with his daughter, the better.
For Callira’s first birthday party, Iesha told Citrell that she wanted him to pay half of the expenses for the party that totaled three thousand dollars. He told her to kiss his ass and that they would have separate parties if it was all of that. A livid Iesha tried to get a lawyer who told her that she was wasting her time and would be an idiot to take something so petty in front of a judge. She took a new route by defaming Citrell’s name on social media. That resulted in a cease-and-desist as well as the threat of a defamation lawsuit. Plus, no one believed her, which was evident from the comments left on her twelve-part TikTok series.
Citrell received a call from Ms. Beverly which was out of the norm. She asked him to come see her. The only reason that he could think of for her to reach out to him was if it was about his daughter.
He’d finished all of his jobs that were on his list for that day as a master plumber. Citrell followed in his father’s footsteps to become a plumber. Citro retired when his son was twenty-five and passed down the family business, Wick Plumbing, to Citrell. It was a business that Citro started when he was twenty-five. Now at sixty, he was ready to live a quiet life with his wife. He was proud that he had a successful business to pass down to his son. They employed four other plumbers in the area and specialized in both residential and commercial plumbing.
When he pulled up to Beverly’s house, he was impressed. Iesha lived in the hood and acted like a hoodrat with no hometraining. Her mother lived in a very nice upper middle-class neighborhood much like his parents. In fact, his parents and her mother didn’t live too far apart.
Beverly answered the door seconds after the video doorbell rang. His baby girl was on her grandmother’s hip. Her legs flailed at the sight of her father. At eighteen months, Callira didn’t say too many words, but Dada was one of them. “Dada! Dada!”
“She knows she loves her daddy,” Ms. Beverly commented. Despite what her daughter told her about him, she knew that he was a good man who took care of his daughter. How her granddaughter reacted to him told it all. She handed Callira over to her father.
He missed his baby girl. She laughed while he kissed all over her face. Ms. Beverly invited him in. He followed her into what looked like a playroom because of all of the baby items in it. There was a couch and a rocking seat in the room. Ms. Beverly sat down after she got both of them drinks. “I was surprised to get your call.”
“Yes, I know. I don’t think that I’ve seen you since I was in court with Iesha. That was a very long time ago,” she said. “I thought that I would see you at Callira’s first birthday party, but Iesha said that you refused to participate.”
He snickered at Iesha’s insolence. “It was not that I refused to participate. When she asked me to pay half of the three-thousand-dollar bill for a first birthday party, I said no. Her plans for the party were to appease Iesha, not Callira. My family had a low-key party for her that she had a ball at. I posted some videos on my social media.”
Beverly saw the post of the party that his family gave Callira. She looked like she had the time of her life. The same could not be said for the party that her mother had for her. It caused her to be overstimulated, and she cried most of the time.
“That is understandable. I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but I thought it was time that we talked.” She took a deep breath with her eyes shut. She knew that her next statement would shake things up in her world. When her eyes opened, her words spewed like vomit. “I think you need to file for full custody of Callira.”
Citrell’s head bucked back. He didn’t expect that at all. Worry consumed him. “Wait, did something happen? Did someone do something to my baby?”
Her hands waved vigorously after she lifted them. “No, no, nothing like that! Citrell, I love my daughter, but she is not ready or fit to be that beautiful girl’s mother right now. She only kept her out of spite for you.” A tear fell from Beverly’s eye. “I was diagnosed with colon cancer the month before Callira was born. It has taken a turn, and I can’t leave this world without knowing that my granddaughter is properly being taken care of.”
His heart went out to her. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Ms. Beverly. I really appreciate your honesty. If you don’t mind me asking, what is Iesha doing or has she done to make you think that she is not ready to be a mother?”
