Page 24 of The Road to You
Aaron shook his hand, then said, “Oh, that’s cool. We’re all vested to hear what you have to say.”
I sat next to my baby, then patted the seat next to me. Casper jumped up and lay down. My brothers sat in the single armchairs. Richard sat on the loveseat.
“Okay, can you explain to me why I’ve never known about you?” Bruq came right out of the gate with her question.
Richard shifted. “That’s a valid question. As you know, our family’s textile business was passed down to us after our parents passed. For years, things went as they should have. When I found out about Carter’s other operation, I confronted him, and we had a blowout. From that point on, I wanted nothing to do with the business connected to him, so we split it. I changed the name of my business to create separation from his. That was easy since my mills are in Alabama,” he explained.
I sat forward and put my forearms on my thighs. “Why didn’t you go to the authorities about that sick shit? The nigga was selling people.”
“He was still my brother. I know it sounds crazy, but I just wanted to get away from the shit.” His explanation made sense, but in the same breath, it didn’t because of the severity of the thing.
It paralleled to when you were at the family reunion, and all the kids were told not to go around funny Uncle Joe. The whole family knew that Uncle Joe was a fucking molester. Instead of reporting or killing his ass, they just told people to stay the fuck away. I never understood that concept.
Bruqlyn shifted in her seat. “Um, did you know about how he treated me and my mother? Did you know that he basically held us hostage and beat us into submission? Why did my father have this address?”
“No, I didn’t know at all. Had I known, I would have intervened. I need you to believe that,” he said with conviction. “When my brother and I stopped communicating, you were almost three, I believe. From what I saw, he loved you and your mother immensely.”
I put my hand on Bruqlyn’s thigh. I wasn’t sure if she believed him. For some reason, I did. My baby restated her last question. She added on to the question of why he was there.
A somber look covered his face. “I’m not sure why your father had this address. From the file that I saw, there was a snippet of a video of you from social media. It looks like he found this address after that.”
Yep, I had to get someone to see Cece. She opened my woman up to unforeseen dangers because her ass wanted to be fucking funny. She was the kind of bitch that needed to be handled in the worst way. She didn’t understand the consequences of her actions. After our settlement, she posted a dumb ass video about it. Her ass needed to wait until her eye was fixed before she made videos without filters.
Richard continued. What he said next, I didn’t see coming. “I came here to let you know that your father died a couple of weeks ago.”
Bruqlyn’s breath hitched, and her hand flew over her mouth. My brothers mumbleddamnunder their breath. I wasn’t surprised to see her tears fall. Regardless of how he treated her, that was still her father.
“What, he died? How did he die?” Bruqlyn asked. “This is crazy.”
Richard sat up in his seat. “The coroner said that it was a massive heart attack. He was found in his home by the maid in his bed. I’m so sorry you had to find out this way.”
I pulled my baby into my arms. Her tears wet my shirt as they fell. It was my job to be there for her. “It’s gonna be alright, love.” I glanced at her uncle. “Are you here to give her funeral details or some shit?”
“I didn’t get access to Carter’s house until a few days ago. I didn’t know how to reach you, so I followed his final wishes to be cremated,” he informed us. “I’m so sorry, but I have his ashes for you.”
She lifted her head. “I don’t want them. You can do whatever you want to do with them.” She sat up but didn’t let me go. “Was that all you wanted to tell me?”
“No, I wanted to let you know that everything he had was passed down to you, including the mills. There’s paperwork that you need to complete in Mississippi to take ownership.”Damn.
Bruqlyn let me go and jumped up from her seat. “No! I don’t want any of it. You can have it. I don’t want it.”
Richard sat there quietly, like we all did, while we watched her pace and mumble about not wanting shit from her father. “Bruqlyn, darling, I know you think you don’t want any of it, but I urge you to reconsider. This is the very least that your father could do. From the file he had on you, it said that you’ve lived in a van for years. From what I remembered about your mother, she wouldn’t have wanted that. Plus, there are still a lot of her things in the house.”
“Wow! It sounds like this nigga been keeping up with her for a while.” Aaron spoke up. “I wonder why he never came after her.”
Richard tittered lowly. “If I know anything about my brother, it was more of a hassle to come after you than just let you be. As long as you weren’t talking, he was fine.”
“That makes sense. Why create an additional problem when there wasn’t one?” I mumbled. “Baby, what do you want to do? We can fly down there and see what they’re talking about. If you don’t want anything, you would still have to sign it over. You can go get some of your mom’s things that you want.”
She rushed over to me and sat down. “Will you please come with me?” She looked at my brothers. “Y’all too, please?”
I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck and pulled her toward me. I pressed her forehead against mine, then replied, “You don’t even have to ask that. We go where you go, love.”
Seconds later, my father came through my front door. I looked down at my watch because it shouldn’t have taken him that long to get there from his house. When I dapped him up, he smelled like my mother.I don’t even want to know.
A Week Later…
Jackson, Mississippi
