Authors: Tremayne Johnson
“It’s not gonna be alright, Cherish,” she sobbed. “William doesn’t want anything to do with me, he wants a divorce.”
“Screw, William…” I told her. “If that muthafucka ain’t willing to ride with you through this hardship when you were by his side in his time of need… fuck him. I would leave him right where he is.”
“But he’s my husband, Cherish, and I love him,” she cried.
“Listen,” Jillian added. “Raquel, you got more important shit to deal with. You got Ciara to worry about. If he doesn’t wanna be in his daughter’s life, let that nigga walk. You can’t hold on to a nigga if he ready to go. Fuck that, do you. Handle your business.”
I agreed with what Jillian was saying, but I also understood where Raquel was coming from. They had taken vows to stand with each other through thick and thin. Marriage was sacred, a bond that was not to be broken, but more than often it was.
“Have you made a decision about the baby?” I asked her.
“If I have the baby, I lose my husband. If I abort the baby, I lose my family... I don’t know what to do, Cherish. In the Quran it clearly states,
‘take not life, which God hath made sacred’
.
“Yeah, but it’s your body, Raquel, you get to make the final decision,” Jillian told her.
Raquel took a deep breath and shook her head. I could see the frustration on her face.
“I need some time to think about this,” she said.
“Well, you know we’re here for you. If you need something, don’t hesitate to ask,” I said. “Where is Ciara?”
“She’s in Jersey with my sister.”
“Y’all bitches making me sad. I am not with this shit,” Jillian stood up. “Oh, Raq, did you show Cherish that picture?”
“What picture?” I asked.
Raquel picked up her phone and showed me a picture.
“Who is this?”
“That bitch look jus’ like you, don’t she!” Jillian was hyped.
“That’s Kay. Simeon’s ex-fiancé,” Raquel said.
“That’s your fuckin’ sister, Cherish… I don’t care what nobody say,” Jillian laughed.
“Shut up, bitch, I don’t have a sister. I have a little brother named Dorian, get it right, ho,” we laughed and I glanced at Raquel; she had a faint smile on her face. It was the closest to a smile I had saw from her in a long time.
“No, for real though, y’all do resemble each other,” Raquel added.
“Let me see,” I grabbed the phone from Jillian and stared at the picture. Damn, we did have some of the same features, and she was pretty, I can’t even lie about that.
What the fuck?
The more I looked at it, the more I was starting to believe it. But my father never mentioned anything about us having a sister. And now that I think about it, there was no way he could have. My mother wasn’t having that shit; another bitch pregnant; oh, hell no! She would have had that bitch killed and disposed of somewhere nobody would find her. My mother was no fucking joke.
“What did you say her name was, Raquel?”
“Kay,”
“Kay, what?”
“I don’t know her last name. I would have to ask Re-Re that,”
“So, call that bitch and ask her,” Jillian told her.
Raquel found her number, dialed it and put her on speaker phone.
“Hello?”
someone picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, Re-Re, wassup…”
“Who is this, I lost all my numbers?”
“It’s Raquel,”
“Who?”
“Raq!”
“Oh, Raq… wassup, boo, you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m good… hey, what’s your girl, Kay’s last name?”
There was moment of silence, and then she replied,
“Parker, why?”
As soon as she said it, everything in me was gone, I was depleted. I just wanted disappear off the face of the earth. I was stuck, just staring at Raquel’s phone.
“I told you!” Jillian shouted.
“Why, what happened, Raq?”
“Nothing, we think her and Cherish are sisters. They got the same last name.”
“I told you; them bitches look too much alike,”
Re-Re laughed and so did Jillian.
I whispered to Raquel, “Ask her if she know who her father is.”
“You know who her father is?”
“Nope, I know her mother and her lil’ brother, and he like a couple months old,”
Re-Re said,
“If y’all wanna meet up, we can. She’s coming to pick me up in a few minutes. We gon’ hit City Island.”
Raquel looked at me and Jillian and we nodded yes at the same time.
“Okay, we can do that. Text me when she picks you up,” Raquel hung up.
“Yeah, City Island do sound good right about now,” Jillian said.
“Bitch, ain’t nobody thinking about no fucking shrimp and fries right now, I have bigger issues,” I said.
“Shrimp and fries, who the fuck said something about shrimp and fries… first of all,” Jill screwed her face, “Shrimp and fries are for two dolla ho’s and I damn sure ain’t no two dolla ho’…”
“Tell her what you is then…” Raquel jumped in and egged her on.
“I’m a five star bitch, a five star bitch, I’m a five star bitch; a five star bitch!” Jillian started twerking, bouncing her ass everywhere. We all fell out laughing. It was just the type of excitement we needed to get the pressure off Raquel. She was laughing, smiling and looking like the Raquel I know.
As I sat there on Raquel’s sofa, I thought about how awkward it was going to be to meet this girl who was perceived to be my sister. On top of that, I was messing with her ex-fiancé. That part I really didn’t care about, but it was the sister part that was fucking me up. I couldn’t grasp the fact that maybe my father did have another child, I didn’t want to. I just wanted it to be me and Dorian, just as it always was. We didn’t need any new additions to our family, we were good. This was going to be interesting.
We waited about an hour before Raquel got the text and we headed out.
12
Just as we were pulling into City Island, Raquel got a text from Re-Re saying meet her at the City Island Lobster House. We cruised along the strip until we found the restaurant and pulled over across the street from the entrance. It was a hot and humid summer night and City Island was packed as usual.
After about five minutes, a white BMW pulled up on the passenger side of my car. It was the same BMW that was in front of Simeon’s house. The driver’s side window came down, and I swear I felt like I was looking in the mirror. This bitch looked exactly like me; just a few shades darker.
She said something to Raquel and Raq turned to me and told me to follow them. We made an illegal U-turn, pulled up directly in front of the restaurant, got out and the valet parked our cars.
“Oh my God, it’s fucking bakin’ out here,” Jillian said, fixing her hair.
We followed Raquel over to where Re-Re and her friend were standing.
“Hey, girl…” Raquel gave Re-Re a hug.
“Wassup, boo… hey y’all… oh, this is my friend Kaylin. Kaylin, this is Raquel, Jillian and your twin sister, Cherish,” she laughed.
I couldn’t believe I was staring at someone who resembled me in so many ways. The shit was fucking my head up. I was at a loss for words; just standing there, staring at this girl.
“Well, why the fuck is y’all jus’ starin’ at each other, somebody say something, damn…” Jillian broke the ice.
“Cherish Parker,” I said, extending my arm to shake her hand.
“Kaylin Parker,” she replied.
We stared at each other with the same face. I’m pretty sure we were thinking the same thing too.
“Y’all bitches is crazy,” Jillian waved her hand and started walking into the restaurant. We laughed and followed her.
While we were waiting for our food to be served, we sipped our drinks and got acquainted.
“So, are y’all sisters or what?” Jillian asked.
“Right, ‘cause y’all look too much alike not to be,” Raquel said.
“How old are you, Kaylin?” I asked.
“Twenty two,”
“She only a year younger than you, Cherish,” Jillian said.
“My father died in a car accident five years ago and my mother is serving a life sentence for murder,” Kaylin explained.
My eyes got big, “A car accident?”
“Yeah, well, at least that’s what I was told. He was in another country on some type of business vacation. That’s all I really know about him. My mother told me he was a good man, but the decisions he made weren’t always the best.”
“What was your father’s name?” I asked. This shit was too creepy.
“Robert Carter,” she said.
My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe this shit. I was sitting at a table across from my little sister; a sister that I had no knowledge of before this day.
“Ain’t your dad’s name, Robert?” Jillian asked me.
I couldn’t even get the words out. I just stared at Kaylin like she was a ghost, and nodded my head yes.
“Oh shit! Y’all are sisters!” Raquel shouted.
“Ahh shit… that’s wassup!” Re-Re said, sipping her drink. “Now that y’all bitches got all that out the way, where the hell is our food?”
Just as Re-Re said something, our waiter came to the table, followed by two servers holding our plates of food.
“Here you go ladies…” the server placed our food in front of us.
“You cute,” Jillian flirted with the tall Spanish server.
“Thank you,” he said, smiling.
“You ever been with black woman?”
“Leave him alone Jill,” I said, laughing. There wasn’t a bit of shame in her game.
The server smiled. “No m’am.”
“I’m jus’ sayin’… damn, a bitch tryna get her shit off,” Jillian joked.
“Excuse me, y’all. I gotta take this call,” Kaylin said, getting up from the table and answering her phone.
“I’ll be right back. I gotta use the bathroom,” Re-Re said.
I sat there with so many thoughts running through my head that I started to get a headache. I had so many questions I wanted to ask Kaylin, but I knew she had no clue of the answers. It wasn’t her fault my father had cheated on my mother, but I damn sure felt like it was.
“So, you gonna tell her that you’re fucking her ex fiancé?” Jillian whispered.
I looked at her and shook my head. “I’m not fucking him, Jillian. We’re just friends.”
“Bitch, please… save that shit for somebody who wanna hear it.”
“I’m serious. After that incident with Marlon I’m skeptical about all of these niggas.”
“I hear that,” Raquel chimed in.
“Well, bitch, I don’t know what you waiting for, that nigga fine as fuck, and he got money,” Jillian said. “Oh, here they come.”
Re-Re and Kaylin came back and sat down.
“Sorry y’all, that was my fiancé, he’s so damn nosy,” Kaylin said.
I cut my eyes to Jillian because I knew she was about to say something.
“Oh, you gettin’ married?” she asked.
“Yes, eventually. We had our problems, but I’m sure we’ll get through it,” Kaylin answered.
“Ummm…” Jillian looked at me out the corner of her eye. I was hoping she wasn’t going to say anything else, but that wouldn’t happen. This was Jillian I was talking about.
“So, did you set a date yet?” Jillian asked Kaylin with a grin on her face.
Raquel looked at me and I just shook my head.
“No, not yet,” Kaylin replied, “Maybe next summer.”
“Well, be sure to invite your sister,” Jillian turned to me with a stupid ass smile on her face. I wanted to kick her.
My phone beeped and I looked at it. It was a text message from Simeon. He said he missed me and he wanted to see me. He was full of shit. Just a few minutes ago he was on the phone with Kaylin, probably telling her the same bullshit.
We sat, finished our food and got to know each other a little better. It was so much going on in my head, I couldn’t think straight. I definitely had some questions for my grandmother. Someone had to know my father had another child, and if anybody would know; she would.
But why would she keep it a secret?
________
After I dropped Raquel off, Jillian and I went to my grandmother’s house. When we walked in, Colin and Dorian were sitting in the living room, watching Sports Center.
“Where’s grandma?” I asked.