“My father,” Lani said out loud.
“Bitch your what?” I asked, because I thought she was trying to be funny.
Lani got up and handed me Harmony. I didn’t know what the hell she was about to do, but she quickly made her way over to the table that Symone and the man were seated at. Oh Lord, it’s about to be some shit. And if some shit do pop off, what the fuck am I supposed to do, because I have my baby with me. Shit!
**********
Phillip Hudson
Me and my baby girl were out at IHOP having breakfast. It was kind of a last minute thing. This morning, I woke up with a craving for some buttermilk pancakes. We had just got there and the waitress went ahead and seated us. Soon after, I noticed a beautiful woman walking towards our table. As soon as she approached us, I knew exactly who she was. I knew she was my daughter and at that moment, I felt like shit. I knew because she looked exactly like Symone. That dimple, those eyes, and that walk. Never in a million years did I think this shit would come back to me, because I had pushed that memory into my unconscious and I had totally forgot about her.
“Oh, hey Ka’lani” Symone said, speaking to the young lady.
&n
bsp; “You know her sweetheart?” I asked Symone.
“Well no not really, but her husband is Tyrone, the one I told you about from work,” Symone said.
She just stood there staring at the both of us. From the looks of things, it looked like she was about to start crying. I know this had to be a lot on her to see me sitting here having the perfect father-daughter relationship with Symone and I never had that with her. I swear right now I felt less of a man. I could see the hurt and the hatred that she had in her eyes. Most importantly, I could see a girl that held resentment towards me after all of these years.
“Hello Phillip,” Ka’lani spoke, and I could hear the nervousness in her voice.
“Girl how you know my daddy?” Symone said, laughing.
“That’s your sister,” I told her–no need to beat around the bush. I felt as if I played this game long enough, and it was time for the damn truth to come out. I was tired of living my life, acting like I didn’t have another child out there somewhere.
**********
Symone
This had to be a fuckin joke. Did this man just really sit here and say that she was my sister? I knew somewhere out there I had a sibling, but damn I didn’t know it would be this bitch. Damn, why it had to be her? I had plans on taking her fuckin husband away from her! Fuck, man!
“Wait? My what?” I asked dumbfounded. Ain’t no way in hell I had heard his ass right.
“You heard me Symone, she’s your sister,” my dad said.
“How do you know that? You told me that you never even saw your other child before! You told me you had no idea what she even looked like!” I screamed at him. He saw this bitch all of a minute, and now all of a sudden he screaming that she’s my damn sister. Fuck they do that at?
“I didn’t, this is my first chance ever laying eyes on her. I don’t even have to ask because I know she’s mine. She looks just like her mom when she was young,” my dad said.
“How old are you?” I asked Ka’lani, and if the number didn’t add up, it wasn’t even no need for my daddy to sit here and entertain this shit.
“24,” she said, sucking her teeth like I was aggravating her or some shit. Oh my God! It really is true. I’m 28 years old and 24 years ago is when my mom found out that my daddy had had another baby on her. Ain’t this some shit!
I was fuckin livid at that point. I stood from the table and grabbed my purse and left. She wanted to come in the picture and take my daddy? I been a daddy’s girl my whole entire life and she thinks she could just walk her pregnant ass over here and claim him? That bitch had another thing going. I was just going to head home and think of a way that I would take her man from her, starting first thing tomorrow morning. I drove out of that IHOP parking lot like a bat out of hell.
**********
Ka’lani
After Symone stormed out of the restaurant, I just stood there staring at this man, the man that was my dad. The same man that left my mother and I so that he could be with his family. The very same man that didn’t know what the fuck I looked like until now. I had so much hate in my heart for this man that it was crazy.
“Have a seat,” he told me, pulling the chair out so that I could sit down.
I sat down directly in front of him and just took him in. How could a face so innocent turn around and do the things that he did to my mother and me?
“I’m not sitting here with high hopes of you telling me how sorry you are for leaving me. All I want to know is why? I don’t give a damn if I never see you again after this, I just want to know why? Why my mom and I weren’t good enough to be a part of your life?” I asked him.