Succulent (Chocolate Flava 2)

I had not seen or heard from Hamilton in nearly two months. I mourned his absence from my life like a death in my family. His love continued to haunt me in my dreams and ever more so when I was awake.

So when Hamilton opened the door to me, after all that time, I did not know how I would be received. He looked astonished to see me. I knew I looked a sight, in old jeans and a ripped T-shirt, sporting a black eye and a busted lip. I stood, holding my sleeping baby in her pink Dora the Explorer blanket.

“This is my daughter, Maya,” I said. “She’s two.”

“She’s beautiful.” Hamilton smiled at Maya and lifted her into his arms.

He reached for me with his free hand and welcomed us inside. We walked into his guest room and he laid Maya down on the bed. I covered her with her blanket and sat beside her.

“Will she be alright in here?” Hamilton asked.

I kissed Maya’s forehead and stroked her brown curls. “Yes. She sleeps through the night.” I looked at him with a silent appeal. “She is such a good girl.”

“I’m sure she is.” Hamilton turned the bedside lamp on low and we walked arm in arm into the living room. After Hamilton laid me on the sofa and covered me with a deep green chenille throw, he held me.

“Hamilton, the reason why I didn’t leave Justin before now—”

“Is lovely and sleeping in my guest room,” Hamilton finished my statement. “I understand, Anais.”

“I told Justin I was leaving him. He went bananas! He punched me wherever he could land a fist. Maya ran in the room and hit him and bit his hand. He twisted her arm and threw Maya against the coffee table. I bashed the back of his head with his girlfriend’s sculpture and got us the hell out of there!” My body shivered as I relived the last beating that I would ever take.

Hamilton kissed my forehead and rubbed my arms. “You’re okay now, baby. You and Maya are safe now.”

“Can you be a father to Maya? She’s never really had a daddy.”

“Yes,” Hamilton said. “I’ve always wanted a daughter.”

I took a deep breath as I prepared to let go of my last secret. “I’m pregnant; a little over seven weeks.”

I peered up at Hamilton. He looked as if he were bracing himself for a blow that he saw coming, but could still not move out of the way. I took his clenched fist and placed it on my stomach.

“This is our baby. I haven’t been with Justin in months.” His fingers relaxed and spread out over my stomach. The warmth from his hand radiated throughout my body. He held my face and kissed me.

I frowned as a painful memory crept into my mind. “Justin says he is going to take Maya away from me.”

“You must know that I would never let that happen,” Hamilton said.

“Justin is very powerful.”

“He doesn’t have the monopoly on power. I have it, too, in abundance. Don’t look so worried.” Hamilton smiled and stroked a finger beneath my bottom lip. “Nothing that I am will ever hurt you or Maya or the baby.”

“That sounds like something Michael Corleone would say.”

Hamilton chuckled softly. “I’m not a godfather. You can trust me.”

“I do.”

“I love you, Anais.”

I leaned my forehead against his. “You’ve never said that to me before.”

“You weren’t mine.”

“I’ve always been yours. I simply wasn’t free, until now.”

The Visit

Memphis Vaughn Jr.