“Dad! Boundaries!” I shouted as I jumped up from my bed and stood in front of him.
“My bad, I forgot. Hey, what’s this?” He asked as he reached for my pregnancy test. Stupid Chianne! Stupid! That’s why he needed to knock first.
“Ummm…” I stalled. I tried to think of a lie.
“You’re pregnant?” He asked.
“Yes,” I said and put my head down.
“Hey, it’s okay,” He said as he picked my head up and looked at me.
“I don’t want it.” I cried.
“There are options.”
“No, there are not. I’m over the weeks for an abortion, and what’s the point of adoption if I continue to carry the child.”
“I see. So, what do you want to do?”
“Push me down some stairs.” I chuckled, but I was very serious. To be honest, I never envisioned myself having kids. I was never that girl to picture myself being a mom or having a family. Yes, I wanted to be married, but I didn’t want kids with that.
“Don’t say that. I know I’ve been gone for about seventeen years, but I know things are more advanced than what they were when I was out. Let’s just see what other options are there, and then you can decide on what’s best for you.” He said then gave me a half-smile. I honestly wasn’t expecting his support and wisdom. I was kind of hoping that he would’ve pissed so that I could feel better about what I really wanted to do. “How far along are you?”
“Thirteen weeks.”
“That’s like three months. Have you told the father? Do you know who he is?”
“Dad!!!”
“I’m sorry. Look I don’t know anything, I just came home a week ago. And I know I’ve seen several different guys picking you up and dropping you off.”
“It was like two different guys, dad. I’m not a hoe.”
“I know you’re not. You’re young and having fun. I’m not judging because that’s how I was. I didn’t get into a serious relationship until I met your mother.”
“What about Jasmine’s mother?”
“That was a one night stand that resulted in the biggest headache of my life.”
“Dad, how could you say that, don’t you love Jas?”
“Yeah, I do, to a certain extent. Look, Chi, I know we’re not close or anything, but I feel like we can be because of our honesty. You trusted me with your secret, now I feel like I can trust you with mine.”
“What secret?”
“Well….Jasmine is not my biological daughter. Neither is she your biological sister.”
“Wait, what?” I said as I put my hand on my heart. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. What?
“Jasmine’s mother, Kareisha, was a one night stand. We met at a party, and you know I was the man back then. I had a lot of women waiting to get with me and get dicked down-"
“TMI”
“TM- What?”
“TMI. Too. Much. Information.” I said while trying to hold back my laugh.
“Whatever. Anyways, Kareisha caught my eye because she was fine. Like fine. She was my type, brown skin, slender with curves in the right places. Even though I liked long hair on my women, she was rocking one of those asymmetrical hairstyles. She was cute and had been eyeing me all night. So anywho, I invited her back to my spot, and you know what went down.”
“What?” I said sarcastically.
“Well, if you want to know, I beat them walls up. Shit, I had her climbing walls too. She couldn’t handle all of me. I mean, I can’t lie; her shit was good. Too good.”
“TMI, daddy!” I shook my head.
“You asked.”
“I was being sarcastic.”
“I know, I just wanted you to know how your daddy had these hoes and even your mama, Chivonne. I’ll save that for another storytime.”
“Continue on.”
“After we finished, I let her stay the night since I really wore her out. But when morning came, I told her ass she had to go, and I’ll keep in contact. I was lying because, like I said, she couldn’t handle me and was too extra in the bedroom. Screaming all dramatically and shit. I guess she thought she would stroke my ego to earn her a spot with me. She was dead wrong because I knew what I was working with. She eventually dipped and she stole some money from my pants before she did. I knew right then I definitely wasn’t fucking with her after that.”
“So, where does Jasmine come in?”
“Literally six months later, she came to me saying she had my baby. A lot of people don’t know but I was a smart lil nigga, like 4.0 GPA and all that shit. I fucked up and didn’t take my ass to college, but I always kept my head in the books even after I graduated from high school. At the time she came around, I was just starting to get my life together. I was planning on going back to school and leaving the street life behind. I also met your mother around that time. She was a good girl, and I was trying to win her over by showing her I wasn’t like most street dudes. Anywho, I knew Kareisha was on some bullshit because if Jasmine was born six months after our first encounter, that meant she was already pregnant. Three months exactly, and she probably already knew and planned on my ass before she even came to the party. Either the real baby daddy wasn’t shit or didn’t want the baby, so she thought she could fake trap me. I asked for a DNA test several times, but she always went ghost on my ass every time we made an appointment.”
“So how did
