“Promise me you won’t.....” Her voice trailed off.
“Won’t what?” he asked, confused.
Netta continued, “.... You won’t ever leave me.”
“I won’t. I promise,” Tone said intensely.
Netta felt a connection with Tone unlike anything she had ever felt with a man in her life. She reached over and tongue kissed him deeply. After she was done, she affectionately stroked his chin while looking deeply into his eyes. She saw strength in them, enough for both of them.
“You ain’t gotta worry about Black no more. I’ll take care of that if I have to,” Tone announced suddenly, as if he could read her mind. “Netta, I’ll kill or die for you. But either way, I hope this nigga don’t make me prove it.”
Tone’s words seemed so final. He wanted Netta to know he was prepared to take this situation wherever it had to go. His words resonated with her. Tone wasn’t bragging or trying to sound tough. He was just letting her know where he stood in case she ever wondered.
Netta didn’t want to lose him, especially to a situation not of his making. She had his back just as much as he had hers.
“I love you, Tone,” Netta found herself saying.
“Love you too, Ma,” Tone replied. Whether he said it or not, the feeling was mutual.
Initially, Netta wanted Tone because Black frightened her. She wanted him because he made her feel safe. Now, she wanted him for a whole different reason, she had fallen in love with him.
The last few days of the vacation were the happiest of Netta’s life. Although she had been through so much drama with Black and her medical condition wasn’t the best, none of that seemed to matter. It was as if she and Tone made their very own footprints in the sands of time, on a tropical island where nothing could touch them. They had bonded and fallen in love on a spur-of-the-moment vacation.
The couple’s relationship was growing closer by the day. They had spent a great deal of time talking about the past, the present, and the future. Particularly the future.
“.....I wanna have a baby some day soon,” Netta confessed. “But I don’t wanna raise my kid in Baltimore.”
“We ain’t got to,” Tone assured her. “Just let me get a couple more dollars and we out.....”
Netta would recall that conversation, over and over again, as she pondered the realization of actually leaving Baltimore. The city wasn’t the end all be all. Though it had been to her for quite sometime now. From this point on, Netta planned on looking at life in the grand scheme of things and which direction her life was headed.
16
Soon as the couple arrived back in Baltimore from the cruise, Tone’s first order of business was to get Netta settled into their new one-bedroom apartment that they would be sharing in Owing Mills, a small suburb just outside of Baltimore City. Tone carried the luggage inside the first floor apartment and promptly sat them down in the hallway. He then began showing Netta around.
“This is the bathroom,” he commented. “It’s kinda small, but it’ll do since we won’t be livin’ here long.”
It was hard to read Netta’s body language. She was so quiet that Tone thought something was wrong. For some crazy reason he was expecting her to shoot down the whole idea of moving in.
“Something wrong?” he asked, while Netta looked nonchalant. “You don’t like the apartment?”
“No, of course not,” Netta responded, looking around the small apartment. “I’m grateful that you thought so much of me to find an apartment for us.”
Netta was deeply moved. Today marked a turning point in her life. Tone getting this apartment for her meant the world to Netta.
Good, he thought. Tone needed to know that his efforts weren’t in vain. The apartment was a last minute thing so he had to settle for what was available.
Looking around the apartment, Netta could tell that everything in it was brand new. Everything from the pots, towels, linen, television, the bedroom set to the brown leather three-piece couch. Netta could literally smell the newness in the apartment. She took a seat on the couch and laid back, imaging her and Tone spending a lot of time together there.
There was no doubt in her mind she was happy to escape her old home. The mere fact that no one knew where she lived was a plus. After everything that she had been through, Netta felt like she needed a safe haven and this was it.
“Gimme a second. I got somethin’ for you,” Tone suddenly announced before disappearing into the bedroom.
When Tone reappeared standing at the entrance of the living room empty-handed, Netta was puzzled.
“Well, where’s it at?” she wondered.
“Hold ya horses,” Tone said while extending his hand to help her off the couch.
Netta grabbed hold of his hand and he pulled her to her feet. Then Tone reached in his back pocket and produced a small black stainless steel gun.
“Here, this for you,” he announced. “I want you to feel safe when I’m not here.”
Netta took the gun in her hand and carefully looked it over. There was a feeling of calmness that the firearm evoked in her. She liked the idea of having the gun around. Suddenly she didn’t feel so defenseless.
“You know how to use it?” Tone asked, interrupting her thoughts.
“Yeah, this ain’t the first time I had a gun in my possession. Trust me, I know how they work,” she assured him.
“Aiight, home girl, I was just checkin’,” he replied. “There’s eight shots in there. Not enough to go to war, but enough to get a nigga up off you.”
Netta continued to admire the gun, tinkering with the trigger safety. Every muscle in her body tensed up as she imagined all
