Page 19 of Pieces of Us

My mouth hung open because I never knew my mother cheated on my father.

She didn’t even seem like the type to step out on Gio.

If I had to admit it, I always thought my mother was a pushover and allowed this man to do whatever he wanted to us.

Now, I saw why she never spoke up. She regretted it, and of course, Gio played that to his advantage.

“Morgan…I love you. I really do. I beg you not to do this. We can fix this between us,” Justin spoke.

I shook my head. “I forgave you already, but I won’t be taken for granted anymore.

You had a great woman by your side, and you chose to cheat on me with a married couple.

You’re sick if you think I’ll take you back after that.

My lawyer is getting those papers together, we’ll discuss the kids and everything else once you’re served. Goodbye, Justin.”

“I won’t let you do this, Morgan. I won’t let you separate me from my kids. They need us both.”

“And they will have us both…separately.”

“You cannot divorce your husband, Morgan,” my father said. “The Bible says in—”

I laughed, cutting him off before he started quoting scriptures to me.

“Watch me. Megan, let’s go, babe!”

“Coming!”

“It’s a shame what you’re doing to your own daughter, introducing her to that family just for them to be taken away from her…” Gio voiced.

“Threaten her again, Gioni, and I swear I will spill all of your dirty little secrets! Try me.”

“I’m ready, Mom. See you later, Dad. Bye, Papa. Bye, Nana.” Megan went around the room hugging and kissing everyone before I took her hand and headed toward the door.

“Thanks, Mommy. I’ll be back soon.”

“No problem, baby. Call me when you’re on your way back.”

“Will do.”

I took one last look at Justin’s pitiful ass and my manipulative father before I walked out of the door. I knew then I was making the right decision.

I pulled into the gates of Doctor Nehemiah Newson’s home and almost cried.

It was the home we used to come to every weekend and manifest as ours.

At the time, the house was vacant. We would have picnics in the huge backyard inside of the empty pool.

To see that he actually purchased the home warmed my heart.

“Wow! This is sweet! Doctors must make a lot of money,” Megan exclaimed, eyes sparkling at the sight.

“They do.”

“I think I want to be a doctor instead of cellist.” She giggled.

“You can be both.” She smiled at me. “How do you feel?”

“I feel good.”

“Are you nervous?”

“No, but I know you are.” She laughed and I joined her.

“I am a little, but I just want to make sure you’re okay with this.”

“I’m okay. If you’re not, we can leave.”

“No. He’s expecting us, so let’s go.”

She nodded as we got out and headed up to the door. I rang the doorbell, and a moment later, an older woman opened the door with a pleasant smile.

“Ms. Prescott?” she questioned.

“I am.”

“Great. I’m Leann. Mr. Newson is expecting you. Right this way.”

She opened the door wider for us to walk inside. Once we stepped through the threshold, Megan and I both stopped in our tracks, marveling over the home.

“This is so dope. Mom, look. He has a waterfall in his house!”

I smiled. Nehemiah had to have had the house designed.

It was the exact way we envisioned it to be—white granite flooring, high ceilings with crystal ball chandeliers, a grand piano, waterfall, frosted glass windows with cream, white, and opaque colors.

My home was nice and modest, but his was a bit bigger and just the way I told him I wanted it.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Leann asked, smiling.

“It is,” Megan and I said simultaneously.

She giggled. “Come.”

She waved us on as we followed her down a long hall on the right.

We turned right and ended up in what looked like a formal sitting room.

It looked like the Oval Office in the White House.

It was very spacious with a couch, loveseat, and a chaise lounge.

Artwork of Black leaders decorated the walls with a table in the center of the room that housed what I assumed was our dinner for the night.

Nehemiah sat at a desk in the corner, seemingly wrapping up a phone call. Once he hung up, he stood wearing a cream Burberry button-down rolled up to his elbows, showcasing the tattooed sleeve on both arms, and brown slacks. He approached us as he smiled at Megan.

“Thank you for coming.”

“No problem.” She smiled.

“Not sure if you’re comfortable, but would it be too much to ask for a hug?”

Megan shook her head and fell into his arms. He held her tight and closed his eyes. I could see several emotions cross his face as his eyes opened and landed on me. I smiled softly and looked away.

He released her and ran his hand down her head. “I’m glad you agreed to meet with me, Megan. I know this is new for us both, but I’m hoping you’ll give me a chance to get to know you, and for you to know me.”

“Of course. Mom gave me a little history about you guys…I feel like I know you a little bit.”

He chuckled. “Good. I hope you all are hungry. I made my famous dish.”

“Southwest chicken chili?” I queried.

He licked those kissable lips and smirked. “You know it.”

“You never did give me that recipe.”

“Yeah… I wasn’t able to give you a lot of things, but at least I was able to give you something.” He smiled down at Megan who was looking between the two of us. “Let’s eat because I’m starving.”

A twinge of sadness came over me, but I sucked it up as we all took a seat.

After we said grace, it was as if I didn’t even exist anymore.

Megan and Nehemiah vibed and talked about everything from music to art.

I could tell Nehemiah was impressed by how articulate Megan was.

I could see the admiration and appreciation in both of their eyes.

They had so much in common considering their birthdays were only a day apart, so they kind of liked the same things.

When Megan told him she played the cello, Nehemiah was impressed.

She asked me to pull up the video of her showcase so he could see, and they watched it together.

I just sat and watched him with that beautiful smile on his face and wanted to cry.

The emotions coursing through me were so overwhelming I had to excuse myself to go to the bathroom.

While inside, I splashed some water on my face and looked at myself in the mirror.

On the outside, I looked okay, but on the inside, I was breaking.

I couldn’t help that I still felt something for Justin.

He was who I spent almost fourteen years of my life with and vowed my life to in front of my family and the members of my father’s church.

However, he hurt me to my core when I witnessed his infidelity.

I was na?ve and vulnerable when we got together and allowed my father to finesse me into marrying him.

Now that I was an adult, I looked back on all the years I spent with him and felt nothing but stupidity and betrayal.

Then there was Nehemiah, the love of my life, the man I was promised to the moment we locked eyes on that football field. We may have been young, but our love was potent, pure, and beautiful. We never had the chance to experience what our love could have been because it was stolen from us.

He and Megan were bonding so well, and even that was stolen from them. Now, I felt wrong for wanting him when I allowed my father to take us away from him.

Tears slid down my cheeks as I placed my hand over my mouth to conceal my inner turmoil.

I hated what had become of my life and what I had to take away from my children because their father wanted to be a friendly dick nigga and not think about the consequences of his actions or what it would do to me or his children.

The tapping on the door caused me to straighten up and toss more water on my face.

“I’ll be right out,” I said, trying to sound normal.

“Mo, open the door.”

“I’m okay. I promise.”

“Don’t make me bust this door down, Boogie. Open up for me.”

I sighed deeply and opened the door. Nehemiah walked inside, closing the door behind him. His eyes bore into mine as he took his thumbs and cleared the new tears that were falling.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to keep apologizing, Mo.

I’m starting to believe that it was meant to happen this way.

Our love for one another was too passionate, and we were still under our peoples’ thumbs.

They would have eventually tore us apart because of how adamant your pops was to break us up.

Stop beating yourself up about what we can’t change.

Let’s look forward to what we can control now. A’ight?”

“Okay.”

“Come on.” He pecked my lips then took me by the hand, leading me out of the bathroom. “My shorty is dope, man. You did really good with her. I kind of figured she wouldn’t be ill-mannered.”

I smiled. “Where is she?”

“Leann is showing her my art room.”

“What is she? Like your maid or something?”

He chuckled. “I wouldn’t exactly label her as that. Leann is like my house mother. She makes sure everything runs smoothly while I’m away, and sometimes, she’ll cook if I keep late hours at the hospital.”

“House mother sounds like you’re running a brothel.”

He chuckled again. “Nah, Leann’s like a mom to me and my sisters. She takes care of all of our homes and gets in our asses when we do something we know will get on her nerves. She’s been a nice sub since Queenie passed.”

“You know…using words like house mother and sub would give people the wrong impression.”

His eyes smoldered when he looked at me, and my panties instantly flooded.

Nehemiah had always been fine to me, but the older version of him was beautiful.

The facial hair, the tattoos, his chiseled face and refined muscles had me swooning even more than I had been back in the day.

That one look let me know that he was yearning to damage my insides.

I knew it was wrong to want him while I was still married, but I was on the road to divorcing Justin’s ass.

I would still feel wrong if I let Nehemiah have me.

I may not have been a saint, but I did respect the Word enough to know not to eat from the fruit of Nehemiah’s tree, even though that tree was very tempting.

“You ain’t ready for this grown man dick, Morgan. The shit I’d do to you would have you paying for the papers to be signed by morning.”

“Hemi,” I whispered, closing my eyes and thighs tightly.

He stepped closer to me, taking my chin between his fingers and tracing his tongue along the line of my bottom lip.

“You…You can’t talk to me like that.”

“Why?”

“I’m not strong enough not to want to experience the grown you,” I admitted.

He smirked. “At the end of the day, the day gotta end, Mo. And its gon’ end with you on this dick.”

“Oh God.” My head fell into his chest as I laughed.

“Come on before my daughter comes looking for you and find you touching your toes in this hallway.”

I laughed as I followed him down the hall.