Page 28 of Quiet as Kept
“What did the doctor tell you?” my father asked her from the back seat.
She gave a weary sigh. “That I can’t control Patricia’s actions. I can only control my reactions. If she’s her big age and still hasn’t learned that the streets don’t love nobody, then that’s on her.”
My father laughed. “You added that last part yourself.”
She joined him in the laughter. “You’re right, G. I did.”
“What doctor told you that?” I probed.
“Well, first the cardiologist. When I had the heart attack last year?—”
“You had a heart attack? Dad didn’t tell me.”
“I asked him not to.” She sighed again. “It was a wake-up call, Kept. I was in Vegas with some friends and a few of my co-workers from the bar.”
For as long as I could remember, Vivienne had worked as a bartender.
“We were at the pool drinking, dancing, and basically clowning around. A feeling of the worse heartburn on earth took me down to one of the beach chairs. Next thing I knew, I blacked out.”
“Damn. Sorry to hear that. Glad you’re okay.”
“Me too,” Gannon mumbled from the back.
“Gannon was the first person I thought to call when I woke up from the surgery. A few hours later, he was walking his fine ass into my hospital room. Had all the nurses swooning.”
My dad chuckled veryI’m that niggalike.
I shook my head.
“You on AARP and still arrogant, huh?” I joked.
Vivienne hooted with laughter.
“Fuck you, Son. If you keep living, you’re gonna be on AARP one day too.”
“I’m looking forward to it. They give y’all old asses all kinds of discounts.”
We all laughed.
“So, you crack jokes now, Kept?” Vivienne questioned. “I remember you always being quiet and soft spoken. Your Granny used to say I gave you the right name because you were ‘as quiet as Kept.’ Or is this just you and Gannon’s relationship?”
“You know I’ve always had a good relationship with my boy. Thank you for giving him to me, baby.” He reached forward and gave her shoulders a little massage.
The fuck?
And even though I wasn’t sure that I even wanted to know, I had to ask, “Yo, are you two?—”
Vivienne cut me off. “We’re getting married.”
She flashed her sizable diamond in front of my face as I glanced from it to the road in front of me.
“Yeah, she finally agreed to make an honest man out of me,” my father added.
The fuck?
My head was messed up. There were so many things I wanted to say and so many questions that I wanted to ask that I could barely think straight.
For years, as a rich and popular professional athlete, Gannon Boudreaux had chased Vivienne Russell. And she refused to be caught. She refused to carry any of the pregnancies they’d created to term and only had me to spite Priscilla.