Page 39 of Quiet as Kept

“And I told you to pay attention to your surroundings.” Mama Reese eyed both of us. “I told both of you that and lookat you. Out here talking about folks . . . gossiping and not even looking up to see who’s coming.”

“Let what bitch know what?” Vivienne repeated.

Yahirah’s eyes shot to her mother like she was requesting permission to speak. I didn’t know Vivienne, so I wasn’t about to stand on formalities with her.

“His ex,” I explained. “She’s here, pretending it’s about Dakota. When really, she wants something from him that she doesn’t have a right to ask for.” I eyed her. “But there seems to be a lot of that same audacity going around.”

Vivienne didn’t respond. She just looked off into the distance plaintively.

I didn’t care for her, and I also didn’t care that it was based on the fact that she was just like Tasha in my book. She’d hurt and abandoned Kept. She stayed gone for years, living life and doing her. And when she was finally ready, she made her triumphant return and expected acceptance with no concern for how Kept felt.

I rolled my eyes and sucked my teeth. “You ready, Yahirah?”

The birthday party was a success.

“Am I the only one who wanted to beat Jayla’s ass?” Trinity asked.

When the party was over, I ended up riding back to the house with Ayden, Yahirah, and Trinity. Jayla had beaten me to the passenger’s seat of Kept’s truck under the pretense of wanting to be with the girls. I knew what she was trying to do—paint the picture of them as a family.

“With all of the panting and sweating she was doing, it looked like she was beating her own ass,” I quipped from the back seat.

Yahirah sputtered while both Trinity and Ayden laughed.

“Out there trying to beI’m every mother.” Yahirah made a play on words with the song title “I’m Every Woman.”

“Which she is not. You can’t be every mother when you’re seeing your children for the first time in over a year. You’re every deadbeat,” Trinity added.

“Over a year?” I repeated. I couldn’t imagine having girls as precious as Dakota and Destin and not seeing them.

“Yeah,” Yahirah confirmed. “And she’s been in the U.S. for over a month and is just now coming to see the girls.”

“Well, shit. Vivienne’s been right over in Londynville for Kept’s whole life. She’s just now coming to see him.” Ayden tacked on.

The vehicle went quiet. My heart went out to Kept. He didn’t deserve all the drama the women in his life were dumping in his lap.

When Ayden finally pulled to a stop in Kept’s driveway, the five of us climbed out wearily. The family had managed to hold things together for the party, but now that we were away from the public eye, I wasn’t sure if shit was going to hit the fan or not.

We could hear the elevated volume of voices as soon as Mr. Boudreaux opened the front double doors for us and we stepped into the foyer. They weren’t yelling, but the volume was louder than a regular conversation. The woman’s voice rang out, and I knew it was Jayla.

I immediately started looking for the girls. They didn’t need to witness an argument between their parents, and besides that, it had been a long day. They were sweaty and tired from running around all day. They missed their nap. They needed baths and time to recalibrate. I followed the hallway that led from the foyer to the kitchen, looking for the girls.

Kept and Jayla were in the kitchen. He was putting out the extra food from the party with Destin attached to one of hislegs. Jayla stood at the island, a slight frown on her face, as she watched him. Dakota leaned against the refrigerator. Her face was the very definition of exhaustion.

She caught my eye right away when I entered the space. I held my hand out to her.

“Come on, Dakota, baby. Let’s?—”

Jayla cut me off. “I didn’t ask you to get her. When you see me standing here, as her mother, if I don’t ask you to get her, don’t get her!”

I’d had a lifetime of people playing in my face, particularly family members. One thing I didn’t do was let people talk crazy to me without provocation. I spoke up for myself before I even thought about it.

“Who are you talking to?”

At the same time, Kept said, “Yo, don’t talk to her like that!”

By that time, the entire family had migrated into the kitchen and were watching us like a movie.

“Oh. Ho. Okay.” Mama Reese chortled at Kept’s response to Jayla. “My nephew is mild-mannered, until he’s not.”