Page 46 of Tangled Hearts

Rock rolled over to little breaths hitting his face. Then he heard giggles.

“Daddy,” Rodeisha tried to whisper.

He held his smile in, still pretending to be sleep.

“Wake up, daddy.” She pushed at his shoulder.

He cracked one eye open, voice deep still coated in sleep. “Lil girl, you know it’s early.”

She laughed harder, showing all her little teeth.

“The sun is up.”

Rock reached over and snatched her up, throwing her onto his chest so fast she squealed.

“Why you so heavy, baby?” he teased, rubbing her back.

“I’m not heavy!” she yelled, laughing against his neck.

“You solid, baby. Big like your daddy.” He tickled her side and she kicked her legs, still giggling.

“Don’t be getting her hyped this early.” Shakeisha’s voice came from the doorway.

Rodeisha sat up on his chest, hair all wild and grinning wide. “Daddy said I’m big like him.”

Shakeisha rolled her eyes with a smile still on her face. “Don’t put that in her head. She already think she run this house.”

She loved the sight before her. This was what she prayed for—her daughter having an active father. While Rock was locked up, there was only so much he could do but he made sure to have a relationship with his baby. Shakeisha was thankful for that since she’d grown up without a dad.

Rock sat up, holding Rodeisha in his lap. “She do run it.” He kissed her cheek, her tiny arms wrapping around his neck. “My baby.”

She pulled back, eyes wide. “Daddy, you hungry?”

“Yea, but I’m not eating no cereal with water like you had me do last time.” He chuckled.

Shakeisha laughed from the doorway. “That was her idea. She told me, ‘Daddy gon’ eat it anyway.’”

Rock shook his head, looking down at his daughter’s proud face. “You tryin’ to starve me, lil girl?”

“No!” she giggled, sliding down the bed. “I’ll make you breakfast for real this time.”

She ran out the room barefoot, yelling, “Mommy! Daddy’s hungry!”

Rock leaned back on the pillows, shaking his head with a small grin. Shakeisha stepped in further, crossing her arms.

“You finally getting what you wanted,” she said. “Her. This.”

She wanted to ask where she fit in but kept those words to herself.

Being a mother had softened her. Time had forced her to grow up, and teaching made her patient in ways she never thought she could be.

But watching him here, comfortable in her bed, claiming a role that had been messy and painful to reach stirred something in her chest.

Shakeisha wasn’t angry anymore, not the way she used to be.

But she couldn’t stop herself from wondering if she was just the bridge that got him to the life he wanted all along.

She swallowed it, though, because the last thing she wanted to do was take away from the joy their daughter felt running through the halls, proud to have her daddy home.

“Yea… this the only shit that feels right.” Rock nodded, still staring at the door his daughter disappeared through.

“Get dressed and meet us in the kitchen.” Shakeisha smiled before walking away.

She didn’t want to get into the logistics of what he meant.

Didn’t want to be disappointed again. It was bad enough he ran to Knycole before he came to see his daughter.

Some habits die hard, but Shakeisha wasn’t running that old play book back.

She was bigger and better. Knew her worth this time around.

Having a daughter taught her to lead by example.

Rock climbed out of bed, stretching his arms into the sky. Today was a new day, but old shit still looped in his head. There was too much to figure out, too much to face head-on. Like Nick. Then there was Knycole. His heart wasn’t in it, if he was being honest.

What Nick did to him burned hot in his blood every time he thought about it.

Five years gone. Five years of being locked up, raising his daughter through phone calls and supervised visits across a cold metal table.

All the birthdays he missed. All the first words, the first steps—time that no man could ever rewind.

And then, like a knife in the back, came the betrayal. His best friend building a life with the girl that was supposed to be his. The girl who was supposed to wait, supposed to hold him down. The anger sat deep in his chest, heavy as iron. Prison had taken his freedom, but Nick had taken his pride.

Rock rubbed at his face, tension tight in his jaw. He told himself he wasn’t gonna let it eat him alive but it already had. Every choice he made now, every move he thought about making, was laced with the shadow of what Nick stole from him.

It wasn’t just about revenge. It was about the years he couldn’t get back. The family that could’ve been his. The trust that could never be repaired. No matter how much he told himself to leave it in the past, it kept finding him every morning when he opened his eyes.

Once he had his self together, he trekked to the kitchen where he could hear his daughter laughing with her mama.

The kitchen smelled like burnt bread and strawberry jelly. Rodeisha stood on a chair at the counter, her little hands pressing too hard on the bread as she tried to spread jelly with a butter knife.

“Daddy,” she said proudly, “I’m making you breakfast.”

Rock leaned against the counter, watching with a grin he couldn’t hide. “You smushing the hell outta that bread.”

Rodeisha laughed, her hair sticking out in every direction. “You still gon’ eat it.”

Shakeisha tied her robe tighter around her waist. “Don’t tease her, Rock.

She really thinks she’s Chef Boyardee this morning.

” Her tone was patient. It wasn’t the same Shakeisha Rock used to know—the one always on edge and sharp with her words.

The girl he used to know had transformed into a woman.

She grabbed the knife gently from her daughter’s hand and showed her how to spread the jelly without ripping the bread.

“Like this, see? Gentle. Everything don’t gotta be rough. ”

Rock caught her words, the way they landed heavier than jelly on toast. He nodded, quietly.

Rodeisha hopped down and ran off to grab juice boxes. Shakeisha slid Rock a plate with toast, eggs, and bacon. He raised an eyebrow. “I thought y’all was just gon’ leave me with that sandwich.”

“That’s all your baby.” Shakeisha smiled, sitting across from him. “I couldn’t let her daddy starve. You been doing good with her, Rock.”

He shrugged, trying not to show how much that meant. “I’m tryin’. She deserve it.”

Shakeisha leaned forward just watching him. “What about you? What do you deserve?”

He took a bite of bacon before answering. “Still figurin’ that out. I been sketchin’ a little… drawing. Started tattooing in there. Was thinkin’ maybe that’s somethin’ I can do for real.”

Her eyes softened. “That’s good. You always had that in you—patience for detail, even if people couldn’t see it. It’d be good for you. For her.” She nodded toward the sound of Rodeisha singing to herself in the living room.

Rock felt something warm crawl up in his chest. This—sitting at a table, his daughter laughing in the background, Shakeisha looking at him without hate—this was new. And he liked it.

His phone buzzed on the counter. He reached for it without thinking, thumb swiping over the notification. It was Knycole. It had been days since he saw her and they’d only talked a little here and there.

Shakeisha’s eyes caught it. She didn’t flinch or roll her eyes. “You still running behind her?” she asked.

Rock rubbed his face. “It ain’t like that. Me and Knyc… we got history.”

“I know.” Shakeisha’s voice was even. “But I’ve come too far to go back to number two. I spent too many years fighting for a man’s love. I won’t do it again. Not with you, not with anybody.”

“She just texted, Shakeisha. That’s all.”

She looked at him upside his head. “And you answered. That’s the part I’m talking about.” She stood, clearing his empty plate from the table. “I’m not mad. I just know my worth now. I’m not raising Rodeisha to watch me beg for love that’s split in two.”

Her words hit him harder than any fight they ever had. He sat there, silent, while she rinsed the dishes, her back turned but her energy still soft.

He’d seen the change in her with every visit she made. He saw the joy in her eyes when she talked about going to school to be a teacher. Shakeisha had worn her Scarlet letter long enough that it no longer defined her. He loved that for her but he wasn’t ready to fully commit to her.

His ego wouldn’t let him walk away from Knycole just yet. Even when he knew where his love truly lied.

From the living room, Rodeisha shouted, “Daddy! Come play with me!”

Rock looked at his phone one last time, then flipped it face down. He pushed back from the table, stood up, and walked toward his daughter’s voice.

“Don’t give my baby something you ain’t willing to keep up with. You ain’t gotta love her mama but don’t treat me like trash either.” Shakeisha spoke loud enough for him to hear her.

“A’ight, Shakeisha, I hear you.”

“Don’t hear me, nigga. Feel me cause I will never play about that one.”

Later that day, Rock and Shakeisha sat in the living room while Rodeisha napped in her room. The TV was on but muted. Rock sat slouched on the couch, one hand rubbing over his jaw, the other drumming against his knee. He was in his head, bad.

“You good?” Shakeisha asked gently, curling up on the other end of the couch.

He smirked without any humor. “I got too much shit in my head. Can’t turn it off.”

“Then put it somewhere.”

Her words hung there, and for once, he didn’t snap back or get offended. Instead, he stood up before disappearing into the bedroom. He came back with a black, worn sketchbook. He tossed it onto the table between them, the cover bent and the edges curled.

Shakeisha’s brows lifted. “What’s this, baby daddy?”

“My head,” he muttered, sitting back down. “The shit I don’t know how to say out loud.”