Loving Wright

Chapter 41: Surprise Guest

Kendra...

It's been exactly one week since the story dropped and man has it been a rollercoaster.

Brooke considered my warning and backed off, for now at least. But the rest of her family didn't seem to care. They wasted time spreading misinformation about me and the Coopers. They had our rival newspaper doing most of their dirty work for them. They painted me as some promiscuous youth that got knocked up by her thug boyfriend and that my mother was just the same.

All of that was rather laughable honestly. If they bothered to do the research and talk to the people in my hometown like they claimed they did, they would know that was a lie. But the truth wasn't their goal here, slander was.

If this was all they were doing, I would brush it off and be fine. But those good for nothing's crossed the line when they brought my son into it. They called him a bully and a delinquent. They talked about my child like he was going to be a menace to society. Not only was he getting it from the news, but that Hawthorne boy was back to bullying him again. I was planning to go to the school again, but I knew that family had a pull I couldn't kick against. Honestly, I was afraid of what would happen.

Kyle didn't say much when I spoke to him about it. But I could tell it was bothering him. He simply said once, "At least I'm not the only one he's bullying now". Turns out that boy was bullying Romona's son too. Apart from me felt like he got what he deserved for messing with my son, but another part of me felt bad for him. Why did he have to pay for the actions of the adults?

My mind was pulled from my thoughts by a knock on the door.

A small smile made its way to my face. My mother was supposed to be here for Kyle's little award ceremony at the end of the week. I didn't tell him she was coming. He is going to be so surprised when he comes back from practice. It's been a while since we've seen each other. And with all this going on, as weird as this may sound, I need my mama. She always knew what to say.

I pushed myself off the couch and made my way to the door. I grinned widely and opened the door, ready to scream "Mommy!" like the little girl in me that needed a hug.

But instead of the warm friendly face of my mother, I was greeted with the ones of Anthony and his wife.

The little girl in me left, and the damaged teenager took her place.

"Anthony, what are you doing here?" I asked. I was too shocked to be angry.

"I came to see you," he answered

"We came to see you," Andrea said, grabbing tightly onto his arm

"Why?" I asked

"Uh...can we come in? This isn't a conversation we should have out here," He said

I contemplated it for a few seconds but eventually decided to let them in. I did not need nosey neighbors seeing this.

I stepped aside and allowed them in. Their eyes scanned the area. Anthony's eyes lingered on the pictures of Kyle. It then occurred to me that this was the first time he was seeing his son.

"Well this is rather...cozy," Andrea said

"What do you want?" I asked, ignoring her shady comment

"We came to talk to you about our son," Anthony said

"Oh, so he's your son too now?" I shook my head

"Listen, Kendra, I don't want to get into this right now."

"Get into what Anthony? Abandoning your teenage girlfriend to raise your kid alone?" I said folding arms in anger

I saw the guilt in his face, and I was oddly satisfied.