Janet
"Just get over here." I scratched my head as I talked into the phone.
"How did she find your house?"
"Mother." I took a deep breath. "I don't know. Please just get over here." I sighed.
"Calm down, sweetie. Mike and I aren't far from you. Less than ten minutes. We'll be there."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Now remember what Missy said. Breathe. Try to stay as calm as possible."
"Alright."
"We're on our way. Love you."
"Love you too." I hung up and leaned against the counter. I felt Toni's hands on my shoulders.
"Do you want me to go talk to her?"
"No. I just..." I held my head down. "I'll go talk to her." I took another deep breath and grabbed the cup of tea before walking into the living room. "Here you go."
"Thank you." She smiled. I sat down.
"So...ummm....why are you here?" She laughed lightly.
"I know this is awkward considering everything that has happened but I wanted to talk to you."
"Why?"
"Because I feel as though some communication got lost from JohVonnie's side." I felt myself tense up.
"Excuse me?" She sat the cup down.
"I just felt like everyone is talking so bad about her without knowing her story. Her side of things was..."
"Irrelevant. Her side or story is irrelevant. She tried to kill my child. She tried to hurt my family."
"She is your family."
"No, she's Joseph's family. Not mine."
"You're sisters."
"Technically, yes."
"Wow." I took some deep breaths and tried to stay calm but she was really testing my patience. She was really acting all high and mighty about a child that literally tried to kill people.
"Ms. Terrell, I don't know what you truly want here."
"I want you guys to show her some compassion. She didn't grow up with you guys. She felt left out."
"And how is that our fault? We didn't tell our father to cheat on our mother with her best friend."
"However it happened, she's here and she's your sister. You think it was easy to see you guys all over television being successful? Winning awards and selling out stadiums while she was at home struggling."
"Struggling? That's funny. From my research, my father had been supplying you guys with a very comfortable lifestyle from our hard work. The trips, the houses, the cars, private schools. JohVonnie was given a car at sixteen while I was forced to work for mine. She was giving everything that we worked for and she had our father on top of that. She got to have a true father relationship. We never got that."
"That's not her fault."
"No, it's not. It's his. So I'm not understanding why you're here, mad at me when you can go yell at his grave."
"Because we all need to leave the past in the past and let the petty things go."
"Petty things? She tried to kill my son. She called him a necessary casualty."
"Whatever she's done should be put behind us." I felt my blood boil and suddenly something came to mind.
"Why aren't you here fighting for Jada?"
"Huh?"
"Why aren't you here trying to get Toni and I to forgive her? I mean she is your daughter as well, right?"
"Jada's not important."
"No. Jada's important. She's just not the first plan. You want us to forgive JohVonnie because you think that'll get you some money in the long run. Am I wrong?"
"Janet! We're here." I heard my mother and Mike come in.
"In the living room!" I yelled back. They quickly came in and looked between the both of us.
"Dunk, is everything okay?"
"I'm waiting for Cheryle to answer my question." I looked at her. "Am I wrong, Cheryle?"
"Are you serious?"
"I'm dead serious. So admit it. Admit that the only reason you want me to forgive JohVonnie is so that down the line you get money."
"Seriously?" My mother spoke up. "After all the money Joseph gave to you over the years, you still want more."
"Hello, Katherine."
"Cheryle." She stood up and looked at mother.
"How have you been?"
"Great." I heard my door close again and footsteps come in.
"I brought your purse, sweetie." A man came in and handed mother her purse.
"Thank you Gerald." I looked at Mike and he smirked.
Gerald sat down next to me and smiled.
"Wow, Kathy. Looks like you're not missing Joseph."
"Nope. I stopped missing him when he stuck himself into whatever you call yourself."
"A woman. I'm a woman."
"Really, because a real woman wouldn't have spread her legs for her bestfriend's husband. But maybe I don't have the right definition of a woman."
"Surprising how you say all of that and still took him back."
"I didn't take him back, he forced his way in. He got tired of the, how did he put it, dry and boring sex. However, that's all he had because he surely wasn't getting any from me." Cheryle tensed up.
"Petty shots."
"Very petty."
"Katherine, just say what you want to say."
"Fine." Mother handed me her purse. "You are pathetic and sad. I helped you set your life up. I got you away from the abusive, sorry excuse of a man you had and the way you thanked me is by sleeping with my husband. You took money from us and managed to strain my children's relationship even more than it already was with their father. You lied and you stole. Now you're back for more and you want my children to feel bad for your child. Well, let me tell you something. It'll be a cold day in hell before your bastard child receives anything from my children. I hope you suffer for the pain that you inflicted and I'm happy your daughter will never see anything beyond the prison gate for the rest of her life." Mike and I sat in shock. Mother had never been one to talk bad about anyone. So for her to say what she did means she was truly hurt.
"Sorry you feel that way, Kathy."
"I'm not. Now, please leave my daughter's home and never contact me, my children, their children, or their spouses ever again." Cheryle grabbed her purse and left.
"Wow." said Mike. Mother slowly sat down on the other couch and took a deep breath. When she released it, tears fell from her eyes. Immediately, Mike and I went to comfort her.
"It's okay, mother." I pulled her and she laid on my shoulder. I realized that the pain she was feeling was the loss of her friend. This was the first time they had seen each other in over thirty years and obviously mother had been holding onto the pain the whole time. Now that she was able to face her and get what she wanted off her chest, she could now feel the pain of the situation. I can tell from her reaction that this wasn't a woman in her seventies crying, this was a young girl, maybe a little girl, who lost her bestfriend and my heart broke for her.
————————————————————————————
Y'all should've known Cheryle wasn't going to be around long. Momma Kat handled that.
Thoughts??
