Deceitful | Book 3

| T H I R T Y - E I G H T |

MARTRAY

I could tell that she was shocked to see me at her doorstep. You'd think I was there to rob her household from how she was staring at me as if I was nothing familiar to her. And I probably was unfamiliar to her. Me and Mrs. Robbins didn't get a fair introduction to one another. In fact, we didn't get introduced at all.

    "Who's at the door, baby?" Mr. Robbins asked her as he came to the door behind her. When he saw my face, I could instantly see the hatred come over.

    Damn, I just fucked a lot of shit up with a lot of people. But I'm not that guy anymore. And I would appreciate it if people would just stop staring at me as if I was that person. Right now, I assume that shit is too much to ask for. Just because you're turning over a new leaf, doesn't mean that everybody else gotta do the same. They have all right to treat you how they want. Especially when you did the most foulest shit I've done. I don't blame them.

    "How may I help you?" Mr. Robbins asked as he gently pushed his wife to the side of him. I almost forgot why I was even here.

    "Uh—yea. I'm Martray Miller. I'm Britney's father. Is she here?" I asked. Mrs. Robbins looked up at her husband with the same shocking look on her face.

    "If she was, what business is it yours?" He asked me in an angry tone. I expected that shit. It didn't throw me off.

    "In all due respect, sir, I just want to watch after her while her mother is ill. That's all. I'm sure she would want that for her daughter."

    "And what in the hell do you know about what she wants? Did you talk to her?" His eyes expressed stress, animosity, and misery all at once. "Oh, wait—my damn daughter is in a damn psych ward unresponsive. So how would you know what she wants for Britney right now?" He spoke sarcastically.

    "Mr. Robbins, I didn't come here to argue with you. I understand that I've done some things that you don't agree with, but I'm not the same person anymore. I'm actually trying to be here for Britney. I need to be here for her. I just need to see her."

    "Well, she ain't here." He said as he pulled his wife away from the door. "I'll be in the kitchen in a minute, Ana." He said to her, basically dismissing her from the conversation.

    She looked at me once more before walking away. If I didn't know any better, I would say this woman didn't really speak much English. But, I've heard her and Tereny talk on the phone with one another before and Tereny was speaking English.

    Mr. Robbins stepped outside and closed the door behind me, making me take a few steps back in case he had any ideas of swinging on me. He took one good look at me, up and down, and shook his head.

    "You signed your rights over, you do remember that, don't you, son?" He asked me, this time in a more polite tone. I looked down, feeling guilty. I was just angry at the time.

    I think about how I signed away my rights all because I was mad with Tereny that she wanted to be with someone else instead of me. I didn't sign over my rights to hurt Britney. I signed over my rights to hurt Tereny. But all that did was make her fall even deeper in love with Bruce for legally adopting her.

    "I understand that, sir. I wasn't thinking when I signed my rights away. I was just angry. I was being locked up behind bars—I was basically losing everything. And I did lose everything. But, sir, I'm changing that. I'm not the same person that I was before. I'm a changed man. I want to do right by Britney. I want to be a part of her life. And Tereny understands that. She and I had a talk before all of this went down and she wants me to be a part of Britney's life. I just wanna do the right thing." I try and convince him that this is what I wanted to do. I just had to see Britney. Just seeing her weeks ago wasn't enough. I had to be near her.