The Question of Him

i'll handle it

"I need to go to Briana's... I need to see Bri. This can't be happening." I'm distraught on our way to the parking lot. He couldn't be doing this after eight years. I haven't heard or seen him since he gave me money to get an abortion and now all of a sudden he does this?

"Are you going to be okay to drive?" Lacy stops me from closing the driver door. "Your eyes are bloodshot." I wipe the tears from my face and look in the rearview mirror. I look horrified. Nicole gets my attention by getting in the car on the passenger side. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not letting you drive by yourself. You're obviously distracted and don't need to be left alone."

"Yeah, how about you sit back here and I'll drive." Lacy opened the back door and helped me move seats. I got out my pager and let Briana know I was coming over. I know Michael has no legal standing and he knows it too. He waved his rights when I sent letters to his office and his legal partner sent one back saying he won't claim an illegitimate child. That's why his name isn't on the birth certificate and Amiyah has my last name.

The timing is just all wrong. He's up to something, I know it. There's no way a man like this decides to want to see his daughter out of the blue.

We pulled into Bri's driveway and I tried to get myself together to look normal as possible. She opened the door before we could ring the doorbell.
"What's going on? Why did you say 911?"

"Because I'm about to call my cousin so he can handle this psycho." Lacy answers, walking past her into the house. "Don't make any incriminating calls on my line Lacy! P, what is going on?"

"Michael wants shared custody of Amiyah." Her face twists into confusion and disgust. "This is Nicole by the way, she works with me at the magazine."

"Sorry to meet under these circumstances.."

"Well, nonetheless any friend to Phara is a friend of mine. You two come in out of this weather." We go inside and I get out the subpoena from my purse. Everyone sits at the breakfast counter as she reads over it. "He's a lawyer so he knows he waved his parental rights when he says he wouldn't claim her. This isn't about getting shared custody, something else is up. You've been on television and in magazines, he must want something from you."

"I don't have anything to give him. National news picked the story up in October, so what exactly is different now?" Michael always kept up with the news, I know he's seen me on television since the beginning.

"Maybe it's not something but someone. Gossip about you and Mystery Man being together has been making its rounds these past few weeks. He might see this as an in to get to him." Lacy answers.

Prince definitely won't take this well. He would never want to do business with him anyway. "That would never happen. He would never-especially after this. Oh God, what am I going to tell Amiyah? I told her, her real father died. She's going to be so mad at me." Tears fill my eyes and Briana quickly comforts me. "Amiyah is smart, if you explain to her what happened, she will understand."

"How do I explain to her that her biological father gave me 500 dollars and told me to get an abortion? That would hurt her even more."

"Then don't say it like that. You said she feels that Mr. Nelson is her father right? That will be the only thing that matters to her. She has no feelings towards Michael. Whatever he's up to won't work Phara..he's just trying to take away your happiness."

•••

"Mommy!!" Amiyah and Khaled voices could be heard when I opened the front door. I pulled a smile on my face, genuinely happy to see them. "Hey you two!" They hug my waist and ask me about my day. I try to be as honest as I can. "Work was easy today. How was school?" The jumped back and started telling me about their plants growing in the classroom.

"Well when you bring them back home for winter break, we'll get flower pots for them so they continue to grow."

Prince comes out the kitchen drying off his hands with a smile on his face, but it dissolves when seeing the state I was in. "Hey, Amiyah and Khaled, how about we let mommy get ready for dinner and then we can talk more about how our days went?"

They agreed and said they were going back to work on the vacation board. "Okay, I'll tell you when the food is ready." I sigh, thanking God I didn't crack when seeing Amiyah so happy. Bri and the girls made me feel better before coming home, however, it's still going to be hard telling her I lied on purpose. Lacy was sure Prince had power to do something to stop this though.

I took off my coat and sweater, hearing Prince following behind me. "I wasn't worried about you coming home a few hours later than we talked about because you were out with your friends, but baby you look like you've been crying all day." He shut the door behind us and came over to see if I was okay. "What happened?"

"I was subpoenaed.." Confusion immediately overcast his demeanor. "For what? Where's the papers?" I got the papers from my coat pocket and handed it to him. As he read over them, his jaw tightened and the tips of his ears grew red. He was obviously angry. I've never seen him like this.

He didn't cuss, even though I know he wants to, and he didn't ask me anymore questions. He simply rubs my arms and kisses my forehead softly.
"I'll handle it. Dinner needs about twenty more minutes in the oven. Don't wait for me, you and the kids eat and don't worry about anything."

His passive attitude and visible anger made me hesitant to ask him where he was going. "You're leaving?"

Prince slipped on one of his thick turtlenecks over his long sleeved shirt and pulled on a jacket. "Yeah mama, I'll try not to take long. I promise to call you if I do." He put the papers in one of his pockets and walked passed me to the door. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to handle this. Amiyah is my daughter and I'm her father. No judge or deadbeat is going to take her away from this family to be with someone who sees her as an illegitimate child." I didn't know how he could handle it, but I trusted him and Briana was sure to tell me to let him do whatever he could.

We told the kids he had to handle something at Paisley and that he would be back as soon as he could. "Be good for mommy, okay?"

"I'm always good." Khaled boasted. Amiyah gave Prince a big hug and he picked her up, hugging her tight, talking to her softly. I went to the kitchen, wiping the tears escaping so the children wouldn't see. I don't know how Prince was going to solve this, I just hope it works and that Michael will give up whatever he's trying to do, and leave us alone.

_________________

What do you think Prince has up his sleeve?

Will Phara have to tell Amiyah the truth?

And most importantly, what does Michael want and will he get it?

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