"What's going on?"
"I don't know but the first chance I get I'm calling you Kyhanna. Don't worry we gonna work this all out." Kwame said as they took him away. I didn't even have a chance to respond and even if I did I really had nothing to say. Kwame claimed we could work things out but I just didn't see that happening.
Kwame
Chapter 17
"Charmaine, so I see you on that bullshit. How you gon' lock me up for child support when I always give you money for KJ." The minute I had been granted my first phone call I used it to call her trifling ass. I knew she'd try and pull something crazy but I never imagined it would be this.
"Do I have your attention now?" She asked and I wished I could reach through the phone and wrap my hands around her neck.
"Come on. Let's not play these games. You know I've always been responsible for our son."
"Whatever. You give me money when it's convenient for you and I'll let it slide since we were together but not anymore. You can't leave me high and dry and think you can just kick me money whenever you want to."
"So this is all about us not being together?"
"You damn right. Ever since you've gotten you a new flavor of the month it seems to me like your priorities are all backwards. And now you take money out of our son's mouth and give it to her plus you done got that hoe Selina pregnant too? Naw, KJ and I ain't going out like that. You gon' pay up."
"You know you sound ridiculous right now. That would never happen. And my only child is KJ. I don't have any other children. I don't care what that crazy chick say."
"Whatever. Now all I'm doing is making sure that the judge holds you accountable. See you in court." Charmaine hung up the phone. The guard they had watching the phone decided to give me another phone call. I called my brother Khamani.
"Yo bro. long story short I'm in jail. Charmaine trying to get me for child support. I need you to send our lawyer down here tomorrow so he can straighten all of this out. In the meantime can you go and check on Kyhanna and make sure she's cool?"
"Don't worry bro I got you. And don't even worry about being in there. You'll be out in no time."
***
I don't know if it was the hard ass bench that they called a bed or the fact that I had been absolutely furious but I hadn't managed to get a bit of sleep. It wasn't even nine in the morning and my lawyer had already shown up. I let a slight smile creep across my face. That's why we paid our attorney a hefty retainer so he could come through in the clutch in times like this.
After the guard retrieved me for my visit, we followed him into a private room so that we could talk.
"Man, I'm so glad to see you." I said as I shook Attorney Lane's hand.
"When your brother called me last night and told me you were locked up I assured him that I would make it my personal mission to come down here and figure out what was going on."
"So hit me with it." I said wanting him to get straight to it.
"Okay so Charmaine has filed to receive back child support for your son dating back to his birth. So she wants to go back to the beginning."
"Can she do that? That's not cool at all. I've always taken care of my son."
"Well since you two didn't have a formal agreement through the courts or something official in writing its pretty much fair game."
"That's some bullshit."
"It says that they sent you a notice to appear in court but since you were a no show then they issued a warrant for your arrest."
"What notice? I never received a notice to appear anywhere."
"Don't worry. She probably went to great lengths just to make sure you didn't receive it."
"So what happens next?"
"Well the bad news is we can't really do anything until your court hearing and unfortunately your hearing isn't scheduled for an entire month so you'll have to stay locked up until then."
"Damn." I shook my head.
"The good thing this will give me the perfect time to build up our case against her. When I am through with her she won't even have a leg to stand on."
"That's good to know."
"Now you know when I'm on a case I uncover everything that is hidden. I'm warning you that I may reveal some things that are crazy but I assure you that you'll walk out of here a free man not owing a damn dime."
"Do what you have to do."
I left my meeting with Lane and returned to my cell knowing that even though I had to sit here and eat these next thirty days it wouldn't be in vain. I had one of the best lawyers in the city and we would build one hell of a case. I knew more than anything else that he had this case in the bag.
Over the next few days, I did my best settling into jail and my roommate was straight. He had been locked up for too many traffic violations and my third day there he ended up passing me a cell phone.
"Call your girl man." He encouraged me. I'd tried to call her a dozen times and she didn't answer any of my calls. All I wanted to do was hear her voice. I punched in her cell phone number and took a deep breath as the phone started ringing through. To my surprise she picked up the phone after the first few rings.
"Hello, who is this?" Kyhanna asked the minute she picked up.
"Baby, it's me. Please don't hang up."
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't."
"Because we never got a chance to really talk about everything before I got locked up. So I want us to talk." Kyhanna sighed and then replied,
"Okay I'm listening."
"Key I know you're hurting right now and you're hurt all because of the stupid shit I did. It's true I dealt with Selina and I should've told you from the beginning but I promise you that I ended things between me and her when we got together and things between Charmaine and I have been over that's why she doing evil shit like this now. I promise you I used to play games with females but that was the old me and that is in my past. I wouldn't have come at you if I was on some games. And that's the truth. I put that on everything."
"I dunno Kwame. I trusted you with everything in me and I don't know if I can trust you like that again. I don't even know what to believe."
"I know everything seems crazy but I'm telling you what we're going through we can get through this. My hearing for child support isn't for a month and I have to stay here until then but I promise we'll work it all out. When I have my hearing it would mean a lot to me if you were there."
"I'll think about it Kwame. We can just figure everything out then."
"Okay Kyhanna. I love you and I'll talk to you later."
"Bye Kwame."
Hearing her hang up the phone without saying she loved me stung a little bit but I understood she was still upset and me being inside a jail cell didn't help our situation either. Somehow even though she hurt my feelings a little bit still hearing how upset she was let me know that I still had a chance to make things right with her and now it was up to me to devise the perfect plan to win her heart back and intended on doing just that.
Kyhanna
Chapter 18
It hurt like hell to be in this situation with Kwame and it hurt even more to know that I was now pregnant with his baby and he still didn't have a clue. As far as I was concerned I didn't plan on telling him any time soon. Since he'd been locked up I decided I needed to become more independent and I ended up taking my driving test and passing. I had been relieved when I passed since that meant that I didn't have to rely on anyone to take me anywhere. I could actually take myself. When Kwame got out of jail I didn't plan on asking him for a thing.
I spent my Saturday cleaning up the house and doing laundry and later on I planned on hanging out with Tameeka at the mall. Khamani ended up stopping by right as I finished cleaning up.
"What's good sis? Just wanted to come through and check you out."
"I'm good Khamani. Look at what I just got." I pulled out my driver's license from my back pocket and let him check it out.
"You got your L's sis. That's dope. Proud of you. Now you can drive that bad ass truck my brother got you."
"I sure can."
"I ain't gon' lie ever since my brother brought you that truck my girl been looking at me all suspect and shit. Now I gotta really step up my game." I smiled but somehow when he mentioned his brother my mood instantly changed. He noticed it too.
"I know you still pissed at my bro or whatever but I know when he really cares for someone and I can clearly see that he loves you. You've changed him for the better."