Monicha explained everything that she learned to Montae on their ride back to her house. Her brother’s response to what she told him, wasn’t what she was expecting.
“Mo, I thought we agreed that you would leave this alone. Mama, Pops and Grandma did what they had to do to protect us.”
“Did they,” Monicha spat. “There is more to this story, and I want to know. Mama has been in contact with our family and was well aware of Sunny and Sunday.”
The tension was rising between the two of them.
“Leave me out of it. Whatever you learn from Mama, keep it to yourself,” Montae told her as he pulled into her driveway. “Is this because you’re pregnant?”
Monicha just looked at Montae. Before Christmas she learned she was pregnant. And, that may have been the reason why she was working so hard to find out the truth. Then again, she knew all too well that secrets don’t always stay buried. Especially after what she learned over the weekend.
“Listen, I know all of this is coming at us fast. Finding out that Mom has been in contact with the woman who killed our dad and her sister. Do you realize they haven’t grieved Aunt Patti because she is supposed to be mom?” She opened the door, “And, yes it’s because I’m pregnant. I don’t want my child to be hit in the face with the truth the way we were.”
Montae shook his head because he knew better than anyone, when Monicha sets her mind to something, she saw it through. He jumped out the car behind her, “Mo, I support you. I just think it’s best to leave it alone.”
“I know. But, we have a whole family out there. And, I want to know them.”
“You sure about that?”
Monicha wasn’t sure of anything at that point. Instead of standing in the cold going back and forth with her brother, she hugged him and headed in the house. He promised to call her when he got off from work.
Can you come over?? We need to talk!!
Her mom replied, Be over in an hour .
That gave Monicha just enough time to take a hot shower to get her mind right. She knew that hiding her pregnancy was just as bad as her mom hiding the truth from her. Before she told her mom her news, she needed her to fill in the pieces to the puzzle she was trying to put together in her mind.
An hour later, Monicha was rejuvenated and her mom was ringing the doorbell. “Hey Cookie Monster,” her mom said as they embraced. “How was New York? I noticed you didn’t post any pics,” she said as they made their way into the kitchen.
“About that,” Monicha took a deep breath, “I didn’t go to New York.”
“You didn’t?” Her mom didn’t sound surprised. It was more of a sarcastic reply. Monicha knew at that moment her mom already knew.
“You know.”
“I do.”
“Mommy I can explain,” Monicha said as she sat a bottle of sparkling grape juice and two glasses down on the counter. “I needed to know.”
“Well, I didn’t expect anything less than that.”
“Who told you?”
“Jennifer called me this morning and told me that you were at church last night. She was livid with me for telling you. “
“Why would she be livid?”
“Because you opened up a memory, that we both worked so hard to keep buried.” Her mom poured them two glasses of the sparkling juice and started to explain. “You see,” Matti started. She explained that the night Orlando and Patti were killed, Jennifer was at the apartment when the police arrived. Jennifer had come over to confront her about Orlando leaving Sunny. Sunny had called her to let her know that Orlando told her that he wanted a divorce.
Matti took a sip of her drink, “When the paper printed that I was killed, she called me. She said if we were going to pretend as if I was dead instead of Patti, she needed me to do her a favor.”
Monicha held her hand up. She needed a moment because she had the gut feeling that her mom was about to blow her mind even more than she already had done. The truth about what went down that night, was almost too much to handle. “I apologize. It’s just I needed a minute to get my thoughts together.”
“I understand. We do things to protect our children by any means. That’s the reason your Grandma told me to do what I did, and that’s why I did it for you and your brother. And, you are doing it for your baby.”
Monicha glared at her mom, “How did you know?”
Matti picked up the bottle of sparkling grape juice, “You gave us sparkling juice to discuss everything. We haven’t had sparkling juice since you turned 21. Plus, it’s written all over your face.”
Monicha laughed. After all these years she still couldn’t get anything over on her mom. “You don’t have to explain.”
“Every time I look at Montae, I see him. You know, I didn’t know he was a minister until that night. That night I learned more than I ever imagined.”“Yes, I do. I’ve been holding this in for so long, and I need to get it out,” she said. She explained that Jennifer came back to the house a couple days later and told her that if she didn’t agree to tell the judge that “Matti” had been threatening Sunny prior to the incident that she would expose the truth. “When I told your grandparents, they were livid. We had to agree that I was harassing Sunny, and that’s what sent her over the edge.”
“Did you harass her?”
“Girl no.” She grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge and poured her a glass. “I backed away from Orlando. I stopped taking his calls. And, when he came to see you guys I would go in the back room.” She took a huge gulp. “Then, when he called to say he was leaving Sunny, I thought I was finally getting my family. But, your Aunt Patti, said that I was being foolish. She thought I was throwing my life away for a man.”
Listening to her mom, she saw a side of her that she hadn’t seen before. She was laid back and not so uptight. It was as if, telling the truth, freed her in some way.
“Do you think you were throwing your life away?”
“At the time? No,” she chuckled. “Now, I don’t know. Your father wasn’t like any man I had ever met. He was charming, charismatic, and fine.” She put emphasis on fine.
“Every time I look at Montae, I see him. You know, I didn’t know he was a minister until that night. That night I learned more than I ever imagined.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Jennifer was vicious towards me. She looked at you and told me that you would never have the love of your father because Sunny was pregnant. Then she looked at Montae and said that he would never walk in the footsteps of his father.”
“Aunt Jennifer,” Monicha said surprised.
“Yes. Good old Jennifer Renee. All these years I’ve been a prisoner to her and the truth about my identity. I lied to free the woman who took the love of my life and your father, and my first and only best friend, Patti.”
Monicha noticed how her mom began to cringe as she talked about it.
“Your grandparents knew nothing about you or your brother before the shooting. And, I didn’t know about them. Orlando told me that his parents died when he was younger, and he was an only child. So, imagine my surprise when Jennifer arrived at my front door.”
“Wait,” Monicha interrupted. “You mean to tell me daddy, well Orlando, kept you a secret from his family.”
“Yep. I realize now it was because he was a pastor, married, and a big liar.” She started laughing, “For the first time I just realized your father wasn’t shit.”
“Mommy.”
“What? He lied to two women, led a double life and brought pain to so many people. All this time I felt sorry for him. Even when I went to those therapy sessions with Sunny, I still saw your dad as the victim.”
Monicha hadn’t looked at it like that either. Her dad was living a double life, which caused so much hurt and pain on so many people.
“So, I wrote a statement to the court saying that Sunny had reacted to the months of harassment from my sister which possibly caused her to have a mental break. On top of that, we learned that she was raped while she was overseas.”
“Really?”
“Sunny went through a lot to serve her country. When I learned everything I felt sorry for her. So, your grandparents agreed that we needed to get out of the spotlight. Plus staying in the spotlight may have exposed the truth about who I was to be exposed.”
“I met Sunny.”
“When?”
“This morning. She came by my hotel room and asked me to forgive her for killing my parents.”
“Hmph. I bet if Jennifer knew that she would have a fit. She ran this entire situation from the moment it all happened. She made it clear to me that if I stayed around, her family had enough connections in DC to cause me grief. And, that was before we learned about the murders.”
Monicha no longer felt contempt for her mom or grandparents. They did exactly what they needed to do to protect them. “Have you ever met Sunday?”
“No, but I’ve seen pictures. She is the mirror image of you. Well at least the last time I saw a picture. I hear she’s walking in your father’s footsteps.”
“She is. Her sermon was moving.” Then she paused, “I would love to get to know her.”
“You can’t do that,” Matti spat.
Monicha was shocked by her mom’s response. She thought they had made it through the rough patches in their relationship. “Why?”
“Monicha, just because I’m telling you the truth doesn't mean you can introduce yourself to her. The world can never know. We committed insurance fraud, lied to the police, and I lied under oath that I was harassing Sunny. The justice system is not going to give me a slap on the wrist for my part in this. No matter why I was doing it.”
“But, I…” she didn’t get a chance to finish.
“Baby, I know you want to know your family, but you can’t. It would unravel a web of lies. I’m pretty sure it’s more to this than I know.”
“What are you not telling me?” Monicha was frustrated at that point.
“I’m tell you everything that you need to know. The only thing you need to focus on is bringing that beautiful little nugget in the world.” She placed her hand on Monicha’s stomach.
“Mama, I need to know everything.”
Matti poured herself a second glass of wine and took a huge gulp. “I signed a nondisclosure agreement.” Then she looked at Monicha intensely, “I took $50,000 from Jennifer. And, I’ve been taken money every year to stay quiet and keep you kids a secret.”
“You did what?”
“I did what I thought was right for you kids at the moment. And, honestly I would do it again if I had to. Orlando took something from me I can never get back. He took my heart. As messed up as he was, I loved that man with everything in me.”
“That doesn’t mean you had to take the money.”
“That money paid for yours and your brother’s first cars. Paid for all those fees to send you two to private schools and to college. Don’t judge me!”
Monicha didn’t know what to think. She believed that finding out the truth would bring about the relief that she was looking for, but all it brought to her was more pain. She had a family that she couldn’t even get to know.
“I apologize.” Her mom put her arm around Monicha, “I know that this is not what you were expecting, but it’s the way of life.”
“What happens when my baby wants to know about her family?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. You didn’t miss out on anything, and you thought your dad was Evan all these years. And, you were fine with that.”
Evan was the man that Patti was involved with and was killed a few weeks after she was. He truly didn’t have any family so to keep the lie going she told the kids he was their father.
“You know this may come out someday,” Monicha told her mom.
“But not today. I wish things were different, but they’re not. I live with that regret every day of my life.”
As much as she didn’t agree with her mom, she wasn’t going to disrespect her or continue to go against her wishes. For the last 35 years; Orlando, Patti, Sunny and everyone else didn’t exist. So, she had to find a way to put it out of her mind and focus on the things that she could control.
“So, tell me why you haven’t told me about my grandbaby,” her mom said.
Just like that, the drama of the last few weeks came to an end. Matti or Patti, she knew the woman sitting across from her was a woman full of courage and hurt. And, it was finally time to move forward.
