Chapter 8 - Alicia’s Breaking Point
I didn’t want to believe it.
Not because I trusted Alicia.
That privilege was long gone.
I simply couldn’t understand why she would threaten Vanessa.
So I called her.
She answered immediately.
“Malcolm?”
“Where are you?”
“At work.”
“No, you’re not.”
Silence.
“How do you know?”
“Because I called the hospital.”
Another silence.
I heard a car door close on her end.
“Meet me at Layton.”
“No.”
“Alicia.”
“I said no.”
My patience snapped.
“You sent Vanessa a threat.”
She stopped breathing.
Then she whispered, “She showed you.”
“Yes.”
“Damn it.”
“So it was you.”
“I wasn’t threatening Nia.”
“You wrote her name on the paper.”
“I was threatening Vanessa.”
“That does not improve this.”
She began crying.
“I can’t lose my daughter.”
“You are losing her by lying.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
My voice hardened.
“Everybody in this family thinks love gives them permission to control what somebody else is allowed to know.”
She said nothing.
I continued.
“You did it to Devin.”
Silence.
“To Nia.”
Silence.
“And now you’re doing it again.”
She hung up.
I drove to Layton.
Vanessa followed in her SUV.
Devin was already there.
So was my mother.
When I stepped inside, Terrence sat in the living room wrapped in a blanket.
He looked weaker than the day before.
Nia sat beside him.
Alicia stood near the fireplace.
She had arrived before us.
Her eyes were red.
“What is everybody doing here?” Nia asked.
Nobody answered.
That frightened her.
She looked at Terrence.
“Dad?”
Terrence took her hand.
“It’s time.”
Alicia stepped forward.
“No.”
Terrence looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Not like this.”
“There is no good version of this.”
Nia stood.
“Tell me what?”
Alicia began shaking her head.
“Nia, sweetheart—”
“Mom.”
Nia’s voice broke.
“Who is my biological father?”
The room became silent.
Alicia covered her mouth.
Nia’s eyes moved across us.
Then landed on Devin.
Children know.
Maybe not facts.
But patterns.
They know when adults look at one person too carefully.
She stared at him.
“No.”
Devin’s face broke.
“Nia.”
She backed away.
“No.”
Alicia reached for her.
Nia jerked away.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Nia—”
“You lied.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Nia screamed.
“From what?”
Nobody answered.
“FROM WHAT?”
Terrence stood despite how weak he was.
“Nia.”
She turned to him.
Tears poured down her face.
“You knew?”
He nodded.
Her entire expression collapsed.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I was scared.”
“You too?”
That question broke something in all of us.
Nia ran toward the front door.
Devin moved but stopped himself.
Terrence said, “Let her breathe.”
Nia opened the door.
Then nearly collided with Grandma Ruth.
Grandma looked around.
“Well.”
Nobody moved.
She glanced at Nia.
“You want to walk with an old woman?”
Nia wiped her face.
“I don’t know you.”
“I’m Ruth.”
Grandma held out her hand.
“I don’t know half these fools either, apparently.”
Despite everything, Nia made a tiny sound that almost became a laugh.
They went outside.
Alicia collapsed into a chair.
“I ruined everything.”
Devin stood across from her.
“You ruined a lot.”
She looked at him.
“I’m sorry.”
His face tightened.
“You don’t get eleven years back with sorry.”
“I know.”
“You chose for me.”
“I know.”
“You let me hold Nia at family events.”
Alicia cried harder.
“You let me talk to my own daughter without knowing she was mine.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was I.”
Devin’s voice broke.
“But I never even got the chance to be afraid.”
That silenced the room.
Terrence sat again.
“I’m tired.”
Vanessa went to him.
I watched her adjust the blanket around his shoulders.
Something inside me softened.
Not because everything was fixed.
It wasn’t.
But I finally saw what Grandma had seen Thursday morning.
Vanessa hugging a dying man who carried our family’s secrets.
Maybe the hug had never been betrayal.
Maybe the betrayal was all the silence around it.
Then Terrence suddenly coughed.
Hard.
His body folded forward.
Vanessa grabbed him.
“Terrence?”
He tried to answer.
Nothing came out.
I rushed forward.
His eyes rolled back.
“Call 911!”
Alicia screamed.
Devin reached for his phone.
I caught Terrence before he hit the floor.
He was frighteningly light in my arms.
His eyes opened briefly.
He looked at me.
“Brother.”
It was the first time he had called me that.
Then he whispered, “Take care of her.”
May you like
His eyes closed.
And the ambulance sirens began in the distance.
