The Clique, page 20
Wise and Shiloh had did some real gansta shit in the past, but this was some true monster-type shit.
The baby began to cry.
“Well, my work here is done. Y’all, call the police and tell them that a baby’s just been born and four women have been shot.” He began whistling again, picked Gabby’s body up, threw it over his shoulder, and disappeared through the door like he’d never been there.
Wise and Shiloh grabbed their guns and duffle bags. They both kissed their lovers, whispering promises in their ears, encouraging survival, anonymously called the police, and reluctantly left the cottage.
CHAPTER 70
“Unbelievable ... just unbelievable,” Oprah said as she turned her attention from the large projector screen back to the yellow leather sofa. “One of the most miraculous things about this is how you all became friends and where it led you. How was it to find out that your best friend Royal had the only male child from your child’s father?”
Mo and Royal re-situated themselves in their seats, uncomfortable from the question. Mo gave Royal a look that said, “We are still going to deal with this.”
“We’ve been through so much in the past year,” Mo said, “that’s the last thing on our mind.”
Oprah asked her staff to bring out baby Prince. Then she said, “Pepper, how do you think being a mother is going to change your carefree lifestyle and hopes of becoming a singer?”
“He’s been a joy to my life. I can still pursue a singing career and be a mother. I have a lot to teach him about people and life.”
“Emil, how are you dealing with your new physical handicap?”
“I’m taking it one day at a time. My legs have some feeling, but my back is still weak. It’s harder for my kids because I can’t jump up and run with them or move as fast.”
“Here’s the two questions that have been so mind-boggling to me and my best girlfriend Gayle. Are the police and FBI working hard at finding your daughter Kemoni, and have you two”—she pointed at Royal and Pepper—“seen or heard from the kidnappers?”
“Right now, the last place they have spotted Kemoni was in Kentucky. They seem to think Gabby Cantrell arranged for her ex-husband’s daughter to get Kemoni if something were to happen to her.”
Royal and Pepper both said no they had not spoken to or seen their kidnappers, that they didn’t even know their real names. They were smart not to leak any information because they knew the police and FBI were looking and listening to the interview.
Wise and Shiloh had whispered in their ear, the day they were shot, that when the police came to tell them that they indeed had been kidnapped and made to do all the robberies, so that they wouldn’t be charged with anything.
“We would just like to say that we thank Nevada for saving us from Tonk, and she can get in contact with us through Jovan Mims. The kids need to stay in touch with their sister.”
“Thank you, ladies, for your story. And the new book is on the way from The Clique. No title yet.”
All of them hugged Oprah and left the set.
CHAPTER 71
As the women embraced and prepared to depart, Pepper saw Shiloh standing across the street. She pushed Emil’s wheelchair to her limo and kissed her and Kaylen bye. Then she grabbed Royal’s arm, just as she and King were getting into their limo. “Mo, watch King and Prince for a minute.”
“What’s wrong? Everything okay?”
Pepper motioned her head across the street toward Shiloh.
Royal held her swollen belly. The baby began to kick like she knew her daddy was there.
Royal and Pepper walked across the busy Chicago Street and stood in front of Shiloh.
“Is he all right?” Pepper asked. “I just wanna know if he’s okay.”
“Here.” He handed Pepper a medium-size FedEx box. “Everything’s in there.”
“You need me to stay?” she asked Royal.
“No, I’m fine.” Pepper walked back across the street.
Mo situated the boys in the limo and studied the beautifully wrapped package sitting on the seat. Was it from Jovan? She pulled the small card off: This is to show how sorry I am for causing you so much trouble all your life. It was signed Gabby Cantrell.
She unwrapped the box and folded back the pink tissue paper, to reveal Gabby Cantrell’s heart and left hand. Worried her mother would come back to harm her, Mo took out the gun she carried in her purse, wrapped the package back up, and placed them in a trashcan next to the limo. She was finished with that chapter of her life.
Shiloh stared at Royal’s huge belly. “That’s my seed?”
She rubbed her swollen belly. “Yeah,” she said, studying his disgusted eyes.
“Why you keep it?”
Surprised at his question and nasty attitude, she said, “What? Nigga, I ain’t ask you for shit! I can take care of mine.” She turned to walk back across the street.
King watched Shiloh grab his mother’s arm and talk angrily to her. He balled up his fist, anger welling inside of him about his mother’s sad face.
“Don’t leave. We need to talk.”
“You just asked me why I keep this baby, and you think I wanna sit around and shoot the shit with you?” Royal wiped the tears from her face.
“Everything I told you when we were together, I meant.” He reached out and rubbed her belly with both hands.
“So how could you ask me that?” Royal put her hand on her back and looked toward the ground.
King wanted to jump out of the limo and punch the man that was making his mother cry in the mouth. He’d overheard her talking to his auntie and seen her cry so many nights about his father Spencer Mack. And now here she was crying again about another man.
“What if being with me meant something sinful?”
“What do you mean?”
Shiloh paced back and forth. “I mean, if me and you being together was an abomination, wrong, not suppose to be.”
“I don’t know. I love you. I want to be with you, no matter what.”
Shiloh was trembling, nervous, upset. “And if this baby had some type of sickness or genetic disability, would you still want it?”
“Yes, she’s my child. Our child.”
“My father died and left me with a heavy burden to bear. Read this and then tell me if you still feel the same way.”
Shiloh,
I’ve done such a poor job of raising you, told you so many lies, and hurt so many people in my lifetime. But you’ve always been a devoted son. You’ve raised me to be your dad. I learned so much from you. I know you think your robbing the dope man was the worst thing in the world for you to do, but I’ve done worse. You robbed to support my AIDS, something I didn’t have to get, just being dick-headed. I raped someone when I was younger, the same time I was dealing with yo’ mama, that’s why she left me.
The woman I raped had a child, a girl, and she the one you brought to the house that day, Royal.
“Nooooooooo!” Royal dropped to the ground, holding her stomach.
King jumped out of the limo, dug into the trashcan he saw Mo throw the gun in, and sprinted across the street to his mother. He pointed the gun at Shiloh. “Back off my mama!”
Shiloh, thinking it was a toy, reached for the gun and ...
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The Clique Copyright © 2008 Brandie
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ISBN: 978-1-6016-2654-7
First Mass Paperback Printing May 2012
First Trade Paperback Printing February 2008
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