Page 139 of Collateral Love
My mother slapped the table.
“Don’t you dare,” she hissed. “Don’t you fuckin judge me. I made my choices.”
Her voice cracked on the last sentence.
There it was again.
Choice.
“Tell Channy what that choice was,” I said.
“You don’t tell me what to do,” she snapped. “You never did listen growing up. Always had an answer. Always thought you knew better than me. Running the streets. Chasing dirty money. Dragging this family’s name?—”
“Jared found out,” I said, cutting through her noise. “Didn’t he?”
Silence hit the room hard.
Her mouth clamped shut.
The hum of the lights filled the space; her denial should’ve gone.
Channy whispered, “Mom?”
I didn’t break eye contact.
“He found out you were messing with Alan,” I continued. “Found out he had a daughter you helped hide. A family you didn’t want us to know about.”
Sharon’s nostrils flared.
“He didn’t know anything,” she said finally. “He always thought he was smarter than everybody. Sneaking around. Listening at the doors. Reading other people’s mail.”
“You mean yours?” Xavier asked.
She ignored him.
“I talked to him. He said he came to you,” I said, voice low. “He confronted you. Said he never told us about it because his prison sentence was enough for us to handle. Your own son didn’t want to tear us apart with your infidelity. But despite that, he never for a second thought you set him up.”
“He disrespected me,” she snapped.
“He told you he was going to tell Daddy,” I added.
Pain flickered across her face before she could stop it.
“I was protecting my family,” she said.
“You were protecting your image,” I corrected.
Her hand slammed down again.
“You don’t understand what it is to be a Black woman with nothing,” she said, voice rising. “Your daddy was all I had. If he knew. If he knew what I did, he would’ve left. I worked too hard to hold that house together. You think he would’ve stayed if he knew I stepped outside? You think he would’ve been kissing the ground you walked on if he knew you weren't his only miracle?”
Channy flinched.
I didn’t.
“I’m not talking about what you did with Alan,” I said. “I’m talking about what you did with Jared.”
Her eyes went flat.
