Chapter 4

“Well, I dare say that your ex is gonna really regret how she treated you, sooner rather than later. Oh, speak of the Devil, there she is!” Michelle teased me as we reached my house and saw the twins with Tracy.

My estranged wife pushed back her sandy hair from her freckled face and narrowed her hazel eyes at me, being quite annoyed at the presence of so many others in my life. Well, she had Eddie, and I had my new friends, didn’t I? No matter what bullshit she tried, she wouldn’t get me to drop the divorce, either. No counseling claptrap was going to work with me, especially since I didn’t trust her preferences for counselors. We were done, period. There was no point in dragging this out at all.

“Hello, Saul,” Tracy spoke with a curt tone in her voice.

“Hello, Tracy,” I answered politely, but with an edge of attitude.

“Mom, Dad, seriously ... okay, I get it, Mom, be civil ... Daddy, don’t rise to the bait, please,” Amanda spoke up, “anyway, who are these ladies? I’ve met Eddie, and his buddies, after all. Yeah, Tyrone and Tyrell, twin brothers who give all of us twins a bad name, and Ab ... whatever he’s called. I don’t feel like trying to pronounce it, do you? A couple of others. I think that I should meet the men and women in your life, Daddy.”

“Same here. Who’s the blondie?” Amber asked me now.

“Ashley, these are my twin daughters, Amanda and Amber. Girls, this is my girlfriend, Ashley. This here is my fiancee, Karen. And here is my other girlfriend, Michelle. And this is Michelle’s husband, Brian. And these are Kayla and Carmen, our new roommates. Maybe more than that. Before you ask, yeah, I’m breaking free and being my true self at last. No more holding it back for your mother’s sake,” I introduced them at last.

“So, it’s okay for you to date a married woman, but not for me to date another man while with you? What a hypocrite!” Tracy ranted at me.

“Woah, nelly! Back that truck up! I don’t try to interfere in their marriage. I don’t try to get Michelle to deny Brian sex. Brian gets strange, too, and he has consented to this, more than a little. Just ask him if you doubt me! You’re the one who wanted me to be not only faithful, but chaste, while you had lovers, so don’t even get me started now! What happened to being civil? Still too busy trying to hurt me because I wouldn’t be your cuckold? Do we really have to do this in front of the girls, or do you not care about what Amanda asked us?” I was ready for a mic drop if I had a microphone on me, but I didn’t.

“And for your information, ma’am, I wasn’t going to say this, but I’m sterile! There, I said it! I can’t father children myself. Saul here is going to impregnate Michelle for me! Unlike you, I have no problem with him reproducing. I don’t have your racist belief that white men shouldn’t breed. Tell me, does that belief include when the twins were made? Do you regret making them instead of children with other men when you were younger, just because their father is white? What does that say about you, that you wish that you never had your twins, just because they aren’t black?

“Don’t make this ugly, young lady! You’ve been brainwashed, plain and simple, and you need to wake the fuck up! You’ve already lost a great husband, but now you’re losing your daughters!” Brian spoke up at last.

“Mom, I asked you to be nice. Yes, I asked Daddy not to rise to the bait, but I didn’t count on you being quite so vicious so fast! Calling Daddy a hypocrite when you’re one is not a good look for you! If you keep this up, I will make damn sure that no judge would ever grant you even joint-custody of us! I swear I’ll do it, Mom! I’m sixteen! At my age, judges listen to us about where we want to stay! Oh, God, sometimes, Mom, it feels as if I’m the adult and you’re the teenager!” Amanda snapped at Tracy, making her blush.

“Yeah, like we’re already raising two kids, you and Eddie!” Amber added, “don’t even come at me, Mom, about how mature Eddie is. That’s dog shit and you know it! The man doesn’t even pull up his pants half the time! I thought that ‘baggy pants’ look went out in 2000 or something, but evidently not! To say nothing of how he looks at me. Creepy as fuck, Mom! Just wait until I’m of age, Mom. He’ll try to kick you out of bed and stick us in there with himself!”