The Last Straw

Famke paced while Royal was furiously staring at his mother’s face on the video call.

“You’re suing us for custody?”

“Yes. Famke doesn’t want her. She never intended to be her mother. You have banned me from seeing or talking to Precious. I have rights as a grandparent.”

“As a grandparent. You forget, I was named legal guardian of Precious in Prince’s will.”

“Yes, but it’s invalid because her biological mother is alive which means the legal guardianship is moot. My lawyer checked. Precious’s original birth certificate was registered at the hospital she was born. It lists her as the mother and him as the father. Your claim to Precious doesn’t mean anything since Famke is the listed parent and she’s alive and never gave up parental rights.”

“Imani,” Cliff moved to stand behind Royal at the desk in the office. “You are tearing your family apart. Why? You are willing to go to such extremes to get your own way at the risk of losing Royal and Jubi? Me?”

“There was a time this family stuck together!”

“Yes, there was.” Cliff said bluntly, “and we are sticking together.” He put his hand on Royal’s shoulder. “I am sticking with my son, my new daughter-in-law, my granddaughter, and I know our daughter is going to be here with us. You are the one dividing us. We are together. We will be together.”

Imani growled, “you should be home with your wife.”

“My wife is not in her right frame of mind, and I don’t know who you are anymore.”

Jubilee entered the room almost running. “Nyx messaged me. What the hell?”

Famke waved at Royal, “he’s talking to her now.”

Jubilee rounded the desk, “Mom, what do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m taking my family back.”

“You’re losing your family if you go through with this. If you proceed to do this, I will never speak to you again.”

“She has you all fooled but she’s not good for Precious. She’s a liar. I believe the words my son spoke.”

“You’ll believe one son over the other, one you knew to lie all the time?” Royal asked bluntly.

Jubi wiped angry tears off her cheeks, “you aren’t my mother. My mother would not be doing this. If you continue to do this, I’m done with you.”

“She has poisoned your mind against Prince. If it weren’t for her, none of you would be discussing him as if he were an abusive man and he wasn’t! I am doing this to restore his honor.”

“The man had no honor!” Cliff’s voice rose furiously, “he was a spoiled brat who couldn’t take no for an answer. He put his wife in a situation where she felt the only way, she could make him happy was to let another woman carry his child. He had no regard for his marriage vows. He made us all believe she was sick, yet he was the one poisoning her. He was vile and I am ashamed he was my son.”

“Cliff,” Imani’s shocked voice reached Famke.

Famke studied the older man quietly. He was clearly hurting, and she watched as Jubi hugged him sideways.

“No Imani. I have been here only four days and I’ve seen how Precious if flourishing. You will never convince me he was a decent human being when I am certain he was aware of what his wife was doing to my granddaughter. She is happy here. Leave her alone.”

“She will be happier with her own family.”

“She is with her own family!” Cliff bellowed this time. “She is where she is supposed to be.” He took a breath, his nostrils flaring wide, “I’ll be asking my lawyers to draw up divorce papers Imani.”

Famke looked around the room as both Royal and Jubi gasped at his bold words.

“Dad,” Royal spoke softly.

“No. I made up my mind. I wasn’t bluffing when I told her if she went down this path I was done. This is selfish and cruel and deeply misguided. She is not the loving, caring woman I married. I’m done.” He walked away from the desk pausing to stop next to Famke. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You get the look off your face right now. You didn’t do this. Royal, hang up your call and reassure your girl. I’ll make a call to my lawyer.”

“Clifford,” Imani’s voice called out.

He held a hand up as he walked out of the office.

“I’ll go talk to him,” Jubi whispered, and she shot an angry glance at the screen. “You sicken me, Mom. I don’t want to hear from you ever again. You don’t call me. You don’t text me. You don’t email me. I never,” Jubi’s face reddened with rage, “ever want to talk to you again. I just watched the strongest man I’ve ever met have his heart broken in real time. Fuck you.” She held her finger up to the screen and then marched away in search of her father.

“Well, I hope you’re happy Mom.” Royal shook his head in disgust as he regarded the screen. “You’ve managed to alienate everyone who has ever loved you because you have some misguided sense of loyalty to a man who has only ever lied to you.”

“I’m doing this for Prince.”

“You’re doing this for you. I’ll see you in court. Until then, you do not contact me. You can have your lawyers reach out but there will no longer ever be direct contact with me, Famke or Precious again.” He ended the call and pressed his thumbs into his eyes in frustration before he turned and punched a hole in the wall behind his desk.

Famke jumped with the violent reaction, and she pressed her lips together as she rounded to pull his hand into hers and study the immediately bruised and bloody knuckles. “Royal,” she chastised as she blinked back her own tears. “I’m so sorry.”

“I fucking hate him.” He said as he ignored whatever pain he must have felt in his hand to wrap his arm around Famke and hug her tight. “I hate him so fucking much.”

“Who?”

“Prince. His fucking web of lies and secrets. I used to think he told us everything but now, I know he manipulated everyone. Tell one person a smidge of this information. Tell someone else a bit of that information. None of it enough to lay out the truth unless we’re all comparing stories. He was the king of secrecy. God only knows what else he told Mom and what will come out in a custody hearing.”

“What do we need to do?”

“We’ll start with DNA confirmation you are her biological mother. We’ll get the lawyers to tell us what next steps are. I’ll also have a restraining order placed against Mom just in case she decides to try to show up here to see Precious. I’ll frame it around the fact she’s constantly contravened the treatment plan for Precious’s PTSD and is a threat to her recovery. It’s not a lie. Hell, it’s not even a stretch.” He rested his cheek to her head. “I’m so sorry she is putting you through this. My family really put you through the fucking wringer.”

“What if she tries to push the narrative that Prince loved me?” Famke questioned quietly.

“You mean how he loved you so much he left you to die on a table, stole your baby and walked out? Yeah, I’m sure any judge on the planet would be able to see the depths of his adoration with that move.”

“I don’t understand any of this. Can she win this? Is there a chance?”

“No. Not a chance in hell. Even if she successfully argued you weren’t meant to be Precious’s mother, she wasn’t named the guardian of Precious. I was. Despite my brother being a lying manipulative prick, he knew nobody would take care of her better than me.”

“You’re an amazing guardian to her.”

“She switched it up to Daddy Royal last night at bedtime.” He grinned suddenly.

“I heard. You were pretty chuffed.”

“I am. I feel I’m doing something right. I’m helping her heal and grow. She’s such a sweet and special little girl.”

“She is.”

“She really wants a sibling,” he pulled her onto his lap as he sat at the desk. He frowned, “god, I didn’t even ask what happened at the doctor’s office. Are you okay?”

“Something called thyroid disease. It showed up in my blood panel. Apparently, we’re going to medically manage it and things will be fine. She said it accounts for all of my symptoms including the weight gain and missed periods.”

“Both of which I am okay with. I like the little bit of junk in your trunk. More to bite,” he winked at her playfully.

She smacked his shoulder and shook her head, “you’re not the one trying to squeeze into my jeans.”

“No, I much prefer taking you out of them.” He nuzzled her playfully.

“I booked to get an IUD.”

“Good. As much fun as a new baby would be, we have enough on our plate right now with my mother and everything else. I also want us to have a lot of discussions and get second opinions on anything which could go wrong if we did decide to add to the family.” He reached up and closed his computer screen. “Let’s go pick up our little girl from school and take her out for ice cream. We’ll see if Dad, Jubi and Nyx want to come.”

“Speaking of Nyx, did you know Koda is covered in tattoos?”

“Uh, yeah, we play ball all the time. I mean it’s winter now but in the summer we often play shirtless.”

“I can’t wait to watch,” she made wide eyes teasing him.

“You can watch but try not to wet your panties too much over all the eye candy.”

“He has a tattoo of a girl’s name. Nyx saw it.”

“His sister.”

“His sister?”

“Yeah. She died when she was like six. Why?” His mouth opened as it registered, “oh, Nyx saw it and jumped to a wrong conclusion.”

“Yes. She thinks it’s some girlfriend he’s not over.”

Royal shook his head. “They need to talk more and argue less.”

“Like us?”

“Definitely like us.” He smiled at her and kissed her nose. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She scratched at his beard with her fingernails, “you’ve been letting this grow in more. I like it.”

“I like the reaction you have when it rubs your thighs.” He smirked. “You make this moan which makes my dick super hard.”

“Unbelievable.” She shook her head at his playfulness. She caught the sadness in his eyes despite his words. “Royal, I am sorry your mom is doing this.”

“She’s hurting and dealing with her grief in her own way. I’d like to think she’ll come around but I’m not holding my breath and frankly, if her own husband, the man who has known her for forty plus years is walking away from her, it’s saying something. There are likely far more secrets we aren’t privy to when it comes to her and I’m not sure I want to know. Their marriage is theirs. If this is the straw which broke the camel’s back, then so be it.”

Famke found herself wondering as he hugged her to his chest, how many more secrets would come to light before this all finally went away.