Heaven Forbid by Lutishia Lovely Page B

remained silent having already been told by Mama Max that Princess would be sharing something with her soon. Mama Max had gone quiet, however, when Tai had asked for details.
    “Would you like to take a break?” Tai asked Princess. “I can put on water for tea, and we can finish cleaning the kitchen afterward.”
    A few minutes later, mother and daughter settled into the well-worn Brook den. Many a movie had been watched while nestled into the soft tan leather of the large sectional couch. Princess pulled on the comfort of those memories as she sipped her orange spice blend.
    “The book is an autobiography,” Princess began softly.
    “Right, you told me that,” Tai replied in an equally subdued tone. She took a sip of her mint medley and waited.
    “It’s mostly about what happened to me during my first year of college…things I’m not too proud of.”
    “Most kids who are away from home for the first time do things that they later regret.”
    “Remember what you whispered in my ear that day you and Daddy came to the condo and met Kelvin? You said that since I was experiencing grown-folks pleasure, you hoped that I was ready for grown-folks pain. Remember?”
    Tai nodded slowly.
    “Well…this book talks about the grown-folks pain you warned me about.”
    The memories of that tense afternoon flooded Tai’s mind. The day she and King had flown to Los Angeles unannounced and found out their daughter had lied about living with a female friend and was instead living with the son of a woman Tai had despised for years. The day this son, Kelvin, had brought eighteen years of swagger into the room, defiantly pledging his love for Princess. The day King learned that his “little princess” had become a woman, and he’d come precariously close to a beat-down of the man who’d help take her girlhood away.
    “You’re no different in that regard, Princess, from a majority of kids. We often listen to life instead of our parents. That’s a part of spreading your wings and coming into adulthood.”
    This subtle empathy and encouragement opened the conversational floodgates, and for the next half hour, Princess gave Tai a glimpse into her life as the partying, drinking, weed-smoking girlfriend of the big man on campus, Kelvin Petersen. Princess shared her hesitancy at becoming sexually active, and how she’d thought this gift to him would solidify her place in his life.
    “I thought he’d be my one and only, Mama,” Princess said. “Like Daddy was for you.”
    Yeah, but I most definitely wasn’t your daddy’s one and only… is what Tai thought. “Yes, your father is the only man I’ve ever known,” is what she said.
    Princess continued, telling Tai about the scores of women who’d constantly thrown themselves at Kelvin, often right in front of her face, and how Princess had been determined to keep her man. Tai had almost cringed then, because some of her daughter’s words could have been her own. She told her mother about the night she’d discovered Kelvin and Fawn screwing in the laundry room while Princess had been partying just feet away. Finally, Princess told her mother the secret she’d not even shared with Mama Max. And then she waited for the rebuke. It never came.
    “I’m so sorry,” Tai said, pulling Princess to her chest and rocking her softly. “I wish that you would have told me then and that I could have been there for you.”
    “I couldn’t,” Princess whispered, silent tears streaming down her face and soaking Tai’s blouse. “I was so ashamed….”
    “We’ve all done things we’re ashamed of, honey,” Tai said, stroking her daughter’s hair and back. “That’s when we have to remember it’s not how often we fall down, but how many times we get back up again.”
    The two women enjoyed a silent embrace for several moments. Their tea grew cold. Neither noticed.
    “The thought of what happened crossed my mind,” Tai said finally, as both women wiped away tears and Princess