Dahlia

Hurt Feelings

Anita was beyond distraught with the decision that the judge made. It came with the territory though and she knew that there was a chance that it would turn out this way when she blurted out that Cortez was Demetrius’ father. It was never her intention to tell Cortez about Demetrius, mostly because she was convinced that he was Danillo’s child. She was actually quite surprised that the results came back that Cortez was in fact his father, but she didn’t expect the judge to be so lenient with Cortez. Plus, her plan to separate Cortez from Dahlia did not seem to be working the way she hoped it would. As she was packing Demetrius’ bag, Regina came flouncing through the door muttering curses. “Sista!” she said as she met Anita in Demetrius’ room. “The Flores’ are having some huge cookout at their house.” “Its mad people out there.” “Like, all of their family.” “They are waiting on Demetrius.” “How do you know that?” Anita asked, a little bit annoyed. “Johnny and Manuel were on their way over there.” “I was sitting on the steps and they walked by and told me.” Anita rolled her eyes and went on packing Demetrius’ clothes. “If I were you,” Regina said. “I would make those fuckers wait until I was good and ready to bring him.” “And then I would make them wait all day.” “And by the time I took him it would be night time and he would be sleepy.” “Then I would tell them it wasn’t a good day.” Anita sighed. “I would love to do that except the judge put time limits.” “He has to be there by 3:00 PM and Cortez has to have him back to me by 6:00 PM on Sunday.” “Josephina is actually going to go and drop him off because Cortez told the judge that he would rather not deal with me because I can be contentious.” “Can you believe that s**t?” Anita huffed. “That’s not even Cortez talking.” “He’s never been like that.” “Not until he started dealing with HER.” “f**k that slut.” Regina said. “I got something for her eventually.” “Johnny was telling me that he thinks Cortez is changing because of his girlfriend.” “Johnny said they don’t really hang out like they used to because she doesn’t like him.”

 Anita raised her eyebrow. “Well, how often do you and Johnny talk?” Anita nudged Regina’s shoulder. “Johnny sure seems to be saying a lot to you.” Regina covered her face with her hands to hide her blushing. “I mean,” She started. “Like, not that often.” “But I’m thinking that I can make it so we talk a LOT more.” “And that way, we can kind of keep tabs on what Cortez is doing.” “Sista,” Anita said. “I love the way you think.” The two sisters continued to degrade Cortez and Dahlia’s relationship and complain about the custody situation while Anita prepared Demetrius to go with Cortez. At 2:30 Josephina showed up at Anita’s house. “Nita?” She called as she opened the door. “I’m coming.” Anita snapped. She flung Demitrius’s bag over her shoulders and picked him up. Demetrius reached for his Titi Josie smiling. Anita kissed his cheek and handed his overnight bag to Josephina. “Nita,” Josephina said sympathetically. “It's only for a weekend.” “And you know Cortez is going to take great care of him.” “I know the situation isn’t what you hoped for boots, but it's not so bad.” “Try to take this time to do something for yourself.” Josephina kissed Anita on the cheek and walked out the door with Demetrius. After Josephina left with her son the tears rolled down Anita’s cheeks as she thought about having to turn her son over to Cortez and Dahlia for an entire weekend. Regina sat on Anita’s bed watching her sister cry. “Sista, let’s do something tonight.” “Let’s go to the city or something.” “I haven’t been for a while.” Anita wiped her eyes. “I don’t know sista.” “We’ll see.” “I don’t know if I will feel up to it. 

Seeing her sister like this pissed her off. Even though she knew that Anita never had any intention of telling Cortez that he could be her son’s father, Regina felt like that was Anita’s decision to make. She was the biological mother after all. She should be able to make any decision about her son that she wanted, without any consequence.  She felt herself tearing up when she saw how depressed her big sister was. “I’ve gotta do something to make her feel better.” Regina thought. Regina and Anita were really close, mostly because of their closeness in age. Josephina was much older than both of them, and she was kind of like a mother figure, not as much of a friend. That’s why the judge granted Cortez’s request for Josephina to do the transfer with Demetrius. Regina supported every decision that Anita made with regard to the Cortez situation. She had been rooting for Anita and Cortez since they were in high school. During her junior high school years, she admired Cortez and Anita’s relationship so much that she wanted one just like it when she was old enough. But Regina was impatient, so she started looking for that special someone in her early high school years, and now in her senior year, she had a bit of a reputation for being “fast”. None of the relationships she had thrown her heart and soul into turned out the way that she wanted them to so after three or four tries she gave up and became really loose. She was the polar opposite of Josephina, who was very rational and calm. Regina was hotheaded and she didn’t care what she said, how she said it, or who’s feelings she hurt in the process. She did whatever she had to do to get what it was that she wanted. 

Anita had confided in her that Cortez or Danillo could have been Demetrius’ father. She hoped it was Cortez all along. She knew that there was nothing Danillo could have done to help her sister or her nephew. It was his fault that Anita had to start stripping in the first place. He cleaned out all of her savings with his crazy money making schemes. All of the Vega women knew that Danillo was no comparison to Cortez, but Anita felt so comfortable that no one, not even Regina could talk her out of doing what she was doing. Regina thought back to the day that Danillo walked out on Anita. It broke her down. She and Anita had been sitting out on the stoop waiting for Danillo to come and pick them up. “Are you so excited to tell him?” Regina said, barely able to control her own excitement. Anita smiled. “Yeah, but let me do it sista!” “I  know how excited you are but he should hear it from me.” Danillo pulled up in his Cadillac Escalade and hopped out. He had an annoyed look on his face. Regina felt like something wasn’t right with him but she didn’t say anything. Anita got up and reached up to hug Danillo. He shrugged her off. “Nah, shorty, I’m not here for all that.” He said curtly. Anita scrunched up her face. “What’s your problem?” She said. He leaned against the passenger side of his truck. “I just came to tell you that this…” he moved his fingers between him and Anita. “This is done.” Regina’s mouth dropped open. “What the f**k?” Anita said. Regina saw the tears starting to form in her sister’s eyes. “But...why are you doing this Danillo?” “s**t’s dry.” He said shortly. “Ya money and ya pussy.” “It’s dry and hell and I’m not feelin’ it anymore.” Regina stood up. “Don’t talk to my sister like that fucker.” “She gave you everything you got.” Regina yelled. Danillo smirked at Regina. “You better sit down little girl.” “Get outta grown folks business.” Regina watches as her sister walked closer to Danillo. “I don’t get it.” “We were all good yesterday.” Tears spilled down Anita’s cheeks. Danillo chuckled and said “Well, we not today.” “I just thought I owed it to you to tell you in ya face instead of over a text.” “I’m gone.” “Enjoy ya life.” He got in his truck and drove off. “What about the baby?” Regina said. “I guess I’m on my own.” “I mean, the baby could be someone else’s.” Anita said through tears. “Who?” Regina said. Anita looked at her hands for a minute. “Cortez.” She said quietly as Regina’s eyes went wide with surprise. Anita’s sobbing brought Regina out of her thoughts of the past. She walked over to her sister and hugged her tight. “Listen sista, I don’t know how but we are doing to fix this.” “You are going to have your family back.” “I will make sure of it.”