Chapter 6: The Second Name
Rain began to fall.
Not heavily.
Just enough to darken the pavement and turn the graduation flowers glossy beneath the afternoon light.
Kiara stood beneath the white arch, staring at her mother.
“The cemetery?””
Rochelle nodded.
“Your grandmother's.””
Darnell immediately shook his head.
“We are not going.””
Kiara turned.
“Why?””
“Because whoever called you knows too much.””
“That doesn't answer my question.””
“It answers everything.””
Andre stepped forward.
“She deserves the document.””
Darnell glared at him.
“You don't get to decide what she deserves.””
Andre's voice hardened.
“Neither do you.””
Kiara raised a hand.
“Both of you, stop.””
They did.
She looked at Rochelle.
“You put my birth certificate in a grave?””
“Not your birth certificate.””
“The second one.””
Rochelle nodded.
“Your original record.””
Kiara's brow furrowed.
“Why would there be two?””
Rochelle looked toward the rain.
“Because the first one was changed.””
Darnell closed his eyes.
“Rochelle.””
She ignored him.
“After you were born, the hospital record listed your father's name.””
Kiara swallowed.
“Calvin.””
“Yes.””
“Then you changed it.””
“I had to.””
“Why?””
Rochelle's voice trembled.
“Because Calvin came to the hospital.””
Kiara froze.
“You said he disappeared before I was born.””
“I was wrong.””
Darnell stared at Rochelle.
“You never told me that.””
“I couldn't.””
“Why?””
“Because he threatened me.””
Andre looked at her.
“What did he want?””
Rochelle's eyes filled.
“You.””
Andre went still.
Kiara looked at him.
“Why?””
Rochelle shook her head.
“He said you weren't his daughter.””
Silence.
Kiara's heart seemed to stop.
“What?””
Rochelle covered her mouth.
“He told me you belonged to someone else.””
Darnell whispered, “That's impossible.””
Rochelle looked at him.
“Is it?””
Kiara took a step backward.
“So even Calvin said he wasn't my father?””
Rochelle nodded.
“Then why did you put his name on my original record?””
“Because I was trying to hide the real name.””
Kiara stared at her.
“What real name?””
Rochelle couldn't answer.
A sudden gust of wind rattled the balloons above them.
Andre looked at Darnell.
“You knew this.””
Darnell shook his head.
“Not all of it.””
“You knew there was another name.””
“I knew Rochelle was protecting someone.””
“Who?””
Darnell looked at Kiara.
His silence was worse than an answer.
Kiara stepped toward him.
“Who?””
Darnell's eyes filled with tears.
“I don't know.””
“You're lying.””
“I swear.””
“Then why does everyone keep looking at you?””
Darnell's face tightened.
“Because I made mistakes.””
“What mistakes?””
“I stayed.””
Kiara stared at him.
“I don't understand.””
“I stayed when I should have left.””
Rochelle whispered, “Darnell.””
He looked at her.
“I loved you.””
She began crying.
“And I loved that little girl.””
Kiara's eyes softened despite herself.
Darnell continued.
“But loving you both didn't make me your father.””
Kiara looked down.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Darnell reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a small brass key.
Kiara stared at it.
“What is that?””
“The cemetery box.””
Rochelle's face went white.
“You kept the key?””
“For twenty-two years.””
“Why?””
Darnell looked at Kiara.
“Because I always knew one day you'd ask.””
Kiara took it.
The key was cold in her palm.
Andre stepped closer.
“Then let's go.””
Rochelle grabbed his arm.
“No.””
He looked at her.
“You're not stopping this.””
“I am if I have to.””
Kiara pulled free of her mother's grip.
“Mom, you've had twenty-two years.””
Rochelle broke down.
“I was trying to protect you.””
“From whom?””
Rochelle looked at Darnell.
Darnell shook his head.
“Don't.””
But Rochelle was crying too hard to stop.
“From your biological father.””
Kiara's eyes narrowed.
“Who is he?””
Rochelle whispered the first syllable.
“Mi—”
A car horn suddenly blasted from the street.
Everyone turned.
A black SUV sat across the road.
Its windows were tinted.
The engine was running.
Kiara stared.
“Who is that?””
Darnell immediately moved in front of her.
The SUV's driver's door opened.
A man stepped out.
Dark coat.
Gray hair.
Walking slowly toward them.
Andre's face changed first.
He whispered a name.
“No.””
Darnell looked at him.
“What?””
Andre couldn't breathe.
“That man…”
The stranger stopped beneath the rain.
He looked directly at Kiara.
Then he smiled.
“I've been waiting twenty-two years to meet my daughter.””
May you like
Rochelle screamed.
“Calvin!””
