I dodged a bullet.

She developed a drug problem.

One night I was over at their apartment and she was sitting on the dryer crying and screaming at everyone (Xanax).

She launched herself off of the dryer and started beating her face on the floor. She stood up bruised, bloodied, and beaten and said, “look what he done to me. Call 911.”

I said, “Girl, if my brother gets arrested because you beat yourself up, I’m going to give you a reason to call 911, I promise.”

They divorced not long after that, he got custody of their kid and he went on to marry a damn good woman.

Part of me feels like he asked for that chaos.

My niece and I are very close and I love her with all of my heart. So it worked out really.