Page 8 of His Four Leaf Clover

“Daddy’s baby is six today! Happy birthday, beautiful.” Dash walked into the room with a huge gift bag in his hand.

He smiled at his baby, who was a perfect mixture of him and Clover. Kardi had his complexion with Clover’s whole face. She was the final piece to their perfect puzzle, and he loved her more than words could describe.

“Thank you, daddy. Can I open it?” Kardi started pulling the tissue out of the bag until Clover stopped her.

“Not yet, baby. Come on and do your morning hygiene, so you can get dressed. Your uncles are downstairs,” Clover replied as she ushered her to the bathroom.

“Put some clothes on before you come downstairs, Lucky,” Dash looked at Clover as he spoke.

“You’re her daddy. Please remember that.” Clover pointed to their daughter.

“Say that shit tonight, I dare you,” Dash whispered in her ear, making her blush.

“Is my Grampy here?” Kardi asked, referring to Hank.

“Unfortunately,” Diva replied under her breath.

“Seriously?” Dash looked over at his mother and frowned.

“Boy, bye. She didn’t even hear me.” Diva rolled her eyes.

Dash got on her nerves with his daughter sometimes. Granted, she loved her granddaughter to death, but he sometimes acted like she wasn’t human. He didn’t want people to curse or raise their voices in her presence. Diva understood his feelings, but they were sometimes unrealistic. Kardi wasn’t always with them and everybody wasn’t gonna consider her like he wanted them to. Being around Dot was more than enough to last her a lifetime. Nobody could silence her and never could. She was happy when her son walked out of the room and headed downstairs.

“What’s up, y’all?” Dash asked when he walked down the stairs. He was dressed down in joggers and a t-shirt but, just like his older brothers, he made the simple outfit look good as hell.

“Hey, brother.” Amina smiled while standing up to give him a hug. He always greeted her with a hug and Caprice with a fist bump. He sat on the sofa, prompting Hank and his brothers to do the same.

“Aye, y’all know Grandma Leo is turning seventy soon. We gotta figure out what we’re gonna do,” Fonzo said while speaking more to his two younger brothers. He was good at keeping up with important dates and events. He kept his brothers up to date on everything that was happening in the family.

Hank’s mother always made a big deal out of her birthday. His oldest sister always gave her a party, but she wanted to do it big for her seventieth. She didn’t have a lot of money but she knew that the entire family always chipped in to help. He and his brothers always put together and gave their grandmother a large cash gift as a present, and she looked forward to it.

“Yeah, that’s cool. Did they figure out the date of the party yet? I need to get with Lucky to make sure she clears her schedule,” Dash replied.

“Nah, Auntie Danae will be here for Kardi’s party this weekend, so we can get with her then. She said to let her know if the weekend before or after Granny’s birthday works best for everybody.”

“Alright, I gotta ask Lucky what works best for her.”

“Damn, Dash, can you at least try to make a decision for once in your life?”

Caprice hated that he always had to ask Clover’s permission for everything. Monty and Fonzo didn’t seem to make a move without their little brother, so they were basically doing whatever Clover said too. She wasn’t feeling another bitch saying when she could move, but nobody else seemed to see it that way.

“Can you learn to mind your business for once in yours? Why are you even here? You’re safe, Iva is probably at work,” Dash clapped back, making his brothers laugh.

He was cool with Caprice, but she had to be put in her place occasionally. Since Monty didn’t care one way or the other, his girl ended up getting told off more often than not. Caprice wasn’t usually an early riser but she never let Monty go anywhere that she thought Ivanece would be. It was sad that he sometimes snuck out of the house just so she wouldn’t tag along. That never worked because she always seemed to pop up on him whenever he went.

“As if I give a fuck. Iva ain’t no threat to me.”

“Yeah, okay, say it a few more times until you start to believe it.”

Caprice was about to reply until Kardi came bouncing down the stairs and stole everyone’s attention. She hated when Monty’s family threw Iva in her face. She hated it even more because he never defended her or denied it. She was no fool. She knew that Monty still had love for Iva but she gave no fucks. What they had was over and she made sure of that.

At only eighteen years old, Caprice was hired by the state of Louisiana as a corrections officer. Her job paid very well, but that wasn’t the only reason why she loved it so much. Caprice always loved bad boys and she was surrounded by them in the prison. She spent more time there than she did at home, so it was only a matter of time before she broke the prison’s number one rule and started sleeping with the inmates. To her, the only downside to it all was falling hard for the ones who eventually went home or got transferred. Caprice always fell for their lies about them still being with her when they got released. She’d had her heart broken by a few of them but it never lasted too long when she got with another.

By the time Monty got there, she’d been there for ten years and had been promoted to supervisor. It was nothing for her to sneak one of her men some food or alcohol whenever she came to work. It wasn’t until Monty came along that he had her really risking it all. He didn’t give a damn about food and all that other dumb shit that she did for the niggas before him. His family made sure that he was straight and so did Iva. Monty wanted to be the prison plug but he needed her to sneak it in for him to make it happen. Caprice flat out refused and she was terrified to even try. It only took a month for Monty to hit her with some dope dick, and she was smuggling his packages in the following day. The dude that she dealt with before him was on his way out, so the timing was perfect.

Things went on like that for a few months but there was only one problem, and that happened to be Monty’s girlfriend, Ivanece. He was in love with the bitch, so he wouldn’t dare have her risk her freedom by bringing the shit in for him, even though she spent all the money he made. Caprice hated when she came to visit him because his entire mood changed. He smiled more and the way he looked at her drove her crazy. Caprice made sure that she was always around when Iva visited but it got to be too much for her to see.

She quickly put a plan in motion, and her girls were on it. They waited until Iva came to see him one day to openly discuss her and Monty’s relationship loud enough for her to hear. Iva did a great job of remaining unfazed and Caprice thought that her plan was a waste. That was until Iva saw Monty and ran on him as soon as their visit started. Caprice called for her staff to break it up and had Iva arrested.