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Gritting his teeth as his nostrils flared, Elite reminded himself that envy wouldn’t do him any good in that moment. So what if Greg was providing a happier, more stable home for other children? He was a grown ass man now.
“Those are your sisters,” Cassie said, making her way next to him. “Avalon and Tarriana. Av is fourteen and Tarri is seventeen. Denali tutors Tarri as we prepare her for college, and she keeps an eye on Av for me. She’s not a troublemaker, but she’s a very curious child and can get into a lot of trouble without some kind of adult guidance. We don’t want her to think her curiosity is a bad thing, so we’re trying different avenues of handling it.”
Elite nodded, taking in her words. “Preme was the same way.” He smiled. “Everybody thought I was the oldest because of how I made sure we stayed out of trouble, but he was always my protector.” Elite paused for a few seconds as his eyes landed on a picture of Greg with both of his daughters. “Still is.”
“Would you like to meet your sisters? They are upstairs. I didn’t know how today’s meeting would go, so I told them not to come down until I called for them.”
His head shook as he pulled his eyes away and looked at her. “I don’t think so, Cassie. This is a lot for me to process already.”
“Understandable.” She smiled sweetly, squeezing his forearm in an assuring way. “They are excited about you and Supreme. They had so many questions about why they’d never met you before.”
“What did you say?”
She shrugged. “That their father had a life and family before we met and that’s all they needed to know right now.”
Elite nodded, heading to the sofa with her. “Well… I planned to let this be a onetime thing, but now that I know I got two sisters, I might have to stay in touch. Go up to their school or some shit and let the li’l niggas know they aren’t to be trifled with.”
Cassie laughed. “They would get a kick out of that, especially Av. She’s always wanted a brother.” Her eyes watered and lips puckered as she looked away. “Now she has two.”
Scratching his nose, Elite sighed as his head shook. He didn’t want her getting in her feelings because then he would get in his feelings.
“How did y’all meet anyway?” Elite asked.
Cassie released a shaky breath and squeezed her knees. “Well, we met about twenty years ago. Your father was down bad, but I’ll let him tell you about that. I met him at church.” She smiled, eyes glossing over as she recalled the moment. “He was there for our food drive. We talked and… haven’t stopped talking since.”
At the sound of footsteps, Elite looked back toward the stairs. His eyes landed on a man that looked like an older version of Supreme, and it took his breath away. They both had the same milk chocolate skin tone. Same rectangular shaped head. Same round eyes and skin-colored lips. Elite thought back to how the running joke in the neighborhood used to be they had different daddies because of how different they looked, but when a person saw them with their parents, it was clear they looked just like them.
Elite looked just like his mother, and Supreme looked just like his father.
Greg stopped at the end of the stairs, staring at Elite as his eyes watered.
He looked away, telling himself not to be swayed by his father’s emotions. That didn’t last long, because as soon as Greg released a throaty sob and clutched his chest, Elite’s head hung as he fought his own tears.
“Son,” Greg whispered, shaking his head in disbelief. “Thank God you’re here.” He wiped his face, stepping into the living room but still keeping his distance. “I’ve prayed every day that if God softened my boys hearts toward me, He’d let them find me. I never wanted to intrude on your lives and bring up ill feelings, so I was glad when Supreme reached out to me.”
Licking the corner of his mouth, Elite bobbed his head as he avoided his eyes.
“I’ll go and give you two some privacy,” Cassie offered, but Elite quickly grabbed her hand and kept her from getting up. In just the short amount of time that they’d spoken, he felt comfortable with her and like she could be a shield between him and his father.
“Stay,” he requested, to which Cassie nodded and covered his hand with hers.
Greg carefully made his way over to the couch, sitting on the opposite end of Cassie. He looked around her, staring at his son.
“You look so much like your mother. It’s uncanny.”
“Seeing me must be hard for you then.”
Greg smiled softly. “The exact opposite.”
“It looks like you’ve done well for yourself.”
Looking around his home, Greg nodded. “It took a lot of prayer, faith, and devotion to God, but yeah. I’m living a good life now. There is… always that guilt over what happened and not having you all, but yeah. Things are good now.”
Elite chuckled, removing his hand from Cassie’s. “You know what Preme and I have gone through?” Greg’s head shook. “Well… After you were arrested, we were immediately handed over to the government. They didn’t really try to find our family. I guess it was just easier to put us in the system. By the time they did get some inquiries about us, we were already in our second foster home, so your family pretty much said fuck us.”
Greg’s eyes closed and jaw clenched.
“I’m sor—”
