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At the sight of us, their laughter ceased, and all eyes were on Milli. With my arms crossed, I made my way behind her. I’d let her get what she needed to off her chest, but if at any point it seemed like this conversation was going to do more harm than good, I would literally carry her out of there if I needed to.
“Milli…” Jeremy called, but she lifted her hand and silenced him.
“You don’t get to call me that. Only my close friends and family can.” Confusion covered his face as she continued. “All my life, or at least, for as long as I have been able to notice how differently you treat Jeremy and me, I’ve always wondered why I wasn’t good enough to be your daughter,” she directed toward her father. “Why we could never have a loving, close bond.” Victor sat back in his seat with a roll of his eyes that made me want to jump across the table to get at him. “For years, you dangled this… half-ass relationship in my face, like I was supposed to be grateful for the money you gave to take care of me, but nothing else came with it. Even when you would have me here for holidays and some weekends as a child, you put forth no effort to get to know me and love me and that rejection has carried me into my adult life.”
She wiped a tear before continuing, looking at her brother. “I expected better from you. I expected you to be my brother. My protector. My friend. Instead, you treated me like I was a disgusting outcast that you hated the sight of.” Milli chuckled. “Even now as adults, you seem to make it your mission to irritate me and get under my skin when we talk, and that’s if we even talk. Outside of work, I never hear from either of you. You have weekly family dinners and I’m never invited.” Her hands began to shake along with her head as she took a step forward. “You probably haven’t even noticed that I stopped calling, did you?” Victor’s head tilted. “That I stopped chasing you. Stopped trying to earn your conditional love and acceptance. You have a whole granddaughter that you don’t even have a relationship with. You don’t even know how sad she was that she had no one to invite to her school lunch for Grandfather’s Day.”
At that admission, Milli’s tears began to fall as she pointed at her father. “I could have destroyed my daughter because of you. I entertained men who were just as trash and unemotionally available as you. I fucked around and had a baby by a no-good ass nigga just like you. One who rejected his daughter just like you. But you know what the difference is between her father and mine? At least he had the decency to completely get out of Alisia’s life instead of dangling his love and affection in front of her knowing it was something she could never receive.”
Her eyes went toward Mina. “And you! What kind of woman are you to be okay with a man treating his daughter that way? Are you so blinded by his money, power, and status that you can ignore how neglectful he is? My mother had no idea he was a married man, yet you demanded he do the bare minimum when it came to me. How can you sleep at night, you evil, insecure, selfish ass bitch? I hate all of you! And I pray to God I never have to step foot in this house again!” She gave Jeremy her attention as she said, “As far as work is concerned, there are three other partners. If you ever have anything to say to me, please relay the message through someone else, because as far as I’m concerned, Parker and Mecca are myonlybrothers.”
She stormed out, bumping into me in the process. I made my way out behind her, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Lord knows I was glad she finally told them off—it was a long time coming. Once we made our way to the car, I asked her, “Are you good?”
I expected Amelia to burst into tears now that we were alone, but she didn’t. She released a shaky breath as she nodded and buckled her seatbelt.
“Yeah, baby. I’m good.”
“Good, because that shit was sexy as hell, and I’m proud of you for finally standing up to them. We always get that saying wrong: blood is thicker than water. That’s not the full saying. The full saying is: The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. Meaning, chosen bonds with friends or strangers are often closer and more significant than family bonds. We often spend so much time trying to right wrongs with family because they’re family, and we can destroy ourselves and our understanding of what true love, acceptance, and relationship should be in the process. I’m glad you’ve finally accepted the fact that they ain’t shit and you have people in your life, men in your life, who truly love, value, and care about you.”
That caused her tears to fall. “That was beautiful, Ru, and you’re right. It’s taken a long time but I’m finally at that point. I have to be better for my daughter, and that starts right now, this evening.”
Pulling her across the center console, I gave her a tender kiss that turned deeper than I planned for it to. That kiss led to her climbing into the back seat asking for deep, hard strokes from the back that I didn’t mind giving until she came repeatedly. This was one time I was truly grateful the tint was so dark on my car.
Twenty-Six
Amelia
I was surprised when Mama called and told me Jeremy was at the house waiting for me. Quite frankly, I didn’t believe her. She took a picture of him sitting in the living room with his head buried in his phone, and that was what made me leave Ru’s place. We needed to leave anyway, because we were going to spend the evening at an entertainment center, and Lis wanted more comfortable clothes that she could run around in.
Mama and Amanda had been talking more and spending more time together, which I liked. They were making plans for their grandkids for Christmas break, and I loved that for Lis and AJ. It seemed the grandmothers were weaving together a deeper bond that we all would be able to benefit from, and I was grateful to God for that. When we made it inside and Alisia’s eyes landed on my brother, she stopped and stared at him for a while.
“H-hey, Alisia,” he spoke as he stood.
Lis looked back at me briefly. “Um… hey, Uncle Jeremy.”
“How have you been?”
She shrugged and looked back at me again. “Fine.”
“It’s good seeing you. You look like you’ve gotten taller since the last time I saw you.”
“That’s what happens when a year passes,” I replied. “Children grow.” Gently pushing Alisia toward the hall, I told her, “Go freshen up and get dressed, sunshine.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Rubbing my palms together, I waited until she was out of sight to ask Jeremy, “What is this about?”
“Can you sit down so we can talk?”
“I thought I made it clear last night that I have nothing to say to you?”
His head bobbed as he took slow steps in my direction. “Then may I please talk to you?”
Between his closeness and the softness of his voice, I barely recognized my brother. He didn’t handle me in this way, even when delivering bad news at work. I wasn’t sure if this was some kind of trap or not, but I was curious about what he had to say, so I nodded for him to continue.
“I wanted to apologize. Last night, everything you said was true. I’ve been so blinded by how I felt and what my parents wanted that I wasn’t a good big brother to you. I am so very sorry for that.” My mouth opened, but I was speechless. Deciding to go ahead and sit down, we made ourselves comfortable on the couch as Jeremy continued. “It might look like Dad and I have a better relationship than the two of you have, but we really don’t. We can laugh and joke about certain things as men, but we don’t have a close bond either. He’s simply not built for that. When we were kids, I was upset with you because I thought you being born would mean I got to spend even less time with Dad and get less of his attention. As we aged, I realized that wouldn’t be the case, and I was happy about it. Unintentionally, I started treating you the way he treated us.
“Then, I started hanging around you and Caroline, seeing how a parent was supposed to treat a child, and… it made me jealous.” Woah. I wasn’t expecting that. “I resented you because you had a loving parent, and I didn’t. I wished either of my parents would have treated me the way she treated you, but they never did, so that made me hate you.” His eyes watered as he smiled bitterly. “It didn’t matter how much money we had or how many opportunities Dad created for me, without that love and nurture, I felt just as neglected as you. The only difference was, I masked it because I was a man and it’s been coming out as…” His head shook and hands lifted as he tried to find the right words.
