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She smiled again. Seeing her smile was worth every bit of manhood I thought I lost by being sensitive and compassionate. In the beginning, I felt like a whole soft ass nigga for letting her dictate everything. That shit had almost become a way of life now. I had great brothers who were also husbands to look up to and get guidance from, especially Jasper. He was always my go to when I was having moments where I wanted to push back with Syn. He kept me in pocket and helped me to learn how to get my way without Synna even realizing it.
When we left the bathroom, everyone was standing there waiting to see if she felt okay. She smiled at all of them, assuring them that she was. Keisha gave her hand a squeeze. “I’ll be at the house to help you tomorrow since all of you are in the wedding.”
“Thank you, Keisha. You’ve been amazing. See you tomorrow,” Syn said.
As they talked, Vida pulled her in her arms and gently rubbed her belly. “I’ll be there, too, to help with Malia. That way Marcus can just focus on himself and Ace.”
“Thank you, Mama.”
After more hugs and kisses from everyone, we headed to the car to get home. Jasper was outside smoking and staring at his tire. “You called somebody, bruh?”
“Yeah. Aston left to get his truck. He on his way back to come help me.”
“A’ight. See you tomorrow.”
Once I helped Syn in the car, I turned to see Nesha running toward us. “Hey! Sorry, I was tied up. Is Syn okay?”
“Yeah. She thinks she ate too much gumbo. I’m gonna get her home so we can be ready for tomorrow evening.”
I hugged and kissed my niece then made my way to the driver’s side. When I got in, Syn turned to me. “You wanna talk about what happened earlier?”
When I’d gone outside and she followed me, I didn’t say anything to her about why I walked out. She knew how to just let me be. She only rubbed my back and let me know that she was there if I wanted to talk about it. Most times when I thought about hurtful shit in my past, I’d retreat within myself until the moment passed where I could come out of it. I’d kissed her cheek earlier, and we’d gone back inside without me saying a word.
I took a deep breath as I started the truck and turned to her. I grabbed her hand and gently caressed the top of it with my thumb, then lifted it to my mouth to kiss. “When I was little, I used to always see my mama selling shit. She would tell me that she had to get money for food and to pay the bills because my daddy wasn’t shit. I remember her selling shit to Vegas all the time for him to turn around and sell it to people for more. It wasn’t his fault, but it reminded me of that when Tiff mentioned him.”
“Was it your things?”
“I found out as a grown up that it was. He was doing shit for me. I remembered him coming over at times, then suddenly stopping after my mama and Joan got into it. He told me that he would have never stopped taking care of me because of Joan’s ultimatum, but because I wasn’t benefitting from anything he gave to CiCi, he stopped giving it to her.”
“I’m sorry, baby.”
“It’s cool. Sometimes, when it catches me off guard, it makes me stumble a bit. I’m cool about it though. You are my only concern. You wanna ride with me to get the kids, or do you want me to take you home first?”
“There’s no sense in passing them up to take me home. Stop and get the babies first.”
I smiled at her as I continued to hold her hand. “I love you, Synna,” I said, knowing it got on her nerves when I called her that.
I believed she’d lowkey started embracing it though.
“I love you too, nigga.”
CHAPTER5
NESHA
“I’m so tired, baby. Y’all be careful, okay?”
Lennox frowned at me. “I thought you, Danica, Jessica, and your sisters were going out tonight?”
“We were, but I just want to go home and rest. My day starts early tomorrow morning.”
He brought his hand to my cheek and leaned over and kissed me. “A’ight, baby. Me, Nate, and Decklan going out. Marcus can’t hang since Syn isn’t feeling well. Jakari and Malachi are coming with us too.”
“I’m surprised that’s all that’s going.”
“Well, more are coming, but I didn’t see a need to run down the rest of the list.”
I smiled up at him. Lennox had been a dream come true. After being engaged for a year and a half, we were finally tying the knot. I wanted everything to be perfect. The family barn had been transformed into a winter wonderland, and I couldn’t wait to officially commit myself to Lennox Guilman. I wrapped my arm around him and said, “Y’all be careful. Make sure you make it back to me in one piece.”
