AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You know how many people would whup my ass if I hurt you again? Na, what moving company you wanna use?”
EPILOGUE
JAKARI
TWO MONTHS LATER…
“Rope that shit, Rylan!” Uncle Jasper yelled.
Aunt Tiff wanted to put on her annual Christmas rodeo behind Grandpa’s house again, but it was too damn cold. So she decided to wait a couple of months and have it in February when the kids were on their winter break. I wish they had that shit when I was in school. They had mid-winter break for Christmas, winter break in February, and spring break in April.
It was still cold but not as cold as it was Christmas day. The family was putting on a show, and Yendi was in awe. She’d never been to a rodeo, so watching me drive the tractor, move hay bales, and tend to the animals was interesting as hell to her. She asked so many questions, and I was willing to answer every one of them.
Rylan had roped a steer and flipped him to tie him down. He was competing in tie-down roping at the rodeos now. My family was amazing as hell when it came to this rodeo shit. Aunt Tiff had all our family friends here, and I had a feeling this shit was going to get bigger and bigger every year. This was the second one, but I was more than sure it would be a family tradition now. Once Aunt Tiff got tired of it, her daughter Milana or Uncle Kenny’s daughter, Karima, would surely take it over.
Yendi and her sister Janay were talking amongst themselves for a while, watching the show… particularly Christian. I wasn’t sure how old Janay was, but Christian had just turned thirty-one. I knew Janay was younger than Yendi, and my baby was thirty-three. They couldn’t be that far apart in age.
We’d been living together for the past two months and getting along better than ever. I’d had my last counseling session with Serita three days ago, and the better man I’d become was the best present I could have given myself. Yendi had been doing better as well. She hadn’t heard from her mother, nor had she talked to her sister, Marie, again. She said she would in time, but that time wasn’t now. I assured her I would be there for her whenever that time came.
Yendi turned to me and snuggled against me. “I have a late birthday gift for you in my pocket.”
I frowned slightly. “Girl, my birthday was a month ago. What’chu talkin’ ’bout?”
“Well, I didn’t have it then, because it took a little while to get shipped.”
My frown deepened. She had me all kinds of confused. She pulled out a rectangular box as her sister stared on, along with my mama, who was on the other side of me. I pulled the wrapping paper off to reveal a plain white box. “I hope you didn’t buy me nothing expensive, girl.”
I’d bought her a diamond earring, necklace, and bracelet set that she nearly came on herself about for Christmas, and she kept saying that she had to buy me gifts to equal up to that. She just didn’t know. She’d go broke trying to keep up with me.
She giggled. “It’s expensive… very expensive. Just open it!”
I pulled the lid off the box and saw a fucking pregnancy test sitting in white tissue paper. The screen on it read, PREGNANT. My head snapped up as I stared at her. We hadn’t used a condom in months, and my shit was firing off at her cervix like it was dart practice every chance it got. I looked back at the test, at a loss for words.
“Damn, baby,” I finally got out. “I’m gon’ be a father.”
I closed my eyes for a moment then opened them and pulled her in my arms and kissed her lips. She placed her hands on my face and said, “Yes, you are. A wonderful one.”
“Congratulations, son! I’m gon’ be a MiMi!”
I chuckled and hugged my mama as Aunt Tiff said in the mic, “We have another Henderson on the way! Congratulations Jakari and Yendi!”
I frowned. “Don’t frown, baby. She was the only one who knew before you. I wanted her to make the announcement to the family. And more good news… Uncle WJ offered me a job in public relations with the business to help Aunt Aspen. What do you think?”
“I think you should do whatever makes you happy. I can’t think about that right now though,” I said as everybody was congratulating me. “All I can think about is how you carrying my baby.”
I kissed her lips again as Rylan approached. “Congratulations, bruh! I’m gon’ be an Uncle Ry Ry.”
“You know the baby won’t be able to pronounce the letter R for a while. You’ll be Uncle Y Y.”
He chuckled. “That’s cool too. I’m wit’ it.”
Angel appeared at his side, and he hugged her as she said, “You did so good!”
“Thank you, baby girl.”
She stared at him for a moment, then smiled and walked away. That was obviously some kind of silent communication. He watched her walk away then turned back to me. “I’m almost twenty-eight now. She won’t be twenty until October. What am I doing?”
“She’s grown. Y’all haven’t slept together yet, have you?”
