Both of my parents worked, but I was fortunate to marry a man who was a financial genius. He made it very clear that he wanted me to raise our son and take care of our house, which I did for six years. Our baby boy was in school, so I needed something to do. Julius asked me what I wanted to do, and I had no idea. I blinked my eyes, and I was an administrativeassistant at the bank that he worked at. Fast-forward four more years and I was my husband’s executive assistant.
We both cleaned ourselves up before we sat back in the office to go over his calendar. My man was a busy man, but that never stopped him from taking care of and being there for his family. He told me one of the main reasons that he wanted me to be his executive assistant was because he knew that I would always hold him accountable to our family.
“Your last meeting ends at three thirty,” I told him. I wrote notes on the tablet on my lap. When I noticed he was quiet, I lifted my head. “You okay, baby?”
He leaned forward. “Doesn’t Junior’s practice start at four?” After I confirmed that it did, he shook his head. “No, that’s not going to work. I have to change, then it’s going to take almost thirty minutes just to get there. I need to leave here by three. Reschedule that appointment for tomorrow.”
My heart swooned. Our son was in little league football, and my hubby was a coach. The bank sponsored the league. “Well, we could have rescheduled our appointment today and you could have taken that?—”
“Jubilae, don’t play with me. Getting my pussy is just as important as getting these millions. Call Tory and let him know that I am moving the appointment to tomorrow. If he asks why, tell him that my son has football practice which is a priority,” he instructed with a stern tone.
One thing that everyone in this financial institution, up to the CEO, knew about Julius Plates was that his family came first. He rationalized that he made the best money when he was happy and leveled with his family. He did all of this for us and refused to work for a company that didn’t truly understand the work-life balance.
I glanced at my watch. “Okay. I’m going to finish the last of the reports so I can leave. Your clothes are in the closet. I haveto run home after I pick up Junior to get the snacks for the team. I completely forgot them.”
He gave me a toothy smile. “I saw you forgot them this morning, so I brought them with me. They’re in the fridge over there.”
My head snapped toward the fridge that sat in the corner of his office. There were times that we brought our son to the office, so Julius’s office was set up to accommodate that. Accommodations were made for him because he was the top earner. Last year he brought in almost eight hundred million in new accounts and investments. Our family lived very well.
I love this man!I put the tablet on his desk before I stood. I walked around the desk to stand in front of my husband who turned his office seat to face me. “Mr. Plates, have I told you how much I love you today?”
“You have, but you can show me before this next meeting, beautiful.” His brow arched perfectly to match the corner of his lip. His expression was sexually mischievous.
I felt very mischievous in the moment. My knees went to the floor, and my hands loosened Julius’s belt buckle. I missed lunch. There was nothing better than cum soup.
The Next Morning . . .
It was early, and I was up as normal. Junior had an amazing football practice yesterday. My baby was a linebacker which scared the shit out of me. He took on his father’s tall, full stature at ten. Julius towered over me, and soon, so would Junior.
I took the bacon out of the oven so that I could plate it. There was a morning routine in the Plates’ house that suited us well.I woke up first, got myself completely together, then started breakfast. No matter what I had going on, I always cooked breakfast and dinner for my family. There were occasions when Julius didn’t want me to cook because he wanted to treat us to dinner. That happened at least twice a week.
I heard my son’s alarm clock go off upstairs. When he woke up, it was his responsibility to wake his father. This was the routine since Junior was four years old, and he took it serious even now. It only took one time for me to wake Julius up, and my baby boy didn’t talk to me all day. According to him, I stole his job. I never made that mistake again.
Just as I was about to crack the eggs into the bowl for our scrambled eggs, I heard heavy footsteps on the stairs. I glanced over my shoulder to see my baby boy with sleep still in his eyes. “Mama, Daddy won’t get up.”
I chuckled because I must have really worked his ass out earlier this morning. “Go ahead and get ready for school. I’ll go up there and get him up in a second. If that’s alright with you.”
He told me it was before he came over, kissed my cheek, then snatched a piece of bacon from the plate before he ran off. With the way that Junior ate, you would think that I had two grown men in my house. I stopped buying meat from the grocery stores last year. Now, I went to the butcher shop.
After the eggs were mixed, I set them to the side, so I could wake Julius up. It took less than five minutes to scramble eggs. If I cooked them now, they would be cold within five minutes.
When I got to our bedroom, I turned the lights on. There he was in bed, sleeping peacefully like we didn’t have to be in the office. “Julius, baby, it’s time to get your fine ass up so we can get to work.”
I walked over to him as I called his name. He had never been a hard sleeper, so I was caught off guard. When I was close enough to see him, something didn’t look right. “Julius, baby.”
His skin was cold to my touch. My heartbeat was fast and hard. It felt like it would break my ribcage. I put my full hand on his bare chest. “Julius, baby, what’s wrong? I need you to get up.”
I lowered my ear to his mouth.There is no breath.With my eyes closed, I reached for his neck to check for a pulse.
“Mama, is he up?” Junior’s voice startled me. Concern was etched on his face when I turned around.
I took a deep breath. “Baby, do me a favor and go call Auntie Joy. Tell her that I need her and Chance here right now, okay? Can you please do that for me?”
He stood there for a second and looked between me and his father. I tried my best to shield his father from his view. It was obvious that he wanted to ask questions, but he backed out of the room.
I picked up the phone on the bedside table and pressed three numbers. It took less than two rings for the line to pick up. “Do you need police, fire, or medical?”
“I need medical. My husband doesn’t have a pulse.” Those were words that I never thought I would ever say in my life.
