“To see if your ass was gon’ lie,” Merc muttered, and we all laughed.
What they’d said was true. I may have overreacted and kicked the little nigga out the theater, but I let him come back in when True yelled at me and threatened not to talk to me again. Once our laughter settled down, I confessed, “I’m not used to teenaged True yet. I knew she’d have mood swings and shit but damn. I never thought I’d see the daymy princess would betray me and choose someone else over me, but she literally said if I didn’t go get that lil boy that she’d never speak to me again.”
“Aww, that hurt your feelings, didn’t it, bruh?” Bully asked with more compassion than I expected from his usually unserious ass.
“Hell yeah that shit hurt my feelings. If I could depend on no one else to choose me, I knew True always would. Now she done tossed me to the side for a lil nigga with big feet and chapped lips.”
I didn’t even care about them laughing at my expense at that point. I was still a little tender over that shit and didn’t know how long it would take me to get over it.
“Well when is she going out with him again?” Bully asked. “I need to meet him because clearly you’re too emotional to navigate this shit.”
“He supposed to be coming here. Y’all better grill the fuck outta him too.”
“Unh uh,” Doe said from behind me, making my heart skip a beat—and not in a good way. “Y’all better leave Daniel alone when he gets here.”
“Sis, you know we gotta do our big one. True is our oldest child. We about to give the little nigga hell,” Merc warned her.
As the rest of my brothers nodded and spoke their agreement, Dauterive rolled her eyes and pulled me away by my hand.
“Wassup, sweetheart?” I asked, eyes lowering to her ass as she led me toward the table where the birthday boy was seated with my grandparents, her parents, and True.
“It’s time for the pictures. I’m about to change his outfit. Are you keeping that on or matching us?”
“Matching y’all, for sure.”
“Okay, perfect. True is too. She already has her dress laid out.”
“Sounds good. I’ll get him changed while my two beautiful ladies do their thing.”
She smiled and gave me a quick kiss before I scooped Shiloh up and we headed inside our home. Since this was his first birthday, we decided to do more intentional and sentimental things instead of spending a lot of money on things he was too young to even remember.
We had everyone sign a guest book and leave a letter for him, and he’d get the guestbook on his thirteenth birthday. Anyone that brought money, that money was going in a bank account for him as well. He had a random obsession withThe Lion King, so that was the theme. We set it up so that he’d have his own musical rendition of the movie done outside. That was going to happen after we took a few family pictures, then every guest would take pictures with him as well.
Once I had him and myself dressed, I met Doe and True back outside. As we took the pictures, gratitude swept over me as it normally did when I thought about how good God had been to me by bringing my wife back into my life. Now, we were celebrating our son’s first year of life. I meant it when I told her I didn’t want to be greedy and ask God for anything more, but if He decided to expand our family, I’d be the best steward of His gifts to me that I could possibly be.
Nothing meant more to me than my family.
Nothing gave me a higher honor than being a husband and father.
Doe, True, and Shiloh were truly my heart in human form, and every day with them was a day that made me more and more grateful for this thing called life.
Neo
My heart beat against my ribs like gorilla fists against a cage. I wasn’t exactly sure why I was nervous. Maybe nervous wasn’t the right word. I was anxious—anxious to finally share the news with Merc. Life and love had been treating us well. Marz was growing up to be the coolest little guy, and Merci was blossoming. Our businesses were flourishing, and our love had no end. Words couldn’t describe how grateful I was that God allowed me to connect with Mercury. He was truly my life partner and my soul’s sole mate—the man I was meant to walk through life with.
After having Merci, I wasn’t sure I’d ever feel like myself again. Getting the diagnosis and intentionally working onprioritizing myself along with the trip to Bali made all the difference in the world. As nervous as Merc was about me getting pregnant again too soon, I wanted to stick to our original plan of having our babies back to back to get the pregnancies out of the way. Once I was done, I wanted to never have to worry about getting pregnant again and being able to truly enjoy my life.
Merc agreed and respected my decision, which I appreciated. Though we were on the same page, I didn’t get pregnant right away. It happened organically and unexpectedly just a few months before our wedding, which we’d have in Bali.
“You ready?” Beethoven asked as his arm wrapped around me for a side hug. “If so, I’ma tell Whiskee to bow out so it can be your turn.”
Releasing a shaky breath, I nodded and looked up at him with a smile. The crew of brothers were just as close as they’d always been. Regardless of how life, marriage, and fatherhood shifted their priorities, they continued to look out for each other.
“I’m ready, Toe.”
“Aight, bet.”
Beethoven casually walked over to his wife, and after whispering something in her ear, she looked over at me with a smile. Everyone in this room knew what was about to happen except Merc, so she faked having to use the bathroom to do her part. We took game nights seriously, so Merc would have been suspicious if we didn’t complete the last round of the card game without announcing a winner, but we had to move on to charades before it was time for Asylum and Dauterive to leave in preparation for their flight.
