"Come on in the kitchen. I have brunch ready."
We ambled to the kitchen, and the aroma had my mouth watering. My mother had a whole spread laid out on a couple of counters. She must've thought she'd be feeding an army.
"Goodness, Mama. Why all the food?" I asked, going to the sink to wash my hands.
"Aye, y'all go wash your hands," Jamari instructed his siblings.
"We don't know where the bathroom is," Rylie voiced.
She had a point. With a smile, I turned to them. "Come on. I'll take y'all."
Once they had washed their hands, we came back into the kitchen to see Jamari and my mother laughing. It had me wondering what they were laughing about.
"Haha. What's funny?" I asked, making my way to the counter to fix plates for Zach and me.
They exchanged looks, but they said nothing. At least they talked and laughed together. Hopefully, that would ease some of the tension that was in the air. After I fixed Zach a plate of pancakes, eggs, and bacon, I took his plate to the table. It was a shame that I wanted everything spread out. My mother has outdone herself today.
I piled my plate high with hash browns, bacon, eggs, and pancakes. I'd go back for some fruit and garden salad she made.
"Make sure you take some food home too, Chy," my mother mentioned.
I nodded slightly. "Will do."
Once we all sat down to eat, my mother blessed the food. It had been a while since I had a family meal with the people I cared about. Even though I had a family dinner with Jamari and his siblings almost every night, it felt different to have my mother with us, too.
"Jamari, I won't get into any hard conversations around your siblings. I just want you to take care of my baby girl."
Jamari nodded, taking my hand in his. "You have nothing to worry about. I love Chyanne and will always have her best interests at heart."
My heart warmed at Jamari's words. He showed me how much he cared for me, so I had no doubt he'd take care of myheart and had been doing a good job of it so far. I couldn't wait to see how far our relationship would go. Since we'd made things official and found out I was pregnant, he had been there through it all. Even when I tried to push him away, he was there. That was more my fault than his. I had doubts, but now they have been erased from my mind. I had Jamari to thank for that.
My mother nodded. "That's all I want to hear. What do you do for a living?"
Jamari lifted his head and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. I knew he hated talking about himself. I wished there was a way for me to change the subject, but my mother wanted to get to know him.
"I'm a home remodeling contractor."
"Oh, that's nice. You like to rebuild stuff."
Jamari gave a stiff nod before lowering his head back to his plate and eating his food.
"Mama, have you heard from Dad lately?"
I talked to him, but I haven't told him about my pregnancy yet. We still hadn't spoken in the way I'd like us to, but it was more so me than him. After what happened with his wife, I wanted to stay as far away from his house as I could. I wanted my father and I to have a relationship. It was something I prayed about all the time.
She shook her head. "Not since last week. He went back to work, so I know that has a lot of his attention."
"Oh yeah, he told me something about going back to work," I stated.
Our eyes met and held. "You need to let your dad know he's about to be a grandfather."
I dropped my head, breaking eye contact. "Yeah, I know. I plan to go over to his house to tell him."
"Oh boy," she muttered.
I laughed. "Don't even say that. I don't have his wife on my mind. I just hope I go there on a day when she's not home. It would make everything alright if I didn't have to see her face."
After what happened at my father’s house, Brenda was dead to me. I wanted nothing to do with that woman. With me being pregnant, I knew it was best I stay far away from that lady.
