“Where are they? I’m going to find them!” I looked around my house for my nieces Phoebe, Poseidon and Melody’s daughter, and Spryte, Hades and Jin’jer Elle’s daughter. “Here I come.”
Phoebe at two-years-old and Spryte at one, almost two-years-old, were best little friends. One of their favorite games to play with all their aunties and uncles was hide-and-seek. The thing was that my niecey-poohs were horrible at the game. Although I told them that I would find them, I found them as soon as I opened my eyes after I finished my countdown. Theirsilly asses stood flat against the wall with their hands clasped together and filled with the giggles.
Dindi, Melody, Jin’jer, and Hera were in a fit of their own giggles at the silliness of the youngest of the Basil clan. Ocean and Aoide were in their own little worlds on their tablets. They also had the cutest cousin friendship. When they were on their tablets but wanted to communicate with each other, they used sign language. They were fluent in sign language and Greek now. The babies were still learning.
I was tired. I went down the hallway, looked in the guest bedroom for a second, then came back out. Slowly, I creeped toward them. When I was close, I rushed them. “I got you!”
They both ran from me with loud laughs. I loved these little babies so much. Secretly, I couldn’t wait to have a baby. I’d gone as far as to look into in vitro fertilization (IVF).
The dating pool had chlamydia infected piss in it. Last month I went on a date that was cut short because his wife’s car broke down on the way home from a business trip. I was confused because that was the first thing that I asked that man when I met him.Are you married?That man told me no. When I asked that buckhorn-colored bastard why he lied, he said that he just manifested a new truth.Bitch, what!
The girls ran to their mothers. I moved and sat back in my seat on the couch. It was our regular Sunday brunch, and I hosted this week. Just as I sat down, Jade came into the living room. She catered the brunch like she always did. That girl could cook her ass off. We made sure that we paid her for her services.
Her beautiful smile lit up the room. It was amazing how chipper she could be no matter what she went through. “What y’all talking about?”
“Girl, Spryte and Phoebe playing fake hide-and-seek. You know how they do,” Jin’jer said. She gave her daughter the pieceof chicken that she pointed to on the plate that was on the side table.
When Hades and Jin’jer announced their pregnancy, we were all ecstatic. Hades was such an amazing uncle. We couldn’t wait to see him as a father. They waited until the very last minute to tell us their daughter’s name, with good reason. Spryte Laverne Basil. It was at that moment when they revealed the name that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that my sister-in-law had platinum coochie, mouth, and ass.
Jade laughed. “Don’t do my lil sweet girls. Come here, Spryte.”
Spryte’s head snapped in her direction. That was all she needed to abandon her mommy. Just as she got comfortable on Jade’s lap with her chicken wing, my front door alarm went off.
These men can’t even go four hours without their women.I rolled my eyes at all the noise that my brothers made as they came into my house. Seconds later, they came in to disturb our brunch peace.
“Ladies, how are you all doing?” Zeus was the first to come into the living room with his son, Zoren Anthony, in his arms. Zoren at two-years-old was a daddy’s boy. If it wasn’t about his daddy, he didn’t want anything to do with it. Zeus loved it.
At the sound of her daddy’s voice, Aoide got up to give him and her baby brother a kiss before she went back to her tablet. Zeus took his place near his wife. Dindi kissed Zoren, who kissed her back, then laid his head on his daddy’s chest. Sleep was all in his eyes.
Ocean came over to his father and dapped him up. Their relationship was so damn cute.God, I want a baby.It felt like it would never happen for me.
“We are just fine. Why are y’all here?” I asked them. My arms crossed over my chest.
Hades’s head bucked back. Spryte abandoned Jade for her daddy when he came into the room. “Damn, we can’t have any of Jade’s food? I know she made more than y’all can eat. Her lil ass don’t know how to cook small.”
Jade shook her head. “There’s more than enough for you guys.” She shifted in her seat. “Hey, Dorian.”
He gave her a faint smile. “What’s up, Jade? You good?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m good.”
Hades was the first to get his ass up and head to the kitchen. The rest of the men were behind him. Dorian lingered for a few seconds longer than the others.
“I think I’m going to head back to campus. Thank you for letting me cater like always.” Jade stood to her feet.
Hera kissed her teeth. “You do not have to leave because Dorian is here. I don’t care if y’all are not together or not. You are still our niecey-pooh.”
Dorian had recently graduated, and Jade was now a junior at Johnson and Wales University Charlotte. He decided about six months ago that he was too young to be in such a committed relationship. He wanted to date. We were all shocked.
Jade was fucked up for almost two months. She isolated herself from us completely. Jin’jer literally broke into the girl’s campus apartment, and it was bad. Poor baby had made Dorian her entire world. She didn’t know how to function without him. It took all of us to help her learn. We loved her.
It was a sensitive situation because we loved our nephew too. Was he wrong for his feelings to want to date? No. As hurtful as the breakup was, it would have been more painful if he cheated. From my conversations with Hades, it was a situation of Dorian’s wanting to have his fun before he committed to the girl he wanted to be with forever, which was Jade.
Jade grabbed her things. “Oh, I know. I have some studying to do anyway. I’ll see y’all later.”
She left just in time. The men came back right after the front door closed. Dorian paused his steps, and his eyes scanned the room. “Where Jade go?”
“Why? She’s none of your concern,” Jin’jer said. She was on his head.
