“Because you only need my help when youdidsomething.”
“That’s not true.”
“Is it that really cute woman who came with you to the wedding that you’ve been avoiding talking to us about?” She sat down on a plush corner chair.
He took a seat on a camel-leather three-seater. “What I need to talk to you about is for our parents’ vow renewal. I’m not sure if Kenya will be there.”
“Why? Won’t she be coordinating it?”
“I’m not sure. I just have a strong feeling after what happened last night.”
Nneka crossed her arms over her chest. “Okay. What did you say to her?”
“It’s more like all the things she said to me, but I tried to explain that this is not who I am.”
“But it is, so...”
“You know what I mean. She has this certain idea of what a multimillion-dollar-international-business family should look like. For whatever reason, she feels like she’s not enough for that. But that’s not who I am, or that’s not what I want to be.”
Nneka sighed and steepled her fingers.
“Brother, I know you guys think I’m silly sometimes and live frivolously, but it’s because Idoenjoy this. I enjoy our lifestyle and what we’ve put together. You know why? Because it allows me to meet so many people. The extravagance that we sell allows us to be here now. Think about it, brother, really think about it. Do you think launching a line in Hope Springs is going to give us a huge output? Do you think that’s going to be, at least initially, a major income stream?”
“No, I just figured it was another way to take over small-town businesses.”
“Right. And you wanted to be that small-town doctor who is all about the people and saving the day, right?”
He felt his defenses rise. “Are you saying that’s all I’ve been doing? Being some insecure rescuer?”
“I am not saying that, but you need to be honest with yourself.”
“That’s whatshesaid,” he mumbled.
“And she would be right. You don’t have to deny the family who made you. We didn’t come from much, and look at what our parents have built. The designs of our company, all inspired by what Mom put together decades ago, are on runways and worn by dignitaries. We source our materials from trusted suppliers.We provide jobs for people we’ve never met. We have teams who pray over the fabrics we use.”
Solomon grunted. “I always thought that was weird.”
“Yeah, and because of that, you didn’t consider the significance. They didn’t give the company its name just to mix Mom’s name with yours orson. Mommy always talks about praying for God’s favor on these clothes. For those people to see themselves the way God sees them.” Solomon looked at his sister as if he was seeing her for the first time.
“How do you know all this?”
“Because while you were busy running away in pride—”
“Ouch.”
“Well, if the shoe fits...” She tossed him a smile. “While you were doing all that, and while our brother was resenting the fact that he was having to take on what you were not doing, I asked questions. I got to know not just what we do but the people in our company we do it with. The ones that we get to employ, the connections that we get to make. Not even just the influential ones that we clothe but the people who work with them. And because of those moments, we’re able to be here now. Do you know how special this place is to them? To Mom?”
How had he forgotten?
His sister continued. “She met her best friend here. This is where the seeds of the business idea came from. So while you’re thinking that they don’t know what you care about and aren’t concerned about your dreams, they are funding them. And yes, they wanted you to be right in their pocket doing those things, but maybe you need to be honest with yourself and look at what you’ve been given with gratitude. Stop hiding the fullness of who you are. Because what it sounds like to me is that Kenya brought everything to the table as much as she could. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the clumsy.”
He laughed. He needed that too. Her words were heavy, and heneeded to process them. He thoughthewas a wise one. But, oh, there was that pride again, wasn’t it?
Nneka leaned toward him. “I am proud of you, big brother. You have always been passionate about what you do. And I know it probably has much more to do with the hard times you experienced while you were away at boarding school than anything else. But the key is that you need to be honest with that, too, and be honest about the family that God allowed you to be born in. It’s a privilege but doesn’t have to make you prideful. Hiding and trying to stay in control does.”
She patted his knee abruptly and stood up.
“That’s it? You’re done? I thought you were gonna give me a plan for how to fix this.”
