“Why can’t you have it here like all your other parties?” I asked, hating that she was growing out of wanting to be close to home.
“Daddy, because I’m an adult and I want to have fun with my friends without armed men guarding the perimeter.” She huffed, slamming her sliced strawberries in the bowl like they had wronged her too.
“Baby you are one of my most prized possessions. There will always be guards wherever you go.” I told her, everyone in my family had armed security and as long as I was the man I am they would always have it.
“But dad, I have a marksmanship award, and I can almost take Uncle Black in hand-to-hand combat training.” She smiled proudly.
She was right. We had trained the kids in this family well over the years and at times I wondered if we had been wrong to give them a glimpse of that life.
“You’re gonna be overruled anyway mom and auntie Nesi saw it yesterday with us and they loved it. Uncle August saidhe was alright with it if you said yes and Uncle Black and Blue already upgraded the security.” She said, this time with a victorious smile.
“No. I out rank everybody else.” I said, smiling like I wasn’t about to give in. Who was I kidding? She had done her research and gotten approval from everybody that mattered now all I had to do was put my stamp of approval on it.
“Moooom.” Timberly yelled up the stairs.
“Snitch.” I said, shaking my head at her. She just smirked back at me and started eating her parfait, because the battle had been won.
“What?” Nova said as she came down the stairs holding our six-year-old twins' hands. She stopped at the table and helped them into their seats before joining us at the island. “Peace, put that tablet down and pass your brothers some fruit please.”
“Mommy, tell him how beautiful the venue is for my party.” Timber started.
“You are gonna love it. It's just what we were talking about, and the planner's design is everything Timberly asked for. Did she show you the plans?” Nova asked, buttering the croissant from my plate, before licking honey butter off her finger while giving me a full minute of intense eye contact.
This is the shit I was talking about. I would never have been able to get played like this outside of this house but inside I was at the mercy of my wife, who my kids had learned was my soft spot and they used her often to get what they wanted.
“Please daddy. I’m an A plus student. I already have four full rise scholarships to the top colleges in the area, and I have never been caught doing anything illegal.”
“The way you said, never been caught doing anything illegal with all your other positive accolades seems a little suspicious. Not getting caught is not the same as never doing anything illegal.” I said.
“Was that all you got from that? All I’m saying is that I’m a good kid. Reward me please,” she said proudly.
“She may not have gotten caught but DJ and Tati sure have.” Peace said from his place at the other table.
“Mine yo’ business little nigga.” DJ’s loud voice said, coming from the back door as he entered without knocking as usual.
“Language DJ.” Tyra said coming in behind him like all our kids hadn’t learned to cuss at her knee.
“Sorry. And stop spreading lies Peace before I start putting yo’ business in the street. Besides it wasn’t illegal. It was frowned upon. We didn’t even get arrested.”
“That’s because the people at our schools are scared of Auntie Tyra.” Peace said with a straight face.
“Damn right. They don’t want no problems.” Tyra said, stealing some bacon off Kairo’s plate.
“That’s mine T.T.” He grumbled.
“Pregnancy tax.” She laughed with a mouth full of his bacon, rubbing her round belly.
“Here, Kai.” DJ said, handing over his two pieces to his cousin.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, because now at 19 years old DJ was a good kid but had definitely had his fair share of close encounters with illegal antics, especially since Black and Blue had started officially mentoring him last year. They said what they taught the kids as children was just the basics and things didn’t get real until they became adults. DJ was in his first year at Timberline Tech majoring in computer engineering with a minor in cyber securities.
“So, getting caught your senior year hacking into the lunch accounts and changing the balances to zero wasn’t illegal?” Peace asked.
“No, it was philanthropic. Students should eat for free.” DJ smirked, piling his plate full of waffles, whipped cream and fruit.“Worry about how you made Mr. Jimenez cry in front of your class the other day.”
“Peace, what is he talking about?” Nova asked.
Peace answered his mother with a straight face like whatever he said or did to that grown man wasn’t a cause for concern. Peace was our quiet calculating child; he read every room he entered before speaking. He was a beautiful combination of every one of the people he loved. He had taken something from each of us and turned it into a tool that he honed for success. And even at ten years old he was able to decipher which tactic to pull out of his bag of acquired tricks to get what he wanted. Damn my boy had even surpassed me at that age and he was just getting started.
