Page 62 of Mia

My auntie glared at them. “All of you need to find nice, respectable women to bring home to me. I want grandbabies and some daughters.”

Emmon and Elum waved her off, but East blew her a kiss. “I got you, Ma.”

“Kiss ass,” Emmon mumbled. “Anyway. How is Mia, for real? That shit in Paris fucked me up seeing her like that.”

“She’s better,” I said. “ We uh. . . we did a therapy session. It was heated at first, but once things calmed down, we talked about some real shit.”

My mother smiled. “Therapy, huh? You know your grandmother used to say that shit was for white people. I’m glad to see you’re breaking the cycle, baby. You do what you need to do to be good with yourself and your wife. Back to what Michelle was saying…”

She put the needles down and sat up, leaning forward on her elbows. Whenever she got to sitting like a nigga, she was ready to pop the fuck off.

“Tara,” my father warned.

“Fuck that, David. We haven’t spoken about it because of what’s going on, but we’re gonna talk about it now.”

My father knew how to pick his battles. He was a reformed street nigga who practiced patience daily dealing with me and my mama. He knew the woman he married and the child he helped create. We were always gonna say exactly what was on our minds.

He raised his hands in surrender before pulling out a blunt and lighting it. Sitting back, he motioned for my mother to have the floor.

“Why the fuck would you get married and not tell us?” My mother questioned, smacking me with a throw pillow. “You don’t think enough of your parents to have them witness one of the most special days in your life?”

“I do, Ma⁠—”

“And then! Then you got married in a goddamn chapel!”

“I mean, it was a nice chapel, Ma.”

My father looked at me, warning me not to poke the bear.

“Play with me if you want to, boy,” my mother warned. “You ain’t too old for me to whip your ass. Don’t forget that.”

“Look. I’m sorry, okay? We were wrong and we own that. We were wrong about a lot of things that we’re trying to get right now. You can’t beat us over the head with our mistakes while we’re trying, though. I need your encouragement, Mama.”

She gave me an evil side eye before her face softened.

“You always have my encouragement, Titan. I’m just hurt. I love you and I would have wanted to be a part of your special moment. I feel like I was robbed of that.”

“If I ever get married again, you’ll have another opportunity.”

She threw another throw pillow at me. “Your ass got married once. You better work this shit out. I won’t have it said that my son is a serial groom.”

Everybody laughed.

“Why are you so dramatic, Ma?”

My father chuckled. “And you went and married a woman like your mother.”

My mother shot him a look. “You keep playing with me, David DeLuca. I’ll shoot both of you.”

My father chuckle. “Baby Love, don’t forget my roots. I may be retired, but that street shit is still in me. Don’t wake this beast up.”

My mother smirked and winked at him. “I thought you like when I woke the beast.”

“You know I do.” Pops licked his lips as he stared her down and I almost gagged.

“Stop that shit, man,” I said, covering my ears. “I don’t need to know what y’all freaky asses be doing in here.”

“How you think you got here?” Pops asked. “I remember the night you were conceived. Shit, that was a wild time.”