Chapter 9 #2
My bestie group text is next. As I dressed for lunch, Giselle was on FaceTime and Kyrah and Alex were texting.
They want a play by play as soon as this is over and I’m back in my ride heading home.
We also agreed to forego our usual FNF this Friday and invite Quintus to Giselle’s instead. I just have to get him to agree.
Me: I’m late.
Giselle: Late how? You left at five.
Kyrah: You aren’t there?
Alex: Barely late. Are you close at least?
Me: I’m in Diamond Falls but there’s a long ass train and I can’t get around it.
Kyrah: Well damn!
Alex: I’m sure it’s fine. He lives there. He probably knows about the train.
Giselle: You look good so who cares. Just take a lot of pictures. LOL
Me: You know I won’t. LOL. I’ll call when I’m heading home though.
When I look up from my phone, I see there are only a few cars left on the train.
Thank God it’s moving on. I drop my cell into my cup holder and shift into drive.
The minute the crossing gate lifts, the first car flies across the tracks.
I’m the third in line so I cross not even a minute later and follow my navigation to a subdivision.
The brown and beige two-story home with the numbers 2410 under the light on the side of the garage door has four cars and a motorcycle filling the driveway so I drive past it, circle back, and find a spot a few cars down on the side of the road. Before getting out, I call Quintus.
“Hey. You still stuck at the train?” he answers and I hear voices and music in his background.
“I’m actually here. I just parked about three houses down. I’m getting out.”
“I can move my ride and you can park in the driveway. Just give me a minute,” he insists.
“No. I’m getting out. See you in a minute.”
“I’m coming to get you,” he says before ending the call.
It’s mid-August and probably our last few days of this nice, warm weather.
Fall is rapidly approaching and the season for my cute designer slides is fading, so I’m taking full advantage while I can.
Along with my favorite red and gold slides, I’m wearing cute, cuffed wide leg jeans and a sexy but appropriate for meeting the in-laws, red, laced-up top.
After double checking my face, I grab my cell and small tote then get out.
I immediately see him walking toward me looking too damn fine in jeans and a short-sleeved white tee.
He walks right up to me and pulls me in for a hug.
“You ready for this?” he asks after planting a soft kiss on my forehead. The gesture is small but affects me in a big ass way, causing me to briefly close my eyes.
“I think I am. It’s just family?” I ask, trying to minimize the situation.
“My big ass family. And I told them already. They can’t wait to meet you,” he says casually.
“Wait! What?” I exclaim, surprised. “What did they say?”
“My brothers talked shit but that’s them. They can’t wait to see the woman who locked me down. Asali wasn’t surprised and neither was Shuga really. I don’t think we can do much to shock them anymore. Her biggest concern is Niya, of course. I don’t bring women around her.”
“But do they know it’s fake?”
“What’s fake?” he asks.
“Our marriage.”
“It’s not though. We are legally married and it’s going to be announced in The Chronicle tomorrow. It’s real as hell.”
“But you know what I mean,” I say. He kisses my forehead again and totally dismisses what I said.
“I hope you’re hungry. There’s a ton of food. We only do Sunday dinner once a month and Shuga likes to do too much.”
“What all did you tell them?” I ask, still stuck on the fact that they know and think it’s real.
“That we’ve been seeing each other for a few months but I fell for you the moment I saw you sitting at a bar one night. I knew then and decided not to wait, so we got married,” he says, and if I didn’t know better, I would believe him. He sounds so damn sincere.
“And they were just cool with that?”
“Yeah. My brothers have done wilder shit than this. Trust me. They’re straight. They just want to meet you,” he assures me before releasing me from his arms.
“No pressure at all,” I tease because all of a sudden I feel some tension. That nervous, unexplainable energy I get around him returns. To shake it off, I exhale, sigh, then smile. I’ve got this. “I’m ready.”
With his hand resting on the small of my back, he leads me down the road to the house. There’s an audience standing in the driveway, closest to the double garage doors are five tall young men. They all stop and stare as we approach.
“I see you, Unc!” one says extra loudly and they all laugh. He steps closer and says, “I’m Hassan, his favorite nephew.” Then he swats his hand back and hits another one who has long locs in the back. When that one turns around, I immediately notice the resemblance.
Twins.
Although these two are identical, all five of them look alike. One thing is very clear, genetics are real. His nephews are all handsome, tall like him, and have the same rich milk chocolate skin tone and square jawlines.
“This is my bruh, Hussain, and my cousins, DJ, Deric, and Twon.”
“What’s up, Auntie?” Hussain says before hugging me. Once he does, they all do.
“Ay, get off my wife,” Quintus says playfully after the last one embraces me. “I thought you were watching the grill anyway,” he tells Hassan.
“Nah. Shiro took care of it but it’s done. We just waiting on y’all, so Shuga sent us to get you,” Hassan says.
“Then let’s go eat,” he says and turns to me. Communicating with squinted eyes, he checks on me. I pick up on it and nod before we follow the boys into the beautiful home and out of the back door to the covered patio with a sea of people all looking at me.
When he mentioned a big ass family, he was not exaggerating.
I stop counting after twelve. The interesting dynamic is the ratio of men to women.
Counting me, his beautiful mom, and his little girl with the largest puff on top of her little head, there are only five women in correlation to all the tall men who look alike.
“Welcome to our home and family. I’m Shon, but everybody calls me Shuga,” his mom says before genuinely embracing me.
She’s stunning. Her salt and pepper afro is reminiscent of the Black queens in the seventies.
If Quintus hadn’t told me she was sixty-one years old, I would have never believed him. She looks so young.
“Thank you. I’m Mireya.”
“I know. He told us all about you and your impromptu wedding. You owe me a celebration,” she whispers before ending our hug.
“That’s my husband Asali holding our little princess who seems to forget how to walk when she’s here,” she says as she motions to her husband. “She just woke up,” she tells Quintus.
“She’s ready to eat,” he responds.
Asali steps closer and Quintus takes his daughter from his father’s arm. During the exchange, her pretty hazel eyes dart over to me then she quickly turns her head. Once in her dad’s arms, Niya buries her face in his chest. The only view I have of her now is her thick hair.
“The newest Mrs. Bako,” Asali’s deep voice booms, tearing me away from Niya.
When I look up, I’m met with a warm smile plastered on Asali’s face that mirrors his son’s.
There’s no question what the later years hold for Quintus.
Twenty years from now, based on his father’s appearance, Quintus will still be good looking.
“Nice to meet you,” I tell him.
“And these are my boys,” Shuga says while beckoning Quintus’s brothers over to us.
One by one, tall, handsome men start marching toward their mom. As they approach, Niya lifts her little head, quickly glances at me, then returns her cute little face back to her daddy’s chest. When Quintus pats her back, she lifts again, but only for a second.
“Tell Miss Mireya hi, Niya,” he says and she shakes her head. However, her arm raises and she waves her hand. “That’s not nice. Tell her hello,” he insists before looking at me apologetically. “She’s not shy so I don’t know what this is about.”
“She just woke up. It’s fine,” I assure him. Like most little girls, she just has to warm up to me.
“I’m Ace,” the brother who appeared in my courtroom says. When I hold my hand out for a shake, he nods, steps closer, then hugs me. “You fam now. We hug,” he says as he gives me a church hug, the one with an approved but unspoken distance.
Deuce is next followed by Tre then Shiro.
Unlike his brothers, Shiro pulls me all the way into his large frame.
He’s handsome and tall like his brothers, maybe an inch shorter.
He’s the biggest though. While Quintus, Ace, Tre, and Deuce look like former basketball players, Shiro’s built like a football lineman.
“You snatched that nigga on the low,” Shiro whispers. “You betta take care of him, sis,” he adds with a grin before ending our embrace.
“Bruh, what did you just say to my wife?” Quintus asks and Shiro grins.
“Yeah, I see you,” is all Shiro says before turning to his mom. “Can we eat now, Shuga?”
“Shiro, five minutes won’t kill you. She’s got to meet Sade and the lady you brought this week,” Shuga says, then rolls her eyes as she reaches for my hand to lead me to the table with the ladies.