Epilogue
EPILOGUE
MALIK
10 Years Later…
“Woah! Careful on the throttle. Sports bikes are super sensitive.” I stand closer to the bike, possibly not the best idea, but it’s necessary for a first time rider. “Now listen closely. If you twist the grip towards you, you’ll speed up. Twist it away and it slows you down.”
“I know, Dad. I’ve been riding with you for ten years.”
“Shhh. Don’t tell Mom.” I gently cover her mouth with my hand and she laughs.
I stare at my daughter and can’t believe how much time has gone by. It feels like yesterday that she skipped into my class proclaiming broccoli was gross -she still stands by that statement– and now she’s sixteen and learning to ride a motorcycle.
It wasn’t until after Calix was born that Dahlia decided she didn’t want to be the only one with a different last name. I really struggled with it because as much as I longed to have her call me Dad and bear the name Dare, I didn’t want to disrespect her father. He may not have been a good husband, but he loved his daughter with all his heart, according to Soleil.
We spent weeks discussing it. Soleil and Dahlia telling me that it didn’t mean she was denying who her father is, but I had already been in life longer than Gene had and was the one raising her.
“I call you Dad. You tell people I’m your daughter.”
“Yes sweetheart, I know. But you’re asking me to essentially erase your father’s name from your birth certificate like he never existed. Do you know the amount of guilt that lays on my shoulders? Claiming another man’s child as my own?”
“Malik, you’re really thinking too much about this.” Soleil was always a champion for Dahlia and what she wanted, so I wasn’t surprised that she would side with her on this.
“Hardly any of my friends know that you aren’t my real dad.”
“You’re her dad in all the ways that matter most.”
My eyes and my heart were overflowing with love. This young lady just wanted to be mine and I was fighting her on it.
“Okay. Let’s do it.”
There were tears and hugs and kisses and months later, it became official. She was Dahlia Rose Brooks Dare. My daughter.
“What are you doing?” I groan, dropping my head and wait for the tongue lashing I’m about to get.
“Oh! H-hey Mom. What are, um, what are you doing home? I thought you were taking Cal and G.G. to the movies.”
I slowly turn around to find my wife shooting fire at my head and Calix, our eight year old son, standing next to her looking a little green in the face. Soleil props her fists on her hips and I know I’ve done it, now.
“Calix got sick right as we got to Uncle Hendrix and Aunt Dagen’s house. Seems someone let him eat an entire bag of sour gummy worms.” Her eyes bounce from Dahlia to me, trying to figure out which one of us was the culprit.
Dahlia was always a lover of gorging on junk food and dealing with the stomach ache the next day, but I’m a sucker for my kids and have a hard time telling them no.
I wince and raise my hand. “That would be me. We were racing and I may have not been paying attention to how much he was eating.”
When we built our home, I was sure to make a room just for racing. I bought a simulator that my wife was not happy about –I had to remind her that we were rich and fifty grand was no big deal– and had the room customized to look like a crowd of fans surrounded us. It quickly became something the entire family was obsessed with. And by family I mean Henny, Dagen and the girls, and D and Marcie. She’ll deny it but my Sunny Girl loves it too.
“I’ll ask you one more time. What. Are. You. Doing?” She steps closer and Calix, still holding his stomach, is glued to her side as usual.
My boy loves me and we have the best time together. But he is a mama’s boy through and through.
“Okay. Doll face. Before you get mad, let me explain.” I hold up my hands in defense.
“You and your let me explain. The number of times I have heard that over the years, Malik Dare, I couldn’t hold in a bucket.”
“Mom. Don’t be mad at Dad. I’ve been bugging him for a long time. And when he heard that Uncle D was helping–”
“You let Danté teach you how to ride? Oh for the love.” She smacks her forehead and I look at Dahlia with wide eyes.
She wasn’t supposed to let that tidbit of information get out. Ever! I don’t make it a habit to hide things from my wife, but sometimes it’s for her own good…and the protection of my balls.
Just then, the loud rumble of an engine pulls up our driveway and I seriously think God is fucking with me right now. Danté comes rolling in and when he stops his car, he doesn’t get out right away. I’m sure he’s debating just reversing out and hauling ass away from here. When the door finally swings open and he steps out, I can tell he’s putting on. the swagger of a man who can charm his way out of anything. Little does he know his niece let our secret slip.
“Hey gorgeous. You two off to the movies?” He throws her that devilish smirk that makes his face smolder and women forgetting their names.
“Don’t you gorgeous me. You were teaching my daughter how to ride a bike?”Soleil turns her anger on D and I breathe a little sigh of relief.
“Technically, I’m still teaching her. Mal thought it’d be better if the two of us were around to help.”
“Fuck D. Really?” I throw up my hands and pace.
“If I’m going down, so are you,” he states.
Dahlia laughs, Calix gags, and Soleil growls. A storm is brewing and I’m at the center of it.
“Mom. Please relax. I know exactly what to do. I have a helmet, and all my gear, and two out of three of the best riders in Cattywump Bay.” Dahlia turns off the engine that has been running all of this time and flips the kick stand.
“She’s actually a really good rider, Sunny.” Why is Danté talking?
“Mom,” Calix’s voice sounds scratchy and his tan skin begins to pale.
“D, you really aren’t helping matters,” I tell him.
“Mom.”
“Bro, you’re the one who asked me to come help.”
“Dad.”
“Uncle D hasn’t let me speed, and he said no tricks until he thinks I’m strong enough.”
“Tricks?! Are you kidding me, Dahlia Rose?”
“Doll face–”
“Dad.”
“Nuh uh. You can’t sweet talk yourself out of this one. You Dares think you only have to smile and all is forgiven.”
“We use the tools God has given us.” Danté winks and I seriously just want to punch him.
“Did you forget you’re a Dare too, Mom?”
“Dad.”
The cacophony of voices is worse than kindergarteners on the last day of school.
“Baby, I know we should’ve talked to you first but we knew you’d say no. So we thought–”
“You thought you’d sneak behind my back and do it anyhow.”
“Guys. Cal doesn’t look so good.”
“D.D.” Calix calls his sister D.D. for Dahlia Dare.
“Hey Cal. You okay buddy?”
“D.D. I don’t feel very–”
And then it happened. A shit storm rained down on us. Well, it was more like a neon gummy worm storm in the form of vomit, but the term shit storm is universally understood.
Calix folds in half and spews green and red and blue all over the pavement. It splashes, catching all of us in some way. My legs, D’s shoes, Soleil’s hands when she put them up to protect her face, and Dahlia’s pants. A silence falls over us that is so tense that not even the birds dare to chirp.
My son has tears in his eyes and the rest of us stand there with our mouths agape. Suddenly, the sound of more gagging breaks the quiet. Danté slaps a hand over his mouth and nose, trying to block the smell.
“Dude, I’m gonna puke.” He begins taking one step after the other back.
“Oh my sugar. Are you okay?” Soleil kneels and immediately regrets it when she lands in the goo.
My phone begins ringing and I pull it from my pocket, needing a distraction from the cluster fuck in front of us.
I swipe the phone and put it on speaker phone.
“Yo Mal. Just a heads up. Cal got sick at our house so they’re not going to the movies. Sunny said she was going to get some medicine before heading home, so you might want to put a stop to the riding lesson with Dahlia.”
“Henny. Now is not a good time,” I call out, all eyes now on me.
“Um. Uncle Hendrix.”
“Hey Dahlia. Sorry the riding lesson isn’t going to happen tod–”
“You’re on speaker phone,” Dahlia informs him. “And Mom is home…and can hear you.”
The line goes dead and we all start looking from one person to the other. It’s like a standoff and no one knows what’s going to happen next. Soleil stands up and calmly walks away, disappearing around the side of the garage.
I look at Dahlia and she shrugs. Calix wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and color rushes back to his cheeks.
“I feel a lot better now,” he tells us.
Dahlia snorts then busts out, full on laughing. I look at her like she’s a mad woman who has lost her ever-loving mind.
I’m in the middle of trying to figure out what I do next when a gush of freezing water hits my back. I spin around and see Soleil with a hose pointing right at us.
I cover my face before I choke, and the hose moves to Dahlia whose laughing stops real quick. Danté is not able to escape and gets drenched. Even Calix, her sweet little boy, falls victim to her water attack.
When the shock wears off, I bolt to hide behind Danté’s car and Dahlia tears off in the opposite direction. The hose turns towards the car and D groans.
“Not my car, Sunny.” She laughs and directs it at him instead.
“Got a few chunks on ya, Danté. Let me help you with that.” She sprays him from head to toe, water dripping from the tip of his black hair to the toe of his black boots.
Suddenly Dahlia appears and she fires off a Nerf gun, popping Soleil in the butt. She yelps and is momentarily distracted. Danté makes a move and snatches the hose and repays the favor, spraying her in the face.
Calix starts laughing and runs to hide with me.
“No way, homie. You caused all of this.” I grab him by the shoulders and use him as a human shield as I walk towards the house.
D sprays him and Dahlia is somehow able to get behind me. I hear the click click of the Nerf gun, then feel the bite of a foam bullet. I spin and now Calix faces Dahlia.
“You monster,” she gasps. “Using a sick child as a shield. Here Cal.”
She pulls a small Nerf gun from her back pocket and tosses at Calix. He catches it and I quickly, but carefully, drop him to his feet. That’s when a firestorm of bullets rains down on me.
I try to run but slip in the slick water-vomit mixture and fall flat on my ass. Soleil sees me and forgets she’s mad, and rushes over to see if I’m okay. She promptly slips too, joining me on the ground.
The water is still spraying, the kids are now aiming at their uncle, and my Sunny Girl and I are laughing. Never a dull day in the Dare household.
And I wouldn’t have it any other way.