Chapter 21
Meridian Estates in Nzuri Hall
One week later…
Treasure had been away for two weeks and to stop myself from going crazy another night, I decided to come to Kojo’s to blow off steam.
Kojo’s study had always been a place where things slowed down.
The lights were low and, jazz played soft through the speakers, and the smell of good cigars hung in the room.
The three of us sat around the card table the way we had a thousand times before, and for most people it might have looked like three brothers passing time.
But the truth was that nights like this usually meant something was weighing on one of us.
Tonight, that man was me.
Kojo sat across from me with a glass of expensive brown liquor in his hand and Asa leaned back in his chair with his cards resting against the table. The smoke from our cigars drifted toward the ceiling while the music hummed lowly behind us.
I stared down at the cards in my hand even though I wasn’t really paying attention to the game. My mind had been somewhere else all night and both of them knew it.
Treasure had been gone for two weeks…
Thirty years of marriage and we had never once separated. Not for a night, for a week, not for anything. My wife had always been in our house, in our bed and in my life. Now the mansion felt wrong without her and every room reminded me that she wasn’t there.
The worst part was that I knew exactly where she was.
Finding my wife had never been difficult.
The problem wasn’t location. The problem was that she did not want to come home yet and I had been trying to respect that even though every part of me wanted to go get her from our lake estate and bring her back.
But tonight something else was eating at me too.
I looked over at Kojo and Asa before finally saying what had been on my mind.
“Kay’Lo could’ve called me,” I said. “If nothing else, he could’ve picked up the phone and invited me to my grandchild’s gender reveal.”
Neither of them spoke for a moment. Asa lifted his cigar and took a slow pull before leaning back in his chair.
“Or maybe you could’ve called him, Brother.”
I exhaled slowly and looked down at the table.
Kojo took a sip from his glass and watched me for a moment before speaking.
“Our boys are getting older,” he said. “They aren’t teenagers anymore. They’re men now. They are building their own homes and their own families.”
He paused and placed his cards on the table before continuing.
“They’re getting married to strong women and they’re bringing children into this world. Their focus is on the lives they’re building now, not on the ones we built before them.”
I listened without interrupting even though I didn’t want to hear it.
Kojo’s voice remained calm.
“That is a difficult thing for fathers to accept. But it’s the truth whether we like it or not. They are grown men now and they will protect their peace when they feel they have to.”
Part of what he said settled somewhere inside me because I knew there was truth in it. Another part of me resisted the idea completely because I had always believed that family stayed connected no matter how complicated things became.
I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my hand across my beard.
“Treasure’s been gone two weeks,” I finally said.
Both of them looked at me.
“I know where she is,” I added. “Finding my wife has never been difficult, but I’ve been trying to give her time. I thought maybe if I stepped back, she would come home on her own.”
I paused and stared at the cards again.
“But I’ll admit something to you both... It’s driving me crazy.”
Kojo nodded slowly.
“She will come back,” he stated. “Treasure loves you and she loves this family. She just wants you to make things right with Kay’Lo.”
Asa tapped the edge of the table with his finger.
“And let’s not forget why she’s upset in the first place,” he laughed. “You erased Kay’Lo’s diagnosis without telling her.”
I sighed and looked at both of them.
“If it were Pressure or Renza,” I said, “both of you would have done the exact same thing.”
Asa laughed again. “No,” he replied, shaking his head. “I actually enjoy my marriage. I’m not interested in doing anything that would upset my wife like that.”
Kojo leaned back in his chair and chuckled.
“I wouldn’t have changed Pressure’s diagnosis either.”
Asa interrupted before Kojo could finish. “That’s because Abeni would have beaten you to it.”
Kojo laughed and lifted his cigar. “That is probably true.”
I took a sip from my glass and shook my head.
“Oh, I see,” I said. “So, I’m the only villain in this family.”
Asa looked at me and smiled. “Right now, you are, Brother.”
He then leaned forward slightly. “But the good news is that you can fix it. Pride doesn’t have to win this one.”
Kojo nodded in agreement.
“You should also consider making things right with Kay’Lo’s wife,” he added. “That might help more than you think.”
I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t dislike Toni.”
Both of them looked at me the same way, like I was lying.
I sighed again and leaned back. “Perhaps in the beginning I had concerns,” I admitted. “But the truth is that my opinion never mattered. My son made his choice.”
Kojo took another sip of his drink before speaking again. “Toni is a good woman. She loves Kay’Lo and she stands by him even when things get difficult.”
He paused before continuing.
“It’s the other girl who is the problem.”
We all knew he meant Roderick Lennox’s daughter.
For years, men had talked about beauty like it was the most important thing in the world. Power, influence, wealth and reputation; all of it seemed to bend around a pretty face if a man wasn’t careful.
Now we had seen exactly how dangerous that could be.
That girl had caused more damage than anyone in this room would ever admit out loud.
She was the reason Kay’Lo’s trial was coming up.
She was the reason we had all spent nights discussing whether we should wipe out the Lennox family completely and deal with the consequences later.
And the only reason that had not happened yet was because we were trying to let the legal process play out, and move accordingly afterward.
I lifted my glass and took another drink without saying anything.
Kojo watched me carefully. “If you want to be part of your granddaughter’s life,” he said calmly, “then you will have to be the one to make this right.”
He let that sit for a moment before adding something else. “And don’t forget that your son is fighting for his life and his freedom right now. That should matter more than your pride.”
The room went quiet again, and jazz continued to play softly in the background while the smoke from our cigars drifted through the air.
I stared at the cards on the table but I wasn’t thinking about the game anymore.
My brothers had said what needed to be said, and even though I didn’t respond out loud, I knew they were right… about everything.