Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
Brandy Noel
Present
AFTER A LATE LUNCH and trip to the movies to see the latest Marvel adaptation, Chardonnay and I were finally making it back to her ranch. The drive up to the tucked away sanctuary was something special I couldn’t get enough of.
The fresh scent of spring flowers blooming, the trees sprouting and saying hello in that promising green, the horses further away roaming around freely on the land… it was all captivating and peaceful.
“What are you smiling so hard for?” Chardonnay asked as we finally pulled up to the ranch.
“It’s beautiful out here. It’s so peaceful, and honestly, I would’ve left Dallas a long time ago had I visited sooner.”
“I told you to bring your ass on, but you always act so busy like you can’t take a break.”
Chardonnay rolled her eyes and I couldn’t help but roll mine too. She liked pulling my card like she wasn’t equally busy all the time. Our schedules never worked together.
“No, I didn’t want Jeffrey following me and disturbing your peace,” I deadpanned.
She didn’t have much to say after that so I hopped out of her car once we parked and grabbed as many bags as I could from the back seat. I trotted ahead of her and the door to her place opened, stopping me dead in my tracks.
“So, this is the infamous Brandy. My bad if I scared you, shorty,” Arlando said as he stepped onto the patio.
“Shit,” I exhaled. “Don’t do that. Hi.” I giggled it off, but my heart was racing something crazy.
I shifted the bags into one hand to greet him and he followed by taking the bags from me then walking over to take the rest from Chardonnay. He leaned down to kiss her and the smile that followed from each of them stopped me from being upset with my sis.
“Babe, you said you weren’t gonna be back until tomorrow. Seeing Armond and now you, I feel like y’all set us up,” Chardonnay said as they parted.
He snickered then shrugged, didn’t have a reply or even a slick comment. That led me to believe she was about to get hit with another surprise. I’d hold onto my pearls in case there was something shocking to come.
But the only thing we were met with was the sweet smell of fresh baked goods coming from the kitchen. It was all too familiar and my excitement grew as I followed the light hum.
“Mommy!” I said excitedly, followed by the same shrill from Nay.
We rushed our mother and hugged her tightly. I hadn’t seen her since last Christmas and missed her miserably. She recently moved back to her hometown of Philly and hadn’t looked back at all.
“How are my gorgeous baby girls doing?” she replied. She kissed both of our foreheads before we released her, then I stole another hug for good measure.
“Yeah, I missed you too, Brandy girl. Now let go before your sister gets jealous,” she teased.
“And am!” Chardonnay said as she shoved me and took my mother in for another hug.
I giggled then looked at Arlando who stood in the doorway with his arms folded over his chest and a huge smile on his face like he knew he did well. And he had. Chardonnay had just talked about our mother on the way home from the mall and how we needed to book a trip to visit her.
“Alright, alright, you’re going to make me burn my cake. Go on now,” she said.
Our mother, Persephone Walsh, was in the top tier category of mother and nobody could tell me otherwise. She was always there for us whenever we needed, she didn’t judge too much, and tried to keep an open mind about anything we came to her with.
She didn’t shun Chardonnay for wanting to move to another state with her man even though they weren’t married or even talking about it nor did she judge me every time I had to retreat and move to another place to outrun Jeffrey.
She did what she could to protect us and love us and that was all we could ever ask for. I just hoped she wouldn’t bash me too much for this ring I had on my finger that she knew nothing about. Nor had I told her about Armond and now I suddenly felt guilty.
“Mmmhmm, that’s what I was looking for,” Mommy said as she looked my way.
“What?” I replied.
“You gonna tell me where that ring came from or why I haven’t talked to you in a month? Who done swept my baby up and I don’t know about it?”
“That would be me, ma’am,” Armond said as he stepped into the kitchen behind us.
My cheeks flushed and my heart began to race something wicked. How did he just show up like this? Always right on time like he was waiting to be mentioned.
I looked over at him and he winked as he made his way to my mother. He extended his arms and she looked at him with a raised brow then looked at Arlando. She gave it a double take then fell into his arms for a warm and welcome hug.
“Well now, this is quite the surprise indeed,” she said as she pulled away from Armond.
“He’s full of those,” I replied.
“As are you. Have you two gotten engaged? When did this even happen and how, with Jeffrey being his intrusive self?” Mommy inquired.
She just had to bring him up. I saw the tension in Armond’s back. He straightened himself then let out a light chuckle that was completely unnerving.
“She just needed the right man to wean the wild dogs off, ma’am. She won’t have to worry about him ever again,” he said confidently.
She nodded in approval with a quirk of a smile that let me know she liked Armond already.
“Well, good. That man just won’t take no for an answer. You would think someone so respectable in the military would have some class. Anyway, enough of the devil, Brandy, you’ve been holding out, ma’am.”
Mommy looked my way and I bashfully lowered my head. I felt so horrible for not mentioning Armond to her once. I talked to her about everything and she was like another best friend to me. I felt I was moving too fast and she wouldn’t approve.
“I can take partial responsibility for that, Ms. Walsh. I’ve taken quite a liking to Brandy and have made some bold promises to her I’m sure she wouldn’t deem acceptable in any other situation, but when a man meets the love of his life, he knows.”
“Mmmhmm. So… you two are engaged?” she asked, motioning between the two of us with her pointer finger.
“No, Mommy, we aren’t engaged. This ring is a notion of promise and intention. He knew my reservations and partly what I was dealing with when it came to Jeffrey, so…”
When my eyes locked on my mother, her knowing smirk stopped me in my tracks. I knew she wasn’t buying it and I had to pull myself together so I could stop further embarrassing myself. I sighed and nodded.
“Yes, I guess we are engaged, Mommy. Armond is amazing and has shown me nothing but the best a gentleman has to offer but Mommy, the man is crazy,” I admitted.
She laughed and went to take the cake and cookies out of the oven. “Well, I could’ve told you that by the rock on your hand, girl.”
Everyone fell out in laughter and I looked at Armond who had the brightest eyes and smile in the room. My heart skipped and I made my way over to him and pecked his lips.
“I think a proper proposal is in order. What do you think?” he asked softly in my ear.
“We don’t need all of that. We’re far from traditional,” I expressed.
“Mommy, did you make any of those cinnamon roll cookies? You know those are my favorite,” Chardonnay said as she walked over to the stove to be nosy.
“They’re over there, woman, now get out of my face. I have one more batch of cookies to put on then I’m going to relax in that big ol’ jacuzzi you have in that backyard,” Mommy replied.
“How long are you staying, Mommy?” I asked.
“Until this grand dinner or whatever these boys talked me into,” she rattled off.
“Really?” Chardonnay and I exclaimed in unison.
“Yes, really. You really think we were about to have you meet our parents without your mom present?” Arlando asked.
“I mean, yeah,” Chardonnay chuckled. “I didn’t think it would be so formal. Just a meet and greet.”
“Ah, you must mistake me for these simple guys from your hometown. We move differently, Nay, as you should know already,” Arlando explained.
“I mean, I know that but…”
“No point in arguing, girl. It won’t matter,” Mommy chimed in with her attention still on the cookies.
I chuckled then wrapped my arms around Armond. I looked up at him and noticed a deep cut along his arm. He didn’t even care to cover it up. It looked a few days old. What has he been up to?
“Don’t worry about that. I’m fine.”
“But…”
“Mama, I’m fine.”
“Okay.” I sighed then rested my head on his chest.
His heart was racing, unlike the normal slow and steady pace I normally found comfort in. He wasn’t withholding from me, was he? He never gave me a reason to believe he would before. Or maybe I’d been too trusting.
A sudden feeling of apprehension consumed me and I felt myself retreating though I hadn’t made any physical movement.
Something wasn’t right and knowing he wouldn’t speak on it bothered me senselessly.
I knew he wasn’t completely honest about his business dealings but a gash like that would only be made during combat of some sort.
He never gave me the impression that he got his hands dirty unless a threat arose and he said his departure from me was only for some gala and networking. Was I foolish to be so trusting?
“Sis, let’s go put these things up then I’ll take you to meet my horse, Mila,” Chardonnay said, breaking me from my thoughts.
“Okay, yeah, let’s do that,” I said, a little snappy.
I looked at Armond and his posture stiffened once we locked our eyes.
I stroked his arm, along his wound and he exhaled through his nose as his jaw tightened.
He was withholding and we would get to the bottom of that shit eventually.
My mouth twitched and I pulled back from him.
I walked off without looking at anyone else though I felt all their eyes on me.
“Oh, you’re in trouble,” I heard my mother say.
“I haven’t done anything to get in trouble for,” he said. Little did he know…
I kept walking. I wasn’t about to embarrass myself in front of my family. They didn’t need to know I felt frustrated with my alleged fiancé because he was a lying asshole. Omission was just as bad to me and he clearly lied when he said he was fine. Something happened and I needed to know what.
“Okay wench, what was that?” Chardonnay asked the second she came into the guest room and closed the door.
“He’s lying about something and I don’t like that shit,” I snapped.
“Girl, bye.”
“Oh, so I shouldn’t be upset when he withholds shit from me?”
“I’m not saying that. But what makes you think he’s lying? He literally just got back and brought Mommy and Arlando with him. Just dial it back. I’m sure he’ll talk to you when y’all get a free moment.”
“Naw, fuck that,” I bickered. I was in my feelings for no damn reason, but I was going to hold onto it until he told me how he got hurt. The way his jaw clenched, I knew it was something serious, so why not just tell me?
“Girl, you sound like a little ass baby and you need to chill. These men are billionaires who fuck niggas up for a living while looking like fucking saints and you know that, so what you bugging for? Chill on him. He will talk to you when he deems it necessary. Until then, put on a damn show for these parents and move the hell on,” she said.
“Nay, I feel you but he ain’t have to look like that. I get that he gets his hands dirty but like that? And did you see his knuckles?”
“Arms dealers, Brandy. Arlando is an arms dealer and I’m sure he’s number two on the ranking board. Armond runs the show. On top of them owning resorts, hotels, and casinos. Please keep up, boo. You’re engaged to the man and don’t even know what he’s about.”
“I did know that,” I huffed.
“Bullshit.”
“He told me all of that before. I just don’t like seeing him like that and it’s only been a couple months and we’re engaged.”
“Okay, and? The way you two been at it you would think it’s been years.
Just go with the flow for once, girl, and stop thinking too deeply into it.
He loves and protects you. You haven’t mentioned Jeffrey’s dusty ass since you got back from Puerto Rico until a couple days ago. Armond is good for you.”
I didn’t have much to say after that. My life had been amazing since he entered. Maybe Jeffrey took his threat seriously and went back to New York for good. It was where we met and where my life had been flipped upside down for years.
He followed me back home to Philadelphia and to South Carolina then Dallas.
If I made the move to Colton, I was sure he would make his way here too.
That’s the reason I stayed away for so long.
Now, I didn’t care. Let him come. We had the best protection and I should’ve listened to my sister a long time ago when she tried helping.
Now I was sitting here mad at myself for being mad over a scratch. I truly needed to take a serious ass chill pill.
“Alright, fine. You’ve made your point, but I’m still upset.”
“Okay, so maybe you don’t need to ride any horses right now. They’ll feed off your energy and it’ll be a miserable attempt. So let’s go to the orphanage and kick it with the kiddies for a bit. You cool with that?”
“Heck yeah. What are we cooking for them?”
“I already did that this morning and dropped it off so they can have a good dinner. Ma wanted to meet them too since I talk about them so much. So maybe this can stay a girl’s day and we can deal with the men tonight. How’s that?”
“I promised Armond we’d do dinner.”
“And you still can. I’ll have him pick you up from there. How does that sound?”
“Uh, no. I’d have to change and all that first. He ain’t no McDonald’s kind of man.”
“Okay, so take a damn outfit with you. Girl, you doing too much,” she snapped.
“I mean, maybe, but can’t you see why? I didn’t expect to see him and now he’s here and just…”
“You missed him, but you are beside yourself. Let’s go see the kids then maybe you’ll be a little more chill. They’re a good bunch. Ooh, and you can see the changes Lando and Armond made to the facility!”
She grew excited so I knew they did their big thing on it. I loved the dedication my sister had to the kids. No matter where we lived, she always found a way to give back and make a true impact on their lives. It was something special to watch and food always brought people together.