Epilogue
“Aw, come on, Uncle D. You’re cheating like a mothafucka,” Alanzo called out, his chest heaving heavily.
“Alanzo!” Both Kenna and Annalise shouted from their spots at the table next to the grill.
It was too late, though. Kenna and Damien’s youngest daughter, the surprise baby, had already started mimicking Alanzo.
“Muddafucka, Mommy. Muddafucka.” She clapped her hands and gave Kenna a toothless grin.
Kenna shook her head and tugged her up into her lap.
“Sorry, Titi,” Alanzo said with his deep voice, waving his hand in apology.
“Who you think you are, anyway, kid?” Damien asked as he dribbled the ball between his legs.
“Kid? Uncle D, I’m grown,” Alanzo asserted.
Skylar, who was on the outside court with the two men, snorted. “Boy turns eighteen and suddenly thinks he’s grown.”
“Grown enough to whup your ass on this court,” Alanzo teased.
“Zo!” Kenna groaned.
“Ass, ass, ass!” Her daughter cheered from her lap.
“What am I going to do with you, Ruby?”
“I do with you?” Ruby asked, lifting her tiny hands and smooshing Kenna’s cheeks together.
“Mama! Caleb stole my chalk,” Kayla, their oldest baby by three minutes, shouted.
Kenna looked at her nine-year-old twins and sighed.
“I did not! You just be lyin’,” Caleb argued. “Mama, tell her to stop telling fibs.”
“Both of you cut it out now,” Annalise called, her voice soft but stern.
Kenna eyed Annalise wearily. The older woman’s health had been slowly declining over the past six months.
She was a stubborn old woman and refused to tell them what was wrong, but she assured them she was keeping up with her doctor appointments and would tell them if anything was seriously wrong at the right time.
It was a fight Kenna had given up on because Annalise wouldn’t budge, no matter how she tried.
They had eaten long ago, and the family game of basketball had picked up right after that, but it was time for Kenna to end it.
She was ready for everyone to leave so she could put her kids to sleep and love on her husband.
Cam and Terry, Cam’s husband, had done the old dine and dash and left long ago, which she appreciated for once.
Slowly, she stood and passed Ruby off to Annalise. “Terrorize your gigi for a bit.”
“Oh hush. She is the sweetest baby ever,” Annalise fussed.
Kenna smirked. Ruby was spoiled rotten and the reason Kenna had to get her tubes tied since Damien had long ago forgotten how to pull out.
“Scram, kids. It’s time for some one on one,” Kenna said, waving Alanzo and Skylar off.
“Okay, Mama K. Get him.” Skylar cheered her on.
“Fuck him up,” Alanzo called out. Kenna cut her eyes at him while Skylar slapped him upside his head. “Sorry!”
“Hey, man. Why are y’all always against me?” Damien asked.
“Mister three time champ? You deserve some humbling,” Skylar teased.
Damien waved his eldest daughter off. “That was a long time ago.”
“Super long ago, old man,” Kenna teased.
Damien walked up to her, that swagger still in each and every one of his steps. Sweat poured off him, but Kenna found that so insanely attractive.
“You’re gonna eat those words, wifey,” Damien promised.
Kenna grinned. “Check the ball. First one to get a point wins, and then the party is over.”
They’d played enough one on one by now that Kenna knew a little something about playing the game. He had taught her well over the years.
Damien lifted his brow. “In a rush?”
He knew. She knew he knew. They had the ability by now to read each other’s minds, and she knew Damien immediately understood why Kenna wanted to get this over with quickly.
“Absolutely.” She grinned up at him, showing all her teeth.
His low hum made her nipples harden. “Let me make quick work of this then.”
Kenna could have let him win easily, but she liked challenging herself in this way.
That had been her motto for a long time now.
Anything that challenged her: going to the movies, going to high school events, large crowds…
those were the things she lived for. She no longer allowed herself to be shadowed by her past.
She glanced at Skylar and Alanzo. They hadn’t stopped bickering once they were older. In fact, it only got worse, but they loved each other fiercely. Oftentimes, when she watched them, she saw glimpses of her and Rashad. Instead of making her sad, her heart warmed.
Her moment of reflection threw her off her game because after they checked the ball, Damien immediately shot the ball… and sunk it. Of course he did.
Kenna giggled as she heard Skylar and Alanzo’s disappointed groans from the sidelines.
“You’re better than that, Mama K.”
“Come on, Titi. He already has a big head.”
She waved them off with a grin. Maybe making it easy for him was okay after all because from the sidelines she heard Skylar grumbling about needing to get home to her fiancé, anyway, and Alanzo admitted he had some packing left to do before he left for college in a few days.
He was going to Damien’s alma mater to play ball, and they were all hopeful that he would follow in his uncle’s footsteps.
Kenna looked back at Annalise and knew she wouldn’t be far behind Alanzo and Skylar.
“Guess you really don’t miss, huh?” Kenna asked as she sauntered up to her husband, placing her hand on his solid chest.
“Never.”
“Never?” She raised a knowing brow. They’d played too many games together for him to lie on his handles like that.
He grinned as he looked down at her. “Sometimes never.”
She giggled. “That don’t even make sense.”
Damien laughed with her and then stared into her eyes for a moment before he licked his lips sexily and said, “You know, this basketball shit was never what I trained for my entire career.”
Kenna tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean?”
He brushed her hair away from her face. “The game taught me to take my shot, even when unsure what the outcome would be. That translated into my day to day life in a big way. It made me relentless when going after everything I wanted. When going after you. ”
“What are you saying, Mr. Blaze?” she flirted. He always knew how to make her feel all buttery inside.
Like he always did over the years, he leaned down and kissed her forehead tenderly before replying.
“I’m saying I love you. I’m saying I’m happy as hell you’re the woman God placed in my life.
I’m saying that out of all the shots I took in my life, taking my shot at you was The Only Shot That Mattered . ”
The End