Epilogue
SOME TIME LATER…
Prom date my ass. Jin’jer sat on the lounger near the pool behind the family house on the Basil compound.
Her eyes were on her son, Dorian, and his girlfriend, Jade.
Jade was the same prom date that Dorian claimed was just a cool girl that he asked to prom because no one asked her.
Well, that prom date led to Jade and Dorian committing to be in a relationship.
Dorian graduated ahead of Jade which meant that their relationship would be long distance for some time.
Jin’jer wasn’t sure if that was a good idea for a college freshman to be in a newly committed, long-distance relationship.
She wanted to save both of them from potential heartbreak.
Hades knew that was a worry of Jin’jer’s, so he stepped in.
He, Poseidon, and Zeus sat down with Dorian to explain to him the importance of loyalty and being faithful within a relationship.
They let him know that while all relationships didn’t work out, a person shouldn’t do things that were deceitful to lead to destruction.
Dorian took in everything that his pop and uncles told him.
He stood ten toes down in his relationship with Jade.
Jade’s parents thought Dorian was a good kid, so that was half the battle.
Dorian was now a rising junior at Johnson and Wales, Charlotte, while Jade was a freshman there.
Yep, Jade followed her man to Charlotte.
Both of them stayed on campus for the most part.
Before Jade came to college, Jin’jer would take him to Boston to visit her, or Jade’s parents would bring her to Charlotte.
“They are so cute together,” Melody said from her seat beside Jin’jer where she breastfed her two-month-old daughter, Phoebe. “You over there mama bearing the hell out of them with your eyes.” She laughed at me.
Melody’s baby had given Jin’jer serious baby fever.
Hades and she agreed to wait until their second year of marriage to try for a baby.
They were a couple months shy of their one-year anniversary.
Hades and Jin’jer were married on the same evening that he proposed.
All the Basil women worked from Jin’jer’s Pinterest to plan her perfect wedding.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the venue when Dorian walked her down the aisle.
“I mean, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being a mama bear.” My left shoulder and ear tried to kiss each other. “I love Jade. She’s such a sweet girl. Most importantly, she’s on a five-year birth control.”
Hestia and Hera tittered. Jade came to Hestia for a doctor and birth control referrals.
Jade didn’t want to go to Jin’jer because that would be admitting that Dorian and she were sexually active.
That would be an uncomfortable conversation to have with your mother’s boyfriend.
All that mattered to everyone involved was that there wasn’t going to be a new generation of Basils anytime soon.
Dorian changed his last name to Basil after Hades and Jin’jer were married.
“Ma!” Dorian called out to his mother from the pool where him and Jade played pool basketball. The Basil men were on the deck grilling and more than likely smoking. Once he had her attention, he gave her a wide smile. “Are you going riding with us later?”
“You already know I am. I think we all are going,” she informed him. She looked on both sides of her to get confirmation from the Basil women. Once it was given, she confirmed with Dorian that they were all going.
When Dorian arrived in Charlotte for college, Hades presented him with a brand-new Charger after he got his license.
Jin’jer wasn’t sure about the Charger because she didn’t want him to be pulled over because of a presumed dope boy’s car.
Her husband told her to let him handle all of that.
It was the same speech when the uncles and Pop Kronos got together to buy Dorian his first motorcycle.
Everyone took the time to teach him motorcycle safety and how to ride.
He may not have been Hades’s biological son, but he somehow had become a carbon copy of his as far as behavior, mannerisms, and mindset.
Positive male influences were pivotal in the life of young men.
“Baby,” Hades called out when he stepped beside his wife’s lounger. He lowered himself in a squat position to kiss her lips. “The food is almost ready. You want a lil bit of everything on your plate?”
Hades knew his greedy ass wife. She was what he called a sampler. She never wanted a lot of something. She’d rather have a little of everything. “Yes, please. Thank you, baby.”
“I got you.” He stood to his full height then remembered that he had other news for her.
“Did Dorian tell you that Dedra sent him a letter to the PO Box?” When she told him that he hadn’t, he chuckled.
“I can’t even call that bitch stupid because you have to have a brain to be stupid.
I just know her mama wasn’t fully dilated when she had her.
Ole conehead bitch left her brains in her mama coochie and it was delivered with the placenta. ”
Hestia was the first to roar with laughter. “Hades, what the fuck! How does your mind even come up with the crazy ass shit you say?”
“I mean, it makes sense to me,” he said. “I’m going to get you your plate, baby.” He left the ladies to their chatter.
After Dorian’s graduation, things went into a downward spiral for Dedra.
The little boyfriend that she had was nothing more than a failed dope boy in his forties.
Once Dorian left for college, he never went back, and all her government assistance was cut.
Desperate for money, she went to the Copelands.
They told her not to contact them anymore or they would file an order of protection because of her harassment.
Although David was not on the bench anymore, he still had friends that could make things shake if needed.
The publicity from their action years ago when Dorian was born caused eyes to fall on them that they didn’t want.
An investigation opened around some of the cases he presided over.
The findings found that he’d taken a few bribes which was a huge no-no.
He escaped jail time by the skim of his bank account, but the fines that were given bankrupted them.
Dedra didn’t know any of that information because she’d never been the most observant person.
When she was threatened with the restraining order, the logic that was left in her pinky toe went out of the window.
Her boyfriend came up with the idea of a home invasion.
He found another failed dope boy to go with him and her to rob the Copelands.
It ended in them shooting both of the Copelands in the commission of the robbery.
The dumb criminals used masks just in the case of cameras, but they called each other by name.
Neither of the Copelands died; Dedra, her boyfriend, and friend were all hit with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and home invasion.
The home invasion charge carried a twenty-year minimum which they each received.
Dedra’s aggravated assault charge with a deadly weapon was dropped because she took a deal when she flipped on her man and his friend as the trigger men.
Their trial concluded a few months ago. Since then, Dedra had been reaching out to her adoptive son because she felt that he owed her.
She all but demanded that he made sure money stayed on her account since he now had money, in her mind.
She’d done her research on the Basils and knew that they were wealthy.
To her, if they were wealthy, then Jin’jer was too.
Naturally, the wealth would trickle down to Dorian.
When Jin’jer found out, she blocked the prison’s number, so now Dedra had resorted to writing.
“She wants a lil bit of everything, huh?” Kronos asked his son when he came back to the deck. Just like Hades knew his wife, Kronos knew his daughter-in-law. When his son confirmed his thought, he laughed.
Kronos was proud of how far Hades had come over the last few years.
The discovery of what happened to Hades when he was younger affected the entire family more than anyone initially thought it did or would.
There was self-imposed guilt on everyone including Hades.
During a family session, it came out that Hades felt that what happened to him was his fault because he wasn’t strong enough to tell anyone.
Therapy was an ongoing thing for the entire family at this point.
Hades worked hard to get to where he was mentally, for himself and his family.
He didn’t know that he was a broken man until he saw the woman who took his innocence at his grandfather’s birthday gala.
Before then, he thought that the way he treated females was just on some player shit.
He didn’t respect females because he hadn’t met one that deserved or demanded his respect.
Then came Jin’jer Elle Copeland. She deserved and demanded his respect because she simply existed in the world.
His respect and love grew daily for her as he watched her strength in a situation that would have crumbled others.
The universe saw fit that Hades and Jin’jer found each other at the right time that they would need each other most. Both of them had been to their own personal hells.
With faith, perseverance, the love of each other, God, and family, they were able to come back.
Neither came back unscathed, but there was God, family, love, and therapy for that.
Once the food was ready, everyone ate as a family at the oversized table that was on the deck.
Mama and Pop Basil took their younger grandkids to have a movie night with them.
The rest of the Basils prepared themselves for a late afternoon of riding.
Everyone met in front of Zeus’s house since it was closest to the gates.
Arke, his wife, Princess, and Meliseus were there for the ride as well.
Hades’s eyes were on his wife as she approached where he stood next to his bike.
He pulled her into him by her ass. “Your thick fuckin’ ass.
” When she was close to him, his hands, lips, and dick were magnets to her body.
In every reality, there was no woman sexier, attractive, and more loving than Jin’jer Elle Basil.
His lips went to her ear. “You gonna let me put a baby in you later?”
Jin’jer giggled. She tiptoed so that her lips could be closer to his ear. She had something to whisper in his ear too. “You sure can. My throat would love to swallow those babies.”
Everyone’s attention turned to Hades and Jin’jer when he let out a hearty laugh. When Poseidon asked them what was so funny, it was his nephew Dorian who answered with a turned-up nose. “They’re over there being mannish and womanish.”
That brought everyone’s laughter. The couple ignored everyone to remain in a world of their own. “I love you,” Hades professed to his wife. He pecked her lips. “You know I’ll go to hell and back for you?”
Jin’jer knew that. Her love for her husband seeped from her pores. He was her forever. “And I’d go to hell and back for you too. As long as it brings me back to you.”
“Mount O’s, let’s ride!” Zeus commanded.
The men mounted their bikes, and the women mounted theirs.
Jade was learning how to ride but wasn’t proficient enough to ride alone; therefore, she rode on the back of Dorian’s bike.
They all pulled out of the compound gates in formation: three men to the front, women in the middle, and three men on the rear.
Hades always rode to the rear of his wife while their son rode in front of her.
Jin’jer was covered. She always would be with her heart in human form in front of her and the hellfire of Hades behind her.
Hades would take anyone to hell on behalf of his family.
The only thing was, when he took them, he would be the only one to come back.
All Scootched In