Chapter 5 Hestia
A Very Short Time Later
Family! Guess What . . .
It was a wise woman that once said that dick was a distraction. It was a wiser woman that said phenomenal dick was the devil. Alexander “Bread” Conners II was not only a candidate for the second statement—he won the fucking election.
The night that I went over after he had his talk with Eloise, I had no idea that his parents would be there. I was surprised but not mad. His parents reminded me of mine. They were hilarious, warm, and welcoming. It was a great night.
The great night ended with me in his bed with dick in me.
That was where the devil dick started its villainy.
Before I knew it, I had agreed to host a family dinner to tell my family about our relationship.
The devil dick was so masterful that it was able to cast a memory charm that made me forget that I agreed to such a thing.
The next morning, he asked me when I wanted to host said dinner, and my mind was blank.
What damn dinner! It wasn’t that I was scared to tell my family about our relationship.
My family, more specifically my brothers, could be assholes.
My mother would be excited that a man was in the picture.
To her, that would be one step closer to her daughter having a child.
My father would be satisfied if his wife was satisfied, as long as Alexander’s aura wasn’t off.
“I’ve never seen you nervous,” Jade said with a titter. “You do realize that almost everyone speculates that you and Bread are in a relationship anyway. It’s not like you two aren’t going out around town.”
She had a point. We had not been shy about our outings. In my mind, that was different when it came to telling my family about him. Hades asked a few weeks ago. I told him to mind his business.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m nervous. I’m predicting all of the possible outcomes so that I can combat some of the more adverse ones.” I huffed. “That’s hard because my family is unpredictable.”
Jade snickered. “Don’t I know it.” She looked at me with her warm, semi-innocent eyes. “That’s more of a reason to just let things play out. From what I’ve noticed about Bread from the few times that I’ve been around him is that he can hold his own.”
Jade was here to cater my wonderful family lunch. By family lunch, I meant everyone because the Basils did nothing small. “Jade, you’re staying for lunch, right? I don’t want to hear shit about Dorian either.”
She laughed. “Yes, I’m staying for a little while, but I can’t stay the entire time. I have to get ready for my date.”
The drink that I just took went down the wrong way, and I coughed a little. “Date! Who does little miss have a date with? Do tell.”
I sat at my kitchen nook, ready for her to spill. She finished the platter that she had worked on for the past several minutes before she joined me. “This guy at school, Clark, asked me out a few months ago. I always told him no until a few weeks ago. Tonight is our third date.”
“Third date, that’s a good sign. Do you like him?” I asked her with a peaked brow.
Her shoulders lifted and head tilted. “He’s cool. We’re just chillin’ right now. I’m being careful, though, because I don’t want drama. He’s kind of popular because he’s in a fraternity and all that stuff.”
“Well, you continue to be careful and have fun. Jade, you deserve to have fun as hard as you work. Your mentee speaks so highly of you,” I told her.
Her cheeks warmed. “I love Isabella so much. She went with me on a job last weekend as my assistant.”
The beep of my alarm went off to alert me that my front door opened. It was followed by what sounded like a stampede of feet. The family is here.
Alexander would be here very soon. He already texted me to let me know that he was on his way. The Basil compound was about twenty minutes from Alexander’s house. It was time to get this show on the road.
“So, I heard you were a gifted investment banker, hence the nickname Bread. Aaron has mentioned you a few times. He suggested that we allow you to invest on our behalf.” My father sat back in his seat.
The news of my relationship with Alexander was taken how I thought it would be. Hades was an asshole for a moment until our mother threatened to beat his ass. All my brothers had matured in their marriages and with time. One thing that would never change with maturity was Hades’s assholishness.
Alexander’s hand rested on my thigh under the table. “Yes, Mr. Basil, I am. I handle the investment of multimillion dollar companies as well as our club. We should carve out some time to talk money, sir.”
“Bread, how long have you been carving out my sister?” Hades abruptly asked. It was like his brain didn’t communicate with his mouth sometimes.
Our mom smacked him on the back of his head. “Boy, I know for a fact that I raised your dopey ass better. You see children at this damn table.”
Alexander chuckled. “It’s alright, Mrs. Basil.” He shifted his attention to Hades. “Your sister and I have been in a committed relationship since the casino night. We had been dating for some time before that. Hades, how long have you been carving into your wife before she was your wife?”
I chuckled before I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest. “Yeah, Hades. How long?”
Dorian raised his hands. “Look, my ears are sensitive. I’m not about to be a part of this foolishness.” He stood to his feet, walked over to Jin’jer, then reached out to his sister that was on her lap. “Come on, Spryte. They’re trying to corrupt us.”
Spryte went to her brother with no hesitation. Jade stood just as he was about to walk out of the room. “Hestia, thank you for lunch. I’m going to get out of here. I’ll see all of you later.”
Hera sat up in her seat. “Girl, make sure you keep your location on. We’ll have dinner another day to talk about tonight.”
I knew my sister wouldn’t miss a chance to use her pettiness to get a rise out of our nephew. His face was all tight. Jade smiled. “I will. You all have a good night.”
She had to walk past Dorian to leave. I heard him ask her in a low voice what she had going on tonight. She continued to walk past him, and he followed with his little sister in his arms.
“Y’all gonna stop fuckin’ with my boy. Let him live and work shit out on his own.” Hades reprimanded Hera and me.
We gave Dorian hell about what happened between him and Jade.
Jin’jer gave him a little bit of hell, but that was her baby boy.
She naturally took it easier on him than we did.
I knew that we should probably let him live, but he didn’t see the aftermath of his decision.
It was clear that he didn’t think his decision all the way through.
It was all good until he realized that Jade not only could move on but would.
“What are your intentions with my sister?” Zeus broke his silence. “You look good on paper and sound good in person, but that doesn’t really tell me much about what your true plans are with my sister.”
The chatter in the room silenced. Shit just got serious. When I shifted in my seat, Alexander’s hand gripped my thigh. Our eyes locked after I turned my head to look at him. He gave me a reassuring smile and wink.
It didn’t escape me that Zeus said Alexander looked good on paper. That was further proof that they knew about my relationship before today. It was right down their alley to look into one of Hera or my love interests.
“My intentions with Hestia are to love, cherish, and respect her. She will be my wife and the mother of my children. I’ve lived and am still living a good life. Now I want to live it with the woman that God created for me.” Alexander’s head turned in my direction. “That woman is right here.”
My eyes ping ponged between all the men at the table. I cared about all their opinions, but there was one that was most important. My focus landed on my father. It took a minute, but it broke through, his smile. That was all the approval I needed.
Some Time Later
Girls’ Day with Ellie Baby . . .
For most females, infants gave them baby fever if they got it.
For me, it was teenagers more so than babies.
Babies gave it to me as well, but I loved the appreciation and growth of the teenagers that I impacted.
Every time I was with Eloise and Jessica, my ovaries warmed up.
Now that Alexander and I were together, I naturally spent more time with Eloise. She was such a great kid.
We had our bi-monthly girls’ day that I looked forward to.
We had our day on the Saturday of the weekends when she wasn’t at her mothers.
I made it my business to make arrangements that I had those Saturdays off so that I could spend that time with her.
I wasn’t the only trauma surgeon at Central Hospital, so it wasn’t an unreasonable request. Plus, I was the top surgeon, so something as simple as every other Saturday off wasn’t worth losing me.
“I think I’m going to get this one. What do you think about this color?” Eloise asked after she held an open book of gel nail color options toward me.
We were at my favorite nail shop for paws and claws. Our hair appointment was earlier this morning. I looked at the color that she pointed out. “Oh, that is pretty! I might get that color too.”
I had a special assignment given to me by my baby for this girls’ day.
For some time now, Eloise had been acting out for a couple days after she came back from her visits with her mother.
He tried to talk to her, but she wasn’t very forthcoming.
He thought that she would be more comfortable if she and I had the conversation.
I was hesitant, but I had noticed the change over the weeks.
There were times that her mother would call when I was at Alexander’s house or when she was with me. Eloise would be short with her mother and sometimes downright disrespectful. Alexander had to say something to her a few times.
I took a sip of my wine that was given to me when I arrived. “Are you excited about going to see your mom and brothers next weekend? You didn’t go the last time. I know they miss you.”
“I’d be excited if my brothers were there. I miss them. I don’t want to be there with just my mom and her husband,” she said quietly.
That was news to me, and I was sure that it would be news to Alexander. Eloise didn’t talk about her weekends at her mother’s much. If you asked her if she had fun, she simply said it was cool. “Oh, why aren’t your brothers there when you come? Does your mom just want time with you, maybe?”
She shook her head. “No, they don’t live there anymore. They live with my grandma, . . . my mom’s mom.”
Well, damn. “Oh, okay. I thought your brothers lived with their parents. Why don’t you stay at your grandma’s house with your brothers sometimes?”
The sigh that Eloise gave was bothersome.
God, please don’t let me have to go down to Atlanta and put my hands on Melanie.
From the few short conversations that I had with Melanie, she came across as non-problematic.
I thought she would have an attitude or some kind of adverse feelings when she found out that Alexander and I were in a relationship.
You could never be too sure how baby mamas would act when their child’s father got into a relationship.
Especially when that child’s father was a man that was about something.
She was extremely welcoming to our relationship. I didn’t want my opinion of her to change because she was on some kind of fuck shit with her daughter. I knew before my relationship with her father that I would slaughter someone behind Eloise. Hell, all my Black Girls’ Table girlies.
“They did live with them. One weekend I went there, and they weren’t there. When I asked where they were, my mama’s husband said that they lived with her mama,” she divulged.
That was weird as fuck to me. “Wait, don’t you have a little brother that’s like three? He lives with your grandma too?”
“Yep, but I guess it’s best though. If they argue and fight like they do when I’m there, then I can only imagine what it’s like when I’m not,” she said.
Her tone was heavy. “I did talk to my brother LJ about it. He told me that our parents got into a fight, and he fought his dad after he hit our mama. Our mama’s husband said something about there could only be one man in the house, so he sent the boys to my grandma. ”
My eyelids fluttered. There were so many things wrong with her statement. “Whoa! What do you mean he hit your mother? Has he done that when you were there?”
She was silent for a moment. “I’ve never seen him hit her. The last time I was there, he pushed her into a wall. I jumped between them and told him that I would call my dad. He stopped, told both of us fuck us, then he left.”
“Yeah, no, Eloise. That’s not going to work. Why haven’t you told your father about this?” I asked.
My role had transitioned in that moment from her mentor, friend to protector. As much as I wanted to protect Eloise, I wanted to protect her mother as well. I was a girl’s girl, so when I found out that one was in an unfortunate situation, it never sat well with me.
Eloise’s chin moved shoulder to shoulder. “My mama made it clear that what happens in her house stays there. I probably shouldn’t have told you. Please don’t tell my dad.”
What happens in this house, stays in this house.
That was a statement that was responsible for so much trauma in many households in the world.
I understood the premise that some things should stay within the home’s four walls.
When those things were related to abuse of any kind, those things needed to be told on a mountain top.
“Ellie, baby, I get your mom wanting to keep the business in the house, but this is dangerous business that could get someone hurt. Would you rather your mother be mad at you but safe because you told your dad, or do you want to risk keeping it in the house and she get hurt? I know that’s a lot for you to think about, and I wish you didn’t have to. ” My voice was soft but leveled.
She nodded slowly. “I don’t want my dad to get involved with my mama’s dumb stuff and get hurt or in trouble. That’s really the only reason I didn’t tell him.” She closed her eyes with a sigh, took a moment, then looked at me. “Can you be there with me when I tell him?”
I reached over and covered her hand with mine. “Of course I can. I will be there however you need me.”