Mahogany: The Finale (Soul Ties #6)

Previously

After everybody gushed over Aubry’s birthday gift, we finally headed down to the kitchen.

As usual, the house was chaos. Sparkle and Honesty didn’t waste any time getting into an argument.

Gabe tried to get back to that game, and Aubry was glued to her phone, recording her bracelet, showing her friends.

“A Cartier bracelet?” I asked Duke as we stood at the stove, making plates.

He glanced over at me. “She deserve it.”

“I know. But you should’ve told me. How much money yo ass been spending?”

He scratched his head. “Not that much. You know I got that bonus. We good, baby, I promise.”

“Mmhmm. I’ma check the bank statements, keep playing,” I joked. “Savings probably damn near wiped out.”

Was it bold of me? To be complaining about a Cartier bracelet when he’d just dropped five figures on a bag for me?

Not at all. I got on him about that too.

I was frugal as hell. Might’ve owned a few designer pairs of shoes and things but I made more.

I didn’t mean it in a disrespectful way, but I did.

I was the breadwinner. Duke wasn’t broke.

Not by a long shot but the purchases he’d made were far out of his tax bracket.

The bracelet, maybe not but after dropping five figures on a bag… ehhh… yeah.

But because it was my baby’s birthday, I kept it light.

Didn’t want any friction today. Especially because it was Aubry’s birthday but partially because I’d decided to choose my battles wisely.

Duke and I had been good. Very good. Surprisingly good.

Sometimes I thought we were so good because guilt had been eating me up but then I’d think about it, and I’d know that wasn’t the case.

For the first time since this whole ‘let’s try again’ thing came up, I actually had my entire body in the ring with him.

He sucked his teeth. “Man what?” Pausing he said, “You ain’t even gotta do all that Ne.”

With furrowed brows, I sized him up. “Ugh nigga. I was just playing. Maybe I should. You out here funding another bitches life off the savings or something?”

Again. I was joking but he took me seriously.

“Here we go,” He shook his head. “Bae—”

“Duke,” I paused. “I swear to God I’m just playing.”

He sighed. “Too soon baby, too soon.”

He thought I was on insecure shit again and technically…

I couldn’t blame him. We were fresh into therapy again and I’d just accused him of cheating.

I understood his frustrations, and I apologized for triggering him.

I didn’t blow up like I would have in the past. Didn’t accuse him of lying or hiding something because he’d blown up.

Didn’t do any of the things I would have done a couple of weeks ago.

I stayed calm. However, I did make a mental note to check the bank statements for real.

“What all you gotta do before the party? You sure you don’t need me to stay home?” Duke asked, changing the subject.

“I just have to pick her dress up from the seamstress and check in with everybody. The decorators get to the venue around one. I’m not going to be doing much but checking in,” I told him as I piled skillet potatoes on Gabe’s plate. “You just have to make sure you’re home by three.”

We had to be at the venue by seven. I hated that Aubry’s birthday fell on a weekday.

If it weren’t for her having plans with her friends this weekend, I would have had the party on Saturday.

But because my baby was a young adult, I let her have her way.

All I wanted to do when I turned eighteen was hang with my sisters.

The fact that she’d even allowed me to throw her an eighteenth birthday party with family and friends said a lot.

“Alright, cool. If you need me to stay home I—”

“I don’t need you to stay home, silly,” I interrupted with a laugh. “SiSi and Hazel are running around with me anyway. So, I’m good.”

I was looking forward to the afternoon. It’d been a minute since I hung out with my sisters, so hell naw I didn’t want Duke to stay home. We had a lot of catching up to do.

Once everyone was fed and taken care of, Aubry went off to school, and I took the other three.

When I made it back home, Duke was heading out, and I sent him off with a kiss.

Today was a beautiful day. I wasn’t excited about seeing the family after the disappearing act I pulled on my birthday, but I was excited still.

I just knew Duke and I would be getting funny looks all night, but I didn’t give a damn about that neither.

At least tonight, when he grabbed my hand, it wouldn’t be forced.

At least tonight, we’d be in a good space where we wouldn’t be putting on.

That felt good. Had been a minute since we had a function we weren’t pretending at.

Once the house was empty, I turned some Summer Walker on and jumped in the shower. Since it was early, I opted for a pair of biker shorts, and a simple t-shirt to run my errands in. By the time I was finished getting dressed, Sienna was calling.

“Hey ho,” she spoke. “You ready?”

I plugged my flat irons up and sat them on the bathroom vanity. “Yeah I’m ready. I’m about to flat iron my hair really quick but I should be done by time you get here. You talked to Hazel?”

“Hell naw. You know her ass probably still sleep. Don’t even know why you asked her to come out. She’ll probably end up meeting us somewhere.”

“Right,” I said as I passed the flat iron through a piece of my hair. “I’m about to call her. See you in a few.”

“Okay. Love you,” she said.

“Love you too.”

We hung up and I scrolled my call log to call Hazel.

After the fifth ring she answered and told me she would meet us at the venue.

Sienna called it. I told her okay and went back to flat ironing my hair.

While I was busy doing my hair, I got a call from Tami.

She knew today I was busy and just wanted to call to brief me on a few meetings scheduled for the day.

I asked if Shardae mentioned anything about Mr. Carter contacting her and she said she hadn’t.

I was looking forward to that being a disaster and planned on checking in with Shardae often.

After I flat ironed my hair, I hurried down the stairs to do a little picking up before Sienna arrived since she only lived about fifteen minutes away. The house wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t presentable neither. The kitchen, however, was a complete mess.

I was about ten minutes into picking up before the doorbell rang.

I made my way from the kitchen to the foyer.

When I opened the door, I was surprised to see that it wasn’t Sienna, but some man and a little girl wearing a backpack and two pigtails.

My eyebrows furrowed a bit, and I tilted my head to the side.

She was damn near a splitting image of my baby Sparkle at that age.

From the big doe eyes to the button nose, and the little pouty lips.

The only difference was, she was about a shade lighter.

I was stuck there for a minute, confused because…

Sparkle didn’t look like me. She looked like Duke and if…

I looked past them at the idling Ram truck in the driveway with dipped brows. Before I dropped the kids off, I noticed it parked across the street and again when I made it back home.

“Hey, can I help you?” I asked after swallowing, running a hand across the back of my neck.

The guy glanced down at the little girl before looking back up at me with a deep breath. “Hey good morning. Duke live here, right?”

I just stared at him with a half smirk in disbelief. I was no fool. Had two working eyes and a brain that worked. What the fuck did he want with Duke? Hm? With this little girl that looked like him? What could he possibly want? What could this have possibly been about? Hm?

“Ma’am?” Called the man. “Does Duke live—

“Yeah… Who’s—who are you?” I asked, as I noticed Sienna pulling into the driveway behind the truck. Shit. My heart raced and tears built behind my eyes.

He looked down at the little girl again and then back up at me before pivoting to turn to face her. Crouching, he kneeled in front of the little girl, said a few whispered words to her, and kissed her on the forehead.

Standing, he turned his attention back to me and said, “I’m Justin. Her name is Diary. And she’s Duke’s daughter.”