Chapter 24
I walked into my house after staying at Deuce’s for a good three hours shooting the shit.
Salima had returned from her meeting and from picking up the kids.
My babies acted like they weren’t gonna see me at dinner.
They tried to make me stay longer and cried when I walked out the door.
I was already preparing to have them spend the night.
I walked into the kitchen and the smell of something heavenly hit my noise while the sound of “Contagious” by The Isley Brother’s filled the space. Steph stood at the stove, singing and dancing along as she stirred whatever she was cooking. I watched as she wound her hips to the beat.
I spotted her car in the driveway as I drove the golf cart back to my house. I could get used to coming home to her being here. Shit just felt right… like this was how it always should have been.
The chorus dropped and I sang along as I danced my way over to her.
“You’re contagious, touch me baby, give me whatcha got...”
She turned around and shook her head as I approached her and slipped my arms around her waist. A set of giggles erupted from her as I sang and ground my hips against her, while kissing on her neck and rubbing on her ass.
“Why are you so damn fresh?” she asked, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“‘Cause you look so damn good in this dress,” I said. I pecked her lips. “You’ve been tempting me. Every time I see you, you’re in a dress and you know what that does to me.”
“You are the horniest old man I’ve ever met, Senior.”
“Only for you, my love.”
This time when I kissed her, it was deeper and more sensual.
I’d been holding her captive here for the last couple days and she left this morning to go check on her house, run a few errands, and grab a few things.
While I knew she was coming back, I couldn’t help but to miss her.
I couldn’t wait to have her here full time.
“Can I help you with something?” I asked.
“Actually, yes. You can cut up those sweet potatoes for the yams for me.”
“I got you.”
Releasing her, I went to wash my hands and grabbed a knife and the peeler.
We worked in silence for a little bit. She didn’t know that I was going to speak with our son this morning.
Of course, she knew that he had been dodging my attempts to contact him.
There was only so much I was going to stand for on that front.
Things could go one of two ways if I had to pull up on you.
Luckily, we didn’t have to take it that far.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Steph observed. “Everything okay? What did you do while I was gone?”
“Spent some time with Salima.”
“Oh? Anything else?”
“Waited around on your son. We needed to have that talk.”
Steph looked down at her hands, fumbling with her nails. “How did that go?”
“Intense but needed. I think we came to an understanding. That damn boy read the fuck outta me, Steph. Told me I created babies instead of homes. I couldn’t even be mad at that because he was right. I didn’t give any of my kids a real, stable home--”
“No,” she said, placing a finger to my lips.
“We’re not doing that. Maybe you didn’t live in the home, but nothing about it was broken.
You were there for your children. You took care of them in every aspect, Senior.
You were more present for six kids than some fathers are for one.
There was never a lack of love or support. Don’t do that.”
She cupped my chin and kissed me. I pressed my forehead to hers.
“I don’t deserve you.”
“You do. That’s why I’m here.” She took my face in her hands and pulled my head down, kissing the top of it. “I love you, Stanley.”
“I love you too, baby.”
We got back to work to finish prepping for dinner. By the time it was almost done, Salima and the kids were walking through the front door. The kids ran straight for their grandma to shower her with love. Salima was next, stopping to hug me before going to Steph.
“Where is Deuce?” I asked.
Salima shook her head. “Out there preparing to be fussed at again. I low key think he might be a little nervous. Why don’t I take the kids out back to play for a minute so you three can talk.”
“Thank you, baby girl.”
She gathered and ushered them through the kitchen and out the back door. Steph untied her apron and hung it up.
“Bring him in here,” she said.
I nodded as I headed for the front door. When I opened it, I found my son sitting on the front steps, smoking another blunt. He looked up at me and extended the blunt to me.
“You might as well come on in here,” I said, taking and pulling from it.
“She finna have my head.”
“Probably. You better not talk to my wife like you crazy either.”
He shot me a look. “Senior, please.”
“Speaking it into existence. When the pastor asks if anybody objects, you better act like you ain’t heard that shit.”
“Man, go on.” He stood to his feet and pulled up his pants. “Watch out.”
I moved aside and allowed him entry. After outing the blunt, I tucked it into the stash box on the entryway table and followed him into the living room where his mother stood with her arms folded.
“Hey, Ma,” he said quietly.
Stephanie scoffed. “Hey, Ma? Are you fucking serious, Stanley?” She shoved him. “That’s how you greet me after treating me like shit for almost two fucking weeks? You call yourself mad and not talking to me and think you can waltz your ass in my house and greet me with a damn ‘Hey, Ma’?”
I tried not to smile because she was laying into his ass, but her calling this her house had me feeling all warm and shit. She started pacing and rubbing her hands together vigorously.
“You know Stanley, I’ve dedicated so much of my life to being a mother or a caretaker.
I raised you along with four other kids that weren’t mine, but I loved them like they were.
I don’t blame anybody for that because it was a choice and I don’t regret it.
I love being a mother. But I’m also a woman. I crave love, affection, and intimacy.
“I shared a life with your father. He was the man I’d loved since I was a kid.
The man I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with, but we were never right at the right moment in time.
That’s on both of us. I let him go so I could experience something new and different because I needed that.
For a little while, I got to enjoy being a wife and living a soft life. Then my husband was taken from me.
“And it broke me. I kept asking myself why would God allow me to have this beautiful, wonderful man for such a short amount of time. I was angry and I was hurt. I’ve spent four years alone and lonely.
Four years without knowing what another man feels like.
Your father has been by my side every step of the way with that, not as a man that was trying to get in my pants.
He was there as my friend. My confidant.
“Do you know how many times I put on a brave face in front of everyone and went home to cry myself to sleep? How many times I woke that man up in the middle of the night because I just needed someone to listen to me cry? He’s never complained.
Never been too busy for me. Never used my grief as a way to sneak back into my life.
He was nothing but supportive and respectful.
That’s what strengthened the love I had for him. ”
“Ma—”
“I’m not done!”
Deuce motioned for her to continue.
“I appreciated his restraint, because if he didn’t have it, I probably wouldn’t have either.”
I smirked to myself, remembering her tell me that in the maze before she kissed me.
“I love your father, Deuce. I’ve never stopped loving him, I just had to learn when I could give him all my love without fear.
I didn’t settle for this man. I wasn’t manipulated or any other nonsense.
I love him and want to be with him. I want to see if we can finally get this shit right and I wanna do that without fighting with you about it.
This is my life and I want to spend whatever time I have left on this earth being happy.
You don’t get to crucify me for that, Stanley. ”
Deuce raised his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry, Ma. I just wanted to protect you and your heart. I love you, woman. I don’t care who it’s against, I’ll always protect my mama.”
She stared at him, her lip trembling. Not speaking to him impacted her more than she wanted to admit. Deuce stepped closer to her and reached for her hands, but she slapped them away.
“Ma,” he said, taking them anyway. “I’m sorry. You do deserve to be happy.” He looked at me. “Both of you. If that happens to be with each other, I just have to get used to it. Honestly, I don’t think the old man would make it if you left him again.”
“Shut up, Stanley,” I said.
He chuckled, then turned to his mother again.
“Can you forgive me, Ma?” he asked. “I’ll never disrespect you like that again. Can you give me some love, please? I haven’t hugged you in a minute and I don’t like that shit.”
He tried to pull her into his arms. She was reluctant at first, but she finally went.
He hugged her tightly, lightly kissing the top of her head.
I had to shake my own head. He was protective, but more than that, he was a big ass mama’s boy.
He loved to be babied by her, just like the rest of my boys loved to be babied by their mamas.
I prayed that this was the end of the rift between them. If it went on any longer, I feared I really would have to kick my son’s ass.