Page 83 of Anything Necessary for Her (Crenshaw Kings #9)

FOUR YEARS LATER . . . ST. THOMAS ISLAND . . .

“How long yo’ people been together?” Low queried, our daughter Keziah sitting in his lap, staring me down with her father’s face, and my caramel jade eyes and dark skin.

“Well, I’m twenty-six, and I think they got married like a year before I was born, so about twenty-seven years then.” I shrugged as I looked in the mirror at my outfit.

The whole big ass family had been flown out to the private St. Thomas Island, an island my father and brother purchased together.

It was beautiful, and no expense had been spared in making sure it was run perfectly.

During the times we weren’t going to be using the island, they allowed people to visit and vacation here, accumulating a handsome income.

Though my last name was no longer St. Thomas since I’d changed it to Low’s after we got married in a beautiful blissful garden wedding in Italy, where we’d gotten engaged, I still felt the same connection to the family-owned island. My father and brother also made sure I owned a nice percentage.

“That’s a long ass time.” Low kissed Keziah’s chubby cheeks, making her giggle.

“This side.” She turned her little face to offer her other cheek. At three years old, Keziah was obsessed with her daddy and thought she was grown.

Her name meant cassia tree, falling in line with her father’s name which meant willow tree.

Low obliged her, grinning as she kept turning her little face, curly ponytail bouncing every time she did so he could keep kissing her.

“Baby boy better be up under me like that.” I watched the father-daughter duo in awe, thanking God for how blessed I was.

I was currently five months pregnant with our son that we’d planned to name Lennox, another tree name and theme I had begun to like. I couldn’t wait to see a baby boy version of Low with a sprinkle of me just like with Keziah.

Prior to becoming pregnant with Lennox, I’d just come off a tour dancing around the world as the lead in La Bayadère .

I’d stayed true to my word, getting back to work once Keziah had turned six months old.

It was difficult, I couldn’t lie, but Low, too, stayed true to his word, being on my ass whenever I would have moments where I wanted to slack off or make excuses as to why I couldn’t dance or practice.

He made sure I had everything I needed—including being an amazing father—so that excuses weren’t possible, and though at moments it pissed me off, I was thankful because it kept me on the right track.

I was back dancing professionally and as a soloist for Prolific by the time Keziah had turned one and a half years old and had only become more successful as time went on.

So, after coming off the high of La Bayadère , I felt like it was time to expand our family, especially now that Low was no longer peddling drugs.

I’d been contracted to do a residency in Hollywood once I came back off maternity leave, so there was no slowing up on my end. I would be performing the principal role in L’histoire de Manon or just Manon for three months at the Hollywood Ballet Theatre.

Low-Low’s BBQ had blown up to the point where he’d opened another location just around the corner to combat the long lines and constant traffic.

The barbecue spot had become so successful that he truly didn’t need the other spots he ran money through, like the car washes and laundromats, but for a while he’d kept them just in case.

Now that he’d retired from the game, he’d sold those, focusing on expanding within the hood, not wanting to move Low-Low’s from its roots.

His family life had been on the up-and-up too, Whitney having stayed sober enough to attend our wedding and be a great grandmother to Keziah.

Wyatt had gotten into college and had been attending faithfully with no issue, while Waverley continued to blossom in ballet as expected.

She’d become like my little protégé, which I loved.

As for his other projects—Nikita, Trayvon, and Gaia—they were distant memories.

I knew Nikita was no longer a dancer, Trayvon never made it to the MLB, and Gaia was in prison.

It’d been a while since I’d interacted with them, so I often forgot about them all.

And speaking of Low’s workers, Taye was now engaged to my best friend with a baby on the way, which was wild as hell.

“I don’t know. The kids love me.” Low smirked with his sexy ass as he rose from the edge of the bed in our hotel suite, putting Keziah on his side.

“Mmm, whatever.” I simpered as he bent down to kiss my lips. Of course, Keziah wanted another one from him as well, to which he’d given her.

“You look beautiful, Peep.” His big hand went to my belly.

“Can I get a Chinese brother?” Keziah questioned, sending us into a fit of laughter after a shocked silence hung in the air.

“No, baby girl. We’re black, so the baby will be black,” I told her through snickers as Low watched her face for a reaction, grinning.

“You neber know.” She shrugged, saying her V’s more like B’s.

“Okay,” I said as Low chuckled.

As I gathered my purse, he started toward the door with her singing along to her favorite nursery rhyme.

As I checked to be sure I had the hotel keycard in my small Dior bag, I half smiled at the sight and sound of my baby and husband.

Anastazia was right that seeing your man in daddy mode, especially when he was as rough and callous as my brother and Low, was sexy. If I wasn’t pregnant already, we’d be making a baby tonight after the festivities.

“Let’s go see Grandpa and Grandma get married!” Keziah shot her tiny arms into the air as Low held the door open for me.

I’d explained that it was a vow renewal and that my parents had been married before I was even born, but she wasn’t grasping the concept yet.

It would be nice to see them get married since none of us—including my brothers who were alive during their first marriage—had seen them actually get married.

My mother told me their first union hadn’t been much, just a simple ceremony in Las Vegas that they’d only done to help Shakur secure medical insurance.

I asked if she liked my daddy by then, to which she said yes, and then when I asked if she’d consummated the marriage then, she deflected, so I knew the answer.

As we stepped out of the hotel and onto the beautiful beach with white sands, palm trees, hammocks hanging between some of them, I spotted my family crowding the area set up for my parents to get hitched in front of their kids and grandkids.

There were so many kids out here that it was crazy. People would always be floored that we could all identify each child and who was whose, since a lot of my maternal brothers’ kids looked very similar. They hated to be mistaken for brothers when in fact they were cousins.

Unique had the least kids, but Kabrina was pregnant with their son, who they’d planned to name Kian, so they’d be at four very soon.

Kabrina was the only wife who wasn’t done having children, but she claimed this one in her belly was it.

Scotland was done once she gave birth to her fifth son Loyal.

She’d only gotten pregnant in effort to have a girl, but upon finding out the last baby was a boy, she officially closed up shop since Lequay refused to pay to make sure they had a girl, wanting to keep trying the way they had been.

“I have to sit.” Kabrina expelled a breath as she took a seat, her cute belly on display as Unique helped her before kissing her lips.

“You need anything?” he asked, and she shook her head with a half-smile.

“My thoughts exactly.” I sat beside her as she giggled tiredly, taking in the surroundings and how relaxing this place was.

The staff of the hotel was being very attentive, moving around offering drinks, small snacks, fans, and other things to keep cool in this beautiful but bright, hot heat as the deejay played music.

“You can play after the ceremony, Asante,” Anastazia told her son.

“That’s what I told him, Mom.” Sophie shook her head at her baby brother with a roll of her eyes, holding her baby sister Sisi. She was so grown up now, even though she was still in elementary school.

I felt for her having four little brothers, but Asif kept them in line for the most part.

Amir, Amare, Asante, and Asan could be bad, but all one had to do was call on Asif, and they would straighten up like soldiers.

Same time, they were obsessed with him and I loved seeing him teach them things my father had taught him.

Asif and Anastazia’s last child, my niece Sisi short for Sianti—an ode to my dad, rhyming with his name—was one and half and the last one for that couple. Sophie wasn’t too happy about another girl showing up at first but now she loved having a baby sister.

We called Asan, the baby boy who was only a month older than Keziah, ‘million-dollar baby’ since he was clearly the result of his mama getting slutted out for five million dollars.

“This is why I needed a daughter too.” Scotland shook her head, fixing the tie on her second to youngest, True, who had already gotten chocolate on his white dress shirt.

“Told you we can try.” Lequay smirked down at her, and she simply rolled her eyes jokingly in response. He leaned down to kiss her gently.

“Sophie is the boss when me and ya mama ain’t around,” Asif told his sons, who groaned but nodded to comply as he hugged Stazi from behind, making her blush just like she always did when he came around.

“Exactly, Daddy!” Sophie folded her arms and bobbed her head as Asif leaned over and down some to kiss her temple.

He kissed Anastazia as she turned in his arms before he took her in, shaking his head in reverence like always to say he loved what he saw. And like clockwork, she reddened and cheesed.

“You’re still not getting another baby.” Anastazia stood on her tiptoes to lock her arms around his neck as they both smiled at one another.