Page 44 of His Noble Heart

“Hey! Umm, what are you eating for dinner?”

“It’s not important as long as I can have you for dessert.”

“Hold on, bruh! That’s my sister you talking about,” Shyne shouted.

“Hello?” Rowdy said, clearly confused.

I took him off speaker and went to the family room. Thankfully, no one followed me, but I knew they were still listening.

“That was my brother.”

“You had me on speaker? My bad.”

“It’s fine. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to come to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner. Your mom and sister can come too.”

“I’ll see if they wanna come through, but I’ll come either way.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to pressure you. My whole family and extended family will be here. If you’re not ready to meet?—”

“It’s cool, baby. Should I bring anything?”

“No. We have plenty.”

“I don’t want to come empty-handed, so I’ll think of something. Send me the time and location.”

“Okay. Sending now.”

I ended the call and turned around to see my family looking at me expectantly.

“Is he coming?” Ma asked.

“Yes. Please don’t give him a hard time when he gets here. I actually like him, and I don’t want y’all to scare him away.”

“If he likes you, ain’t nothing we can do to scare him away, Lani,” Shyne said.

“Whatever. Where’s my nephew and niece?”

“RJ is outside running around with his PawPaw, and Sunni was cranky on the way here, so Raine went right upstairs to put her down for a nap.”

“And her spoiled behind is finally asleep,” Raine announced as she came down the stairs. “What’s going on down here?”

“Lani’s been hiding a man,” Indira shared.

“I have not.”

“Nobody’s met him,” Talia added.

“You and Indy saw him at the mall.”

“But you didn’t introduce us,” she countered.

“Everyone will meet him today. Get off my case.”

“Tell us about him. What’s his name? Where’d you meet him? What does he do?” Raine pressed.

I sighed, slightly annoyed because I wasn’t mentally prepared for any of this.

“His name is Rowdy. He?—”