Page 28 of I’m So Mega

Some Time Later . . .

Mega sat at a table with Ruth in front of him, with her chair positioned for her to lean back on him.

They were at Croya and the band director devil Trevor’s wedding reception.

We looked on as Croy danced with his daughter.

The love that he had for his daughter that came into his life when she was sixteen was so loud. Torren had already danced with her.

Mega respected the hell out of Torren for how active he stayed in Croya’s life even after he moved to Texas. He never missed any major milestones. Tiffany could not say the same. She came around if it benefited her in some way.

Fiona sat next to Ruth with her granddaughter in her arms. Three-month-old Grace Torri O’Brian Clover was the light of her parents’ and grandparents’ eyes.

When Croya and Trevor named her, she wanted a name that represented her mother, Fiona, and both of her fathers.

Everyone thought that was honorable. Fiona couldn’t stop crying when they found out the baby’s name at the hospital after she was born.

There was respect across the board for Trevor for allowing Croya to name her daughter in honor of her parents.

If they had a son, the plan was for him to be Trevor’s namesake.

As much joy as baby Gracie, as most called her, brought with her birth, there was some drama too.

Of course, Tiffany was at the center of it because she wanted to be overly involved in Croya’s pregnancy and wedding planning.

Croya wasn’t having it. The cracks in the relationship between her and her biological mother were irreconcilable.

In her eyes, Fiona Grace O’Brian was her mother.

Tiffany was invited to all the events that centered around Croya, so she was there when Trevor proposed.

She did the most with the tears and screams like an idiot.

She found out that Croya was pregnant at the proposal and felt slighted that her daughter didn’t consider her when she told everyone else that she was pregnant.

Fiona suggested that Croya let Tiffany host the bridal shower.

Fiona regretted her suggestion the second they stepped foot into the venue.

Tiffany didn’t allow Croya to have any input in her shower. She and Fiona assumed it would be a cute, tea party or something like that. Nope, Tiffany had a more salacious idea. The theme was the burlesque bride . It became evident rather quickly that Tiffany had no idea who her daughter was.

Croya was a reserved woman like Fiona. She’d picked up how to be a woman of power, influence, and virtue from the woman who came into her life at sixteen.

The woman who had put her before herself many times just like she did for Sadie and Shaun.

Tiffany’s only contribution was her attempt to get her daughter to marry a well to do man.

When Gracie was born, Tiffany told Croya that she would take all her baby gifts back if she didn’t honor her in some way in Gracie’s name like she did Fiona.

When Croya told Fiona and Croy, they both were with the shits.

They packed up everything that lady purchased for Gracie, loaded it up, took it to her house, threw it on her lawn, and burned it. The burnt grass was still there.

Croya went back and forth about the wedding invite, but at the last minute at Ruth’s ‘love the Lord and offer forgiveness’ ass, she invited Tiffany.

That was another regret, but between Croya’s aunties, Tiffany didn’t have a chance to get into Croya’s space.

Tiffany did try slick shit because it was in the nature of who she was as a skeezer.

First it was her demanding that her husband sit next to her on the front row as Croya’s stepfather. Shan cursed Tiffany out for that one.

Then it was that she wanted to help Croya get ready. When Croya declined, Tiffany had a fit and called Croya an ungrateful bitch. Sadie almost jumped on her, but Shaun convinced her to use her words. Mega learned that day that Tiffany was a pussy hole and Sadie owned shell toes.

The final straw that caused Tiffany and her family to get kicked out of the reception was when she went to the DJ to let him know that she wanted to surprise Croya with a dance with her stepfather.

The DJ thought that was weird and consulted with the wedding planner.

Croy and Fiona were on her ass. When Fiona reminded Tiffany of why one of her hands was not fully functional, Tiffany’s husband got the point and forced her to leave with him.

“Fiona, you know you can put her down, right?” Mega taunted the grandmother. He loved to mess with her. She was the main one who cried about being too young to be a grandmother.

Fiona’s narrow gaze moved to him. “Mega, do you know you can kiss Ruth’s ass and mind your business? Always in someone else’s business.” She pointed. “Look over there. Megan is dancing with some lil boy.”

That had Mega’s back straightened. He put his eyes on his sister, then grunted. “Move, baby.” He thought it would be his daughter who gave him gray hair. Nope, it was going to be his lil’ sister.

“Mega, leave that lil girl alone. She is just dancing with the little boy. The song switched over to a fast one. You act like they’re slow dancing,” Ruth fussed.

Mega’s neck crooked. “Says the woman who allowed an author to taint the innocence of my daughter’s hair follicles. Now she wants to wear her hair straight.”

As far as Mega was concerned, all the little girls around him were growing up too fast. Maggie and Kellie were both in therapy because of the ordeal with the young bitch boy. It was so unfortunate that his home had a gas leak that killed his mother and him. Their house blew up and desecrated it.

Kellie wasn’t as naive as many thought. She knew her father had something to do with it.

For weeks, she was scared that the police would come and pick her father, aunt, and uncles up.

Maggie’s fear was the same. The Manfields and Summersons planned a family vacation to get the girls out of town for some relaxation and to also ensure that they weren’t going anywhere.

Big sis Shanae made sure she cleared her calendar for that trip.

She loved her little sister and niece and wanted to be there for them.

Mega moved his wife from his chest, then got up from his seat. He wanted to go pluck the lil boy, but instead, he went to Megan’s parents who were booed up at a different table. “Y’all don’t see that little boy trying to lure my sister into some Backyardigans scam?”

Goldie burst into laughter. “Boy, what? You dug really deep for that reference, huh?” She waved him off. “If your little sister’s father is not concerned, then why are you?”

Shock took over his eyes. “That man’s eyesight is probably bad. He is old. Sir, where are your progressives because I know you have some?”

Samuel chuckled. “Mega, how about you worry about the boy that your daughter seems smitten with. I got mine.”

That changed the focus for Mega. He spun around to observe his daughter kee keeing with a little boy that he wasn’t sure who he was. Where the hell did all these underage kids come from? This was why he was opposed to children at weddings without childcare.

Mega’s hands went into his pants as he strolled over to the tickled love birds. “Hey, you two. What are we laughing at? I love a good joke like the next one. I want to laugh too.”

“Daddy, we are just talking. This is Travis, Trevor’s little brother,” Maggie introduced.

She said a silent prayer that her father wouldn’t embarrass her. There was no controlling her father, and she knew it. Her mother liked to think that she could, but it was more of a pause button.

Mega thought for a moment about how he wanted to handle this situation. He saw the desperation in his daughter’s eyes for him not to flip out. He took a deep breath. “Travis, do you gyrate on air like your brother?”

Travis was a younger version of Trevor when it came to fearlessness. He idolized his brother. “Excuse me, sir? I’m not sure what that means.” When Mega asked him if he was in the band like his brother, Travis shook his head. “Oh, no. I play baseball.”

Mega wasn’t sure if that was better or worse. “Daddy, Travis invited me to one of his games. Can I go?”

He smiled at his daughter’s seemingly innocent request. “Of course, baby.” She was so excited until he uttered his next statement. “We could make a family outing of it. You know Matthew and Joseph love baseball.”

That was true. The boys had always had an interest in the sport partially because of their grand pop Samuel.

Lately, they’d mentioned their interest in wanting to learn how to play.

Maggie knew that was true, but she didn’t want her family to come.

She would have a hard enough time convincing Kellie to tag along.

Since the unfortunate assault, Kellie had been apprehensive about being in the presence of boys.

She never wanted to be around them alone.

When Payton’s death occurred, slowly but surely, girls came out about his vile assaults on them.

Ned thanked God that touching was as far as Payton went with Kellie. Some girls weren’t so blessed.

Although Ryne had nothing to do with any of the attacks, he caught backlash because of his connection with Payton as his best friend.

No one believed that Ryne didn’t know what his best friend was doing.

The backlash got so bad that his parents pulled him out of school and transferred him out of the county.

Mega nor Ned felt bad for Ryne or his family.

Fuck niggas tended to hang with fuck niggas. That was what fuck niggas did.

“Oh, that would be cool. You could see that I have skills, Mr. Manfield. If you want, I can take your sons out to throw the ball around some time,” Travis suggested with a smug smile.

What ingredients did Big G put into these boys’ pots? Mega would lie if he said that he wasn’t taken aback by this young man’s boldness. He also didn’t miss the sly wink that he sent Maggie’s way. Her face lit up. Ain’t this some bullshit!

“I’ll talk to my wife about it. You two stay where I can see you,” Mega instructed. At this point, it made no sense to stop her from talking to the boy. Now would there be any boyfriend or girlfriend labels? Nah, he wasn’t having that yet.

Mega went back to where Ruth now held Gracie. Ruth was in awe of the new baby that was in the mix of her family. She wished they could have another one. That wasn’t in the cards for them, and she was settled in that.

Mega sat next to his wife. He rubbed his hand through Gracie’s hair. “That little girl has a head full of hair. Her mama’s going to catch hell with that.”

“She really does,” Ruth agreed. “Do you remember how much hair ours had? I couldn’t wait to cut the boys’ hair.”

Mega chortled because on their third birthday, she had his barber come to the house.

It was eight in the morning when the barber knocked on the door.

Matthew and Joseph sat there with no issues because they were used to their grandma Goldie or Naomi braiding their hair.

“Yeah, for a woman who can’t do hair, you sure be ready to alter our churns’ hair. ”

“Shut up. Here.” Ruth passed Gracie to Mega.

Gracie giggled before she grabbed hold of his beard and tugged like she always did. “Aye, lil troublemaker. Hands off the beard.”

He kissed all over her face, triggering her to laugh uncontrollably. These new generation babies were more advanced in Mega’s mind. Fiona and Croya were teaching Gracie sign language. Her little ass knew how to signal that she was hungry at three months which was crazy to him.

Mega took in his surroundings. He watched as his closest friends and a couple of new ones danced and chilled.

He smiled at the sight of a pregnant Galiana.

They were expecting a little girl. Jacob was so in love with his family, and Mega loved that for him.

All the couples around him were obsessed with each other. In his mind, there was no other way.

Time had been good to everyone. It had taught them valuable lessons through losses and gains, hurts and joys, and highs and lows.

Mega and Ruth had weathered the storm, and the Big G always provided protection when it counted most. Big G had kept true to Psalm 27:5.

The thing about that to Mega was that sometimes the way Big G chose to hide you may not have looked like you wanted it to look. Mega was appreciative of the hiding.

Big G made Mega special, and he made sure everyone knew it.

There was a mighty work that he was called to do, but even with that being said, Big G didn’t change the most important parts that made Mega himself.

At the end of the day, he needed Mega to be just that, Mega.

We could all agree that Mega was just so Mega.

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