Page 29

Some Time Later…

Time had been good for the Jordans. Years ago, when their worlds were turned upside down by the series of unfortunate events, it brought them together but at a cost. It was a scary time, and someone they loved was hurt.

Mama Bee recovered like the champ she was, but nothing was ever the same.

Lo’ak and Tsireya all but made her move her childcare center into an official location that was not in her home.

It offered more security as well as allowed her to take on more children if that was what she wanted to do.

She moaned and groaned about the change until she realized the advantages of it.

More staff was hired, and security was on site if anyone was in the building.

The two workers that lost their lives were honored with a scholarship that allowed six children to attend the center free of charge. Lo’ak and Sully made sure that their funerals and families were taken care of. That was the least that could be done.

As far as Mama Bee’s house was concerned, that was also a wrap.

She moved into a home that was on the same street as the home that was in the subdivision that Sully and Lo’ak lived in, and her home was now a rental property.

There needed to be a separation between her business and where she laid her head.

When she was in her healing phase, she lived with her grandson and his family in the manufactured home.

“Mama, Nahla is awake.” Lucas walked into the kitchen with his one-year-old sister crawling behind him. There was no need to wonder how she got out of her crib. Her five-year-old brother was the culprit in that situation.

Tsireya turned from the pot that she watched over on the stove. She smiled at the little girl that she and her husband prayed for. Little Miss Nahla Pearl Mae Jordan ran the Jordan household. Reya bent down to pick her daughter up and give her handsome son a kiss on his cheek.

“Luca, baby, go get her walker.”

Luca was a newly acquired nickname given to him by his favorite uncle Ethan.

At five, Luca was a big boy, so he needed a big boy’s nickname.

SJ had a new big boy’s nickname in Carson, which was his last name.

When Luca found that out, he instructed that his father and uncles read the room.

Uncle Ethan came to save the nickname game.

Reya kissed all over her daughter’s face while she waited for the walker. “You pretty girl, looking just like your daddy.”

Nahla’s skin matched her father’s deep brown tone. While she matched her father’s skin tone and features, her little personality was all her mother’s. She wasn’t a fussy baby; she minded her baby ass business.

Luca pushed the walker into the kitchen, set the tablet that was set up on it to his sister’s favorite show, and stepped out of the way.

Reya put Nahla in her walker then poured some of the puffs that were in the container on the counter on her walker top.

Like the out of the way baby that she was, Nahla walked herself over to her favorite spot in the kitchen near the bay window and chilled to watch her show.

Her brother laid across the bench that was next to her and watched with her.

Reya turned her attention back to the pot to finish the dinner that was cooking.

This was her senior year of college, and she was ready to graduate.

She thanked God for all of the support that she received.

As a push gift when she had Nahla, Lo’ak gifted her with a building for when she was ready to bring her sandwich shop speakeasy to fruition.

“Where’s my family!” Lo’ak’s voice sounded through the house.

Home was where he loved to be. Now that he’d taken a step back from the streets, he had more time to spend with his family and focus on his legal businesses.

Joey and Ethan took more of a lead now. They weren’t ready to take over completely, but they were close.

Sully had completely stepped out of the game and was on his retirement residual plan.

Simone loved that for her family, especially since they added a new addition, their son Noah.

All Nahla had to hear was her father’s voice, and it was forget everything and everyone. Her little legs moved in her walker toward him with her arms flailing.

“Daaaaa!”

She wasn’t quite at “Dada” yet, but they were almost there. He scooped his daughter up from her walker and kissed her fat cheek. She returned the sentiment by kissing his cheek before she offered him a puff that was in her hand. He took it happily.

“Where’s my boy?”

“I’m right here, Dad!” Luca ran from around the island to wrap himself around his father’s leg. “You have a good day?”

Lo looked down at his son with admiration.

“Yeah, I did. Guess who’s on their way over here?” He smiled at the eagerness for the answer in his son’s eyes. “Your uncle Joey, Sully, and your cousins.”

Luca jumped up. He loved all the cousins he’d acquired since Lo had come into his life. SJ or Carson, as he now wanted to be referred to, was his favorite, even with their age differences.

“Yes! I’m going to go clean my room.”

He ran off to start cleaning his room before his cousins came over. Luca had learned from his father that it was easier to read a room if it was clean. Once the coast was clear, Lo put his baby girl back into her walker then moved to the stove where his wife stood.

“Come here with your sexy ass.” He didn’t give her any option but to come to him when he pulled her body into his by her ass. “I missed you.”

Reya loved the playful, sexual banter that she and her husband were able to maintain through the course of their relationship.

It was an intentional effort because marriage wasn’t always easy.

As much as they knew about each other when they married, there was so much more that they didn’t know.

Reya took heed to the advice that her best friend, Simone, gave her years ago.

Keep God in the middle, listen for understanding, patience, trust, and make sure to leave her husband’s nuts empty.

Tsireya made sure she did all of those things with an emphasis on the first and last point.

“The kids are having chicken alfredo. The adults are having steak, brussels sprouts, and garlic mashed potatoes,” she told her husband.

Once a week, the friend group rotated dinners at each other’s homes. It was the Jordan’s turn.

Lo’s eyes went to the bay window where their daughter retook her place in her favorite place to watch her show.

“You’re always trying to get someone to eat damn brussels sprouts. I already told you that no one wants that baby cabbage.” He kissed her lips before he smacked her ass.

Reya sucked her teeth. “Shut up, Lo’ak. You know you love my baby cabbage,” she said with a giggle.

“Nah, I love my family, you, your pussy, mouth, and ass. I do not, I repeat, I do not like baby cabbage.”

He could talk all the shit he wanted to, but they both knew the moment those baby cabbages as he called them hit his plate, he would eat them.

The beep from the front door to do alert them that it was unlocking sounded.

“Family!” Joey announced himself.

The rushed footsteps of his sons were heard. In unison, the boys greeted their uncle Lo and auntie Reya. They ran over and kissed their little cousin Nahla, then were off to Luca’s room.

“Oh, it smells so good in here,” GeGi said as she waddled her seven-month pregnant ass into the kitchen. She sat on the bar stool on the opposite side of the island. “Yes! You’re making brussels sprouts. I love your sprouts.”

A little over two years ago, Sully and Lo made the strategic decision to send Joey to Virginia to help GeGi out with some things with her business set up.

By the time the business opened months later, GeGi and Joey were locked in with each other.

Joey was prepared to stay in Virginia, but GeGi knew how important his position in the organization was.

She found a reliable person to run her pole studio and made the move back to Charlotte.

Without the fear of her son’s father, she felt comfortable coming back.

When she touched down, Simone and Reya pulled her into their friend group to offer her the support she needed.

Now, she was a couple months away from having her and Joey’s first daughter.

“You should tell Lo that they’re the best,” Reya said with a side eye in her husband’s direction. Before he could say anything to her, she waved him off. “You two go in the den or something. Leave the girls here.”

Joey walked over, kissed his girl, who he planned to ask to marry him at their baby shower in a few weeks, then led the way to the den.

Reya didn’t have to tell him twice to get the hell out of the kitchen.

Lo followed Joey to the den after he retrieved three beers from the refrigerator.

By the time Lo sat down and popped open his beer, Sully walked into the den.

“Damn, I hope you got—” He cut his sentence off when Joey held his beer out to him. “Good stuff. Where is Ethan?”

“I’m right here,” Ethan announced his presence.

He plopped down on the couch with his signature bottle of water.

He was the only one out of the group that didn’t drink or smoke.

His mother was an addict. Therefore, he refused to take part in anything that could lead to an addiction.

He had yet to find his forever, but there was someone that he had in sight.

These were the down times that they all loved.

The street shit was cool, but the family element of the friendship was what made them solid and loyal.

Joey and Ethan were learning not only how to handle the street shit from Sully and Lo, but they were also learning how to be dependable, loyal, and loving family men.

There were three occupied rooms in the house.

They each held different groups, but none of that mattered.

Although the people in the rooms differed by age and gender, they all had experience reading rooms, down to the little ones.

Not all of them read the room the same way or even interpreted it the same.

The one thing that could be agreed upon was that in every room, they all had a reading of love.

With that, you would always have a five-star read.

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