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“Mommy, Kenyon is up, and he is so funky.”

Trying my best to mute the microphone, I knew my colleagues heard Gianna as she burst into the room. I’ve told her time and time again that when I’m working to knock first, but much like her father, the words went in one ear and out of the other.

“Motherhood looks good on you, Mrs. Mills.” I beamed as Chester nodded. “Make sure you tell the family we said hello.”

“You can literally walk across the hall and tell me that,” Andre chimed in, with Jules nodding in agreement. “Don’t get weird.”

Sharing a laugh, Rosier reeled us back in so we could wrap up our quarterly meeting. After dismissing everyone, my brothers and I stayed on camera.

“How are you doing, sis?” Rosier was the first to speak as he stared intently into the camera. “How’s our niece and nephew?”

Smiling, I connected the call to my phone and walked across the hall to my three-month-old son, Kenyon.

Jordan stayed true to his word and made sure I was pregnant before we left Barbados.

I wasn’t even mad because I loved the son we created.

He was every bit of his father, and I fell more in love with him every day.

“Gianna is the princess that we all have molded her to be.” I giggled as I propped the phone on his changing table. “You guys need to come and visit your nephew.” I picked him up and placed him into the camera. “He’s gotten so big.”

Kissing all over my baby, I didn’t care that he smelled rotten.

He was absolutely perfect in my eyes. Every time I looked into his little face, I was in awe that God saw fit to give him to me.

He was the best part of me, and I would never let him go a day without feeling his mama’s love.

That same love was poured into Gianna. Strangers thought she was mine because she was.

I’ve never tried to replace Gia, but with the love and care that we give our Gi Baby, she doesn’t even ask about her biological mom or care that she is gone.

“Shit, we can be on the jet tomorrow.” Jules leaned into the camera and smiled. “I wonder if I can talk Bridgette into giving me another one.”

As I listened to my brothers make plans to come to Milly Grove this weekend, I cleaned my son’s soiled diaper and reminisced about this past year. So much had happened, but if all the roads led to this moment with him, Gianna, and Jordan, I would do it all over again.

With the ties we had in Haiti, we were able to mask Chandler and his family’s deaths as a murder-suicide.

Authorities presented the company with a detailed letter that was emailed from Chandler’s company domain stating that after he killed his father and buried him, his life spiraled out of control.

After being blamed for negligence, causing his building to explode, he couldn’t take the backlash.

He admitted to killing his parents, sister, and farmhands.

He took responsibility for the lives of his employees who died due to his poor decisions.

All of his assets were liquidated and used to pay as many families as possible, but it was too much for his estate.

Though his family lineage had been erased, the legal troubles still lingered as the money dried up to cover all the debt.

“I hope my boy saved some titty milk—oh.” Jordan burst into the room right as I was picking up my crying son. “What’s up, fellas? Jules?”

Grimacing, I watched as Rosier scowled at his outburst while Jules smiled like a Cheshire cat.

It took a few weeks for Jordan to tell me what had happened on our wedding night.

I wanted to take my brother’s head off for playing with my man like that.

He assured us it was all in harmless fun, but Jordan wasn’t convinced.

He saw firsthand what Jules could do with his Uncle Carlos, so I understood his apprehension.

Still, Jordan loved my brothers, and all of our siblings and wives had become a unit.

That didn’t stop him from being fifty feet from Jules since we left Barbados.

Dre would be right beside him with Sweets and Pastor on speed dial.

“Skip, my man… we were just telling Mimi that we’re coming up this weekend to see the kids,” Jules stated as he moved around his office. It was closing time at Boudreaux Enterprises, so I knew everyone was about to call it a day. “Is that all right with you?”

“Man, get out of here.” He waved him off before sanitizing his hands and grabbing Kenyon. “You know you don’t have to ask. Just leave that spooky shit in the swamps.” Peering down at me, he pecked my lips three times, with the last one lingering. “How are you feeling, Mama?”

“Tired,” I admitted. “Working from home is just as exhausting as going into an office.” My eyes followed him as he sat in the rocker to bottle-feed the baby. “I can do that if you need me to.”

Before our family trip to Barbados, I was back and forth between Milly Grove and South Florida.

Skip had made it more than clear that I would end up being a resident of Milly Grove; it was just a matter of time.

The day after we returned from the trip, I was confused when we pulled up to a picturesque, newly built home in Mills Manor.

As I toured the house, I was moved to tears when I found out he’d started building the day he dragged me out of the hookah lounge by my bun.

He knew well before I’d attempted to marry Chan that we would be together in the end.

That first night in our new home, every hole I possessed belonged to him.

“I got it, Mi,” he assured me, chuckling as he peered down at my son. The love that shone through his eyes brought tears to mine. “Tell Mama we got this.”

My baby boy cooed lovingly as he latched onto the bottle nipple.

For him to be so little, he was very responsive to his daddy.

I didn’t want him to grow too fast, though.

The ladies had already warned me that these men enjoyed keeping their women stress-free yet pregnant.

Once Kenyon showed an ounce of independence, I knew I was in trouble.

“Noemi, you’re going on leave until further notice.” I jerked my head toward Dre’s voice. I’d forgotten they were on the phone. “You do a great job, baby girl, but you have a team under you that is just as good. If we need you for special assignments, we will let you know. Other than that?—”

“You can’t make me take a leave.” I rolled my eyes and leaned into the camera. My bun almost fell, and I reminded myself it was time for a retwist. I’d been neglecting my self-care a little to keep the kids, Jordan, and work in the forefront. “I have to work, Andre.”

“I’m the boss, and I agree with Dre,” Rosier chimed in as he stepped onto the elevator. “Unless we have a more sensitive matter, you’re unavailable. As your boss and leader of the family?—”

“As your husband, I’m telling you the same,” Jordan said over my shoulder. “Your man’s got you for whatever you need. That job will be okay without you for a bit. You’re a wife and a mother now. It’s time you get back to Noemi, too, the one before I slid?—”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Seeing that all three of my brothers disconnected the call, I couldn’t help but fall over in laughter. I don’t know why Jordan antagonizes them, but I wish he would stop because the moment Jules started speaking to Iwa, everyone would be complaining about him being a man witch.

“Thank you, baby.” I walked over and kissed his lips. He repositioned Kenyon so I could slide onto the other side of his lap. “For loving us, for loving me, for everything.”

Placing my head on his shoulders, he rocked our son and me as he talked aloud about nothing at all.

Still, I was at peace, hearing his voice and feeling the vibration from his chest as he talked to Kenyon like he was a grown man.

Before long, Gianna joined us because she wanted to know what was taking so long for someone to come have a tea party with her.

She sat at our feet and talked our ears off about the princess party she and Big Bri wanted to throw just because and demanded we all attend.

Letting her know that her uncles and cousins were coming to town soon, she was more than excited to tell us her requests.

As we sat there and listened to her list of what we needed to do to prepare for company, my heart smiled at how full it was.

I finally felt as if my life was complete.

The End!