“I am positively in love with this man,”
Victoria gushed. “Jacques is the person I sought my whole life. Not
that I didn’t love your father. He was a good man but this…” she
shook her head. “Nothing and no one comes close to what I have with
him. To answer your question, I am over the moon happy. What about
you?” She paused, frowning as she stared into Renee’s face. “How’s
Mandy?”
Renee slipped off her shoes and grabbed an
apple fritter from the platter on the side table near her mom.
“Mandy and I broke up. She met someone else. Someone who wants
kids, the house. Picket fence and all that.”
Jasmine heard the pain in Renee’s voice and sat
next to her on the opposite side. “I’m sorry, why didn’t you call
me?”
Renee shrugged, eyes downcast. “I couldn’t talk
about it. I get through each day trying not to think about it. But…
we were together a long time and that’s not always possible.” She
sighed and offered a sad smile. “It hurts. I miss her so
much.”
“Any chance of getting back with her?” Jasmine
asked hating the hurt in her sister’s voice.
“No, not really. Mandy’s pregnant from a donor
her new …” She sighed. “The person she’s with now had a friend who
donated sperm, it took right away. She’s pregnant and sounds
happy.”
Victoria patted Renee’s hand. “The two of you
wanted completely different things … who knows, maybe this is for
the best.”
Renee’s head spun toward her mother. “That’s
not what I want or need to hear right now. My brain agrees with you
but my heart’s bleeding, Mama. So don’t… just don’t go
there.”
“Shhh,” her mom pulled Renee close until her
head lay on her shoulder. “It’ll be okay, I promise.”
Renee wiped the tear from the corner of her
eye. “This reminds me of when we were small; you’d promise tomorrow
would be better all the time.”
Jasmine smiled thinking of those days. Whenever
they came home crying over something that seemed major to them,
their mom would listen, hug them and say tomorrow would be better.
At the time it was the best medicine in the world.
“And I was right,” Victoria said with a smug
smile.
“Uh, no. Most of the time it took a long time
for things to get better,” Renee said lifting her head slightly,
grinning up at their mom.
“That’s right and the day that it did was
called tomorrow,” Victoria said and then placed a kiss on Renee’s
forehead.
Renee and Jasmine laughed.
“She got you there,” Jasmine said releasing
Renee’s hand and looking behind her. Food had been left on the
sideboard for them. “Mama, want me to fix your plate?”
“Yeah. A little of everything and then these
buggers will tell me what they want to eat,” Victoria said rubbing
her stomach.
Renee stared at her hand, the large diamond
twinkled in the light. “After all these years, we get brothers and
sisters. Can you believe that Jazz?”
“Not at first but the past few months have made
a believer out of me. Rose is due any day. My first grands,”
Jasmine said. “I remember changing Rone’s diaper, now I’ll watch
him change his kids.”
“Wouldn’t it be great if his kids took him on
the same wild ride as he and Rese took you?” Renee said moving
toward the food.
“That’s what normally happens,” Victoria
said.
“Hey… I didn’t take you through half the hoops
the boys took me through,” Jasmine complained good-naturedly.
Getting pregnant at 16 with twins by a full-blood in the midst of
his first shift didn’t count now that they both knew what
happened.
“True. But God knew Renee wouldn’t have kids
and added her payback onto you. Can’t work around karma, she gets
you every time,” Victoria said laughing.
Renee tilted her head to the side, her shiny
dark hair brushed against her light complexion. Her eyes darkened
as she smiled at Jasmine and then winked. “Yep, God knew all along.
Think He knew I’d like girls?”
“Don’t start, Renee,” Victoria said from the
sofa like a reigning queen in her short-sleeved, green and white
dress.
Renee laughed. “Okay, I promised Jazz I would
behave this weekend.” Plate full, she returned to the seat next to
her mother.
“I wish you could stay longer,” Victoria said
and then popped a fried plantain in her mouth.
“Well, it came down to stay longer now or not
see my new brothers and sisters when they arrive. I’ll come back
after you have the babies. Any idea how many are cooking in there?”
She peered at the plate of food Victoria ate from. She picked up a
jalapeño pepper and bit into it.
“No, not yet. But more than two, maybe three or
four,” Victoria said before licking her fingers.
Renee stared as her mom ate another pepper with
no visible side effects. Jasmine should’ve warned her sister about
their mom’s new eating habits but seeing Victoria eat had to be
witnessed to believe.
“What’d you bring for the shower?” Jasmine
asked into the silence, drawing Renee’s attention from their
mom.
“Wait and see. Not knowing the sex made it
hard, plus they don’t go shopping that often, so gift cards
wouldn’t work. But I think they’ll be happy. Rose said they didn’t
have much in the nursery yet, so it should be okay,” Renee
said.
“Did you bring me and Jacques something for our
babies? It’s a joint shower,” Victoria asked and then popped a
cherry tomato into her mouth.
“Yes, Jasmine told me. But you have to wait,
too. From what I hear that’s part of the fun, watching people open
gifts and play games.” She turned to Jasmine. “Is Silas out of
town?” The hopefulness in her voice rubbed Jasmine the wrong
way.
“No, he’s here and will be here for the
shower,” she said in her don’t-go-there voice.
Renee released a long breath and nodded. “I
remember the speech about this being his home and all but for some
reason, the man just doesn’t like me. Everybody else loves me, no
problems. What can I do to improve our relationship?” Renee asked
in what Jasmine termed her classroom tone.
“Try having a conversation with him as an equal
and not one of your students. He’s smart with a quirky sense of
humor and like you, everybody else around here loves him.
Especially his kids,” Jasmine said without smiling.
Renee stared at her a few seconds and nodded.
“Point taken, I’ll make an effort to do better since my favorite
people in the world live with him.”
“And we’re not going anywhere,” Victoria said
licking her lips.
“This place is safe and when it comes to my
nieces and nephews and soon my brothers and sisters, that rates
really high for me.” She looked at Jasmine. “Every time I see you,
you’re glowing. Are you pregnant too? Is there something in the
water?”
Jasmine flinched at the idea. With her four,
Tyrone’s babies and her mom’s on the way, she couldn’t imagine
having more kids right now. “Not pregnant. Just happy. And by the
way, Davian and Matt will be at the shower, be nice.”
Renee stopped eating. “Why’s he
coming?”
“Rose is having his first grandchildren,”
Victoria said before Jasmine responded.
“Silas is okay with that? Forget that, how do
you feel about him and his lover at social events in your
home?”
“The twins are as much his sons as they are
mine. If Tyrone wants his dad at the baby shower I don’t care.” She
shrugged. In this, Jasmine and her mom were on the same page - no
other relationship compared to the one she had with Silas. She and
Davian would be grandparents with no drama, they both loved their
boys.
After a few seconds, Renee released a breath.
“Maybe I should move up here. There’s gotta be something in the air
for you to forgive everything he did to you. I can tell it really
doesn’t bother you to have him in the same room.”
Jasmine understood Renee’s confusion. If she
and Silas didn’t have such a consuming connection, there might be
room to feel hate, disdain, lust or something for Davian. But he
got nothing. Rather than talk about how much she loved Silas,
especially in light of Renee’s painful break-up, Jasmine changed
directions.
“No, it doesn’t bother me at all. Plus all my
family will be there, celebrating the next generation. It’s a happy
occasion. What do you think about this?” She stood and opened a box
in the corner.
“What is it?” Renee asked looking at the soft
pastel colored streamers Jasmine held.
“Decorations for the party. They came in
earlier this morning. I plan to start decorating first thing
tomorrow, just waiting for one more delivery.” She eyed Renee. “And
yes I need your help.”
“That’s why I came a day early, so I could help
you point to the staff where you want them to put things,” Renee
said.
Jasmine rolled her eyes at her sister, glad to
see color return to her cheeks and life to her eyes. “Cute, very
cute. But we’ll be doing most of the decorations on
this.”
Renee nodded. “If you say so.” She looked at
her mom. “Where’s that handsome hunk of yours?”
Victoria held up a finger and swallowed
whatever she’d just eaten. “Working. He got a promotion, a larger
department. After I have the babies, I plan to work in his office
helping out.”
Renee’s eyes widened. She glanced at Jasmine
who had heard a version of this declaration a few times and
shrugged.
“You’re going to work again, after what? Ten
years of early retirement? Why?” Renee asked.
Victoria blinked a couple of times as if she’d
forgotten the many conversations Jasmine had with her regarding how
careful they needed to be around Renee. Her sister was sharp and
she agreed with Jasmine that Renee shouldn’t know about the Wolf
Nation. Not that Jasmine thought Renee would talk on purpose but
her passion was studying differences in cultures and people. At
some point there would be problems.
“Mama plans to keep an eye on other women
looking at her man, that’s all,” Jasmine said and read the
gratitude in her Mama’s eyes. Being human, Renee accepted the
explanation.
“Jacques is one of the good ones, Mama. You
don’t need to worry. Although statistically speaking, most men
cheat,” Renee said looking at Jasmine.
“If Silas cheated on me, you would read about
his demise in the paper. It would make the news,” Jasmine said,
appreciating the small smile from her mom.
Renee clapped her hands. “That’s what I’m
talking about, kick his ass to the curb for that.”
Chapter 5
Silas stepped into the brightly, decorated room
to a small chorus of “Daddy” from his four pups. They ran and
grabbed him around the leg, each talking at the same time. He
glanced around the room, memorizing everyone’s location and then
focused on his pups. Jasmine sat in a chair near Renee. Matt and
Damian sat across the room near Cameron and his growing den. Tyrese
and his mate sat with Asia, Damian and Sarita.
“There’s birthday cake and punch over there,”
Adam said reaching for his hand.
“No, it’s not birthday, it’s a shower cake for
the babies,” Renee corrected standing in front of Adam, her hair
neatly pulled back into a dark ponytail, her blue eyes
flashing.
“Mama said I couldn’t eat the cake.” Adam’s
whiskey colored eyes gleamed with smug amusement as he leaned
toward her without releasing Silas’ hand. He wore jeans and a
college logo tee shirt from his aunt.
Jackie pulled on his pants leg. He looked down
into soft blue-greenish eyes and his heart melted at her smile.
Dressed like her sister in a short-sleeved, blue and white dress,
she wore her hair loose around her shoulders looking more like his
mini-me, in that moment, than any of the others. “Rose has a baby
in her stomach,” she said softly as if sharing a secret. “I’mma be
an aunty like Aunt Renee.”
Silas smiled without saying anything about
Renee. Last night at dinner, he accepted the olive branch she
extended and they had an interesting conversation. He’d been
surprised to learn they had both traveled and loved some of the
same spots in Africa.
“That’s right, are you ready to be an aunt?” He
stooped and placed a kiss on each of their cheeks. David wore the
same outfit as Adam and smiled but didn’t speak which no longer
bothered Silas. He accepted his son spoke when he had something to
say unlike Adam who said whatever popped into his mind.
Jackie nodded.
“Not me,” Adam said. “Me and David are boys,
we’ll be uncles.” He frowned and then smiled. “Like Uncle
Angus.”
Silas tapped Adam on the nose with his
fingertip, causing him to laugh. “That’s right.” On his way home
from Colorado, Angus got caught in a storm in Kentucky and
contacted Jasmine personally to express his regret for missing the
event.
Standing he held their hands and walked further
into the room. Sarita sat on the floor near Asia watching as they
entered the main area where Rose and Victoria sat in chairs draped
with colorful ribbons. Jacques and Tyrone sat nearby talking softly
while watching their mates.