Page 102 of Quasim II: King Inferno

“I’m surprised yo creepy ass ain’t track me.” Jaiden laughed as they hugged on the floor and then mushed each other.

“Gam-Gam, candy?” CeeCee asked her.

Gams dug in her pocket and gave CeeCee a piece of candy and put her on the counter so she could watch her cook.

Jaiden promised his sister that they could have lunch today, just the two of them, before the ladies got ready to leave. Blair came and kissed me on the lips and sat on my lap. I kissed her shoulder, smelling her fruity scent that made me crazy.

“I love you, Simmy… still going to see your mom today?”

“Yeah, I need to see her.”

“You do.” She kissed me and then headed out with the ladies. I ate breakfast, showered and went to climb back in the bed to sleep for a little bit before taking the golf cart and going over to Jean and Des’s house.

Recommendation: Listen to A Song For Mama by Boyz II men

I parkedthe golf cart and walked up the pebbled drive, toward the house. Between all our houses, nobody locked the doors. We all just came in and out of each other’s houses because we knew we were safe. Majority of the island was filled with their family.

Jean was in the kitchen on the phone with her notepad. When she saw me, she came around the counter and kissed my cheek and pointed down the hall where my mother was. I made my way down the hall and smiled at all the pictures of the Delgatos as children.

Capri in a project hallway, posing with her little hip poked out, and then Capone posted up like he was the baddest muthafucka around at only thirteen. Little did he know, he would become that nigga.

None of this shit would have been possible without him. That import deal was because of his hard work, and he cut us all in on it when he and his family could have been the only ones eating from it. It was funny to see Cappadonna in most the pictures with his brother.

Their dynamic was so apparent back then. Capp being the bigger presence, and his twin perfectly fine playing the background. I stopped when I saw a picture of Capri in college, and Blair was in the picture.

She had long hair, and she was smiling at the camera, but she wasn’t happy. I could tell from the picture, she wasn’t happy. She was putting on a front, which she had a habit of doing. Capri held onto her as they smiled.

They were so young and so ready for life.

My baby didn’t get the chance to have that life she wanted and experienced pain. I was going to make sure she never experienced that shit again. God, I was gonna marry the fuck out that woman.

And then fuck the shit out of her.

I knocked on the door and entered, and she wasn’t in her chair. “Mommy?”

“Hmm?” She poked her head out of the bathroom with her mousse in her hand.

I leaned in the doorway and smiled at her trying to do her hair. It had become normal to see Gams doing her hair.

She was still doing therapy and could still speak, but the therapist said her thoughts came faster than what she could get out, and she became frustrated. Her memory seemed foggy. Like, she remembered who we all were, but certain things we spoke about, she couldn’t remember.

“Where’s Pops?”

She often paused before she responded, like she was finding the words. I was patient and allowed her to figure it out before she spoke. “Backyard.”

We didn’t need to share words because I was comfortable in her presence as she figured out her curly mane that we all had been blessed with. She messed with it for a while before she eventually scrunched it and then smiled at herself in the mirror.

She kissed my cheek as I moved out the doorway and she entered the room. I turned and watched as she picked my father’s pajamas up from the bed. “So messy.”

I laughed. “He’s always been messy.”

“Uh huh.”

She finished messing with his side and then sat in the chair near the door that led out to the backyard. The windows were open and even with Jean and Des’s house being more inland, you could still smell that fresh smell of sea water.

Jean came into the room with fresh water and medicine in her hand for my mother. “Denim.”

Jean paused in her tracks. I looked between her and my mother, confused as to why she was becoming emotional. “What happened?”

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