Page 88 of No Remedy for Love

She was looking around the cemetery and coincidentally locked eyes with Ferris. He smirked as he grabbed his girlfriend by the waist and pulled her closer. Reanna remembered her from being at the house when she popped up over there oncebefore. She felt like a damn fool but she had something for his ass.

“You told her what?” Jean asked, successfully pulling Reanna away from her thoughts.

“That ain’t just no new cars, Mama. That’s some top of the line shit. He’s spending up all of Nana’s casino money. Y’all ain’t gon’ have shit left once he’s done.”

“That’s what he thinks.” Jean was fuming as she walked away and went stood next to her siblings. Blaire laughed when she saw her mother whispering to her sisters. She saw them looking at Blaze and Remi with murderous glares.

“I’m so happy that this shit is over with,” Blaze said as he and Remi walked back to the limo. Aside from Vinnie and Tracy, Remi’s mother, stepmother, and granny rode to and from the services with them. Ferris and Tracy came together and left right before they did.

“I am too, baby. We both have a lot of shit on our plates.”

Remi decided to give up her house and rent it out again. She didn’t know who had burned up her car but she didn’t feel safe being there anymore. She wasn’t worried though because her man had done a serious upgrade. She now had a royal blue Urus and Blaze had a black Bentayga. Blaze still had his truck and Remi decided to get her another car once the insurance company sent the money for her burned one. Although they both loved their new rides, they weren’t for everyday use in her opinion. They had been staying at his grandmother’s house but they had been discussing getting a permanent place together.

Once they made it back to Bertha’s house, Blaze’s family hung around, trying to see if he was gonna go inside. If so, theywere gonna go in behind him and have the talk they they’d been trying to have with him.

“Bye, sweetheart. Call us if you need anything,” Lollie said as she hugged her daughter.

“Okay and thanks for coming, y’all.” Remi and Blaze saw them off right before two of his uncles walked over.

“Say, nephew, what do you plan to do with mama’s furniture and stuff?” Zita’s father, Al, was always worrying about the wrong shit at the wrong time.

“I just buried my grandmother, bruh. I haven’t even thought that far ahead yet.” Blaze was trying his best to remain calm, but they were really testing his patience.

“I’m just trying to figure out how you get to decide anything. That was our mama, nigga!”

Al was getting upset and his siblings were right there to have his back. They had Remi fucked up though. She gripped the handle of the gun that she kept in her purse just in case she needed to use it. She would have hated to send one of Bertha’s kids to meet her so soon but she wasn’t gonna let them do Blaze dirty either.

“Nigga, she’s been your mama all your life. Where the fuck was y’all at when she could barely walk up the stairs without getting out of breath? Where was all this noise when she needed a pulmonary nurse that her insurance wasn’t paying for? She was your mama when she had to give y’all gas money just to bring her to doctor’s appointments.” His uncle Al and his mother had guilt written all over their faces since they knew that he was talking about them.

“I never charged my mama a dime to do nothing for her!” Nat yelled.

“That’s because you never did shit for her.” Blaze wasn’t there to sugarcoat nothing for nobody.

“All we were trying to do was have a conversation about our mother’s affairs.” Nat couldn’t even dispute what her nephew said because he was right.

“Yeah, I know y’all got questions and I’m the nigga with all the answers.” Blaze was no longer just talking to his uncles; he was talking to all eight of Bertha’s kids and the few grandkids that remained. He’d held his tongue for the sake of his grandmother, but all bets were off now.

“It don’t even have to be all that, Blaze. We know that you were here for mama when she got sick,” Flo had the audacity to say.

“When she got sick? I’ve always been here. The city would have taken this house a long time ago because Nana couldn’t even afford to pay the property taxes. I got out there and sold muthafucking weed while working two jobs to make sure the shit got done. So, yeah, this bitch and everything in it belongs to me. The insurance policy that y’all keep hinting at, yeah, she had one and you muthafucking right I’m the beneficiary since I’m the nigga that paid the premium every month. Yeah, she won big at the casino and every dime of it is in my bank account where she deposited it. So, don’t come tell me a muthafucking thing about Bertha LaRue. She was straight because I made sure of it.”

“No, we are not gonna let the devil use us this way. This is not the time for family division. This is the time for everybody to come together.” Bertha’s pastor was happy that he followed his first mind. He saw them about to get started with the dramaat the cemetery and decided to pass by her house just in case he was needed.

“He’s right, y’all. We need to all calm down and we can have this conversation another time when our emotions are not so high.” Flo was pissed but she agreed with the pastor for now. Blaze had just confirmed everything that they were assuming, and she was not too happy about it.

Remi visible relaxed when she saw Blaze’s family start to retreat and head to their cars. The pastor stayed there for a while until they were all gone before he left too.

“Book us a suite somewhere, baby and make sure it has a balcony. I just need you, a bed, and a blunt.” Blaze sighed in disgust.

“Y’all are welcome to come by us for as long as you want to,” Tracy offered, as Vinnie nodded in agreement.

“Thanks, friend but that’s okay. We can use some time alone,” Remi replied.

She and Blaze saw Tracy and Vinnie off before they went into the house to pack a bag. She had booked them a hotel suite in Biloxi for a few days and she was hoping that the time away helped Blaze to relax. He’d been dealing with one thing after another and he needed some time to wind down.

“I know that I just laid my Nana to rest, but it really feels like I just buried my entire family.” Blaze just shook his head and sighed.

“No, you didn’t, baby. I’m pregnant,” Remi said as his eyes widened in shock.

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