Page 6 of Mahogany 2
I never forgot.
I always kept them in the forefront. Yesterday, shit just got a little hazy and I was tired of putting them first. However today would be different. Today, I planned to pretend I was okay, just to take how they felt into consideration.
“I missed you mommy!” Sparkle yelled crashing into me, wrapping her arms around me.
“We missed you mommy,” Duke chimed in, walking up wearing a smile.
Gabe coughed and draped his arm over my shoulder. “Guess what I did ma?”
I didn’t know what that was about. Did I give a damn? Nope! Baby boy wasn’t really a baby boy anymore and he knew there was trouble. He witnessed us first-hand the night before I decided to stay out. He was entitled to his feelings. But when the smoke cleared a little, I was going to have a one-on-one conversation with him about respect. It was imperative and the one thing I did not play about. What Duke and I had going on was what Duke and I had going on. Grown folks business. And while I respected my sons feelings, he had to know that disrespect would never be tolerated. I wasn’t one of them!
I leaned my head on his shoulder, as we walked up to the house. “Cleaned your room?”
He laughed. “Nope. Cleaned the house.”
Aubry sucked her teeth. “For real?”
He rolled his neck a little, with a slight pout. “Alright, alright…wecleaned the house.”
“All he did was take the trash out and wash the dishes! Me and Honesty did the most work.”
I laughed and before I could say something, Sparkle said, “I helped too!”
“You wipedonetable off!” Honesty yelled. “That ain’t nothin!”
“That is something! Mommy, is that something!?” Sparkle pouted.
I draped my arm over her shoulder, pulling her closer. “Yeah baby, that’s plenty.” Cutting my eyes at Honesty, I joked, “You better leave my baby alone. She put in work too.”
Gabe left my side to open the door for me and I smiled. Sometimes life got heavy, and I wanted to run away from them. Sometimes I was riddled with regret and what ifs but anytime we were like this? Engulfed in each other’s love? I was filled with a sense of completion and love I know I would have never experienced without them. My fantastic four.
As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by a plethora of balloons. Gold, black, silver, and a few pale pink. The foyer was decorated with birthday decorations. Hanging on the archway was a huge Happy Birthday Mahogany banner, adorned by tassels. There were spiraled decorations hanging from the ceiling too. It was beautiful. So beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes.
“Happy late birthday mommy!” Sparkle yelled, jumping up and down, her colorful hair beads clinking together with every jump.
“Birthday 2.0 for queen momma!” Honesty said, dancing around.
Yes, my birthday was yesterday but I was very surprised. Like… very. There were about ten gift bags waiting for me to dig into too.
“Happy birthday, mommy,” Duke whispered in my ear, walking up from behind before placing a kiss on the side of my neck.
Bitch nigga.
Yes, bitch nigga.
He’d only done that because he knew with the kids around, I would never snap on him. Especially not in this setting. He took advantage and to be honest, I couldn’t even blame him. If I was a ho ass nigga, I would have done the same thing. I cut my eyes at him, sighed and said thank you.
He took my bag from me and hung it on the coatrack while Aubry grabbed one of the gift bags handing it to me.
I giggled and said, “Birthday 2.0. I like that baby. Thanks, y’all! This is beautiful!”
“This one is from me!” She exclaimed. “Open it first because it’s the best gift out of all of them,” she gloated, popping her lips after.
I laughed and sat on the foyer bench. “Thank you Bry-Bry.”
“No! Momma! Open the big one first; it’s from all of us!” Harmony argued. “Always doin’ too much!”
Aubry sucked her teeth. “Girl, shut up. I was just?—
