The Princess of Princetown

Candles

04

Mahzianna Bennett woke up on the morning of her 18th birthday hearing her mother's absolute favorite song pulsate through a large speaker from somewhere in the studio she and Bryan called home.

"The beautiful reflection of His grace
See, I know that a gift so great
Is only one God could create
And I'm reminded everytime I see your face
That the joy of my world is in Zion..."

Mahzianna lifted herself up and stretched with a huge smile. "To Zion" was Angela's favorite song for as long as Mahzianna could remember. Every year on her birthday, Mahzianna's day began and ended with that song playing in the background while her mother sung it as if she was the one that wrote the song for Lauryn Hill.

She watched with joy as her mother sung with the blasting music and danced around in a black satin dress. Bryan sat at one of the stools in the small kitchen area, bobbing his head to the beat and eating whatever it was that Angela was cooking. Neither of them knew that Mahzianna was awake and watching, admiring them be themselves, the two people she had grown to love and trust the most.

"GoodMorninggg my love!" Angela greeted  Mahzianna once she looked up. "Happy 18th, baby!"

"Thank you, Mama." Mahzianna responded, wrapping her mother into a tight hug.

"Ugh, I've waited for this for so long." Angela smiled, taking  Mahzianna's hand to lead her to the stack of strawberry waffles she made.

"Happy birthday, baby." Brian smiled, kissing Mahzianna's cheek.

They all ate and talked, having a morning of peace as usual. Marvin stopped by and gifted Mahzianna a Chanel bag, something she had her eye on for a while. Angela gave her a Ruby necklace that had been passed down in their family for generations, plus 3 pairs of YSL heels.

"This day is bouta get so much better for you, baby." Bryan smiled. "I made all the appointments for you and Cedes to look y'all best tonight, plus I set you and your girls up at Amore for the night. Y'all got y'all own section and nobody age checking for liquor, I made sure of it. Even got y'all a room downtown."

"You're not coming?" Mahzianna asked.

"Of course I am." Bryan laughed. "Imma be at Amore and imma take you and Cedes out to eat before y'all go to the room and call it a night. I'm staying here cause I still got strings to pull and surprises to pull off." He winked.

"I can't wait." Mahzianna said, her eyes dancing with an excited fire in them.

"Shit, I forgot something." Marvin laughed, standing up abruptly. "Like I said, I like to give my girls only the best." He said, handing Mahzianna a sparkly pink keychain with a single key attached.

"Marvin, you didn't!" Mahzianna shrieked, hopping up and down. "You didn't! Noooo, no!"

"Follow me, Birdie." Marvin laughed, leading the family outside in the cool early morning air, as the sun made its first appearance of the day.

Outside was a glossy black jeep wrangler with hot pink accents. Mahzianna had been wanting this car since she was 15, Angela and Marvin always pretended to ignore her when she'd go on her long rants about how amazing the car was and how badly it was destined to belong to her.