(18+) These Three Words | A DeVanté Swing Fanfiction

Chapter 23: It's Christmas Eve

Please excuse ANY errors.

December 24, 1998

~Mrs. Mary DeGrate's P.O.V~

"We usually start a day or two before holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving. Sometimes the fourth too." Tia told me, seasoning some ribs.

"We always do it the day of. Everything except the pies." I told her. "I may start doing it a day or two ahead."

"The barbeque isn't being cooked today. My daddy is doing that tomorrow. I'm just seasoning it to let the seasoning marinate." She wrapped the ribs up in aluminum and placed it in the fridge.

"What are some you all's Christmas traditions?" I asked her.

"Um... We used to do raffles. I would help my mother, aunt, and grandmother cook sweets, specifically no bake cheesecake and they would use them as prizes. Cheesecake and Dollar store items. It was the best." She smiled.

"You said used to, what happened?" I asked her.

"Ummm... Well, our family is matriarchal and once my grandmother passed, everybody went in their own direction with their own reasons of course." She nodded. "We all grew up." She shrugged. "Donald has told me some things, but did y'all have any memorable traditions?"

"I grew up in the church and the first thing we would do is go to church for Christmas," I replied. "I always had a new dress that my mother would hem weeks prior to Christmas and we were happy to wear them Christmas morning. Especially after hours and hours standing up in a chair while they did it." I laughed. "That's a lot of work."

"Thank goodness for sewing machines." She responded.

"That's right, you DO make clothes!" I exclaimed. "I forgot. Remind me of what it is you do in its entirety."

"There's film, I have a partnership brand with my best friend and CEO of a lingerie and underwear brand and CEO of a skincare brand." She listed off.

"So you have plenty of things on your hands?" I raised my eyebrows. "Honey, how do you have time to be with anyone?" I said laughing.

"I don't most of the time, but you try and make time for what you want to make time for. Plus, I have people that work for my companies now." She nodded. "And I'm currently looking for an assistant, so then I'll have a bit more time." Tia lifted the lid, adding more seasoning to the greens.

"What did you want to be as a child? Does it match what you're doing now? What was the first thing you ever wanted to be?" I questioned her while washing the chicken.

"Mm," she laughed. "The first thing I ever said I wanted to be was a robot when I grow up. I was like two. My mother said I could be anything and well..." She laughed a little louder. "Then a lawyer when I was like five, and when I got a little older it was a chef. Finally, I settled that I wanted to go to college for business, but also secretly wanted to create films."

"So now you dibbling and dabbling into some of most of what you listed. A robot though?" I laughed loudly. "That's funny. Junior always had his mind dead set on being a musician."

"Yeah, he told me." She smiled. "Ironic how they all ended up meeting years later."

"It's a great wonder how they remained a group all those years after finding out about the day they finally formed the group." I raised my eyebrows giving her a look.