Riley POV~
I was pacing my room. Carter sat on my bed, dressed and ready to leave while I was walking around a complete fucking mess.
"It's not the big a deal," I tell Carter, like his ass gon reply, "It's none to worry about. I'm jus meetin her mama. Not like I ain't meet her before."
I look at Carter who only stared back.
"Fuck am I sayin? I ain't meet her as her boyfriend. Her mama gon cuss me out!"
"Riley?" Taiya asks, knocking on my door, "Are you okay?"
I groan, going into my closet. I wasn't even dressed yet.
Taiya comes in and she couldn't help but giggle.
"Riley, why aren't you dressed?"
"I can't do this, Tee. I can't meet yo mama like this."
"Well, obviously not," Taiya goes to my closet and grabs me an outfit. "I don't think she's gonna wanna see you in your underwear."
I rolled my eyes, going behind her and putting my face in the crook of her neck.
"You think yo mama gon be happy we datin?" I asked.
"I don't think she'll care, Riley. You're worrying too much."
"But this yo mama. You her only kid, she don't want you to be datin no niggas. Especially ones wit kids."
"My mom is going to love Carter. She won't care that you gotta kid."
I was dressed after a few minutes and started heading downstairs.
"Where you goin?" Jada asked, sitting in the living room with the twins.
"He's meeting my mom," Taiya says, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge.
"I thought he already met your mom."
"Not as her boyfriend," I said.
"Oh? Ohhh," Jada giggled. "Have fun, Reezy."
"Thanks," I replied, rolling my eyes.
Taiya and I leave with Carter and start walkin to her house.
"Mane, Ion know if I can do this," I say, stopping.
"I would've thought you met Cindy's mom and didn't freak out." I didn't say nun and Taiya noticed. "Oh shit- I'm so sorry, Riley. I didn't mean to bring Cindy up."
"It's cool. Just.... It's cool."
We make it to Taiya's house and she opens the door.
"Mama!" She called. "Riley and I are here!"
I hear footsteps and here comes Ms. Scorpio.
"Riley! It's been so long! How have you been?"
She hugs and I smirked,
"I been good. I wanted you to meet my son, Carter."
She looks over at Carter and smiles,
"Awe, aren't you adorable. Hi Carter!"
Carter giggles, putting his hands out towards her. I let her pick him up and follow her to the dining room. I could smell fried chicken, collard greens, candy yams, and mac and cheese in the kitchen.
"That smell good, Ms. Scorpio."
"Call me, Aurora. And thank you, Riley. Taiya told me you really liked soul food so I made my specialty just for you."
I smiled, thanking Taiya. I went to the bathroom to wash my hands and started helping Aurora with the plates.
"You don't have to do that," Aurora says. "I got it."
"Nah, I wanna help. You go sit. You prolly been slavin over the stove all day."
Aurora smiles and sits down.
Taiya POV~
Mom comes and sits next to me with Carter and she looked back at Riley who was making plates.
"I really like him," She whispers to me. "I wouldn't mind you dating him."
"Well you'll really like this news, then," I think with a small smile. Riley brings my mom her plate first and then mine. He made a small plate for Carter and then came in with his plate last. His plate was piled with food and my mom smiled.
"You like to eat," She says. "I like a boy who can eat."
I giggled,
"Well you'll love Riley and Carter. They're both eaters."
"The baby likes to eat too? Well, I'll have to have you here more often."
"Mom loves eater," I tell Riley. "That's why she can't wait to be a grandma."
"Well," Riley says with a chuckle, "You technically a grandma now."
"How so?" My mother raises a brow. She quickly looks at me. "You aren't pregnant are you?"
My face heats up face and I quickly shake my head.
"No, no, no, no!" I tell her. "Riley was referring to Carter."
My mom looks at Carter and then Riley.
"Trust me, I would love to be this little baby's grandma," my mom says, "But how would that work?"
"Me and Taiya datin, Ms. Scorpio."
It was quiet for a second before my mom squealed.
"I knew you two would end up together soon! You finally left the ratchet white girl too! Ah, I'm so happy for you both."
Riley's smile had vanished and I could tell he wasn't really happy about mom bringing up Cindy.
"Mom," I whispered.
"Well, how long have you guys been dating?"
"Mom..."
"Is that why you've been over their house a lot?"
"Mom."
"Oh Taiya, why didn't you tell me?"
"Mom!"
My mother quickly stopped talking and looked at me.
"Can we talk outside, please?"
My mom looked from Riley to me and nodded slowly. When we got outside, she gave a concerned look.
"Is there something wrong?"
"Mom, why did you have to bring up Cindy?"
"Well I didn't mean to. I just happy to hear my baby was finally with a respectful young man like Riley."
I sighed, looking away.
"Riley's still really hurt about her. She really broke his heart."
"But you're with him, doll. Isn't he happy now?"
"I don't know, mom. I was just a rebound. I was the girl there when Riley was at his worst and I allowed myself to be the back up."
Riley POV~
Little did Taiya and her mama know, the window in the kitchen was open and I was able to hear the whole conversation.
I sighed. I ain't never meant to make Tee feel like she was a rebound.
"Oh, Taiya, honey. Don't tell yourself that," Aurora says. "Has Riley ever said that?"
"No, but I sure as hell feel like it."
"Listen, talk to him. Maybe you'll hear something totally different."
I went to sit back down when the two came back in.
They both sit down and Aurora looks at me.
"I'm so sorry for bringing up... You know-"
"I know. It's okay. You ain't mean to."
I stood up, wiping Carter off and picking him up.
"We finna start heading back. He need a nap. Imma come back to help clean up the mess."
"Riley, you don't-"
"No, it's fine. I'm gonna go."
I start heading out the door and Taiya looked down. I could see tears in her eyes. I walked past her and headed home.
Jada POV~
While Riley was spending the day with Taiya and her mom, I was at home alone with the boys. Jazmine and Huey was taking Holland to the doctor. And Caesar was out getting the oil changed.
Jackson was sitting up in the living room on the couch and Jordan was trying to crawl towards the toy I put in front of him.
"Come on boys, I think it's time for lunch."
"Lalalalalala," Jordan chanted. That was his way of saying lunch.
I picked up Jordan first and put him in his high chair. I went back to get Jackson and heard noises outside. I stopped in my tracks. I didn't trust anything that could've been going on outside. I quickly grabbed Jordan and put both him and Jackson upstairs in their playpens. I gave them each a cracker and grabbed my pistol from my drawer. I went downstairs and looked out the window. There was someone at my door but I couldn't see who they were.
There was a knock on the window and I instantly go into mother bear mode. My children were both upstairs. Whoever thought they could come to my house and harm my children were sadly mistaken.
I looked out the kitchen window and saw a figure of a girl. Okay, so it's not a big guy. I put my pistol down and go upstairs to Riley's room. I open his window and jump, tackling whoever was snooping through my house.
"Hey!" They yelled, throwing my off and throwing a punch. I flipped back, going into my fighting stance.
"Jessica?"
"Jada?"
We both stared at each other before laughing and hugging each other.
"What are you doing here?" I asked her.
"I'm back home due to..." Jessica pauses, "Medical reasons."
I raised a brow but decided to wait until later to question her.
"You know you could've just knocked," I told her.
"I saw no cars here and I didn't know if anyone was home."
"Well I'm here with my boys-" I remember I jumped through the window and left the door locked with my babies inside. "Shit, the boys!"
Jessica gave a confused look and I pointed at the window.
"You really left babies in the house by themselves?"
"Shut up, you could've at least knocked."
Jessica cupped her hands and I backed up, running towards her and jumping on her hand as he threw me up. I grabbed onto the window and climbed in. I checked on the boys first before bringing them downstairs and opening the door for Jessica.
"So these are your little ones?" Jessica asks.
"Yep. This is Jackson and this is Jordan. My little babies."
"Hi boys. I'm auntie Jessica."
"Where's Donte? Still on tour?"
"Yea. I couldn't stay."
"How come?" I asked.
Jessica bit her lip, looking away from me.
"I'll tell you when everyone get here."
I nodded, going to the kitchen to sit with the boys. Jessica sits with me.
"So, what have I missed?" She asks.
"Well, Riley and Cindy aren't together anymore."
"Shut up," Jessica gasps. "Really?"
"Yep. Cindy thought he was cheating on her so she started acting like a real bitch and Riley wasn't having it. They started arguing and I was coming down to make sure everything was okay but Cindy had a huge attitude about that when Riley pulled her back from gettin in my face, she slapped him."
"I woulda beat her ass after that," Jessica says.
"Oh, trust me, I did. The next day, Cindy was gone. She was supposed to go back to Woodcrest to sing at her mom's club and that was perfect timing for her."
"Wow. That's crazy. Where's Riley now?"
"He took his son to his new girlfriend's house to meet her mom."
"New girlfriend?? Dang, Riley doesn't waste time."
I chuckled,
"She's a good girl. Taiya. You remember her? She was that really quiet girl that came over sometimes to paint with Riley or talk to Huey."
"Oh yea! The dark skinned one that worked really good with make up? I liked her. She was really pretty and sweet."
"I like her too. But Riley's meeting her mom today as her boyfriend." Jessica nods. "How's Donte?"
"He's good. I miss him a lot, but he should be done with his tour in a few weeks."
There was an unlocking noise and the door opened.
"Jada, I'm back," Caesar says.
"Kitchen!" I call. Caesar walks in and was surprised to see Jessica.
"Jess? What's good, kid?" Jessica gets up to hug Caesar and smiles.
"Hi Caesar. It's been a while."
"Where's Donte?"
"Still on tour. But it ends in a few weeks so he should be home soon."
Caesar nods, kissing me on the head and putting his hand on the boys heads.
"So why're you back? Not like I'm not happy to see you or anything."
"She had a 'medical emergency,' apparently," I said, looking back at Jessica.
"I actually said medical reasons, but yea. Something medical brought me back home."
"You're not sick, are you?" Caesar asks.
"No, I'm not sick. I'll tell everyone later when they get back home."
Riley POV~
I come home and see everyone talking in the living room. I look and find Jessica on the couch, laughing with Jazmine.
"Oh, hey Riley!" She greeted, smiling at me. I gave a small smile, waving. "Is that the little guy?"
"Uh, yea. This is Carter," I walked over to her and show her Carter who started getting whiny. "My bad. He just ate, he's really tired. He'll be better when he wakes up from a nap."
Jessica nods and I start taking Carter upstairs. I heard footsteps behind me and Huey was walkin behind me, following me to my room.
I took Carter's dress shirt off and stripped him down to his onesie. I laid him in his bed and he fell asleep instantly.
"How'd lunch go?" Huey asks me.
"She thinks she's a rebound," I said. "She thinks I only dated her to get over Cindy."
Huey lifted his head a bit, looking at me harder.
"Is it true?" he asked.
"Of course not!" I jump, not meaning to yell. I looked down at Carter who stirred in his sleep.
"Let's go for a drive," Huey said. I nodded, leaving the room with him. I whisper to Jada that I'm leaving Carter upstairs and she nodded, letting me know she was going to check up on him while I was gone.
Huey and I get in his car and he pulls out the driveway. We started driving towards downtown Chicago.
"So, what exactly happened?" Huey asked.
"Her mama brought up Cindy and so Taiya went outside to talk to her about it. They ain't know the window was opened and I heard them talkin. Taiya told her mama that she thought she was a rebound."
"And she isn't, right?"
"Of course not! I actually give a fuck about Taiya and I always have." I grow silent for a second. "While Cindy was in Woocrest for college, Taiya was always there for me. She was always talking to me and checked up on me. She actually gave a shit. She was there. And...."
"You fell for her."
I sighed, looking out the window. Huey was the only one I told that to.
"When me and Cindy broke up, Taiya was there like she always was. She'd always been there for me when I needed her most. And.... To hear she thought I only dated her to get over Cindy... It hurt."
Huey glanced at me before turning a corner and parking. I finally looked up and saw where Huey brought us. I looked and saw the burnt down house we once lived in so many years ago. Huey got out the car and looked back at me. I got out with him and we both stood in front of the house, starting at the burnt pieces of brick that was surprisingly holding together.
"You know," Huey said. "Granddad once told me mom used dad as a rebound. She had gone through a terrible break up during her junior year and met dad at a restaurant while she was sulking. He was there and so was she."
I looked at Huey as he stared at the house.
"Even though dad was a rebound, he didn't care. He loved her anyway and mom grew to love him too. Granddad actually appreciated dad since he made mom happy." Huey looked over at me. "Taiya makes you happy right?"
I smiled,
"Yea... She does."
"So what if she thinks she's a rebound? Even if she is, she actually makes you happy. And that's what matters."
I looked over at Huey and chuckled.
"You know. I liked you better when you was gay."
Huey rolled his eyes, chuckling.
"Shut up and get in the car. Jessica has news to tell us."
We get back to the house and Jessica was just about to tell us whatever big news she had to tell.
"Well?" Jazmine asks, we all waited in anticipation.
"I'm pregnant!"
Jada and Jazmine squealed while Caesar, Huey, and I smiled, patting Jessica on the back.
"We're happy for you," Caesar says.
"This is so exciting!" Jazmine squeals. There was a knock at the door and I got up to get it while everyone congratulated Jessica.
Taiya stood at the door, a nervous look on her face. I looked back at everyone else before stepping out with Taiya.
"I meant to come back to help yo mama," I tell her. "I hope she ain't have to clean all that herself."
"No, she didn't," Taiya replies. She looked down. "You heard our conversation, didn't you?"
I sighed, rubbing my head.
"Yea, I did." Taiya looked down. "It's okay though. I actually wanted to talk to you about that."
"If it's true then-"
"Just listen, aight?" I asked. Taiya nodded. "Tee, we've known each other for 3 years now. You was my first friend here and the first person I could actually call my best friend. You was always there for me when I needed you and you was always there when no one else was around. Even when I was with Cindy, I loved you."
Taiya looked up,
"You what?"
I grabbed Taiya's hands and looked at her.
"I love you, Taiya. I really do. I have for a long time."
Taiya's eyes watered and she smiled.
"I love you too, Riley."