l family was.”
I took Mom by the hand and pulled her down the steps and to my car. “You have some nerve to be flaunting around here with them, Mom. What the hell are you doing?”
“The same thing you should be doing. I’m standing beside Justine.”
“You always wanted a daughter and she was the closest thing to it for you. I get it. You love Justine. I get that. But there comes a time when you have to choose sides and this is one of them.”
“I can’t believe there is even a doubt about what side to choose. You have known her for as long as you can remember and she has never hurt a soul.”
I thought about the fights Justine got into when we were at school. I hadn’t known her to intentionally pick a fight, but she was capable of hurting more than a soul. “I don’t care if she never hurt anyone, she tried to kill someone that means a lot to me. That should mean something to you!”
“Well, she must have done something to provoke Justine when she went to your house looking for you that night. It’s just not like Justine to…”
“Mom, I am your only child and I love you. But if you don’t show more compassion toward the woman I am going to marry, the woman who will birth the next heir to Turner Enterprises, the woman who will one day sit on the throne as the queen of the Turner family, then you are walking a dangerous line of losing our relationship all together. Consider this our last conversation about it,” I said as I reached for my car door.
“That tramp will never sit at the head of our table,” Mom spat clearly becoming protective of our family’s dinner table, which had been an heirloom passed down for more than a century.
“Oh but she will,” I tossed over my shoulder.
“I’ll set it on fire first,” Mom yelled behind me.
I walked back to her. “Set it on fire and I’ll hire a wood maker to make an exact replica. Rest assured that everything about the Turner name will stay intact, no matter what game you decide to play. When you go home, think long and hard about which team you want to play for.” I got in my car and backed out of the parking space, leaving Mom with some choices to make.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Destiny
From the Mouth of Babes
I didn’t feel too hot the rest of the day. I went and picked the kids up and we had a day in. I ordered a veggie pizza and a few movies on demand. I kept thinking about Justine’s light sentence, while the kids bragged about how much fun they had with their father the night before.
“And he…he took us to see the Disney on Ice and they was skatin’ on all that ice, Mama. It was so much fun!” Montana said.
My mother had dressed her in a pink tutu and white leotard with her pink dance shoes. She had a big pink bow around one large afro puff. I had no doubt that Mama let Montana pick her own clothes out. She had on all of her favorite things.
“When I grow up, I wanna be a skater,” Montana added as she pretend skated around the living room.
“You can be just that sweetheart. You can be anything you want to be,” I said, holding my arms out for a hug. When she hugged me, I kissed her on her chubby cheeks.
“Mama, we had fun with Dad, but…” Junior said, looking as if he had heavy thoughts weighing on him.
“Come sit beside me, buddy,” I said, knowing Junior needed to talk after all that he’d witnessed in the past few weeks. “Son, first of all, some of the things that happened here yesterday, you shouldn’t have heard or seen.”
“Mr. Jacob was hitting Daddy. Daddy didn’t do anything to him, he just started hitting him,” Junior said searching for answers.
“I’m not defending Jacob. He was wrong for hitting your father, just like your father was wrong for hitting him. It was a big disagreement that should have been talked out. You know how I always tell you that if someone bothers you not to hit?”
“Yeah. Like at school, when Brandon tried to take my cookie out my lunch box. I didn’t hit him. I asked him how he would feel if I took his food. Then I told the teacher and she made Brandon apologize and we talked about how it feels when people take something from us.”
“Well, that’s what should have happened with Jacob and Montie. But sometimes even grown people don’t handle things the right way.”
“Did Jacob apologize to Daddy? That’s what you tell me to do when I do something wrong.”
“He hasn’t yet, but I’m sure that he will.”
“I think you should tell them to come over here, so they can sit down and have a talk like my teacher makes us do,” Junior said as if he’d figured out the solution to all of our woes.
“I will see if I can make that happen, Junior.” It sounded like a good idea in theory.