Page 15 of Mahogany 1

“And I also know you ain’t the only parent they got,” She complained, twisting her lips up. “That girl act like she can’t bring my grandbaby’s to see me, like they only got one grandmama.”

“It ain’t even like that though. I’ma get them over here. You know NeNe be busy.”

“Mmhmm. Whatever you say, boy. Ain’t nobodythatdamn busy. Y’all supposed to be a team.”

It was like that. Mahogany didn’t fuck with my ma and for good reason. Growing up, she gave NeNe a hard ass time. Especially when she found out we were having a baby. At fifteen and sixteen, we were in no rush to tell our parents we had a baby on the way. Shit, Mahogany didn’t even want to keep it. But even at that age, I knew enough to know that I didn’t want to lose my first child. Either way it went, our parents were goingto find out because NeNe would have needed parental consent to abort. After the news about the pregnancy came out, I felt like she would have rather gone through telling them by asking for an abortion than carrying through with the pregnancy. She had a rough ass time. Especially since it came out before she was ready to tell. That was my fault because I fucked up and had to tell my ma.

The stress of keeping the secret kicked my ass every day and got in the way of basketball. Moms saw it on me, asked what was going on, and I told her the truth. Regretted it the minute I did. She called Mahogany all types of names. Fast ass little girl. Fast ass little ho. A gold digger. Hot in the ass. Everything Mahogany wasn’t and I defended her every single time. It didn’t matter though. Because I had a promising basketball career ahead of me, she painted NeNe out to be after money I didn’t even have yet. That wasn’t the worst of it. She dragged me to Mahogany’s house ten minutes after I told her, and pretty much forced us to tell her parents. NeNe didn’t talk to me for a week.

So, Mahogany couldn’t stand my ma. It was going on nineteen years of us being together and she never fucked with her. Couldn’t remember a time where they really, genuinely got along. The only reason they were cordial was because of the kids. If it weren’t for us having children together, they wouldn’t see each other. Lowkey, if we didn’t have kids, I don’t even think NeNe and I would have lasted so long.

“Y’all decide on what y’all doin’ for Bre-Bre’s birthday yet? I sholl hope I’m invited,” she continued to press. “Since I sholl didn’t get invited to NeNe’s.”

Mahogany’s thirty-fourth birthday was next week, and I was throwing her a party. A party my ma was definitely invited to. She might not have fucked with my ma, but she respected her and wouldn’t leave her out of a party that the whole family was invited to. Everybody’s invite was sent out through text. A groupchat my ma was a part of. Because I knew my mother, I knew she’d try to pull the ‘I didn’t get it’ bullshit, so today I came through to make sure she knew. Shit, we just talked about it fifteen minutes ago, before she started on her dinner. But she decided to be petty and pretend the conversation didn’t happen.

“Straight?”

She twisted her lips up. “Mmhmm. Youjustinvited me.”

I extended my hand. “Let me see yo’ phone, ma.”

With a light laugh, she waved me off. “You ain’t gettin’ my phone nigga. I said what I said.”

“I bet,” with a light laugh. “You on bull shit.”

Regardless of how she felt about Mahogany, it was clear to me that she was bothered by something else. Every time I came around, she made it her business to make a slick remark about Mahogany not liking her. As if she wasn’t the reason for the strain in the relationship. Mahogany was a sweetheart that showed her nothing but respect. Every time she came through, she was wearing a smile, addressing ma as ‘Ms. Morris’.

“And you know yo’ mean ass invited to Bre’s. That’s a given,” I joked, to lighten the mood. Draping my arm over her shoulder, I kissed the side of her head. “We throwin’ her party at the same spot NeNe’s gon’ be at. That hall in Farmington. Same place we always at.”

“Okay, okay. All the way deep west again, huh?”

I didn’t visit my ma much for this specific reason. The only thing she’d done since I pulled up about an hour ago was complain. Out of me and my two siblings, she and I were the closest. When I was younger, my brother, Deante, used to talk shit, saying moms was only closer to me because I was going to get us out the hood. When basketball fell through after I tore my Achilles, our relationship stayed the same. His response to that was, “Of course she couldn’t make it obvious.”As the middle child, the nigga was jealous. It wasn’t as if me and ma had thebest relationship no way. Moms chewed me out just as much as she chewed Tae and our sister Amber out. We just talked more.

“Yeah,” I said with a light sigh. “Bre picked it,” I threw in there before she could call Mahogany bougie.

I loved my wife and would go to the ends of the earth to defend her. We could’ve just gotten into it, if someone said something out of the way about her, I was on their asses. Quick. Because I knew Mahogany. The real her; not the snooty, stuck up, bougie version of her that other people created based on their own opinions. She was hardworking, calculated, silly, selfless, and a true sweetheart. I might not have gotten the best parts of her these days, but I knew they existed. Every now and then, I got a glimmer of her. Truly. Mahogany before the scars I inflicted and my heart warmed. That was why I loved her. That was why, despite how hard she was making it for me, I kept trying, refusing to give up because I knew what awaited me at the end of the road.

“She just like her momma,” she commented with a light smile before cutting her eyes at me. “Hopefully she don’t give me no great grandbabies no time soon.”

With my arms crossed over my chest, I frowned at her. “Alright man. It’s time to chill, for real.” I leaned against the counter, facing her and sized her up. “What’s goin’ on? Why you talkin’ so much shit?”

We talked like this. Regularly. Ever since I was old enough to curse in front of her, there weren’t any filters. She might’ve gotten on my nerves but realistically, she was my best friend, as crazy as she was. When I was a youngin’, I referred to my ma as the realest nigga on my team. Because, shit, she was.She was all I had growing up. I didn’t have a father. I mean, I had one but to me he was dead. He turned his back on us a long ass time ago, when I was seven. They broke up, and shit he broke up with us too apparently because he stopped coming aroundafter that. Called every now and then, but eventually that ended up stopping. I couldn’t tell you anything about him. Mahogany’s daddy, Reg, was the only father I ever really knew.

“Ain’t nothin?—”

“Nah, nah, nah. You feel the way you feel about Mahogany… I get that. You ain’t say shit bad about Bre but you ODin’ on NeNe with the sly remarks, like crazy.”

With a deep breath, she sat the fork she was flipping porkchops with, down. She placed her hand on her hip and looked at me with dipped brows. “My first grandbaby is turning eighteen and I don’t know a damn thing about a damn thing. Don’t know what color she wearin. Don’t know what kinda party it’s gon be. Hell, I haven’t even talked to her. I’m in my feelings, Ducati. Like a muthafucka. Because that wife of yours steady shutting me out?—”

“Can you blame her though?” I cut in, with a raised brow. “You shut her out first. You ain’t a victim, ma. She is. Low key, I’m tired of all of it. I thought by now the issues would’ve been resolved but you won’t?—”

“I won’t what?” she interrupted. “Bring up old shit? Apologize to her about some shit that happened damn near twenty years ago?” She waved me off and pointed. “What she need to do is learn some respect. She ain’t doin’ shit but turning my babies against me. Probably talk bad about me to them too. Ain’t no telling. I ain’t heard from nan one of them and I’m sick of it Duke.”

I tossed my head back with annoyance and shook it. Every time I came over, it was the same shit. However, it had been a minute since she dwelled on it like today. The last time that happened, Sparkle was turning one and she was pissed because we decided to take a vacation instead of giving our daughter a party she wouldn’t remember.

“I love you, ma. You know I do, right?”

“Mmhmm. Gon’ on. Keep on defending your wife. You know she foul. You know it! You just,” she paused and shook her head with the corners of her mouth turned up. “Coochie whipped.”

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