Page 73 of All The Smoke
“Baby, this is my mama, Isis, but everyone calls her Ice.”
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Randall.”
“Please, don’t call me that,” she pleaded. “That’s my b—witch with a capital B of a mother in law.”
“Isis, you need to stop.” Ms. Gladis frowned. “What if Kadeem spoke about me like that?”
“That’s different, Mama. You practically raised Kadeem too.” She rolled her eyes on the low then looked back my way. “Just call me Ice, love. You and KK are making me feel old enough by making me a grandma.”
“I know, my fault.” I laughed.
“Both of your faults, but I promised KK I wouldn’t fuss,” she said and pointed to the table. “This is Kaori’s godmother Treva and her godfather Morton.”
Shaking both of their hands, I said, “Nice to meet you both.”
Morton nodded. “Likewise.”
“Nice to meet you too, honey,” her godmother followed up.
“Okay, now that he knows everyone, can we eat?” Morgan asked.
“Mo, take this to the dining room table and hush,” Ms. Gladis fussed, handing her a dish.
“Is there anything I can help with?”
Ms. Gladis looked at me and smiled. “No, baby. You can go on in there with KK’s greedy ass. I know she’s already in there eating the cornbread.”
Sure enough she was at the table stuffing her face when I entered the room. She looked up when she noticed me and smiled.
“I appreciate you not leaving me hanging, baby,” I jested as I took a seat next to her.
“I’m sorry, babe, my granny just makes the best bread,” she groaned. “I think our little peanut likes it just as much as I do.”
“Greedy ass.” I grinned and kissed her temple. “You didn’t tell me Big Mo was ya godfather.”
“I thought you’d put two and two together with Morgan and… oh, we were gone by the time you got to school with Bernard and Elijah.” She giggled. “But yes our parents are best friends so it was inevitable.”
“Word, so?—”
“Uh, uh, uh,” Kaori’s mother interrupted as she entered the room. “You two have been spending enough time together as is. This is my time to get to know the man that involuntarily aged me by twenty years.”
“Twenty years? Ma, stop being dramatic,” Kaori said.
“I’m not being dramatic. I’m being serious.”
“Isis, hush and bless the food,” Ms. Gladis chastised.
“Please, because a bitch is….”
Ms. Treva frowned. “I know you lying, Morgan Johnson.”
“Sorry, Ma, I forgot where I was,” Morgan mumbled.
Ms. Gladis narrowed her eyes at her. “Oh, I’ll make you remember.”
“Sorry, Granny.”
“Hm, bless the food, Isis.”
