Page 24 of Her Sweetest Desires
I was so pissed, I was shaking. We made it to the dining room, and Truce wrapped me into his arms. He pressed his lips to my ear and told me to breathe. I hadn’t even realized I was even holding my breath.
I rested my forehead against his chest and nodded.
“Let’s get this food on the table, and then I want to take you somewhere.”
“Go where? Can we take the boys? I feel like we haven’t had a family outing in so long.”
Truce chuckled becauseso longwas like three days ago.
“Of course we can take them, but the where is a secret.”
I grinned at my husband and stroked his beard.
We parted when the family came into the dining room. I went to the kitchen to grab the rolls from the oven and put them on the table. While everyone sat, I went to grab my boys so mymother could pray over the food. TJ sat in Truce’s lap while I held Tristian.
Mommy prayed over the food, and by the time she reached Amen, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
“Whew! Let’s eat.” Daddy grabbed his wife, kissed her, and whispered something in her ear.
The grin on her face caused me to frown, and I shared a look with my brothers who showed the same sentiment.
“Y’all, please. We had enough with Puddin’ and Truce. We don’t need any more.”
The whole room laughed at Carter, and I flipped him off.
“Hey!”
At the base in my daddy’s voice, I snatched my hand down and apologized. Laughter flowed around again. Daddy gave me a look, and I smiled because I was just a girl.
“Why is there an extra place setting, Puddin’?”
Emotion clogged my throat, and I blinked rapidly to keep my tears away.
“Nannie.”
Silence fell over the room followed by head nods.
“Perfect.”
Mommy’s voice cracked, and Aunt Agnes sucked her teeth.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Truce kissed my cheek. I chuckled and shook my head. I made room for her mother, to honor her, as it was the first holiday without her, and Agnes still managed to have a stick up her ass.
Instead of staying until Saturday, she was about to get put out as soon as dinner was over.
“The festival of lights? Oh my gosh, baby! This looks so amazing.”
“It came across my social media a few days ago. I would have brought you guys Sunday, but I figured we needed to get away tonight.”
“Well, you figured right. Although everything turned out right, and I had been overreacting, as usual, . . . I’m grateful you kept me centered, but Aunt Agnes had one more time to say something.” I frowned then rolled my eyes over to his.
We stared at one another, wearing smiles that were only broken by TJ asking if we were getting out.
That little boy was really my son because he was like hurry up. I laughed and unbuckled my seat belt. Truce climbed out of the car, walked around to my side to let me out, then to the back seat for the boys. I grabbed Tristian’s carrier and strapped it on.
Truce handed me the baby, and I got him situated.
“Alright, TJ, when we get into the park, stay close to Mommy.”
