My first independent release of 2020 and you were there! If you weren't, don't panic. Here's the link.
Home for the Holiday: Love a Project Girl Holiday Reunion
The Gift of Grace
Christmas 2019
“What do you think about this?” Ishmael asked Pepper, showing her a text from his ex Mercedes. Pepper read it a few times as she smiled, then tilted her head as she squinted her eyes.
“Is she for real?”
“She said yes, so hell yeah. Apparently, the baby’s Petey but I’m still prepared to take a DNA, Pepper. I don’t fuck with liars and there’s no need to have loose ends. My number’s changed and so has yours.”
“Thanks to you. I was fine with—”
“Girl, stop lying,” Ishmael playfully fussed as he snatched her down in his arms. “You’re glad no one has access to me, but you.”
“And the blogs. Don’t forget the blogs,” she reminded him, pursing her lips.
“The same damn ones who revealed that Ishmael ‘The Iceman’ is very much off the market as soon as my girlfriend says yes after all of that bullshit that got leaked.”
“Ishmael, I don’t need any rebranding. I’m a nobody to be honest to the world. I just want a fresh start and you gave me that. Marrying doesn’t change that.”
“Marrying you will do more than that. It will make you a Payne, my wife, my best friend,” he said, waving Blake and Drew over. “Aye, what was that I asked y’all to do?” he asked them, as they pushed each other like always. “I’m saying though. Can we all focus for like two seconds?”
“Yes, sir,” Blake said, out of breath. He then dug in his pocket, unfolding a piece of paper. He lightly nudged Drew who lifted his out, then pressed it down on his jeans to get the crinkles out.
“Damn,” Ishmael mumbled, then smiled. “Work with us, baby. We’ve been working hard on this,” he said to Pepper with loving eyes. “Blake, you’re up.”
“Since the day we met Ishmael, life for us has been good. We play video games all times of day and night, eat stuff like cookies and popcorn for breakfast, and never have to worry about sharing shoes or coats. He fusses at us, but we know that even when he does, he loves us. Oh, and ummm…he loves you,” he said and smile, folding his paper up.
Pepper wasn’t sure to chuckle or fuss. Especially about allowing them to eat cookies and popcorn for breakfast, but allowing them to be kids is what she hoped for, so she decided to let it go for now.
“Drew, you’re next.”
“And because Ishmael loves you, he decided to ask the two men in your life how we would we feel about no longer being Murphy’s but taking on the last name of Payne. He said that being with us made his life more meaningful and uh, uhhh,” he said, looking down closely at his paper. “I told you we should have used pencil,” he fussed at Blake. “Anyway, we think that would be pretty cool, but we can’t until you tell him that you will marry him,” he finished, lowering his paper. “I hope he knows what he’s doing,” he mumbled to Blake as everyone laughed.
“Aye, aye. Stick to the script,” Ishmael told them, shooting Drew a look that could kill.
“Sorry,” he said, then scooted behind Blake who pushed him away. Just like that, they were back consumed with fighting each other until Ishmael snapped his fingers, demanding their attention.
Pepper looked at Ishmael, then around as all of his friends and family stood. It was his parents, Chico and Myirah, Keyz and his aunt Iyana, his best friends Blooney and Kevin, and her best friend Sasha. Not to mention the rest of his aunts and uncles, younger cousins and brothers and sisters. The presence was sound indication the room was full of love and support, something foreign to Pepper after years of neglect and verbal abuse by her own mother. A mother who had forced her to fend for their household which included Drew and Blake, her two younger siblings she loved as if she had birthed them herself.
Her eyes grew misty and at a loss for words. Her heart screamed yes, but the guilt and shame that nestled in the pit of her stomach just wouldn’t allow her tie Ishmael down. Myriah, Ishmael’s mother knew that look all too well, as she slowly walked towards them.
“Please say yes, Pepper. Don’t punish him because of me. Because of my dark heart that chose to leak things to the media out of fear of losing my son. I swear I will do everything possible to mind my own business if you do from here on out.”
“Liar,” Chico his father coughed and said, covering his mouth. She popped him on his arm too as the others laughed. “What?”
“I’m trying, baby. Come on now, please,” she said to her husband who seemed to always joke at the wrong time. She was Ishmael’s manager who felt she was looking out for his own good, but the biggest liability at the end of the day was her.
“I know, baby. Just trying to keep it light before this nigga cry if she say no,” he told her, taking her hand. “Like my wife said, don’t punish this nut for us. He was born like that.”
“Dad, are you serious?” Ishmael shot back, begging his father to chill. It was no secret his mother tried to destroy he and Pepper’s relationship, so this was his one shot to get back in Pepper’s graces now that Mercedes’s baby wasn’t his.
“Hey, don’t blame me. Blame this fool,” he said, pointing at Keyz who was Ishmael’s uncle. For years, it was said he fathered Ishmael due to Myriah’s immature antics back in the day when she was secretly dating both men. Thankfully, they all had weathered that storm yet old habits didn’t die easily it seemed once Myriah overstepped in Ishmael’s love life.
“Oh God,” Iyana squealed, grabbing Keyz’s arm before he said something. “Baby, don’t. Let’s not be ignorant like his real parents,” she whispered, giggling as Keyz through Chico a look.
“Yes! Yes! Yes, I will marry you, Ishmael Payne.”
“Swear?” he said, grabbing her by both hands.
She snickered, nodding her head yes.
“Aye, I’ma be a husband, my nigga,” he said, giving Blooney some dap. “Kev, keep the hoes from around me now. I’m taken!”
“Now that part he got from that one,” Keyz said, getting back at Chico who was a known whore for years before Myriah made him commit.
When the clock stroked twelve at midnight, they all sang and toasted to a new year. A new year of love, laughter, new blessings, but most of all, new beginnings.
****
Christmas 2020
Pepper had been at it all day from standing in extremely long lines at the grocery stores to lines in department stores and her favorite, Hobby Lobby, in order to decorate her home for Christmas. This was her first year not only doing it in her own home, but as a wife and a mother after giving birth to her son, Ishmael Junior.
“Baby, where the egg nog?” Ishmael asked her, his background booming with all the guys in the locker room.
“Ish, why are you asking about egg nog when you’re supposed to be in practice?” she asked him, reaching up and trying to gram a reef that was on the top shelf. The baby, just two months old, was sleeping quietly but every sound he made pulled Pepper’s attention back to him. He was more than just a symbol of love she’d created with her husband. He was her one opportunity to prove that her mother’s fucked up maternal instinct had no bearing on the love and way she cared for her child.
“Because Drew called me after Blake told him you drank the last egg nog and now they want some but I won’t be home until after eight. I already told them they couldn’t leave the house until their chores were done and you refuse to let them use Instacart. So again, where’s the egg nog.”
“How about at the store. And you tell those two that they don’t need to have you police who drank or ate what in that house. WE are the adults, Ishmael. Haven’t we talked about this?”
“Girl, all you had to say was you was going to buy more. Where my son?” he asked, trying to ease out of getting on her bad side so he could lay up under her right when he walked in the door.
“Your son is with me and I’m in Hobby Lobby?”
“Again?”
Pepper couldn’t understand one, why was this call even necessary since it wasn’t an emergency and two, why did it matter if she was in Hobby Lobby again. It seemed everyone else moved about freely, but she was on a strict schedule about her comings and goings.
“And before you ask, you have my son in these streets and I know you refuse to take security, Pepper?"
“Because I don’t need security to go to Hobby Lobby?”
“You need it because of who I am, Pep. I swear you think it’s a joke, but before me and this NBA shit, my peoples dominated the streets. Hell, still do. Niggas from the past who still in their feelings about my both of my fathers will touch anyone connected to them if they could. That means you, Pep.”
“Fine,” she grumbled, wanting to get the last few things and be on her way.
“Fine,” he mocked her after he told everybody to clear the locker room so he could talk to his wife in peace. “Aye, where my mother?”
Pepper looked at her cell phone like it had shit on it and sighed. “I guess at home, work maybe. I don’t know. Why?” she asked, her voice laced with attitude.
“Because she wants to help, Pep. I thought you two were good. Shit, she even got you lined up for an interview with the Breakfast Club, right?”
“Uh, yeah. Without my permission. I’m not a celebrity, Ishmael. You are. I’m just—”
“A part of me who’s fucking amazing at what she does. Stop watering down your worth, Pep. I’ve spent a gang of money on this restaurant venture just for you. The cooking show will be piloted soon and you know what? My mother doesn’t want a dime from anything we make. She’s trying, baby. Can’t you try to?”
Pepper wanted to, she really did but after all of the horror stories she’d heard over the years about Myriah’s scandalous ways, lying about Ishmael’s paternity, trying to expose her being exploited sexually for money by her mother and all the other antics she pulled to break them up, she still had her reservations about this new and improved Myriah.
She was definitely a hands on grandmother, gifts being delivered almost daily for their son, but materials things didn’t move Pepper. A person’s character did. When she looked at the time, she noticed a notification and she groaned.
“What happened now?”
“Ishmael has an appointment with Dr. Stevens in an hour and I’m not even halfway done with shopping, not to mention to get home in time to cook,” she admitted, sounding overwhelmed. The restaurant was fully staffed and thankfully, she’d been by their earlier in the day, but tending to her family and keeping up with Ishmael home games to make sure he had home cooked meals were a task in and of themselves.
“Baby, can I please call my mother. You know it’s nothing for her to step in,” he urged her, praying she would at least meet his mother halfway. “Tell me what you need done and what you want her to do and it’s a wrap, baby. It’s done.”
“Maybe pick up a few groceries and start dinner,” she grumbled, tossing the reef and a few more decorations in the basket causing the baby to whine.
“Pep—”
“The king is fine,” she told him quickly, then wiggled his pacifier in his mouth as she spoke to him in a baby-like voice. Ishmael loved to hear that, his heart swelling when he thought of his son and wife.
“The king better be, girl. That’s my life right there. Both of y’all. Now, head on to the doctor’s office. I got the rest of it.”
A few hours later after the doctor’s appointment, Pepper was able to pick up a few more things from Michael’s and JoAnn Fabrics. Their nine foot Christmas tree was going to be featured in a magazine. They could have easily hired a decorator, but Pepper wanted to be hands on. Besides, no bitch was coming in her house to do anything that required tooting her ass up in the air or arching her back.
Ishmael was nothing like his father but Pepper knew woman and with a man like Ishmael, a sexual harassment charge could easily be tossed to the predators called news reporters and paparazzi, to take her man down. He was only two years into the NBA with already on East Coast finals ring under his belt. The fans still wanted to know more about Ishamel “The IceMan” Payne but she could careless. She was raising her brothers and her son to be humble and grateful for all things.
“Hey, there, grammy’s baby,” Myriah said as soon as Pepper came through the door as he sat in his car seat. And like clockwork, Ishmael Junior’s eyes popped opened. Pepper wanted to roll her eyes as Myriah cooed, but she couldn’t lie. Her soon seemed to know and find comfort in his grandmother’s voice. “Everything worked out okay today?”
“Everything’s cool. Got his two-month shots. A little fussy, but he’s probably hungry if he starts to whine,” she told her as she called out to Drew and Blake. When the came out of their room, she told them to get the bags out of the truck.
“Want me to make him a bottle?” she offered.
“I’m breastfeeding,” Pepper told her, being short which didn’t go unnoticed.
“I saw a few bottles prepped already in the refrigerator. I can handle that while you shower before Ishmael gets home.” Pepper was about to lose it. She couldn’t handle all of this niceness and hands off attention as if Myriah wasn’t trying to destroy her life a year ago.
“That’s for emergencies.”
“Oh okay,” she said, disappointment heard in her voice.
“Pepper, guess what Grandma Myriah made?” Drew hollered, coming through the door.
“Really, Drew? The baby?”
“Sorry,” he said, walking over to him as he snuggled up against his grandmother’s chest.
“He’s smiling,” he told his sister who took a deep breath.
“Drew? Blake? Can you give me and your sister a moment?” Myriah asked the two of them while Pepper went silently through the mail. She was counting to ten first, but now twenty with hopes of this being short.
“Pepper, I don’t know what else to do. I’ve done it all and I…I…”
“You what?” she asked, finally acknowledging she was irritated with her presence. “Proving that I am not up to par? That I need help? Coming in here to save the day with dinner? Booking radio shows? Magazine spreads for our Christmas tree as if I couldn’t do it?”
“Of course not,” she said, taken aback. “I’ve done those things because that’s what mother’s do, Pepper. I’m a mother, always have been, no matter what I’ve been accused of in the past. Your husband has never gone neglected, Pepper. Please, tell me what I need to do so we can move past whatever this is.”
“This is her being scared,” Ishmael said, walking in without them knowing. “She’s scared, mama, of messing up but guess what, shit happens, right?”
“Watch your mouth, Ishmael,” his mother told him. “The baby can hear.”
“And the baby shits,” he shot back, jokingly until she gave him a stern look. “I’m joking, ma. I’m just tired of my two girls beefing.”
“Who’s beefing?” they both said in unison until he looked at the both of them, chuckling.
“You two and honestly, this shit is whack. I’m not going anywhere, Pepper, even when you do fuck up from time to time and neither is my mother. This right here, all four of us, is what I call family. Families will have disagreements and families will lose trust from shit that happens, but before I allow my son to grow up in some bullshit ass dysfunction, I’ll step in and handle how everyone moves.”
“Excuse me?” Pepper countered, a mouth slightly agape.
“You heard me. You want someone to dictate how to treat each other like family, how to split spending time with the baby and how we entertain each other during the holidays I will. I’d rather not, but my son will not be around two bitter women.”
“I am not bitter,” he mother quickly told him, then rocked Ishmael Junior a little when he whimpered. “He’s hungry.”
“I can—” Pepper said and stopped, looking Ishmael’s way. “Uh, you want to feed him?” she asked Myriah as if she were chewing on a glass of rocks.
“I—I can. That is if you don’t mind.”
“Baby?” Ishmael looked at her, praying she’d just at least try…for him.
“I think that would be okay.”
“Great. Why don’t you take me to the kitchen and show me how you warm them up. I’m old school. We used to use the stove with pot and fill it up with water.”
“Myriah, you bought us a bottle warmer last week. A huge one that could easily warm up like four at a time. You don’t remember?” She did, she was just hoping Pepper would see her offer for help as a sign of them working together.
“Oh, I did. Didn’t I, but I still want to do things your way. I’m just here to help.”
“And we are glad that you are. Right, baby?” Ishmael asked her as she nodded apologetically. She adored her husband and would go to the ends of the earth to create peace in her house. Even if that meant working day in and day out to be at peace with her mother-in-law.
As they all ate tacos, beef enchiladas and empanadas Myriah made from scratch, they all sat around and discussed what they wanted for Christmas. The answer was easy to Ishmael as he looked around and them up. He was grateful to God that on this day, the fifth day of all days before Christmas, God had offered them grace. Grace meant God’s unmerited favor on his family; a family built of secrets and lies that overtime, had consumed them.
He wasn’t sure if all was behind them, but he was sure that as long as grace was rendered to each other, the Paynes could keep finding a way to love on each other one year at a time.
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from Author Tisha Andrews and the Payne family. Crew for life!
Comments