****

 

Nine stood above Julius’ crib, her mind sloshing and moving around like a tsunami. She was just about to pick him up when Leaf walked inside the room, strolled up behind her and snaked his arms around her waist. “How you feeling, bae?”

Nine sighed and leaned her back into his chest as she looked down at Julius. “He has to go. I am not sure when but it will have to be soon.”

Leaf removed his arms and walked in front of her. Looking down at his beautiful wife, he asked, “What do you mean?”

“My mind is not right and if he stays, I fear I might hurt him, cousin. We both know it.”

“Things have changed.”

“How have they?”

Leaf looked down at Julius and back at his wife. “I love him too much to let him go.”

Exhaling deeply, she looked into his eyes and walked away from him. Sitting on the daybed by the window, she gazed out of it and stared at the vineyard.

“I didn’t think it was possible but here I am, standing before you and saying with all of my heart that I love that little nigga,” Leaf said. “And I can’t see anybody else taking care of him.” He paused. “I’ll keep him safe, Nine, don’t worry. I’ll keep both of you safe. Just believe in me.”

Silence.

Leaf walked in front of her, knelt down and placed one hand on her thigh. “I think you may need to see another doctor. One who specializes in mental illness.”

“So you do think I am crazy?”

“It’s not that, Nine. It’s just that, well, I don’t think I can help you. I swear to God if there were one part of me that believed that I could, I wouldn’t make a suggestion like this.”

Her shoulders tightened. “You spoke to Chipo, did you not?”

“Yes. And she cares about you.”

“Leaf, even if I wanted to get help, I cannot. Nothing is more important to me right now than this winery. I have to see Francesca through. I just have to.”

Irritated, he stood up and stomped toward the window. Looking over at her, he yelled, “Why is this so important to you?”

“Does it matter?”

“After all this time, you still don’t know what you mean to me.” He paused. “I have given up who I am and what I believe to be with you. Do you actually think I can stand by and not see to it that you get some help?”

She was about to answer when the phone rang. She rose up, wiped her hand down her hair and in a breathy tone, asked, “Who is calling now?”

“This is Brett Jones, Attorney at Law.”

Her eyebrows rose. “I believe you have the wrong number.”

“No, I don’t,” he said confidently. “I represent the Prophet family in a case involving the estate of Kerrick Prophet.”

Nine sat down on the edge of the bed. If this was the karma that Chipo spoke of, it entered her life with vengeance. “So you are saying that you are representing me in a case?”

“No,” he chuckled. “I’m representing the original Prophets.”

She laughed. “Sir, I am an original Prophet.”

“That will be determined in court. The members I represent are the ones who were left out of your grandfather’s will. Now, we are trying to come to an understanding about the estate and before this gets any further, I’d like to see if there is anything I can do to resolve this matter amicably. For instance, you stepping down from the head of Kerrick’s estate.”

“Why would I step down when he gave me everything?”

“That’s what you say, but your family members feel differently and are willing to fight for it.”

Nine swallowed and looked up into Leaf’s eyes. The pain she felt as a result of the betrayal was too hard to bear. As a matter of fact, the last time she felt betrayed in this magnitude was when Fran was alive and she left her in the basement for days when she knew she was in charge of feeding her.

“You tell my family,” she swallowed when the words tasted like shit in her mouth, “you tell them that I will fight every last one of them to the death. And when it is done, everyone involved is cut off for life.”

“I’m really sorry you feel that way. You’ll be hearing from me soon.”

She hung up and dropped on her bed. “They are suing me.” She gripped her stomach. “They are fucking suing me when all I did was try to help them!”

 

****

 

Nine sat in a large leather chair at an expensive restaurant; dark sunglasses covered most of her face because she had been crying all day and her eyes were bloodshot red.

“Baby, you have to eat something,” Leaf said sitting his hand on top of hers. “You’ve been playing with your food. Get something in you.”

Nine looked down at the steak and felt her stomach churn. “Did you make a bad decision to marry me?”

Leaf raised one brow. “Come again?”

She sighed, crossed her legs and leaned back into her seat. “I asked if you think that you made a mistake by marrying me?”

“Do me a favor, cousin,” Leaf said sarcastically, “never disrespect me or my vows to you again. If you’re mad at the family, then be mad at them but don’t take it out on me. I have never left your corner. I have always been by your side.”

“Are you cheating, Leaf?”

His jaw dropped. Believing she just ignored everything he said, he stood up and was about to leave until she said, “I saw her face. I saw the pictures of you with another woman. I was going to deal with it later, when I had the strength. But now I feel like I want to get all of my troubles over with altogether.” She paused. “Now answer the fucking question.”

Leaf sat down and looked over at her. “Bae, I’m not cheating on you.”

“Then who is she? I saw pictures of you with another woman on more than one occasion. She is a beautiful red bone with brown hair. My complete opposite.”

“You don’t think you’re beautiful?”

She pulled the sunglasses from her face and tossed them to the floor. “I asked you a question, cousin! Who is she?” she yelled slamming a fist on the table, causing silverware to fly over.

“That nigga Gates told you, didn’t he? About the woman?”

“Does it matter who told me?” she yelled losing all cool.

As he looked at his beautiful wife, he was taken aback by her jealousy. Finally, he saw the love in her eyes for him. In the past, she made him believe she didn’t care but now it was obvious she did. “I don’t want to talk about it, Nine.”

She leaned in. “What do you mean you don’t want to talk about it? You are my husband and I am asking you a question that may affect our marriage. Who is she?”

“When I feel the time is right, I’ll let you know.” He picked up his fork. “Now, there is nothing more important to me than your sanity. Please eat.”

Her right temple pulsated as if someone were tapping repeatedly on it. The anger she felt was blinding, temporarily causing a white cloudy substance to shroud her eyesight. They were tears. “You are my husband—”

“I am,” he said cutting her off.

“And yet you believe that it is okay to see another woman and not tell me about it?”

He shook his head. “What I find amazing is that you have maintained a relationship with Gates, the man who lost two daughters on our watch, and I was forced to accept it.”

“You never told me not to be friends with him.”

“Because I wanted it to be your decision. Not mine.”

“And I did cut him off.”

“Not before things got out of hand!” He frowned, banging a fist so tight on the table it looked as if his fingers had meshed together and become one. “Not before he fell in love with you!” He paused. “Now, I’ll tell you who she is but it will be on my time!”

She stood up, grabbed a napkin off the table and wiped her mouth although she didn’t eat a morsel. When she was done she threw it in his face. “I want you out of the mansion tonight.”

He was about to lay hands on her but held back. “You can’t throw me out of my own home.”

She moved away from him and her soldiers blocked his path when he tried to follow. “You are mistaken, cousin. I can prevent you from doing whatever I want and I will.”

 

****

 

Leaf held Julius in his arms as he walked up to a large multimillion-dollar Georgian-style home. It belonged to his parents whom he hadn’t seen in well over a year.

His father Justin and mother Corrine Lincoln were real estate moguls and owned half of the buildings in Baltimore City. It was whispered that the real estate company was nothing more than a drug front for a cartel out of Mexico. But it couldn’t be proven and those who kept talking about it found themselves breathing in dirt.

Before knocking on the door, Leaf took another look at the home he grew up in. He recalled some happy memories of playing softball with his father and the huge cookouts with neighbors and friends that his mother hosted. But in his heart he knew something was missing. Never in his life had he dreamed of it being his Prophet heritage.

Leaf took a deep breath and before he could knock, a beautiful forty-something-year-old white woman appeared. She looked different from the last time he saw her. Time had not been kind.

It was Corrine, his mother.

She was shocked, her body trembling, as she observed her only son standing on the other side.

Pushing the screen door open, she took a moment to eye him in silence, each basking in love that was unique to a mother and son. “Autumn,” she whispered. “My son.”

Unable to hold back any longer, she pulled him into her frail body with the baby between them. At the moment, the child was not a factor in their embrace until he began to cry, demanding attention of his own. Slowly Corrine peeled herself away from Leaf and with tear streaked cheeks, her face dressed with a smile, she asked, “Who is this, Autumn?”

“My son,” he said intently.

Corrine placed her fingertips over her quavering lips, looked into Leaf’s eyes and then back at the child. “Oh, Autumn…what have you…”

The ending of her sentence disappeared into the ether, for fear she would say the wrong thing and send him away for another year. But the look in her eyes and the way her body stiffened said it all. She did not approve of her son having a child with his cousin and yet she felt as if there was nothing she could do.

If it were true, in her mind, the damage was already done.

“Come in, Autumn. Come inside of your home.”

 

****

 

With Julius asleep in another room, Leaf sat on the sofa and enjoyed a small lunch of tuna, homemade chips with garlic salt and a glass of wine with his mother. They talked about the neighbors and his family on Corrine’s side.

They purposely avoided talk of Prophet business, knowing that there would be plenty of time for that when Justin arrived. And as if on cue, after twenty minutes in relative peace, he busted into the house.

Tossing down his briefcase on the end table, he rushed up to Leaf as if he had no love for him. “What are you doing in my house?”

Despite the anger of his words and the tenseness of his body, Leaf could somehow sense the immense adoration. “I came to see you, Dad.” He smiled slightly, hoping to calm him down like he had so many times when they were close. “You and ma. Aren’t you happy I’m here? Because I’m happy to see you.”

“Justin, please let him alone,” Corrine whispered lending as much help as she could. “He just got—”

“I told this boy when he decided to take up with the Prophets that he would no longer be my son.” His breaths were so heavy they rocked his core. “I told him that I would disown any child who slept with his own kind under the guise of lust. And yet he left anyway and shared her bed! It’s an abomination!”

“I love her, dad,” Leaf said calmly. “Is it my fault that you allowed that to happen? Because nobody told me Kerrick was my grandfather. Or that Nine was my cousin.” He paused. “Why didn’t you tell me about your side of the family? Why didn’t you tell me they existed? This is as much your fault as it is mine!”

“I didn’t introduce you to them because I don’t respect my father’s beliefs and I didn’t want you exposed to that lifestyle, Autumn! I wanted you to have a chance at a real life with Corrine’s family.”

“But the Prophets are my family too! I didn’t want it to be true but it is!” he yelled placing his hand over his heart. “And it was not your job to keep them away from me!”

When Justin saw his son’s tear, he was shocked because he never saw that side of him before. Suddenly Leaf expressed his emotions. Were the Prophets responsible for the change in his son?

“Sleeping with your own kind is not right. And I will never be able to respect that.”

Leaf’s head dropped. “I love you, dad. I love mom too,” he said looking into her eyes before focusing back on Justin. “But if you push me away, I won’t come back.” He paused. “Ever. Is that what you want?”

Corrine stood up and walked toward her husband.

“Justin, please. Don’t do this to him. Don’t do this to me.” She paused. “You’ve been wondering what has happened to me over the past year. Why I’ve been sick and suddenly developed cancer. I believe it is because I missed my boy.” She paused. “Actually, I know it is because I missed him but I was too afraid to feel in front of you, because of how you treat my feelings on the matter. You can act as if he doesn’t exist. But I can’t. I miss our child. Don’t you?”

Upon hearing that his mother had cancer, Leaf stood up and moved toward her slowly, as if he were a zombie. “Mama, you have…you have…” The words were too heavy to utter and yet he needed to know.

“Yes, son. I’m dying. And I prayed for you to come home so that I could see you again. And my prayers have been answered.”

With the news confirmed, Leaf stumbled backward and his father caught him before he fell.