They were sweating like turkeys on Thanksgiving. The day had finally arrived. Justice and Robin had been so anxious to find out Justine paternity but now that the only thing that stood between knowing was a sealed envelop, they were both nervous about finding out. They just sat side by side staring at the white envelope afraid of what would happen when they found out what was inside.
“Well, open it.” Justice said finally breaking the silence between them.
“Why don’t you open it?” Robin asked as she nibbled on her fingernails. She wanted to know but she was afraid that the results would prove what she’d been thinking all along. After a few more minutes of the both of them just sitting there, Nikki bit the bullet and picked up the envelope. She could hear her heart pounding in her chest while her sweaty hands trembled as she slowly tore opened the envelope. Her deep breaths quickly turned to panting as she hesitantly removed the letter from the envelope and unfolded the letter. “Let’s read it together.” She said before she took one last deep breath and positioned the letter so that Justice could read it with her. They silently read the word:
This test was conducted to establish paternity for Justine Jordan Harrison. Our lab tested DNA provided by the potential father in this case, Corbin Justice Harrison, in the form of saliva. Our test concluded with 99.99% accuracy that Corbin Justice Harrison is…
Just then, a loud knocking at the front door interrupted them. Panicked Justice quickly stashed the letter back inside the envelope while Robin went to answer the front door. His nerves were on edge, as he felt like a little kid narrowly escaping being caught watching porn. He tried to sit back and appear relax, as he listened to the sound of Robin opening the front door. An eerie sense of dread rushed through him as he heard his cousin’s voice followed by the giggly chatter of Justine. He immediately got up from his seated position on the sofa to go speak to his family.
He reached the door just as Jay said, “I took both the girl’s out of nursery early so that they could spend some time together. They really had a good time playing at FunBox.” Jay was surprised to see Justice at Robin’s place during the day so he asked, “What are you doing here so early? I wasn’t expecting you until later tonight.”
Justice was at a lost for words, but thankfully Robin wasn’t. She quickly intervened as Jay handed over her daughter saying, “I told him that I had a graduation gift from Nikki and he bout broke his neck to get her. I was just about to give it to him when you knocked on the door.”
“Nikki?” Jay replied, “Why is she giving you a graduation present?”
“Because we’re friends.” Justice replied as his cousin raised an eyebrow. He continued, “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?” Jay smiled, “I’m just saying. Nikki and I are friends too and she didn’t give me a graduation present when I graduated.”
“You didn’t graduate from law school.” Justice replied. He had kept his relationship a secret from everyone, including Jay because of Jay’s friendship with Ricardo. Justice continued, “Besides, I’m special.”
“You’re special alright.” Jay said, as they waited for Robin to return. Jay switched subjects as he put Justine’s baby bag down beside the door saying, “Mom is worrying me to death about this graduation party next weekend; running me all over town to get this and that. Grip is coming up from Atlanta with his mom, so you know we gotta show him a good time. Hell, he’s happier than everybody else that you gonna be a lawyer, with all the trouble that boy stays in he needs a lawyer in the family.”
“How many times do I have to tell that boy that I going to be in tax law not criminal law?” Justice asked as he rolled his eyes skyward.
“Yeah but he figures that you’ll have connections to some good defense attorneys.” Jay smiled just as Robin came back into the room with a very decorative small box. Jay was the first to comment as he said, “Nice. How much you want to bet she paid someone else to wrap that? Five dollars, it’s a watch.” He then turned his attention to Robin without so much as a breath between thoughts and said, “Damn girl! Your boobs look big as Hell!”
Robin ignored Jay completely as she looked at Justice and asked, “Aren’t you going to open it?”
Justice felt put on the spot but he didn’t give in so he replied, “no, I’m going to wait til later. I may even wait til next week. It may be the only present I get.”
“Well, Amen to that,” Jay replied before he laughed at his own comment. He continued, “What are you about to do now?”
“I don’t know. I was thinking about going over to the house to see if Aunt Simone cooked anything. It is kind of early, though.” Justice said looking at his watch. He could tell by the look on Robin’s face that she was more than ready for Jay to leave, but he wanted to discuss the contents of the letter she had shown him.
“Yeah, mama won’t have dinner ready before six.” Jay said as he too checked his watch. He continued, “But she’ll definitely be cooking though because I told her you were coming to town so I know she’ll have those vittles on and popping when we get there. Let’s go shoot hoops so I can give you this beat down on the court before we go get a good meal.”
Justice didn’t want to leave but knew that it would seem suspicious if he didn’t, so he kissed Robin on the cheek and said goodbye. Jay attempted to do the same thing but his lips were met with the pine of the front door before he could reach her cheek. The two guys agreed to meet at the park in an hour, as Jay had taken up residence with Sasha and since Justice played for team Robin he couldn’t go over to her place. Instead he stayed in a hotel when he visited now, which is where he would go to change and open his gift from Nikki in private. He tore the paper off the small box and opened it to find another leather box inside, which he opened to find a white gold watch. He took it out of the case, flipping it over to find an inscription on the back that read: Anytime you’re ready, I’m waiting-Love Nikki.
Robin’s attempt to mend broken relationships had sent her on another mission. She had been watching her cousin sulk for almost two weeks. Velle had sent what equated to a field of rose bushes, not to mention his constant calling only to be told that she wasn’t there even though she always was. Whenever she did speak with him, her tone was cold and her words were short. She wouldn’t tell Robin just why they had broken up so now that Robin had dedicated her day off to getting lovers back in love; she was determined to find out precisely what was going on.
She called Velle to meet her for lunch at the same Bistro that Monique had met Nikki at nearly two years ago. He was already there when she arrived, so she figured he was anxious to hear what she had to say about Monique. They ordered drinks and appetizers and talked about current events and weather until they put in their entrée orders. By the time their lunch arrived they were both ready to find out what the other had to say.
“So,” Robin said as she shoved some of her food around on her plate. She said, “You want to tell me what you did to break my little cousin’s heart.” She shoved a fork full of food in her mouth, as she waited to hear what his reply would be.
“Well,” he said before her swallowed the food in his mouth. She took a sip from his glass before he started, “She was there when I told Nikki that it was me who broke her and Justice up…that and Nikki kind of told her some things my mother said about her before we started dating. I told her that my mother has nothing to do with my feeling for her but Nikki has convinced her that what mama says goes and I don’t know.”
“Well Velle,” Robin sighed before she continued, “Lucky for you I like you. I’m going to work my womanly magic and I’m going to make things better for you. I know you love Mo and she loves you. She’s just very sensitive when it comes to things like parents, especially mothers because she doesn’t have one, so she wants her man’s mother to like her. She and Kelly’s mother have an amazing relationship and Ms. Mitchell treats her like a daughter. That kind of stuff means a lot to Mo, so knowing that your mom doesn’t like her really resonates with her.”
“It’s not that my mom doesn’t like her. She does like her. She likes her a lot, it’s just,” Velle pause as he looked for the right words. Finding none he said, “She has all these ideals about what she thinks a marriage should be like and who should marry whom. I mean, it’s just her way. I can’t explain it. Your mom hangs out with Mrs. Montgomery and all of her snooty friends. You know how they are and how they think.”
Robin laughed because she could sympathize with Velle. Her parents had rushed her down the aisle so quickly when they found out that she was pregnant that she hadn’t even had time to have second thoughts and it was her parents and what they thought of her that kept her married to a man that thought he should be able to have a mistress with a wife on the side. She shrugged as she said, “I know, but what are you gonna do. It took me finally telling my parents just how badly Jay had hurt me throughout the years for them to see the pain their pushing us to stay together was causing me. I think, Mo is just worried that you won’t have the courage to do the same to when your mother tries to push you two apart.”
“Robin, I’d do anything to Monique back if it meant telling God, Himself, I’d do it. I love that girl so much,” Velle said spinning his fork in circles on his plate. Robin looked at him, looking like the mirror image of his sister.
Robin was a sucker for love and romance, so she thought, “what the Hell”. If she couldn’t have a happy ending at least she could help the people she loved have one. She patted Velle’s hand and said, “don’t worry, mama will make it all better.”
