Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 55769 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55769 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Shirleen’s nails dug into his thigh.
“When I got out of the hospital,” Roman carried on, “Shirleen took me in. Sniff’s more brother to me than most blood brothers are to each other, so where I go, he goes, and vice versa. That means he moved in too. We fell in love with her, she fell in love with us, we all decided to make our family official. We both turned eighteen, we made it official. That’s how it happened.”
At this point, Shirleen took away the one she had on Moses and put her other hand on Roman’s forearm that was resting on the table.
“Who’s Sniff?” Judith whispered across the table to her father.
He jerked his head to the side, Julien’s way.
She nodded.
“Why’d you get shot?” Alice asked Roman quietly.
It was Julien who answered.
“We’re tight with a lady who’s a social worker at the shelter where we hung. Long story, but she had some bad guys after her, one who wanted to kill her. He got his opportunity, and Roam put himself in front of one of the bullets.”
Alice lifted both hands to the base of her throat.
Now Judith was also staring at Roman.
Moses stifled a groan, because that kind of show of devotion would earn the same thing from his youngest for maybe the rest of time.
“He got me, but he still got her. Shot her twice. It’s just that Law’s a survivor, so she survived,” Roman muttered, a sliver of embarrassment now creeping into his words.
“Seems like you’re a survivor too,” Alice noted.
“Only because Law taught me how,” he replied. He glanced at Shirleen. “And Shirleen did too.”
“Law’s the social worker?” Judith asked.
“Jules. Law’s her street name,” Julien answered. “I named myself after her because Shirl-Ike isn’t a badass name, not to mention, it isn’t even a name.”
Judith laughed. Alice tore her eyes off Roman and laughed too.
After giving a visible squeeze, Shirleen took her hand from Roman’s arm and carried on eating.
“And you’re going into the Army?” Judith inquired of Julien, thankfully taking them out of a conversation that would only serve to make his youngest fall deeper for Roman.
“Ship out next month,” Julien replied.
They managed more normal through the entrees and desserts, and through that, Moses was pleased to see the girls respond to Shirleen’s unique blend of warmth and sass.
When they were finished, his family walked hers to their car and Shirleen handed out hugs to both his girls. He got handshakes from both her boys. And his girls looked happy their dad was happy when he kissed Shirleen on the mouth before he helped her in the passenger seat.
Roman was now behind the wheel.
He didn’t pull from the curb, though, until Moses and his girls were in the car.
Shirleen raised good kids.
He’d paid for it, so even though it drove Judith nuts whenever someone else drove her baby, Moses took the wheel.
“So?” he asked, pulling out behind the Navigator after he adjusted the seat, something else that drove Judith nuts.
“I like her a lot!” Judith exclaimed, and she had to mean it, considering her dad just adjusted her seat. “Her Afro is insane. It’s so cool. There’s so much beauty in Black hair, and she’s all about it.”
He could not argue this because he felt the same way.
“Alice?” He directed this at the back seat.
“She loves them,” Alice said.
“Of course she does,” Moses replied. “They’re her boys.”
“No, I mean, Julien, he’s obviously not hers, but if you were blind, you’d never know it. It’s like they’re hers hers. Not like she adopted them.”
“It is like that,” Moses concurred.
“I noticed that too,” Judith said. “It was really sweet. I thought Julien was going to give us a talking to so we’d be nice to her when he first showed at the table.”
“They’re protective,” Moses murmured.
“I like that for her. Sons should be protective of their mommas. Like daughters are protective of their daddies,” Judith decreed.
“Exactly like that, sweetheart,” Moses confirmed.
They let it lie then, and Moses didn’t think it was a good idea to press further opinions out of them. It was one dinner. They all had a lot of getting to know each other to do. Shirleen was a beautiful, sharp, funny, kind-hearted woman with an enormous amount of love to give. His daughters were good girls to their souls.
They had time.
It was all going to be great.
That said, he was glad the first meeting was over. He loved his daughters, and Shirleen was the best woman he’d ever met, and although he didn’t show it, he was nervous too.
He got them home and got them settled, not that there was much to that. They had the switching houses thing down, something that nagged his gut every time it happened. But it was part of their lives. Nothing he could do about it, and nothing he would, because the alternatives were either not have them or to have stayed with their mother, which was not going to happen.