Page 26 of Father of the Bride
Davion hesitated, then dropped his voice. “My pops. I just ain’t in the mood for his bullshit this weekend.” He tensed. “Sorry.”
Mark waved the apology off. “Don’t worry about it. What’s the bullshit?”
He almost asked for the tea, but thankfully, he caught himself. Working around twenty-year old women ten-plus hours a day had made his vocabulary a lot more colorful.
“Walkin’ around here with his chest out,” Dav said, “acting like father of the year when he’s the one who effed up our family.”
Mark kept his expression neutral. “You don’t have to get into it,” he said carefully, “but is it not something you can put to the side while you’re here?”
“Not when it’s in my face.” Davion looked out over the water. “The chick he cheated on my mama with. He’s bringing her to the wedding.”
“You and Brook made the guest list. Why’d you invite her?”
Davion heaved a heavy sigh. “My mama told me to. Well, she said it was okay to invite her, and Brooklyn told me we had to give my pops a plus one because of etiquette or whatever. I wasn’t about to argue with two women over wedding business, so—“
“Yeah, I hear you.” Mark chuckled. “You think your mom is really cool with it?”
He took a deep breath. “I don’t even know. My mama is…different. You’ll be thinking she’s on one thing but she be on something entirely different.”
Mark knew that better than Davion could ever know. It was part of what attracted him to her in the first place.
“Did you, uh…did you give your mom a plus one?”
“Of course,” Dav said. “But…well, I think her best friend, my auntie Tigra, was supposed to be that. She’ll be here Friday. But she got her own invitation, so…”
“So, no date for your mom?”
Davion chuckled. “Actually, yeah. I was getting to that.”
“Yes?” Mark nearly dropped his cigar.
“Yeah. I’m glad, too. Strange as that sounds.” Dav’s laugh was joyful for the first time all day. “My pops is still sniffing around behind her. It drives me crazy.” He shook his head. “My brothers don’t even know the whole story. It’s a mess.”
“Well,” Mark said after a beat. “Now I understand your mood.”
In the distance, the coastline glimmered under the sun, while Mark’s villa loomed above, large and magnificent.
And sometimes? Lonely.
Where children used to run around the house tracking sand and stickiness, there was silence. Where Alayna used to flit about the house, making everything interesting and beautiful, there was the sepia tone of boredom.
Mark looked at Davion, amazed by how much the young man looked like his father. But his character was all Cici, and thank God for that.
In a voice low enough for only Davion to hear, he said, “I think she deserves better.”
Davion looked at him, brows furrowed.
“Your mother,” Mark clarified. “I don’t know her likeyoudo, obviously, but from what I can see, she’s…” he trailed off, unsure of how to finish that thought without sounding like he was already planning to demolish the woman.
Davion’s expression shifted from confused to cautious to curious. “Um…what are you getting at?”
Mark smiled. “Nothing. I just know a good woman when I see one.”
Davion didn’t respond, but it felt like the weight of understanding settled between them.
Mark straightened, flicking ash into the ocean. He gave Dav a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Just don’t stand my daughter up at the altar. I got a lot of money tied up in this. And I got old man strength. You don’t want it with me, son.”
That earned a real laugh from Davion. “I would never. I know a good woman when I see one, too, sir.”
