Loved By You

Forty-three

Jacqueline

"What did you say to her?" I asked. "I was just trying to help, Jackie." I pushed Damon's hand away as I tried to process my thoughts. Damon and I had met at one his company's Christmas parties that Maja had invited me to. We hit it off right away and our friendship soon turned into a relationship. I didn't want Maja or any of my kids to know because they were all protective me especially Montae and Arnell. "Damon my kids don't know I'm dating let alone I'm dating my daughter's boss." I paused. "After everything that happened to Maja this..." I trailed off.

"Look I'm sorry. Honestly, Jackie. I really thought I could help." Damon said. I turned and looked at him before I sighed. "I get why you did it. We've been together for a while and I still have you sneaking around like we're some teenagers. For that I'm sorry." I said hugging him. "Thank you." He mumbled. "But when it comes to Maja as my daughter, leave that to me." He nodded his head. "I completely understand. I overstepped it won't happen again." He said. "But I guess now's a good time as any to tell my kids about us." Damon looked at me and smiled.

Maja

I was doing Sami's hair as she watched tv. I chuckled as my baby was talking to the tv just like I did. "And made El Dorado. The magnificent and golden. One thousand years ago. El Dorado, El Dorado, El Dorado. El Doradooooo!" She sang. "Sing it baby girl," Nadia yelled from the kitchen. I shook my head at the foolishness. The doorbell rang and Nadia rushed to go get it. "Oh, hey mama." I heard Nadia say.

I froze as I heard footsteps getting closer. "Hello, Maja." "Grandma!" Sami yelled jumping up. "Hey, baby girl." She said as she hugged Sami. "You look really pretty mama." My mother said playing with one of her curls. "Thank you." Sami cheesed. "Maja, Nadia I need to talk to you, Arnell, and Tae." She said. And as if on cue the front door opened and Tae's loud voice rang out. "Where is everybody!?" He yelled before finding us in the living room. "Oh, my fault." He said smiling. "So, what's up mama? You said you wanted to talk." Tae asked.

"Where's Arnell?" She asked. "Arnell!!" Nadia called. "Sami go put your stuff up, baby," I said. "Okay, mama." She said. "I left you a snack on the counter," I called as she walked off. "What's happening?" Arnell sleepily asked rubbing her eyes. "Mama has something to tell us." I sat on the couch leaning on Tae. "How you are feeling fat mama?" He asked poking my stomach. I chuckled. I had told Tae and Rod that I was pregnant a few weeks ago and they were back to calling me the nickname they used when I was pregnant with Samiya.

"You can't call me that. Seeing as how I'm not fat yet." I said. "Which is crazy cause when you had Sami you got huge quickly." He said laughing before Nadia and Arnell plopped down on the couch next to us. "Okay guys I have something to tell you and I've been keeping this from you for a while so I'm just going to tell you." She began to ramble. I looked at her worried. "I've been seeing someone." She said looking at us. "Is that it?" I asked as my siblings looked at me like I was crazy. "What?" I asked with a shrug. "Our mother is dating some man, and you say is that it," Arnell questioned. "I mean of course I want details on who this man is but I never expected her to just be single forever," I said.

"If I'm being honest me too," Nadia said. "How long have you been seeing this man?" Tae asked pouting. "Almost a year." She said. "A year?" We all said. "You've been keeping this from us for a year," Tae said. "Just start from the beginning," Nadia said. Our mother sighed before looking at me. I made a face as she stared at me. "Maja." She said. My eyes examined her face before they widened. "Are you serious?" I asked. "I'm really sorry." She said grabbing my hand. "Are we missing something?" Arnell asked. "She's been dating my boss, right mama," I said making all them look at her. "It started out with us only talking when I was asking about Maja. Then after several encounters, we became friends and from that friendship came deeper feelings." She explained.