PART 5
| Weeks
Later |
Janine made it to London in time to see Gigi get her bronze
medal. After everything finally died down, and she felt more like herself, she
cooked a big dinner and called the kids over. After they ate, Jiselle's
husband, Lucky's wife and their kids went to the other room while Janine sat
with her 4 to talk with the twins. AJ and Gigi were just present just because.
"Your father left something for you at the hospital before he went on
tour," Janine slid them the envelope, still containing the trip to Spain
that she didn't plan on using. "Have you two decided what you want to
do?"
Jiselle picked it up before lucky, and hunched her shoulders
until she pulled out a smaller envelope that said her name and
handed lucky his. As soon as Elle saw what was inside, her jaw dropped. Lucky
saw her reaction and opened his. It was a folded letter and a check for 5
million dollars, "holy shit..." He spat out.
Janine chuckled, "boy, you act like you're not used to
cash. He calls it investment money. And he wants to spend time with you two
overseas."
"That's not the point, mom... That nigga don't know us
and gon give us this much money... I don't know
about it... " Jiselle rolled her eyes.
"Is today your black day, pumpkin?" Smiling, Janine
put her hand on top of Jiselle’s and squeezed a bit, "I guess he feels
like he has nothing else to give you since you're adults."
Lucky laughed, "you're a trip ma. I guess that makes
sense."
"I'll hang out with him" Elle said.
"Read the letters. I'm sure he left contact info for you
in it because i don't have it."
They both nodded, "so, you ain't gonna start seeing him
again, are you mom?"
She laughed, "no. I want a regular
guy with a regular job and no kids."
"Just asking."
"Mmhmm ... Don't worry about what
i'm doing," she smiled, "do what you will with the money and give him
a call."
Lucky nodded, "Elle will."
"Yea, I'll call," Jiselle
smacked Lucky on the arm, "Lucky can't hide his disdain from anyone. I can
be rude in a nicer way."
"Give him a chance," Janine urged, "you two turned out great but nothing can replace a father. Better late than never."
"Give him a chance," Janine urged, "you two turned out great but nothing can replace a father. Better late than never."
"True, but... Never mind, I'll do it
tomorrow." Jiselle told her, then looked back down at the check.
Janine looked at her, “what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, Mommy,” she sighed, “is he
really a nice person after all he did to you … To us?”
“Time changed a lot about him for the
better. Listen, babies … If you don’t want to deal with him, you don’t have to.
It’s the beauty of being grown ass people. That decision is yours. I don’t want
to push for it. Do what’s best for you.”
“I just feel like we should know our real
father.”
“Then do it. Ask him all the questions
you’ve ever wanted. I’m sure he’ll answer them. Don’t hold back. Let him know
what you expect now even if it’s nothing at all.”
Jiselle nodded, “ok, Mommy.” She looked
to Lucky, “what do you think?”
He hunched his shoulders, “I don’t care
either way. I’m too grown to be mad at the dude anymore but I aint initiating
shit.”
“Stuff … Not shit,” Janine eyed him,
“make your own individual decisions,” she said more to Jiselle than Lucky,
knowing she would follow his lead.
“Ok,” Jiselle nodded once more while
Lucky gave his mother an apologetic smile.
| Days Later |
“Maddox … Its Jiselle.” She’d taken the
time to dial the number which was hard as hell to do. “If you don’t have time
to talk, I can call back another time.”
“This is actually his assistant to his
assistant, Ron. Who’d you say it was again?”
“Jiselle Hines. If he’s busy, it’s fine,”
she rolled her eyes, not at all surprised, and damn sure annoyed, she had to go
through an assistant to talk to the man.
A quick shuffle was heard, “it’s a
Jiselle Hines,” he spoke to Maddox who’d just come from the stage for a break.
Right after, there was a break in convo
and Maddox took the line, “Jiselle, how are you doing, sweetheart?” He was
beyond excited to talk to her.
“Fine. Is it a bad time? I can call back.
I don’t even know what part of the world you’re in. It could be 3am,” she
nervously rambled.
He smiled, “you are so much like your
mother. Don’t worry about it. I’ll always make time for you even if its just a
few. I’m so happy you called …”
Jiselle found herself smiling and already
getting something she’d missed. “So! Dad …”
Laughing, “when can we see each
other? It’s completely up to you. No rush. Just let me know. I can do a
weekend! Could I bring the baby? She’s half Cuban.”
“Well,
I’d love it if you guys would come see me when I’m in Italy. I have a house and
you have a lot of family there. In like 2 weeks … Does that work?”
“That’s
great! Uhm …” She sighed, “I’m not sure about my brother. Do you think you
could call him? He doesn’t want to initiate. I can give you his number.”
“Yea, no
problem.” He requested without words, “what is it, baby?”
Jiselle
gave him the number. “Next time I call, do I have to go through the assistant?”
“I was
rehearsing, which is the only reason you had to, otherwise, I have my phone on
hand … Sorry about that.”
“Oh.
Sorry! Well … I’ll see you in 2 weeks.”
“No
problem. I’ll call you with your flight details as soon as possible. Take
care.”
“Bye
dad,” she giggled and hung up, then immediately called Lucky.
“Yo,” He
answered.
“I just
talked to dad. He’s gonna call you so PLEASE be nice,” she begged.
“Who said
I wasn’t going to be?”
“You know
you can be very black sometimes,” she joked.
He rolled
his eyes, “what is he-” then an incoming call came in, “hold on Elle, it’s a
private number,” he clicked over, “this is Addison Hines.” He spoke
professionally.
“Hey
Addison, its Maddox, how are you, man?” Maddox asked with a smile.
“I’m
good. How are you and the tour?”
“Good,
just rehearsing … Hey I’m gonna be touring in Italy in two weeks and I’d love
for you to come out with your sister and son. I’m sad about the missed time and
would love a chance to get to know you and your son.”
“In 2
weeks?” He paused and immediately sent an email to his secretary to cancel
anything he had set for that time, “it’ll work. We’ll come.”
“Perfect,
I will give you a call as soon as I get your flight information.”
“Alright,
take care, man.”
“You
too,” Maddox hung up.
Lucky
clicked over where Elle was still holding. She almost squealed, “isn’t he the
nicest guy ever?”
He
laughed, “shut up. He’s alright.”
“Yay! I
can’t wait to call mom!”
“Get off
my phone then,” he smirked.
“K. Bye.”
