Page 234 of Own It

daylin godfrey

FOUR YEARS LATER . . . AMALFI COAST

“You better not jump in the water, Jojo!” Kasia yelled, as Josias stood at the edge of the yacht we were currently riding on.

She was surrounded by JJ, Julianna, and Divine as her hand rested on her pregnant belly holding their son, diamond wedding ring ricocheting off the sun.

“Only ’cause you asked me nicely,” he replied to his now wife, causing all of us to laugh.

Josias had stayed true to his word of being faithful to Kasia, and they’d gotten married last year. Now, she was five months pregnant with their son, who they planned to name Messiah.

Tarin had been a bitch for that first year or so, according to Kasia, but once she got a man, she’d been cool ever since. Figures.

“Nigga know he was scared and wasn’t gon’ do the shit.” Ayan stated what we all were thinking, Mylo, Talid, and Rakim co-signing verbally as Téa, Shardaya, Kindra—Ayan’s girlfriend of three years now—giggled in a slightly tipsy manner.

Every year as of late, we went on couple’s trips now that Talid was completely cancer free, but of course, we brought the kids along to make it a family vacation. And once Kindra came onto the scene and proved to actually be a constant in Ayan’s life, he started to come along, and with her.

Life had been great for the past four years. Rakim and I got married three years after the birth of the boys—Romelle and Raine—then last year, we welcomed our third son, Ryson. Unlike Rakim and Ayan, Romelle and Raine were identical.

I could hear my twins horse playing with their cousins at the back of the boat where we could still see them, as Ryson slept soundly across his father’s lap.

“He’s living better than I was at his age,” I said, looking down at my chubby baby in his sun hat and swim trunks as Rakim chuckled.

I grew up rich, but my parents never took us on lavish vacations. They waited until Cairo Jr., Serene, and I grew up to start jet setting.

“Daddy gon’ make up for it.” Rakim pulled me closer to him, pecking me.

“You already have.”

I leaned up some to kiss my man, loving to see him so happy and as an amazing father. He was no longer selling drugs, only running the boxing gym and bakery company, but of course, since he’d made so much over the years and saved so much, money hadn’t slowed up. He couldn’t spend all his money even if he tried.

As for my business, it was continuing to elevate. I was now selling so many cases that I had to double my staff and change warehouses, which I wasn’t complaining about at all.

My parents were great; my dad was still obsessed with Rakim, and Cairo Jr. was still Cairo Jr. I was closer to Serene at this point, but we weren’t as close as I was with Kasia, Shardaya, and Téa, and I didn’t think that would ever change.

Hell, I think I got along with Kindra more, as much as I hated to say that. However, once I accepted Serene’s and my relationship for what it was, I stopped sulking over it.

Don’t get me wrong, we talked and enjoyed each other when around, and I would always keep up my relationship with my niece and nephew, but it wasn’t quite the bond I wanted to have with my sister, and that was okay I’d learned.

Kindra turned on some music using her Bluetooth speaker and phone, and once Glorilla came on, Téa hopped up to dance.

“Zaria, Myla!” She called for her daughters who always loved to dance with their mother.

“I told you I don’t want them listening to her ass.” Mylo frowned.

Though Téa said she would take a long break before having more children, a year after Zaria was born, she got pregnant again with Myla. Mylo was elated and like he’d promised, had adopted Zaria. She kept the Godfrey last name, out of respect for her father, which I thought was dope of both Téa and Mylo to allow.

“My girl got the edited version playing. Relax.” Téa bent down to peck his lips gently.

Of course, she was no longer a dancer but had gotten a job a couple years ago at a women’s center to help women like herself. She loved the job and because she could relate to a lot of the women that visited, they loved her.

We laughed, all the ladies standing to join the dancing, making the rest of the kids come over.

“I ain’t gon’ show out how I used to.” Shardaya twirled her hips happily, making me grin widely.

It was great to see her excited and overjoyed all the time, and now that Talid was healthy, I could tell how grateful she was. She told me it was hard to get upset about anything these days because the years of wondering if it was Talid’s last day reminded her of how trivial a lot of shit was.

I tried to keep that in mind whenever I wanted to yell at Rakim for clearing a whole box of Ritz crackers that I’d just bought.