The Gang’s All Here…
A fter the burial, Renee felt like a 1,000-pound weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Her grandmother was finally laid to rest and all her suffering with it. Now it was time to move on.
She’d say her goodbyes to this side of her family and try her best to keep in touch on holidays, but for the most part she was going to give up this life. It was best after all.
Not only did her family always have their hand out, which often got on her last nerves. She had also married into the Russian mafia - a world that posed a threat to anyone who wasn’t protected by guards and walls.
Staying close to family here would only put them in danger eventually. She had contemplated that fact, since the moment Big Momma fell ill, and she had shown up with a team of security just to take care of her.
This wasn’t for show, regardless of what some of her family thought. This was a necessity because of the lifestyle she had accepted and the lifestyle her husband led. The money had come with problems. And the problems were not going away.
The other women in the Medlov family didn’t have that concern to contend with. Royal was an orphan who only reconnected with her mother late in life and only did so sparingly. Valeriya came from a family of freedom fighters who could take care of themselves, and Lilly had walked away from her family in New York, never to look back. Their family was right here in this bathroom along with the men who waited for them downstairs.
But she had walked a different path. She had a family full of people to account for – people who at some point, if they were not careful could serve as collateral damage. She had seen it happen before and simply was not willing to allow it to happen again.
Flushing the toilet, she stepped out of the bathroom stall and saw her girls congregating around the sink. They had all changed clothes, relieving themselves of their restricting but refined dresses to slip on slacks, flat shoes and cotton T-shirts, so that they could help serve the guests downstairs in the banquet hall.
Royal reapplied her red matte lipstick in the mirror while Lilly slipped her red-bottom heels into her overnight bag. They both looked up at Renee when she came out.
“You feeling better, Ma?” Royal asked, setting down her tube of lipstick. She turned from the mirror and gave Renee a hug.
“Much better,” Renee said, wiping the bottom of her eye with her index finger as Royal released her. She looked around the room at the women. “I can’t thank you all enough for coming. I know there were other things that you were working on.”
Royal waved off the notion. “Other things can wait.”
“Not the thing Peaches was working on.” Renee hated that she had missed their first real project. Everyone had been working so hard while she was away.
Royal couldn’t wait to tell her the good news. “It went off without a hitch. Peaches saved those girls and got rid of the problem.”
Renee still felt uncomfortable about the idea of killing people, even if they deserved it. There was something unsettling about it happening at her hand. Her response was less than explosive. “Well, that’s good.”
Royal sensed Renee’s hesitation, but didn’t press the issue. Today wasn’t about that. “You had your hands full. Being here was what mattered. We came down here, because you matter.”
“I appreciate it so much. You just don’t know how much better I felt when I saw your faces.”
Valeriya was in the corner of the bathroom sitting in a chair, feeding her son. “You don’t have to thank us. This is what family is for.” Her Ukrainian accent stuck out in the room. She looked down at the baby and rubbed his head. “If you don’t have family, what do you have?”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Royal said, pulling her long black natural tresses up in a ponytail.
Lilly passed Renee a bottle of water. “Whatever you need, sis.”
“What she needs is something a little stronger,” Royal joked. “But we can take care of that when we all get back to the hotel.”
Renee smiled. Now was as good of a time as any. “I can’t drink…at least for the next seven months.”
Lilly frowned and turned to Royal.
Royal, having been pregnant a hundred times, already knew what that meant. Putting her hands over her mouth, she screamed. “Oh my God!”
Valeriya stood up and walked over with the baby in her arms. They all exclaimed happily, encircling Renee and hugging her.
“Does Anatoly know?” Royal asked, touching Renee’s stomach. “He is going to freak.”
“Yes, I told him a week ago. He’s happy.” Renee’s cheeks began to burn.
“I know he is,” Lilly giggled. “You know how that man loves kids.”
“We are a baby making factory,” Valeriya joked.
“That we are,” Royal said, stepping back. “Well, shit, girl. We need to really celebrate. You know what they say. God takes a life, he gives a life. It’s the balance of things.”
Renee nodded, wiping tears of both joy and sadness. “I told Big Momma before she passed. She couldn’t have been happier. Said she had a dream the week before I got here about fish and knew somebody in the family was going to have a baby.” Sniffling, she took a napkin from Royal and wiped her tears.
“She won’t miss a thing,” Lilly said, rubbing Renee’s hair. “She’ll be right here looking down, watching over you.”
The room became silent, seeing the emotions overwhelm Renee. This was a lot to deal with all at once and she had the women’s sincerest sympathies.
“I said I wouldn’t cry,” Renee said, tears starting to stream down her face faster than she could wipe them. Finally, giving in to the day’s events, she sobbed into her hands. “I just miss her so much.”
The girls hugged Renee tightly. Rubbing her back and running hands through her hair, they comforted her through the tears and pain.
“It’s okay to cry,” Royal said, wiping her own tears as she patted Renee. It pained her to see Renee suffer such a great loss. “We’re here for you. We always will be.”
***
Downstairs the somberness of the occasion had passed. Soft jazz played over the speakers just enough to drown out the conversations. Mood lighting danced around the space in purple and gold. A full-service staff in all white uniforms worked the tables, while the bartender manned the bar station in the corner. Guards walked the property to ensure that no uninvited guests or threats interrupted the gathering. And the room slowly packed with people, most of whom Anatoly didn’t know.
Renee had made sure every detail of the repass was upscale including black linen tables with black skirts topped with votive candles, chocolate mints, flower arrangements and pictures of Big Momma through the years in dainty little frames for the guests to take home as a memento.
The food had been catered by a celebrity chef with a special menu of Big Momma’s favorite foods and a projector flashed pictures of family gatherings throughout the years.
It was all first class, fitting for a woman who had meant so much to so many.
Pleased with how Renee’s hard work had turned out, Anatoly sat with the men in his family at a round table in the back of the banquet hall, waiting on the Medlov women to emerge from the bathroom upstairs.
Now that Big Momma had been buried, the attention had permanently shifted from her to him and his large entourage. As a result, they had relocated as far away from the rest of the guests as possible. Putting a few guards in between them and the large crowd as a deterrent, they kept to themselves instead of mingling.
With his suit jacket hung over the back of his seat and his sleeves rolled up to reveal his elaborate tattoos, Anatoly drank a glass of the vodka that Gabriel had brought him to mellow out. All he was missing now was a cigarette.
“It was a good ceremony,” Dmitry said, watching his twin boys chase Alexandria around the room. In their little shorts, suspenders and high socks, they kept each other busy. But he wouldn’t stop them. The harder they played, the better they’d sleep later.
“I thought so too,” Anatoly said, placing an arm over the chair. He glanced over at Renee’s female cousins as they giggled and gawked from their table. If nothing else, he’d been ready to get away from them. “I’ll just be glad to get on a plane and get out of here.”
“Had enough of Atlanta?” Gabriel asked sarcastically, pulling off his tie. “From the looks of things, you have a whole fan club here.” His stomach growled loudly after a long day at the church. Breakfast had worn off hours ago. Looking over at the long table of catered food, he tapped his fingers on the table anxiously awaiting a plate.
“Don’t remind me. It was exhausting just watching Renee. She’s been going nonstop.” Anatoly took another sip from his glass. “Her family told her what they wanted and she did it all. I would have gone crazy. Her aunts were arguing, bitching about everything and her uncles was no better. Her cousins were useless, if not for their constant flirting. But she never got angry, never got frustrated.”
“Renee is a good girl,” Vasily said, pouring himself a tall glass of vodka. He wasn’t the type of man who liked family gatherings. All the hugs and kisses made him uncomfortable. This entire day had made him uncomfortable, but he had suffered it for his friend.
“She’ll remember that you were there,” Dmitry assured, more relaxed than the rest of the men at the table. “In their time of need, we have to always be there. Happy wife. Happy life. I taught you all the importance of it.” He too noticed all the looks around the room, but he also expected them. How often did Russian billionaires dine with the common people? “Once this is over, you’ll never have to do it again. Trust me. But family is the most important part of a man’s life.”
Anatoly put down the glass. Speaking of family… “She’s pregnant,” he said, raising a brow. He smiled at his father and put both elbows on the table. Lacing his fingers together, he watched their faces light up. “Two months.”
Dmitry smiled, pleased to have a new grandchild. He wanted a house full of them. The more the merrier as far as he was concerned. “This is wonderful news. What do you want this time? Boy or girl?”
“A boy,” Anatoly answered without pause.
“Congrats,” Gabriel said, genuinely happy for his cousin. If he had his way, his son would not be the last of his name either. Children were a badge of honor in this family.
“Spasiba,” Anatoly answered.
“Everyone should have a boy,” Vasily chimed in. He glanced at his son in the corner playing on the iPad with Anya. “They make a man out of you.” Even though he had missed a large chunk of his son’s earlier life, he had tried to make up for it every opportunity he could.
Dmitry grabbed the bottle and poured himself a drink, then poured one for Vasily. He pushed it across the table to him and cleared his throat. “Let’s make a toast to my boy.” He locked eyes with Anatoly, who had become a man who had made him proud, despite all the obstacles life had put in front of him.
Dmitry held the glass up high, his Rolex and diamond cufflinks glimmering under the dim lights. “To a healthy baby boy. May my grandson be strong, beautiful, smart and full of purpose,” Dmitry said, tying in the pastor’s speech from earlier. He winked at his son. “K vashemu zdorov'yu!”
“K vashemu zdorov'yu!” the men said in unison.
Dmitry took a large gulp and put the glass down. The strong drink hit the spot for him, smoothing out the brittle edges of a long, exhausting day.
“So, that sermon today stuck with you too?” Gabriel asked, looking around that table. He was glad he had not been the only one.
Dmitry curled up his lips and squinted. “It did. I have to say that I agree with the pastor. We do have a purpose while we are here on this earth.”
Anatoly smirked. “It hit me too. I thought it was going to be just more smoke to blow up the ass, but he did alright.”
Vasily quietly agreed, but preferred to keep drinking.
Still eyeing his son, Dmitry thought it a perfect time to broach another important subject before the women came out, and the attention shifted again. “Anatoly, I’m glad you understand the importance of family. I’m glad that you all do. The only reason we are all here is because of it.”
Anatoly put his glass down and pushed up to the table, knowing his father’s tone when he was about to ask something of him.
“Da, da, papa. I know.”
“What I’m saying is I think it’s time to seek out your brother.” Dmitry stretched his large hands out on the table. “I want you to go to Miami, and find him for me. I would do it myself, but I need to take care of some business in Memphis with Gabriel that can’t be put off any longer. A man should have all of his children around him, but at the very least, they should all know that he exists. It’s been heavy on my mind. He’s living in this world without us. And if he’s going to do that, fine. But he needs the option. As I grow older, keeping our family together becomes more important to me. I don’t want you to have the existence that I did with my own father. Every Medlov should have a seat at the table.”
The subject had been broached before. Over a year ago, Dmitry had discovered that he had a grown son living in Miami by a woman he had briefly been with from Trinidad and Tobago. However, a few family issues had taken priority right after the discovery. Now that things were back on track, it was time to bring the young man into the fold.
“Lay the foundation for me. Find out who he really is, what he’s about for me.” The look on Dmitry’s face said that this was very important for him. He hated to charge his son with the task, but he knew that he could trust Anatoly to get it done right. “It would mean a great deal to me.”
“I’ll go straight there from here,” Anatoly said sincerely. His father could have just ordered him to do it instead of asking, so he appreciated the gesture. “Family is everything, right?”
Dmitry was glad that his son agreed. “Right.”
The women finally came downstairs from the bathroom. In a line, they made their way carefully down the stairs with Renee in front and the other three women trailing behind. Even dressed down, they looked regal, diamonds sparkling off their hands and ears, hair flowing. They captured every eye in the building with their beauty and their unmistakable presence.
Their men looked up from the table at their breathtaking trophies. Each one seeing their reason for being.
It was an odd sight to behold from the outside. Four white men, three of whom were from other countries, devoted to four black women, one of whom was from a distant land. Each one had found the other through a series of drastically different circumstances. Each couple forsaking all to be with each other. But no matter the odds, they had persevered. If no one else in the room had it, they did.
Purpose.
The men stood up from the table as they approached.
“The gang’s all here,” Gabriel joked, taking his son out of his wife’s arms.
Renee slunk up to Anatoly and kissed his lips gently, lingering in his arms for just a minute. She was glad that he was here and planned to thank him when this was all done, for how kind he had been over the last week.
“Are you sure you want to help serve food?” Anatoly asked, confused by the need to assist the wait staff they were paying top dollar for. It seemed more sensible to sit down and enjoy the fruits of her hard labor.
“It’s just a thing my family does. When someone dies, at the repass, my grandmother always served the family. I want to keep the tradition.” She glanced over at the elaborate spread waiting on her and knew that she was doing the right thing. “Big Momma would have wanted it this way.”
“And we’re going to help,” Royal said, slipping on a white apron. She eyed her children to make sure that they were behaving.
Anatoly tied Renee’s apron behind her. “Whatever makes you happy.” Tapping her on her bottom, he turned her around. “I’m going outside to have a smoke. I’ll be back in a minute.”
***
The sun had finally set, replaced by a fat glowing moon and a cloudless night. Looking up at the stars, Anatoly pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pants pocket and plucked one from the box. Walking over to the dark side of the building, away from the other people congregating outside, he stuck the cigarette in his mouth.
“Got another one?” a voice said from the dark corner.
Anatoly offered one to the voice, knowing it was Jesse.
Renee’s father stumbled out of the corner with red eyes and took the cigarette from his son-in-law.
Pulling out his silver lighter, Anatoly lit his cigarette, took a long drag and then handed the lighter off to Jesse.
Jesse lit his cigarette and leaned against the banister. Scratching his sweaty face, he looked out over the manicured lawn and the pond in the distance. “Are y’all gone stay another night?”
Anatoly took another drag. “We’re staying at the hotel tonight, but we’re leaving first thing tomorrow.”
“So, you’re telling me I should say my goodbyes to my baby girl tonight then?” he glanced over his shoulder at Anatoly.
Anatoly eyed him, brows furrowed from the smoke. “Da.”
Jesse pulled his eyes from the man and glanced back at the lawn. “I knew when I got that deed from your father what was going on. You bastards think you can buy my baby with a mortgage.”
“I don’t have to buy her. She’s my wife. The house was a gesture.”
“What kind?”
Anatoly shrugged. “I don’t know. Ask the old man.”
“Do you ever wonder why I don’t like you, boy?”
“I think I know why,” Anatoly said, pulling the cigarette from his lips with his index finger and thumb. He thumped the ashes on the ground and slipped his free hand in his pants pocket.
Jesse waited for an answer, but Anatoly didn’t give one. “It’s because men like you think your money speaks for you, so you don’t ever say nothing worthwhile.”
Anatoly looked at the back of Jesse’s head. “Then you’ve been mad with me all these years for nothing.”
Jesse stood up and turned around to face Anatoly. “I know you don’t think much of me.” The alcohol on his breath perfumed the night air.
“You don’t know what I think.”
Jesse continued, ignoring Anatoly’s answer. “But I love my daughter. I may be a drunk. I may have been absent, but I did the best I could. I made sure my momma was there to do the job that me and her momma couldn’t do.”
“Bravo.” Anatoly rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. “I’m not here to judge you.”
Jesse pointed at him. “But you do.” Putting his finger away, he sighed. “And that’s alright. Hell, you wouldn’t be the first and damn sure ain’t gone be the last. But don’t let your judgements of me cloud how important Renee is or how special she is.”
Anatoly stepped closer to him. “You think I’m going to hurt her?”
“Not physically. No. But emotionally, I think you’re more cripple than me. You just hide it better.” Jesse pulled the cigarette from his mouth and blew smoke in Anatoly’s direction to show he wasn’t afraid of him. “That silent but deadly shit may work out there in them streets. But Renee needs someone who will open up and be there for her.”
Anatoly ran his hand over the top of his head. Tomorrow couldn’t get here fast enough. “I guess you have all the answers, eh.”
“I know my daughter. She’s hurting. She’s scared and for the first time, she’s gone exist in this world without the only person who has ever been there for her every day of her life. It scares the shit out of me that you are going to replace Big Momma. If you ask me, she’s getting a bad deal.”
Anatoly’s eyes narrowed. “I love my wife, and just because you see one side of me doesn’t mean that’s all I show her. You love her…good. Keep loving her, but don’t assume anything about me.”
Jesse wasn’t convinced. “You listen boy, like you ain’t never listened a day in your life. Since you taking my baby girl away with no plans of brining her back, take this here parting advice witcha. Renee don’t need that money. But she do need a husband. She do need a friend…a damn soul mate. That money ain’t gone buy what you need to give her. So, you need to do some soul searching and come out on the other side a better man. She deserves it.”
Anatoly knew that Jesse meant well, but he also knew he was drunk. Sucking his teeth, he took another drag of his cigarette and stepped back. If Jesse had been any other man, he would have been laying on his ass right now, but he was the father of his wife. So, he gave him the respect he was due. And whether he admitted it to the old man or not, Jesse was right. Anatoly had no intention of bringing her back here, not until it was time to bury Jesse too. So, he would give him some parting wisdom as well. “I’ll give her what she needs. You have my word. And I don’t have to tell you that my door is not open after this. We’ve run our course.”
“No, you don’t tell me. I ain’t no fool. I knew what was coming when you pulled up on that motorcycle,” Jesse said, turning back around. “Our worlds don’t mix. It ain’t safe for her to be down here, roaming the streets trying to check up on me.”
Thumping the cigarette over the rail, Anatoly started toward the door, but stopped and looked back one last time. “Say your goodbyes tonight, but make sure you sober up and have a few mints first. I don’t want her to see you in the state you’re in now. It will just upset her.”
Jesse nodded with tears in his eyes. He had spent her whole life upsetting her for one reason or another. “Yeah, I will,” he said, ducking her head. “Just make sure you take care of my girl, you hear me?”
“Yeah, I hear you.”