Meeting Her Folks 1 of 2

Manny☆ & Keya♡ POV

The ☆ represents Manny's POV as the♡ represents Keya's POV. Please enjoy!

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Keya, her sister and her two youngest brothers drove in my car. Her other two brothers were in Grammys' little white Corsica. "Your Grammy's real cool, Keya." She beamed hearing this saying, "Yeah, I love her sooo much for taking us in three years ago. They were gonna split us up, you know; 2 of us were going to Texas, 2 to South Dakota and 2 were gonna be here somewhere in Illinois. I might've never been able to see them again!" I was sad remembering what I had overheard the judge saying 3 years ago. "Why were y'all taking away from your mom again?"

Manny asks curiously and I sigh heavily as all the memories of my abusive, neglectful mother rush into the front of my brain. All the times that she left us home alone, with no food or money to buy any food. Sometimes the lights were off and I lit candles or had to use flashlights to see our surroundings. But what really irritated me the most was how she ignored us and only took care of herself and her man. Like you have six kids. How do you just not care for us? I never understood it, even to this day I didn't.

Thanks be to the Creator above that HE blessed me with wisdom to know what to do. I've always taken care of my siblings; they're literally like my kids! I have done everything for them, from changing diapers, cooking, cleaning, to teaching them to walk, talk, write, read, and count. Protecting them from bullies, taking ass whippings for them because I believed that someone falsely accused them. I've had to miss several days out of school to stay home with them; because she wasn't at home when I woke up in the morning.

"Where do I even start.. um when my baby brother, Qwan, was a year old and had just started to walk around on his own. She had turned on the hot water in the tub. And the hot water in the Cabrini Green Projects comes from a huge boiler or furnace. It's extremely hot, it has to be because it has to run to all the apartments on all 16 floors of the building. Well, Qwan went and stepped inside of the tub. And the water was so hot that the skin burned right off of his feet!" I turned to look at Qwan in the back seat. He was playing with some army men toys. I turned back to Manny, who looked horrified at this info.

Holy shit! "His skin burned off!" she nods, looking sad. "Damn, Mami, so how is he now?" I ask quietly. She has a hopeful smile. "Much better now. I've been taking him to a shrink and physical therapy. And he talks more. He was so quiet afterwards. I think it was from shock. But I love that he's more vocal now. The toys help out a lot." She turns smiling at him, damn she does so much for them. She will definitely make an awesome mom! "Hey do y'all want some ice cream?" I look at them through the rear-view mirror.

They all looked really excited, screaming, "YEAH!" But Keya looks surprised. "Wait, what, ice cream? You want them to eat it in here?" I nod, "Yeah, why not?" Is he insane? "Because it'll get sticky and dirty back there, that's why!" Hmm, true, "But we can clean it up just like we did earlier. And we have done worst things on that seat.." he licks and bites his bottom lip, causing me to shiver and blush. "Ain't it, Mami?" The intense look he's giving me is making me squirm in my seat until I hear.

"What's your name?" my brother Quatez asks, "Ya'll can call him, Mr. Manny." They all said, "Hi, Mr. Manny!" he grinned and pulls into the Wendy's on Division Ave near Ashland. "Papi, this is my sister, LeVonnga but we all call her Fatt because of her chubby high cheekbones, and she's 8. Deeqwan or just Qwan is 4 and Quatez or Tez is 5." I see the other cars follow us into the parking lot and my family asks us, "What's going on?" Manny gets out and tells them that we are stopping to get some food before heading home. And that it's his treat. He comes and opens up my door and Grammy says, "A generous gentleman, Keya gurl you've got yourself a winner!"

We all go inside and he tells them that they can order whatever they want. They are all excited as things like this never really happen to us. I tell my siblings, "What do you say to Mr. Manny guys?" they all reply, "Thank you Mr. Manny!" Papi comes and picks me up and carries me to the car once we all got our food. His nose caressing my neck saying, "Damn, I can't wait until we have kids because they are going to make an amazing mother, Princess." I smile. I felt appreciated, flattered, aroused and nervous all at the same time. This guy was truly something else but, "Kids can wait awhile, but thanks for the compliment."

We all get in and leave. Manny lives in the Noble Square Neighborhood of Chicago. We all park and me and Manny proceed with giving them a tour of 'Our Home' as he puts it firmly. My family really likes it and Grammy is in love with our Jacuzzi tub in our bathroom. I haven't even been in there yet. Maybe tonight I'll hop in.