by Zuri Day
“You’ve had to be strong.”
“Yes.”
She turned and laid her head on Terrell’s shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her. “How did you feel around my family today?”
“I felt fine. They all treated me nicely, didn’t act too uppity.”
“What do you mean, ‘too’?”
She laughed. “Hey, don’t get offended. Like it or not you’re part of the upper class. There’s an aura about people like you, whether or not you intend it. Not with you so much, but your brother Ike? Definitely. And that woman he was with? She could party in Rhode Island and fit right in.”
“I’ll admit Audrey is a trip, especially around another beautiful woman. She’s frustrated because after dating Ike off and on for a decade, my brother still hasn’t proposed.”
“Warren and Charlie? They were nice. And your twin, Teresa, and her husband...what’s his name?”
“Atka.”
“Yeah, him. They’re high-end. He was quiet, but your twin went out of her way to include me in the conversation. I appreciated that.”
“Aliyah.”
“Yes, Terrell.”
“My last name is Drake, not Westcott. Yes, my family is wealthy but we’re not stuck up. They will adore you as much as I do and will never, ever make you feel less than the beautiful woman you are. Are you listening?”
“Yes, I hear you.”
“Good. So drop the cape and lose the heart shield. You don’t have to be tough with me.”
She reached up and kissed his cheek, then settled against his shoulder. “Thank you. But I’m keeping my cape.”
“I guess that’s okay. Might need your help in beating the women off me.”
“Whatever, you cocky dude.”
“I thought that’s what you loved about me.”
This earned him another swat, on the arm this time.
“I’ve heard about your jerk of an ex’s family. Now, tell me about yours.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Whatever you want to tell me—siblings, parents, growing up in New York.”
“When people hear New York, they think of Manhattan. I grew up in Brooklyn. There’s a difference. Each borough has its own personality.”
“I look forward to a personal tour.”
“That could be arranged.”
“So tell me about it.”
“I loved growing up there. Sure, it was hard. Times were tough. My parents didn’t always get along. We siblings fought like...siblings. But love was there, always, and unconditional acceptance. The whole block was like one big family. There was a unique, palpable energy created by all the cultures and classes and languages, dialects, foods, traditions...all blending together. When I was little, the block was one big playground. We’d hopscotch, double-dutch and play games in the middle of the street, to an international soundtrack. From hip-hop to R and B, reggae to calypso, the straight-ahead jazz from our neighbor, Mr. Johnny, to the gospel every Sunday by Miss Francine. It was the best life, fun and carefree.
“By the time I turned twelve the area had started to change. Gangs, drugs and illegal activities that used to be on the periphery made their way to our neighborhood, and our block. When the neighborhood changed, some of the neighbors changed. Some of my friends changed. Mama tightened the reins and I lost my innocent outlook. I’m the oldest of five, three brothers and another sister, and felt I had to protect them. I still do.”
“The dark side can come off looking quite attractive. How’d you keep from getting caught up?”
“My parents. Mama is a nurse, with a strong work ethic. My father is a jack of all trades—construction, handyman, repairman, moving man, whatever you need. He used to drive the train—the subway—until he got injured and had to go on disability. He received a small settlement that they set aside as a college fund for us. The odd jobs keep him busy and contributing to the household.
“They both taught education as the holy grail, the ticket to a better life. I had observant teachers who encouraged me and when they saw that their lessons were too easy, they pushed me higher, farther, faster. I developed a love for learning so while my friends were into boys, I was into books.”
“Really.”
“Uh-huh.”
They talked well into the night. She was impressed at Terrell’s genuine interest in her, asking questions and listening intently. It hadn’t been this way with the others. Most conversations had been all about them. By the time they spooned into peaceful slumber, there was something else Aliyah was really into. The man beside her.
* * *
“Mommy?”
“Yes, Kyle.”
“I had a dream last night.”
“Sit down and eat your cereal, Kyle.” She poured almond milk into her bowl and joined him at the table. “What did you dream about?”
“Mr. Drake.”
Aliyah almost choked on granola. “Oh, uh, really?” she sputtered, taking a sip of water to clear her throat.
Kyle nodded. “I heard his voice. He called you baby!”
“Hmm. That was some dream.” What had this child been doing awake at three in the morning?
“I woke up because I thought it was real!”
How’d he hear us? Then she remembered. Terrell had called out to her as she left to get water. Now, because of his slip-up, she was on a slippery slope. The very reason why she had rules in the first place. “Dreams can often seem real, honey, even though they’re make-believe.”
“Hey, maybe we can invite Mr. Drake over!”
Lord, this child! “Why would we do that, honey?”
“So we can play together!”
Been there. Done that. That’s why she was dragging right now.
“Mr. Drake is a grown man, Kyle. You’ll have to play with boys your own age.”
“But he played with me on Halloween..”
“That was different. Lots of kids from your class were there.”
“Then I could show him my puzzles and stuff because he teaches math!”
“What about Mr. Adams? Don’t you get to work with him and show him stuff in class?”
“Yes. But I like Mr. Drake. He’s fun.”
Aliyah wasn’t sure how to feel about how much her son liked Terrell. That he now had role models like Terrell and Luther was good. But she didn’t want him becoming too attached. Herself, either, for that matter.
“Did you make your bed?” Another nod. “Then hurry and finish your sandwich. Miss Lauren will be here soon to pick you up.”
Chapter 12
On Wednesday, Terrell wasn’t scheduled to be at the center but he stopped by anyway.
“What’s up, Big Lou!”
Luther walked over and offered a fist bump. “What are you doing here today?”
“Just stopped through real quick—checking on things. How’s it going?”
“It’s good, Tee. Great time with the family on the weekend. That thing y’all had at Drake Lake and the ranch? That was cool, man. My kids, the wife, everyone loved it.”
“I can’t take credit for any of that. There was a committee that put all of that together, the rides, everything. Wasn’t even my land. That ranch belongs to Warren.”
Luther waved off the comment. “Please, if it belongs to one Drake it belongs to all.”
“True that.” Terrell walked around the room. “You’re doing a good job with these kids, man. I never could have imagined it, but daddyhood looks good on you.”
“There’s nothing like it, Tee. You should give it a try.”
Terrell raised his hands in surrender. “That’s all right. I’m good.”
Luther laughed. “Hey, I’m glad you stopped by. Check this out.” He walked over to a bookshe
lf filled with colorful books, puzzles and stuffed animals, and reached for a piece of paper on top of it.
“Look at this.”
Terrell took the paper. It was filled with mathematical equations. Aside from the fact that it looked to have been written by one of Luther’s charges, it looked like good old addition and subtraction to him. He shrugged. “What about it?”
“Kyle did that.”
“Did what? Copied this out of a workbook?”
“No. He did the math.”
Terrell looked at the paper again. These weren’t a string of “two plus two” or “five plus five.” The first problem involved three figures. The second, four. By the end of the page, the problems were in the hundreds of thousands to either be added or subtracted.
Terrell looked at Luther. “Impressive. But I guess not too terribly surprising considering his mother is a doctor. He’s probably been playing with her calculator since he could crawl.”
“You misunderstand, my brother. The kid did this without a calculator, without using his fingers and without taking much time to give the answer. I was the one who used a calculator to see if what he wrote down was correct!”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Man, I swear. Blew my mind. I said to myself, we’ve got a little genius in the class.”
“You mind if I take this with me? I want to make sure his mother knows about it.”
“Well, actually, I was going to tell her myself. Give me an excuse to, you know, have a conversation with her fine behind.”
Terrell folded the paper and placed it in his shirt pocket, talking over his shoulder as he walked to the door. “Go home and converse with your lady. I’ll make sure Ms. Robinson gets the news about her son.”
After a quick visit with Marva and an impromptu meeting with the center’s director, Terrell headed back to Drake Realty. On the way, he called Aliyah.
“Hey.”
“Hello, beautiful. How are you?” he asked.
“Busy. What’s up?”
“Called to tell you about your son.”
“What, did something happen?”
“No. He’s fine.”
“Oh, okay. Then what?”
“Your son might be a little genius. Have you had him tested?”
“No.”
“You should. Luther showed me some math problems he did. I was blown away.”
“He has a thing for numbers.”
“I’ll say. Some of my teenagers couldn’t handle the problems he solved.”
“Look, I gotta go.”
“But you know about this, right? His ability to calculate in his head and stuff?”
“Not really. Tell me later. ’Bye.”
Later that evening, his call went to voice mail. She didn’t return it.
The next day he arrived early at the center, before it was time to tutor his students. He wanted to see Kyle’s ability for himself. He peeked into the room. It was empty. He walked outside to the playground behind the center. Luther sat on a low wall watching the students periodically, and checking his cell phone.
“Good afternoon, Luther.”
“Hey, Terrell. What’s up, man?”
“Not a lot—waiting for my guys to get here.”
“How’s it going with them?”
“Hits and misses. Improvement overall, and a few who’ve grown significantly. But there are a couple who just aren’t interested in learning. I’ll be fortunate to talk them out of not quitting school altogether.”
“That’s the way it is sometimes. We do what we can where we can.”
“It’s crazy how a kid as young as Kyle can run mathematical rings around kids more than twice his age.”
“Yeah, I told the wife about what I saw him do yesterday. She found it hard to believe he’d done it on his own.”
“I do, too, to be honest with you.”
“You should check it out. Hey, Kyle!”
Kyle was sitting at the edge of the asphalt, playing with rocks. When Luther called, he jumped up and ran over.
“Hi, Mr. Drake!”
“Hey there, Kyle. How are you, buddy?”
“Good.”
“So I hear. Yesterday, Mr. Adams showed me the math problems you solved. All of the answers were correct. That was very good, Kyle.”
“Thank you.”
“Mr. Drake would like to see you work. Do you think you could solve a few problems for him?” Luther asked. Kyle nodded.
“Good.” Luther looked at Terrell. “You want to do it as soon as this break is over?”
“I’d rather do it now, without the other kids. Hold on.” Terrell reached for his phone and called the center’s office. “Miss Marva, can you ask one of the interns to come to the playground? I need someone to watch Luther’s class for a bit.” He paused to listen. “Good, thanks.”
A few minutes later, one of the interns came outside. Terrell, Luther and Kyle went back to Luther’s classroom. Terrell wrote a six-figure mathematical problem on a whiteboard and asked Kyle to solve it. After a few seconds, Kyle walked over and wrote down the answer.
Terrell looked at Luther, who shrugged. “Told you.”
He felt a bit embarrassed, but Terrell pulled out his phone, tapped the calculator app and checked Kyle’s answer.
“That’s correct, Kyle,” he said.
“I know.” Said without a shred of doubt or ego.
“How’d you figure it out so fast?”
“I don’t know, Mr. Drake. I just do it.”
“Here, let me give you another one.” Terrell placed another problem on the board. Kyle solved it just as quickly. He looked at Luther. “To actually see him do it is even more amazing.”
“He’s not counting on his fingers or taking a lot of time to think about it.”
Terrell pulled out his phone. “I’m going to put three problems on the board this time, okay, little man?”
“Okay.” Said in a tone that implied he was totally bored. “Then can I go back outside?”
Luther looked at his watch. “It’s time for them to come back in. I’ll go get them.”
Terrell finished the problems, handed Kyle the marker, then pulled out his phone and took a video of Kyle as he quickly solved the problems. After confirming that once again, the answers were accurate, he gave Kyle a high five.
“No wonder you were so interested in the flash cards I had a few weeks ago. You might be ready to study with the big boys after all!”
“The teenagers?” Kyle’s eyes widened.
“Yes. Would you like that?”
“I don’t know.”
Terrell noted the boy’s discomfort and belatedly realized the prospect of being called out in a room full of teens may sound intimidating. “No worries. We’ll leave you here for now, okay?”
“Yes, that’s better. Thank you, Mr. Drake.”
“Thank you for showing me your skills.”
Luther returned with the rest of the kids and Terrell left to tutor his teens. On the way he attached the video of Kyle’s performance to a text for Aliyah. The question was simple: Like mother, like son?
Chapter 13
Aliyah stifled a yawn as she stepped into the break room. Her cranky exhaustion was all Terrell’s fault. That walking caramel lollipop had strolled into her world and turned it upside down. Booty call. Yeah, right. That’s what she called him but they both knew he was becoming more than that. Much more. But she wasn’t ready to admit it. Nor was she willing to stop it from happening.
After finding an empty table and sitting down with salad and caffeine-laced soda in hand, she pulled out her cell phone and took it out of silent mode. Seeing Terrell’s name reminded her of their quick conversation earlier today. She o
pened his text message and smiled at his question. Until she read it again. Then it became a reminder. Like mother, like son. Though it is a statistic she’d never wanted to be a part of, she was a single mother raising a son. Even now, at the age of five, her son was very aware that unlike his friend Conner, Kyle’s daddy was not in the home. Thankfully, aside from his number fascination, Kyle’s attention span was short. The few times he’d asked about his father, her honest yet brief answers had been enough.
“Where is my daddy?”
“Your father lives in Rhode Island.”
“Where is that?”
“It is near where Nana lives in New York.”
“Why doesn’t he live with us?”
“Because he is married to someone else.”
An image of Terrell popped into her head. She shut down the train of thought before it could catch hold. She was not one to fantasize about what could never be. She had no doubt that someday Terrell would make a great father. But it wouldn’t be to Kyle.
She opened the attachment and watched the video. Confused, she played it again, watched as her son walked over to the board, glanced at the numbers, then quickly wrote down the answer. He did the same thing with the next problem, and the next. It was clear he’d either memorized the answer or was copying it from what she couldn’t see. She called Terrell.
“How’d you do it?”
“You watched the video.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t do anything. It was all Kyle.”
“Look, Terrell. I know my son. He’s been hooked on math games and puzzles since he was three, but he didn’t solve those problems. Did you have him memorize the numbers or were they written somewhere out of camera range?”
“Neither. I came up with the problems in my head and wrote them down. He solved them.”
“That quickly?”
“Yep.”