Life Begins

by Taki James

  Gary slammed his hand against the table. “That’s bullshit. I didn’t even want those brats in the first place and now she’s trying to play me like a fool? I need you to help me put that bitch in her place. I shouldn’t have to bring witnesses to court to prove it.”

  His cousin shrugged, seeming unconcerned by the tantrum thrown. “That’s just the way that it is. Because I know you, I’m not supposed to sit on the bench at your hearing. Getting a witness to say that you were tricked will help you just in case your girl’s new lawyer is intelligent enough to look things up to find that we’re related. I’m helping you make a stronger case.”

  Gary snorted. “No one will find out that we’re related, because we live and run in two different circles.” They both just so happened to miss a man sitting a few tables away snapping shots of them on his phone. Not just that, but his lunch guest held a recorder to capture the conversation. The men looked at one another and nodded slightly. Gary continued with his conversation, unaware that he’d been caught in a trap. “Promise me you’ll help me drive a wedge between Josie and that man she’s with.”

  Cory sat back in his chair, twirling the coffee cup he held between his hands. “Fine. I still feel like it would be better to get at least one person to say that you were tricked so that it’s not a he said she said situation. I know that I can hit her hard on the fact that she married a white man in less than a year of her divorce because that looks strange, especially with the man adopting both children.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about. She tricked me. She knew she was going to find another man and so forced me to give up my parental rights so she could be some white man’s whore. Now she’s trying to ruin the lives of my son, a future black man, and a future black woman. What does a white man know about being black?”

  “It’s disgusting, the way some black women carry on.”

  “I know, right. And don’t get me started on the man’s name. You can’t even pronounce it. I hope she doesn’t think that he’s going to keep her after all of this, because I’m going to make sure that her life is so miserable that she’ll regret ever getting pregnant in the first place. Bitches are always trying to trap a good man.”

  “That’s why I married a good Asian woman,” Cory said, even as he glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to go. Think about what I said and I’ll be ready for the court hearing.”

  “Thanks man, you’re a life saver.”

  “You want to really show me your appreciation,” the judge said, as he stood to his feet and resituated his suit jacket. “Buy me some Cubans.”

  “You got it,” Gary said, laughing as he too prepared himself to exit the restaurant.

  The pair recording the conversation put their devices away, the one taking photos pausing only long enough to send a text to the boss about what just went down. The response was clear. Keep an even closer eye on Gary.

  Warm weather in Chicago meant only one thing, grilling. The smell of charcoal burning filled the whole street, making Josie feel so hungry. With Nenad constantly hanging around the house, it took nothing for her to send him to the nearest home store to buy a quality grill and get some charcoal for the house. She’d already gone to the grocery store in preparation of the warmer weather, letting Žarko know that she wanted to throw a party.

  He, perhaps understanding what she meant, invited some of his men that had wives and children, mostly those that were in his innermost circle. Josie didn’t actually care who came. She just wanted to eat, and eat well. So while she waited for her grill to arrive, she put the kids to work helping her around the house, cleaning, drawing, and decorating.

  Žarko hired a service to help out with the bulk of the cleaning chores, allowing Josie to spend most of her time in the kitchen with the food. Nenad, because he’d gone grocery shopping with her, had decided to bring his girlfriend over early to help out in the kitchen. Josie was glad for the help since the girl did seem to know what she was doing, at least when it came to cutting up ingredients.

  “This is a lot of food,” Katia said, her slender figure seeming to float around the kitchen as she cut up fruit for the desert bowl. “Are you sure there’s going to be that many people?”

  Josie shrugged, not minding the question as she tested out her seasonings for the meat. “I always plan for people to take home extras. My grandmother used to say that it was better to have more food than people could eat, than to not have enough for everyone.”

  The blonde nodded. “That actually makes sense. It’ll probably make all these Serbians your best friend.”

  That was a weird thing to say, Josie thought. But, she ignored it because she had a lot of work to do, making sure that everything was delicious. She wasn’t sure whether others appreciated the taste of spicy the way that she did, but didn’t want to not have something that she would eat or that others could enjoy. She would probably have to ask her husband about it if she could find him.

  “How did you learn to cook like this,” Katia continued to talk, disturbing Josie’s train of thought.

  She answered as she put plastic wrap around the new seasoned bowl holding the chicken. “My grandmother was a master at cooking. She owned a catering company and taught me most of her tricks because I used to love to sit back and watch her work. Since my mother is a terrible cook, my grandmother looked at me as being her last hope for keeping her recipes alive.”

  “You ever thought about becoming a caterer? I would pay big bucks to eat this pasta.” Josie turned from her seasoning, to catch Katia dipping a fork into the Mediterranean pasta that she’d made late last night, which was supposed to be in the fridge until everything else was ready to eat.

  “Uh, Katia, can you put that back where you found it, so that others will get a chance to enjoy the fruits of my labor.” The young woman pouted, but did as she said. “I’ve thought about it, being a caterer I mean, but I always wanted to be a wife and mother more than I wanted to do something like cooking for profits.”

  “I could never be at home taking care of children. I watch you and Nenad and I think, it’s way too time consuming.”

  Josie laughed. “Yeah, it can be hard chasing after little ones, but I like it. I’ve always wanted to be a mom.” The front door opened just as she finished. The women turned, watching Nenad struggle with the large box. “Uh, Nenad?” Josie called out to him. He turned to her, finding her pointing back out the door. “You probably want to take that around the house to the backyard. Think of the little miss.” He sighed, but moved to do as she asked.

  Once the door closed, Josie went back to finishing up her preparations. “Sometimes, I wonder about men’s thought processes.”

  Katia laughed. “You said it, not me.”

  Josie didn’t let it bother her. As soon as she finished putting together all the pieces of the menu, she began bringing out the meats for her husband to do his thing. She returned to the kitchen to begin on the heavier deserts for the party since she expected the day to be a lot of fun, for everyone.

  “Hey, Josie,” Nenad said, standing at the point between the kitchen and the living room. “The guy with the bouncy house is here. You want I should tell him where to up the thing?”

  Josie glanced at the clock on the microwave above the stove. Time was really flying. “Yes. And can you also make sure that the pools are perfect. I want to make sure that nothing goes wrong today.” The big pool should be fine because Žarko had called in someone who knew what they were doing to clean it and make sure that the PH levels were just right, but there was also the baby pool that needed taking care of. That had to stay clean because of the lack of filtration.

  He threw her a thumbs up as he headed off to do as she asked. “Sure thing.”

  “I need to call the Pool Master, or the guy that does that show Insane Pools to come by the house and put something really nice into the house. Something that’ll really make a party great.”

  “In Chicago?” Katia asked her. “I can’t really see that happening.
/>   Josie shrugged. “Anything is possible.”

  ~*~

  Žarko didn’t like opening his house to people. Sure, he had associates, but considering how careful he was to keep his personal life just that, he didn’t want to let too many people in. It was just safer that way. But, his wife wanted to have a party to enjoy the weather and to come to terms with his life, and so he was willing to do this for her.

  He’d already sent out the warning that Josie was to be respected, always. Just because she wasn’t Serbian didn’t mean that she wasn’t as equally in charge of things as he was. Because, being honest, the only person he truly trusted was his wife. Everyone else, he’d easily put a bullet into and would have no trouble sleeping at night.

  “You don’t look very happy, my friend,” his second in command said in between sips of pivo. The two stood together at the grill, watching kids running around playing, bouncing, and swimming as if they had no care in the world. The adults sat around at strategically placed tables, making sure that all eyes remained watchful on the bouncy house and the pools. All Josie’s idea obviously.

  “It is hard to be happy when the wife is insistent on making her presence known to everyone.”

  The older man laughed. “You are not happy with the attention she is receiving. Well, you should not have married such an exotic woman. She’s funny, nice, and her food is the best I have ever tasted. Don’t tell my wife, though, that I have said this, even though she would probably agree with me this once.”

  “You sound a little too in awe of my wife.” Žarko wasn’t sure that he liked the idea of that.

  But Srecko just shrugged. “I am. Didn’t think I would like her, honestly. Since she isn’t Serbian and has no understanding our history, but, she’s not pretending to understand us. Besides, the kids are cute,” he said with a grunt.

  Žarko gave a half smile at that. Josif had basically given everyone the once over and declared them all, “Not as good as tata.” Even baby Juljiana had been a perfect hostess, smiling at everyone and pretty much demanding that everyone get a chance to hold her. He had never seen so many hardened grown men melt over a tiny baby, but his children had accomplished that without much effort.

  “They are perfect little ones.”

  “Especially is they love you,” Srecko said in a quick retort.

  Žarko didn’t have time to say anything as he felt the tingling between his shoulder blades, letting him know that his Josie approached. Then he felt the gentle touch of her hand against his lower back as she suddenly leaned in to him.

  “Everyone sure is eating a lot,” she said, sending a quick smile to Srecko, but keeping most of her attention on her husband. Žarko had to admit that he enjoyed that about her the most, that she didn’t seem interested in anyone else other than him. “We hardly have anything left.”

  “That is a good thing, ne?” Srecko asked her, seeming confused by the concern in Josie’s voice. Žarko, too, had to admit to some curiosity at her sadness. Didn’t she want the food eaten?

  She wrapped her arms around his waist, letting him feel the coming gentle curve of her pregnant belly against his side, something he always enjoyed feeling because it spoke of the life that she carried. “I just wanted to make sure that people would be able to take leftovers home.”

  Srecko seemed to perk up at that. “That sounds…delicious.”

  Josie nodded her head, even as she gave her husband the puppy eyes. “We’ve got to go to the store. This is the last batch of meat left and everyone’s been asking about the summer pasta. I can go and be back in no time at all.”

  Žarko sighed, even as he reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet. He handed her his credit card, which she slipped into the pocket of her jeans. “Take Nenad with you.”

  She nodded, then lifted to her toes so she could give him a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll also take Juljiana with me. That way you won’t have to worry about her while you’re grilling. Josif is in the baby pool with Ljiljiana and Katia. He’s going to complain, but it is almost his naptime and I would really like to keep him on schedule, even with everyone here.”

  “We’ll just put all the little ones together in the den.” Žarko promised her.

  “Thank you,” she said. Then she was bouncing away from him, going to take care of getting more food, probably much more than they were going to need, simply because she wanted to make sure that she fed everybody for longer than one day.

  “You are going to be killing a lot of people in order to keep that woman.”

  Fortunately, Žarko didn’t have a problem with that. “Whatever it takes.” He wouldn’t be the big boss if he weren’t willing to do the hard things himself.

  Chapter 21

  The idea of opening a small catering company to use her grandmother’s recipes stayed with Josie long after the barbeque had finished. She struggled, because she did want to stay home and felt that starting a business would take her away from her family. She supposed she could try to incorporate a catering business later, once the kids all were in school and wouldn’t need her the same way. But, she sighed, she just didn’t know what to do. What was the right way? She thought about asking her husband, but she knew him. He would let her do whatever she wanted to do without question.

  She glanced at the video monitor, where she saw her daughter napping in her crib and made her decision. She could write at home, because it gave her something to do in between times, but she couldn’t bear to actually be away from her children. If she had the desire again in the future, then she supposed that she could reevaluate.

  “You okay, Josie?” Nenad asked her.

  She nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay. I think it’s just the pregnancy hormones getting to me.”

  “I wouldn’t know anything about that.”

  She smiled at him. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just tired and thinking thoughts that are silly.” She paused slightly. “Well, maybe not silly since I know I can do it, but sort of counter to the lifestyle that I currently live, you know.” She leaned into the kitchen island, putting her chin in the palm of her hand. “You ever feel like that?”

  Nenad shrugged. “Honestly, I’ve gone through a lot of things.” He also leaned into the island. “Promise you won’t tell anyone this?” he waited until she nodded. “I’ve been thinking about getting married to Katia.”

  Josie perked up. “Really? That would be nice.”

  He tapped against the dark marble, arms crossed over one another. “I don’t know though. It’s such a big step to take with someone that I’m barely sure I love. It’s like, every time I’m around her, I feel committed, but then, when I’m away from her, I keep feeling like there could be someone else. I don’t want to take the risk of getting married if I feel like that. It wouldn’t be fair to either one of us.”

  Josie made a sympathetic sigh. “I see what you mean. My grandmother used say that if you were willing to risk your current relationship to pursue someone else, you should probably just end it. I didn’t understand what she meant, because I thought that I was all in love with Gary, but I think that I see her point now. I don’t think that I could ever risk leaving Žarko for another man. Even if he would allow it. If you feel like you can find someone better suited, then you should probably just end your relationship now. It would be terrible if you dragged things on, only to turn around and possibly cheat on her later.”

  He started laughing. “You know what, Josie? That actually makes complete sense.”

  Josie nodded. “My grandma was a wise woman. It’s just a shame that I never listened to her about dating and marrying Gary. I can’t complain too much though, because I wouldn’t have my babies.” Then she thought about her husband. “And then, I probably wouldn’t have met my current husband.”

  Nenad headed to the refrigerator and pulled out the bottle of fresh squeezed orange juice she’d bought just that morning. He held it up to see if she desired some, but Josie shook her head, not interested in drinking anything but water at
the moment. He grabbed a glass to pour some for himself. “It’s actually nice having someone to talk to,” he finally admitted to her. “I wasn’t around for the previous wife, but I’ve heard a lot of horror stories.”

  Josie stretched her back as she answered. “Žarko won’t tell me anything but the most basic about his previous wife. I just know that she’s dead and it’s probably in my best interest not to ask any questions.” Not that she was scared of her husband or anything. “I don’t think she was very good to the girls.”

  Nenad nodded. “Probably not. I remember when I first met them. They were terrified of women and wouldn’t go anywhere without having the boss within sight. I’m honestly surprised that they love you as much as they do.”

  “I think it’s my little ones that they like. They both took to Josif and Juljiana like little mothers. I have been more than glad for the help, because I wouldn’t know how to get done everything that needs doing without them.” She then looked at the slight playful frown on Nenad’s face. “And of course, you’ve been a ton of help. I can actually take a break from the kids and get some writing done when needed.”

  He smiled. “Well, I’m glad to help. It keeps me from having to run all around town doing menial tasks within the organization. Žarko has always been private about his personal life, so no one ever gets a chance to see how he lives. It makes for an aloof boss, but without him at the head, everything would fall apart and people know it.”

  “I would imagine being private would be the best way to live this kind of life,” Josie had to admit. She checked the monitor as she thought about how she wanted to say what she had to say. “I would think that someone trying to take over would want to know everything about the boss’ life in order to have some kind of leverage. That’s what I would do if I were criminally minded. Go after the family, keep the big man distracted and then strike when he least expects it.”