“Are you with Persephone?”
“Yeah, she’s in Hawaii.”
“Right I-” Caiphus cleared his throat suddenly. “I know, man.”
Hill felt his jaw muscle clench, but pushed forward with his next words. “Is that all?”
“Is that…? All? I don’t-”
“Is that all you know?”
Caiphus groaned. “Ah hell, man…” In the office he shared with his fiancée, Caiphus began to pace. “I knew there was more to it than what happened with Fernando but I couldn’t make Bee tell me what. She’d only say that Persephone was scared and that it was her story to tell.”
“Yeah,” Hill bowed his head, letting his hair shield his brow. “Yeah it was.”
“Well what-?”
“Hold on, Rug. I’ll explain everything soon, alright? I um-I got some stuff to handle and then I’ll call. We’ll sit down.”
“Sounds good. Um...you
okay?”
Hill grinned over his little brother’s uncertainty. “Don’t I sound okay?”
“Well you-um…”
“Right,” Hill laughed thoroughly enjoying the other man’s confusion. “Look, we’ll talk soon and Rug um...try not to mention this call to anybody, alright?”
“Sure thing-Hill? Do you need me?”
Hill smiled. “Thanks for always having my back, man. For once I’ve got everything I need.”
~~~
Following the call with Caiphus, Hill took a shower- a long one as he was suddenly in the mood to procrastinate. His time with Persephone-with his family had been paradise. The time in paradise however was drawing to a close. Not a complete one, though. As he’d already told Persephone and then Caiphus during their call, there were things he needed to do.
The music he’d heard before he’d contacted his brother, was still on blast. Hill left his room to follow the sound to the big den located on the other side of the house. It was an airy space furnished with comfortable cocoa colored seating trimmed in gleaming brass.
The room was enclosed on three sides by retracting glass walls. A visitor had their choice of a mountain view, an expanse of lush green hillside or a maze of towering palms.
Following the sound of the music, Hill was more curious about what he’d find inside the room than with the view. Given all the telltale supplies propped up against the wall and set atop the coffee table, he guessed he’d walked into a cleaning activity...of sorts.
Hill supposed the cleaning was finished. Leeya, Layah and Persephone were using brooms and dust brush handles as makeshift microphones while they belted out yet another Prince single.
Hill propped against the curved recessed lit doorway and settled in to enjoy the performance of “Take Me with You”. The girls were two pictures of glee, bouncing around in an insanely off-beat jig, their dark hair bobbing fiercely about their tiny, lovely faces.
Hill couldn’t resist laughing at his girls. Their mother on the other hand...he only allowed himself a few moments to appreciate the way she moved around the den in time to the music. Her legs were long, toned and flawlessly brown beneath a black cotton jumper. A brown bandana covered her clipped locks.
The twins saw their father first. Their glee tipped over into sheer elation as they shrieked and raced over to throw themselves against Hill when he knelt to meet their charging bodies.
Persephone shrieked as well over the sudden intrusion. Quickly, she snagged a remote from an end table and lowered the volume of the music. “We clean to Prince,” she panted when his eyes met hers.
“My kind of women,” his appraisal of her was slower then, almost a caress.
“Daddy, come sing with us!” Leeya tugged Hill’s T-shirt sleeve.
Layah went to work on the other. “Please Daddy?”
“Not now, Babes,” Hill stood, taking the girls up with him. “Now listen,” he set them all to a big chair and a half in the den’s alcove and put a kiss to their foreheads.
“Daddy’s gonna have to go in a couple of days.” He said.
“Noooo!” The sisters tucked into Hill’s chest, wrenching wads of his shirt into their small fists.
Across from the alcove, Persephone took a seat on the arm of a loveseat.
“Why Daddy?” Leeya moaned, her eyes sparkled brilliantly with unshed tears.
“Remember I told you I might have to go?” Hill leaned close to speak softly against her ear.
“Can we come with you?” Layah’s eyes sparkled as brilliantly as her sisters.
Hill put a kiss to her mouth. “Not yet, but soon Sweet.”
“But-”
“I already talked to Mommy,” he coolly interrupted Leeya. “I told her to have your stuff packed for when I call. It won’t be long. I promise.”
“How long?” Layah insisted.
