The Family Business 3(79)
“Awake,” London said as she brushed past us quickly to go into the room. Miss Chippy and I were right behind her, followed by Orlando.
“He asked for a glass of water,” I told her. “He’s not just awake, but he seems to be alert.”
“Daddy,” London said, throwing her hands over her mouth. Her eyes filled with tears. Harris entered the room just in time to comfort his wife.
I looked to Orlando, who was choking back tears of joy. His face looked more relaxed than I’d seen it in weeks.
No one’s emotions, however, matched the depth of feelings displayed by Miss Chippy. Dr. Whitmore moved to the side to allow her a moment with her husband. Tears poured from her eyes as she walked over to LC, placing her hands gently on his face as she leaned in to give him a kiss that communicated the strength of the deep, abiding love they shared.
He’d been in a coma for almost a month now. No one knew when, or if, he’d ever come out of it. This moment proved that LC Duncan wasn’t the head of this family for nothing. It was going to take more than a couple of bullets and a coma to keep him down.
“LC,” Chippy said softly, taking his hand.
He opened his mouth and croaked out, “Water.”
Chippy smiled as if he had just said the most beautiful word she had ever heard. She looked over her shoulder at all of us. “You heard my husband,” she said, then looked lovingly back at LC. “Get my husband some water.”
Discussion questions
1. Who is your favorite Duncan?
2. Is Vegas as bad-ass as you expected?
3. Was Junior wrong for walking out on the family?
4. Did X’s rats creep you out?
5. Were you afraid when LC got shot?
6. Were you upset that Connie died?
7. Who do you think shot LC?
8. Have you ever been in the situation where you might have to pull the plug on a loved one?
9. Did you feel bad for Marie when Nevada was introduced?
10. What do you think of Nevada, and where would you like to see him fit in future stories?
11. Did X get what he deserved?
12. What did you think of Bernie the Jew?
13. Who is sexier, Paris or Sasha?
14. Who did you feel was the real villain of this book?
15. Do you like Chippy’s role?
16. Would you like to see a love triangle story between Daryl, London, and Harris?
17. Do you think Sasha and Elijah could have made it as a couple?
18. Do you think Rio stepped up?
19. What are your feelings about Minister Farah?
20. What did you think of the ending?
Coming Summer 2015
GRAND OPENING
(LC, Lou & Chippy’s Story) Once Upon a Time in the South
I’ll never forget the sound of that organ and the sight of Mrs. Beasley, the sweet, elderly lady almost too blind to play it. Four people were in attendance that day, but none of them were my family. Not even a best man for me. My collar was too tight, making it hard to swallow. It took all my control not to reach up, yank my necktie loose, undo my top button, and ask for a glass of water. Yeah, I was uncomfortable and thirsty—and this was one of those churches where air conditioning wasn’t checked on the option box.
But doing any of that would’ve been disrespectful of me during what was to be a joyous occasion here in the house of the Lord. And I was always the respectful one, the responsible one. At least that’s how the moms and grandmothers around town always referred to me.
Lavernius Duncan.
The schoolboy.
“Not like those other two,” they would hiss under their breath.
One brother felt the world was always conspiring against him. The other one felt he owned the world.
Me? I was here simply trying to survive in it.
“Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold? For richer . . . or for poorer? In sickness and in health? ’Til death do you part?” he dramatically asked the veiled bride, each rehearsed question and subsequent pause eliciting a chuckle from the intimate gathering, while twisting my already nervous stomach even more.
“Yes! I . . . I do,” she gasped, futilely holding her tears at bay in this moment she’d probably rehearsed a million times in front of the mirror. Sure, this wasn’t exactly how she’d planned it either, but the end result was the same: She’d be a bride. I held her hand firmly in mine, doing my best to remain strong.
It’s going to be okay. This is right. This is what you want, I thought to myself.
“And you, Lavernius,” the Reverend Johnson, happy to be presiding over his best friend’s daughter’s wedding, began. “Do you take this lovely woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold? For richer or for poorer? In sickness and in health? ’Til death do you part?”
As everyone turned to me, it was so quiet that you could hear a mouse fart.
“Lavernius?” the Reverend prodded as my fiancée looked into my eyes, tears now fully formed and running amok down her delicate cheeks.
I knew what I had to say. And what I had to do.
I wasn’t like my brothers.
“I—”
1975
Lavernius “LC”
I checked the simple, black Timex watch on my wrist while pretending I was playing the trumpet with my other hand. Kool and the Gang’s “Jungle Boogie” was on the radio and just getting to my favorite part. You know, where the horns first kick in. Too bad one of the speakers was damaged and crackled with static each time I tried to turn the volume knob past three. DJ Tony Mitchell was spinning the best music in town on GROOVE 770 AM. Before long, he would be out of tiny Hillcroft, Georgia and working the request lines at FM stations in the big cities like Atlanta or Birmingham. He was just that good.