A Chance for Growth

You're Family First

"What are you two doing Penda?" Boris asked, walking closer to his daughter. She dropped her head and let out a sigh of relief. She was frustrated about her father popping up unannounced, but she was grateful he was there. Not too long ago, she was letting her emotions cloud her judgement again and who knows what would've happened if Boris didn't barge in. "Nothing, we were just talking. He told Marcel about Brey and-" Boris raised an eyebrow to her. "Brey? Who the hell is Brey?" He semi yelled, loud enough for Cel to hear him.

"Brey is an annoying, ugly faced piglet that is taking my dad away from me!" Cel shouted from the top of the stairs. Boris looked at his grandson, then his daughter. "The other child?" He asked Taraji. She nodded, still feeling terrible about the way Cel felt towards his parents. Boris went up the stairs, leaving Taraji to find something to occupy her mind. He followed Cel back into his room, sitting on the bed, ready to have a serious conversation with the boy.

"What's going on man? Why you yelling downstairs and calling your sister ugly?" Boris asked. "Because she is," Marcel mumbled. Boris let out a smirk, seeing the fire in his grandson's eyes. He never thought he would see so much of Terrence in him, especially since Terry hadn't been around as much as everybody would like. "Well, if she's ugly. Then so are you. You two share the same dad. Now that I get a good look at you, I can really see the ugly start to seep in. Right...here," Boris started tickling Marcel's neck, making him flinch then start laughing.

Boris smiled, the sound of Cel's laughter was bittersweet to him. He realized that Marcel was truly Terry's son as he thought back to the times of getting Terry to let his wall down and trying to control his anger. As a child, tickling Terrence mid talk always made him relax a little bit when he was ticked off. As Boris looked at Marcel, he saw a young Terrence, with Taraji's loud laughs. He stopped tickling the boy and sat him back up. "Talk to me. What's the real problem?" He asked Cel.

Fiddling with his fingers, Marcel finally let his emotions out without the huge blow up. "Daddy is never around as much anymore and now he has another kid. I bet she sees him all the time. Why can't he be here with me and mommy like he used to?" Cel asked through stray tears. Not sure if it would help, Boris decided to confess some thing to the 4 year old. "Did you know that your Aunt Apryl and Uncle Shawn are my kids, but not your Nana's?" Boris blurted, seeing Marcel's eyes buck.

"Yup. I had 2 more kids that did not come from Nana. But that didn't mean that I don't love your mama. She is my first born. Just like you are your dad's firstborn. He loves you more than anything. Some times he can't always be here with you like he used to. But he tries to be when he can. His job makes him have to leave for a short amount of time, and he has another child that he has to give some of his time to as well. You can't be selfish, because being selfish ends with you hurting the people that you love. And you hurt your mama's feelings earlier," Marcel dropped his head, not realizing that he lashed out at his mom as well.

"I didn't mean it. I just wish daddy stayed with me and mommy. I know he used to, Mommy still has the pictures. Why did he have another kid without mommy?" Cel questioned, trying to understand a lot. "I don't think he planned on doing that, but that can't be changed now. The only thing you can do, is enjoy having a sister, and enjoy spending time with your dad. If your mama would've had another kid, would you be acting like this?" Boris through back, making Cel really think about the question. "If mommy and daddy had one together, I wouldn't be so mad. But I don't get it. How...is she my sister if mommy didn't have her?" The 4 year old asked a valid question.

"She is your half sister, because you two only share 1 parent. So that means half of your DNA is the same as hers. But she is till your sister nonetheless," Marcel nodded, understanding what Boris was getting at. "You need to go downstairs and apologize to your mama...and to your...daddy," Boris hesitated. For the first time, he was made to acknowledge fully that Terry was indeed Marcel's daddy. "Okay, Pop," Cel hugged his grandfather, taking off out the room and down the stairs. Boris followed behind at his own pace, hearing the little feet quickly move to find his parents.