One Wild Night

Earlier, after seeing a movie and chatting for some time, Tom and Lucy decided to go downstairs to see what the others were up to, and they met Evelyn, Desmond, Sonia, Bryan, and Dawn in the Den all playing a game of monopoly with Dawn managing the bank.

No sooner had they sat down before one of the housekeepers came in to inform them that they had visitors, so they had all gone out to greet Aaron and co.

"Lucy!" Jamal exclaimed excitedly the moment he sighted her, and ignored everyone else as he ran up to her.

Dawn who had been clinging to Lucy's hand as they walked into the living room, quickly took a step backward to get out of Jamal's way as he embraced Lucy.

Who was he? Dawn mused as she watched the interaction between Jamal and Lucy with a bit of jealousy.

"My dearest Jam," Lucy said with a wide smile as she crouched in front of him to embrace him, neither of them paid attention to the other adults as they conversed.

"I missed you. I'm happy I get to see you again," Jamal said and Lucy grinned.

"Me too," Lucy said, and Jamal's gaze shifted from Lucy to Dawn who was standing behind Lucy and staring at him.

"Who is she? Do you have a daughter now?" Jamal asked, whispering into Lucy's ears.

The little girl looked really pretty, and if she was Lucy's daughter, that meant she was going to be his girlfriend, Jamal thought.

Lucy turned and smiled when she saw Dawn, "Oh, this Dawn," Lucy said as she brought forward with one arm so that she was holding them both with each of her arms.

"Jamal, this is Dawn, my precious friend, and Dawn, meet Jamal, my darling cousin. I hope you both get along as my favorite little ones," Lucy said, introducing them both, and on hearing the introduction, the other adults looked down at the trio.

Jamal stared at Dawn with undisguised curiosity, and she hid her face in the crook of Lucy's neck shyly, amusing all the adults.

"I guess you don't want to say hello to me? You didn't miss me, did you?" Tom asked, and Jamal shook his head.

"Not at all. I only missed Lucy," Jamal said and everyone laughed while Tom scowled at him.

"I didn't miss you either," Tom said as he eyed Jamal with mock displeasure.

"You missed only Lucy? What about me?" Evelyn asked, and Jamal beamed a smile at her as he moved away from Lucy to embrace her.

"I missed you, grandma Evelyn, but not as much as I missed Lucy," he said as he embraced her and Dawn listened to them, feeling even more jealous now as she saw how well Jamal got along with everyone while she didn't.

"I can live with that. I missed you even more my darling. I'm so glad you're all here. Candace, if you don't mind, you'd be sharing a room with Dawn, and Jamal can share a room with his grandfather," Evelyn informed Candace, so that the housekeepers could take their bags to their rooms.

"Sure. Not a problem," Candace said with a nod and Evelyn signalled to the housekeepers to take the bags to the guest rooms.

"Why don't I see Harry and Jade anywhere around? Did they run off somewhere to mourn alone?" Aaron asked curiously and they all laughed.

"They're at the porch," one of the housekeepers informed them.

"I will go inform them you're here," Tom excused himself, while the others headed for the Den, apart from Sonia who chose to remain with Lucy and the kids.

"Why is she so shy?" Jamal asked Lucy when Dawn kept hiding her face away from him.

Lucy and Sonia grinned, "Probably because she doesn't know you so well yet," Lucy said and Jamal shook his head.

"I don't know her so well yet, but I'm not hiding. Maybe she is being that way because she is a kid," Jamal murmured making Lucy and Sonia giggle, and Dawn glared at him.

"Don't call me that!" Dawn hissed at him, and Jamal raised a brow as he had watched Harry and Tom do a lot of times in the past.

"Why not, kid?" Jamal asked, liking that she was no longer hiding and was talking to him now.

"Because I'm not a kid," Dawn said stomping her foot in a rare show of temper, and Lucy stuck her tongue in her cheek as she exchanged a look with Sonia.

"You are stomping you foot like a kid," Jamal pointed out with an amused shake of his head as he stuck his hand into his pocket, feeling like the adult between them.

Seeing that Dawn was fast losing her temper and might pounce on Jamal if he continued trying to rile her up the way he was doing, Lucy decided to step in.

"Jamal, you're being mean to Dawn, and that's not nice. I expect you both to get along," Lucy said and seeing the disapproval on her face, Jamal sighed.

"I'm sorry," Jamal said and Lucy shook her head.

"You should be apologizing to Dawn, not me," Lucy said, while Sonia continued to watch them all in amusement.

She always found it funny how easily Lucy got along with kids. And even now, she was more amused by the communication between the kids. They both seemed really interesting.

"Are you mad?" Jamal asked Dawn, and she eyed him with dislike.

She had thought he was cute when she first saw him, but after hearing him talk about her that way she had no doubt that she was way smarter than him even if he looked older than she was. This was why she didn't like associating with kids.

"Jam…" Lucy stopped when Sonia shook her head to stop her from speaking. Sonia was more interested in seeing how Jamal would go about his apology and whether or not Dawn would accept it without Lucy's interference.

"I guess you're mad. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called you a kid when you didn't like it," Jamal said, looking genuinely remorseful, and Lucy nodded in approval.

"Can we be friends?" Jamal offered with a smile and held out his hand when Dawn said nothing but merely stared at him after his apology.

"Do you know about stocks?" Dawn asked, and Jamal looked at her with a confused expression while Sonia and Lucy also looked lost.

"Socks?" Jamal asked, and Dawn rolled her eyes as she had often watched her mother do.

"No. Stocks," she said, resisting the urge to call him a dummy.

"No. What's that?" Jamal asked and Dawn smiled as she folded her arms in front of her.

"Do you know about cryptocurrency or forex?" She asked again, and Sonia raised a brow, impressed by how brilliant she sounded.

Jamal frowned as he shook his head, "Are those cartoons? I've not seen them yet," Jamal said innocently, and both Sonia and Lucy pressed their lips together to stifle their laughter.

"How many languages can you speak?" Dawn asked and Jamal shook his head.

"Why do I need to learn other languages?" He asked cluelessly, and this time Dawn shook her head and gave him a look that said she thought he was dumb.

"I can't be friends with you. You don't know much of anything. I might be younger than you but I'm smarter," Dawn said, and with her chin raised high, and her shoulders held up, she looked at Lucy.

"Please excuse me," she said politely before walking away with the grace of a lady while Jamal stared at her in stunned disbelief.

"She's a little vixen! A vengeful bitch! I love her," Sonia said with a loud laugh and a clap of approval and Lucy glared at her to shut her up.

"Jam…"

"She said I'm not smart," Jamal told Lucy in disbelief.

It was the first time he had even been spoken to in such a manner. He was often referred to as a genius, yet Dawn had just said he didn't know much of anything. He didn't know if his feelings were hurt or if he was angry. But he was somewhere between both.

"I'm sure she doesn't mean that. You hurt her feelings and she was probably just trying to get back at you," Lucy said softly and Sonia rolled her eyes.

"But I apologized," Jamal said and Lucy nodded.

"Yeah. And I will make sure she also apologizes to you, alright? Let's go join the others," Lucy said as she took Jamal's hand and led him to the Den, while Sonia giggled as she followed them.

"I hope my daughter will be that vicious!" Sonia said, and Lucy turned to glare at her, making her grin.

She had been telling Bryan earlier that the house was too quiet, but she had no doubt that having the kids around was going to liven things up and make the house more fun for her now. She looked forward to watching them interact more often, Sonia thought with a grin.

Author's Note.

Thank you so much for the love and support this last month. Thanks for your patience too. I'm back now and updates will resume as usual. You can purchase privilege chapters if you wish to. And for those asking, Nicole and I are doing great. Much love.