Vicki

Mari and I met up with Mother after she moved out of the mansion. I was shocked when Mari told me Mother was getting a divorce from Father. I needed to see Mother and get down to the bottom of it.

"My daughters," Mother sang as she gracefully glided into the kitchen. "How lovely it is to see you this morning."

"Mother," I turned towards her, she was beaming. I hadn't seen that side of her in a long time. "Look at you!" Mother danced around in a circle as she made her way over to the table and the spread of food displayed before us.

"Thank you Vicki. I am so happy. It's like a huge weight has been lifted."

"It has. You lost a good 200 pounds, easy." Mari chimed in as she grabbed a plate. "Are you expecting some people here or something? What's with the brunch going on?"

"Yes and I was expecting you two to join me. I actually thought you were bringing Jacobi with you, Vicki."

"Oh, I'm sorry. He had to get to the studio, but he said he would try to come by later if I'm still here."

"Oh ok good. And Mari, are you seeing anyone at the moment?"

"Uh yeah, but he's not in town." I looked at Mari who shot me a look as if she was trying to figure out Mother.

"Oh well, maybe next time." Mother grabbed a plate and began adding food to it.

"So have you spoken to Father since you moved out?" I asked, grabbing a bagel, a smear of cream cheese and smoked salmon with capers.

"No, fuck him." She quickly said as she sang softly walking around picking up fruit, pastries and finishing up with crepes.

"Damn!" Both Mari and I replied.

Suddenly, Michael walked into the kitchen, wearing casual clothes. I hardly ever saw him out of his business suit and he was looking 'normal' wearing a pair of faded jeans, a nice pullover shirt and a pair of Nike slides.

"Hello Ladies." Michael said as he entered, walking directly over to Mother and giving her a small, sweet kiss. "Hi beautiful."

"Hello Sweetheart."

"Waaaaaaaaaooooow! Okay a lot has changed in the last few months." I quipped as I bit into my bagel.

"Yes, but only for the better. As you know already, Michael and I are,"

"Together, we know." Mari interrupted as she took a bite of her homemade BLT. Mother chuckled while Michael smiled and nodded.

"Well I wanted to invite you all here because I have some great news I would like to tell you."

Mother knew she had a way of being elaborate when needed. We all gave her our attention as we sat around the dining room table.

"This is for Michael," We all looked at him and he looked surprised.

"Me?"

"Yes," She stood up and walked over to the kitchen counter grabbing a manila envelope. "Michael, you are an amazing person with amazing talents. I know you have dreams and goals and I want you to see them come to fruition."

"Angela," Michael said blushing. I could tell he didn't expect any of this.

"I don't want you thinking you have to work for Bryan any longer than you have to." She kept going, ignoring Michael. "I have made arrangements for you to start your own business." She handed him the envelope.

"What? Angela, what did you do?" He smiled and opened the envelope. He pulled out the documents, skimming them quickly. "THE ENTIRE BUILDING?!"

I looked at Mother and she had the biggest smile, spreading across her face ear to ear.

"YES! The entire building is yours!"

"Angela! Oh my goodness!" He walked over and grabbed Mother, wrapping her in his arms. I looked at them and I immediately saw the love between them.

"There's more." She squealed.

"More?"

The doorbell rang and one of the staff members announced other guests had arrived.

"Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us." Mother greeted the four individuals who entered the room.

"Thank you for having us, Angela." Guy #1 said as he smiled, looking around at everyone.

"Yes, we're so glad you called. It was right on time." Guy #2 replied.

"Michael," Mother turned to Michael. "These are some colleagues of mine who are interested in and in need of your consulting services."

"Are you serious?" Michael stood up and walked over to the group of men. He smiled and shook their hands making sure to have direct contact with them.

"Yes, Angela told us about your plans and we would like to go over our needs in more detail with you and see how you can help us, if you don't mind?"

"Of course!" Michael smiled at Angela. "We can talk out on the patio. Grab a bite to eat and something to drink and we can converse out there." The guys nodded and grabbed a bit of food before retreating to the patio. Michael quickly kissed Mother and joined the group outside.

"Mother, you set up Michael with his business?" Mari asked.

"Yes. I didn't want him to have to still work for your Father. Especially after he finds out that I'm with Michael, I'm sure he'll fire him."

"True, but damn Mom, way to go!" I cheered. She stood up for her man and set him up.

"Yeah Mother, what the hell happened to you?" Mari joked.

"Michael is what happened." I answered. Mother smiled as she looked outside to the patio and noticed Michael speaking directly to the group of men. He had their full attention; Mother looked proud as she watched him.

"Yes, he is what happened. He awakened a being inside of me," Mother started.

"OH Kay! TMI, Mother. We don't need the details. But we understand." I chimed in, chuckling. I did not need a visual of Michael and my Mother.

Mari, Mother and I sat down in the sitting area of the kitchen and turned on the television to have some background noise as we chatted and spent time together. I flipped through the channels and landed on a Pride parade in San Francisco. The parade had just begun as the grand marshal's car drove slowly down the street in front of the first performer in the parade.

"Holy SHIT!" Mari yelped and stood up looking at the television screen. "That's Her!"

I looked at the screen and didn't have a clue what she was talking about. "That's who?"

"Natalia De la Cruz? She's an actress and model." Mother said unphased and still snacking.

"For Real?" I looked at Mari and she was staring directly at the screen.

Natalia De la Cruz was a model and Oscar nominated actress that was nominated recently for a movie portraying a transgender woman. I must admit, the movie was really good and I had pegged her to win the award.

"How do you know her?" I asked Mari.

"She's the woman that was with Father! The woman Father was with at the restaurant?! Someone sent me her picture!"

"What?" Mother finally paid attention to the television and started laughing. "Wait, is she a transgender woman?"

"Yes." I answered. Mother let out the loudest laugh I had ever heard from her.

"You have got to be shitting me!" She stood up and put her hands on her hips.

"Oh my goodness." Mari blurted.

"Does Father know?" I asked.

"Probably not." A deep voice answered and we all turned around to see Randall standing behind us, with a fine ass man standing next to him.

"Randall! You came!" Mother squealed and ran over to Randall, wrapping her arms around him.

"Hello Mother. I hope you don't mind. I brought someone with me."

"The more the merrier. Where's Marianna?" She asked. Randall tightened his lips and looked at the handsome guy.

"We're getting a divorce."

"Oh Shit!" Mari quipped. Randall smiled slightly and nodded.

"Randall, what happened?" She said holding his hand. Randall turned to his friend and smiled.

"Mother, this is Dion. My boyfriend." Mother froze and looked at Randall and then at Dion. I wasn't sure how she was handling it.

"Well damn. Okay. Nice to meet you Dion, Help yourself to some food over there." She said pointing to the loaded table. "Randall, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. It's okay, really."

"Are you happy?" She asked, holding his hand and caressing his cheek like a mother would her son. She was worried about him and wanted him to be okay.

"Yes, I am Mother," He looked at Dion and held his hand, lacing his fingers with Dion's. "I'm very happy."

"Well if you're happy, then I'm happy." She said, kissing him on the forehead. "Dion, I want you to feel welcome here, always. Okay?"

"Yes Ma'am. Thank you." Dion beamed being accepted to the family.

"Randall," Mari called out. "Does Father know about your divorce?"

"I'm sure he does. I haven't spoken with him in quite some time."

"Why, what happened?"

"He accused me of sending some photos to the media." He scoffed.

"Yeah, that sounds like him. Accusing everyone else but himself." Mari uttered.

"You mean the pictures with Natalia De la Cruz on the news?" I asked.

"Yep, the very same ones. She came over to the mansion the last time I spoke to Father."

"Really?"

"Yes."

I watched as Mother spoke with Dion at the table, they laughed together as I could only assume they were talking about Randall's childhood. Randall sat down on the couch; He seemed relaxed more than usual, which is unusual because Randall was always a bit stiff.

"Damn Randall," I said, turning towards him. "You're just full of surprises, huh?"

"Nah, I'm just trying to live my life and be happy for once." He smiled.

"Does Father know about you and Dion?" I asked. It was a difficult question because we both knew how Father felt about homosexuality.

"No, he doesn't. Not yet, anyway."

"So he doesn't know about Natalia either, huh?"

"Nope. Not at all. After Father accused me, I figured he needed to find out the hard way."

"Wow, okay." Randall chuckled as Dion joined us on the couch, bringing Randall a plate full of food.

"Thank you." He said, planting a kiss on Dion's cheek. I was happy Randall was living his life and finding his true happiness.

I sat around looking at my family; they were happy with each other and progressing well without Father. I would have never known this gathering would be as entertaining as it was. I wondered what other interesting events could happen before this was over.

Again, the doorbell rang. This time was Jacobi, followed by another member of the family. Mother came running from the patio and into the kitchen to meet them. She hugged Jacobi, spinning him around until she laid her eyes on the other individual.

"Bryan David!"

I guess it was time for Randall to meet his big brother.