WHO: Diamond and Lola Mayweather WHEN: Saturday, June 23 WHERE: Mayweather Estate SUMMARY: Summer ‘cleaning’ turns up an interesting revelation that sends Diamond on a trail. WARNINGS: Police characters may cringe?
Lola was generally very good at securing the things that were truly valuable to her. Still, with the police investigation currently underway, now that Lola had some time off, she had decided it would be good for her and the children to do some summer cleaning. Just in case.
She had brought some boxes of past mementos down from the closet, and she and Diamond were going through them. Lola had bought a new lockbox that Joel was going to take with him on Sunday when he headed off to New York City on business. At the last family meeting, Lola had told her children that they had until Saturday night to put anything they did not want found into the lockbox. Otherwise, it would be up to them to hide their own evidence.
“I think my yearbook is in that box,” Lola said to Diamond. “Let me know if you see it, alright, darling?”
Diamond had nothing to hide - nothing noteworthy to the police, anyway. Still, she wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to help her mother out, so she headed over with coffee and bagels early that morning to play spring cleaning even though summer was already upon them. With half a bagel still at her side and coffee in her hand as she sorted through things, she paused every once in a while to marvel at a cute memory or tease her mom about her younger years.
“Mm, you got it.” She said, rifling through a new box at her side, in search of a yearbook. “Oh I think it’s -” She started to say, when a picture fell out of it. She paused, glancing down at what had fallen from the yearbook when she saw a man - whom she recognized as Henry March - holding what was unmistakably Diamond Mayweather herself, as an infant.
“Mom.” She said, setting her coffee down and sliding the picture and the yearbook over to her mother. “Why is this man holding me?”
Lola looked at the picture. Diamond had been such a pretty baby. That was so rare in an infant. Most of them were just fat less wrinkled old people. “Henry and I were a lot closer back then,” Lola said. “I took the picture in case you might want it one day.” She slipped her yearbook into the lockbox.
“Why would I want this someday, mother?” It was rare that she used the word mother instead of mom or momma or literally any other more affectionate way of greeting your mom. She was suspicious, though. Sure - she - well everyone pretty much knew of her mother and father’s lack of respect for monogamous relationships, so it was always a possibility that she wasn’t Joel’s. But Henry freakin March? Really?
“I did not know what you might want when you were older,” Lola said. “You were a baby. I did not know if you would embrace Joel or if you would want a different father, or if you would embrace Joel but also want to find out for sure. If you did decide to find out for sure and it turned out that it wasn’t Joel…..At the time, I figured it would not hurt to have the picture of you and Henry. In case he was your father.”
That was a lot to unpack. Sure, Diamond did embrace Joel well enough - he’d been the only father figure in her life, but it was no secret that she greatly preferred Lola and was 100% a momma’s girl. Maybe it was because deep down she knew that Joel was not her dad, even before the rumors. They didn’t really look alike, not enough to be related. She didn’t look like any of his family either. Mostly, she looked like Lola.
“Oh.” She finally replied, picking up the picture now and staring at it. After several long moments, she slipped it quietly into her purse, and picked up the bagel to take a few bites, thinking it over. “Were you already with daddy - uh, Joel - when I was conceived?”
“When you were conceived, neither of us were tied to anyone in particular. We’d dated before but Joel and I were in an off phase then. We were both seeing other people. There is a chance you are Joel’s. But the odds are not as high as I told my friends then.”
“Hm, alright then.” She wasn’t sure why that made her feel better. Did it matter? Not really, no. She was well aware that her siblings may not even be her full siblings but for some reason, she had this deluded ideal in her head that she was - probably - the one true Joel and Lola child. A true Mayweather.
Now she’s finding out she’s possibly a… March!? There’s just as much name notoriety there, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing. “Well. I’m going to find him and ask.”
Lola blinked. “Who? Henry? He would not know. But if you can get him to give you a DNA sample, we can find out for sure and put the matter to rest.” She took her daughter’s hand. “I will support whatever you want to do with this, darling.”
Squeezing her mother's hand back, Dia smiled. “Thank you momma. I'll get his DNA and figure out what I want to do from there, but your support means everything to me. You know that. I love you.” She scoots closer, letting her head rest on Lola’s shoulder. It’s been a long time since she’s curled up to her this way, almost childlike, but then she’d just learned she might not be who she thought she was - being a little childish was permitted. “Tell me about him?”
“My diamond,” Lola wrapped an arm around her. Lola did so love to be loved. Diamond was her precious first jewel. “Henry is a poor little rich boy who is so lucky just to be nominated. Joel knew what his odds were and he wanted to claim you anyway. It was very smart of him.” Henry had known his odds too, and he had not asked.
“The Henry I knew back then was very handsome, and clever, and he could be fun when he wanted to be.” If Diamond had gotten some genes from Henry, Lola knew her daughter well enough to know that she'd been very selective and had only taken the best ones.
It was disappointing, in a way, to hear her mother speak of her potential blood-related-father being essentially worthless. Sure, his name had notoriety but he seemed a bit like a loser, and the disappointment showed on her face. “Did he just not care, did you not tell him?” Why on earth anyone wouldn’t want her as a daughter was beyond Dia’s comprehension - she was perfect. Joel had made the right choice.
“Is he worth getting to know, or will I just end up disappointed?”
“He knew we had been together at the time. If he wanted the responsibility I figured he would ask or want a test. He did not ask. Joel did not ask for a test either. But he did ask for you. I cannot make that choice for you. But if he does disappoint you, you lose nothing here.”
She was right. Joel chose her, and that meant more to her than blood. Choices are what made a person, and it solidified it to hear that - she was certainly a Mayweather through and through. Blood relation didn’t matter. “Well, I’ll get his DNA just to see if I can rule it out and if he does end up being biologically related to me, I’ll see if he’s still a jackass or if he’s matured over the years.”
“That sounds like a good plan, baby,” Lola said. She slipped a few more things into the lockbox and they rattled at the bottom. “After it’s over, let’s go out somewhere and have some fun.” If things went too terribly, Lola had another box of underwear they could always dump in his field.
“Yes, we will. If he’s a jerk, well. He’ll be sorry.” She replied, the threat very real in her voice. She finally lifted her head up from her mother’s shoulder, gathering what non-incriminating items were still on the floor, and shoved them into an empty box.