The Savvy Sistahs Read Online Free PDF Page A

her guests. Tall, dark, and breathtakingly stunning, Alexia Bennett-Masters looked and carried herself like a professional model and was the epitome of femininity. It was hard to believe that during her childhood there had been some family members who’d considered her the “ugly duckling,” since she’d been born with skin darker than most Bennetts, and had unruly hair and a weight problem.
    It was only when Brandy saw all the people in attendance that she remembered the birthday party was a joint affair. Alexia’s husband Quinn’s twin sister, Quinece, had also given birth to a set of twins, two beautiful girls, a week before Alexia, so the birthday party was for all four children.
    Or was it a party for the adults, Brandy thought as she glanced around. In addition to a number of Bennett family members, it seemed that Quinn’s entire family, the Masterses, were there. From attending Alexia and Quinn’s wedding, she knew Quinn had come from a rather large family—seven siblings in all, who were spread all over the country. It seemed everyone had reunited to celebrate the birthdays of Quinn’s and Quinece’s offspring.
    “You’re all settled in?”
    Brandy turned to her cousin Taye. Like Alexia and Rae’jean, Taye was her first cousin and the four of them were the same age. Michael, Taye’s husband, was thirty-five and the adoptive grandson of Henry Bennett, her grandfather Ethan’s first cousin. When Michael and Taye professed their love for each other almost three years ago, some members of the Bennett family had gone bonkers. Although Michael had been adopted into the Bennett family at birth, everyone had always considered him blood and in their minds a love affair between Taye and Michael was akin to incest. It was only after Grampa Ethan and Cousin Henry had given their blessings over the match that the family had accepted it and moved on.
    Taye was the cousin everyone had considered “the smart one” while growing up. A math whiz, she now owned an accounting business in Atlanta. She was holding her eighteen-month-old son by the hand. She had named him Ethan Henry Bennett, in honor of Grampa Ethan and Cousin Henry.
    “Yes, I finished unpacking,” Brandy said in response to Taye’s question. “The flight was rather rough to say the least.” She looked at the little boy whose hand Taye held and studied his features, trying to determine if he looked more like Taye or Michael, and quickly decided he looked like the both of them. He had his father’s forehead and lips and his mother’s eyes and nose. “He’s adorable, Taye.”
    Taye beamed proudly. “Thank you.”
    “How are the girls adjusting to him?” she asked of Taye’s two teenage daughters, Sebrina and Monica, and of Michael’s daughter, Kennedy.
    Taye chuckled. “Oh, they’re a big help until he poops in his diaper. Then they are quick to bring him back to me to take care of.”
    Brandy laughed. “You can’t blame them there.”
    Taye shook her head. “No, I guess not.”
    “Don’t get too close to that kid or you’ll start looking like me,” Rae’jean Bennett Garrison said as she joined the group.
    Brandy looked at Rae’jean’s pregnant state and smiled. Rae’jean had always been the one everybody in the family considered “the pretty one” with her light-skinned features and naturally straight medium brown hair. A cardiologist who lived in Boston, Rae’jean was married to Ryan Garrison, a private investigator who specialized in missing persons. The two had met when Rae’jean had begun a come-hell-or-high-water search for her biological father. Now she was happily married with a baby less than a year old and another one on the way.
    “I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Brandy said, grinning. “I can’t remember the last time I was involved with a man. I’ve been too busy.”
    “A Bennett not serious about a man? You’re kidding,” Alexia said, coming to join the group. “I thought I was the only