by Pat Simmons
“Olivia!” She hugged her sister, smothered her with kisses, squealed, then started the ritual over again. They hadn’t seen each other since last Christmas. Octavia patted the tears on her cheeks. “When did you get in? How did you know…”
Her sister pointed at Terri. “Your friend redeemed herself.” Terri joined them in a group hug. Octavia whispered a prayer of thanks to the Lord Jesus. When she separated, Octavia’s skin tingled from some unexplained sensation.
A throat cleared and Octavia turned in that direction. “Landon?” Her voice trembled as her vision blurred. “Why aren’t you in Boston?”
It was as if everyone in the room held their breath as Octavia gasped for hers. Landon walked toward her. “I’m taking a later flight. Congratulations. This time I brought candy and flowers.”
As Octavia’s tears flowed, Landon made good on his promise. He tugged away from prying eyes and kissed her until she thought she would pass out.
Chapter 27
The joy on Octavia’s face, the kiss on her soft lips and her smile was worth Landon taking the last flight to Boston. Now stretching his legs in the window seat, Landon peeped out the window. He would be tired in the morning, but he was sure his children would keep him alert for an impromptu meet-and-greet at his parents’ house.
Reba and Martin agreed to bring Alyssa. Surprisingly, Kim’s agitation had been so intense as if they were face-to-face again.
“Yeah, I guess I’ll bring Cherie, but you’d better not come to town without bringing cash.”
Landon had held in his chuckle, so not to irritate an already volatile situation. “Right.”
Kim would definitely be disappointed with a bank check this time since he had opened up a checking account. Plus, since graduating the father’s initiative program, he had set up automatic deductions to come out of his bank three weeks a month, one for each set of his children. Thanks to Alyssa’s stepfather’s generosity, he would send his oldest daughter less, so he would have more to send the other three children.
He sighed when he thought about his twins and their mother. For a woman who was engaged to a seemingly decent man who appeared to love her and the boys, Brittani proved to be just as difficult. He prayed God would deliver her of the hurts of the past, so she could move forward whenever they had to interact on behalf of the children.
Rest. Do not worry about tomorrow. God whispered Matthew 6:34. Each day has its own trouble.
Closing his eyes, Landon did just that, and he didn’t stir until the attendant made an announcement to prepare for landing. Twenty minutes later when he walked off the plane, Landon felt the absence of his support team. The airport was deserted, except for passengers from his flight. This weekend would be about bonding.
Leaving the terminal for the baggage claim area, Landon did a double take. His eyes hadn’t deceived him. A familiar face was standing near the window, holding a single balloon. Landon almost stumbled when their eyes connected.
“Garrett?” The man lived five hours away in Philly. Did he make a special trip to Boston to settle scores with him?
Wearing a blank expression, his cousin made no attempt to meet him halfway. As the only boys in their families and male grandsons, they were best buddies until they entered manhood. That’s when Landon realized his light brown eyes, wavy hair and light skin had an edge with the ladies over Garrett. His cousin seemed to tolerate his shenanigans, but now things were different. Landon braced for an emergency room visit with a broken nose as he came within feet of the man he had betrayed.
“You’re late.” Garrett stated the obvious.
“I know.”
As Garrett stared at him, Landon wondered what his cousin saw: the same sinner who mocked God repeatedly or a lost sheep that God had watched over until he surrendered.
Pushing away from the wall, which had supported his weight, Garrett stood taller. He had picked up some inches around the middle since his marriage to Shari, but it definitely wasn’t fat. Slowly Garrett’s hand moved and it wasn’t in a fist as he extended it for a handshake. “Welcome home.”
When Landon accepted the hand, Garrett wrapped him in a manly hug. To onlookers, there was no doubt they were one hundred percent all men.
Garrett patted him on the back as Landon choked back tears. “I’m so sorry I’ve messed over your life and others’. I’m sorry, man. I’m sorry.”
His cousin squeezed his neck. Any tighter, it would have been unto death. “Aunt Lydia told me what you’ve been through. She, my mother and my wife thought it would be good for us to have a long talk.”
Landon grinned. “I’ll have to thank them.”
“The good news is God got your attention before you were lost in eternity in hell. The bad news is you’ll have to deal with Brittani for the rest of your life.”
Chapter 28
“I didn’t threaten the man,” Olivia insisted as she helped Octavia prepare a brunch Saturday morning for them to enjoy. “Landon and I just had a brief chat.” Olivia gave her an angelic look. “If Daddy had come, Melvin Winston would have put the fear into Landon.”
“Amen,” she and Olivia snickered. Her father had been rooting for her since she began as a realtor. If he hadn’t strained his back, he and his wife would have been on the next flight out of Florida. But Melvin Winston didn’t let that setback stop him from having flowers delivered to her door this morning.
As daddy’s little girl, Octavia wondered if Landon could have passed her father’s scrutiny.
“But, hey, I like your taste,” Olivia said, keeping her mind from wandering down that path. “Landon is double fine. Whew.” Olivia feigned a hot flash, giggled, then set the counter top with two place settings.
Octavia held in her amusement. She didn’t want to encourage her sister to intervene in her relationship with Landon.
As they worked in unison around her kitchen, Olivia chatted away. “I introduced myself and told him what it meant to have you as my sister…and how special you are from any other human being on this planet.”
“Wow.” The compliment humbled Octavia. “Thank you. I love you too.” After removing the pancakes from the grill, she joined her sister at the tabletop.
“I mean, how can you threaten someone who already has experienced the hand of God against them?”
“You’ve got a point,” Octavia paused and reached for her sister’s hands, then bowed her head. “Jesus, I have so much to be thankful for, besides the food set before me—my sister and You giving me the desire of my heart,” she said, convincing herself she was referring to making the Million Dollar Club. “Lord, please provide shelter and food for many faces I don’t see who are hidden in plain sight and let be me a blessing to them.” She paused. “Thank you for restoring Landon, and may he continue to mend the broken hearts. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
After taking a sip of orange juice and sampling Octavia’s made-from-scratch blueberry pancakes, Olivia asked, “What do you think he’s doing now?”
“I hope having a ball with his children.” It was a bittersweet smile. She wanted to have children one day with a husband who would be just as excited to be a first-time father. She blinked away the melancholy. Her sister was in town for the weekend and she was going to enjoy every minute of it.
***
“Really, Kim?” Landon tried not to let his daughter’s mother push his buttons. “You knew I was coming in this weekend and my mother was having a get-together for me to get to know my children and their siblings.” It wasn’t like he could hop on a plane and come back to visit.
“Hey, I’m having car problems. If you want Cherie to go, then you’ll have to come and get her.” The woman hung up before Landon could blink.
Closing his eyes, Landon took a series of deep breaths and rubbed the back of his neck. “Lord, I know I have to reap what I’ve sowed, but I’m asking You to help me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
I have given you grace, the Lord whispered.
Landon hoped so as he opened his e
yes. He noticed the time. He had a few hours before his other children would arrive. He was surprised that Kim trusted Cherie to be in his presence and thought she would want to be there to help with the transition, but he was starting to see that Kim, Reba and Brittani had different agendas with him.
Deal with it, Landon coaxed himself as he jumped in the shower. He would go and pick up his four-year-old daughter and be back before her siblings arrived.
His mother had suggested that a small gathering might be better rather than Landon allotting each child a certain amount of time. He agreed. His mother had decorated the house as if he was throwing a birthday bash for a classroom of children instead of four. Well, this was a celebration.
What a difference grace made. It seemed like yesterday when his mother had called him “devious” for fathering, not one or two, but four grandchildren she had yet to meet. Since that time, relationships had been built, but strained. Now, she received him with open arms and never used his deeds against him in a negative way.
The biggest surprise was his welcoming party of one at Logan airport the previous night. Landon hadn’t expected to see Garrett ever again in this lifetime, but there he was at 11:43, standing in the lobby, holding a “welcome home” balloon.
“That was Shari’s idea,” Garrett had explained of the balloon before he dropped Landon off at his parents’ house, then Garrett went to his mom and dad’s where Shari and their children were staying. Garrett agreed to return with Shari and their two children to meet their cousins. Of course, his grandparents would not be denied an opportunity to bond with more of their great-grands. Moses and Queen were the first to arrive very early that morning to help.
With the new developments, Landon didn’t have the luxury to continue analyzing how God had worked it out in his life. He prepared to get ready to pick up his little princess. Once he had shaved, showered, and dressed, Landon went downstairs and asked to borrow his mother’s car.
“Son, you don’t have to ask.” She kissed his cheek. “Go and get my grand baby.” She grinned and shoved him toward the door.
The drive to Northern Dorchester—shortened to “Dot” by Bostonians—wasn’t far. Everything seemed surreal as he noted the different landmarks that separated familiar neighborhoods.
Soon enough, Landon was parked in front of Kim’s place. She lived on the second floor of one of the triple-decker apartment buildings for which New England cities were known. He didn’t get out right away as he mentally prepared to be a father to his own flesh and blood.
After a brief pep talk, Landon stepped out and jogged up the stairs. Kim didn’t keep him waiting after he rang the bell. She opened the door with his daughter by her side and her palm up, waiting for her expected delivery. Once he handed over the envelope, she handed over the child as if they were doing a drug buy.
“Here, take this,” she said, passing him what looked like a chair. “She needs a booster seat.”
“Right.” He nodded as he looked at Cherie’s inquisitive brown eyes, which reminded him of Kim’s. DNA testing proved the child was his in spite of his protests that they had only slept together a short period of time.
“Although you don’t deserve seeing my daughter, this is an honor system. Don’t call asking for her to spend the night, watch what she eats—she has no allergies—and bring her back before seven. “G’on, Cherie. This is your sorry father.”
“Kim, let’s make a deal,” Landon said, reigning in his temper as she folded her arms and leaned against the door post. “You don’t bad mouth me in front of our daughter, and I’ll extend the same courtesy. I plan to show her that her daddy is anything but sorry.” He fumed at Kim’s lack of respect, but calmed down when he reached for his daughter’s hand. She was hesitant at first, but after a few more tries, she accepted it. He heaved her up with one arm as if she was a toddler instead of a four-year-old and carried the booster in the other to the car. When he looked back, Kim had already shut the door.
During the ride to his parents’ house, Landon tried to make small talk, but Cherie didn’t seem interested as she alternated between looking out the window and watching him. When he arrived, Garrett and his crew were there. When everyone made a fuss over his daughter, Landon’s chest puffed with pride. He stayed close to Cherie, so she wouldn’t feel overwhelmed.
Within an hour, it was a madhouse as Brittani and Charles arrived with the twins minutes after Reba and her husband had brought Alyssa and decided to stay.
Garrett spoke to his ex-fiancée, but there weren’t any hugs coming. Landon was glad for Charles’s presence, because he could sense Brittani’s troubled spirit. He hoped with Charles by her side, Brittani wouldn’t become a troublemaker.
The games and activities his mother had planned did the trick. Soon the children were screaming, yelling and playing together. Every now and then, Cherie peeked around searching for him, as if making sure he hadn’t left her. The contentment on her face made him more determined to be there for his baby girl.
Landon could wait until the children had cake and ice cream, then he would bring out the duffle bags he brought from St. Louis. Rossi, Levi, his wife and Octavia had packed them almost to the maximum weight with toys.
When the time came, he gathered all the children around and began to dispense the many gifts he had brought from St. Louis. The children screamed with delight at the toy trucks, Legos, dolls and stuffed animals.
“I have plenty for my little cousins,” he told Garrett when Garrett’s two sons got in line and expected a toy too. “Rossi and Octavia made sure of it.”
Garrett gave him a strange look. “You mentioned her name last night—a couple of times—but I was too tired to ask about her. Aunt Lydia raved to Mom about how sweet and pretty she is, so…” Garrett nudged his shoulder.
He wasn’t offended by what his cousin was implying. His grandfather was also concerned that Landon not stain Octavia with his sins. “If you’re asking me if there is any lust in my bones toward her, the answer is no—I don’t plan to sleep with another woman unless she’s my wife.”
“Good answer.” Garrett nodded. “So, is she the one?”
“Yes…only if I have time to give her the attention she deserves.” Landon never thought he would be in a position not to woo a woman, but he was now and he didn’t know how to deal with it.
Garrett looked as if he was about to say something, but Landon cut him off when his eldest daughter, Alyssa, holding one of the African-American dolls that was in the toys he brought, gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek for no reason. “Wow,” he whispered. Before he returned to St. Louis, his children would have him wrapped about their fingers.
Caught up in an awe moment, Landon didn’t realize Garrett was grinning at him. “What, man? This is blowing my mind.”
“Children will do that. Before your daughter—” Garrett emphasized the word— “interrupted us, and they do that all the time…” Garrett’s oldest son appeared as if to prove it.
Landon watched as Garrett patiently showed Garrison how to operate the game, then the boy went back to play with the others. He snickered and turned his attention back to Landon. “Explain to me how a woman could be ‘the one’ and you not go after her?”
The room reminded him of Christmas with all the toys and discarded wrappings. He fanned his hand in the air. “Look around you. Most of the children here are mine. Not one child and one child’s mother to deal with, but four children and three mothers. What woman would want to be a part of this kind of drama?”
“Maybe, you should ask her and find out, because it sounds like she is the one that you’re about to let get away.” Garrett got to his feet when he saw that his son had pushed his little brother out the way. “Just remember, Octavia has seen you at your worse—no home, job and food and she’s still there. Sounds like a strong black godly woman and that is something every black man needs. I’ve got mine and God knows, she’s not going anywhere until He calls her home.”
Landon exhaled. Gar
rett was right. Landon couldn’t let Octavia get away, especially to the likes of characters like James. Although family and his children surrounded him, Landon felt incomplete without Octavia sharing in this moment with him. After a few minutes of thinking things through, Landon came to a decision. If he could be a father of four, then he could be a husband to one woman.
Chapter 29
Late Sunday night, Landon boarded the plane at Logan Airport, feeling like…a dad. The gathering had given him insight to each of his children’s unique personality. Alyssa had created a lasting memory. His little girl had asked Reba and her stepdad if she could go to the airport to see her “extra” daddy—as she had called him a couple of times at the party—home.
Strapped in his seatbelt, Landon closed his eyes. He never had felt so loved and sad to leave. If left up to him, Landon would move back to Boston in a heartbeat. As his plane soared into the sky, his thoughts changed to what was awaiting him in St. Louis.
Octavia. He wanted her, and whatever he had to do or say to make it permanent, he was willing to do it. After all, wouldn’t his children want him to be happy?
The pilot touched down in St. Louis exactly two hours later—a smooth ride with no delays. He mingled with the other travelers as they exited the terminal.
His nostrils flared at the sight of Octavia. Had she come to the airport to welcome him? That was so much like her, he thought, but as he walked closer, Landon saw her waving goodbye to her sister. The joke was on him. Her life didn’t revolve around him.
Olivia was sweet, but Octavia definitely was the beauty. Walking quietly behind her, Landon whispered in her ear, “Hello, pretty lady.”
She whirled around as he opened his arms. When she flew into them, he kissed her, then squeezed her close. She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her. Only when he needed to breathe did he loosen his hold, but not his contact as he wrapped his arm around her waist and steered her toward baggage claim with him.