by T. Styles
“Yes I do,” I laughed.
“But I can promise you this: I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to be a better man.”
When we pulled up in front of a small but cozy brick home, I was confused. We spent so much time in motels and hotels that I assumed we were going there first until we got ourselves together. “Where are we?”
“Well, you know I’ve been on the phone all day,” he said.
“Yeah,” I said with an attitude, nibbling on my bottom lip to prevent from saying something stupid. “At first I thought you were talking to a chick because you would get quieter when I looked over at you.”
“Well, this is what I was doing. Arranging for us to have a home.”
I looked over the brick house again. Yellow and pink flowers sat in a bed in front of it and the large, open windows revealed an empty place that needed a lot of love. “But how did you do it?”
“My grandmother’s best friend used to live in this house. When I told her we were headed out here, she gave me the number of her best friends’ son. He said it was available for as long as we wanted it. I mean we’ll be renting it for the first six months but if you decide that you like it, and that you want to spend your life with me here, then it will be ours.” A tear rolled down my face and he wiped it away. “No more crying. You don’t have to anymore.”
While I was feeling overwhelmed with love, his daughter woke up. She yawned a little and said, “Daddy, where are we?” Her voice was so childlike and pure.
“We’re home.”
Her eyes widened as she looked at the tiny property. “So I get to live with you? Forever?”
“Forever, baby girl. I’m never letting anyone else hurt you again.”
Her doe eyes rolled over toward me. “Can Ms. Lourdes come too?”
“Of course I can,” I said rubbing her smooth hair backwards. “I’m going to help take care of you.”
The excitement she wore made me happy. Who would have thought that I, Lourdes Beaumont from Houston Texas, would have a family of my own? As we piled out of the car I looked up at the icy blue sky. Preacher and his daughter walked up the steps.
“You coming, baby?” he asked me.
“Give me a second?” I said standing at the bottom step.
When he left me alone I looked up to the heavens. “Mama, I know you can see me. And I know you’re not proud of some of the things I did. I didn’t mean to hurt anybody and it was always done out of a sincere desire to protect myself. I just wanted you to know that I’m happy. For the first time in a very long time, I’m happy. And I love you.”
I took a deep breath and walked up the steps into our home. I knew I was closing a chapter on a horrible life and beginning a new chapter. Who knew that it would take a crazy kind of love to get me here? But I was grateful.