by J. E. Parker
Thankfully, it was coming soon.
22
Carmen
“Hey, CeCe!”
At the sound of Maddox’s voice, I jerked my head up from the towels I was folding on the family room floor, to where he stood amid the open front doorway.
Sans shirt, he wore a baseball glove on his left hand and a fitted ball-cap turned backward atop his wild black hair.
Talk about Hendrix Jr.
Climbing to my knees, I ignored the way my joints creaked with the slight movement—I’m getting old—and grabbed the laundry basket to my left.
“What is it, bebé? Are you hungry? If so, I can fix you something to eat.” My lips twitched. “And no worrying about kitchen fires. I know where the extinguisher is now.”
Not understanding what I was talking about, he scrunched his nose. “Nah, I’m good.” Hooking his thumb, he pointed over his shoulder to where the setting sun was casting the yard and road in warm orange hues. “But Tuck and Carissa just pulled up out front, and I was wantin’ to know why their truck is full of brown boxes and stuff.” He blinked. “Is somebody else movin’ in?”
Standing on numb feet, I made my way toward him, neck craned to see what he was talking about, just as James bounded down the stairs, his still wet, and bare, chest glistening from the shower he’d just gotten out of.
My mouth may have watered at the tantalizing sight. May? Who was I kidding? Si, it totally had. Who could blame me, though? The man was delicious.
In more ways than one.
I needed another taste of him.
Pronto.
“Baby,” he said, jerking me from my filthy thoughts but doing little to douse the inferno that blazed in my lower belly. “I need you to stay inside for me.”
“Why?”
Coming to a standstill, he grasped my chin and tilted my head back in a familiar move that he’d started doing more often than not. “Because I just got a group text informing me that the surprise I arranged for you is here, but again, I need you to stay here while I get it situated.”
Group text?
Hands going to my hips, I half-heartedly glared up at him, my lips parted. “What are you up to? I know you sent Anthony and Shelby to gather the rest of Jade and I’s things from High Tide earlier, but neither Tuck nor Carissa went with them, and they wouldn’t have needed boxes.”
Confusion set in.
“Carmen”—he smiled, reading my spinning mind—“trust me.”
Trust was something I’d had little of for so long, but I was quickly gaining where he and the rest of our familia were concerned.
“Si, fine,” I huffed, feigning irritation I didn’t possess. “But only because you demanded so sweetly.” I snorted and pushed to my tiptoes, pressing a kiss to his jawline. “Now go, Guapo, or I may just pitch a hissy fit.”
He grinned. “Seems you may have some southern in you after all since you’re threatening me with hissy fits now. What’s next? You going to cut my tail if I don’t mind you? Maybe snatch me bald?”
Stepping back and pulling free of his hold, I smirked. “Perhaps. Or I could always do as Mamá used to and use my shoe to—”
“Mama C!”
Back stiffening, my limbs shook as terror careened down my spine, embedding itself deep in my suddenly twisting stomach at the sound of Jade’s high-pitched, and what I’d mistakenly thought was fear-driven, shout.
Reacting instinctively, I spun around, giving James my back, and bolted through the front door, rushing past a wide-eyed Maddox as he jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding me crashing into him.
Nearly tripping over the threshold, I stumbled onto the covered front porch, eyes searching for Little One, along with the source of her distress, more than ready to nullify whoever had dared threaten her.
Spotting her right away, where she stood in the middle of the street, tears pouring down her cheeks unchecked, I tripped down the steps, falling to my hands before jumping right back up, ignoring the tiny scrapes adorning my palms thanks to the concrete pathway I’d landed on.
Behind me, Guapo cursed.
But focused only on her, I ignored him.
“Jade!” I screamed, running for her, arms pumping, bare feet digging into the dewy grass-covered yard. “Bebé, what is—”
One hand flew to her mouth, covering her lips as she pointed in front of her, shoulders shaking from the sobs that spilled out of her in a tidal wave of emotions that I didn’t understand.
At least, not yet.
Turning my head, I followed the trajectory of her finger. Then, in a single second, my heart felt like it stopped, completely seizing.
And it did so because standing in front of Tuck’s truck were two of the three remaining missing pieces of my heart; ones I’d long since thought were lost forever.
Legs nearly faltering again, I staggered forward, disbelieving gaze locked upon a ghost from my past, whose hair had once been platinum blonde but was now a gleaming shade of golden brown, and whose frame had once been rail-thin but no longer was.
Hand going to my chest, I bent at the waist and screamed, as loud and hard as I could. “Faye!”
Without thinking and moving on autopilot, I charged her, the need to hold her in my arms and assure myself that she was here, her beautiful heart still beating, driving me.
Amelia squealed, her hands flapping in what I could only guess was both excitement and anxiety as my body crashed into her madre’s, and we both tripped, arms holding each other tight before stumbling into the front of the truck.
Not that either of us cared about the impact.
Lost in one another, we were too busy hugging each other tight, our tears mingling as our foreheads touched and we stared into each other’s eyes, the words that neither of us could find the strength to speak bouncing between us.
“Robina H-Hood,” Faye stuttered after what felt like decades. “You’re here.” Her hands slid over my body, feeling the warmth of my skin, along with the pulse of my mighty heart. “You’re... alive.”
“I’m alive.” I laughed, hugging her tighter as my heart swelled, knowing that this was my surprise from James. I didn’t know how he’d done it, but he’d brought Faye and Amelia back to me. It was one of the many gifts I’d spend my remaining days repaying him for. “And so are Little One and Chiquita.”
She pulled back, her glossy eyes filled with disbelief. “I don’t...” Releasing the rib-crushing hold she had on me, she palmed my neck, her lips quivering. “I was told about everything on the way down here, including what happened to the pricks who hurt us for so long, but I still don’t understand.”
“And that’s okay,” I whispered in reply, rubbing soothing circles on her lower back. “One breath and one step at a time. That’s how we’re going to do this.”
Nodding, she hiccuped, her entire body quaking. “Okay,” she choked out, voice cracking and breaking like frail twigs with each muttered syllable. “But don’t you ever, and I mean ever, think about leaving me again.”
I shook my head. “I won’t.”
“Good ’cause the seven years I spent without my best friend, thinking you’d been murdered by you-know-who, were pure hell.”
She made a choking sound and clenched her eyes shut, fighting to gather herself, before opening them once more. “Like I’ve already said, I still don’t understand how you’re here, but I reckon my brain will make sense of all the stuff I’ve been told in time. Right now, though, I just want to focus on getting out of the misery-fueled flames I’ve been dancing in ever since I thought you and the girls died so I can quit burning, once and for all.”
Her words sounded so much like mine.
And that hurt.
“Faye—”
“Later, Robina Hood. We’ll talk about it later.” Having reached her emotional limit, something she did rather quickly thanks to all she’d been through in life, Faye pushed the tear-slicked hair sticking to my cheeks from my face and shook her head, silencing me.
Stepp
ing to the side, she pulled her attention from me and focused on a giggling Amelia, who was wrapped up in both Ashley and Jade’s arms. The megawatt smile that tilted her lips at the sight was blinding.
“My youngin’ sure has missed both of yours,” she murmured, wiping her own tears as she watched her special bebé squeal and jump in place, embracing two of the five or so people she’d ever allowed to touch her. “I mean, look at her. She’s happier than a pig rolling in fresh mud.”
Turning to get a better look at the scene unfolding behind me, one I noticed an approaching Guapo watching as well, I took her right hand in my left one, squeezing her fingers tight.
“And that’s how she’s going to stay...”
I chuckled to myself as the rest of my familia spilled out of the Grandmama’s house with her leading the charge, her pink hat bouncing as she hoofed it our way, a plate of cookies in her hands.
At least she left her swatter behind.
“Especially now that you’ve both been adopted.”
“Adopted?” Having no clue of the truth I spoke, Faye looked at me like I was loca, though she continued to grin like a loon. “What are you talking about?”
“What my Pixie means,” Guapo said, sidling up next to me, where he pulled my fingers from Faye’s before inspecting my hands.
Jaw ticking, he scowled at the little drops of blood and tiny scrapes covering my palms thanks to the fall I’d taken a minute before.
“Is that when you allowed Tuck and Carissa to talk you into moving down here late last night, leaving your crazy ass sister, who doesn’t do shit but cause you grief, along with the state of Virginia in the rear-view mirror, you sealed your fate.”
Pausing, he kissed my temple.
“Now you and Amelia are part of our family. Which speaking of”—he nodded to the small army closing in on us—“here comes the welcoming committee.”
“Well, hey there, handsome,” Faye started, not quite grasping what he’d just told her. “Didn’t think I’d be seeing you so—”
She snapped her mouth closed when a grinning Grandmama appeared before her, glitter-etched glasses sparkling in the waning sunlight.
“It’s about time you got here,” she fussed without conviction, nearly coming out of her skin with what I assumed was excitement as she looked from Faye to Amelia, then back to Faye again. “Why, if you’d have been any later, you two would’ve missed supper.”
Blinking slowly, Faye’s lips parted, and with the words she was trying to conjure failing to roll off her tongue, my best friend, and the woman who’d carried me through some of the darkest of times, looked at me.
“Carmen,” she whisper-hissed. “Help.”
The laughter that burst free of me couldn’t be helped or held back. “Rule el numero uno,” I told her, preparing to give her a thread of wisdom that Clara had bestowed upon me. “Embrace her loca, si?”
Again, Faye blinked.
Then, “Well shoot, I can do that since I’m bat-crap nuts too.” Swinging her gaze back to Grandmama, who’d shoved the plate of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies she’d been holding into Maddie’s hands, she said, “You must be the Crazy Old Biddy Mrs. Carissa told me so much about on the trip down here.”
Grandmama puffed out her chest, her pride making an appearance. “You’re dadgummed right.”
Faye, in return, smiled as big as I’d ever seen. “Well, then, it’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Biddy.”
I chuckled as Maddie cackled, tears of amusement glistening in her eyes, and Grandmama grinned, her gleaming dentures sparkling.
Didn’t I call Grandmama the same thing?
“I’m Faye,” my best friend continued. “And that”—she pointed at Amelia—“is my special youngin’, Amelia. She doesn’t talk much, and she ain’t too fond of loud noises or foods that aren’t a particular color, but she loves ice cream and playing with Cabbage Patch dolls.”
A still laughing Maddie leaned back and smiled at Amelia, who was around the same age as her. “Miss Amelia, I think you may be my new best friend. And don’t you worry one bit, I keep the freezer stocked with all kinds of ice cream. Pints and bars alike.”
“Yeah, and Olivia and I have Cabbage Patch Dolls that you can play with!” Bella bounced on the balls of her feet where she stood between Maci and Melody with Olivia, Addie, and Lily Ann right in front of her, matching grins on all of their faces. Not caring that Amelia was closer to her madre’s age than her own, she kept talking. “Plus Barbies and dress-up clothes!”
“I ain’t got no dang Barbies or dolls to share,” Gracie grumbled, lips pursed thoughtfully. “But I’ve got a skateboard you can ride, plus G.I. Joes and a cotton candy machine.”
“And I’ve got lots of glitter paint and sidewalk chalk that my Daddy got me,” Addie added, doing her part to accept Amelia into not only our family, but also her close circle of friends. “Lily Ann, though, she’s got lots of stuffed animals, some taller than us, and the biggest treehouse ever, thanks to her Papaw Daryl. It even has inflatable furniture and a glow in the dark slide! Wanna go see?”
“Oh God,” Faye whispered as Amelia nodded and smiled, then slipped free of Jade and Ashley Jo’s arms and headed straight for the group of little chicas, who were impatiently waiting to show her the ropes of life in the neighborhood.
Once Amelia reached them, Gracie took her hand in hers without hesitating. “Come on, Amelia, it’s gettin’ dark, and the dang skeeters are startin’ to bite,” she said, tugging her toward the cul-de-sac where Lily Ann’s house sat, the rest of the girls following suit. “Hey, do you like S’mores? ’Cause if so, I’ve got a box of chocolate bars and a big ol’ bag of marshmallows…”
Gracie’s voice faded, replaced by excited squeals and infectious laughter as the group took off running without sparing the adults so much as a backward glance.
Watching their retreating backs from beside me, Faye clutched her chest, her tears returning. “Amelia let the little blonde girl hold her hand,” she whispered, her words lined with disbelief. “And none of those youngin's looked at my baby like she was different. They didn’t—”
“No, they didn’t. Just as they never will.”
Turning her head, Faye looked at me, perilously close to emotionally shattering from the looks of it. “Kyle and Carissa said me and my girl would find peace and acceptance here, which is one of the reasons we came, besides reuniting with you, of course. But this is more than that.” Fresh tears spilling, her lips trembled. “This place is Heaven, isn’t it?”
I opened my mouth to answer but was beaten to the punch by the loud-mouthed, eccentric familia matriarch. “You’re dang right it is! And I’m the head angel around these parts, which means it’s my job to introduce you to everybody. So let’s get started ’fore it’s time for me to run inside and make supper.”
She winked.
“But first,” she then said, taking Faye’s hand in hers. “I just want to say”—she grinned, her eyes wrinkling at the corners—“welcome home, darling.” She flicked her gaze to me. “To both of y’all.”
Welcome home.
One breath, two words.
That was all it took for another of my heart’s fragmented pieces to further heal, snapping back into place, a fading scar the only evidence that they had ever been broken.
Soon, that’s all that would remain.
23
James
I was hallucinating.
It was the only explanation for what I was seeing as I stood in the middle of the downstairs hall, staring into my living room, convinced that the scene before me was an illusion conjured up by my heart in a last-ditch effort to keep my anguished soul from turning to dust.
But the small part of my brain that remained lucid and concreted in reality, knew that the heart-mending, real-life vision I was busy taking in wasn’t a delusion of any sort.
My woman was real, and she was in fact here, curled up on my couch, her head resting on a folded navy-blue Toluca Fire Department hoodie
as she slept, her arms wrapped around a snoring Maci, who I might add, had become her shadow.
Much like Freckles had always been mine.
Earlier, after supper, which Grandmama had once again cooked for everyone, my sweet girl had begged to spend the night with her CeCe again.
And even though Hendrix and Maddie were reluctant given that it was a school night, they’d both caved the moment the first tear slipped down her freckle-covered cheek.
Not that I’d blamed them.
Every one of my grandkids had me wrapped around their finger. They knew it too, so I had zero room to talk about giving in to their tear-fueled demands.
“Whatcha looking at, Superman?”
One corner of my mouth curled up at the sound of the Crazy Old Biddy’s whispered voice as she crept up the hall toward me, trying her best to be quieter than a church mouse.
The back door she’d slipped through was still hanging wide open since she’d forgotten to shut it.
So much for my air conditioning.
I swallowed, my throat drier and rougher than forty grit sandpaper. Nodding toward two of my girls, I relaxed my fisted hands and slid them into my pockets.
“Them,” I murmured, disbelief clear in my scratchy voice. “I’m looking at them, two pieces of my entire world.”
I sounded cheesy as could be.
Not that I cared.
I drew in a deep breath as Grandmama came to a stop beside me, her aged shoulders hunched the slightest bit. “It’s amazing, ain’t it?” she asked, the permanent grin she’d worn over the past few days growing, her words echoed my thoughts.
Seeing both girls there was amazing.
Amazing that they were finally together.
Amazing that they were both mine.
As I’ve said before, many times, after everything I’d done, along with the hurt I’d caused, I didn’t deserve either of them. It was a truth that, even though it was part of the past Carmen and I had sworn to put behind us, was still valid.