Chapter 21 #2
The headlights of the car helped me identify the section of the gate that could be lifted from the outside if the latch wasn’t hooked. I lifted it and then put Emorey on the ground. There was no way we’d both make it under without me breaking something.
“Go ahead,” I instructed them both.
When I made it under, I reattached the latch so that entry was forbidden from the outside.
Emorey’s outstretched arms reminded me she was still in distress.
I pulled her into my chest and stood my full length with her in my arms. Essence’s little fingers wrapped around mine, and we all proceeded toward the house.
Entering the house with both girls at my side was easily the best feeling I’d experienced since meeting their mother.
Now, she was the only missing piece to our puzzle.
As soon as she was released, she’d be right beside us, though.
It was only a matter of time before we were all reunited and smiling again.
“Can I sleep with you?” Emorey asked just as I closed the door behind us.
“Me, too?” Essence’s words penetrated the air.
“We’re not going to sleep, we’re going to see Mommy. But, when we do go to sleep, you’ll both be right beside me.”
I reached down and pulled Essence into my arms and started to climb the stairs. We entered their bedroom where the coziness of it made my eyelids heavy and my heart light. This was where they belonged. In the last three months, their bedroom had been transformed into their personal palace.
“What color pajamas do you want, Emorey?”
Before taking them to the hospital to visit Ever, it was imperative that I cleaned them up. The last thing I wanted to do was bring her the girls looking as if they’d been in the hellhole I’d found them in. I wanted her to see the girls she remembered and knew better than she knew herself.
“Blue.”
“What about you, Essence?”
“Blue.”
“Then blue it is.”
I lowered them to their feet but neither of them moved. They stood at my side, watching as I pulled their drawers open, searching for a pair of matching pajamas in the color blue. I’d seen them in several so I knew there was something in the drawers for them to wear.
“Essence, you want to go start you guys some bath water while I look for your pajamas?”
“No,” she admitted.
Accepting her honesty for what it was, I continued picking through their pajamas.
“OK. Give me a second, and we can all go in at once.”
Leaving my side was something they weren’t ready to do, obviously.
So, I wouldn’t force them to. I hoped that after a warm bath, they’d feel a little better.
If not, I would reconsider taking them up to see Ever.
I refused to traumatize them anymore and seeing their mother in her current condition would only heighten their emotions and deepen their wounds.
My cell phone rang as I pulled matching sets out for the girls. There were only a handful of people that could be calling me so I didn’t bother checking to see who it was. I answered.
“Yeah?”
“Hey. Is everyone OK?” My mother’s voice was on the other end of the line, stopping me in my tracks.
“Yes.”
There was a brief, revealing silence that forced me from my knees and onto my butt, with my head against the dresser.
“It’s me, Luca. It’s okay,” she encouraged.
Heaving, I released the tension that had been building over the last twenty-four hours.
The anger, frustration, bitterness, and everything else I was feeling deep on the inside surfaced and fell from my eyes as my mother sat quietly, listening to her oldest unravel.
My entire life, I’d held my shit together, but this time it was different.
This time, my heart had been twisted and turned in every direction.
This time, there were two little girls that I loved more than anyone around me who had been harmed.
This time, the woman who’d brought them into my world and was carrying our child had been hurt.
This time, everything was different. This time, I could feel it everywhere, the pain and the relief.
Feeling Emorey’s and Essence’s little hands on my face, trying to clear my tears and their bodies resting on my legs felt surreal.
Each hour that I spent away from them over the last twenty-four hours ate away at my core a little more, but that feeling was nothing compared to the wholesomeness I felt as they comforted me.
“It’s okay,” Essence assured me.
“Don’t cwry,” Emorey added. “Don’t be so sad.”
“Okay.” I nodded my head, taking their words of encouragement in stride and forcing myself to pull it together, not only for their sake but for mine as well.
“Mom?”
“I’m still here, Luca.”
“I need to get them bathed so that we can get up to the hospital.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. They’ve been through enough, baby.
Seeing their mother laid up in the bed all battered and bruised will only hurt them worse.
No one wins in that situation. Let’s think about their mental and emotional health right now.
I don’t suggest taking them to see her at all.
They won’t keep her for too much longer.
Give them a few days to readjust, and she’ll be home before they know it.
Tonight, you three need to get some rest. You’ve done your part, Luca. Rest.”
“Easier said than done.”
“It’ll happen. You have the girls back. Trust me, falling asleep will come easy for you tonight.”
“I just need her.” I coughed back the new wave of emotions that threatened to come up.
“She’ll be there soon. I heard I have a grandchild on the way.”
Sniffling, I responded, “Yeah.” Emorey used her shirt to dry my face of what their hands couldn’t.
“Thanks, baby.”
“Are you still sad?” she asked, obviously concerned.
“A little.”
“Why but?”
Her twist on words made me smile through the aching.
“I miss Mommy,” I admitted.
“I miss Mommy, too.”
“Me, too,” Essence confessed.
“I know.”
I urged them both to rest on my chest. As they laid, my conversation with my mother resumed.
“You’re a great father, Luca.”
“Appreciate that, Mom.”
“Can you get your brother onboard?”
“I think I have a better chance with Lyric.”
“You’re right. I’m not even ready for a little Laike. I don’t even want to imagine what kind of torture that looks like.”
Chuckling, I nodded. When Laike was ready, I just hoped we all were around to see his minis roaming earth. Lyric, I was ready for her to fall head over heels with someone worthy of her energy and love before giving us the children she’d always promised herself in her thirties.
“Thank you, Luca.”
“No problem.”
“I love you, son.”
“Always,” I declared.
“I’m going to let you go so that you can get the girls to bed. If you need me, call me. My phone will be near.”
“OK. Can you do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
“Tell Pops to meet me at the warehouse in the next two hours.”
“He’s already on it.”
“That wasn’t the favor.”
“I’ll be there. Just get them to bed.”
“Thanks.”
“Anything for y’all, Luca. You know this already.”
I ended the call and rested my head on the dresser behind me.
Both girls were still resting on my chest. I considered staying right on the floor and falling asleep with them right where they were, but I knew they needed a good scrubbing and to be in their beds.
Me, on the other hand, I had business to tend to.
“Come on, girls. Let’s get you cleaned and in your pajamas.”
Because I knew that Essence could handle her own, I gave her a little privacy by choosing a bath for Emorey while she showered a few feet away. She asked if I could keep the door open so that I could see her, still afraid that I’d disappear at any moment.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I reminded them every few minutes.
Emorey’s lack of independence was a clear sign she was fighting some tough emotions internally.
She was always trying to wipe herself down without assistance.
It didn’t matter if it was me or Ever bathing her, there was always a twenty-minute-long protest in the bathroom at night.
Not this time, though. My Em stood still and straight while I cleaned her twice.
“Did anyone do anything bad to you, Em?” I was led to ask.
“Daddy bad.”
“I know. But, did anyone touch you? Hurt you? Hit you?”
With bated breath, I waited for her response. If she had given me any answer other than no, then I wasn’t going to be able to see them to bed. I’d be on my way to the warehouse to end this nigga, but not before making him suffer for the shit he’d done to my family.
“No.” She shook her head.
“What about Essence?”
“Daddy hit Essence. She cry.”
“OK. If anyone ever hurts you, then you have to tell me, OK?”
“Daddy hit Mommy, too.”
“I know.”
“Daddy bad.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Can you be me Daddy?”
Though I was honored, I knew that her line of questioning wasn’t farfetched.
She’d seen what type of person her biological father was and didn’t want anything to do with him.
I didn’t blame her. What she didn’t understand was that I’d claimed her as mine the day I met her.
Just like her mother, she had me mesmerized.
I was so intrigued by her personality that I wanted to make her part of my world that same day, but I knew I had to practice patience. It was so worth the wait.
“I’m already your daddy, baby.”
“Can I call you daddy?”
“Yes. I’d love that… a lot.”
Her curiosity and intelligence was mind-blowing. She was always trying to figure shit out, always trying to get to the bottom of things.
“Are you Essence, too, Daddy?”
Her and those twisted words would get a smile out of me every time.
“Yes, baby. I’m Essence’s daddy, too.”
“You call me baby. You call Essence baby?”
“Yes, Emorey. I’ll call you both baby. Any more questions?”
“Can you cook me food?”
“If you’re hungry, sure. What do you want?”
“ABC.”
I knew from experience that she was referring to the meatballs and sauce cups she loved so much. Essence hated them. She preferred macaroni and cheese bowls or noodles.