20. Peace On Earth
PEACE ON EARTH
K ayn
“Yeah, we touched down a few hours ago. Did you go to the hospital?”
“Yeah, your aunt and I are just leaving now.”
“How is she doing?”
“Seems like she’s doing better than ever. The doctor says he doesn’t know what you said, but you seemed to give her a reason to live. She’s fighting, Emmanuel, and that’s more than we could have hoped for. So, thank you.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Listen, I know that you’re hurt, and she probably didn’t give you the answers you wanted or needed. But thank you for going. My sister wasn’t always like that.”
“I just want to know why she couldn’t give me what I needed.”
“She did that by signing the guardianship papers so that your aunt and I could take care of you, son. She could have fought us.”
“She wouldn’t have won. Her ass was too high to win a custody battle.”
“You’re right, she wouldn’t have, but it still would have been hard for us. You could’ve been stuck in the system, but she didn’t do that.”
“Thank heavens for small miracles,” I replied sarcastically.
“Make your peace, son.”
I sighed dramatically and closed my eyes. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I declared, “You’re right, Uncle JR.”
“Good. Now I’m about to get some rest. Go ahead and handle your business in New York and get your wife back to Cherokee Springs so she can be with her family.”
“That’s the plan of business,” I replied with a sigh.
I ended the call and took a few moments to get my emotions together. This last week had been a roller coaster of emotions.
I wasn’t sure if my mother would make it or not, but I wasn’t sticking around to find out. If we hadn’t fixed what was broken between us throughout all the years, there was no way that we would accomplish that in one afternoon.
People didn’t understand how badly it hurt when not one of your parents but both of them gave you away.
Some dudes I’d known were always going on about how their dads weren’t there for them.
Try being in a situation where even your own damn mama don’t want you.
That’s some shit for ya ass right there.
I dealt with that shit on a daily basis.
I didn’t talk to anyone about it, but it was in my heart day and night.
During my visit to Mistletoe Falls, I had finally come to peace with the fact that Uncle JR was the father I never had, and Aunt Frances had been the mother I’d wished I had.
I may have had them for just a few short years, but in that time, they loved the hell out of me.
It was too bad that I hadn’t known how to accept their love or love them in return back then.
Had it not been for Kandi, I doubt that I would have visited them this holiday season. As stubborn as I could be, I would have probably walked my ass to the next town fifteen miles away to find a place to rest my head. I would have reasoned that was a better option than facing either of them.
I would have been wrong. The best thing that I could have done was spend time with my family.
Thanks to them and Kandi’s support, I was finding healing in places I hadn’t realized I needed them.
That talk with Chauncey did my ass a world of good.
What was even better were the talks that I had with my aunt and uncle throughout my stay.
They quickly let me know they harbored no ill feelings toward me based on how I left.
And when I shared that I hadn’t wanted to return because they always said I would never find love, they cleared that up too.
They explained that they were trying to get me to see that I was pushing people away with my attitude.
They also thought I would never have love in my life if I didn’t know how to love in return.
I pushed off the bed and finished getting dressed.
We had finally left Cherokee Springs early this morning at four and caught a flight to New York.
Not long after we landed, Kyle called to confirm that he had retrieved his car from my uncle’s place.
I had paid him a handsome amount for the use and inconvenience of being without a car for almost a week.
Despite his reassurances that he was okay and didn’t need the money, I sent him ten stacks as a token of my appreciation.
With a glance at the time, I noticed that it was a few minutes before nine.
My meeting was scheduled for eleven, and I wanted time to make a few stops before I arrived at the office.
A car was scheduled to pick me up in fifteen minutes.
We were staying in the penthouse suite of One Remington, the hotel I had Kandi book for us.
At the time, we had separate rooms. After everything that occurred between us, we should have been sharing rooms. Only, since our arrival in town, she’d been quiet and shut down.
I had apologized to her several times for snapping at her.
She assured me that she was fine and accepted my apology. I could tell that something was off.
Staring into the beveled, crushed crystal mirror, I straightened my tie one final time and ran a hand over my hair.
Satisfied that my appearance didn’t look like the shit I’d been through in the last week, I turned and headed out of my room.
I hadn’t got much sleep last night, and I had none since we arrived in town, but I knew that I would be all right.
I jogged down the stairs and spotted Kandi in the kitchen making coffee. She spun around when she heard me and then turned back to the coffee machine.
“The hotel delivered the breakfast. It’s at the table,” she mumbled.
“Good. Come join me.”
“Just a minute.” She was distracted as she fiddled with the coffee machine.
“Come on. I’m sure the coffee they served is much better than anything we could make on our own.”
She nodded and took a seat at the table opposite me. I removed the covers for the silver serving trays and inhaled the aroma of buttermilk pancakes, turkey bacon, and egg white frittatas. There was also a tray of fresh, hand-cut fruit.
“Would you like some?” I asked, offering her the serving bowl that held the blueberry compote for our pancakes. When she shook her head no, I offered her the whipped ricotta, which she also declined.
I removed the stopper from the crystal syrup decanter and poured a generous amount of syrup onto my pancakes.
When she looked up, I held it out to her, and she quietly took it.
I was over this tension between us, but I didn’t have much time to discuss it.
I knew that I would be heading out soon, so I had to hurry up and eat.
Kandi moaned slightly and then looked up at me with wide, apologetic eyes. I smirked at her and remarked on her sounds of pleasure. “Their bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup is the best you’ll ever taste.”
She licked some syrup from her fingertips and resumed ignoring me.
She was texting someone on her phone and smiling at something they said.
Jealousy rose within me, and I wished that she would smile at me like that.
Before I could finish my meal, Kandi rose from the table and headed to the stairs where our bedrooms were located.
“I’ll be ready in about fifteen minutes,” she murmured, still staring at and texting on her phone.
“No need.”
She glanced back down the steps at me with a look of concern in her eyes.
“You don’t need to worry about getting dressed. I’ve done these meetings a million times or more. I can do it in my sleep with my hands tied behind my back. Catch up on your rest.”
The look that she gave me should have incinerated me right on the spot. The fuck? I couldn’t figure this woman out. I thought she would have loved to stay behind to catch up on rest. After all, we hadn’t gotten much in the last few hours.
Seeing as how I wasn’t with the shits, I let her make it, and I headed downstairs to get in the car that was waiting for me. The last thing on my mind was trying to guess what the hell was on Kandi’s mind. All of that fairy-tale Christmas shit was over, back to reality. I had money to make.