Chapter 23
Drake
“Carter, be careful. Don’t fall on your sister,” I warn, and he runs in the other direction. Of course, she follows him. Langley picks her up and they chase Carter together. Both kids scream while my grown-ass brother causes nothing but mayhem. My mom sits on a chaise and smiles happily at the chaos around her. Pixie sits at her feet, and every few seconds, she rubs behind her ears.
Hannah walks around with a tray of eggnog. Nia makes a face. Her appetite has disappeared. She wasn’t like this with Priya. Her appetite increased with each stage of her pregnancy, but she assures me she was like this with Carter. It was another reminder of what I missed, but I stuff it down. There’s nothing I can do about it. It’s not like I have the option of getting in a time machine to get back what I’ve lost .
“This is why I think it’s another boy,” she whispers so that only I can hear.
We’re not finding out the gender this time. We want to be surprised, but Nia is convinced it’s a boy.
I kiss her cheek and say, “I’m going into the kitchen for some ginger ale for you.”
“And some crackers, please,” she whispers back. “Salty ones.” I walk out of the room and go toward the back of the house to the kitchen. This is one of the rare days that my mother doesn’t have any staff around. They were gone by the time we arrived, and the food was laid out on the table for us. There was no formal dinner today. Just the family together in preparation for Christmas. There’s no ginger ale in the fridge, but I find some small cans in the pantry. By the time I pour it into a glass filled with ice, I hear loud voices in the living room. One is male and it’s not Langley.
“Howard,” my mother says. She’s standing now, running a hand through her hair while she looks into the eyes of my father’s former lawyer. The man who helped facilitate this deception. Nia is standing as far away from him as possible, and Hannah is holding Priya while Carter is on Langley’s back.
Pixie runs to Howard, and he puts his hand to her nose. She sniffs, licks his hands, whines, and runs out of the room. Priya notices the stranger too and starts to whine, prompting Hannah to bounce her to calm her down.
“Hello,” Howard says. He takes off his hat and looks around the room. I put my arm around my wife’s waist and hold her close. Doing this is the only thing keeping me from punching this old man in his face in front of my kids and family. “I didn’t realize you’d have the family here today,” he says .
“Well, it is officially the holidays, Howard,” Mom says. “Maybe you should go be with yours.” That’s my polite mother’s way of telling him he’s not welcome here.
“If I can have a word with you alone, Maggie,” he says. “You haven’t returned my calls.”
“That’s because we have nothing to say to each other. The only link we had was Donald, and he’s gone. Please, leave. My kids and grandkids are here and you’re making them uncomfortable.”
Instead of leaving, he takes another step further into the living room.
“My mother asked you to leave,” Langley says. His voice is even, and I know it’s only because Carter is close by. He slides Carter off his back, and Hannah takes my son's hand.
“Come with Auntie Hannah. Let’s go have some cookies in the kitchen,” she says as she escorts the kids out of the room. We all remain quiet until I can no longer hear their footsteps or Priya’s loud babbling. I drop my arm from around Nia’s waist with every intention of physically putting Howard out, but she grabs my wrist and I stop.
“Listen, Maggie, I need to talk to you about Scarlett.” Nia goes stiff next to me, and I wish I could punch Howard because that’s the last damn person I want to talk about. Scarlett is no longer a blight on my life or my marriage, but any mention of her upsets my wife. And with good reason.
“What could you possibly want to talk to my mother about with regards to her?” I hiss.
“She was attacked in prison, and her family is going to petition the court for her release. Her attorney is going to ask that she be placed under house arrest for the remainder of her sentence.”
Nia looks up at me as if she’s asking if that’s possible .
“I’m here on behalf of the Foley family. They are requesting that you don’t—”
“I promise you that we will,” I say, cutting off the rest of the nonsense he was about to spew. I take a step closer, but Nia won’t let me go, so I can’t shove him like I want. “But I find it funny that you’re here on their behalf considering your phony apology. Whose side are you on, Howard?”
He raises both hands. “I am sorry,” he says, this time looking at Nia.
“I don’t accept your apology,” Nia says.
“Don’t look at or speak to my wife. If you do, you’ll leave here a blind man.”
“I’m here because I’m partly to blame for her being in prison. I should have done more. I should have spoken up, but I didn’t. Now Scarlett is behind bars for several more years.”
“Well, she did kidnap my son,” Nia says. “Remember that?”
“He wasn’t hurt, and you got him back the same day. She had a mental break. She needs therapy, not prison. She did a terrible thing, but this is punitive.”
“She also set a fire,” Nia reminds him. “How about that? In a daycare full of innocent children and babies. Or do those kids not matter to you, Mr. Banks? Because all I hear is how poor Scarlett needs help, but I don’t hear any words of sympathy for the kids she traumatized or the property she destroyed. But why am I not surprised by that?”
He looks down, and says, “If it’s easier for you to paint me as a monster then—”
“I’m talking about Scarlett and how she set a fire to a house full of children and babies but all your sympathy goes toward the criminal and not the innocent children. How can you stand here and defend that? You expect us to have sympathy for the woman who not only deceived my husband for years but took my son.”
I wait to hear what he will say to refute her words, but all he does is shake his head. “Dan Foley asked me to come here as a personal favor, and I did that.”
“What a great and loyal person you are,” I say. “I suggest you remind Dan Foley that I don’t owe him or his daughter any favors.”
“Please leave my house now,” my mom says. “And never return. We’re not friends, and you’re no longer welcome here. You’ve done enough to my children.”
He looks and just stares into my mother’s eyes, but she doesn’t waver. Howard and his wife spent countless times here with our family. They were a part of every party, every major event, and every holiday, so my mother’s betrayal is real.
“Again, I’m sorry,” he says before he turns to head to the door.
I manage to pull my hand away from Nia’s and follow Howard out.
“Drake,” Nia yells behind me.
She runs to me, but I turn to face her and put a calming hand on her shoulder. “I’ll be right back, baby girl. I promise I won’t do anything other than talk to him, and I’ll tell you all about it. Okay?”
She looks into my eyes, and I see the trepidation in them. Another strike against Howard for upsetting my wife during her favorite holiday season.
“Okay,” she says. “Do what you need to do.”
I nod and quickly run outside. Howard is approaching his sedan in the circular driveway. He stops when he sees me. The late November wind hits me in the face, and I regret not bringing a jacket. Howard holds my stare until I come to a stop a few feet away from him.
“What makes you think you can show up here to plead Scarlett’s case in front of my wife and family? Do you think I’ve gone soft because I didn’t crush your sons like I threatened? The irony of that is you have my wife to thank. She said it was unfair to punish them for your sins.”
“Don’t act like you didn’t do anything to them. One lost his job, and the other has lost most of his business because of you,” he says.
“I was just getting warmed up, Howard. Trust me, I can continue because I don’t know what the fuck you were thinking.”
“I thought I could talk to your mother alone. I had no idea you were here.”
“And what? Give her a guilt trip? Scarlett is in prison because of Scarlett. Because of her actions. As much of a piece of scum as you are, you didn’t put her there, so why are you playing savior?” It took me some time to come to terms with that. It took Nia and the rest of the family to convince me that Scarlett’s circumstances were not my doing.
Howard looks away and then inches closer. “You’ve won, Drake. Isn’t that enough? No one told you to get involved with Scarlett or give her a ring when you had no intention of marrying her. You’re no victim in that regard, Son,” he says.
“I’m not your son.”
He nods sadly and opens the driver’s side door.
“You have a family. Don’t you think you owe it to Scarlett to give her a chance to one day have her own?”
“I don’t owe her shit. Are you out of your mind, Howard? Scarlett is not my victim. She was my father’s pawn, just like you. She’s a liar. She’s delusional and dangerous. Just like you. Now, she’s a convicted felon, and I’m going to make sure she serves her entire sentence. Do you want her out so she can terrorize my family? If she does, I’ll make sure she regrets it for the rest of her life. That prison sentence she’s serving will look like a day at the amusement park if she comes anywhere near my family. But since you seem to be the Foley family lapdog, give them a message for me. Tell Scarlett to stop writing to my mother, and you tell Foley that if he so much as mentions Nathanial Nash’s name, I will come for him.”
“I really am sorry,” he says. “You’ve won, Drake, and I’m happy for you. I’m only trying to help Scarlett because I feel partly responsible for this. I begged your father not to involve her, but—”
“You could have ended all of this by coming to me.”
“You’re right. I could have,” he says. “I should have.”
“I don’t want to hear about your regret. Just stay away from my family before you find out what regret really is.” I give him my back and return to the house.
The kids are back, and when Priya sees me, she starts to waddle in my direction. Nia’s standing there holding her ginger ale, but she lets out a relieved breath when she sees me. My mom is still upset but is forcing a fake smile for everyone’s sake.
“Daddy, Grandma said we can watch a Christmas movie,” Carter says, pulling on my pant leg.
“Remember how we used to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas every year?” Mom asks. We’d all pile up in Mom and Dad’s bed and watch. They would be on either side of us three. They would even let us bring popcorn into their room. Dad would always fall asleep and snore. That memory almost brings a tear to my eyes, but I manage to prevent it. “Nia and Drake, if you want a few hours to yourselves, leave the kids, and I’ll bring them home tomorrow. ”
Mom lifts Priya into her arms and extends her hand to Carter. “Come on, everyone. Follow me.”
We all follow her up the stairs and into the bedroom she shared with my father. Surprisingly, it doesn’t hurt to be here. We were always here as kids, sometimes all five of us sleeping in the big bed.
Mom takes off Priya’s outfit, leaving her only in a onesie decorated with Santas.
“Langley, Hannah, and Carter, you get in the bed. Drake and Nia, go home and work on giving me another grandchild,” she orders.
“Mom, please,” Langley says. “I’m going to have nightmares.”
“I like Charlie Brown, too,” Nia says, and my mom smiles.
“Okay, but afterward, you two go home and let me have these babies for tonight.” She kisses Priya’s temple. “I love them so much, and all I want for Christmas from you two is to have another baby on the way.”
So, we all climb into the enormous bed and watch A Charlie Brown Christmas like I’d done countless times when I was a kid. Instead of Dad being on the end, it’s me, and I have Nia next to me.