Chapter 10 #2
I took a sip of my tea and then held the mug between my hands to warm them as I looked out over the empty land that made up Memphis’s front yard.
When we first arrived, I thought the door beside the garage was the main entrance, until Memphis showed me around and I realized we’d parked at the back of the house.
A porch wrapped around both sides to the front, which faced an open field.
That empty field was highlighted by the gorgeous sunset I was witnessing.
It reminded me of sitting with my mom and watching the sun go down in Africa.
The topography was strikingly similar to the land before me.
Golden grass seemed to roll on forever, with trees scattered here and there.
The only difference was that the predators in Texas weren’t nearly as persistent as the ones we’d encountered in Africa–but neither was the destruction.
That night, while I sat outside with my mom, I could hear fighting in the distance, with occasional bouts of gunfire and the screams of people who didn’t ask for war and had no way to escape it.
That wasn’t the first time we’d been close to the skirmishes my parents were helping children survive, so the background noise wasn’t foreign to me, but it was still upsetting.
However, the sight of the sun setting on the horizon, revealing hundreds of shades of beauty, helped mute the sounds around me.
I couldn’t fathom taking Ivy anywhere near a situation like that.
I would fight harder than I ever had to keep her away from one, which made it difficult for me to understand why my parents had willingly taken us into the middle of such chaos.
Yes, it helped us realize how privileged we were, but it also reinforced the trauma we’d experienced as small children who didn’t realize there was another way to live.
The door behind me opened, and I heard my sister clear her throat before she asked, “Can I join you?”
I glanced over my shoulder and smiled at Iliana. “Of course. There’s more than enough room on this step for two.”
Iliana sat down beside me and held her saucer in one hand as she lifted the dainty teacup she preferred to her lips for a sip. As she lowered it, she sighed. “The sunset is beautiful.”
“I was just comparing it to some of the sunsets we saw in Burundi.”
“Oh! I got a call from Sada last week!”
I smiled at the memory of the little girl who had become instant friends with Iliana soon after we arrived in her village. “How is she doing?”
“She’s loving her new adventure and can’t wait for us to visit.”
“Where did she end up?”
“Manchester.”
“The next time you talk to her, give her my love–and ask her to send me some decent tea!”
Iliana laughed and assured me she would. “How long are you going to be mad at me, Cassia?”
“You know I can never be angry with you for long, babe. I was just upset at the idea that Ivy could be taken away from me, but I see now that’s not Memphis’s objective. He just wants Ivy to be happy and knows that having us in her life will help with that.”
“I want her to have stability, and I’m not sure our family is good at that.”
“We’re learning,” I assured her. “Other than this, we’ve been stationary for months, Iliana. That’s a step in the right direction, isn’t it?”
“If Mom and Dad were here, they’d already be encouraging us to go somewhere with them. They wouldn’t understand why none of us would want to take Ivy with us.”
“Ivan wanted Ivy to have a home to grow up in, and I know he’d have never let her experience any of the things we did.”
“Unfortunately, the home Ivan and Regina chose almost ended all of us.”
“There’s no going back now. Although, I will admit that as soon as I get Ivy settled for the night, I’m going to the store to pick up carbon monoxide detectors.”
“There’s no need. The only gas appliances in the house are the stove and the oven. I checked the online manual for the security system Memphis has installed. There’s constant CO monitoring, and it’s set to alert even at a very low reading.”
“That’s good to know, but . . .”
“Besides, when I went to the store with Memphis’s mom and sister to get the baby gate and cabinet locks, I picked up six of them. I’ve already installed one in each bedroom.”
I burst out laughing before I said, “I was going to do that too!”
In an abrupt change of subject, Iliana asked, “What do you think of Memphis’s family?”
“Is it too early to say that I love every one of them?” It was Iliana’s turn to laugh, and I smiled before I said, “Tell me you don’t.”
“It’s pure chaos in there and has been since they arrived, but I have to admit that they work well as a team. With their mom’s direction, they really get shit done.”
“Within an hour, the house was Ivy-proof. It was amazing,” I admitted.
It had been quite a sight to see Jamie giving orders and watching her kids disperse to take care of their assignments. These ranged from checking beneath each sink for harmful chemicals to installing toddler locks on every cabinet to keep her out, just in case.
It was obvious the woman had gained experience by raising children of her own.
I was surprised when she didn’t just rearrange things for Ivy’s safety, but for her pleasure too.
She took over the task of cleaning out one of the lower cabinets and filling it with items that Ivy could play with.
Then, she took Ivy by the hand and explained that when she wanted to help one of us in the kitchen, she had a cabinet of her own.
Ivy was thrilled at the idea and pulled out the metal mixing bowls and wooden spoons to give us a drum show before she scattered plastic containers and lids all over the kitchen floor.
When she realized she could crawl into the cabinet and pull the door closed, it became her new favorite place–especially when Memphis installed a little push light on one wall of the space so it wasn’t too dark.
He then played peek-a-boo with her for at least ten minutes.
Iliana pulled me back to the present when she said, “What I can’t figure out is why Memphis is so excited to buy Ivy a slide. She’d much rather have something with an engine. When I told him she had a battery-operated Jeep, he scoffed as if that were some sort of abomination.”
“I don’t get the slide thing either, but if he wants to get the girl a swing set, who am I to argue?”
“That’s kind of what I thought,” Iliana agreed.
“It’s his house, so he can do whatever he wants.”
“I guess it’s our home now, huh?”
“If I want to stay in Ivy’s life, it has to be my home–or at least it will be as long as Memphis allows me to be here.”
“I don’t think he’ll take her away from you, Cassia. I really don’t.”
“I guess we’ll see.”