Chapter 93
CHAPTER
Before i could respond to John, Maria came down the stairs with Jannie swaddled in her arms. All thoughts of work went by the wayside. And Sampson got to hold his goddaughter for the first time.
As long a body as Janelle had for being a two-day-old, she looked like a peanut in the big man’s arms.
“She’s gorgeous,” Sampson said. “Just a miracle, isn’t she?”
Maria smiled. “She is.”
“How you feeling?”
“Like my stomach got beaten by a two-by-four and I’m a whole lot tired,” Maria said, yawning. “She didn’t sleep well last night.”
Nana Mama called us to dinner. Big Bird and Cookie Monster were not allowed on Damon’s high chair, but my grandmother stopped his crying by propping up the puppets on the counter beside him.
She had used a Creole recipe on the Virginia ham that made it both sweet and a little fiery. Her potato and red onion pancakes came out perfectly crispy on the outside and savory on the inside. The green beans roasted with slab bacon chips were a vegan’s nightmare and a carnivore’s dream.
“That’s the best Christmas dinner I’ve ever had,” Sampson said, putting his napkin down after consuming a gargantuan quantity of food.
Nana Mama grinned. “Same thing you said last year and the year before that and the year before that.”
“What can I say? You keep outdoing yourself.”
“You do,” Maria said.
I said, “Absolutely, Nana.”
That pleased my grandmother even more.
“I have an announcement,” Maria said as I helped serve pie and ice cream.
“You’re not pregnant again already, are you?” Sampson said.
“Ha-ha,” Maria said and gently punched his arm before looking at me. “I’m going to leave St. Anthony’s when I’m ready to go back to work.”
That was a big surprise to me, since she’d been working at the hospital since we’d met and always said she loved it.
“And go where?” I asked.
“There’s a social work position open where I grew up, in Potomac Gardens.”
Nana Mama winced. “That’s a tougher place than you remember.”
“Which is exactly why I’m needed there,” Maria said, gazing at me. “I think I can do more good in Potomac Gardens than I can at St. Anthony’s.”
I could see the conviction in her eyes and hear the passion in her voice. Feeling concern as much as pride over her decision, I said, “As long as there’s ample security for you, I’m all for it.”
Maria beamed at me. “The position doesn’t start for another three months, and I’ll make sure about the security.”
“Perfect,” I said, though again, there was hesitation in my thoughts. Potomac Gardens was one of the roughest projects in the District of Columbia.
After the dishes were cleared, we retreated to the front room and finished the football game. We watched A Christmas Story until Sampson had to leave.
Nana Mama went upstairs cackling after Santa told Ralphie that he’d shoot his eye out and then put his boot in the kid’s face, her favorite scene.
Damon fell asleep in my lap during the scene about the Scott Farkus affair, Maria’s favorite. She fell asleep on my shoulder with Jannie in her lap before Ralphie actually got his BB gun.
After watching all the way to the scene of the beheading of the roast duck during the Christmas dinner at the Chinese restaurant, I clicked off the TV with the remote.
I sat and looked at the lights on the tree, feeling Damon shift in my lap and hearing Maria breathe with her mouth open.
Jannie made fussy little newborn noises.
I felt tears come to my eyes as I gazed up at the angel ornament that always sat atop Nana Mama’s Christmas tree.
“Thank you for my family,” I whispered. “Keep them safe in the coming year.”