“Hey beautiful.” my sister said before she started kissing me on the cheek.
“Hey hun. Now give me my niece.”
“Auntie Roxie!!” My niece exclaimed as she jumped into my arms. My heart swelled with happiness as I gave her a huge hug and kiss.
“Oh wow, I guess I’m chopped liver.”
“You know I love you, boo.” I said before I kissed her again on the cheek.
“Don’t try to suck up to me now. You can take miss Bianca home with you and the both of you can live together.”
I laughed, “You’re so petty. You’ll have a fit if Bianca spends the weekend at my place. You’d miss your baby too much.”
“That’s true, I love my baby.”
I shook my head, “Let’s get upstairs before everyone starts talking to us. You know these folks can talk and we’ll be down here for hours.”
“You’re right, I really don’t have the time or patience today.”
We signed in and took the elevator up to my mom’s floor. “Knock on the door Bianca.” I said.
My niece gave the door her all. Her little hands slapped against the door and it was more than enough to get my mom’s attention.
“My girls.” my mom smiled weakly when she opened the door.
I knew from the smile that it wasn’t a good day for her. She’d just had a chemo session three days before and it seemed like she was sicker in the days that followed but my mom always smiled through her pain. She was always too busy trying to comfort us, even when we should have been comforting her.
“How are you feeling?” Penelope asked as we came inside and sat down.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re lying.” I said quickly.
She frowned at me, “Little girl, watch your mouth. But you’re right; I am lying. I don’t feel too good.”
“I’m sorry momma, I just get tired of telling you that you don’t have to front for us. We’re not guests, we’re your girls.”
She sighed, “I know, baby. It’s just that I don’t want you to get upset just because I’m not feeling well.”
“I’ll admit that I don’t like it when you’re not feeling good but I don’t want you to gloss over it. We can deal with it.” Penelope said as she placed a kiss on our mom’s forehead.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Good.” my sister and me said in unison.
“I swear the two of you think you run everything.”
“I wonder where we learned that from.” I laughed.
“Me of course.” she smiled.
I looked around at my mom’s apartment. It was furnished decently but I wanted more for her. There were so many things I wanted to do for her but I was barely keeping my head above water. My mother was a proud woman and she usually always kept her hair and nails done. But that was an expense she couldn’t afford. Her hair looked fine and her nails were well kept but she would get them professionally done, and I at least wanted to make things like that happen for her. I wanted to get her beautiful wigs, pretty scarves, and gorgeous hats to go over her now bald head.
“How is school going, babe?” My mom asked.
“The same way that it was going two days ago.” I responded, “Busy but good.”
“You know that I just have to make sure that you’re doing what you’re supposed to do.”