In regard to the presents they got me, my babies knew me well. Books and books and books. Covers covered in muscular guys as they rescued heroines of color out of disastrous events. Kia even added a thick book on Romance writing—one that I’d been eager to buy a few months ago. And along with Poppy’s choice of paperbacks, she gave me a few earrings as if to add a little pizazz to my style.
The kids flew out of there after that.
Kevin rushed off with his gamer’s Manuel, mumbling how he was going to whip Jalen’s ass in the game soon.
Grinning, I picked up my gift from Yoshiro, opened it, and gasped, “Wow. Did you really get me this?”
“Do you like it?”
I lifted the new laptop out of the box. “Uh, yes. You have no idea. This. . .this is going to change everything. I’ll be able to write faster and complete more novels. This will change the game.”
“Good.” He kissed me and then grabbed his present.
Nervous, I whispered, “So. . .if you don’t like it, then. . .it’s totally okay.”
“I bet I’ll love it.” He opened the box and nodded. “Hell yeah.”
“You like it?”
“Are you kidding me?” He pulled the new leather trench coat out of the box, stood up, and put it on. He turned in it, showing off each angle. “Ebony, it fits perfectly.”
“I got the measurements from your other trench.”
“That trench coat has seen some rough times. I guess I can retire it now.” Still, he modeled off his new jacket, strolling back and forth near the kitchen. And then in one moment, he spun around, flipped the edge up, and made shooting motions with his hands.
“Wow.” I shook my head. “That’s what we’re going to do right now?”
“I haven’t even started.” Yoshiro grabbed the silver and black sunglasses that Kia bought and proceeded to wear that get-up the rest of the day.
The spirit of Christmas had truly fallen upon us. Noise filled the house. Salt and Pepa chewed on these massive bones the kids had bought them. Yoshiro pumped R&B Christmas songs out of his new speakers and continued to don his getup. I typed away a few scenes, writing from all the memories we’d made. And the rest of the house remained loud and busy.
By the time we got to dinner, everybody was ecstatic to talk about the new things they’d done with their presents.
I actually remained quiet, just taking in the lovely conversation and thanking God for these moments.
We’d journeyed through hell and prevailed.
We’d fought the war and won.
The whole time I thought God might’ve been punishing us, but I had no idea he was guiding us toward a path, slowly getting us to where we needed to be. Right on Yoshiro’s property. Crashed into a fence. Bruised, broken, and desperate.
Somehow we all healed each other.
Somehow we found love and the true meaning of family.
And for that I would count my blessings and thank God every freaking day.
After dinner finished and the kids began washing the dishes, I dialed my mother.
“Hello, Ebony?”
I cleared my throat. “Yes. It’s me. . .Merry Christmas.”
“Where are you? I’ve been trying to contact—”
“You gave Wyatt my address?”
Quiet hit the lion.
I shook my head. “I already know you did. Do you even realize how much he terrorized us for these past three years?”
“Ebony—”
“I feel like, even if I described in every detail—the gun, the partial rape, him punching Kia—”
“What?”
“Even I talked about all the things that I don’t want to bring up, you still won’t regret.”
Her voice cracked. “I do.”
“I’ll never know. I. . .don’t trust you. I don’t think you have my best interests at heart.”
“Ebony, that’s not fair—”
“You helped the monster!” I hadn’t realized I was shaking.
The kids paused from cleaning in the kitchen.
I calmed myself. “I’m pissed. I just want you to understand. I’m so. . .”
“Please, forgive me, Ebony. I care about you.”
“It’s going to take a long time to forgive you. Our lives could have been easier, had you not done that.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You did. You just chose not to believe. You just trusted in your own rightness.”
“That wasn’t what happened—”
“It doesn’t matter now.” I sighed, when I spotted Kia staring at me from the kitchen’s entrance. “Do you want to talk to the kids?”
My mother’s voice cracked. “Of course.”
“We’ll talk more about this later. It’s going to take time for me to. . .forgive you. For our relationship to heal. But one thing I won’t do, I won’t keep you from the kids. They want to talk to you.”
“Ebony—”
I walked over and handed the phone to Kia.
Kia frowned and didn’t reach out for the phone. “Grandma was the one telling Daddy where he was?”
I nodded. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“I don’t want to talk to her right now.” Kia shook her head and walked away from the phone.