“Congratulations, sis,” Quest said to me over the phone and I broke down in tears. I was forever grateful that he and Mehar had survived. Mehar had become like a sister to me and it would’ve killed me if she died.
On the other hand, I felt terrible for her, that she had to have an emergency hysterectomy. I knew she wanted more kids, but maybe when the smoke cleared she could have them via surrogate since she still had her ovaries.
“Thank you, Q. Listen, I know you’ve been through a lot but I’m so happy that you and your family made it. Have you named her yet?” I asked.
“No. We’ll do that when Mehar wakes up. As for you, Justice told me all about the arrest. What the fuck, Serenity. Why you ain’t tell us about this David nigga? Why you ain’t tell us about your daughter?”
“I just never wanted to add that to your plate. This was my burden to bear. I thought that when Vivica handled it, it was dead and gone. I didn’t know she could wreak havoc from hell.”
He let out an earnest laugh. I could hear the pain and despair behind it but the laugh was sincere.
“Of course the most evil bitch that ever existed got some pull in hell,” he replied. “But you know we love you and would do anything for you. How is that court case coming?”
“It’ll be a while before I have a trial, but we have pretty serious evidence that this was all Vivica. I just hate that the prosecutors told Kayla about this. I wanted her to remain innocent. She deserves to have a life free of drama.”
“Well, she got that Banks blood running through her. She could never be drama free. But y’all will be okay. One day she’ll understand everything. But in the meantime, we got Sarai. You know we got our niece. And soon, Sarai and my baby will meet. They’ll be best friends,” Quest said full of hope.
“I know they will. Kiss Mehar and babygirl for me. Here’s Rita,” I said, handing him the phone.
Once I was off the call I listened as Rita took the phone out into the hallway where she exclaimed joy that Quest and Mehar were safe. It would be a matter of time before they were both back home and my brothers were waging war on the folks that tampered with that plane. Hell, I wanted to pull the trigger. They almost died. Whoever did this was going to pay.
But right now I needed to focus on the trial and Sarai. They were my priority.
• • •
The doctor came by around four and told me I was being discharged in the morning. Back to the apartment, back to the ankle monitor’s invisible leash, back to the walls I’d been staring at for weeks before Sarai decided to make her entrance. But this time would be different because this time I was bringing my daughter home with me. The apartment in Hartford was temporary but it was ours and I was going to make it feel likesomething worth coming home to even if home had a blinking green light on my ankle.
I was changing Sarai’s diaper when my phone buzzed. Xander’s name on the screen. I stared at it for two rings before I answered because I needed those two rings to remind myself that this man had a girlfriend and a wedding to attend and my feelings about his forearms were not relevant to my life right now.
“Hey,” I said. Normal. Casual. Totally fine.
“Hey, just checking in. How are you and Sarai doing?”
“We’re good. Getting discharged tomorrow morning. She’s feeding well and her vitals are strong. The doctors are happy with her.”
“That’s great news, Serenity. Really. I’m glad to hear it.”
I could hear it in the background. Music, laughter, glasses clinking, the muffled buzz of a celebration happening around him while he stood in some hallway or patio or bathroom calling to check on me. He’d stepped away from a wedding to make sure I was okay. That was who Xander was and I needed to stop noticing it because noticing it was just sharpening the knife that was already in my chest.
Then a voice. Female, playful, close to the phone. “Babe, they’re about to do the first dance. Come on.”
Babe. There it was. Wrapped in laughter and music and another woman’s easy claim on a man I had no right to want.
“I’ll let you go,” I said before he could explain or apologize or whatever men do when the woman they’re with interrupts the conversation they’re having with the woman who wishes she was the woman they’re with. “Enjoy the wedding. We’re good here.”
“Serenity, I…”
“Go, Xander. I mean it. We’re fine. I’ll see you when you get back.”
He paused. “Okay. Call me if anything comes up with the case. Anything at all.”
“I will. Goodnight.”
I hung up and set the phone face down on the bed and looked at Sarai, who was staring up at me with those dark, unfocused newborn eyes that didn’t know anything about lawyers or girlfriends or murder charges or the fact that her mother was an emotional mess. She just wanted to be fed and held and warm. She just wanted me.
And that was enough. She was enough. Everything else, the trial, the ankle monitor, the man with the rolled-up sleeves and the girlfriend who called him babe, all of it could wait. Sarai was here and she was mine and that was the only thing that mattered tonight.
Rita came back into the room and settled into her chair and picked up the remote. She looked at me. I could tell she’d heard Xander’s name on my phone and was deciding whether to say something. She chose not to. Just turned on Wheel of Fortune and let me have the silence, which was the kindest thing she could’ve done.
