“No! Delilah, I’m done with your miserable, controlling ass.”
“If you leave, you are no longer allowed back in this house!” she shouted, chasing behind him.
He hopped behind the wheel and rolled his window down. “Another thing, while you’re judging Saje for her whorish ways, don’t think I don’t know about you having an affair with our neighborhood mailman. Now, you and him can be together. I’m fucking done!”
My father circled out of the driveway and drove off, leaving us standing there.
My mother’s eyes looked like mini balloons as she watched him drive away.
I looked at her and shook my head. “And you had the nerve to look down on me,” I said as I turned around and walked toward the van.
All I heard behind me was her front door slamming loudly.
I got back into the vehicle and drove away, disappointed that Baislee would never have a relationship with her grandparents. I was torn to pieces. This was a pain I’d never felt and wouldn’t wish on anybody. But I was thankful she was able to experience having a loving grandmother her whole life. Ms. Odessa and Basheer had given my daughter more love than my side of the family and I ever could.
“Mom.”
I turned so fast I almost rammed into the car in front of me at the red light.Did she just call me mom?
We pulled up to a red light, and I stared at her before asking, “What did you say?”
“I said, Mom,” she repeated.
“Y-Yes,” I stammered as I pulled into traffic when the light turned green. A simple word had my heart racing because it was something I never expected to be called, but it did sound nice.
“I forgive you.”
She reached over and grabbed my right hand off the steering wheel as I used my left hand to steer. For the remainder of the drive, Baislee held my hand.
This was my new life, and I would embrace it.
With tears filling my eyes, I looked in the rearview mirror, and could’ve sworn Basheer’s face had softened, even if it was just my emotions playing tricks on me.
CHAPTER 37
EMBER
“Ember, I’m so proud of you.” Reason’s mother, Mama T, gently rocked Ramiro in her arms, putting him to sleep.
I looked up from my spot on the rug where I sat cutting tags from his new baby clothes. These were going in the washer as soon as I was done.
“Why, Mama T?”
“Because of the woman you are, aside from sacrificing your whole life for my son.” Her eyes softened. “It hurts to know what you had to endure on your own. Despite what came your way, you never gave up. Ember, you’re a phenomenal woman.”
“It was needed, and if I had to do it all over again, I would without hesitation,” I told her, and I meant every word.
She smiled; admiration filled her eyes. “You did a fantastic job raising my Rhema Baby. She’s truly the perfect mixture of you and Reason.”
“Thank you so much, Mama T. She definitely is.”
“If we had known you were pregnant, baby, we would have stayed in LA, or we would have begged you to come to Miami with us. You didn’t have to go through it alone.” She paused when Ramiro yawned and stretched his little body in her arms.
My heart melted seeing my son peacefully chillin’ in his grandmother’s arms.
“I really appreciate you saying that. I was so afraid to tell anyone. I didn’t want you and Mr. St. Pierre to be disappointed with Reason. So, I kept it a secret and told myself I would step away for good and let him follow his dreams.”
“Ember, honey. Disappointment would’ve been inevitable, but we would have gotten over it and dealt with it.”
