“You’re one of the best things that’s ever happened to me,” I honestly admitted.
“I feel the same way about you. That’s why I went through extreme measures to do this for you…” His voice faded as he pressed a button on the elevator remote.
“Do what, babe?” I questioned, looking down at the remote in his hands. When the elevator door opened, I turned around.
“This is how I went through extreme measures,” Reason answered.
“Ahhh!” I shouted when I saw three people standing inside the elevator, staring back at me.
Sammi, Priya, and Avant, my Aunt Patty’s three kids, were here… inside our home.
I was overflowing with emotions. Too shocked to speak, I ran to each one of my cousins and hugged them tightly. Right here,at this moment, it didn’t matter that I hadn’t seen them in years. It didn’t matter that I once felt like they had turned their backs on me when I needed them most. The only thing that mattered was that they were here now, in the flesh, and they were crying just as much as I was.
“Ember. Oh, Ember. We’re so sorry,” Sammi, the oldest and the one who favored my aunt the most, spoke.
“Sam, it’s okay.”
“No, no, let me explain, cousin.”
I stood quietly, still in disbelief that they were in front of me. My cousins were the only pieces of the puzzle that were missing, and now they were here. All the people I loved were finding their way back into my life. This had to be the rainbow after a storm, and it all started the day of the gender reveal, when I laid eyes on Reason again. That significant moment changed everything.
Sammi cleared her throat, drawing my attention. “We shouldn’t have left you hanging. You are our family… our sister too. This is no excuse, but we never experienced losing someone so close to us. Before you came around, it was just Mama and us. And after she was gone, we didn’t know how to handle the grieving phase, so we ran. We ran from anything and anyone who reminded us of her.”
A few seconds of silence passed, and then she continued talking. “Mama used to tell us that you and Rhema were her kids, too, and that we should always stick together, no matter what. And we failed her, Ember.”
I couldn’t stop crying. Reason stepped forward and stood by my side, massaging the small of my back.
Avant, the youngest, and the only boy my aunt had, moved closer to me when he realized how choked up Sammi was. “That’s why two years after Mama passed away, and we were finally able to function a little better, we realized how wrong we were to ever leave you and Rhema. As soon as we became awareof what we’d done, we immediately called the last number we had for you, and it was out of service. That didn’t work, so our next move was to fly to Cali, which we did, and we reached a dead end. No one knew where you were or how to get in contact with you.”
My cousin never took his eyes off me as he kept talking.
“We didn’t have enough money to hire a private investigator, so we returned home, feeling defeated and believing we were all out of options. But Ember, we should’ve tried harder to find you.”
Knowing that my cousins had put in effort to find me gave me a sense of relief I didn’t know I needed. “Y’all, please don’t beat yourselves up. We live and we learn. Yes, Rhema and I needed the three of you, but I understood that we all grieve differently. I had to accept that. All I wanted to do was respect you guys.”
Priya, the middle child and the most sensitive one out of the bunch, was now close to me and reaching for my hands. Her face was drenched in tears. “Ember, you don’t know how happy we were when Reason reached out to us. After our brief conversation, we didn’t question anything. We packed our bags and were at the airport the next day, catching a flight to Los Angeles.”
I looked at Reason with so much love filling my eyes, hoping he could feel every ounce of it. My appreciation for him grew, and I couldn’t wait to tell and show him how thankful I was for him and everything that he was doing in my life.
Sammi grabbed a piece of tissue from her purse and dabbed at the snot running out of her nose. “Cousin, again, we’re so sorry. We know it doesn’t make up for lost time, but please allow us to be in you and Rhema’s lives again.”
“I would love nothing more than to have my family back in our lives. And you have a new babynephewto meet.”
We embraced for the next few minutes. By the time we were done, mybrother,sisters,and I were a crying mess. Reason kissed me, asked if I needed anything, and excused himself while the rest of us spent time catching up.
Sometime later, Reason texted me, saying to take the elevator down to the beach because he had a bonfire set up for us.
My man was so thoughtful. It seemed like every day since we found our way back to each other, he was finding new ways to make me fall in love with him all over again. He had no idea he didn’t have to do too much; his pure existence was enough for me.
Damn, I loved me some Reason St. Pierre.
Reason and I went out on a date night, leaving Mama T and my cousins at home with the kids. Our first stop was getting our initials engraved on the inside of my engagement ring. He said he would’ve gotten it done already, but he wanted to make sure it was something I wanted first.
We dropped it off at the jewelry store, then we strolled the fancy area like lovebirds. There were dim lights, roses everywhere, cute shops and restaurants lining the street. The setting really made me feel like I was in a romantic movie scene. But this was no film; this was my real life.
“Baby, let’s check out this soup restaurant over there,” he suggested, pointing at the restaurant that had the nameSoupvillelit up in bright blue cursive letters.
We headed over to the restaurant, and it was packed. I sat in the waiting area while Reason went up to the host and said something to him. The guy’s eyes widened, and he immediatelyslapped palms with Reason. The next thing I knew, we were being escorted to our table.
