“Hey, is everything alright with Navy and Don?” she instantly got to worrying. I smirked because she was just as worried about Don, as she was with her own child.
Quasim relaxed. “We came by to check on your parents for them. They get in tomorrow night.”
“Did she make you take a selfie with her grandmother?” Avril knew her daughter almost too well.
“Yeah,” I admitted.
She laughed. “Girl is crazy. I miss her crazy butt, too… I’d rather her safe. This new life of hers will be an adjustment.”
“It’s for her safety. Everything they do is for the safety of their wives,” Quasim explained, trying to make her feel better.
The door of the car opened. “Lijah!” the little girl flung herself out of the back of the car and ran towards Elijah.
He looked shocked and then it clicked for him. “Magnolia!”
Elijah took off running towards her like she ran to him. Quasim was right behind him, because if this little turned out to be something else, this nigga was gonna walk down this little girl.
“Elijah!” the girl cried out as she clung onto him like she has gone a long time without seeing him.
“Maggie!”
Quasim looked at me, and it clicked that Maggie was a real person. I had to let Capp know because he was ten minutes from arranging an exorcism.
“This is Maggie?”
They both broke their hug and held hands. Elijah looked up at his father and smiled; his face wet with tears. “Pops, she is my sister.”
Avril stared at them and then turned her attention to me. “She speaks of a brother. Always saying they would play together and then they made her leave ‘cause she was bad.”
Quasim led them over towards us but gave us space to talk. “Avril, where is she from? We looked up everything on his birth mother and she never came up… it was only him.”
Recommendation: Listen to “Never Can Say Goodbye” by Jackson 5
“A few months ago, we raided a home with a bunch of children. They were all missing children and neglected, malnourished and all of that. Magnolia was one of the children. She was skinny, scared and abused.”
Quasim walked away with his hand over his face. “Avril, please don’t fucking tell me… don’t tell me this shit.”
Avril touched his shoulder. “Not in that way. Maggie was used as a savior sibling. We believe her mother was a victim of the egg farming scandal. She is younger than Elijah. Some very rich people paid to have her conceived for a child of theirs that was sick. The number of surgeries this little has undergone is horrible. Then she was just dumped… out of all the kids that were missing children, she was never reported.”
“Elijah, you never told me about her.” Quasim bent down and looked his son in the eyes.
“I was scared. Thea said to never speak on her when she left us. She said we grew her until she was old enough to go.”
“Oh fuc… I mean shi…hel—”
“Gerald, at this point don’t say nothing.” Avril shook her head, as she looked at me trying to find the right words.
The little girl clung onto Elijah like she never wanted to let go of him. “Can we take her home? I have a good Mommy and a little sister. We have the space, Pops, please.”
Sim was caught in a tough space. He couldn’t just take this little girl with him. Avril worked for the city, and this was her job. “She cannot go with you today, Elijah. Maggie has to go back to the foster home.”
“Please don’t take her from me again!” Elijah pleaded with his father. This was the man that saved him, and he wanted him to do the same for his sister.
They both started crying which fucked me up even more. I couldn’t stand here and watch them pull the kids apart. Avril had to hold onto Maggie, as she kicked and screamed while reaching out for Elijah.
The shit broke my heart.
FORTY