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Her mother finished her hair and tied it up in the dark blue bandana. She turned on the bench and faced Raven. “Deep down inside, I still love Harrison. Probably always have and always will. I apparently never get over the men I’ve truly loved.”
“Does that apply to my father, too?”
“Yes. I was beside myself when he died. I will always, always miss Josiah and the love we had.” She quieted for a moment before continuing. “In truth, I should be apologizing to Harrison for breaking his heart. I wanted us to be together so much, but he was as poor as the family was back then. Mama said she understood how I felt about him, but she couldn’t give me her blessings because he couldn’t lift my future.”
Raven could imagine how sad her mother must have been.
“Harrison didn’t care about Mama’s plan though, and stood up in that church and exposed me, and honestly, deep down inside, beneath my anger, I loved him all the more. After word got around about the wedding debacle, there wasn’t a Creole family from here to Haiti that didn’t know my true identity, so there was no way I could pass myself off as someone else. In the end, I wound up still poor anyway, so I may as well have defied Mama and chosen Harrison instead.”
And in the years before the plan began paying off, Raven remembered just how poor they’d been. Even though her aunts and uncles were doing whatever they had to do to lift their circumstances, Raven left school at age nine, over her mother’s objections, to begin doing laundry to help put food on the table. Dorrie’s generation would never know the hunger and poverty Raven, Avery, and their cousins Renay and Lacie endured growing up, and in Raven’s mind, the sacrifices they’d all made during those lean years had been well worth it to spare them such misery.
Hazel said, “And now because Mama’s plan did work, we can retire the games if we want.”
Surprised, Raven stared.
“There’s been enough money invested both legitimately and otherwise for us to slow down and savor the fact that there are now young Moreaux sprinkled in places north, south, east, and west. And that most are thriving, whether they’ve opened a small cigar company, in medical school, wearing the robes of a judge, or driving their own hack. I’m sure Mama’s up in heaven very pleased.”
Raven knew things were going well economically when there’d been enough funds to send Antoine to Harvard, but she’d no idea just how well. “Do the rest of the cousins know?”
She nodded. “I told my sisters to let them know, so I’m assuming they’ve been told by now.”
“So what do you plan to do now?” she asked her mother.
“Rest. Maybe put Harrison out of his misery and agree to spend these last good years with him so we can enjoy loving each other the way we wanted to when we were young. Or watch you find your place in life. You’ve given the family your entire being,” her mother said softly.
Emotion filled Raven’s throat.
“When Mama was on her deathbed, she said she’d put money away for you and Avery, Renay, Emile, and the cousins your age, so you’d be able to build your lives once the games were done. I had our banker check, and the account’s grown substantially since the war, especially the investments my brothers put into silver. Your portion won’t be enough for you to spend your days shopping, sippingcafé, and eating beignets, but it will allow you to find a small place of your own, and not have to hire yourself out for the rest of your life.”
Tears stung Raven’s eyes. This was so unexpected, she didn’t know what to do or to say.
“So, once we get this last thing done for the Pinkerton, I turn over the funds and you can decide what you want to do with them.” Her mother added, “And maybe find a man who’ll stand up for you the way Harrison stood for me. If that’s what you want.”
“Tobias left me gun-shy.”
“I know. He was a snake. It would be something if Dorrie’s prediction came true and you ended up as Braxton’s wife.”
“It isn’t going to happen, and please don’t say Dorrie’s never wrong. If I had a dime for every time I heard that today, I could spend the rest of my life shopping and sippingcafé.”
“Okay. He is handsome though.”
“So are lemons until you bite into one.”
Her mother laughed.
Raven stood. “Thank you, Mama.”
“You’ve earned the right to have your own life, so think about who you wish to be. It’s never too late.”
Raven wiped away her tears and held the green eyes of the woman who’d always wanted more for her daughters, and whom her daughters had always wanted more for, just as much. There were tears in her eyes, too. Walking over, Raven let herself be enfolded by the arms that had held her this way for as long as she could remember. As the hug tightened, Raven placed a kiss against her soft cheek. “I love you so much. Sleep well.”
“You, too, love. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Buoyed by her mother’s love and the surprising news about the plan, Raven left her mother and went across the hall to the bedroom she shared with Dorrie whenever Raven spent the night away from her employer. She tiptoed in so as not to disturb the little girl’s sleep, only to find Dorrie awake and drawing on white butcher paper by the light of the turned down lamp beside her bed.
“What are you doing awake, Dorrie?”
“I have a question.”
