by E. N. Joy
While they’d waited for the bus, Unique had managed to play patty-cake with the girls, pick them up and swing them around, and make a fuss over their lunch, which was healthier than it was delicious. Whatever Unique had said had put a smile on the girls’ faces. Heaven and Victoria had squeezed her tightly, eyes closed, before climbing on the bus. Now, as the bus drove off, Lorain watched them wave at Unique through the bus window, the biggest smiles she’d ever seen on their little faces.
She closed the curtain and went and sat down on the bed. She replayed times spent with the girls over and over in her head. Had she ever seen them smile that big at her? How had Unique gotten them excited about fat free cheese sandwiches on wheat bread, with Wheat Thins and cucumber slices as a snack, along with flavored vitamin water for their drink? They’d frowned and complained just an hour ago, as they watched Lorain pack their lunches.
“Becka’s mom gives her Lunchables that got Oreo cookies in ’em,” Heaven had fussed.
“That have Oreo cookies in them,” Victoria had said, correcting her.
“Well, I’m not Becka’s mom,” had been Lorain’s comeback.
What had Unique said to the girls about their lunches that made them smile after she sealed their lunch bags back up tightly? That was when it hit Lorain. Unique had probably told them what a mother, a real mother, would say to her children. After all, that was who Unique was: their real mother. Lorain shook that thought right out of her head and went into the bathroom to shower.
She pulled the frosted-glass shower door open, reached her hand inside the roomy stone shower stall, and then turned on the shower spigot. While the water warmed, she walked over to the his-and-her double sinks and rubbed Noxzema on her face. “I am their real mother,” she said to herself as she looked in the mirror, which took up the entire wall where the sinks were stationed and went all the way up to the ceiling. “I’m the one raising them. I’m the one taking care of them every day, making sure they are clothed and well fed.” The more she talked, the harder she rubbed in the skin cleanser. “It doesn’t matter that I didn’t go nine months with them in my womb. It takes more than that to be a mother. . . .” Lorain’s words trailed off, because for a moment there, she couldn’t decide whether or not she was talking or replaying words Korica had said to her.
A twinge of guilt flowed through Lorain. She rinsed her hands, disrobed, and got into the shower. She did a quick wash-up, got out of the shower, dried off, and unwrapped her hair. Less than fifteen minutes later, she was dressed and fingering her hair out while heading downstairs. Eleanor and Unique were waiting in the living room so that Unique could say her good-byes.
“Ah, there you are,” Eleanor said when she saw Lorain coming down the staircase. “I was about to call for you.”
“I know. It took me a minute. Sorry,” Lorain said, apologizing. “Did the girls get off to school okay?” she asked, knowing darn well they had, because she’d witnessed them doing so.
“They sure did,” Eleanor said excitedly. “Unique here even made the girls feel like that manna and honey water you packed them was like pizza and Coke.”
Eleanor and Unique laughed. Lorain remained straight-faced.
“Is that so?” Lorain managed to force a smile. “Well, I have to keep them nice and healthy. Can’t weigh them down with a bunch of junk. Besides, they have a dance competition this weekend.”
“Awww, I’d love to see them perform,” Unique said.
“Well, hopefully, when you move back,” Eleanor said, “you can see them perform all the time.”
“Their competitions are on Saturdays,” Lorain said, jumping in. “You know that’s typically when Unique has her biggest gigs . . . parties, weddings, and all.”
Eleanor shot Lorain a look that said, “You’re doing it again.”
Getting the hint, Lorain took Unique by the arm. “Come sit down. Let’s talk.” Lorain guided Unique toward the living room.
“Well, yeah, for just a minute, though. Mommy is waiting on me. I promised her I would meet her for a quick breakfast on my way out of town.”
“Oh.” Lorain paused. Inside, she was feeling jealous, disappointed, and cheated, cheated out of the time she’d pumped herself up to spend with Unique before she got back on the road. Time in which she was going to express to Unique how she’d been feeling since taking in the girls.
Opening up to her mother last night had taken a load off of Lorain. She had thought about it all night and knew that she needed to have the same conversation with Unique. She needed to apologize to her firstborn, repent, and start fresh. She’d planned on doing so today, but with all that needed to be said, she knew that if Unique had to run off to meet with Korica, there wouldn’t be sufficient time. She didn’t want Unique to make an exit after hearing only half of what she had to say. She didn’t want her to come to any conclusions or judge her based on partial information. This was serious, and Unique deserved to be able to process it all at once, and not in bits and pieces.
In addition to that, there was no telling how Unique was going to feel after hearing what Lorain had to say. The last thing she wanted her to do was run off into the arms of the woman who had raised her. Lorain was well aware of the powerful bond the two shared. All it would take was for Korica to get into Unique’s ear at a vulnerable time, and Lorain could lose Unique forever. Lord knows, Korica would love nothing more than for that to happen.
“Just give me Unique. You can have the twins,” Korica had pleaded with Lorain years ago. Those very words were part of what had motivated Lorain to put a distance between herself and Unique. That Korica was the devil, as far as Lorain was concerned, and there was no telling how she’d use her evil devices to make good on her underlying threat disguised as a plead.
Lorain was torn, though, because she didn’t want just Unique and she didn’t want just the girls. She wanted them all. She wanted to be Unique’s only mother. She wanted to be Heaven and Victoria’s only mother. But Korica had made her feel as if she had to choose. And now, if Lorain didn’t play her cards right, she could end up being nobody’s mother. Eventually, Lorain would have to sacrifice something. There was no such thing as having it all, anyway. If that were the case, then what would be left for the rest of the world? Lorain couldn’t have her cake and eat it too. She’d settle for a slice . . . as long as it was the biggest.
She shook off her same old selfish thoughts, which were creeping back. She had to get it right this time. Unfortunately, the right time was not now.
“Okay, well, maybe the next time you’re in town, we can have lunch or something,” Lorain told Unique. “Just me and you.” Lorain looked down.
“Is everything okay, Mom?”
Lorain looked up at Unique. Mom. Lorain was Mom. Korica was called Mommy, the more endearing term.
“No, it’s not,” Eleanor answered on Lorain’s behalf. She took both Unique and Lorain by the elbow. “You two need to talk. Sit yourselves on down somewhere and have a long talk. I believe that Lorain wanted to have a talk with you today, before you left town.” Eleanor looked at Lorain for confirmation.
“Uh, yes. But you go on and meet with your . . . with Korica,” Lorain said. “We’ll talk another time, when you’re not rushed.”
“Are you sure?” Unique asked with concern. “I can cancel breakfast.”
“Oh, no, no.” The last thing Lorain wanted was for Unique to set off the woman she called Mommy by telling her she was canceling breakfast with her to spend time with her mom. Lorain was not trying to give Korica any reason to retaliate. It wasn’t as if she feared the woman. She feared her own actions as a result of dealing with Korica.
“Are you fine? Are the girls fine?” Unique asked Lorain, worry now etched on her face.
“Well, heck, I’m the one getting up there in years,” Eleanor said. “Ain’t you wondering if I’m fine?”
“Oh, Gran.” Unique smiled and laid her head against Eleanor. “I know you’re fine. Your feisty self is going to outlive us all.
”
“Oh, no. Y’all ain’t dying first on me. Black folks ain’t never got no insurance, and I ain’t pawning my good jewelry to bury nobody!”
Unique laughed, while Lorain shook her head, cracking a smile.
“Anyway,” Lorain said, pulling Unique away from trouble, “please let me know ahead of time when you come back to town. Everybody is fine. I just want to share some things with you that have been heavy on my spirit, is all.”
“All right. Well, the next time I come back, it might be for good, so we can take all the time you’d like for our talk,” Unique said. “But let me get to going. I’ll talk to you guys later.”
Unique gave each woman a kiss. They said their good-byes, and then Unique left.
“Well, you can’t say I didn’t try,” Lorain told Eleanor after closing the front door.
“I know, baby,” Eleanor said as she and Lorain stood next to the fountain in the foyer. “But you and that child needs to talk and talk fast. ’Cause you ain’t the only one acting phony. That girl is hiding something too, and we ain’t never going to get to the bottom of it unless you two quit treating plastic like it’s a fashion statement.” She put her hands on her hips and struck a model’s pose. “Plastic, it’s the new black.”
“Oh, Mother, stop it,” Lorain said.
“All right. I’m done messing with you for the day. I’m gonna head back over to my place and whip me up something to eat.”
“You can eat here. I’ve got some leftovers from this morning’s breakfast.”
Eleanor huffed. “Child, please. Hay is for horses. And in your case, I really mean that.” Eleanor moseyed on into the kitchen so that she could exit through the side door and head straight over to her own dwelling. “I’ll see you this afternoon, after I get the girls off the bus,” she called from the kitchen.
“All right, Ma. I love you,” Lorain said and then headed to her home office.
Lorain sat down at her DMI Rue de Lyon Right Executive L Desk, which was crafted from maple solids and other select hardwoods. It wasn’t handmade, nor had it been shipped in from Italy. But she had got free delivery from Staples. She opened her desk calendar to make sure she didn’t have anything scheduled that she had forgotten about. After confirming that she didn’t, she logged on to her computer to check her e-mails. That was where the latest gossip from the wives would be. There was always far too much drama taking place to text it all.
Lorain clicked on a couple of e-mails, but she couldn’t really focus. She found herself wondering what Unique and Korica were talking about. After the last couple of conversations Lorain had had with Korica, there was no telling. Lorain remembered one comment in particular.
“Will you listen?” Korica had said in an almost normal tone, which was unusual for her loud and obnoxious self. “Look, you’ve already got the twins. You’re attached to them. They know you as their mommy. Leave me Unique. She’s mine. She’s been mine. I don’t care if she is a grown woman. She’s mine. So I’ll tell you what. You fade out, and I’ll help Unique get over her loss of the boys, you know, so she won’t try to fill the empty void with something like, you know, wanting Heaven and Victoria back.”
It had been clear to Lorain at the time that Korica was issuing a veiled threat. At the time, though, Lorain didn’t let on that she felt threatened by her. She simply walked away and left Korica standing there, looking and feeling stupid for even daring to threaten her. However, all the while Korica’s words had penetrated Lorain like a bee’s stinger.
“All right,” Korica had yelled at Lorain’s back. “Have it your way, but the day you’re packing up Heaven and Victoria’s things and handing them over to Unique, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
For the rest of the day Lorain couldn’t help but wonder if Korica ever planned to make good on her threat.
Chapter 8
“Oh, my baby!” Korica said as soon as she saw Unique walk into Captain Souls Restaurant.
Even though it was a run-down, truck stop–looking hole-in-the-wall, it had character. Not only that, but it had great food. A person with an OCD issue might not be able to break bread there, but Captain Souls was Unique’s favorite place for some good old-fashioned soul-food cooking. Like Eleanor’s old-school soul-food meals, the food at Captain Souls hit the spot for Unique. All morning Unique had had her mouth set on some fried catfish and cheese grits for breakfast.
“Mommy, it’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you,” Unique said, embracing the woman she called Mommy, the woman who had raised her after her foster parents abandoned her.
Korica had been the couple’s next-door neighbor. She’d initially taken Unique in as part of a scam she and the couple were running on the system. But then the couple ran off to start a new life. They didn’t want their new life to include Unique, but they also didn’t want to give up the monthly check the county provided them for being foster parents to Unique. That was where Korica came in. Korica agreed to care for the child in their absence for a fifty-fifty cut of the monthly stipend. Korica had to do a lot of finagling in order not to get busted, but everything seemed to work out in her favor.
Unique’s caseworkers seemed to change every other month. Given all the shifting of paperwork and files and the different computer systems, poor little Unique fell through the cracks. The system basically forgot all about her existence and stopped doing home visits and sending checks. By then Korica and her children had already taken to Unique and considered her part of the family. Her birth mama had dumped her. Her foster parents had dumped her. The system had dumped her. Korica refused to add her name to the list of dumpers. So she kept the child. She’d been struggling to take care of her blood children. What was one more added to the brood? And that bond that Korica had formed with young Unique was sacred, and she wasn’t going to let anyone come between them, not even Lorain, the birth mother, who had the nerve to pop up years later.
Korica and Unique broke their embrace and took a seat in a red wooden booth with a view of the parking lot. Korica struck up a conversation as they flipped through the menu, waiting for their waitress to come take their order.
“So tell me more about you moving back here to your place soon,” Korica said. Her long acrylic nails with gold glitter nail polish tapped the menu while she looked it over. Her clear fair skin glistened with excitement.
“Yeah, Tamarra needs me back here to kind of take over things,” Unique said.
“She can’t be running you back and forth like she’s a puppet master.” Korica flipped her straight, thirty-two-inch Raggedy Ann–red weave over her shoulder.
“She’s not running me. Trust me, Tamarra is awesome. I’m so grateful that after letting me go when I was pregnant with the twins and was going through all that drama, she let me start working with her again after I got out of jail.” Unique spoke without taking her eyes away from the menu. Although she pretty much knew exactly what she wanted, she skimmed the menu, anyway, to see if something else grabbed her attention. “Tamarra went to the doctor, and I guess, in short, he told her she needs to slow down. She was talking about retiring from the business altogether and turning over the reins to me.” Unique wagged her hand. “But she’s only talking smack, I’m sure. She’s invested so much time and money into building her catering business. As soon as she gets to feeling like her normal self, she’ll go right back to being the control freak that she is.”
“So how long are we talking before you move back?” Korica asked, closing her menu. Her mind was set on a six-ounce sirloin, medium rare and smothered in onions, with some scrambled cheese eggs on the side and a country biscuit.
“Two weeks.” Unique closed her menu. She was going to stick with what her mouth had been watering for.
Korica clapped. “Yay. You can come back home, get settled, and maybe even, you know, start getting the girls.”
There was an awkward moment of silence before Unique shot her mother a look.
“What?” Korica shrugged. “You know that ol
e stuck-up wench won’t let me see my grandbabies. I gotta go through you to get to them.”
“Mommy, please.” Unique exhaled. “We’ve been through this already. The girls are not your grandbabies. They are my sisters through my biological mother. So technically—”
Korica pointed and wagged an acrylic finger as close to Unique’s face as she could from across the table. “I wish you would.” She glared at Unique. “I done told you once and I done told you a thousand times, you and that woman can do whatever y’all want to do . . . file whatever paperwork y’all want to, but those are my grandbabies. Period!” Korica crossed her arms, and her bottom lip began to tremble.
“Mommy, I know this is hard for you, but it’s been five years.”
“And in five more years, if I don’t get to have a relationship with my grandbabies, we still gon’ be having this same conversation.”
“That’s why I can’t trust having them around you,” Unique said.
“Come again.” Korica was visibly appalled. Her long, fake eyelashes capped with mascara fluttered like butterflies. They dang near beat the sky-blue and silver eye shadow off her eyelids. Why wouldn’t she allow Unique to teach her how to apply her makeup properly, without overdoing it? Less was more, even when it came to beating a face.
“I can’t risk you saying the wrong thing to the girls. Mentally, they aren’t ready to deal with all that right now.”
“Uh-huh. Then we can table the conversation for now. But like I said, we still gon’ end up having this same discussion.”
“Well, I’m not,” Unique said, trying to be as empathetic as possible. “Lorain and Nick are Heaven and Victoria’s parents. That is never, ever going to change. Yeah, maybe one day, when the girls are older, we’ll explain everything to them, but for now . . . for the next five years . . . the way I see it, things aren’t going to change.”
