Nile bowed her head. “There’re things she told me. Things I don’t want to tell you verbatim but things that I should try to say just the same.”
“Okay,” Mick gave a slow nod and folded her hands in her lap.
Nile looked past the floor to ceiling windows as well. “Suffice it to say that she was offered a chance to follow her dreams and due to selfishness, coldness or the immaturity of youth, she felt that her eight year old daughter had no place in that dream.”
The words stung no matter how gently they were delivered. Still, the sting was brief and not nearly as painful as Mick had imagined it would be. “Simple as that,” she breathed providing an honestly refreshing smile while shaking her head in wonder.
“If it helps, Mick, she said that she was sorry and that you deserved a better mother.”
“How could I ever sell myself short enough to think I could be like her? That I could even fathom doing that to my own child?” Mick was thinking of Quincee and a deep shudder whipped through her at the idea of leaving her willingly.
Nile leaned forward and braced her elbows on her knees. “She may’ve come back.” She angled her head to fix Mick with a steady look. “She was a good mother to me. I think…maybe she was trying to make up for what she did to you. If it weren’t for me-”
“Hey,” Mick scooted to the edge of the sofa and laid a hand over Nile’s wrist. “If she’d left you then, there’s a chance you wouldn’t be here and I’d never be able to say I have my very own sister.”
Nile released the tears that she’d fought to keep inside for the better part of the day. Mick soothed her, drawing her close into a hug. The two of them sat crying and hugging for what remained of the hour.
***
Quest left early the next morning and Michaela celebrated his departure and loved him more for it. This was something she needed to do on her own. Well…almost on her own. In spite of her all-fired determination to seek answers, find results, confront her past, she was terrified. To herself she could admit that if it weren’t for Nile, she wouldn’t have the courage to go through with it.
When the doorbell rang, Mick was on her way downstairs with Quincee. She halted her steps and closed her eyes momentarily. The baby cooed and Mick squeezed her tighter.
“Mommy’s a little scared, honey.”
Quincee uttered another delighted coo which caused Mick to smile. “Good advice, love. When terrified- laugh.”
Renewed with a sense of curiosity and excitement, Mick kissed her daughter’s temple and headed on down the stairs.
Nile’s dark gaze sparkled when she saw Mick and Quincee at the door. She rubbed Mick’s arm, taking note of the gooseflesh there and winked. Then, she cast an animated look toward Quincee and wiggled her fingers toward Mick to instruct her to let her hold the baby.
Michaela was already looking past Nile toward the stout dark woman with lovely expressive eyes and an easy, understanding smile.
“Thereesa Sellars, this is Michaela Ramsey. Mick…this is Aunt Reesy.” Nile said.
Reesy’s wide almond gaze suddenly glistened with tears when she stepped closer and saw her baby sister’s features on the face of the young woman standing before her. “God, Child.” She gasped raising her hands in a tentative manner towards Mick’s cheek. She caught herself and would have tucked the hand into the side pocket of the flaring blue knit skirt she wore.
Mick caught the hand as if on an impulse. Disbelief flooded her then as though she couldn’t believe she’d done it. She blinked, looking at the hand she held like it was some rare find. Her fingers tested the strength she felt there beneath the still youthful, yet work-worn cocoa skin.
Reesy let the tears pooling her eyes slide down her face. Then, she was sobbing amidst the laughter filling her throat.
Mick could barely see her own gaze was so blurred by tears. In minutes, she was crying like a child with her aunt’s hand gripped tight against her cheek.
Nile swayed back and forth trying to keep her sobs quiet so as not to upset the baby. Quincee however, was still as delighted as ever. Her coos grew louder as if she could sense the emotion in the air was of the happiest variety.
“Vette was always dreaming….the most outrageous dreams and it didn’t take the rest of us long to figure it best not to tell her when she was talking crazy.” Reesy shared later once she’d played with Quincee and been taken on a tour of the house. The baby was down for a nap and Reesy confided stories of her sister to the niece she never knew she had.
“When she finally left like she always boasted she would, I think we were all relieved- even Mama and Dad may they rest in peace.” She inhaled deeply and seemed to blink back tears over the memories. “She never came back- not even when they passed. I hadn’t even spoken to her since she left. Then…she called one day just like that out of the blue to ask if I’d take Ny.” Reesy leaned over to slap Nile’s knee.
“We only spoke by phone,” Reesy went on after sipping from her tea cup. “All the time Ny was with us…she never came to see- to see for herself how Nile was living.” She shrugged her brows. “I figured it was because Ny was practically grown- being eighteen and all. Finding out about you,” she held out her hand toward Mick, “it makes sense- so much of it all makes perfect sense now.”
Overwhelming emotion hadn’t dulled Mick’s curiosity. “So much of it?” She queried.
Reesy appeared as though she were looking back upon an old memory. “She called often once Nile came to live with me. I think she knew we were taking good care of her.” Reesy let go of Mick’s hand and began to twirl a lock of hair around her finger while she reminisced. “The calls were numerous but they didn’t last long. It was like she… I don’t know like maybe she was asking for forgiveness or understanding for leaving Nile.”
Slowly, Reesy’s gaze met Michaela’s. “After three or four calls, I got the feeling she wasn’t seeking forgiveness about Nile but something else altogether. She- she’d say things like- ‘this time I’m gonna do right’, ‘this time I won’t turn my back’, ‘I’m going to make it right’, ‘no child should have to pay for the selfishness and stupidity of her parents’.”
“Mon Dieu,” My God, Nile breathed, bringing a hand to her mouth. Her aunt had never shared such things with her.
“I thought maybe something was going on there with her husband.” Reesy shook her head. “She’d only say ‘no, no Reese. This is all about me. I’m the monster. I’m the monster who ruined an angel- one who loved me in spite of what I was.” Reesy hid her face in her hands and inhaled. “She told me that during one of our last conversations. The calls started dwindling after that. Eventually they stopped altogether- to me anyway. I knew she was keeping in touch with Ny, so…”
Mick’s amber stare held the same far away expression as Reesy’s. “I thought…it was me. That there was something wrong with me, that I did something to make her go. That she hated me.”
“No Mick,” Nile scooted close to the edge of the sofa. “She loved you. She was tortured by what she did. What she did for me…getting me out of that house I think she was looking for redemption and knew nothing would ever be enough to erase what she did to you.”
“God,” Mick’s voice was a soft, helpless mew.
“Baby,” Reesy extended her arms and enveloped her sister’s child in a hug that radiated love and welcome.
Nile moved over to become part of the embrace. The emotion between the three women merged gently from pain and sadness to thankfulness and joy.
***
“Thanks Jazz,” Quest stood to accept the bourbon on ice.
“Sorry about meeting in this conference room, guys,” Quay told his cousins while sipping Courvoisier. “Looks like this is our new home ‘til the office is…reconstructed,” he winked when Quest sent him a deadly glance. “We should be back in there by…next Christmas? That right, Q?”
Quest enjoyed his drink while flipping off his twin. A rumble of male laughter followed the gesture.
“So what’s this about, y’all?” Yohan’s expression grew pained. “Q man, please don’t tell me you and Mick are cancelling Thanksgiving dinner? Melina’ll have me in the kitchen for sure.”
“So what’s up?” Moses asked when the second round of laughter quieted.
“I got a visit from Hill in Chicago.”
Everyone’s head turned in unison.
“He actually showed up there?” Taurus asked, watching his cousin nod.
“Right on Mick’s front door step,” Quest said.
“What the hell for?” Fernando asked, from his spot perched on the end of the table.
Quest took a long swallow of his drink. “Who knows, where Hill’s concerned.”
Quay leaned close to his brother. “Well what’d he say?”
“Not much. Lotta round about shit. Said he wanted to make sure I didn’t change my mind about shutting down weapons.”
“Well that’s not in his family’s best interest, is it?” Yohan asked.
“I got the feeling he wasn’t speaking for them.”
“Hmph, you know that could’ve been smoke and mirrors?” Moses pointed out.
Quest stroked his jaw and shrugged. “I picked up enough to know that he wants to keep Smoak and Pike out of whatever he and Caiphus have cookin’ up.”
Fernando was frowning. “Caiphus?”
“They’re working together on something.” Quest drained his glass. “Whatever it is, he doesn’t want his brothers to know about it.”
“What the hell are they up to?” Taurus breathed, his bright eyes grown narrow from suspicion.
“Did he say anything about Belle and Sabra?” Quay asked.
Quest pushed back from the table. “I asked, he said they were safe. He knows he and brothers are dead if anything happens to them.”
“So what do we do now?”
Quest slid a grimace Yohan’s way. “We wait. We wait and hope whatever shit storm’s brewin’ with the Tesanos doesn’t have a damn thing to do with our cousins.”
***
Thanksgiving with the Ramseys went off without a hitch which said quite a bit for the family. Mick teased her husband relentlessly about his onetime refusals to never organize any family get togethers. Once all the dinner guests had assembled and there was laughter and easy conversation in the air, she encouraged him to admit he’d underestimated his family. Quest would only tell his wife that the day was still young.
Of course, even Quest had to acknowledge his happy surprise when the holiday dinner turned into even more of a celebration. Though having Crane Cannon there along with his ex-wife and mistress gave the host and hostess some cause for concern, there was no need to panic. Johnelle Black and Josephine Ramsey behaved like old friends which; in fact, they were to an extent. Kindred spirits may have been a more accurate description as the two had worked together to take Marcus Ramsey out of the picture.
The event on hand that day however was nothing quite as sinister. Johnelle cheered loudest of all when Crane proposed to Josephine and she accepted. It was a truly incredible moment with the newly engaged couple laughing and hugging while their son Yohan cheered and clapped with the rest of the guests on hand.
“Can you believe all this?”
Damon Ramsey smiled at the childlike awe coloring his wife’s voice. The two of them were swaying to the light music filling the air while they looked out over the room filled with smiling faces.
Damon kissed the top of Catrina’s head. “If it were anyone other than this family, I suppose I wouldn’t be having quite as hard a time.”
“Mmm…” Catrina closed her eyes and inhaled the familiar and always provocative scent of the cologne clinging to Damon’s neck. “And since it is this family?”
Damon chuckled. “I’m afraid you’re gonna have to pinch me several times a day over the next several years.”
“I’ll say…Crane and Josephine engaged Daphne and Houston…dead, Marcus…” Catrina shivered at the thought.
“Gone and I hope he stays that way.” Damon smoothed his hands across his wife’s back through the tan cashmere sweater she wore.
Catrina looked up. “You really think it’s over?”
Damon let her see his face. “God, I hope so.”
“But you’re concerned?” She probed, watching his expression change.
“I was, but there’s a calm I can’t explain. I don’t think he can hurt any of us anymore.”
“And you’re not the least bit concerned about him being out there somewhere. Maybe… plotting?”
“I’ll be concerned about that until I know he’s dead.” Damon’s deep voice was blunt then. “But the Ramseys have never been this strong- never all been on the same page before. I think we’ll do anything to hold onto that, so my big brother should think twice before he decides to tangle with any of us again.”
Catrina shivered again, this time out of sheer contentment and love for her husband and family.
“Hey? You okay out here?”
Johnelle Black smiled and looked back at Michaela who’d found her out on a secluded end of the patio. “I’m good.” She called.
Mick tugged the bulky gray sweater tighter about her body and looked up at the gray skies. “I think we’ll have an early snow.”
Johnelle smiled up at the sky. “And a white Christmas.”
Smiling then too, Mick joined Johnelle on the cushioned wooden bench she occupied. “I wasn’t sure how you’d take it- Crane proposing to Josephine.”
“Oh, I’m happy for them.” Johnelle’s voice held strength tempered with honesty. “Crane and I were never meant to be. He was a good man but he wasn’t meant for me.”
Mick nodded believing the woman’s soft spoken confession.
“I’ve got no regrets.” Johnelle warmed her hands about the olive green ceramic mug she held. She smiled inwardly at the fact that the cup held only fragrant hot tea and none of the other…additions she once often needed to get through a day. “But I do wish my Sera could have lived to feel the peace that I’ve been blessed to find.”
Michaela leaned close to squeeze Johnelle’s wrist. Silently, they remembered the woman’s slain daughter and all that had transpired since putting together the pieces of Sera Black’s murder.
“I think she’s at peace.” Mick nudged Johnelle’s shoulder with her own. “My only regret is that we couldn’t get Marcus Ramsey in a cell.”
“Are you so sure he’s not in one?” Johnelle sipped from her mug and stared out at the back lawn.
Mick toyed with a curl and shrugged. “Never say never, right?”
“Right. That man had a lot of enemies and it does my heart good to think he may be livin’ out the rest of his days in a cell too short for him to stand in.”
Mick began to chuckle. “Jeez, you’re one tough lady. Would you at least give him a toilet?”
Johnelle finished her tea. “Hell, let him stew in it.”
Sounds of wicked yet delighted feminine laughter wafted out beyond the remote corner of the patio.
~~~
The house was blissfully quiet a few hours later. Dinner had been a lovely affair. There was an optimistic aura that seemed to settle- especially over six of the couples in attendance. Once grace was said over the food and everyone commenced to digging into the delicious feast, they each silently sent up their own prayers of thanks.
The love, desire and friendship that were alive among them hadn’t come without the tearing down of pretenses, the shedding of masks or the triumph over regrets. It hadn’t been easy to find ones worth or the beauty that lay at the core of the soul. Still, they had done it and now the dream was theirs to cherish.
~EPILOGUE~
Chicago, Ill~
Instead of returning unsuitable, non-fitting or just plain unwanted gifts on the day after Christmas, Quest and Mick set off for Chicago. This time however, they didn’t travel alone. Quincee Mahalia Ramsey tagged along to keep her parents in check.
Following all the very real and frig
htening dramas of the last several weeks and months, Michaela discovered planning a wedding definitely had its benefits. Immersing herself in the love and happiness that had found its way into her best friend’s world, filled Mick with an elation she couldn’t describe.
Still, she was surprised by the fact that thankfully it didn’t stop her from planning the event of the year with all the gusto she used to attack everything else.
Mick’s decision to sell her home had been postponed in the wake of all that had occurred. Now, that time was passed yet the bride to be insisted that no selling would take place before the elaborate home was used as the venue for her wedding.
The house would be on the market the week following the ceremony. Mick came to meet with the wedding planners and to say her own private goodbyes.
Yes; she thought while taking a stroll through the quiet corridors, a wedding was a perfect conclusion for a home where…she’d known such joy and with a wonderful man who was the only father she’d ever known. The only father she’d ever need to know. And there were friends like Contessa and family- a family she loved more than anything.
~~~
Michaela returned to the sitting room once the guests had scattered to various parts of the house. She appeared serene while staring out at overcast skies and tree limbs bare of their leaves lost amidst the onset of autumn.
An excited shriek caught her ear and she saw Quest standing just inside the doorway with Quincee.
“What are you two doing back there?” She scolded playfully, holding her arms out to take Quinn when Quest walked over to the sofa.
Quest sat close and began to play in his wife’s curls. “You okay?” He watched her smiling and rubbing noses with the baby. It didn’t take much guessing to know the house might evoke memories of Driggers.
The Ramseys Boxed Set Page 142
