Ben exploded laughing.
"Mundo why you got to always act like you ain't been no where!" Sylvia fussed fighting not to laugh as Ben was.
"Come on mama, he'p me get these muffins man! They'ah bake her some'mo! Tha's okay, ya'll get to talkin' keep'em distracted, I'ah get them muffins out'ah here for later!"
"No Mundo!" Sylvia grinned.
"Mama come on now! Look, you just forget we ever had this discussion, I'ah take care of everything."
"On the way home, we'll stop at the store, buy you some muffins."
"I'on want them muffins! I want these muffins! Mama you can't be trusted to buy no muffins, you be over there in the mark down, out of date muffin rack, talkin' 'bout, these just as good!" He mimicked her, bringing Ben to tears just watching him.
"They are just as good, just put some butter on'em and stick'em in the microwave a minute, same thing!"
Mundo straightened up, sobering, he looked at Ben to say, 'See? I rest my case!' "Okay man? You hear'ha right? Let that right there be your lesson on they thinking. You give a black, po'mama from the ghetto a hunnid'dolla's for food for the week, she gone come back wit'enough food for two weeks, and seb'ny'five dollas in her pocket. Problem is, all the food got to be ate by tomarr'!"
"You need to stop! Besides, put it in the freeza' that make it last longer!" She fussed.
"See!" Mundo shot to Ben, who was wiping his eyes.
"You aughta' be ashamed of yourself Mundo, you wasn't hungry was you?"
"After seein' what you brought home to eat, mama, wudn't nobody hungry!"
Sylvia had to look away not to laugh out, shaking her head. "Don't nobody appreciate what a mother has to do."
Grinning Mundo grabbed her, hugged her, "I'm just playin', you know you my black queen. The woman I bring home one day, gone be just like you, that ain't no lie." He kissed her cheek.
Ben watched them and couldn't help thinking about his own mother, yes - after this, it was time to go home.
The door opened once more for Deidre, Charlie and Jeremiah to enter. Right away, Deidre searched the room and spotted Sylvia. She put on a smile, awkward at best due to the confrontation at hand and greeted them. "Good morning, well you guys are up and out early."
With the matter at hand, Sylvia, Mundo and Ben sobered facing them; Ben and Mundo stood behind Sylvia as she dived right in. "I haven't slept much - neither could I wait any longer."
"No Shawn? Has he-..."
"No, when we left - he still wasn't home."
"Sylvia, I am so sorry, I never meant to cause you problems with him."
"Well, don't worry about that - let's focus on that little girl upstairs."
"You do understand that I had no choice? That all was done, to protect her."
"Deidre, let's not start this with you being condescending okay? I have no struggles in understanding when in the midst of adult communications, okay?"
"Oh-h-h don't do this Sylvia!"
"No - don't you do this! You cut out, two important parts to making this decision! My husband first and then me, second. Neither he, nor I, lack in understanding that when it comes to her initial life, you completed the cycle that gave her that. However - he - Shawn Everett McPherson is a major corner stone, stabilizer, for that little girls peace of mind and well-being, have you forgotten that?"
"I am her mother!"
"I didn't ask you that! See, there you go again - over looking the most crucial parts here. Before either of you," She stopped to look at Jeremiah and Charlie, "Yes, you and you - before scaring her, and then encouraging her to make this decision, one of you should have had the collective commonsense to include the other important people in her daughter's life. Her father and then, myself!"
"Sylvia, this was not done with the intention of cutting you, or your husband out of it." Jeremiah pointed out.
"Well you'll have to excuse the hell out of me then, because that's exactly what you did! No matter how noble your intentions, you all went about this all wrong! And if I'm not mistaken, are you three not college educated with degrees? That frightens me; is that to be interpreted as, because of that, you know best?!"
"For her life, and her safety? Yes, we do." Charlie cut in.
Deidre did not want this escalating, turning to Jeremiah and Charlie, "Stay out of it, please?"
They both nodded accepting her wishes, understanding why.
She turned back to Sylvia, "Please, I don't want this kind of contention between us."
"Neither do I Deidre, but I do not understand why you didn't include us in on this."
"Because ..." She had to pause as the reality struck hard and true. She gripped the bridge of her nose hating the way her skin flushed red.
"Because - you want her back, don't you? This entire matter, gave you what you needed, to get her back, is that right?" Sylvia asked as she also realized that might be what motivated it.
Deidre's eyes filled with tears, "She's my daughter ... she should be - with me!"
Sylvia stood a moment as her own eyes welled.
Deidre sniffed and squared her shoulders, "And right now - she's safer with me, than with Shawn. I mean, come on Sylvia, do you really want to risk your family, for my daughter?"
Sylvia stood facing her, thinking, a bit afraid - because in the end, in truth, Deidre had what it took, to get her, and keep her. Saying a bit of a silent prayer, she had to reach deep to find what she felt needed to be said, understood, "Deidre, your daughter - is - a part of my family. This may be hard for you to conceive, or believe, but she is just as much a part of me now, as my son behind me, as my daughter at home, as this child within me, and - as Ben is, here. Each and every one of them, Angela included, makes our home, a full and happy one - with her there, it is - complete."
"What about my home Sylvia? Does my home not matter?"
"Deidre, I hate that it has come to this and I'm sorry that you don't get it." Sylvia hated that she was starting to feel emotional. She was tired, a bit hurt due to Shawn; and feeling sensations of light-headedness coming on. But this was too important to her family to just give in without a fight. Even while realizing this woman before her, was fighting for her own child, as every mother should - that too made it difficult, because she empathized with her, she hurt for her - but in the end, it was about two things as far as Sylvia was concerned.
Angela and Shawn.
She was there to fight for them - unfortunately, she couldn't fight for everyone, that left Deidre out. Thus, she could not let Deidre win, because then, they all would lose.
Sylvia reached up with both hands to clear the tension building at her temples, and dry the glistening in her eyes, and to beg God to please be on her side because in her heart, she felt this was right.
"How can you say, that I don't get it? You stand there acting as if I'm not supposed to love and protect my own daughter?"
"Deidre of course I don't believe that. But the fact is - and I pray to God you listen to what I'm saying here - but like you Deidre, I come from - a broken family. This aside, you and I - we are so much alike - with the results of our lives, manifesting itself in different ways because of wealth and our cultures. I'm gonna tell you something, and whether you will agree or not, you'll know it's true. Your soul Deidre, like my own, has been broken. I'll tell you what broke mine, because you already know what broke yours." Sylvia paused because her tears were starting and she didn't want to cry. But this was something that she had never said to anyone, not her children, not Sheila, not Vivian, nor Shawn.
"Uhm, I went through a period in my life, for a space of time - when things for me, and my children - were - really hard - I mean, really tough. And more than anything in the world, I needed family - to care - enough about - me -..." She gripped her teeth tight, pausing as her face burned from the humiliation of having to say, what she was about to. She swallowed back the saliva building in her mouth and picked up saying, "...- and - my children - to just - be there. To just take us in, so I could try and get our lives,
under - control. I just needed, a little time - I just needed, my family, to love me enough - to think me worth it - to - inconvenience themselves - for me; for my babies. And nobody - not one person - in my family stepped forward for me, for them..." She had to stop and wipe the tears from her face. Taking a deep breath, she went on, "... Deidre, I called for help - I prayed for help - and the answer was - you made your bed, you lie in it."
Mundo kept his back to everyone, fighting to stay in the room, nothing cut him deeper than hearing his mother's tears. Nothing he could think of, hurt him like that. He peered out of the window to keep from rushing from the room.
Hearing her like this, being exposed to another bit of their past, gripped Ben even more. He could see why his biological father, was deadly in his protection of them - they'd been hurt enough. And she, Sylvia - felt that Shawn, had been hurt enough. At that point, right then, he wasn't sure who of the two were the strongest and most fierce when it came to protecting one another. But he could feel the power and passion that emanated from her as she poured her soul to save his child, as if she were her own. He would never forget that. And if this what he saw, flowed and flowered just a bit in the soul of her daughter, he wanted her even more today.
Deidre couldn't speak, couldn't bring herself to shift the lump in her throat as Sylvia went on, "Deidre - Angela Rea McPherson - did not make this bed for herself. Why are you forcing her to lie in it?"
"That's not fair Sylvia!" Deidre cried out, tears now in her eyes.
"I know it's not. But you're not the only one fighting for her life. You know, you very well may be saving her from harm brought on by the world, but - if she's unhappy - miserable, trapped in a world with no way out, what value will she hold on her life? And how might she try to escape it? She tried it once. You watch the news like I do Deidre, teenagers, young kids, with everything in the world to live for, and look forward to, are committing suicide left and right, ever wonder why that is?"
Deidre stood staring through blurred vision - she had a good idea why - after all - in her past, her youth, she'd tried it twice. Had almost succeeded once and she was a billionairess.
"Deidre, it all comes down to this - if we don't rethink this now - if you don't step back and take a good look at what you're doing - you're going to end up like me, having to face what you've done to your daughter - because you couldn't see past your own solutions for handling a problem that seems to overwhelm you. Once it's done, whatever it is, it - cannot - be undone - and knowing that - is going to eat - you - alive - if that is, you love your daughter, even a little bit."
Deidre walked to her desk and dropped into the chair, her face hidden in her palms, trying to think, still trying to fight what she knew was true, "She needs me, her mother!" She argued, but she could no longer look Sylvia in her eyes and fight her.
"Deidre, there is no doubt, at some point, she will need you - maybe when she's a bit older. But - right now - at this juncture of her life - in this space and time - she needs her father. She needs me. She needs Mundo. She needs Crystal, Ben, Darren, Isaac, her cousins, her grandparents, her uncles and aunts, her family! We - us and all the McPhersons, that is what she needs right now. No matter how it hurts to bear it, that is the truth. I want you to call her down here Deidre, tell her - we're here, please."
"Sylvia!" She turned, growling her name, with a bit of fight left in her.
"Deidre - do it - call her down here."
"Sylvia she-..."
"Do it - Dee-Dee - do it." Charlie shocked her to say. Deidre turned in disbelief staring at her. Charlie wouldn't look her in the eyes, because her own were pink and struggling. Sylvia had gotten to her, which made Deidre wonder about her story and how much like theirs it might be. She turned from her to look at Jeremiah. He nodded to her, "Yeah, call her down." He felt it too - she could see that he did, that maybe - she was - better off, with them.
Looking towards the floor, Deidre stood and strode from the room.
With every step up the stairs, and taken towards her daughter's room, Deidre felt harsh reality grip her tightly once more. She'd meant every word to Shawn about not endangering the rest of his family for her daughter. And doing what she did to claim her back, had been for all the right reasons - so she felt, even the one that she hid and held to herself, that one being; finally, there was a legitimate reason for claiming her back. While she knew that Shawn would fight for her, she also knew that bringing up the danger to his new wife and her children would take the fight right out of him. What she hadn't expected, was that despite the danger, Sylvia would show up and claim her back. Done in a way that made it hard for her to fight back. Deidre reached her daughter's door feeling heavy of heart, her stomach full of butterflies and opened it to peek in at her. Walking in, she stood by her bed gazing down at her a few moments before waking her. She stood frightened of losing her forever. Frightened of never having the chance to make things right between them. She didn't want to be a distant memory to her own child with no bond or ties for her. Sitting on the bed, she felt weepy and sad. She'd lost Shawn and now, she feared losing her daughter as well. Unable to put it off a moment more, she leaned towards her, her hand lay upon the long thick black silk that was down her back, and on the covers beside her, her fingers gently caressed it, forcing herself to snap out of it, she gently shook her awake.
"Angela, wake up."
She stirred slightly, lifting her head and looking her mothers way after having laid on her stomach facing the wall. "Good morning, time to get up. Someone's here to see you."
Angela immediately turned over sitting up, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, "Who? My dad here?" She asked, not sure who it could be.
"Uhm, no ... S-Sylvia's here, she-..."
Before she could finish, Angela threw the covers off and was out of the bed in a flash, out of the door, gone from the room leaving nothing but a breeze from her rapid departure. Deidre sat with her mouth partially open, her sentence unfinished, still facing the empty space where she had only seconds been. Closing her mouth, she gently stood wondering how and where her life had gone so horribly wrong.
Downstairs, the others were mostly quiet waiting for Angela to come down. Sylvia needed to move, she was feeling weak in the knees and a bit wobbly, so strolled gently out the door looking towards the stairs when she heard her name squealed out, "SYLVIA!!!" Followed by Angela's running feet down the carpeted stairs and upon seeing Sylvia there, she ran straight at her, breaking her speed only due to Jesse James. Angela's arms went around Sylvia without hesitation, Sylvia grabbed hold of her, hugging and holding on tight. "Oh Sylvia, I thought I would never see you again! You got my email, you came!"
"Email? What email? You emailed me?" Sylvia leaned back to look her in the face and ask.
Angela nodded, then answered, "I emailed you, told you I missed you already and please - not to leave before I could see you again."
"Oh sweety," Sylvia palmed her cheeks, "I never got it because I haven't checked my email since we've been here."
"Oh, then - why did you come?"
"Because - you think I would leave you behind?"
Angela gazed into her eyes, her own turning pink, "You have to leave without me, I don't want anything to happen to my dad, or to you Sylvia." Saying that, she glanced up the stairs where her mother appeared, paused, watching them, coming slowly down as she listened. Angela quickly looked to the floor, unsure of what to do now.
"Angela, look at me?" Sylvia softly ordered.
She obeyed, "Angela, that what you just said, about your father, about me - that is not for you to worry about. My baby, that kind of burden belongs to your father, and I - not you. All I want from you right now, is one simple thing - a promise - will you give me that?"
"Sylvia, I would give you anything, anything."
"Aaah, thank you, because all I want from you, right here, right now, is the truth. The true answer to this question, do you want to stay here? Or - do you want to stay with us, where you have been? You've be
en with your father and I now long enough, to know."
Angela glanced up at her mother once more, and in her eyes, she tried to say how sorry she was, "Mother - I'm sorry..." She looked to Sylvia, "Please don't leave me here, please don't leave me." She cried throwing herself back into Sylvia's arms. Sylvia held her, "I won't, I won't ... I promised you didn't I?"
Angela nodded.
"Well then, somehow, we will work this out." Sylvia held her and looked up at Deidre, "I cannot - leave here, without her - I'm sorry, I can't."
Deidre Stiffened her spin, she was forced to do that, or else, collapse on the stairs into tears. To see her daughter with a tighter, more natural bond to this woman, than they'd ever had, seeing it with her own eyes was just the thing to bring her to her knees. Not to end up there, she took on a bit of the backbone her mother had always displayed, squaring her shoulders, she strode down the stairs past Sylvia and Angela, back into the small library. They slowly followed, with Angela clinging onto Sylvia as if she feared letting go.
"Well, apparently, my child and my responsibility to her has been taken out of my hands, so Sylvia, please - tell me, what am I supposed to do now, just let her go? Ignore that her life may be in danger there, ignore the danger you may be about to cause your children?!"
Before Sylvia could speak, her son spoke up for her.
"Panic Room." Mundo said suddenly, having waited long enough to speak up.
Everyone in the room turned his way wondering what he meant by that.
"What?" Deidre asked confused.
"Remember the movie with Jodie Foster and her daughter? They lived in a New York townhouse, and some shifty-shadies broke in, Forest Whitaker was one of'em? You remember that movie don't you mama? We all watched it one night not too long ago, remember Angela?"
Angela's eyes grew round remembering right away, nodding vigorously she shook Sylvia's arm, so excited she started trembling, "Remember Sylvia? They had cameras, and they saw someone in the house, and her daughter got into that room that was safe for them, and her mother went in there too?"
BOMAW 10-12 Page 99
