Legacy of Love

by Donna Hill

  The heavy four-poster bed dominated the space, but it was the sheer white curtains in the windows that softened the room. It was a simple room, and he could tell that it hadn’t been used in a while. There were no personal effects around except for a framed photograph that sat on the nightstand. He walked over and picked it up. It was a picture of Zoe and her mother. The picture by her nightstand whether she still lived in this house or not spoke volumes about the way Zoe really felt about her mother. He gently put the picture back down.

  He turned to her and found her watching him, expecting him to say something, it seemed. But they both knew that the one photograph in the room said it all.

  “Is it really okay if we spend the night together in your room with your family right here?”

  “I was planning on taking the room right next door,” she said with a devilish smile. “So when you hear the secret knock, it’s me.”

  “Hmm, nothing is more of a turn-on than sneaky sex,” he teased, pulling her into his arms and nibbling on her neck.

  Zoe squirmed and giggled. “Why, you bad boy,” she said emphasizing her Southern belle charm. “I wouldn’t know anything about that, sir, me being such a lady and all.”

  “Well, this bad boy would be more than happy to teach you everything he knows.” He dipped his head for a kiss when the knocking on the door made them leap apart like two teenagers caught in the backseat.

  Zoe tugged on her shirt and went to open the door.

  “Ya’ll coming or what?” Sharlene asked. “I’m starved and I want to see Nana.”

  “Yes, we were just coming down.”

  Sharlene looked from one to the other. “Hmm. Right.”

  “Come on, babe, before my friend tells on us.” She stuck her tongue out at Sharlene and swept by her.

  When they got downstairs they were drawn to the backyard by the sound of animated conversation and laughter.

  The family was gathered on the enclosed porch with a spread of food that was fit for royalty. Nana sat regally at the head.

  “It’s about time,” Aunt Flo fussed. “We were ’bout to eat all this without ya.”

  “Come on out here and set yourselves down,” Aunt Fern ordered.

  The long wood table was covered from end to end with food; from platters of golden fried chicken, catfish that had been dipped in Fern’s special batter, deep dish macaroni and cheese, fresh cut string beans, seasoned collards and black-eyed peas and rice. And for dessert, peach cobbler and apple pie.

  “Don’t just stand there with your mouths open,” Miraya gently chided, “get a plate and dig in.”

  Zoe took Jackson’s hand and led him down to the end of the table where Nana sat, while the others started fixing their plates.

  She bent down and kissed her Nana’s cheek, wrapped her arms around her neck, then knelt down beside her. “Nana Zora, this is Jackson Treme.”

  Jackson extended his hand. She took it in a surprisingly strong grip and eased him down to her. “We don’t shake hands ’round here. We give hugs,” she said in a voice that to Jackson sounded like a musical voice that he’d heard all of his life. He leaned down and hugged her and within the brief seconds of their embrace Jackson felt an enormous sense of tranquility wash over him, a feeling that no matter what happened, it was going to be all right.

  When he stepped back her gaze connected with his and she smiled and said only to him, “Yes, it is.”

  Jackson blinked back his surprise just as Sharlene elbowed her way over to get in her Nana time.

  “Come on let’s eat,” Zoe said. “I’m starved.” She glanced up at him and registered the almost dazed look in his eyes. “You okay?”

  He blinked and focused on her. “Yeah, fine. Your grandmother is special.”

  Zoe turned and looked behind her. Zora was being waited on hand and foot, her daughters tending to her every need without a word of direction or a request from her. “Yes, she is special.”

  “Hope you like everything,” Zoe’s mother said, coming up to stand beside her as she filled her plate.

  “It’s incredible. Really.”

  “We all worked hard to make it nice. And tomorrow will be even better.”

  Zoe smiled. “I can’t imagine how.”

  Miraya patted Zoe’s shoulder. “You’ll see.”

  The late afternoon lunch turned into dinner complete with lively talk, plenty of laughter, gossip about the neighbors and anecdotes about the family as the food continued to flow.

  As the sun began to set and the day grew cooler, Aunt Flo offered “something a little stronger to help you rest,” she’d said.

  To which Fern replied, “Don’t you mean to help you rest?” And they were at it again.

  Nana Zora interrupted the back and forth by announcing that she was retiring for the night. “Come help your grandmother to her bed,” she said to Zoe.

  “Good to have you back home,” she said as Zoe helped her up the stairs.

  “It feels good being here.” She opened the door to Zora’s bedroom.

  “Come sit a minute,” Zora said as she sat on the edge of her bed.

  Zoe took a seat in the chair next to the bed.

  “You have some decisions weighing heavy on you. And what you decide is gonna change your life. He’s a good man. He’s the one we’ve been waiting for, the one for you. Now I can’t tell you what to do, but you’ll know when the time comes.”

  “How will I know?”

  “You’re gonna feel the answer right here.” She pointed to the center of her chest. “That’s how you’ll know. We Beaumont women have made some wrong choices throughout the years and not living up to what Zinzi had planned. And we done paid for it. You can make that right. Now go ahead. Tomorrow is your day and you need to be rested.”

  Zoe got up and kissed her grandmother’s cheek. “Rest well.”

  “You do the same.”

  Zoe closed the door softly behind her. She had every intention of going to her room but her mother stopped her in the hallway.

  “Your Nana, okay?”

  “Yes, she’s fine. Getting settled down.”

  “Good, good.” She hesitated for a moment. “I wanted to give you your birthday present early.”

  “Mama, you don’t have to do that.”

  “I want to. Come.”

  She followed her mother to the other side of the long winding hallway into her bedroom.

  “Close the door.”

  Zoe did as she was asked while her mother went to her dresser and took out what looked like a photograph. She held it out toward Zoe.

  “His name is Paul. Paul Randall. I met him when I was nineteen years old. He was something else,” she said wistfully.

  Zoe’s hand began to shake.

  “And he was going to do things with his life. Be somebody. He was in school to be a lawyer. So when I found myself pregnant, well, I couldn’t tell him. I knew what he would do. He’d drop out of school, find some piece of job to take care of me and that baby and one day he’d wake up and hate me for taking his life away from him.” She swallowed over the knot in her throat and vigorously shook her head. “I couldn’t let him do that. Couldn’t.” She sniffed back her tears and lifted her chin. “So I went on, had my baby and had my life and gave him his.”

  Zoe could feel her heart beating wildly in her throat. “You…you never told him about me?”

  Miraya shook her head, no. Her lips pinched into a tight line. “I thought that was love. Giving someone their freedom. Never giving them a chance to play their own version of what love was. Been looking for it ever since.” She gave a sad smile. “In all those clubs and dives. Never found it again.” She looked into her daughter’s eyes. “I don’t want that for you. When you have it, when you feel it, give it a chance. I didn’t do right by you or by…your father. You can change all that. And maybe you can find it in your heart one day to forgive.” A lone tear slid down her cheek.

  Zoe wanted to be angry, furious at mother for what she had done
. But she’d buried her anger long ago. She’d replaced it with dismissal and distance over the years to shield herself from hurt. But for the first time what she realized was that she hadn’t lost out all those years. She’d been loved and doted on and cared about in every way possible. It was her mother who’d lost so much and now she wanted to ensure that Zoe didn’t make her same mistakes. She gave her that part of her life back that had been missing. And now Zoe needed to return that gift with one of her own.

  “I forgive you, Mama.”

  Zoe walked toward her mother as Miraya’s arms opened wide and cocooned her in love.

  Chapter 27

  Zoe awoke the following morning to a cacophony of sound and activity. Cars, women’s voices calling out directions, doors opening and closing. She pulled herself halfway up when her foot met with a solid object and she remembered that she and Jackson had spent the better part of the night talking and talking. He must have fallen asleep across the bottom of the bed.

  Laughing she realized that this was the first night that they’d spent together and not made love. And it was all right.

  “Hey, sleepy head,” she softly called out, crawling to the bottom of the bed.

  Jackson’s eyes squinted open against the rays of the morning sun. He looked around trying to get his thoughts to focus. “I must have fallen asleep,” he said, his voice still thick and rough.

  “You think!” she teased. “Come on and get up before someone sees you creeping out of my boudoir.”

  Before she could react Jackson had flipped her over and pinned her beneath him. “Happy birthday, baby.”

  She grinned. “Thanks.” She pecked him on the lips.

  “I would love for both of us to get in our birthday suits but sounds like the troops are up and active.”

  He rolled over and Zoe hopped off the bed. “Go, go before someone sees you,” she said, shooing him out of the door. “What time will Levi and Michelle get here?”

  “He said around noon. They were going to check in to the hotel first and then head over.”

  “Okay. I’m going to shower and get dressed. Sounds like they could use some supervision. I’ll meet you out back when you’re ready.”

  Zoe spun away from the door, feeling giddy inside. She was happy. Really happy and she was looking forward to whatever the day would bring her. She was finally ready.

  When she came out back the massive lawn was covered with white circular tables and matching wooden chairs. A group of men from Nana Zora’s church were struggling with putting up a tent and the ladies auxiliary were setting up the tables and spreading white tablecloths across them. The driveway was lined with cars filled with neighbors bringing trays of food, coolers and gift bags.

  Zoe covered her mouth in shock. Her heart swelled in her chest. She couldn’t believe that this was all for her. There were faces that she hadn’t seen in years. All of them were there for her. Sharlene and Ray were already pitching in, wrapping up the trees with stringed balloons. Nana sat in her favorite backyard chair beneath the biggest tree at the far end of the yard, calling out directions like a drill sergeant between sips of what Zoe knew was mint julep.

  “Happy birthday, baby,” Aunt Flo said giving her a quick kiss as she ambled down the porch steps balancing a bowl of punch.

  Aunt Fern was right behind her carrying a big metal wash bucket—for what, Zoe had no idea. “Happy birthday,” she said on her way down the steps. “You best get out of the way or you’ll get run down.”

  Another car tried to get onto the driveway but it was full. The driver parked and Levi, Michelle and Shay got out.

  Zoe waved to them from the porch. They wound their way around the tables and people and finally reached her.

  “Oh, my goodness!” Michelle exclaimed. “I had no idea. I was thinking a family gathering.”

  Zoe laughed with joy. “So did I. Hey, Shay, did you enjoy the drive?”

  She bobbed her head transfixed by all of the activity.

  “You find the place okay, Levi?”

  “No problem. Where’s Jackson?”

  “Good question. He should be coming down soon. Can I get you all anything?”

  “No, I’m good,” Levi said. Michelle agreed.

  “Okay, well, let me introduce you around.”

  By late afternoon the tables were set and decorated, the tent was up, the racks of food were being spread out on Sternos that stretched across four six-foot tables. Buckets of ice were still being brought in and the two grills were getting hot. The men from the church had set up a small stage for the blues band that Zoe’s mother had hired and the yard looked like a fairy tale.

  “Your family has gone all out,” Jackson was saying as they stole a quiet moment alone.

  “I can’t believe this is all for me. I’m just without words.”

  Jackson hugged her. “You deserve it, baby.”

  “I better get dressed. And you, too. Nana said six sharp.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Sharlene, Michelle and Zoe shared Zoe’s bedroom mirror to finish their makeup and hair.

  “I told you that dress was the one,” Sharlene said as Zoe strutted across the room, did a pirouette then struck a pose.

  “Jackson’s eyes are going to pop,” Michelle said.

  “That’s not all he’s going to pop,” Sharlene said with a snicker.

  “Sharlene you are so awful,” Zoe said, but she couldn’t wait to get Jackson alone.

  The music from the band floated up to the window.

  “It’s party time,” Sharlene announced, wiggling her hips. “Let me go and find my man.” She sashayed out and Michelle and Zoe followed suit.

  “You know I’ve been working on the genealogical software program,” Michelle was saying to Zoe while they walked down the hall to the stairs.

  “Hmm, umm, how’s that going?”

  “Well,” she said, in an excited whisper. “I decided to trace our family and I traced us all the way back to a small village in Mali.”

  Zoe face flamed. “What?”

  “Yep. And the chief of the village had a son, Etu, who was captured and sold right here in New Orleans! He was our great-great-grandfather. Can you believe it?”

  Zoe’s temples began to pound. Etu and Zinzi. Oh, my God, Nana was right. She could barely breathe. “Did you bring the printout?”

  “I think so. If I didn’t leave it on the dresser. I wanted to surprise Jackson, but at the last minute we started rushing…”

  Zoe swallowed. “If you find it…I would love to see it.”

  “Sure.”

  They stepped outside and the party began.

  Food and drinks flowed, laughter floated through the air on the notes of the band. Couples and singles danced across the grass. And as the sun began to set, the candles on each of the tables were lit.

  “Happy, baby?” Jackson asked as they swayed to the music.

  “Very.”

  The piercing screech of the microphone cut through the music followed by Miraya’s voice.

  “Can I have everyone’s attention?” she shouted into the mike.

  By degrees, the crowd quieted down.

  “Thank you everyone for coming here today and for all the help in making this day special for my daughter, Zoe.”

  The crowd erupted into applause.

  “I am thankful for my child. I wasn’t always the mother that I should have been but I never stopped loving her. And because of the love she received from my mother, Zora, and my sisters, Fern and Flo, she is a wonderful, wonderful woman who makes me proud every day.” She turned a bit toward the band and gave them a cue. Slowly she faced the audience and the swell of the Billie Holiday classic “God Bless the Child” moved easily like the Mississippi across the night.

  “Them that’s got shall get, them that’s not shall lose…” Miraya’s controlled contralto voice seeped into the souls of the listeners.

  “…so the bible says but it still is news…”

  Zoe felt tea
rs sting her eyes. She hadn’t heard her mother really sing in years and now she remembered the power of that voice and understood why she wanted to chase her life.

  “…mama may have, papa may have…”

  Jackson took her in his arms and they moved as one to the heartrending song.

  “…but God bless the child that got his own that got his own…” The band held that last note of promise then faded out.

  “Happy birthday, Zoe,” Miraya said into the mike and the hundred plus guests erupted into the Happy Birthday anthem while an enormous cake was wheeled out on a cart, lit with what looked like a hundred candles instead of thirty.

  Zoe was crying full-blown now, her eyes so cloudy with tears that Jackson had to lead her over to her cake.

  “Make a wish!”

  Zoe closed her eyes. She knew what she wanted. She knew it was possible—if she believed. She held Jackson’s hand, took a deep breath and blew them all out.

  Chapter 28

  Levi, Michelle and Shay had returned to the hotel. The band was packed up and gone. The ladies from the church had packed up the leftover food to be given to the shelters and the homeless that visited the soup kitchen. The rental company would pick up the table and chairs in the morning. Nana and Zoe’s aunts and mother had gone up to bed. Sharlene and Ray decided that the night was still young and drove into the Quarter. Jackson and Zoe sat together on the porch steps reveling in the magnificent day.

  “What a day,” Jackson said softly.

  “Yes, it was.” She leaned her head on his shoulder.

  “Beautiful night for a beautiful woman.”

  Zoe sighed in utter contentment.

  “Is that one of the guest houses you were talking about?” he asked, pointing to a small structure at the end of the property.

  “Yeah, the former slave quarters. You want to see it?”

  “Sure.” He helped her to her feet.

  “I haven’t been in here in years,” she said. “I have no idea what kind of shape it’s in.” She tugged on the door and it jerked open.