“Slide over, Es.”
In her pink pajamas, she said nothing but followed directions immediately. Though she was always quiet, I knew that this silence was a different kind of silence. She was terrified. She hadn’t blinked since I’d walked into the room as if she was in a dream and afraid that if she blinked, I would disappear.
“I wan’ go with you.” Emorey cried into my chest as I got situated with both girls in the back of the Malibu.
“You are, baby girl. You are.”
I felt Essence’s head against my arm moments shy of feeling the wetness. Silently, she cried against me, never mumbling a word. It felt as if I’d been stabbed in the chest with three knives as both girls clung to me as if it was the last time they’d ever see me again.
I waited impatiently for Laike and Cane to rejoin me, this time with rearranged seating. As I held the girls close, I watched the door like a hawk for the moment the two emerged. And when they did, I sighed in relief. Within seconds, we were burning rubber off the parking lot and on our way to my crib.
With Emorey and Essence in my sight, everything seemed to get clearer. Aside from light sniffles from both girls, the car was utterly silent. It felt like the longest ride of my life but in about twenty minutes we were pulling up to the same area I’d exited. It was imperative that I entered the same way I’d left.
“See you in a few,” I told Laike while gathering the girls so that we were able to get out.
“Bet. Don’t forget to handle that other business.”
We knew Dewayne hadn’t come alone and neither was he acting alone. He’d come with the same nigga that Ever had seen at Baisleigh’s the day before. Her suspicions were right. Dewayne knew exactly where she was, especially after she’d run into his homie.
Unfortunately, he’d chose the wrong motherfucking city to pull up in. There was no way he was leaving. Just like Dewayne, he had that coming to him. They’d made their beds. It was time to lie in them.
“I won’t. No loose ends,” Laike confirmed.
“Burn the motel room down and compensate the owner.”
“On it.”
The headlights of the car helped me identify the section of the gate that could be lifted from the outside if the latch wasn’t hooked. I lifted it and then put Emorey on the ground. There was no way we’d both make it under without me breaking something.
“Go ahead,” I instructed them both.
When I made it under, I reattached the latch so that entry was forbidden from the outside. Emorey’s outstretched arms reminded me she was still in distress. I pulled her into my chestand stood my full length with her in my arms. Essence’s little fingers wrapped around mine, and we all proceeded toward the house.
Entering the house with both girls at my side was easily the best feeling I’d experienced since meeting their mother. Now, she was the only missing piece to our puzzle. As soon as she was released, she’d be right beside us, though. It was only a matter of time before we were all reunited and smiling again.
“Can I sleep with you?” Emorey asked just as I closed the door behind us.
“Me, too?” Essence’s words penetrated the air.
“We’re not going to sleep, we’re going to see Mommy. But, when we do go to sleep, you’ll both be right beside me.”
I reached down and pulled Essence into my arms and started to climb the stairs. We entered their bedroom where the coziness of it made my eyelids heavy and my heart light. This was where they belonged. In the last three months, their bedroom had been transformed into their personal palace.
“What color pajamas do you want, Emorey?”
Before taking them to the hospital to visit Ever, it was imperative that I cleaned them up. The last thing I wanted to do was bring her the girls looking as if they’d been in the hellhole I’d found them in. I wanted her to see the girls she remembered and knew better than she knew herself.
“Blue.”
“What about you, Essence?”
“Blue.”
“Then blue it is.”
I lowered them to their feet but neither of them moved. They stood at my side, watching as I pulled their drawers open, searching for a pair of matching pajamas in the color blue. I’d seen them in several so I knew there was something in the drawers for them to wear.
“Essence, you want to go start you guys some bath water while I look for your pajamas?”
