Page 17 of Make Me Remember

I chuckled. Brix was my brother-in-law, but we weren’t really all that close. It wasn’t intentional. He was around Jakari, Yendi, Lennox, Nesha, Tyeis, and Decaurey more because that was who Jess was around more. It was crazy that we had cliques within the family, but that shouldn’t have mattered since he was my sister’s husband. However, I realized that we rarely had gatherings with just us: CJ, Mama, Dad, Jess, Brix, Jacey, and me. As close as Jess and I were, that closeness didn’t spill over to him.

Glancing back at my phone, I decided to text Mekayla once more. A’ight. Well have a good night. See you tomorrow.

This was gonna be hard, but I was up for the challenge.

CHAPTER 6

MEKAYLA

“So, you’re like a contractor, right?”

“Yes, sir. Something like that, except I’m still my own boss. I get a 1099 at the beginning of the year.”

“Oh, that’s good, baby girl.”

I smiled at my daddy as I cooked. LaTee was making brownies while I made Tuscan pasta. I invited my mother over for dinner as well. There were some things I needed to get out in the open, and I wanted to include my mama in this moment. This was long overdue, and it was time I completely let go of all the hurt. Having my daddy back in my life, offering his love and support, made that feat so much easier to accomplish.

LaTee was beyond excited to meet him. They’d even had a grandfather-granddaughter date the other day. Despite how well we were getting along and getting to know each other, experiencing happiness in its purest forms, I could tell that he wasn’t feeling too well. He was doing his best to mask it. After stirring the pasta, I sat at the table with him. “Daddy, how are you feeling?”

He didn’t look so good. His skin looked a little clammy, and he seemed a little darker complexioned than last time. Before he could answer my question, the doorbell rang. I knew it was my mama, but I didn’t inform either of them that the other would be here. It may have been a bad idea to surprise them this way, but I would handle it when or if a problem presented itself.

I squeezed his hand as he watched me stand and go to the door. I wasn’t sure what he was about to say, but it didn’t look like it would be good. He looked somewhat nervous. When I got to the door, I glanced through the peephole to see Mercedes standing there. She was fidgeting with her nails, which meant she was nervous. I had only invited her here once, and that was when I had cooked for Keonshay’s birthday a few years ago.

I’d seen her since then, but she hadn’t been to the place I rested my head since then. I opened the door, and she smiled slightly. “Hey, Mercedes. Come on in.”

She smiled bigger and said, “Hey. How are you?”

“I’m okay.”

It had been years since I’d called her mama, so I knew it would catch her by surprise if I ever did. After I closed the door, I grabbed her hand, and she hugged me. I felt her take a deep breath as I released her. She’d changed for the better, and I couldn’t be prouder of the woman she’d become after all the bullshit she engaged in. While her successes would never erase the past, it gave me something to build on.

She’d apologized to me multiple times, cried and prayed with and for me, and did her best to love me to the best of her abilities. I grabbed her hand again and led her to the kitchen where LaTee and Daddy were seated at the table. When he turned to see her, she turned red as a fire truck. His eyes widened, and he said, “Hi, Mercedes.”

“Hi.”

She swallowed hard and glanced at me. It looked like she wanted to take off running in the other direction. Instead, she said, “What’s going on, Mekayla? Why is Stacy here?”

“We’ve reconnected recently. He’s had some things to say to me that made me feel better about our relationship. I thought maybe he could do that for you too.”

She glanced at him as he gave her a slight smile. While he initially seemed surprised by her presence, he seemed calm in this moment. “Mercedes, I know I caused you a lot of hurt. I’m so sorry for not being the man you deserved at the time. I called you out of your name and even put my hands on you… all things I’m so ashamed of now. I was a horrible person, but I’m doing my best to right my wrongs. I just happened to run into baby girl at Fuzzy Taco, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity God afforded me.”

She swallowed hard again and nodded as he approached her with his arms stretched out in surrender, his palms up. When he got close enough, he gently pulled her into his arms, and she broke. I hadn’t seen her that way since she first talked to me about her abuse after we’d gotten permanently taken away from her.

LaTee walked over to me and asked, “Mama, what’s wrong with Grandma?”

“She hasn’t seen Grandpa in a long time, and they needed to see each other so they could put the past behind them.”

That was all she would get from me. I knew that answer was pretty vague, but my baby didn’t need to know the details. She would have nightmares for years to come. When my mama pulled away from him, she placed her hand on his cheek, and he grabbed it and kissed it. Hmm. That’s interesting. He pulled out her chair at the table, and I went back to the food as LaTee joined them.

A tear slid down my cheek, and I quickly swiped it away. Their reunion was beautiful. I wasn’t sure of all the details of where their relationship went wrong, but I could clearly tell his apology meant a lot to her, just like it had meant a lot to me. She definitely loved him. They were together until I was two, but they had been together for years. Zhori was three years older than me, and he was their firstborn as a couple.

Mama had already had Landon and Keonshay, but Landon was living with his dad, and Keonshay was practically living with her maternal grandmother. She’d told me that tidbit. Her grandmother passed away around the same time Mama and Daddy broke up. That was how she ended up spending more time at home and basically becoming our mother, while Mercedes ran the streets, creating four more children in the process.

I got my emotions together and fixed their plates. After garnishing them with parsley and adding a piece of garlic toast and salad, I brought their plates to the table. I went back to the kitchen and poured them both glasses of tea. I brought it to them, and my daddy said, “This looks really good, Mekayla. I mean… like something I would see on TV.”

I chuckled. “I wanted to be a chef until like my senior year of high school. I got tired of looking at food. I didn’t want anyone telling me what to cook, so I went a different direction when I got to college. I worked with an upcoming chef until I left for Nashville.”

He smiled and so did Mercedes. I went back to the kitchen to get LaTee’s food and drink and made a final trip back for mine. When I sat, my dad stretched out his hands, indicating he wanted to pray. I smiled and grabbed LaTee’s hand and reached across the table to grab Mercedes’s hand.

---