Page 41 of After Him, There Was You
“Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry, Mama. I’ll wait for you at the door while you finish up with them,” Alexa expressed, recanting her hostility. “Thank you for coming, Zeke.”
Offering me a smile, she didn’t bother to look in Eva’s direction.
“Thank you, Mama.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I do need you to call me later though, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Also, like Alexa said, thank you for coming, Zeke. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.”
I couldn’t explain it, but the motherly hug she embraced me in, was enough to make me want to drop to my knees. It had to be a maternal thing because when I closed my eyes, it was like I was being hugged by my mama. It was needed, but I was afraid to express myself because of where we were and why we were there.
“It’s okay, son.” Jacquelyn said, releasing me.
In the slight chance Eva and I didn’t work out, Jacquelyn was going to always be a stand-up person in my book, and Eva was going to have to fight me to stay away from her mother because just that quickly she had earned a special place in my heart.
Walking out of the waiting room hand in hand, we ran into a woman who looked like a dark-skinned version of Eva and her mama. Before I could ask her about the strong resemblance, the two of them embraced.
“Hey, sis,” the woman who I knew had to be Eva’s older sister, Janet, greeted as her and the man she was with stopped in the middle of the double sliding exit doors.
“Hey,” Eva greeted, savoring the hug. “Y’all must of all but flew here.” Ending the hug with her sister, she hugged the man.
The hug held a brotherly and sisterly vibe, so there was nothing for me to say about the interaction.
“We did. I may have broken a few speed limits here and there, and it was only off the strength of Alexa,” she acknowledged, rolling her eyes and then quickly turning her attention to me. “Is thishim?” she inquired, giving Eva a look I was all too familiar with when it came to females. It was a look which let me know Eva had been talking about me, and from the way her sister was looking at me up and down, I knew the conversations were good.
“Yes. Zeke, this is my big sister, Janet, and my brother-in-law, Malcom. Y’all, this is Zeke.”
“Her man,” I affirmed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you two. I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances,” I offered, extending my hand in her direction and then his since he was further away from me in the square-like formation we were standing in.
“Oh, no. No need to apologize,” Janet responded, taking me slightly by surprise. “I’m only here because Alexa and my mama called me crying in the middle of the night. If it weren’t for them, we would still be in the bed,” she stated, briefly looking over at her husband.
The disdain both she and Eva held for their dad was surprising because it was something Alexa obviously couldn’t relate to. I was a firm believer in there being three sides to every story; there was the side of party A, party B, and then there was the truth. However, seeing how Janet and Eva mutually felt, let me know Eva wasn’t far off from her recollection of her dad and his ways.
“We were on our way out, but if y’all need somewhere to stay, you know my guest room is always open for my sister and favorite brother-in-law.”
“You mean your only brother-in-law,” Malcom teased, slightly nudging Eva.
“We appreciate it. I’m sure we’ll be seeing you later,” Janet assured. “It’s nice to finally put a face to the man I’ve been hearing so much about. Hopefully, all of us can sit down for dinner before we leave.”
“Yes, we can do that,” I agreed, looking to Eva for confirmation.
“It was a pleasure meeting you, man. We’ll see y’all,” Malcom added, preparing to walk in the opposite direction.
Walking to the car, Eva looked like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.
“What do you need from me?”
“Nothing. Thank you for being here for me. I’m just in my head about everything happening. Between what you said and what is going on with my dad, my mind is on overload.”
“You want to be in there for them, but you don’t feel like he deserves your presence?”
“Yes,” she confirmed. “That’s exactly how I feel right now.”
“Never feel bad for choosing to go to a space where your mental and emotional health is priority. If you want to face the situation at a later time, I can respect and support you and your stance.”
“Thank you,” she stated, invading my space as we stood in front of the hospital.
