"These are my parents on their wedding day," he whispered.His thumb brushed the edge of the photo like he was afraid it might crumble."My mom and dad."
He turned the page to a photo of a little boy and a girl sitting on a porch.The same picture Lydia had stared at her whole life and had only seen the sign on the house last night.
"That's me," Baker said, voice cracking."And my sister.Her name was Elizabeth.She died when she was thirty-two.A semi crossed the road and hit her car as she was coming home from school.She was a teacher.My parents...they're all gone now."
Lydia's chest tightened.Not only had the album brought her comfort through the years, but the pictures were also the only memories Baker had of his family.His loving family.
He was alone.He'd been alone for the last twenty years when he sent the woman he loved away while she was pregnant with Lydia.
It was all making sense to her.Lydia blinked hard, clearing her vision.They'd all suffered.
He kept flipping, slower now, reverent.
"I forgot..."Baker swallowed hard."I forgot I gave this to Maureen."
Lydia blinked, stunned."You gave it to her?"
He raised his glassy gaze to her."I wanted you to have a piece of us.A piece of me.I wanted you to know where you came from.Even if I couldn't be there with you."
Her breath hitched.All those nights she'd clung to the album, thinking she was borrowing someone else's happiness, and she'd been holding her own history.
Her own blood.
Her own family.
Epilogue
Parties at the compoundwere always loud.Kids ran around outside while teenagers hung around the picnic tables.Brothers went straight to the drinks and hung around inside, waiting for the food.
Music thumped low from the speakers.Everyone was in a good mood.There were no outsiders allowed today.It was a celebration.
The shipment went out last night.Royalla was prospering.They'd gone a month without any trouble landing at the gate.But there was another reason to party today.
Baddy leaned against the doorway of the clubhouse, arms crossed, watching his old lady help Roma and Annie set up trays of food on the long line of tables that were shoved together for the occasion.She moved with this quiet confidence now, smiling when Roma teased her, bumping shoulders with Annie as they arranged the desserts.She belonged here.
And damn if that didn't hit him right in the chest.
