After I left the restaurant,I went straight home. Standing at the foyer, I took my shoes off and yelled, “I’m home!”
A second later, I heard footsteps pitter pattering above me. A smile slid across my face as I waited for my babies to greet me.
The climate of the house was finally starting to feel a little normal. Duke moved out about two weeks ago. The kids were still transitioning, but it wasn’t as quiet in the house as it was when we first told them about the divorce. I felt like they were starting to reach a point of acceptance. Of everything.
Finding out about Diary was rough on all four of them. Well... three of them. Sparkle just went with the flow. She asked a couple of questions about Diary, wondering why she wasn’t here, and things of that nature since she thought the little girl was mine. I was gentle with her and told her I wasn’t Diary’smommy and that she stayed with daddy. I could tell she was a little confused, but she said okay and ran off to play anyway.
It was the roughest on Aubry. She beat herself up daily for being upset with me about the divorce. She was pissed at Duke and hadn’t been to his place since. Throughout the week, he stopped by to see them, and she stayed in her room. Because I knew how special she was to him, I knew it was eating him up. Same way how mad she was with me, ate me up. I wasn’t ashamed to say I was happy that the tables had turned though. And I didn’t have to bash him, or expose his secret to get them to, either. That felt good. Her being able to see things for what they were, on her own, with his help of course. Regardless of what Duke put me through, I’d never sit up and bash him to the kids. Maybe I could’ve defended myself a little more back when she was mad, but something told me not to. And apparently it was for good reason.
Gabe had been Gabe throughout the entire situation. He was angry but my sweet boy when it came to me. He gave his father the cold shoulder, but he hadn’t shut him out completely the way Aubry had. Seemed like his whole focus was making sure I was alright. And because I seemed happier, he was good.
Honesty took it really hard. Not from a place of anger like Aubry, but sadness and disbelief. She couldn’t believe her dad had cheated on me. I knew because she made it her business to tell me every time I caught her sad and asked what was wrong. She felt like her life had been a lie and that everything was falling apart. The other day, I kissed her on the cheek and told her it might’ve seemed that way, but God told me things were finally falling into place. It would just take her a minute to see it that way.
I didn’t lie.
God did tell me that. One day I felt the same way. Like life was falling apart and like nothing made sense. And in my mind,I heard ‘things are falling into place’. Like I always said, I didn’t think God would have led me down this path if it wasn’t for the best. If things were only going to get worse, he wouldn’t have led me here.
“You brought food back? Bet,” said Gabe, jogging down the stairs.
I handed him my leftovers and told him it was a small piece of steak and a little bit of asparagus. Not much left. He didn’t care. He wanted it anyway.
“You didn’t bring me anything?” Honesty pouted, wrapping her arm around my waist.
“I didn’t bring him that. It was just what I had left. I know y’all sister Door Dashed earlier, right?”
“Yes,” she giggled. “I still want whatever you had. Gabe! Give me some! That’s not even yours for real!” She ran off and I picked Sparkle up, kissing her on the cheek.
“Hey boo,” I spoke. “Where is your big sister?”
“In her room,” she said, laying her head on my shoulder. “I'm sleepy."
It was close to midnight on a Friday night. I was surprised she was still up. Usually, my baby would have been down around ten. She probably stayed up for me.
“Okay well, you want to take a bath, get in your pajamas, and go to bed?”
She nodded, her beads clinking together, before laying her head back on my shoulder.
With a grunt, I climbed the stairs, heading for the bathroom. Every time I came home, I was reminded of what I had to look forward to now. Life as a single mother. So far, it hadn’t been bad. The only thing I had to get used to was not seeing or hearing him. Which should have been pretty easy considering he annoyed me most of the time. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t easy at all. There was something missing in my daily schedule. Thatannoyance. That ‘hey babe, how was work’. Those pointless conversations about coworkers and juicy work drama. Not having that anymore would take some getting used to.
After running Sparkle’s bath water, I helped her undress and she got right in. I left the bathroom, leaving the door open, as I headed down the hallway to check in on Bry.
“Hey boo,” I said, sticking my head into her room.
She looked up from her phone, quickly wiped her face, and gave me a soft smile. “Hey ma.”
With pinched brows, I stepped into the bedroom. “You okay?”
She sat up and tossed her phone aside. “Yeah... I’m alright.”
I squinted and twisted my lips up at her. “You don’t look okay. Something happened?”
She took a deep breath and shrugged. “Arguing with Marcell.”
Marcell was her ‘little friend’. Her boyfriend but... her little friend to me.
I sat at the foot of her bed. “Arguing about what?”
“Nothing," she lied. “It’s nothing.”
