Looking at the photo again, I noted the similarities in our faces, the roundness of our jaws, the freckles lining the bridge of our noses, and our hazel, almond-shaped eyes. Most people mistook Celeste and me for twins, but we had only shared a father.
He had been seeing our mothers at the same time, courting them on one of his “business trips.” Our mothers discovered one another shortly after giving birth to us. They were unlikely friends, and if I’m being honest, maybe a bit of an enemy too. Neither of them could completely let go of the scornful feelings of being betrayed by a man they loved.
My father and mother grew up together, they were from the same parish, Portland. She trusted him completely, that’s what hurt her the most. He had a steady-paying job, one that allowed him to travel. While my mother thought he was earning money for their future, he was seeing Iris, selling her the same dream.
Our mothers immigrated to America for our father, or better yet, for the promises he had made to them—my mother coming from Jamaica, and Celeste’s mother, Iris, from the Dominican Republic. He broke those promises, leaving our mothers to fend for themselves in a strange place. My mother was alone here until she discovered Iris and baby Celeste. Iris, however, had family in The Bronx and Brooklyn waiting for her when she arrived. Despite being an unconventional family, Iris’ family welcomed us and invited us to every family event.
Celeste’s family was my family. Charles’s mother, Helen, was Iris’s best friend, so, by extension, Charles was our family, too. Iris had adopted the Irish-American woman into her family. If you grew up in a Caribbean home, you probably had many aunts, uncles, and cousins that you didn’t share blood with. That didn’t make them any less your family. We were inseparable as kids. From summer camp to school dances and teen nights,then moving into our first apartments. I don’t remember a time without Charles in our lives.
Everyone knew Charles was sweet on Cellie. Despite Cellie dating other people, falling in love not once, but twice. Charles’ feelings never changed. Instead, he graduated to obsession and delusions of grandeur about the life we would all have together.
“Grief can make you do silly things.”Was what I said to Celeste to ease her mind. I never imagined the violence that he would unleash on our family.
Parker sighed when he realized he wasn’t going to get any more information out of me than what I had provided. I wasn’t ready to bare my soul, we were strangers.
“Let's not keep Danny waiting, I guess,” he mumbled as he reached for the door handle to follow me out of the car and into the building.
Chapter 6
Parker
My father accused me once of having a hero complex and warned that it would get me into trouble one day. I doubt he thought that trouble would involve an attractive woman. My decision to become a firefighter and forgo college threw my parents for a loop. I’m sure my father wishes that I had fulfilled his dreams of joining the family business back in our hometown of Oakland Ridge, Georgia. But I needed time and space to figure out who I wanted to be—away from their influence, and the strings that came with it.
The Woods family was one of the most prominent families in Oakland Ridge. There were buildings with our family name on them, scholarships, hospital wings, libraries—you name it. My father, his father, and their forefathers built our community into what it is today. I was extremely proud to be a Woods, but the pressure was too much to bear, and I almost crumbled beneath it my senior year of high school. My mother and father expected me to attend a prestigious HBCU, just like them. I had the best education, and didn’t mind school for the most part. But I didn’t want to waste 4 years of my life earning a degree for a position I didn’t want; I wanted to save lives. What my family has done for the community is admirable, but I wanted to do somethingmore. Be active, get to know my neighbors and the people that they were so eager to throw money at to help.
I never once felt like my parents didn’t love me, but my father didn’t support my choices. In fact, every time we spoke, he found a way to vehemently express how much he disagreed with my career choice. It had created a wedge between us, and that wedge took me to New York. He couldn’t get in my head if we barely spoke. I had hoped the distance between us would make my father see reason, or at least tolerate my lifestyle. But it only made things worse. I spoke to my mother at least once a week, and my twin sisters, Aja and Janae, had our own group chat where we caught up with each other throughout the week. I was thankful to still have them in my corner.
I could hear the scolding now that the two of them would give me, as I followed Evelyn into the elevator with Danny. I was probably in over my head. I didn’t know Evelyn from Adam, and I was already making promises to her. I was definitely crossing a professional boundary, but whenever I looked over at Evelyn and saw the pain reflected in her eyes, I felt like I had to help her.
I could only hope that this trip to see Eric would be beneficial to her.
The apartment complex was old but well-kept. The elevator was tighter than a matchbox, but the three of us managed to pile in, leaving little space between our shoulders and the next person. We rode to the seventh floor, then Danny led the way to an apartment at the end of the hall. No sooner than we darkened the doorway, the door swung open to reveal Eric Morales.
Eric had on a flannel shirt, black slacks, and Crocs. I heard the sound of last night’s Yankees game replaying somewhere in the house. The smell of food wafted out of the door as Eric stood in the doorway. Danny greeted his uncle with a hello, but Eric was frozen in place, staring at Evelyn. Evelyn peered at him right back with a slight shade of crimson on her cheeks.
“You know, I’ve been trying to get in contact with you, Evelyn. If you’re here at this hour, then something must be wrong.”
Something wasverywrong.
“Yeah, Tio, about that. Do you think you can let us in? I don’t think this conversation is suited for the hallway.” Danny said, looking around, nodding at the young woman who was leaving her apartment with a trash bag.
Eric muttered a curse and made room for us to enter his apartment. He led us into the living room, muting the baseball game as he padded towards the recliner in the corner, where he took a seat. Eric indicated that we should do the same on the sofa opposite him.
We each took a seat and sat in silence. Danny and I looked at each other, not really knowing where to start. After all, Danny was more confused than I was. He knew very little information. There was a fire, and Evelyn's house had burned down. Tonight’s plan had been to take her to a shelter, but now we were sitting in Eric’s living room waiting for Evelyn to explain why we were here.
After another beat of silence, Evelyn cleared her throat and spoke.
“He’s back, Eric, and he burned down our house.”
“Mija, I thought I told you to leave this place. I was so sure that you had when I couldn’t reach you. I just thought you decided to cut all ties to this life.”
She looked away, choosing to look at the wall instead of meeting Eric’s eyes. Evelyn’s voice shook as she held back tears.
“He took her. What more could he possibly want with me?”
Eric got up from the recliner and kneeled before her on the sofa.
“I’ve been calling you because an old friend of mine said he saw Charles in your old neighborhood a little over two weeksago. They said he was asking a lot of questions about the Howard girls, walking around as if he was innocent as a newborn baby.”
