I turned and walked slowly up the porch steps. “Yeah, Mama. Just tired.”
She nodded, her eyes still tracking the empty street where Amai’s car had been. “Mm-hmm.”
We went inside.
And stopped.
Because all three of my sisters were there.
Saroya was in the kitchen pulling something out of the oven. Honor was on the couch folding a blanket. And Raven—mean-ass Raven—was setting up pillows on the armchair like she was preparing a throne.
They all turned when I walked in.
“There she is,” Saroya said, smiling. “Come sit down, Truth. We got you.”
“Y’all didn’t have to?—”
“Sit,” Honor said, pointing to the armchair. “Don’t argue.”
I sat.
Raven immediately shoved a pillow behind my back and another under my feet. Saroya brought me a glass of water and a plate of food I didn’t ask for but suddenly wanted desperately. Honor draped a blanket over my legs even though it wasn’t cold.
“How you feeling?” Saroya asked, sitting on the arm of the chair.
“Tired. Sore. But okay.”
“They get the eggs?” Honor asked.
“Fourteen.”
“Damn,” Raven said, sitting on the couch. “That’s a lot.”
“That’s good,” Saroya corrected. “That’s real good, Truth.”
I nodded, my throat suddenly tight.
Because they were here.
All of them.
Waiting for me. Taking care of me. Loving me in the loud, chaotic, overbearing way only sisters could.
And I hadn’t realized how much I needed it until right now.
The tears came before I could stop them—quiet at first, then harder, my shoulders shaking as everything I’d been holding in all day finally broke loose.
“Oh, baby,” Saroya said softly, rubbing my back.
“I’m fine,” I managed. “I’m just?—”
“You don’t gotta explain,” Honor said. “Just let it out.”
So, I did.
I cried in that armchair surrounded by my sisters while Mama watched from the kitchen doorway with her drink in her hand and something soft in her eyes.
And then Raven, because she couldn’t help herself, said, “That man fine as fuck, though, for real for real. You did good picking him.”
