Chapter Nineteen
The woman Sadie assumed was Joyce Brown, burst into tears at Sadie’s question. “Oh, you poor sweet baby girl.”
Sadie shot her sister a questioning glance.
Lily shrugged.
The woman came forward and enveloped Sadie in her arms and held her close giving Sadie no choice but to hug her back. The older woman stroked Sadie’s hair and rocked her making the moment extremely awkward.
“Joyce, let the poor girl go. You’re crushing her,” The man who’d identified himself as Uncle Clinton chided.
Joyce pulled back with a sheepish grin. She brushed away the stray tears that ran down her face. “I’m so sorry. But you just…she looks like…”
Clinton nodded. “I know. I thought so too when I saw her.”
Sadie had no idea what or who they were talking about so she continued to smile politely.
Joyce turned her attention to Lily. “Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes. You’re just as pretty as you want to be. Come give your auntie a hug.” Without waiting for Lily to respond, Lily was pulled into Joyce’s embrace although the other woman didn’t hold her for as long as she had Sadie.
“Let me take your coats, ladies and get you something to drink. We got some sweet tea, soda, coffee, and water.” Uncle Clinton helped Sadie out of her coat first and then Lily.
Sadie nodded. “Water would be great, thank you.”
“Nothing for me, thank you.” Lily smiled graciously.
They were ushered into a large yet comfy looking living room decorated by various pictures that Sadie assumed were various family members. As she took a seat on a suede sectional couch, her gaze landed on a picture of her. Or at least she thought it was her at first, but there were subtle differences. When Sadie first saw Joyce, she thought the two of them looked a lot alike, but not as much as her and the woman in the photograph. Was that Mama Brown, who Uncle Clinton had mentioned when he’d greeted them at the door? She made a note to mention it as soon as everyone was seated.
Uncle Clinton returned with a glass of water for Sadie and took a seat in the recliner across from Sadie and Lily, while Joyce sat next to Sadie, staring at her almost as if she’d seen a ghost. “I’m sorry, baby, it’s just....it’s like she’s been brought back to life. I feel so guilty for staying away. I wish I had been a part of your life…of all your lives, but we didn’t want to cause any disruptions.”
“I’m confused here,” Lily spoke before Sadie could. “I’m not exactly sure how we’re related exactly. Our father only had one brother who passed a few years ago. Jackie as far as we know didn’t have any other family.”
Joyce raised a brow. “Jackie? Don't you call her mother? Figures,” she ended on a snort.
“She never liked us to call her that but it doesn’t matter because we barely acknowledge her as our mother. But that’s a whole other story. Could you please tell us how we’re related and why I was left a sum of money and not my sisters?” Sadie asked finally finding her voice.
“I’m sorry. I guess we should have made better introductions when you first came inside. I just didn’t expect you to look so much like her.” Joyce wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye.
“Who?” Sadie wanted to know.
“How about we start from the beginning, Joyce is getting a bit choked up here and understandably so. We’re Jackie’s brother and sister.”
Sadie frowned. “Jackie said she didn’t have any other family.”
Joyce pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest. “Is that so? Figures. She always thought she was better than everyone else. I swear if she didn’t look so much like Daddy and Grandma Flora, I’d swear she wasn’t one of us. Jackie has always been a bit…special.”
Sadie placed her glass on the coffee table and grasped Joyce’s hand. “I don’t want to be rude, but I need answers. Jackie just told me that she wasn’t my mother. And then I see you and we look so much alike I could be your daughter, but then I see that picture over there of a woman who could be me. The resemblance is eerie. Who is she?”
Clinton and Joyce exchanged a look before Joyce turned her attention back to Sadie. “That was our sister, Sadie. She was your mother. Trust me, baby, if she were alive, there’s no way she would have let you go, but she never made it out of the hospital when she had you.”
“I don’t understand any of this. I’m the youngest of my siblings, and all this time I thought Jackie was my mother. I don’t think I would have found out otherwise had it not been for the lawyer's letters. I think you guys need to start from the beginning.”
Again another look was exchanged between Clinton and Joyce before Joyce spoke. “It’s a long story.”
Sadie chuckled, “We’re in no rush to leave.”
“Well, I guess you can say it started from the time we were kids. It was me, I’m the oldest, then Clinton and Bobby who passed when he was a baby and then there was Jackie followed by Sadie. Jackie came out of the womb a diva. She always had to be the center of attention. It didn’t help matters that she was this little skinny thing in a house full of big-boned women. The boys took notice of her early on and it went to her head. Sadie was the exact opposite. She was sweetness and light. She always had a smile on her face and just loved people and loved life. People liked her because she was just one of those people that couldn’t do enough for you, even as a little girl. And Jackie….” Joyce shook her head, “Jackie couldn’t stand her. Jackie would break Sadie’s toys and lie on her and get her in trouble. I don’t know what she was trying to accomplish, but Sadie always forgave her and I think that bothered Jackie. I knew what was going on and tried my best to protect Sadie as best as I could because she didn’t have it in her to fight back.”
“I always figured that Jackie was jealous of Sadie because everyone liked her so much better,” Clinton added. “Yeah, Jackie was a good looking young woman, but she was mean-spirited and nasty. Couldn’t keep a friend to save her life. She was loose with the boys and eventually, even they got tired of her petty ways. Mama and Daddy couldn't do anything with her. She eventually left the house with some boy she met when she was seventeen. We didn’t hear from her for years.”
“And those were peaceful years. I know she’s my sister, but I couldn’t stand that heffa.”
“Joyce,” Clinton scolded.
“Well, you couldn’t either. You always called her—”
“That’s not important now. Anyway, why don’t you get back to the story?”
Joyce shot her brother a glare before continuing. “Our Daddy got sick just around the time Jackie left and Sadie helped Mama take care of him. He had lung cancer. Smoked four packs a day God rest his soul. When Daddy was getting treatments, Sadie met this fine young intern at the hospital. Those two fell in love right away. He was intelligent, Morehouse and Princeton educated, polite. Mama approved. He and Sadie were going to be married. Then Jackie came home with her tail between her legs. Said that trifling no good for nothing boy she’d run off with broke things off with her. Mama forgave her and took her back in. But it wasn’t long before Jackie reverted to her old ways. But this time she set her sights on Gregory, Sadie’s fiancé.”
“Gregory?” Lily spoke up. “Our father, Gregory?”
Joyce nodded. “Yes. The same one. I don’t know whether she went after him because she was really into him or just because he belonged to Sadie but she pursued him relentlessly. To Gregory’s credit, he didn’t seem to reciprocate or so we thought. Jackie somehow ended up pregnant. We thought it was that boy’s she’d run off with, but after doing the math we realized it had to be someone she’d met when she returned although she refused to say who. Mama would have kicked her out, but Lord forgive me, I convinced her to let Jackie stay for the baby’s sake. Mama never said a word to Jackie after that. Mama threw all her energy into planning Sadie’s wedding. It was going to be a grand event. The night before Sadie and Gregory’s wedding, with all our families there, Jackie stood up in front of everyone just as smug as she pleased and announced she was carrying Gregory’s baby. The look on his face….I knew something must have happened between them, but he didn’t deny it. He claimed it was one drunken indiscretion. I don’t know about all that but the light died from Sadie’s eyes that day. She was always one to forgive, but that destroyed her. She was never the same after that.”
Tears ran down Sadie’s face at the parallels of her mother’s life and her own. She knew what it was like to be let down in such a devastating way. “Oh, no. How could he do that to her?”
“I know you probably won’t believe it, but I really do believe Gregory loved Sadie. I know he did. I was there that night,” Clinton sighed. “I blame myself for what happened.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Clint. We’ve been over this already.”
Clinton shook his head. “If I’d just driven those ten extra miles to his apartment, none of this would have happened. He invited me to hang out with him and his friends. Most of us were pretty drunk and I was the only one in any shape to drive home that night. But I was tired, so I convinced him to stay at the house. When we came stumbling in the house, Jackie was up. She saw that I’d sent him to the guestroom. When I went to check on him the next morning, she was in his bed buck naked and he was passed out. I could smell the sex in the room. I kept that secret because I didn’t want to hurt Sadie. And she ended up getting hurt anyway.”
“So Jackie basically took advantage of a drunken man? I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought it was Sadie.” Lily shook her head in apparent disgust.
Joyce nodded. “That’s what we think too. But Gregory, well he was a gentleman. He and Jackie were married at the Justice of the peace a few weeks later. It was the last we saw of Jackie, other than birth announcements, which I think she only did for Sadie’s benefit. Mama passed not too long afterward. It broke her heart, it did.”
“So how do I fit into the picture?”
Joyce scrunched up her face in deep concentration. “I’m a little cloudy on this part, but I believe your mother and Gregory were having problems from the beginning, but every time he tried to leave she’d get pregnant, that’s according to what Sadie told me. I think a year or so after the twins were born, he left her again. He met up with Sadie. Gregory was going to divorce your mother and go to Sadie. He never stopped loving her. And she never stopped loving him.”
“I remember,” Lily whispered. “Daddy was gone for a long time and Jackie was even more unbearable to be around. It was pretty bad. He’d come home to visit us, but then he’d leave again. So what happened next? Because Daddy came back and then there was a baby.”
“Sadie got pregnant. Jackie wouldn’t give him a divorce and then Sadie got sick. She had a very aggressive form of breast cancer, but in order to treat it, she would have needed to go through extensive chemotherapy and radiation. She refused. She wanted the baby. She knew carrying the child would be a death sentence, but she didn’t care. Gregory was beside himself. He tried to convince her to abort the baby, but she wouldn’t hear of it. When you were born, she was so sick, she couldn’t even push you out, Chrysanthemum. But the second she heard you cry and knew that you were healthy, she was so happy. She held you in her arms and kissed you on your little forehead. And then she closed her eyes and never opened them again.”
“Gregory was pretty torn up, but he was adamant that he’d raise his daughter. He took you with him and that was the last time we saw him. He did write us to say that he went back to Jackie and she’d raise you as her own and he didn’t want to be away from his other children. You two know the rest, he died in that car accident a few years later. Please tell me that Jackie was at least a good mother. Did we do the right thing by staying away as Jackie requested? No. Don’t answer that. The mere fact that you call her Jackie now, says it all. I’m so sorry.” Joyce broke down again.
Sadie’s heart broke for the mother she never knew. “Don’t blame yourself. Jackie probably would have found a way to keep you from us anyway. But our childhood wasn’t all bad. We had each other. We’re all still really close. Me, Lily, Daisy and Rose. We loved Thorn while he was with us.”
“I was sorry to hear about his passing.”
Sadie gave her aunt a tight-lipped smile. “He had a lot of health problems. He’s in a place where there’s no more pain.”
“I’m glad.” Joyce sniffed.
“I’m pretty sure you’re wondering about the money,” Clinton interjected.
Sadie nodded. “It did cross my mind.”
“The money was the settlement from the hospital. It turns out Sadie’s cancer could have been treated before you were born, but the doctor she visited didn’t do the proper tests. They settled the money on us before we sued. We thought the money should go to Sadie’s daughter. We’d set up a little fund for Thorn as well in case he wanted to be independent of Jackie eventually, but once he died, we put it towards your annuity.”
“Thank you, Uncle Clinton.”
“Don’t thank us. Your mother would have wanted this for you.”
“It will certainly be a big help for my baby.” Sadie touched her stomach.
“Oh, you’re having a baby! That’s wonderful news. So are you married? Dating someone?”
Sadie bit her bottom lip. “Unfortunately, I’m not with my child’s father anymore, but I have an awesome support group in my sisters. I already have the baby stuff thanks to them, except the crib.”
Lily patted her hand, “Which we’re going to go shopping for soon.”
Joyce smiled. “I’m so glad that you are close with your sisters. Family is important and more than anything we’d like to get to know our nieces. Please say you’ll come visit us so we can be the family.”
Sadie smiled. “I would really like that, but I go by my middle name, Sadie.”
Joyce wiped a tear from her the corner of her eye. “I think the original Sadie would have been very proud of the fine young lady you turned out to be.”
* * *
“Sadie, sweetie. Are you up?” Lily poked her head in the guest bedroom Sadie was given for the night.”
“Yes. Come in. Couldn’t sleep either?”
“No.” Lily slipped into the room, closed the door behind her and eased herself beneath the covers with Sadie. “This was a lot to take in tonight wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. I just wonder what it would have been like to be raised by my real mother instead of Jackie. Daddy covered everything up so well, he even had Jackie’s name put on my birth certificate. Why do you think he never told me about her?”
“Maybe because talking about her hurt too much. Who knows, but I believe he thought he was doing the right thing. But you know what? You’re lucky.”
“How so?”
“You didn’t have to travel through Jackie’s rotten birth canal.”
“Stop it, girl,” Sadie giggled. “I’m kind of relieved that she’s not my mother, but sad I never knew the woman who gave me life at the expense of her own. She sounds like a loving woman.”
“That’s where you got your capacity to love from. It’s what made you so special. She passed her light to you when she died.”
“Maybe. It also explains why Jackie hated me so much. Hated us all. Daddy never loved her. I almost feel sorry for her.”
Lily snorted. “She can go to hell for all I care.”
“Be nice, she has cancer.”
“That woman is the cancer.”
Sadie was quiet for a moment before asking, “Now that you know we’re only half-sisters does it change how you see me?”
“There is no half in this equation. You’re as much my sister as Rose and Daisy are and nothing will change that. Got it?”
Sadie nodded feeling better. Her sisters meant the world to her.
“Now stop worrying. Get some sleep. You have your baby to think about.”
“Yeah. The baby.”
With everything that was going on with her mother, it was easy to let Rhys slip from her thoughts, but when she returned home, she’d have to deal with him again. And his daughter.