Chapter Eleven

She was nervous when he pulled up in front of the house. His brothers would come out. Would they look at her and know what she had done? What was worse than that? The fact that she really wanted to lie down for a while.

He turned off the car. A heartbeat later he was opening the door stretching out his hand as if they did this every day.

“I want to take you upstairs and show you around. I’ll come back for your suitcases after that.”

She nodded it sounded like a good plan to her. Fie was in a carrier in the back seat. Jabari didn’t think he needed one, but she wanted him to be safe, so they loaded him up.

“This is going to be your new home. You’ll love it here. They are tall but sweet.”

For the first time, he looked at her like she might be sick. She bit the laugh back and picked up Fie and followed him into the house.

They walked in through a side door. He led her to the kitchen and up the stairs.

“Why don’t you use the front stairs?” She had been here several times and noticed that Quinn always used the stairs in the kitchen.

“These lead directly to the food.”

Her stomach cramped as she thought about what he told Lisa. She hadn’t known if she should believe him or not, but he had never lied to her, so she had no reason not to. Now she knew every word he said was true, but it had been so much worse for him.

“I’m an orphan. One of the things we always lacked was food. I remember times we were almost fighting over who got what.”

“Is that why you donate money to the orphanage?”

“Who told you?”

“The more time I spend with you, the better I know you.”

“There’s only one door up here.”

“The house has two wings. Each wing has three floors. We all have a floor.”

“That’s nice.”

He opened the door to his floor and stopped to sniff the air. A growl came out that he cut off abruptly.

“What’s wrong?”

“Slade’s been in here.” He walked in with Brandi following. On the hall table, there was a vase of pink and yellow roses. He walked over and picked up the card.

“It’s for you.”

She frowned before taking it out of his hand and opening it up. It read, Hello sister, we wanted to welcome you home. All his brothers signed it.

She burst into tears.

“What’s wrong?” She showed him the card.

“Do you think they meant it?”

“Yes, you’re family now.”

Was it selfish or wrong? This thought that she wasn’t going to die alone.

“Where are they?”

“They went to raid the Aba, they’ll be back later.”

She walked over and hugged him. “Show me around.”

“I use this area as the living room. We can change anything you want. My walls feel stark after being in your condo.” He took her over to an opening on the far side of the living room. “This is the den, or it could be used for an office.”

They walked through the living room to a door on the other side. It opened into an empty room.

“I thought you could use this room as your workshop.”

“It’s perfect thank you.”

“What’s in the room next to it?”

He opened the door and let her walk in.

“A weight room?” She didn’t recognize half of what was in there.

“I’ll never put someone’s life in danger because I am weak.”

The pain he carried touched her deeply. If only she could be here to help him work through it. The loud meow from the other room had them turning toward the door.

“I don’t think Fie appreciates his carrier.” She went and let him out. “I told you it would be nice here, and it is.”

“I’d love to take a shower, change my clothes and relax.”

He showed her where the bedroom was and then the bathroom.

“Get in the shower, I’ll bring everything up.” He turned to walk away then turned back and gave her a soft kiss before leaving her alone.

“Thank you, whoever controls the universe for allowing me to meet him,” she whispered.

She went in and started the shower. Her mind was too busy comprehending where life was taking her to spend time on the lagoon he had in his bathroom. She needed sleep after that she would see if it was a hallucination or not.

It took a while for her to pick up the shower gel. It was a brand-new bottle of grapefruit scented body gel. It was the scent that was her new favorite. When had he bought it? For a moment she allowed her mind to think of every possible creepy possibility there was.

“Brandi?” He was standing in the door. “Is there a problem?”

“You have grapefruit scented shower gel. Somehow I can’t see you using that.”

“I asked Quinn to pick up something you might like. I was hoping you would agree to come live with me.”

“You did?”

“Yes. She said you liked grapefruit, and I agreed. You had that scent on the last time I met you.”

“That’s so sweet.”

“There you go again. Do you want me to bring you anything from your suitcase?”

She told him where to find an outfit she could lounge around in before she reached for the shower gel. After washing, drying and putting on clothes, she found him in the living room.

“Hot chocolate?”

“It’s not winter time yet.” She sat on the couch and reached for the mug. “Oh, this is good. Don’t tell me how you made it, I don’t want to think about calories.” She took another sip getting whipped cream on her upper lip.

She leaned against the arm of the couch, and he placed her feet on his lap.

“Tell me about your childhood.”

For a moment she felt the same nervous tension that happened when anyone asked about her past. Then she relaxed he had shared a lot.

“When I was one-year-old, on my birthday my mom dropped me off at the orphanage. She told everyone that she was coming back for me. I always thought that was why I never got adopted. They knew my mom was coming back.”

She took another sip and held the mug hoping the heat would give her courage.

“The people who ran the orphanage did four birthday parties a year. This year one of the parties was going to be on my birthday. I was turning thirteen. I was a quiet kid, I stayed to myself, read and dreamed of when my mom would be back to get me. This party made me think that my life was going to get better. I was happy.

“There was a worker who hated me. I don’t know why, to this day I don’t understand why she didn’t like me. I guess I was having too much fun, laughing too loud. We didn’t get presents, but we did get cake and ice cream, and I was determined to enjoy my birthday.”

She could still see the dress the woman was wearing. It was ugly, but she never told her that she needed a style change.

“The woman started to laugh and then ask me what was so funny. Her voice was so loud that everyone turned to look at her. I mean, she said, I wouldn’t laugh if my mom was a whore who died at the hands of one of her johns.”

She stopped, the breath catching in her throat even as her heart was telling her to run with its frantic beat. She waited for the look of disgust on his face. When he sat still and waited, she finally continued.

“All the kids were staring at me now. The older ones started laughing and pointing. They called me names and the younger ones followed suit. When I got older, the boys would say ‘look, the daughter of the whore is too proud to do what her mama did.’ I even got physically abused because I wouldn’t do what they wanted. It wasn’t until I went to college that my life began to change.”

“Did you mourn your mom?”

She shook her head. “Not at first. I was so angry at her. How could walking the streets be more important than me? When I was in my second year of college, a woman saw me and called me Julie. She followed me when I tried to leave.” She caught her by the shoulder and stared at her.

“She stared at me so long that I thought the name calling was about to start again. Finally, she said you can’t be Julie, but you look just like her. I told her who I was, she hugged me and cried. We went to a small cafe, and she told me about my mom.

“My mom was eighteen when she got pregnant with me. Her parents threw her out of the house because they felt she was disgracing them. Then her love a.k.a. my asshole of a father left her. He didn’t want anything to do with her or me. My mom was on the streets pregnant. After she had me she tried to raise me, but we slept outside, and most days she couldn’t feed me anything except breast milk. So, as I kept getting older she finally took me to the orphanage. She did the only thing she could to make money. No one knows what happened. They say she was about to quit to come get me. All we know is that someone killed her.”

She drank the rest of her hot chocolate before putting the mug down.

“I wasn’t sure how to feel. In the end, I decided to be happy that my mom loved me enough to try.” She shrugged. No amount of angst or grief was going to change the past.

She tried to hide her yawn.

“Why don’t we lie down for a while.” He took her hand and helped her stand.

“Not many people know the story of my mom.”

“Thanks for sharing it with me.” They went into his bedroom.

“I swear I’ve never seen a bed as big as this.” She got on it and waited for him to join her. He pulled her close and her eyes closed. This was what it meant to feel safe.