A Necessary Struggle: Fall Semester

Part 44

Trevor's house has many rooms. Harmony's second favorite was the one on the first floor at the end of the second hall. Dubbed the Man Cave, which was a moniker that could be donned by the whole house. Nonetheless, it was still one of Harmony's favorite rooms. The pool table, the dart board, foosball, poker table, smart TV, and a fully stocked bar, the so-called man cave was her place of refuge. On the other hand, her favorite room in the house was Cairo's.

 It wasn't because of the California king bed that was way bigger than the full she fit in her room or the raw pine floors that creaked under her feet, or the hilly forest landscape out his bedroom window. The thing that made her fall in love with Cairo's room was the old turntable, surround sound speakers, and crates filled with albums; one of which was spinning right now.

"Do I really have to wear this?" Cairo asked standing in the doorway of his closet. He held the pink polo shirt like it was a dirty rag with utter disgust on his face.

Harmony stopped pouring pink M&M's in the little glass bottle, "Well you can't go like that." Her eyes glanced at his mocha chiseled torso. She shouldn't have been staring at him like the last glass of water on a hot day but she was. "Just put the shirt on." She ordered not wanting to be tempted with non-platonic thoughts for her very platonic friend.

Cairo groaned but pulled the shirt over his head, "Who has a color scheme for a baby shower, anyways."

"Everyone." Harmony stuffed the cork in the glass jar and set it on the tray next to the other dozen. "You have no expertise in this area, do you?"

"Am I supposed to?" Cairo asked with his back toward her digging in his dresser drawer. "I'm the youngest and this is the first baby shower I've ever been too."

Harmony placed the Thanks for Attending sticker on another bottle. "Probably, your last uh?"

"No." Cairo pulled out a black belt from the drawer. "But the next time I go to one of these showers it'll be the birth of my child that's being celebrated."

Harmony watched him string the belt into the loops of his slightly faded blue jeans, "So, you won't come to my baby shower."

Cairo stopped fiddling with his buckle, "Of course." His eyes gleamed as he stared at her. Harmony wished she could read his mind; find out why his chestnut eyes were wafting over her body. "I just—"

An abrupt knock on his bedroom door interrupted him. "What?" Cairo yelled.

"Is Har still in there?" It was Lela's raspy voice.

"Yeah!" Harmony slid off the bed being careful not to disturb the trays of jars she completed. She yanked open the door. "What you need."

"Is everyone dressed?" Lela peeked through the creases of her hand. "I don't want to see anything I shouldn't."

"Don't be silly." Harmony insisted smoothing out the hem of her pink fit and flare dress. Cairo was over their little freshmen fling. If he wasn't he would've done something about it.

"What you want?" Cairo barked fixing the half tuck of his shirt.

"You're mom's in the study." Lela declared pointing the pink icing covered spatula at Harmony.

"My mother!" Harmony squawked. Her hand didn't miss the jar, spilling M&Ms on Cairo's bed. "What is she doing here?" She tried to pick up the small pieces of milk chocolate before they melted on Cairo's crisp white sheets.

"You've been dodging her calls. What'd think?" Lela spewed before leaving.

Cairo scooped up a handful of the candy off his bed "This time you can't hit decline. Go talk to her." He poured the pieces back in the bowl.

••••••

Go talk to her. Cairo said it like it was that easy. Go talk to the woman that lied to her for all of her life. Harmony took her precious time walking down the stairs. She wasn't ready for this. Why was she here in the first place? Who shows up to someone's house they don't know? Evelyn Monroe, that's who.

Trevor's office was just a room painted army green with two mahogany desks, textbooks plied on the floor and a blackboard hanging on the wall. Harmony watched her mother staring out the window before she opened the French doors.

"Mother." Harmony stalely sounded closing the doors behind her.

The statuesque woman in gray trousers, a cream blouse, and black pumps turned around. She smiled and Harmony almost returned the action but remembered the circumstances of their last meeting.

Harmony looked down at her silver pumps hoping they complimented her dress.

"You haven't returned my calls." Evelyn's steady voice beckoned Harmony's attention.

"Are you for real?" Harmony moved away from the door. "You think I want to talk to after all your lies."

Evelyn slipped her purse off her shoulder letting it fall to the floor, "I said I was sorry." She dug her heel in the burgundy rug. "What more do you want from me."

Harmony threw up her arms. "I wanted the truth but you failed to give me that." Her hands slipped from her sides. "You lied for twenty..." A sardonic smile came to her face. "Oh my God! My birthday's next month." She rubbed her face not seeing her mother approach her but she felt the woman she claimed as her best friend's body heat.

      Harmony moved her hands from her face to look at her mother wanting to forgive her and move on, then she remembered. "Who am I supposed to celebrate with Mom? My birthday is the twenty-third of November always falling on the week of Thanksgiving, which is why we celebrate it on Thanksgiving! So who am I going to be with ya'll or Laurent and my sister."

Evelyn tilted her head, "Your sister?"

"Yes, Mom! I have a sister." Harmony loudly snapped her fingers. "But you already know that." She narrowed her eyes. "Don't you?"

"He told you...." Evelyn's knees must've gotten weak because she staggered to the chair at the messy desk, Trevor's desk. She slowly sat then dropped her head in her hands. Harmony fought the urge to smooth back her mother's sleek straight hair. "About the first time—"

"He saw me." Harmony completed her mother's statement. "Yes. Yes, he did and how could you?" Her scowl burned with fury. "He wanted to be present in my life and you shut him out!" She didn't mean to yell but she couldn't help it. Rage bubbled through every layer of her skin.

Evelyn's head flew up glaring at Harmony in a way that made the girl step back. "Do you think it was that easy? To do what I had to do!" Evelyn rose from the chair with such indignation that the chair smacked against the desk rattling Trevor's swimming trophy. "But I did it for this family." Evelyn stormed to her purse and snatched it up. "And you will spend your birthday the same way you always spend your birthday; with your grandparents, cousins, uncles, and aunts. You will blow out your twenty-one candles right after we eat the turkey. Do you understand me?"

Anger burned in Harmony's core that rivaled lava. The things she wanted to spew would earn her a backhand and a swift tour of Hell so, Harmony said what she was trained to say. "Yes, ma'am." The words went passed her teeth from all the years of practice.

Just as Evelyn opened the office door words the formed in Harmony's heart slipped from her mouth, "He's my family too."

Evelyn shut the door like she didn't hear Harmony utter those last words.