Woman

May 21

Dear Diary,

May 21

It's been four days and I already feel liberated. I'm happy. I'm coping. My mother understands. Daddy already knew what was going on. I'm floating. Things are better.

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I looked at her. Aunty Aurele stood in the busy airport, not caring about what people had to say regarding her appearance. She hand on a long floral dress stained in flour, plastic crocs and a bonnet over her wooly reddish hair. She was smiling, stretching the skin on her wrinkled face. It wasn't hard to realize that she hadn't aged like wine, that years of labour had signed it's name on her. Yet, she had those laugh lines many people would be blessed to have and with just one look, you knew she was a blessing to cross just once in your life.

The wide grin easily etched it's way onto my face and I whipped my head back to see that it was on the rest of my family's as well. Daddy's teeth shined the brightest and though he was in a wheelchair, unable to walk, his happiness of simply being home and seeing his sister was evident.

I ran over to her first, swiftly enveloping her into a tight hug and taking in her sweet jasmine smell, ever since I was younger, she had always smelled of jasmine and flour; her scent was homely. I didn't want to let her go, I hadn't seen her for three years and she was my favorite aunt. I always admired her honesty, much like daddy's but he had a brusque way of saying things, Aunty Aurele made the truth sound easy to come to terms with.

"Yes chile," she said, laughter in her voice, our arms still wrapped around each other, "ah still alive. Dis ain't no figment of yur 'magination."

I let out a soft chuckle, kissing her cheek and pulling back reluctantly from her embrace. "Lord, I missed you Taty Rele."

"We gotta get dat city folk accent knocked outta yuh chile. Las' time you were here it weren't that bad," she said chuckling and returning the kiss on the cheek.

I laughed, shaking my head at her and making way for the rest of the family to embrace her. After they all greeted her as well, she led they way to her pickup truck. We put daddy in the front and the rest of us piled in the back. Antonio and Cader were having a ball enjoying the air on their faces as they drove, too bad they couldn't enjoy this everyday. Traya and AJ were in their own world, she sat in his lap while he kept a hand on her stomach; in that moment, I wished more men were raised like my brother, he was a good man.

Assyria and I were constantly finding ourselves staring at each other as if we had something to say but the words kept getting stuck. For the past three days, we had only spoken to each other if we absolutely had to. I wasn't mad at her nor did I hate her; she was my sister but, the fact that she had kept such a secret from me had me on the edge. It was as if she couldn't trust me, which I didn't understand. We had always had a good relationship, maybe not best friends but, we were sisters and we acted as such.

I don't know where Chris and I were. But, one thing was for sure, he had feelings for my sister. And as long as Assyria had known Chris, she had feelings for him. I don't know if they were meant to be but, God has a way of making the most messed up situations beautiful. And I had an odd feeling that their messed up relationship was going to be beautiful.

And I was glowing. There was no other way to put it. I felt like I was high without drugs. So liberated. So happy. Not content; content is an area where you're just pleased with what is going on, you have no complains. Happiness is where you're high and you keep getting higher and as the days progressed, I was getting higher.

A smile latched itself unto my face as the bayou and the land surrounding it came into view. As aunt Aurele got closer, the house that stood on the land seemed bigger. The house was grand, it had been around for nearly ninety five years with enough history to right books. It had been passed down to my great-grandmother from her slave master who had kept her and paid her well long after slavery was ended. She had bore her husband two children and the slave master, my grandfather, seven.