Visiting Home

Two

It was around one by time I woke up again. Chris was still fast asleep so I let him be for the time being. I walked through the house and saw Nevaeh and Maddie sitting on the floor in the living room. Maddie saw me first and ran to me. "Hi, mommy" she said, without taking her thumb out her mouth.

"Hi, sweetie" I said while picking her up and pulling her hand from her mouth.

"How'd you sleep?" Nevaeh asked.

"Good, how was Maddie?" I replied.

"You know she's always good for me", she said back.

I sat on the floor next to Nevaeh, with Maddie on my lap. "How you doing?" I asked Nevaeh.

"I'm fine, even better that you guys are here, Maddie is a great distraction." She said with a small smile, rubbing Maddie's cheek.

"I'm here for you babes, always".

"I know and I love you for that", she replied.

"I love you, too".

Maddie got off my lap to go play with toys she had on the floor. "How long have y'all been back?" I inquired.

"About an hour." She told me.

"Where did y'all go?"

"Um, you know, we went to Waffle House for breakfast. We also went to the toy store, hence where all the toys came from", she told me with a weird look on her face, motioning at the toys that are currently keeping Maddie occupied.

"Okay, but why you looking like that, did something happen?", I asked her, not understanding her current awkwardness, since she said Maddie was good.

She shifted in her spot before looking over at Maddie then me. "Um, maybe?", she said as a question.

"Just tell me, you said she was good, so it can't be that bad", I told her reassuringly.

She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before saying, "We kinda, sorta ran into Jasmine at Waffle House, and Jasmine come up to our table and we talked, cause you know I've barely been around your family since you left. Maddie looked at her and said, 'She looks like mommy', which she does, Jasmine looks so much like you now by the way. But I told Jas that Maddie was a distant cousin who came for the funeral, before Maddie could say anything that could reveal you're her mom". She looked at me waiting to see if I'd freak out, but I didn't, at least not on the outside. On the inside I was completely freaking out. I knew running into somebody from my family was a possibility before I even came back. Chances of seeing my sister was exceptionally high considering she'd be at the funeral with Ashanti, but I thought I'd figure that out when the time comes.

We sat there catching up and watching Maddie play for a while. "Do you plan to go see them, at least while you're here?" Nevaeh asked changing the subject back to my family after a while.

"I wasn't planning on it, but I've been thinking about it". She didn't reply, she just nodded. We sat there watching Maddie play, while Nevaeh showed me recent pictures of my nephew that my brother posted.

Eventually Chris finally woke up. "Hey", he began bending down and picking Maddie up, "my mom wants to know if we'll come by today."

"Yeah, we can go whenever you're ready" I told him, kissing him. I go grab my shoes, purse and a cardigan to put on over my tank top from the bedroom.

"I'm coming too" Nevaeh said when I walked back into the living room. I nodded.

We all made our way to the car, Nevaeh put Maddie in her car seat. Chris opened my door for me, I got in, and thanked him while I put on my seatbelt. He got in the driver side and pulled out the driveway. We all made conversation on the way over and listened to whatever random things Maddie had to say.