Black to the Past

Chapter 52

"Mommy," Halle whispered. Tears sprang to her eyes. It was her mother. The mother who'd given birth to her was sitting on a tan leather sofa holding a tiny bundle of blankets and had her hand stretched out waiting for Halle to take hold of it.

Halle ran to her. She longed for the day that she could be in her mother's arms again, hear her voice, touch her. Halle cried like a newborn baby. It was all too much to take in. Her sobbing caused her father to come into the room. He stood there staring at her as she lay in her mother's lap holding on to her legs the same way she'd done as a child.

"Halle, honey, what's happened? What's wrong," her mother asked her in a concerned and loving voice. "Harvey, take the baby. What's happened, honey? Why's she so upset? What happened out there?"

"Nothing. I picked her up, that's all. She was a little quiet. Maybe a little distant. She wanted to stay, I thought she was just being quiet because she couldn't hang out with her friends," Harvey tried explaining as he took the baby from his wife's arms to put into the little carrier that was on the floor next to the couch.

He put his arms around Halle then. He'd never seen her so upset. It was as if Halle was seeing her mother for the first time, or the last time. There was no consoling her. Halle cried and cried.

This isn't my life, she thought to herself. She couldn't get a hold of her emotions but she knew she would not be able to undo what had to be undone in the first place. They'd messed with time and now she would lose her mother again. The thought of it was too much for Halle to bear. And yet, Halle knew that she needed to be home, find out what dealings her father had with the men who in this life were his possessions, but in another life would be torturing him beyond what he could deal with.

Halle took several deep breaths and pulled herself together.

"It's been a really long day," Halle said finally as she stared into her mother's eyes. She took her face in as if it were a tall glass of water, refreshing water that she would never ever forget. She'd forgotten what her mother's face looked like. She'd had pictures, but they did no justice to being front and center before her.

"I'd say," her mother stroked her hair, touched her face, she felt like home. Halle wanted to start crying again, but she didn't. She would take whatever time she had with her now and commit it to memory.

"I love you mommy," Halle told her mother. Words she couldn't remember if she'd said or not the last time they'd been together. She'd only been four years old and she didn't understand just how important those three little words were back then. She knew now.

"I love you, Halle," her mother pulled her into her arms and held her. Halle could have laid there for an eternity. Now she remembered her mother's scent. It was her signature perfume mixed with motherhood. A smell that would remain just on the other side of familiar to Halle in her other life.

"I've got to get some work done, you two look like you could use some time together. Should I take the baby in the office with me," Harvey asked his two favorite women.

"No," Halle told him. She wanted to see the baby for herself. She wanted to know what her sibling was and if he or she looked just like her.

Sitting on her heels, she reached for the baby carrier and picked up the little bundle. She couldn't even remember its name. They'd just come home from the hospital, her father had said. Maybe, she hadn't been there.

Fortunately, the baby had on a little blue cap, with a little blue onesie and was tucked into a blanket with red and blue cars. "He's so little," she said smiling.

"He is. He looks just like you did when you were a baby," her mother said smiling.

"Wow," was all Halle could say. He was such a beautiful chocolate brown. And now she remembered his name, "Daniel," she said in a whisper. "Daniel Newton Blackmon. My little man has such a big name."

"Your father wouldn't have it any other way," her mother told her.

"Mom, what's dad working on," she asked her mother, realizing that time was of the essence.

"I don't know. It's been consuming all of him," she said sadly and looked out the windows toward the black SUV's that were lined up in their driveway. The men had followed them into the house but had headed straight for the basement. Halle wondered if that was their lair.

"Is it something we can help him with?"

"No! Halle, don't go on one of your snooping ventures tonight. This is serious stuff they're into. The political world is changing. They believe it's for the better. I think it will be worse. A civil war unlike any this country has ever seen, we're on the brink of that now and somehow your father and his goons are tangled knee deep in it. Keep a low profile, do you hear me?" She reached out and tugged on Halle's chin. She wanted eye contact with her to let her know that she was serious.

Halle nodded her consent. There wasn't much she could do anyway. What was to be, would be. This could all disappear in an instant. Her mother could vanish again. Her stepmother, when had she started thinking of her that way, could be back in the hospital on attempted suicide. Her father could be in serious danger. She had to get in touch with Wilson. He'd know what to do even if there was nothing he could do about it.

"I'm really tired, mommy," she lied. She knew she couldn't go to sleep. It might make her forget her old life, and she needed to get that life back, for the sake of all Americans.

"Go to bed. Come on, I'll walk up there with you. Let's put this little one down too," she took the baby from Halle and stood up. Halle forgot about her food in the kitchen and followed her mother to the second floor. She passed the attic door and turned to the bedroom next to her parents' room. It had been hers all along. The bright pink was shocking to look at. It was the color of her childhood bedroom. Her full-sized canopy bed with the white lace canopy over top, she remembered from when she entered kindergarten. The only change was her blankets. Where there was once one character or another that helped her fall asleep at night, now was a fluffy grey blanket with oversized pillows all over the bed.

She turned, squeezed her mother tight, and kissed her goodnight.

Closing the door behind her, she sunk to the floor and wept all over again.