Page 36 of Widow Mayker

That evening, Von dropped me off at home. He hugged me tightly and kissed me before departing Bell Estates. I entered the house to three pairs of eyes staring at me.

“Well?” Mama asked.

I laughed and pointed to my luggage and the blankets I’d won. “Aren’t y’all gon’ help me put my stuff up?”

“Nope,” the three of them answered.

Scoffing, I burst out laughing.

“We want to know what the heck you been up to all weekend. We ain’t heard a peep from you,” Shyah stated.

“Exactly,” Heir added.

Mama turned to Heir. “Don’t you exactly her, Miss Thing. You were off popping your coochie with a man Poppa and Adir are surely going to have a coronary over.”

I gasped and so did Shyah. Heir looked like she wanted to fall through the floor.

Mama turned back to me and smiled. “Now, how did your weekend go, sweetheart?”

Now that Heir’s business was on the mat, I didn’t feel so bad. “I had a great weekend. Believe it or not, Von took me to a camp, where his family’s reunion was taking place. It was a great time. And nothing happened.” I added that last part for Heir.

“Aww,” Mama said. She hugged me. “That’s wonderful, dear. See, I knew you’d have a good time.” She patted my cheek, then glared at Heir. “You better hope your little stunt doesn’t cause a war.” With that, she kissed Heir and Shyah on the cheeks before leaving out of the front door. Only then did the three of us burst out laughing.

“I’ll make us a glass of wine, and we can unpack you and Heir’s crazy weekend,” Shyah stated. We filed into the kitchen where Shyah poured each of us a glass of wine. We sat around the table, equally ready to spill whatever business we’d held on to.

“All I have to say is, losing my virginity to Kody was the best decision I ever made. There’s no strings, no calls, texts, none of that shit.”

“That sounds horrible,” Shyah voiced. “At least—”

“At least nothing. That man has his own life, and I have mine. You heard what Mama said. Poppa and Adir are going to flip their shit when they find out what the hell I did.” Heir shook her head but didn’t look the least bit remorseful. In fact, she was glowing.

“Kody did something right,” I mumbled. “You’re glowing brightly. Maybe this is more than simple sex. Maybe he’s someone you can really think about being with.”

Heir turned her nose up. “You tweakin’, sis. If I was ever thinking about settling down, it wouldn’t be with that nigga. Plus, I’m okay with being single forever,” she stated with finality.

Resting my chin on the palm of my hand, I peered at my older sister. As much as I was against what was brewing between me and Von, I still couldn’t help but want what Von was offering. Heir was intelligent, beautiful, and truly a sweet soul. Her father and brother had left a scar on her heart that I was afraid would never heal.

“We both carry some deep scars, Heir. Still… I think it doesn’t hurt to welcome someone to love you.”

Heir and Shyah gaped at me stupidly.

“Okay,” Heir stated, “what the hell happened at that camp?”

“And don’t feed us nothing again,” Shyah added.

Giggling, I replied, “Nothing happened. I just…” For whatever reason, voicing my feelings to Heir and Shyah seemed complicated. Putting my feelings into words made me seem human, and if they knew the real me, they’d know that I was far from that.

You’ve turned over a new leaf. Right, I thought. Turning over a new leaf meant the past was behind me. I could choose who I wanted to be in this moment, and in this moment, I just wanted to be a Maja, not the woman I was before I returned to Niceville Shores.

“I got a glimpse of what a normal, healthy relationship could be like,” I confessed. Closing my eyes, I recalled leaning against Von’s chest as we sat on the bench the first evening we spent at the camp. Smiling at the way his arms had nearly suffocated me, I wanted to go back just for a minute to stay in his arms a little longer. “Von was so gentle with me,” I mumbled.

“Gentle?” they questioned in unison.

I nodded. “Even in correction, he was gentle with it. At one point, I upset him, and he handled it with gentleness.”

“Wait a damn minute,” Heir said. “I thought we were just having fun. You really like this nigga?” Disgusted, her face balled up.

“You were just having fun, remember. I never said anything about Von,” I said.