Day of Atonement (4 page)

“Is Sissy comin' wif us?”

“No, remember, I told you Sissy went to Mississippi,” she reminded him.

“Dat's anudder state, right, like O-H-I-O?” He actually stopped and did the arm motions along with the chant; something Nate had recently learned while watching an Ohio State football game with his father.

Both parents laughed. “Yes, you silly willy. Now, hurry up and go potty so Daddy doesn't leave us.”

“I don't want Daddy to leave. I wanna go on 'da big plane and see Gigi.”

“You will. First, do as your mother said.”

Nate ran around the corner to the half-bath still zooming. This time with his arms stretched wide instead of with his toy airplane.

“That boy has too much energy for me. I hope Diane can keep up with him.” Natalie leaned against the wall and rubbed her belly.

“You know my mama will try for sure. You all right?”

“Yeah. I think your babies are as excited about this trip as Nate because they are bouncing around like crazy.”

Troy gently placed his hand on her stomach, feeling the rapid thumps of the little ones moving about. What a miracle. He'd only wanted one more child and now he would have two. Though
Natalie liked to say he must have had an overabundance of testosterone running through his veins during the time she conceived, truth be told, twins ran in her family, not his. Her father had even been a twin. He died when Natalie was only five, but whenever she shared memories about him, Troy could tell how special the relationship was between them. It was something he'd never known with his father, but hoped to give all of his children.

Troy did feel like he'd missed out on some things in childhood by not having a great role model as a father. They never bonded over sports or cars. Troy never received advice about girls nor had anyone with whom he could ask those sensitive questions. In a way, Troy thought it would have been better if he did not know his father at all rather than having one who was presently absent. When he and Natalie married, Troy's father didn't even come to the wedding—something that bothered Troy's mom more than it did him. Troy believed for a fact that people, in general, could change. The real question was, could his father?

In an ideal world, Troy would be going to Houston looking to build some kind of relationship with his dad. However, reconciliation was the least of his concerns. As much as he loved his mom and sister, his focus wasn't even on spending time with them. Ever since Elvin's call two weeks ago, Elana had been at the forefront of his mind. She was his motivation to spend Christmas in Houston. She was the only one who mattered as he finally got Nate and Natalie in the truck, backed out of the garage, and headed to the airport. Destination: H-Town.

I
f Troy got any sleep at all, it was only a few minutes. They got to Houston a little after one a.m. central time, but it was at least another hour before they got their bags, rental car, and made it to his parents', and another hour after that before they got to bed. He was sure that he spent the next several hours lying in bed thinking about Elana and the day she disappeared before drifting off. At seven-something in the morning, he was fully awake.

Troy stared at the ceiling. He hadn't occupied this room for more than a couple of weeks at a time since high school and yet he still saw the sticky marks from the posters he'd hung up during his teenage years, mostly posters of models and movie stars in bikinis that he would enjoy looking at every night before falling asleep. He chucked lightly to himself, amazed at how he had matured from a knucklehead teenager who got his jollies from pictures of any attractive woman to a committed husband and father who only had eyes for one woman. No one, picture or in person, could do to his heart or body what Natalie could.

This room had a lot of memories. A few of them good, a lot of them bad. He recalled the time when he, his mom, and little sister locked themselves inside while his dad, drunk and out of control, banged on the door. They all sat huddled on Troy's full-sized bed with Tracy screaming and burying her head in his Chicago Bulls
comforter whenever their dad's hits caused things in the room to rattle. Troy was about fifteen at the time and Tracy was eight. They were both downstairs and had witnessed their father slap their mother so hard he'd knocked one of her teeth loose, all because his plate wasn't warm enough. With his mom grimacing in pain and sister screaming, fifteen-year-old Troy took a lamp from one of the living room end tables and hit his father in the head. In the movies people passed out when that happened, but in real life, Troy learned that, not only didn't his father go unconscious, but he also turned his wrath from his wife to his son. Had it not been for one of Tracy's toys in the middle of the floor, causing their father to stumble and fall, Troy was sure he would have gotten one of the beatings meant for his mother that day. Instead, she grabbed Tracy and the three of them darted upstairs and locked themselves in his room.

They were there for hours until his dad finally passed out. When he woke up, he pretended like nothing ever happened and Troy was mad that his mom acted the same way. That was the last time Troy had ever witnessed his father get physically aggressive with his mom, but he knew it wasn't the last time he hit her. Troy was certain that he had startled his father by getting involved. Drunk or not, the man was wise enough to know the older Troy got, the stronger he would become. Troy did not have one positive memory of his dad and yet this was the man his mom had sworn had found Jesus. Thankfully his father was sound asleep when they had arrived from the airport.

The buzz of his cell phone interrupted his thoughts. It was a text from Elvin asking if they had made it safely. Troy responded and the two exchanged several additional messages.

“What are you doing?' Natalie turned his way with a sharp look.

“Texting El. He wants me to meet with him at his mom's around
eleven. Is that cool with you?” Troy had already agreed. He was asking simply as a formality.

“Yeah,” she mumbled before closing her eyes again.

“You're welcome to come if you want. I know Lilly would like to meet you and she's never seen Nate. Plus Nikki will be there.”

“No. I'll see them both on Monday. I'm sure Diane would have a fit if we took Nate somewhere this morning. And anyhow, I want to relax. I didn't sleep well thanks to these overactive twins. When I was finally getting into a good sleep,
someone
woke me up by moving around in the bed.”

“My bad.” Troy leaned over and kissed her lips lightly. “That same someone will be happy to assist you in going back to sleep if you let him.” He seductively twirled his finger around her belly button.

She swatted his hand before he could go any further. “No, thank you. I am not even trying to get down like that with these thin walls and this squeaky bed frame.”

“Chicken.”

“Whatever. Go to sleep. You'll cool off. I hope you dream about mints because your breath is not nice.”

“I hope you don't think you got it going on in there.” He lightly poked her bottom lip.

“No, but I'm not trying to be all in your face like you're in mine.”

Just to be ornery, Troy got even closer and whispered, “I love you,” very slowly blowing the breath of each word in her nostrils.

“Ewe! Stop it!” She playfully hit him and he went down to nibble her neck. He also purposely wiggled the bed with his hips so that there was an abundance of noise coming from their room. “You better cut it out right now,” she said between giggles.

“Or else?” Troy made the bed squeak even louder. This time he added a few “Oh, Natalies” for fun and covered her mouth so she
could not protest. She looked like she didn't know whether she would die laughing or die from embarrassment when they heard footsteps in the hall.

“I am going to kill you.” Natalie swatted him on the head.

“I love you, too, babe.”

She rolled her eyes and got out of bed, slipping a robe over her maternity shorts and pajama top. “I'll be back. I have to pee.” She peeked out the room to make sure the coast was clear before heading out.

•  •  •

Natalie never did get back to sleep that morning, nor did she give in to Troy's desires for intimacy. She made it very clear that nothing like that would happen all week. He made it very clear that he wished they would have gotten a hotel like they had done last year when they came here for Christmas. At the time, his sister, Tracy, and her husband were separated so she and her kids were living with Diane. Troy's parents were separated this time last year as well, which was the only reason why Troy allowed Nate to stay at the house with Diane and Tracy while the two of them stayed at the hotel. Natalie thought it was sad that this would be the first time her father-in-law had actually seen Nate in person. She had only met him once herself. She knew Troy well enough to know that he didn't necessarily want her and Nate to come with him solely to meet Elvin's mom or to hang out with his wife. She was fully aware of Troy's dislike of his father and he also admitted that he was nervous leaving them at the house with him.

“We'll be all right,” she assured him as they finally went downstairs.

The initial encounter with the rest of the family was a little awkward
only, because the tension between Troy and his father was evident. Reed gave Natalie a very welcoming embrace, which she didn't mind. He looked as if he wanted to hug Troy as well, but Troy's stiff lawman posture was uninviting. They didn't even exchange a handshake. Rather, Troy gave his father a very dry “hey” and walked right past him to wrap Tracy in a bear hug. He did the same with his fourteen-year-old niece before playfully putting her older brother in a head lock.

Troy's niece and nephew seemed to be a perfect blend between his sister and their father, Al, who, like Natalie, was biracial. It was eerie how divided the rest of their family was by their looks. Troy's mom and sister had the same medium-brown complexion. Also, they weren't the type of women who could easily hide in a crowd due to their height and wide hips. Neither woman was fat; they simply had more than a fair share of voluptuousness from the waist down, a trait that was clearly being passed down to Troy's niece.

On the other hand, it was obvious that Troy had gotten his much darker skin tone and handsomeness from his father. Reed wasn't bad-looking for an older man and if it weren't for traces of life's hardships left on his face through wrinkles and worry lines, he probably would've looked even better. They were roughly the same height, with Troy possibly an inch or so taller, but his six-pack was quite the opposite of Reed's gut.

The oddity of this pre-holiday family gathering was that it was the first time that every member of the Evans family was together. Usually, it was the women, kids, and Troy as Reed and Al had their abusiveness and drunkenness in common and were often missing in action. Al knew better than to lay a hand on Tracy with Troy around. Natalie had heard a story from Troy about the beat-down
he'd given Al years before she and Troy met for pushing Tracy in his presence. Troy was not proud of his reaction as he wasn't one to go around fighting people. He was also one who could not stand to see anyone he loved mistreated.

Both Al and Reed seemed to have put their best foot forward for today as they exchanged niceties with Natalie and tried to do the same with Troy. Had Natalie not known their histories, she would not have guessed that these were the men her husband loathed because of their treatment to the women in his life. Diane tried to act like this impromptu breakfast was a routine family occurrence, but the awkwardness on everyone else's face could not be hidden. The only one oblivious to the tension was Nate who was busy counting the boxes under the Christmas tree. Every time he found a present with a tag for him, he'd ask, “Is this mine?”

“Yes,” Diane would reply.

“Can I open it?”

“Yes, on Christmas.”

“What is it?”

“Nate, get from under the tree and come give your Aunt Tracy a hug,” said Troy.

“And say hi to your grandpa, Pumpkin. He's been lookin' forward to meetin' you,” added Diane, who avoided a sharp look from Troy by keeping her gaze on her youngest grandchild.

Nate followed both of their directions and Natalie was hoping that she was the only one who saw Troy's jaw lines tighten when Reed picked him up. Natalie was more optimistic about her father-in-law's change than her husband. Though she understood Troy's anger to an extent, she also thought he was unforgiving. Reed did nothing but interact with Nate like a loving grandfather and Troy was getting all bent out of shape.

Apparently, Natalie was not the only one who noticed. It was hard not to with Troy straining his face like he was constipated. The room was silent as everyone watched the interaction between Reed and Nate with glances back and forth between them and Troy. Nate broke the ice and brought a few chuckles when he asked, “How many presents did you get me?”

“Nathaniel!” Natalie looked apologetically around the room. “I'm trying to get him to understand that Christmas is not about what
he
gets.”

“He's three. For him, it is,” rebutted Diane. “Come on, y'all let's eat.”

They gathered around the table and surprisingly, it was Reed who said grace. It nearly brought tears to Natalie's eyes to hear him give such heartfelt thanks for his family. What really got her was when he mentioned regret for having taken them for granted for so many years and prayed that they would one day forgive him. It seemed like Diane and Tracy already had. Reed was, no doubt, referring to Troy. “I know I do not deserve another chance, but I thank You for it anyhow. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

“Aaaaaaa-men!” Nate sang ridiculously loud.

“Always the center of attention, huh, man?” Natalie patted his head.