LITMIR.BIZ

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times than she could count and still carried herself like the star she longed to be. Miraya had a string of suitors a mile long. And although she wasn’t touring the country like she once did, she still sang in the lounges in the French Quarter.

      Miraya took off her dark glasses and waved back.

      Zoe instantly saw the heaviness in her mother’s wide eyes and the waning of her smile. Her heart raced.

      “Mom.” She embraced her mother and realized for the first time how petite her mother was, fragile almost. Had she always been this thin? When had she seen her last—five, six months? She held her a moment longer then kissed her cheek. She stepped back and held her mother at arms length, searched her eyes. “Nana?”

      Miraya’s smile was tight. “She’s hanging on.” She took Sharlene’s hand. “Good to see you, Sharl. It’s been too long.” She pulled her into an embrace. “How did you manage to get on a flight with such short notice?”

      “I heard my family needed me,” she said with a smile.

      “Thanks for coming,” she said softly. “Well, come on. Let’s get you girls to the house and fix some breakfast. I know they didn’t feed you on the plane.”

      They walked through the terminal to the airport garage arm in arm.

      The short ride from the airport was spent in light conversation, and on the slow progress of rebuilding the Lower Ninth Ward. Much of the area had still not been rebuilt, as many residents had moved away along with their hopes of returning slowly fading.

      Miraya pulled onto their street in the Garden District. Even in the early morning heat, neighbors were out and about, sweeping front porches or doing yard work, mostly because it was too hot to work as the day progressed.

      “There’s Ms. Ella,” Zoe said, pointing to the octogenarian who knew everything about everybody on the street.

      “The whole neighborhood will know you’re home before the clock strikes nine,” Sharlene teased.

      “Be nice, girls,” Miraya playfully warned as she pulled up and parked in front of the house.

      The trio got out and Zoe and Sharlene took their bags from the trunk. “’Morning, Ms. Ella,” they chorused and waved.

      Ms. Ella pretended that she hadn’t spotted them from the moment the big blue caddy came onto the street and craned her neck. She gave a delicate wave. “That you, Zoe?”

      “Yes, ma’am,” she called out.

      “That Sharlene you got with you?”

      “It’s me, Ms. Ella.”

      She bobbed her wobbly head. “Zora’s waiting for you,” she said, her simple declaration carrying the weight they all held in their hearts.

      The door of the row house on Sixth Street opened up and Zoe’s aunts Flo and Fern stood in the doorway all dolled up in flowing, bright, floral-print caftans. The sisters were variations of the same face in shades of sandy brown to milk chocolate. It was the unpredictability of the genes, Nana Zora always said of her daughters.

      Zoe’s heart suddenly overflowed with emotion. The strain of caring for their ailing mother had taken its toll on her mother and aunts. Zoe could see it in their eyes. Yet, they still appeared formidable standing side by side against come what may. Zoe hurried toward them, embracing both of them in her arms.

      “Auntie,” she whispered in each ear and against butter-soft cheeks.

      “Welcome home, chile,” Flo whispered.

      “Come inside,” Fern urged. She reached out her hand to Sharlene. “I knew you’d come.”

      The Beaumont women and their surrogate daughter went inside to see Nana.

      From the front door of the two-story house, you could see straight through to the backyard, which was in full bloom thanks to the loving hands of Aunt Fern. Long, narrow windows with sheer white curtains filtered in the morning sunlight that reflected off of the oak floors. The furniture hadn’t changed since the sisters were in their teens. Lovingly worn overstuffed armchairs were upholstered in a sea-green, brocade fabric, and antique, maple side tables with white doilies dotted the room. In the chair near the window, Nana Zora dozed as the rays of morning light warmed her face. Her lids fluttered and slowly opened. She turned her head. A slow smile spread across her face. “Zoe.”

      Zoe hurried across the room. She dropped her bag on the floor and knelt down beside her grandmother. She took her hands. “Nana.”

      “I knew you would come.” Her eyes sparkled. She glanced around Zoe and saw Sharlene. “Come here and let me see you.”

      Sharlene did as she was told and knelt on the other side of the chair. “How are you doing, Nana?”

      “Fine now that my Zoe is here.” She patted Zoe’s cheek. “And you, too, sugah,” she said to Sharlene.

      “Breakfast is ready,” Aunt Flo called out.

      “I’ll bring your plate, Nana,” Zoe said.

      “Oh, no, you won’t! I’m not an invalid,” Zora insisted, as she seemed to regain her old strength in her voice. She reached for the cane propped up against her chair. Zoe grabbed her grandmother’s elbow and helped her to her feet.

      The three sisters moved back and forth between the stove and the round kitchen table bringing plates of fluffy eggs, fruit, sausage, bacon and grits.

      “Let me help,” Zoe insisted, taking a platter from her aunt Fern and bringing it to the table.

      “Sharl, sweetie, would you get the juice from the fridge?” Miraya asked.

      “Sure.”

      Finally, when everyone was settled at the table, the food was passed around and the plates were filled. They joined hands, bowed their heads and Nana Zora blessed the food.

      “Thank you for this food and bless the hands that made it. Thank you for my family and for bringing Zoe home. Watch over her in the coming months, give her guidance and open her heart and her spirit to what will happen in the months to come. Amen.”

      Zoe opened her eyes and looked surreptitiously at her family.

      “Amen,” they chorused.

      “How long can you stay?” Aunt Flo asked, directing her amber eyes at Zoe.

      “As long as I need to.”

      “This will be a short visit,” Nana said. “You have things to do.”

      “Nothing is more important than you, Nana Zora. Work can wait.”

      Nana waved a thin hand. “Yes, but not work in the way you mean. Rather the kind of work you need to do and you can’t do it here.”

      All eyes turned to Zoe.

      “I… I don’t know what you mean.”

      “You will,” said Aunt Fern.

      “Let’s eat, and leave that talk for later,” interrupted Miraya. “You know how Zoe is about all that.” She flashed her daughter a quick look of understanding.

      “So what have I been missing around here? Are you ladies staying out of trouble?” Sharlene asked, changing the subject.

      The sisters alternated telling stories about their neighbors, their new aches and pains and the changes in the world around them.

      Nana Zora sat at the head of the table, observing her family like a queen on the throne. There wasn’t a lot of time, she thought. She had so much to tell her granddaughter. Zoe needed to be prepared. Her own dreams were becoming stronger and she knew Zoe’s were as well.

      Her daughters were worried about her, about her health and her mental state. She wasn’t slipping. Some days she simply preferred to live in the past, at the moment when things could have almost been different

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