The next week flies by and before I realize it, it's the day before we fly to MD and MA. JC looks at me as we pick up the kids Sunday evening. "We leave for home in the morning."
"Already? I almost don't wanna go."
Demitryus is smiling. "We miss Nana."
I look at him and smile. "I know, baby." I look at JC, who's smiling cuz he's missed his family all these months.

JC interlocks his fingers and mine. "Everything will be fine. Don't think about it. You have a bad habit of over thinking pretty much everything. Until Tuesday, I'm a phone call away to reassure you that everything will be fine. I will be there as early as I can. We've gone over and over the plans. Stop stressing out about it."
I take a deep breath. "I'm trying to not think about it." My cell rings. My caller ID is blinking 'Shaun' and after a few seconds I realize it's my cousin. "Hey, Shaun."
"Hey, little girl. I'm gonna stop by Aunt Vikki's Tuesday."
"Hunh?"
"I'm gonna be stopping by Aunt Vikki's Tuesday. She invited me a couple weeks ago."
I hang my head. "Shaun, I really. Unh. Uhm." I sigh.
"What's up? You never trip over your words like that."
"So much has changed in my life since I moved to LA. I'm not too sure how everyone's gonna handle it."
"Joe leave you? Did he touch you? Hit you? What?"
"I left Joe. I'm with a better man. I have the kids. Yes, he hit me, more than once. The man I'm with has come to my defense every time. He has been amazing to the four of us."
"I just wanna know his name."
"Josh."

JC looks at me and I shake my head. "I hear the smile you probably have plastered on your face."
"What about it?"
"You never said Joe's name like that. Does Josh treat you good?"
"Very good. He always there for me. He knows almost everything about me."
"What doesn't he know?"
"I'll probably pull out Ma's photo albums and show him. Meet the family. That's it."
"So you're bringing him?"
"Uhm, maybe." I laugh.
"You'll be there Tuesday, right?"
"Me and the kids." I look in the backseat of the SUV, smiling. "How are you and the kids?"
"Good. You guys?"
"Since being with Josh and in my own place with the kids, really good." I get a text from Jacob. "Hold on a second, Shaun." 'U coming here for Thanksgiving?'

I slide open my cell to answer. "See ya Tuesday, Shaun." 'Yes. Kids and my bf. Left Joe.'
"See ya then, I guess." He hangs up.
'Bf? Best friend?'
'Boyfriend.'
'Can I kick his ass?'
'Who's ass?'
'Your boyfriend's'
'No. He helped me as a friend to get my place and with the kids. He's a wonderful man.'
'Fuck. Are we gonna meet him and see you and the kids?'
'Most likely.'
'Cool. Ttyl'
'Ttyl.'
I shake my head. JC squeezes my hand. "What's up?"

"My older cousin wants to meet you. I showed you pictures of Shaun. He wants to meet you. Now my little cousin, Jacob, wants to terrorize you."
"How little?"
"He's 21."
"That's not very little."
"He's kinda like a little brother to me."
"How?"
"His mom took care of me and treated me like her oldest. Her first daughter. I told you about Ellen."
"Oh, yeah. Jacob and Kasey's mom."
I laugh. "Kari, Josh, Kari."
"I'm still learning. She's the one who's has the same boyfriend since she was like 14 or 15, right?"
"And she's gonna be 19 in February. Yeah, that's Kari."
"Dawn tells me that it's gonna be quite amusing."
I giggle. "She would. Dammit. I have to call her." I dial Dawn's number. Four rings.

"Hello?"
"Hey, Tiggy!"
"Girl, I miss the shit outta ya."
"Wednesday, before a ten hour drive to Bowie. Three days."
"I get to hang with you, the kids and JC."
I chuckle quietly. "Yeah. Maybe do some Christmas shopping with us. No plans are set in stone, sis. I miss you."
"I bet the kids can't wait to see your mom."
"They are psyched. I just can't wait to see you and you see us. I'm looking forward to that more than anything."
"I bet. Call me when you land?"
"I'll call you before we board and when we land. It'll be my first time driving out there."
"You'll be fine."
"I wish they didn't tear your old house down for that stupid fucking highway. I can show him the places I've lived, the schools I went to, my old hangouts, old friends' houses, and tell him about Thayer Pond." I put my head back on the seat.
"He's gonna be like 'whoa, that's alot' and wonder how you stayed so strong."
I close my eyes, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "I hope he understands everything. Understands the shit I went through. The neighborhoods I lived in weren't exactly like where he lives."
"What about Bowie? He may not have been in a great neighborhood either. Think of that?"
"He has better friends than I do. I have one friend who stands behind me to this day. Thanks."
"It's what I do. See ya Wednesday. Miss you. Love you. Keep in touch."
"Love and miss you too. Wednesday. Will do." I hang up. "I can't wait for you to see how I grew up, show you what I dealt with."
"That's your past and for what it's worth, thanks. I'll show you some of mine."
We get back to his house, get the kids in bed and finish packing before we shower and head to bed. We wake up and get everything ready to go and get the kids showered and dressed. The cab shows up and we head to the airport. We grab our bags, check in, sit down and I start fidgeting. "What's wrong, baby?"
"I don't like flying. The plane, the heights. None of it."
"I've been doing it for so long, it doesn't phase me anymore."
We hear my flight be called. He walks us to the gate. He hugs each of the kids. "Be good for mom. She can call me. I will be at Nana's by one in the afternoon on Tuesday. Then we have plans. Ok?" They smile and jump up and down. He hugs and kisses me. "I will call you when my plane touches down in Baltimore. You call me when yours touches down in Boston."
I nod. "Ok." I give him one last hug and kiss before boarding the plane with the kids. I get them settled in with books, paper and other activities for the flight. The almost six hour flight is peaceful and doesn't seem like it took that long. I get the kids off the plane and get a rental car for us. I pick up the luggage, the car pulls up, I load the kids in and get the luggage in the trunk. I get in, sigh, look at the kids and smile.
Aaliyah remembers what Josh told me. "Mommy, call Josh. Let him know we made it. We're ok."
"Thanks, baby." I turn my cell on and see he texted me.
'Beautiful, landed in Baltimore safe. Called you. Must not have landed yet. Call me when you do. J'amour tu, ma belle.'
I smile and dial him, putting him on speaker. It rings. "Hey, Josh."
"You're safe."
I start the car and head to my mom's. "Yes, we made it safe. On the way to my mom's. You get to your parents' yet?"
"I'll be there soon. I miss you."
"I miss you too. I have a 45 minute drive to my mom's."
"How were the kids on the plane?"
"Occupied." We laugh. "I'm nervous about Tuesday, tomorrow."
"Don't be. Everything will be just fine."
"I can't wait to have this holiday done." I smile to myself. "Christmas will be a breeze."
He laughs. "No nervousness on Christmas. I just pulled up to my parents'." I hear a car door and house door open and shut on his end of the line. His mom hugs him. "Mom says hi. See you tomorrow. Miss you crazy."
"Miss you. Hi, mama Chasez. Hug everyone for me."
"Will do. Bye. I'll call before I go to bed."
"Ok. Talk to you in a couple hours."
"Bye." He hangs up.
I look in the rearview mirror at the kids. Demitryus is the only one awake. "Hey, Lil Man. Excited to see Nana?"
"Yeah. Can't wait." He yawns.
I turn the radio on and roll the window down a little, to stay awake. I adjust the station at a red light just before hitting the highway for Ma's. I find Mix 98.5, change it to Magic 106.7 and leave it. After the last few notes of the song play, Richard Marx's 'I Will Be Right Here Waiting For You' comes on and a smile crosses my face. Demitryus falls asleep as it plays. I get on the highway and get to Ma's. I pull up next to her house and call her.
Two rings. "Where are you, daughter of mine?"
I step outta the car and wave as she looks outside. "Outside your house." We hang up. She comes outside and hugs me.
She looks at me. "What do I do?"
"Wake em up and help em walk in the house. I'll get the bags."
She wakes up the kids and ushers them inside. I get the bags inside. She has the boys share the bottom bunk and Aaliyah on the top. I take pics with my phone and send them to Josh. We sit at her little kitchen table and talk for a little while. "You look good."
"You look better than when I left."
"Tell me about him. How he treats you."
"Ma, he's just so sweet. You'll see tomorrow."
"Tell me what he's done that's so sweet."
"He helps with the kids and is just all around amazing."
"You have a pretty big smile."
"Thanks. You call out or something?"
"I said you were coming tonight and they said I could make it up Saturday and Sunday, if I wanted. I took just tonight off."
"That's cool." I get up and look in her fridge. "Can I have a beer?"
"You drink beer?"
"Yeah. But not often. I hardly drink. You wanna see pictures? I have a bunch on my phone."
"Sure. When'd you get your license?"
"Oh, in August. Josh helped. He gave me lessons and pointers when I had my permit. Driving with him can be nerve wracking." I laugh. "But I appreciate everything he's done and helped me with." I sit next to my mom and pull out my cell, scrolling through the photos. I find the ones of Josh, the kids and myself. "These are from the first time he took us to the beach. Here's a video of him playing with us in the water. His friend James took it. I forgot to lock my cell." I play it for Ma.
"You two compliment each other so well and are great with the kids."
"Thanks. Oh! That's his friend, Justin. That's Nick. Alex and Rochelle. Howie and Leigh." I name people off as I scroll through the pictures. I tell her some of the stories behind the pictures and we laugh. "Oh, this is from the movie awards for MTV. It's backstage and Justin took it. Josh was holding my hand and Justin figured out my password. That little hacker. This one is a picture of us last weekend with all our friends and their other halves." We continue laughing and looking at pictures and videos for another two hours. Josh calls. I answer. "Hey, love."
It's on speaker. "You make it to your mom's?"
"Yeah. I was showing her some of the pics from the past few months. Us, the kids, our friends. Some of the stories behind them."
"Did you put the, yeah, in a different album?"
"Yeah. Of course. I don't think Ma would wanna see your godliness."
Ma is interested. "Godliness?"
"Pics of him from his hips and waist up. Oh, lawdy."
"Hi, miss Vikki."
"Hi, Joshua. Tomorrow, around noon."
"Be there by one, the latest. Just in case I get lost."
We laugh. I stretch and yawn. "Sweetie, I'm getting tired and it's almost ten. We've been up since five this morning."
"I miss you. See you tomorrow."
"Miss you too. Night."
I hang up, biting my  bottom lip. I look at Ma and blush. "He's just so good to us. He babies the fuck out of us. He's an awesome guy."