It was Miss Odie and Eva who had gotten her through the worst of her horrific life. Eva...her sister! Her twin? The closeness she had always felt had been for a reason.
Her twin...where was she now? Mae wondered, while coming to a stop before a slab of white marble engraved with the words: Odessa Claudette Raymond- An Angel Among Us. August 11, 1942-June 26, 1974.
The graveyard was overrun with weeds and dandelions. It reminded her of her childhood home with the Raymonds, but the sight of the cemetery didn’t fill her with nearly as much dread. Talking to Miss Odie had never done that-not even when she was gone…
Mae remembered how it had helped her to know some part of Odessa was still around and that she could go and talk to her whenever she wanted. Knowing she could sneak away to the cemetery while Cleon was gone had made all the difference. It had made her believe that she might survive what her life was.
“I should probably hate her for leaving me with him, but I don’t. She left me with you too and you were so nice to me, Miss Odie.” Mae was seated near the headstone.
She smiled. It was ‘a real nice marble one’ was what the man had said when he put it in place of the sad pile of rocks that had marked the site for so many years.
“I just wanted you to know that it’s a happy time now.” Mae said, her eyes drifting lovingly across the tombstone writing. “Miss Tam is so nice- really nice just like you. She had to keep me and Evan living apart so we’d be safe. But now I can be with her all the time and we’ll get to visit Perry and the little girls.
You would like Perry, Miss Odie and the girls...my nieces. They’re so tiny and funny and they aren’t afraid of me...they’re the sweetest. They called me Aunt Mae and before I left they told me they loved me.”
Maeva rubbed the cool marble. She had begged Eva to help her get it-something fancy for Miss Odie. A real tombstone like the ones she’d seen on TV and at the cemetery behind the big pretty church on the other side of town.
“Why after all this time?” Eva had snapped.
Eva had never liked Miss Odie, Mae remembered. She could never understand how two people could be so nice to her, but hate each other. Then again...Miss Odie didn’t seem to hate Eva. It was Eva who hated- Eva who always hated.
Eva had eventually said yes to the headstone, though. She even took the trip with her to watch it be placed.
She had heard the word ‘bittersweet’ before, but she could never understand the meaning. Sweet was a good thing, but bitter...bitter somehow made it bad, but not all the way...Watching Miss Odie’s headstone be placed was kind of like that.
She remembered that when the job was done, she’d kissed the slab and told Miss Odie how nice it was. It was so much better than the other-
Maeva jerked, feeling herself slammed back into the present as memory struck. Not the memory, but...a piece of it maybe? She had often gone to the cemetery to sit by Miss Odie’s pile of rocks when Mr. Cleon left the house. She had gone there that night and come home to terror when she found his truck parked along the road outside the house.
She’d be in for it if he saw her outside. After her chores, she was supposed to be in the dark outhouse that had served as her room.
Shortly after Odessa’s death, Cleon had moved his adopted daughter from her bland accommodations in the basement of the Raymond house. Maeva had been warned to be there and stay there until morning.
Mae remained seated next to headstone, rubbing the cool marble as memory funneled in. She remembered thinking that maybe she could make it to the outhouse before he saw her there. That night, she wondered if she might have more time than she thought. Mr. Cleon didn’t seem to be in a rush to leave the truck. He looked comfortable, like he was...sleeping? And then there was-
The scene grew fuzzy in Mae’s head and she cursed, grabbing at tendrils of her boyishly short hair. The image had gone, but enough had come through to give her cause for hope and something that didn’t feel like hope at all.
Awkwardly, Mae pushed to her feet. She
brushed her hand reverently across the headstone once, twice...and
then she set off.
***
“Twins?”
“Girls?”
“Twin girls?”
“Twin girls.” Hill confirmed the news for what had to be the fifth time since he’d delivered it. He didn’t mind. He didn’t expect to tire of seeing his parents’ dazed, happy looks for quite some time.
“And Persephone’s been raising them on her own all this time?” There was no accusation in Imani’s tone, only sincere concern.
Hill nodded. “She’s had her mother with her from the start, though.”
Roman and Imani nodded, looking relieved.
“What did Eva say to make her run?” Imani asked.
Agitation began to emerge on Hill’s face then. “Several versions of the same story-Eva threatened to kill me, take the girls…”
“You think there’s more?” Roman probed.
“It’s been so long...at first I didn’t. Lately, I’ve been thinking there could be something she won’t or can’t tell me.” Hill noticed the uncertainty framing his father’s face. “What, Dad?”
Roman studied his palms at length before making eye contact with Hill. “Are you sure, son? Sure they’re yours?”
Imani blinked, appearing stunned by the questions before she seemed to accept their relevance.
“I am.” Hill wasn’t offended by the question. He answered Roman without hesitation. “She wants us to take ‘em in for all kinds of tests, but I don’t need them, Dad. They’re mine. I know it- I feel it. I see it every time I look at them.”
“When can we see them?” Imani scooted toward the edge of her chair at the kitchen table.
“Anytime.” Hill put a kiss to the back of his mother’s hand. “Anytime you want-”
“Today?” Roman shrugged when laughter met his question.
“I told Persephone to be ready to bring them when I call-”
“So you’ll call today.” Roman instructed.
