XY XX

GIRL TALK

"Louise, don't tell Bibi," Gloria empathized, she loved her cousin, but certain aspects of Bibi's perception of people bothered her.

Bibi Makéba was their cousin desperately searching for a fairytale romance, but the candidates were skimmed down since she only had one type of man in mind, but that's a tale that shall not be told now.

"Anyway, mom was so shocked when she saw the guy at your place. I mean, he was naked," Gloria made big eyes, which reminded Xenia, their mom.

"No, he was just topless. See how you people are, always remixing everything. Mom went haywire, telling me I was living in sin, Et Cetera, Etcetera. I mean, what's wrong being with a man without trying to tie him down?"

"Mom brainwashed us so much. I tried to tie Mark down in the relationship with my perfection. A tidy home, perfect cooking, daily bedroom foreplay, and what did it earn me, zilch, nothing, zero. I don't know what will become of Gregory and me, but for the moment, he's what I need. I haven't been in a relationship for three years, and now that I am, I realize how much I missed it. I wish mom to stop shaming me for having sex without a happy marriage planned behind it."

"Amen. I hear you, Xe," Louise said, lifting her hand in praise.

"Xenia, I'm sorry, mom does kind of butt inㅡ."

"Rectify, mom, tries to dictate our love life. There's this guy in the 4th year of medicine, who comes to church, and mom is like, you should talk to him more, and you two would make a great couple. She sucks up to his mother for an arranged marriage as if we were in the middle age. What she doesn't know is the guy is a hoe, there isn't a girl in church who hasn't been in his bed, yes no need to look at me like that, me the fool included, anyway my point is she is always butting in," Lousie said while munching popcorn.

Gloria sighed; relationship issues weren't her forte; she sometimes felt as though she failed to bring words of wisdom when her sisters needed it.

She shrugged it off as she had news for her sisters, who she hoped would invest some of their time and wisdom to help her.

"Okay, girls, I've been waiting for us to be all together."

All stares were on Gloria,

"Don't scream, girls ."

"Go on, spill it," Louise urged.

"Benjamin and I are having a baby."

The two sisters screamed, jumping up to hug their older sister.

"Oh, my goodness, good girl Gloria is having a bae-bae," Xenia said.

"I'm counting on you, Xenia; you are the only person I can turn to."

"I'm here, sis, I'm here," she said, squeezing her tighter.

"You two, I swear I'm taking babysitting fees now if you are going to be popping those little ones like popcorn," Louise said.

It was a happy moment; they had gone through so much with their mother. Watching her struggle had scared them.

Everyone reacted their way concerning the childhood trauma of seeing their single mother trying to make ends meet and searching for a man willing to live and accept her daughters.

Gloria decided to save herself for the one man, and God blessed her with a smart and kind Benjamin. He was French, but his parents were from Tanzania. With him, Gloria found the balance she needed. Despite her strong head in other matters, Gloria was the weakest at heart, unable to live without support coming from her man.

Louise always claimed she would not marry and adopt, for there was too much misery in the world. She was a girl of her era who wanted to have fun, and if love came her way, she always left herself options. For the med student, what mattered was being in control and assuming the choices she made.

Whereas Xenia always thought she would do better than her mother, sure to be the first to have a settled life with Mark, but nothing worked out as she planned, she was no better than her mom.

Now Gloria was having a baby, all in order. Xenia was proud and envied her in an odd way for achieving an all-clear in all the fields. She helped people with her social work, and she was a perfect model of a black woman raising socially, precisely how their mother wished.

Xenia couldn't help thinking that Gloria was probably their mother's favorite child. It didn't matter, Gloria was her sister, and she was happy to see her achievements.

Laughing with her sisters was always good.

No, they didn't have the same father, but they were family, and they would stick together through thick and thin.

The doorbell rang, and Xenia heard the familiar footsteps of Ann-Catherin.

"Oh, mom, how come?" Louise said and hugged her.

But Ann-Catherin's stare was on Xenia, who glared back.

"Come on, mom, Xe, you can't be angry at one another. Let's sing it like the Sister Sledge, we're family, right?" Gloria's eyes darted from Xenia to her mother.

Lousie already had her hand on the remote control, ready to throw on the tune.

"Mom."

"Xenia."

Each awaited an apology, but the words remained in their encampment.

"Come on, make a pregnant woman happy."

"Pregnant, who?" Ann-Catherin eyed each one of her daughters.

"Gloria's pregnant mom," Louise said.

"Oh, myㅡ."

"Take a deep breath now you can stop worrying about my sex life and start thinking about the new family member," Xenia said with a crooked smile.

Ann-Catherin rolled eyes at her before taking Gloria in a hug, to which Louise joined in.

Xenia watched the scene until she heard, "my heart is still incomplete. Where's the missing piece."

The sentence was what Ann-Catherin said every time one of her daughter's sulked for a reason or another.

Xenia rolled her eyes and came to add herself to the tight hug of women.

They were a family with its dysfunctions but a family still.